INTRODUCTION.

The want of a series of Plates for the illustration of the Science ofAstronomy, of accurate, yet popular character, calculated for effectivedisplay, and still within a moderate compass, has led to the productionof the present Work. The design comprehends 104 coloured Scenes,representing the Astronomical Phenomena of the Universe. Thesehave been carefully executed from original drawings, paintings, andobservatory studies; aided, occasionally, by appropriate pictorial embel-lishment, hut with strict adherence to fidelity of detail.

Although these Scenes may he considered as forming a tastefulAppendix to every popular treatise on Astronomy , they are accompaniedby the following familiar Lecture on the Science, explanatory of thephenomena represented, so as to render recourse to other elementaryworks unnecessary. The design is thus made unique; and great painshave been taken to insure accuracy alike in its pictorial and scientificdepartments.

The Illustrations form the miniature scenery of a public exhibition,such as is occasionally witnessed in lecture-rooms; the text presentingthe substance, the order, and the actual delivery of what becomes, in thepresent instance, a Family Astronomical Lecture. The prominentfeatures of the present Work are, the novelty and simplicity of the plan,and the elegance of its execution. With its aid a family need not hence-forth quit their own parlour, or drawing-room fireside, to enjoy thesublime “ beauty of the heavenshut, within their domestic circle,may, without any previous acquirements in Astronomy , become their owninstructors in a knowledge of its great and leading truths and pheno-