"Smith's Illustrated Astronomy, Designed for the Use of the Public or Common Schools in the United States...", Smith, Asa

This early school astronomy text book is filled with full-page black on white woodblock illustrations. All of the illustrations are quite nice, but some standouts are: Solar System, an early depiction of sun spots as "Remarkable Spots that have been Discovered Upon the Sun," Saturn, Orbits of the Planets with the Zodiac, Terrestrial & Celestial Globes, Binary or Double Stars, Nebulae or Clusters of Stars, and four great plates showing the full northern sky with all constellations for each season. Smith produced this rare astronomy book when he was Principal of Public School No. 12 in New York City. Published by Daniel Burgess & Co., New York. 4to, 80 pp, frontis "The Largest Telescopes in the World," 28 full-page plates. Bound in pictorial paper boards with leather spine,

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Condition: B+

The plates are in very good condition with minor soiling and a short edge tear on one plate. Each of the text pages that faces one of the plates has moderate offsetting from the plate. The hinges are perished but the text block is still attached to the spine with the original string. The covers and spine are heavily worn with abrasions and chips.