Eclipse & Revelation: Total solar eclipses in science, history, literature, & the arts (ed. Lange & McLeish) ,

This impressive book’s two distinguished editors, Henrike Lange and the late Tom McLeish, have assembled contributions from a dozen expert academics, all with considerable knowledge of astronomy, history, religion, art, animal behaviour or weather, to document the experience of a total solar eclipse (TSE) from every angle.

The book is divided into four substantial parts. Parts One to Three contain four chapters each. Part One deals with the scientific aspect of TSEs, including some ‘eclipse-chasing’ experiences and contributions from the BAA’s Mike Frost. Chapter Two was written by the greatest eclipse-chaser of them all, Prof. Jay Pasachoff (1943–2022), who sadly passed away before the book was published.

I found the third chapter especially interesting as it covered how the Babylonians were predicting eclipses as early as the sixth to eighth centuries BC. Then there was the discovery of the Greek Antikythera mechanism: an analogue computer thought to date back to the second century BC (although not allowing time fissures to be detected, as in the film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny!)

Part Two covers the historical experience and theological aspects of TSEs, while Part Three covers how these wondrous events have been depicted in the arts and literature. Finally, the two chapters of Part Four deal with animal behaviour and meteorological considerations. There is also an Appendix and a Bibliography. The final part of the Appendix contains global diagrams for the tracks of upcoming TSEs from 2024 (which took place just after publication) to 2028. It would, perhaps, have been nice to extend that set of diagrams a bit further, even if they are all available online.

Over the years there have been quite a few books written about TSEs (even one written by this reviewer!) but they have mainly concentrated on the orbital mechanics, listing future events and their umbral ground tracks, and how to photograph the spectacle. Eclipse and Revelation does cover many of these aspects but its main focus (as per the title) is on how the awesome nature of these events has inspired, puzzled, and sometimes mortified, observers, artists, playwrights, poets, musicians, astronomers and astrologers throughout recent and ancient history, as well as generating quite a few omens and myths along the way. To make this approach work, the book is well illustrated with many fascinating eclipse photographs, diagrams and paintings produced over the centuries. The BAA’s own Annie Maunder and Gertrude Bacon are mentioned in Chapter 11 as pioneering eclipse photographers during the late 1890s and early 1900s. One eclipse painting that especially caught my eye is on page 174, depicting the TSE of 1483 and a plague of locusts. Another example is on page 245, magnificently titled Dionysius the Areopagite Converting the Pagan Philosophers by Antoine Caron, inspired by the eclipse of 1571.

This comprehensive tome really brought home to me how awestruck our ancestors must have been when witnessing a TSE, especially if they had no knowledge of the science, or even that one was about to take place. Some would surely have been terrified by the accompanying dire astrological predictions. As just one example, page 114 details an especially memorable description by a Worcester monk of the near-TSE of 1133 Aug 2 seen from England (it was total in Scotland) which supposedly foretold Henry I’s death two years later. The BAA’s own Cicely Botley would have loved such a book and its many gems!¹

Containing 351 pages (including the Appendix and Index) and with a small typeface, there is a huge amount of material in Eclipse and Revelation. My normal reading glasses are +1.5 dioptre, but I occasionally used a cheap pair of +3.0 glasses to fully savour the text and illustrations up close. Of course, if you buy the e-book you can make the text as large as you wish, but there is nothing quite like the feel (and smell!) of a high-quality hardback book.

Even a quick reader will prefer at least a month to browse all the information at a comfortable rate. However, this is not the sort of book you would ever read from start to finish in one go, but one to dip into and savour. Eclipse and Revelation would make a perfect gift for any eclipse-chaser, especially one with an interest in astronomical history, who wants to be transported back to an era when such events were not only awe-inspiring, but also terrifying, mysterious and magical.

Tragically, the distinguished Prof. McLeish, the co-editor and a former BAA member (mentored in his youth by Cdr Henry Hatfield) passed away aged 60 from pancreatic cancer in February of 2023, just before Eclipse and Revelation was completed. Fortunately, Mike Frost, a friend of McLeish since university, stepped in to finish the technical editing and help complete this wonderful book. I highly recommend it!

Martin Mobberley has been a BAA member since 1969 and was President from 1997 to 1999, a period which included the (sadly) cloudy Cornwall TSE