Reply To: 1896 Eclipse Expedition Album

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#621776

Well done to Bill for spotting this. There were BAA and RAS expeditions to Norway. The BAA one was summarised in a short Memoir at the time and in the large, rather rare hardback book which Martin gives the link to. The Memoir is one of those that was scanned for the CD edition of the BAA Memoirs which can be bought from our Shop. A pity that clouds prevailed, and that the only published photo shows the partially eclipsed Sun through cloud. The descriptions of the colours upon the clouds, and the landscape, are nice. The hardback book we do have in our collections, fortunately, and the pictures published in the album now for sale do look rather similar to those illustrated in it. The Archivists’ budget will not stretch to buying the item Bill has mentioned and, yes, doubtless it will become inaccessible in some private collection. The expedition was also marked by a set of 3×3 inch slides which covered similar subjects to the published hardback album. It was interesting to hear of the small print run of the hardback book. The books about the other 1890s BAA eclipse expeditions had a bigger print run, and are quite commonly to be found secondhand for a few tens of pounds each, and may even be currently available at that same book auction website. A company in India has been reprinting the latter books and other items, but I recommend that collectors try to obtain the original editions if possible, because the photographs will not likely have been reproduced at all well in the reprints. Of course, if anyone would like to buy the album Bill has drawn attention to and present it to the BAA, the archivists will be happy to hear from them!