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My favourite book of all time is Starlight Nights by Leslie Peltier. I read it at least once a year. Peltier’s home from the late 1940s until his death was Brookhaven, in Delphos, Ohio. The property is also featured in his book The House on Jennings Creek.
I notice that this property is for sale. It’s fascinating to see the agent’s photos and to compare them with Peltier’s description: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/327-S-Bredeick-St_Delphos_OH_45833_M97493-89893
One book I’ve never managed to get, the second hand prices recently seem very high, I’ve heard it’s very good. Hopefully republished one day.
Starlight Nights is available on Kindle, Daryl. Not the same as having the book, but at least you can enjoy it and be reminded why we love astronomy so much.
I think I was 14 when I first read it. Our Eng Lit master said we should read a book of our choice (“not a textbook on astronomy, Shears!”) and write about it afterwards. I found it in the village library. I must have renewed its loan many times. And fortunately it’s not textbook.
My wife has a kindle, me I’m a bit of a dinosaur and like the feel of the pages but it’s good to know it’s on Kindle so I’ll ask if she will download it.
Something to do while the clouds are above, (as they frequently are in South wales valleys)
I received a copy of Starlight Nights when I was a youngster. It was wonderful and inspiring to read about Leslie Peltier’s journey of astronomical discovery. The attached image shows my first copy (1967) and the modern indexed version (1999).
A gem of a book!
Alex.
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It is one of my favourite books too. Lovely descriptions of a lost time. I bought a second hand hardback of the 1967 edition a while ago for around 50p.
$550K for a big house and ten acres seems a steal but it’s not selling. I’ve just had a nose on Google Streetview. Looks very nice although there has been a lot of development around there since Peltier’s day.
I too re read my Starlights evey few years. I have both editions.Thanks for putting the estate photos on the forum.The house looks very grand compared with my imagination. It looks good value may be the association has found a good home for its f
uture investments
Alan DowdellHello all,
Anyone who is an aficionado of Leslie Peltier and his life story may be interested to read the material at this AAVSO link:
https://www.aavso.org/sites/default/files/Return_to_Starlight_Nights-eBook_(2).pdfDenis Buczynski (also an aficionado)
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The link in the previous post seems to need the .pdf at the end of the link to be included for it to work.
https://www.aavso.org/sites/default/files/Return_to_Starlight_Nights-eBook_(2).pdfIt seems from the information in this link someone spent a lot of money renovating it, apparently it was pending sale then withdrawn?
With the amount of work carried out and since it’s a wooden built in 1870 I wonder how sound the structure is? and did that cause the sale to fall through as it is still unsold from what I can tell.
It seems the family still have the optics from Leslie’s telescopes but that depends on what source you read? The Merry-go-round observatory is interesting and it seems from the information below the MVAS had to replace the wooden structure and only use the original mechanics less the telescope which the family kept. Triggers Broom comes to mind.
https://delphoscanalcommission.com/banks-yesteryear/return-to-starlight-nights/
I managed to get hold of a copy of Starlight Nights and I found it very interesting. The AAVSO link above is a very interesting read and very informative about what is left from Peltier’s time. I wonder if America has a Blue Plaque scheme similar to the UK as Peltier’s house deservers some sort of recognition, apparently just outside the Delphos library is a statue of him?
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