Home ยป Current Print Publications

Special Publications
1769 Transit of Venus

Special Publications: Volume 4

David Rittenhouse
John Ewing
Paper, 88 pp.

$15.00

978-1-60618-891-0
Order

The Transit of Venus is a celestial event that occurs when Venus's orbit causes the planet to speed past the slower moving Earth and visibly cross the Sun, partially obscuring it. The Transits of Venus occur in pairs that are eight years apart, and they are separated in time by just over a century. A Transit happens after 121 years, and then a second Transit occurs after eight years. Another pair of Transits does not occur again for 105 years. This pattern (121, 8, 105, 8) is constant.

The most recent Transit of Venus occurred on June 5 and 6, 2012. This is the last Transit of the century. Earlier Transits recorded:

December 4, 1639

June 5, 1761

June 3, 1769

December 8, 1874

December 6, 1882

The next Transit of Venus will not occur until 2117. Transits last between three to seven hours, depending on the route of the Transit.

When observing the Transit, eyes should be protected by using glasses with #14 shade welding glass, a pinhole projector, and a sun funnel. If using a telescope, one should use an appropriate solar filter.

NOTE: William Smith is the primary author of "Apparent Time of the Contacts of the Limbs of the Sun and Venus; With Other Circumstances of Most Note, in the Different European Observations of the Transit, June 3d,1769."  David Rittenhouse contributed text and did the calculations.  John Lukens also wrote part of the paper.  John Ewing is the principal author of "An Account of the Transit of Venus over the Sun, June 3d, 1769, and of the Transit of Mercury Nov. 9th, Both as Observed in the State-House Square, Philadelphia."  Joseph Shippen and Hugh Williamson contributed to the paper.  Charles Tbomson and Thomas Prior each contributed a paragraph. 
Biographical Memoirs of Members of the American Philosophical Society, Book Two: Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Chemical Engineering

Special Publications: Volume 3

American Philosophical Society (editors: Jerrold Meinwald, Roald Hoffmann)
Paper, 184 pp.

$20.00

978-1-60618-882-8
Order

The distinguished chemists featured in this volume were all members of the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in America. Their biographical memoirs, selected from the archives of the Society, present a panorama of twentieth-century discoveries and developments in the study of Chemistry and the personalities behind them.
Biographical Memoirs of Members of the American Philosophical Society: Classics and Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology

Special Publications: Volume 2

American Philosophical Society (editors: Helen North, Julia Gaisser)
Paper, 98 pp.

$20.00

978-1-60618-881-1
Order

A new publication series begins with reprints of significant and interesting biographical memoirs of members of the American Philosophical Society. This first volume, with memoirs of distinguished classicists and archaeologists, presents a panorama of twentieth-century discoveries and developments in the study of Antiquity and the personalities behind them.
The Continuations of the Old French Perceval of Chretien de Troyes: Volume I: The First Continuation, Redaction of Mss T V D

Special Publications: Volume 1

William Roach, ed.
Case. 69 pages front matter; 476 text

$35.00

978-0-87169-301-3
Order

Between 1949 and 1983, William Roach produced the sole modern edition of the First, Second, and Manessier Continuations of the Old French Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes, based on all the manuscripts. Most volumes are out of print, but the popularity of King Arthur and the Grail legend keeps interest in the subject high. Volume I, containing the Mixed Redaction of the First Continuation—where Gauvain in the principal character—is once again available. This new edition, entirely re-set, incorporates all of the corrections indicated by William Roach. The extensive introduction has been brought up to date. There are many new notes to the text, and a complete bibliography of works cited in the notes. A thoroughly cross-referenced subject index to the notes provides easy access to the wealth of linguistic and grammatical analysis they contain.

A corrected edition of Volume II, the Long Redaction, is in progress.