London, Paris & Melbourne: Cassell & Company, Limited, 1891., 1891. 8vo. pp. xix, 556 + [18]ads. with half-title. 18 lithographed plates (mostly tinted or coloured) & 90 wood-engravings (some full-page). No DJ. A late-Victorian illustrated work on astronomy, in an armorial prize binding.Featuring a tissue-guarded coloured frontispiece. with eighteen tissue-guarded coloured plates and numerous illustrations. Externally, Fine. Internally, firmly bound. Overall:FINE.Revised Edition, 1891. Decorative leather spine, very good condition, marble effect pages, BALL, Sir Robert Stawell (1840-1913) An eminent astronomer, born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College. He was appointed Andrew's Professor of Astronomy at the Dublin University and Astronomer Royal for Ireland in 1874. He made valuable studies on nebulae and stellar parallax, and published The Story of the Heavens (1885) and Popular Guide to Heavens (1892). In 1892 he was appointed Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at Cambridge University, at the same time becoming director of the Cambridge Observatory. His lectures, articles and books such as Starland and The Story of the Heavens were intended for a popular audience, however he also published more specialised works on mathematical astronomy such as A Treatise on Spherical Astronomy.