There are many, many books on astronomy and telescopes but very, very few on antique
telescopes. Following is a list of the most interesting and informative. These are not the usual "coffee-table" books that you will
find plenty of, but a few volumes that are really worth reading, not only for their scholarly approach but also for
sheer enjoyment. At least one of them, Longitude, was not only a national best seller, but is a real "page turner."
Telescope History
- NEW! Watson, Fred. Stargazer: The Life and Times of the Telescope Da Capo Press 2005
The must-have book for the history of the telescope.
- King, Heny C. The History of the Telescope Dover Publications reprint, 2003
The classic text and for years the only text on
the history of telescopes.
- Glass, I.S. Victorian Telescope Makers The lives and letters of Thomas and Howard Grubb. Institute of Physics
Publishing, London. 1997
- Learner, Richard. Astronomy through the Telescope. The 500-year story of the Instruments, the Inventors, and their
Discoveries. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York 1981
- Warner, Deboarah Hean and Ariail, Robert B. Alvan Clark & Sons, Artists in Optics Willman-Bell Inc. Virginia, 1996
- Cheetham, Reginald J. Old Telescopes Out of print but often found on ebay.
History of Astronomy
- Aveni, Anthony F. Ancient Astronomers. St. Remy Press, Montreal. Smithsonian Books, Wash D.C. 1993
- Burke, James. The Day the Universe Changed How Galileo's telescope changed the truth--and other events
in history that dramatically altered our understanding of the world. London Writers Ltd, London. 1995.
- Krupp, E.C. Echoes of the Ancient Skies, The astronomy of lost civilizations. Harper and Row, New York, 1983.
- Sobel, Dava. Longitude The true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his
time. Penguin Books, NY. 1995
- Maury, Jean Pierre. Newton, the Father of Modern Astronomy Harry N. Abrams, NY.
- Sagan, Carl COSMOS Random House, NY. 1980
- Walker, Christopher. Astronomy before the telescope. St. Martin's Press, NY, 1996.
- Kelley,, David H. and Milone, Eugene R. Exploring Ancient Skies: An Encyclopedic Survey of Archaeoastronomy Springer, 2005.
- Linton, C.M. From Eudoxus to Einstein: A History of Mathematical Astronomy Cambridge University Press 2004.