The Herschels in this biography are Sir William Herschel (1738 1822), his sister Caroline (1750 1848) and Sir John Herschel (1792 1871), William's son. Sir William was an astronomer and telescope-maker who discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. He was appointed 'the King's astronomer' to George III in 1782, and under his patronage built the then largest telescope in the world. Caroline Herschel worked as her brother's assistant for much of his career but was also an accomplished astronomer in her own right, discovering eight comets and producing a catalogue of nebulae. Her nephew Sir John...

The Concise Knowledge Astronomy, published in 1898, was one of a series of popular reference books by experts. Agnes Clerke (1842 1907) was a successful author of books on astronomy and its history (three of her other works being reissued in this series), and her co-authors were astrophysicist Alfred Fowler, an internationally renowned expert in spectroscopy, and J. Elland Gore, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and expert on variable stars. Illustrated by over 100 photographs and drawings, the book aims to provide the educated non-specialist reader with an understanding of current...