After several decades spent in astronomical semi-obscurity, the Moon has of late suddenly emerged as an object of considerable interest to students of astronomy as well as of other branches of natural science and technology; and the reasons for this are indeed of historical significance. For the Moon has now been destined to be the first celestial body outside the confines of our own planet to be reconnoitered at a close range by means of spacecraft built and sent out by human hand for this purpose. At the time of writing, not less than ten such spacecraft of American as well as Rus sian...

The aim of the present book has been to provide an outline - the first of its kin- of the history of the human efforts to map the topography of the surface of our satellite, from the days of pre-telescopic astronomy up to the present. These efforts commenced modestly at the time when the unaided eye was still the only tool at the disposal of men interested in the face of our satellite; and were con tinued since for more than three centuries by a small band of devoted friends of the Moon in several countries. Many of these were amateur astronomers, and almost all were amateur cartographers;...