Longitude
A selection of rare printed and manuscript material relating to the discovery of longitude. Following the disastrous loss of life at the Scilly Isles in 1707, resolving the problem assumed unprecedented importance and the famous reward was instituted by an Act of Parliament in 1714 (see item number 7). Other items of interest include an astronomy textbook from the library of John Harrison with his inscription, and a letter from d'Entrecasteaux's astronomer Paul-Édouard Rossel dismissing the lunar method.