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FILE — Box: 120 Identifier: Autograph File, M

Maraldi, Giacomo Filippo, 1665-1729. Autograph letter signed to Eustachio Manfredi, 1726 October 2

Scope and Contents

Letter sent by French-Italian astronomer Giacomo Filippo Maraldi to Italian astronomer and mathematician Eustachio Manfredi, director of observatory of the Istituto delle Scienze in Bologna, discussing astronomical observations made in China by Jesuit missionaries, including calculation of lunar and solar eclipses. The letter was delivered to Manfredi by Abbot Antonio Conti, a mathematician and philosopher.

Dates

  • Creation: 1726 October 2

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.

Extent

10.5 linear feet (21 boxes)

Biographical / Historical

Maraldi was an accomplished observer of Mars who worked at the Paris Observatory with Jacques Cassini from 1687-1718. Manfredi, in observing stellar parallax, demonstrated the circuit of the earth around the sun.

Custodial History

Previously part of a private English collection.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2022M-27. Purchased from Liber Antiquus Early Books & Manuscripts with the George S. Mumford '87 Book Fund, 2021 September 13.

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

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