Documents

Lot 3824    SESSION 12 - 11.30AM THURSDAY 15 APRIL    Documents

Estimate $25,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $25,000

DIARY OF FRANCIS ABBOTT, 1830s-1840s, a master watchmaker then convict transported to Tasmania and later an astronomer and meteorologist, his handwritten, leather covered diary (245mm x 198mm) with drawings, writings, explanations for making and repairing and generally the intricate details of all forms of watch making including not only watches but clocks, dials, equinoctial and equatorial astronomical clocks and sun dials; also includes contemporary scientific data cut-out from journals by him and glued into his diary as well as his astronomical writings and drawings. Very good and of great Australian and Tasmanian historical importance.

Francis Abbott was born in England, later served an apprenticeship as a clockmaker and then established his own clock making and repair business. He published a book, A Treatise on the Management of Public Clocks, London 1838 and also a catalogue, A Descriptive Catalogue of Horological and Astronomical Machinery, sold at his business premises in Manchester. In 1844 he was accused of obtaining two watches by false pretences, an accusation vehemently denied by Abbott. However, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years transportation to Tasmania. He arrived at Hobart Town in 1845, serving time in work gangs and after one year he was assigned as a servant. In 1849 he received a ticket-of-leave and then set about establishing a watch and clock making business. The business was very successful not only from public business but also from contracting to government institutions as he was called upon to erect many public clocks including one at Government House. The clock business was not his only work. Because of his interest in astronomy he had started recording his observations soon after arriving at the colony. Captain Joseph Kay gave him free access to the Rossbank Observatory and explained to him the method of registering and reducing. When the observatory closed in 1854 Abbott began to keep meteorological observations which were published each month in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. These records became the standard reference for the local climate and were also sent to the United States Meteorological Department for inclusion in world charts and printed for many years by the Tasmanian Government. Abbott was one of the pioneers to make observations from the southern hemisphere. He used scientific experimental techniques and kept himself abreast of the latest advances in Europe. In 1860 he was elected a member of the Royal Astronomical Society in London, contributing several papers which were published in its Monthly Notices. Between 1860-1874 a number of Abbott’s papers were published in the Proceedings of the Tasmanian Royal Society and in Hobart he had published the following of his works, Modern Astronomy in 1878, Resume on Modern Astronomy in 1879 and Sidereal Systems of Modern Astronomy, Multiple Suns and Far-off Worlds in 1880. As the result of his extraordinary work, Abbott was recognized as one of the leading astronomers in Australia, became a member of the Royal Society of Tasmania in 1855 and a life member and councillor in 1861 and in 1869 was made a fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society and Royal Astronomical Society. During his lifetime he amassed a large philosophical and scientific library and an array of scientific instruments unique in the colony. Many of these now reside in museums and government institutions.