An Introduction To The Study Of Meteorites 1908 10th Edition Published by British Museum

Second-hand – Softcover with stiff card end boards.  This is the 10th edition of this catalogue entitled – ‘An introduction to the study of Meteorites with a list of the Meteorites represented in the collection’ Published in 1908. This is the previous version and pre cursor of the famous ‘Catalogue of Meteorites’ published by The NHM London. The history of these catalogues is summarised below. This is in very good condition with a sticker remnant on the outer front cover and a British Museum sticker on the inner front cover and also a library stamp. Last few pages have a slight detachment at the bottom but a very tight copy in excellent condition.

The Catalogue of Meteorites is the world taxonomic database of all meteorite falls and finds.

The first edition was published in 1847 and consisted of a three-page pamphlet listing the 62 Meteorites in the British Museum, the natural history collections of which went on to become the British Museum (Natural History) now The Natural History Museum. Twenty similar catalogues of first The Collection of Aërolites, and then The Collection of Meteorites, followed at regular intervals up until 1877. In 1881 the newly appointed Keeper of Minerals, Lazarus Fletcher, included a discussion ‘on meteorites’ with the catalogue. This evolved through 11 editions, the discussion, or ‘guide’, growing from 17 to 58 pages. In 1923 George Prior, Fletcher’s successor as Keeper of the Mineral Department, published the first global Catalogue of Meteorites (‘with special reference to those represented in the collection of the British Museum (Natural History)’). Max Hey continued the Catalogue, first publishing supplements to Prior’s work in 1927 and 1940 and then second and third editions of the Catalogue in 1953 and 1966. A fourth edition, edited by Andrew Graham, Alex Bevan and Robert Hutchison, was published in 1985. The fifth edition of the Catalogue of Meteorites, published in September 2000 by Cambridge University Press, expands the information incorporated into previous editions. It includes the names of all well-authenticated meteorites known up to December 1999 (22,507 in total), even if no material has been preserved.