Lunatick Astronomy - Andrew Lound

TO BE PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2008
Released to coincide with the bicentennial of Matthew Boulton’s death 1809

The Lunar Society was one of the most influential gatherings of intellectuals in the eighteenth century. The group of friends met informally every month on a Monday evening closest to the full Moon. It is this singular astronomical connection from which the group of friends developed their collective noun – although they often referred to themselves as the ‘Lunaticks’. Matthew Boulton was the prime mover behind the moonlit gathering and most people today know him as the great manufacturer of Birmingham and the partner of James Watt. His friend and fellow Lunatick James Keir once observed that electricity and astronomy were at one time among Matthew Boulton’s favourite amusements. The question for the author with an interest in astronomy living only a few miles from Boulton’s home was just how much of an interest in astronomy did Boulton and the other Lunar Society members have?
The book is an account of Andrew Lound’s research into Matthew Boulton’s and his friends’ interests in astronomy discovering Matthew Boulton’s design for an astronomical observatory as well as snippets of information on one of his favourite amusements. The write-up of the research has been produced on the urging of several experts in astronomy history and Professor Carl Chinn of the University of Birmingham, in order to assist those with an interest in the Lunar Society and to give wider public awareness of Matthew Boulton’s astronomical interests. This publication contains additional material that is aimed at a wider audience, placing together for the first time a complete ready reference to the Lunar Society’s astronomical interests.

An Odyssey Dramatic Lecture ‘Lunatick Astronomy’ is also available to accompany the book.

Published by Odyssey DL Publications. Softback. Colour cover. 99pp.
48 B&W illustrations. ISBN 978-0-9561111-0-4

Cheque or Postal Order for £10 Including P&P available direct from the author. Payable to Andrew Lound

110 Sandringham Road, Birmingham B42 1PQ Tel: 0121 356 5446
e-mail: odyssey@dial.pipex.com Web: www.odyssey.dial.pipex.com

As seen at Redditch Astronomical Society