1822 - A fine antique engraving showing "THE MANNER OF FINDING THE PRINCIPAL STARS VISABLE TO GREAT BRITAIN BY MEANS OF LINES OR TRIAGULATION" Astronomical Celestial Chart published for "A CELESTIAL ATLAS comprising A SYSTEMATIC DISPLAY OF THE HEAVENS IN A SERIES OF THIRTY MAPS" by Alexander Jamieson. Generally very fine condition with fine hand colouring. Size approx 29cm x 24cm including margins.

Alexander Jamieson (1782–1850) was a Scottish writer and schoolmaster, now best known as a rhetorician. He has been described as effectively a professional textbook writer. After the failure of his school, he worked as an actuary. Some of Jamieson's background is obscure. He was born at Rothesay, Bute to William Jamieson, a wheelwright, and Margaret Stewart. In 1821 he obtained a degree of M.A. from Marischal College, Aberdeen, and an LL.D. there in 1823.In 1825 he was admitted as a sizar at St John's College, Cambridge, and became a ten-year man. In 1826 he became a member of the Astronomical Society of London. Jamieson was active in the period 1814–1846 writing textbooks and running a school. In 1824 it was teaching at Heston House on Hounslow Heath, where some Hindustani was on the syllabus. From 1826 to 1838 it was at Wyke House Academy in Middlesex, which was advertised as a preparation for the Army, Navy, civil engineers, architects and surveyors. Among his pupils there was Earl George Windsor; John Rouse Bloxam also taught there. Jamieson was declared bankrupt in 1838. He then worked as an actuary. Towards the end of his life he suffered a stroke, then moved to Bruges in Belgium with his wife Frances (née Thurtle), known as a writer, whom he had married in 1820. She was the author of the relatively successful Ashford Rectory; or, The Spoiled Child Reformed. Containing a short introduction to the sciences of architecture and heraldry..... He died in Bruges on 6 July 1850.