1876. Edmund Neison’s Moon

After a brief career in journalism, and the military, Edmund N. Nevill (1849-1940) chose the path of astronomy. He became a member of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1873. Inspired by Beer’s and Mädler’s works dating from 1837, he publishes The Moon and the Condition and Configurations of its Surface, under the pseudonym Edmund Neison. Even if this work have not transformed drastically the knowledge during the 19^th century, it proposes an up-to-date summary on current scientific knowledge.

From personal observations made at his Hampstead residence, Neison suggests a division of the Moon’s surface in 22 sections.

Esthetically, the drawings are similar to the drawings edited in 1837 by Beer and Mädler. There is also a high attention given to the representation of the lunar landscape with a hatching system. Neison was a supporter of the theory stating that the Moon’s craters are originally volcanic in nature.