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Scottish engineer, philosopher, artist, and inventor (1808-1890) famous for his development of the steam hammer. He was the co-founder of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company, manufacturers of machine tools. He retired at the age of 48, and moved to Penshurst, Kent, where he developed his hobbies of astronomy and photography. ALS from James Nasmyth, four pages on two adjoining sheets, 4 x 6, Hammerfield, Penshurst, Kent letterhead, May 5, 1871. Lengthy handwritten letter, in part: “I am preparing for a work on the Lunar surface where & wish to embody all the results of full 30 year observations & cogitations, on the subject and enunciate some great principles that appear to me to form the true explanation of volcanic actions on the Earth as well as on the moon where it has left such wonderful records of its extraordinary activity but all still and extinct now have been (according to my views of the subject) for 11 million ages for I hold that the details which the telescope reveals to me on the moon’s surface are of inconceivable antiquity yet left in their original integrity of form owing to the absence of all elements of change.” In fine condition.
Nasmyth retired from business in 1856 at age 48 and settled near Penshurst, Kent, renaming his home 'Hammerfield,' where he devoted himself to hobbies such as astronomy. He built a 20-inch reflecting telescope, inventing the Nasmyth focus, and made detailed lunar observations. With James Carpenter, he co-wrote The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite (1874), which featured innovative “lunar” photographs created by lighting and photographing plaster relief models based on his observations. A lunar crater is named in his honor.
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