New Measures of the Great Pyramid, by a New Measurer. Described and Tested; Extended and Corrected from the Review in the "Banner of Israel", for November and December, 1883.
London: Robert Banks, 1884. First Edition. Hardcover. Small octavo. xii, 13-128pp. Original green cloth with black borders and pyramid illustration on upper cover, gilt titling to spine and upper cover, b&w illustrations, appendixes. Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819 – 1900), was for a time the Astronomer Royal for Scotland and pioneered a number of innovations in astronomy as well as studies of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Inspired by the work of John Taylor, Smyth paid his own way to Egypt to examine and measure the Great Pyramid. Over time he produced four books that were focussed largely on the Great Pyramid, "Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid" (1864), "Life and Work at the Great Pyramid During the Months of January, February, March, and April, A.D. 1865" (1867), "On the Antiquity of Intellectual Man: From a Practical and Astronomical Point of View" (1868), and "New Measures of the Great Pyramid" (1884). Alongside Taylor's 'The Great Pyramid: Why Was It Built? & Who Built It?,' these became the core works of the school of thought that saw the Great Pyramid as a tool of Biblical Prophecy. This title - which was published much later than the first three, was basically written to update it with regard to then-current research and discussions. Although many of Smyth's arguments are now largely discredited he was nonetheless a significant figure in the study of the Great Pyramid: his measurements of it were the most accurate of the time, and he was the first to photograph its inside passages under artificial (magnesium) light. Spine ends and corners lightly bruised and chafed, hinges rubbed, rear endpaper gutter cracked, but board firmly attached, pages bright and unmarked. Overall a tight clean better than VG copy. Scarce. Item #64546
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