The Great Pyramid- Observatory, Tomb and Temple by Richard A. Proctor - 1883

London: Chatto & Windus, 1883. First Edition. Hardback. Very Good/No Jacket. 532 8vo. Prize label (1883 prize for English awarded to the winningly named Arthur P Starbuck) to front paste down, over black end paper. Original publisher's brown boards, gilt illustration to front, gilt titles to spine. Four plates, five diagrams from woodcuts, 323 pages plus publisher's catalogue. An early attempt to expound and explain the astronomical features of the Great Pyramid and other pyramids. It includes an appendix by Joseph Baxendell on "The Great Pyramid measures", in which he discusses his initial theory that "the data which had formed the basis of the designs of the pyramid were the diameters and distances of the Sun, Earth, and moon, combined with the ratio (pi) of the circumference of a circle to its diameter". However it also includes an appendix by Flinders Petrie on his own excavations at the pyramids which concludes with a note that starts "With the discovery that the bases of the pyramid are several feet shorter than had been supposed, a number of relations supposed to connect the Great Pyramid with astronomy go overboard at a single stroke". Condition notes: Small area of damage to spine strip (a few millimetres across), soiling to external page edges, otherwise very good inside and out.