I am grateful to many persons over the three years of this project who provided information, insight, and support.
I am indebted to the U.S. Library of Congress for its extensive holdings and for use of a research desk there for several years to complete my work and writings. I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Prosser Gifford, director of the Library of Congress’s Office of Scholarly Programs, and the directors of its Rare Book and Special Collections and Science, Technology and Business Divisions and their librarians and staff, in particular, Bruce Martin. The library’s vast resources are truly amazing, especially its Chart and Map Collection, where among its holdings I stumbled across Halley’s chart of the Atlantic.
I thank the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, for its gracious assistance with pictures and research, and Rob Warren and Sara Grove in particular.
I am ever thankful for the marvelous holdings at the British Library, especially its newspapers and manuscript collections. It is a vibrant facility with a highly professional staff.
Special thanks to the librarians of the Royal Society and their staff and to Royal Society President Robert McCredie May for allowing me to peruse their collections. Christine Woollett was especially helpful with artwork.
Peter Hingley of the Royal Astronomical Society provided very helpful picture and research assistance.
The Public Records Office, Kew, kept the Admiralty records going back to Halley’s day, including the court-martial of Lieutenant Edward Harrison, which is a truly remarkable archiving feat.
I also thank the librarians at the Paris Observatory, particularly Josette Alexandre, and Luisa Pigatto at the INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Padua, Italy, for providing the spectacular image of the fresco of the orbit of Halley’s comet.
I owe a debt of gratitude to John Aubrey Adam without whom this book would not have been possible. He faithfully and candidly read chapters, helped me struggle through the tough sections, and pushed me to keep rewriting and rewriting when I thought I was already done.
Special thanks to my wonderful editor, Jeffrey Robbins, at the Joseph Henry Press. His sophisticated sensibilities raised the work another level.
I am grateful to my agent, Patty Moosbrugger, for believing in this project and to Stuart Krichevsky for helping get the book off the ground.
I thank the anonymous reviewers of my work who helped me better capture the nuances of this narrative and better understand English society in Halley’s time. I thank the Joseph Henry Press staff, Stephen Mautner, Ann Merchant, and Barbara Kline Pope, especially Sally Stanfield and Jim Gormley, for putting the book together, Michele De La Menardiere for the beautiful cover design, and Estelle Miller and Rachel Marcus. I also thank copyeditor Barbara Bodling O’Hare and photographer Jeremy Whitaker from the Land of Nod for his image of Thornhill’s portrait of Sir Isaac Newton.
A sincere thanks to Dimas Ayala Riquelme at the International Monetary Fund for assisting with the conversion of pounds of Halley’s time to U.S. dollars of today.
I also thank John Hwang, Christopher Johnson, Eric Maxeiner, and Scott Kamp for serving as test readers of my early chapters; Kim Monk, Valerie Jablow, and Bill Horne for reading the almost finished chapters.
I am also appreciative of all the talented editors who taught me to write on the job over the years and who gave me fantastic writing opportunities: Eric Bates, J. Kelly Beatty, Frank Best, Susan M. Booker, James Burkhart, David Carr, John Cloud, Sherri Dalphonse, Sean Daly, Ken DeCell, Glenn Dixon, Alexis Doster, David Eicher, Timothy Foote, Paul Glastris, Bill Goggins, Alex Heard, Valerie Jablow, Clara Jeffery, Jack Limpert, James Lockhart, Colin Macilwain, Sally Scott Maran, Stephanie Mencimer, Don Moser, Rachel Nowak, Daniel Pendick, David Plotz, Miles Porter, Ghassan Rassam, John Rennie, Jack Shafer, Gary Stix, Clint Talbott, Kimberly G. Thigpen, Nancy Tomich, Debra Melani, Gabrielle Walker, Erik Wemple, Catherine White, John P. Wiley, Jr., Carey Winfrey, Philip Yam, and Glenn Zorpette.
I am especially thankful for the support of my wonderful friends and family throughout this project.
Washington, D.C.
January 2005
J.W.