This second edition is updated and improved from the out-of-print first edition. It has much of interest for telescope buffs and collectors of optical instruments. (It should be noted that the book is still available from the publisher as of January 2003 at the original price.)

Warner and Ariail have done an outstanding job of presenting a history of Alvan Clark & Sons, America's premier 19th century telescope maker. They trace the lineage of nearly all extant Clark telescopes, illustrate the characteristics of each model of Clark refractor, describe the history of the firm (including manufacturing), and include an appendix on all known portraits painted by Alvan Clark (he was a portrait painter prior to making telescopes). It does lack some warmth and might have benefited from personal accounts of owners describing their scopes and the views through them or experiences using different Clark telescopes. However, it is still an inspirational work and made me want to own an antique refractor.

This is THE reference for celestial cartography. Almost complete. Take it if you can get one. It's quite scarce.