HOFFMEYER, N.

Cartes synoptiques journalières embrassant l'Europe et le Nord de l'Atlantique. 5iéme Trimestre. Décembre 1874 - Février 1875 (+) 6iéme Trimester. Mars - Mai.

Copenhague, 1876.

Folio-oblong. In contemporay half calf. White paper label pasted on to upper right left corner of front board. Title-page a some maps with marginal repairs and reinfocements, otherwise fine. Two title-page + 203 maps.

Rare first printing of Meteorologist Niels Hoffmeyer's massive work depicting surface synoptic observations in Europe and the North Atlantic - At the time considered one of the most ambitious meteorological undertakings.

"Starting in 1876, Hoffmeyer began to collect all available observations from the North Atlantic (Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and ships) for the three previous years (1873-75), plot them on maps, and analyse them by drawing isobars. These maps were then published annually. Five years later, when the printing of the maps became too expensive for the Danish state, the "Deutsche Seewarte" (German Marine Weather Service) in Hamburg took over the work until the first world war. The analyses continued, as before, to be made in Copenhagen. The "Hoffmeyer maps" are thus another nice example of European scientific cross-fertilization." (Niels Hoffmeyer - a great but forgotten Danish meteorologist, EMS)

"Unread still are Danish daily weather maps for the NATL listed in a catalogue published by Bibliothek der Deutchen Seewarte (1890). These maps were also a joint effort between the Danish Meteorological Institute and Deutsche Seewarte and depict the weather at 0800 local time for ships at sea. The maps were published from 1876 to 1880 and run from September 1873 to November 1876. The series is entitled "Cartes synoptiques journalières embrassant l'Europe et le Nord de l'Atlantique " and authored by Hoffmeyer. Contact with Danish Meteoroloigcal Institute confirmed that the maps have been moved to the Danish State Archive" (Chenoweth, New Compilation of North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1851-98)

Order-nr.: 58621