Sad. Back in 1983-ish, I had to save up my pocket money so that I could cycle to WH Smith, where over the course of a few months they located (on microfiche) and ordered my three volumes of Burnham’s Celestial Handbook. The British astronomical scene knew almost nothing of Burnham, the canon on this side of the Atlantic being Norton’s Star Atlas[1] and the perennial “Yearbook of Astronomy”.

Hooray for the Internet which has leveled the playing fields regards sharing key texts between countries…

Back to my teenagerhood: the books gradually arrived, I crudely boxed them to make them into a dew-resistant brick, and carried them on all of observing outings. They served me well. They’re magical texts – astrophysics, theory (more dated now) plus stunning B&W images, plus myth and legend to keep you going.

Alas for the author…

Robert Burnham, Jr. – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Despite being the author of a successful book, Burnham spent the last years of his life in poverty and obscurity in San Diego, California, selling his paintings of cats at Balboa Park. His many devoted readers were completely unaware of his personal circumstances, in large part, because most people assumed that a different and unrelated Robert Burnham, who was an editor at Astronomy magazine, was the author of Burnham’s Celestial Handbook.

The real author died destitute and alone at the age of sixty-one. His family did not learn about his death (apparently by his choice) until two years later and didn’t report it to the press even then because they were unaware of his stature in the amateur astronomy community.

After his death, it was realized that he had often attended programs presented by the San Diego Astronomy Association (at the Ruben H. Fleet Space Theater in Balboa Park) without anyone recognizing him. In spite of the tragedy of his later years, Robert Burnham, Jr. continues to be remembered by a generation of deep sky observers for his unique Celestial Handbook.

I’m not saying the books would have made him a millionaire, but perhaps had he the ability he should have lived modestly on the conference circuit.

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[1] Currently edited by Ian Ridpath, who is yet another UCL Astronomy graduate and former Pi Hack 🙂