HALLEY, Edmund (1656-1742). A Description of the passage of the Shadow of the Moon, over England, in the Total Eclipse of the Sun, on the 22nd day of April 1715 in the morning. [London:] I. Senex and William Taylor, [before 22 April 1715].

A rare, illustrated, first edition broadside publication of Halley's prediction of the area to be affected by the total solar eclipse of April 1715. Halley explains in the descriptive note his motivation for publishing a broadside in anticipation of the event: "The like Eclipse having not for many ages been seen in the Southern Parts of Great Britain, I thought it not improper to give the Publick an Account thereof, that the sudden darkness, wherein the Starrs will be visible about the Sun, may give no surprize to the People, who would, if unadvertized, be apt to look upon it as Ominous, and to interpret it as portending evill to our Sovereign Lord King George and his Government... Hereby they will see that there is nothing in it more than Natural, and no more than the necessary result of the Motions of the Sun and Moon..." Halley was among the first astronomers to methodically study eclipse phenomena. Rare: this is the only copy appearing in the auction records of RBH for over 50 years. Norman 980 (this copy).

Engraved full-sheet broadside (455 x 285mm). Engraved map of England and most of Scotland with darkened areas showing the location of maximum shadow during the eclipse, 2-line caption at top, engraved descriptive text at bottom in two columns of 18 lines. (Small holes at fold junctures, one small marginal fold break.) Framed. Provenance: Haskell F. Norman (his sale, Christie's New York, 16 June 1998, lot 493) – Edward Tufte (his sale, Christie's New York, 2 December 2010, lot 34).