Uncommon first edition of this beautifully illustrated course of lectures on astronomy for women, delivered by Fladung at the instruction of countess Julie von Nádasdy. Little is known of Joseph Fladung (1776-1868), except that he was a popular private tutor for upper-class young women of the Austro-Hungarian intellectual scene, and that he published books on natural science specifically for the advancement of their education. Fladung's most famous student was the highly regarded Austrian novelist Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916), best known for her realist psychological works, whom he began teaching when she was 13 years old. He also influenced the careers of poet Josephine von Knoff (1827-1908; a close friend of Ebner-Eschenbach) and explorer Ida Pfeiffer (1797-1858). According to the preface, Julie von Nádasdy (née Forrey, 1816-1863), was also a former student of Fladung, and she later employed him to teach her own children. She invited Fladung to deliver this series of astronomy and physics lectures for young women at her home, Felsölendva (now Grad Castle in Gori ko, Slovenia) - the castle is depicted in the title page vignette and a description given in the preface. The information in the lectures stems primarily from observations made at night using a telescope set up in the castle grounds. The striking in-text illustrations and folding plates depict star constellations, comets, and planets; the plates are provided in duplicate as learning aids, to allow readers to test their memorization of constellation names. WorldCat, KVK, and Library Hub trace just copies at five institutions: four in Germany (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, SLUB Dresden, ULB Darmstadt, Technische Universität Darmstadt) and one in Austria (Austrian National Library). Duodecimo. Uncut in original blue illustrated wrappers, woodcuts on front and rear covers. Woodcut title page vignette, six folding plates (numbered I-III, the first of each pair showing constellations only, the second adding the names), numerous illustrations and diagrams in text. Extremities curled and creased, a few brown spots on wrappers, contents lightly foxed, some leaves unopened, first cord split before gathering 7 but still firmly bound, small pressed leaf and printed paper slip laid in at pp. 121 and 145 respectively. Overall a very good copy.
