Frustrations, wrangles and difficulties make good stories. So, Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, 1820-1831 by Dick Warner and Niall Fallon (Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, £75/$119, ISBN 0 7923 3527 9) is far from dull. Much of its attraction lies in its extracts from contemporary and forthright documents, for instance, criticising the faulty construction of the domes, “We might as well expect that a Tea cup inverted on a violin cello would be free from vibration.” An enjoyable surprise.
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