The Book of Sun-Dials

by Mrs. Alfred Gatty

Margaret Gatty (1809 1873) was an English writer best known for her researches on sundials and British seaweeds. After marrying the Rev. Alfred Gatty in 1839, she moved to Ecclesfield, Yorkshire, where she pursued her literary and scientific studies. This volume, first published in 1872, contains detailed descriptions of various styles of sundials, many taken from Gatty's own collection. Over 350 sundials from across Britain and Europe are described, and each sundial's location is noted in this work, which was one of the first popular books on the subject. Examples included range from portable sundials to early Saxon sundials, as well as the more familiar church sundials. This volume is one of Gatty's best known works, and remains a valuable reference for the various types of sundials and the variations and similarities in their mottoes. For more information on this author, see http: //orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople..."

155 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1872

About the author

Sometimes published as Margaret Gatty, Margaret Scott Gatty.

Born in 1809 in Burnham on Crouch, Essex, Margaret Scott was the daughter of the Rev. Alexander John Scott, D.D., a naval chaplain who served with Lord Nelson during the Battle of Trafalgar. She married the Rev. Alfred Gatty, a Church of England vicar, and an author, in 1839. Some of their children also published as authors: noted children's author Juliana Horatia Ewing; Juliana's biographer Horatia K.F. Gatty; composer and officer of arms Sir Alfred Scott-Gatty; historian Charles Tindal Gatty.

Reviews

[Lizzie]

Became unexpectedly obsessed with this Victorian book of (mostly) Latin sundial mottoes this week. (Thanks to Andrea K.) I was looking for a motto, for an engraving, and that's what I found:

#1359: TENDIMUS UNA. We advance together. (Original physical source not cited; evidently found in a 1761 "notebook" called Notizie Gnomoniche, author unknown.)

Available on Google and in text at UPenn, as well as elsewhere.