Introduction

Abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts started documentation and abstracting work in 1969 as the direct successor of the Astronomischer Jahresbericht. For information on astronomical literature before this date consultation of one of the following bibliographies is suggested:

• (1) J. J. de Lalande, Bibliographie Astronomique, Paris 1803 (this work covers the time from 480 B. C. to the year 1803, VIII + 966 pages).

• (2) J. C. Houzeau, A. Lancaster, Bibliographie générale de l’astronomie, Volume I (in two parts), Bruxelles 1887, 1889, Volume II, Bruxelles 1882. The complete title of Volume II is “Bibliographie générale de l’astronomie ou catalogue méthodique des ouvrages, des mémoires et des observations astronomiques, publiés depuis l’origine de l’imprimerie jusqu’en 1880”. A new edition of these volumes was prepared by D. W. Dewhirst in 1964.

• (3) Bibliography of Astronomy, 1881–1898. The literature of this period was recorded on standard slips by the Observatoire Royal de Belgique. From the material (some 52,000 items) a microfilm version was produced by University Microfilms Limited, Tylers Green, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, in 1970.

• (4) Astronomischer Jahresbericht, 1899 gegründet von Walter Wislicenus, herausgegeben vom Astronomischen Rechen-Institut in Heidelberg (formerly in Berlin), Verlag W. de Gruyter, Berlin. For the period from 1899 to 1968 sixty-eight volumes were published, each of which, in general, covers the literature of one year.