Do not pay more than 23 euros for this book is available from the FAS and Astroshopping. The 1961 edition is also available in PDF on Astrosurf. 50 The sale is more than double the official price, is theft. Jean Texereau was amateur astronomer and engineer in optics at the Observatory of Paris. He attended classes with André Couder, the largest French optician at the time. Jean Texereau was also president of the Commission instruments to the Astronomical Society of France, a guarantee of competence and its willingness to convey his passion and expertise to the public. He left us in 2014 at the age of 95 years but not before we left his optical innovations and improved larger telescopes (60 cm Meudon, 1.06 m from the Pic du Midi, 1.93 m in Haute-Provence, 2.08 m McDonald Obs, etc.), not to mention his memorable book on "the construction of amateur telescope." This book was published in 1951 and contained at the time 136 illustrated pages of very detailed drawings. It was written in a literary style and accessible for amateur astronomers wishing to build their own telescope 200 mm f / 6 or f / 8 (azimuthal mount he wrote at the time, because it is easier to build), but also described the main equatorial mounts and the manufacture of a secondary mirror, drilling a Cassegrain mirror, performing a closing blade, etc. This book has become a must because it allows some clever fans of their hands and to make available a telescope almost by hand, with very few tools and very little cost, while the inverse of the then exorbitant prices Trade telescopes and accessories. This book was always a great success especially because of its Chapter II dedicated to manufacturing (size, polishing, parabolization) of the main mirror, the centerpiece of any telescope. Jean Texereau it also develops formulas and original and simple evaluation methods to analyze faults, performance, and other diffraction phenomenon that sit permanently know-how and reputation of the French optician engineer worldwide. The book published in 1951 by the Astronomical Society of France was quickly exhausted. It was supplemented and reissued in 1961 and includes 280 pages this time of great interest. It was also published in English ("How to Make a Telescope", 1961/1984) and Spanish ("EL telescopio del aficionado. Construye Cómo se", 1961) but these translations have not been republished since. ... It will take 43 years to dispose of the 3rd French edition updated in 2004 and comprising 318 pages still richly illustrated. Some amateurs took part in the review of this highly anticipated new edition includes a few pages on the silvering, the aluminide coatings and astrophotography among other topics. Very requested, all editions are unfortunately exhausted from the publishers. However according to Vuibert, the 2004 edition is still available on Astroshopping (Axilone of the company, which participated in its revision) and you can occasionally find what used book (but dirt cheap and totally unjustified) .
