Close-up drawing of the moon's surface: a smooth lava plain edged by craters and a large ringed crater, in cream against dark space.

Small cropped detail of a large lunar crater with central peaks, in cream and charcoal tones. — Inside: four of your photos stand up below this, with your note.

No. 8 of 27 · The Natural History Series

Mare Humorum

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E. L. Trouvelot's drawing of Mare Humorum, the Sea of Moisture, shows the moon's craters and old lava plains up close in soft cream and charcoal. Trouvelot drew the sky through the great telescopes at Harvard, and early astronomers named these dark plains seas, though they hold no water at all. For someone who loves the night sky.

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On the back

From the great astronomy books of the 1800s / MARE HUMORUM / The Sea of Moisture, on the moon / Mare Humorum, the 'Sea of Moisture', is a dry plain of old lava about 240 miles across. Early astronomers took the moon's dark patches for seas, and the names stayed. / The Trouvelot Astronomical Drawings, 1881-82 / E. L. Trouvelot drew the sky through the great telescopes at Harvard; his pastels were printed in colour by Charles Scribner's Sons. / NATURAL HISTORY · JUST BECAUSE

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