"There are many notable collections of antique telescopes here in the United States and around the world.  Few, if any, have come together with as much panache as that of Dr. Edward Wolf.  During the course of about ten years he has brought together one hundred and eleven instruments of great rarity and beauty.  Possessing an unusual ability to locate and refurbish such instruments, he has carefully and with great expertise restored selected telescopes to a remarkable degree without altering the original character or design of the makers themselves.  It is remarkable that Dr. Wolf has accomplished this work to a high level of excellence while being self-trained in the art of restoration.

 

His collection of telescopes not only represents one of the largest in private hands around the world, but perhaps one with the greatest number of different makers. It is also one that includes some rare and quite notable telescopes: the earliest known signed and dated Alvan Clark and Sons refractor of any aperture in a private collection; a FoucaultSECRETAN 100-mm Newtonian reflector; Dr. Henry Paul's 4-inch Bardou and Son refractor; an early Mori Nizaemon Masatomi Japanese spyglass; and an Adam's surveyor's level c. 1800.  This collection will  surely provide a great source of detail and ingenuity for scholars of the future."

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Robert B. Ariail
Fellow of the Royal Astronomy Society
Charter Member of the Antique Telescope Society
Co-author of “Alvan Clark & Sons ARTISTS IN OPTICS”
Columbia, South Carolina, USA

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“Professor Wolf’s collection is known among members of the Antique Telescope Society as one of the most extraordinary private telescope collections in the United States. It is a dramatic presentation, including many very choice instruments. It will clearly make for a striking and popular gallery if maintained together in a museum setting.”

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John W. Briggs
President, Antique Telescope Society
Magdalena, New Mexico, USA

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“This catalog is a very good reference to Wolf’s collection of antique telescopes, but everyone would get a much better feeling (even excitement) about these old instruments if they could see them in person. I was impressed with Ed’s collection when seeing it first hand during my visit recently!”

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Yuri Petrunin
President of Telescope Engineering Company, Inc.
Golden, Colorado, USA

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“The Edward Wolf telescope collection is probably one of the most comprehensive and largest collections of antique telescopes, terrestrial and celestial, still in private hands today anywhere in the world. This catalogue is stupendous - perhaps I should have expected nothing less from an emeritus professor in science - but it is the best illustrated “text book” on early telescopes that I have ever come across by a very wide margin. The book is quite simply beautiful and I shall treasure it forever. The photos are wonderful and crystal clear. The organisation of the contents and the information it contains are invaluable.”

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Michael Bennett-Levy
Early Technology
Edinburgh, Scotland

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“Ed Wolf’s work, as revealed in this book, is literally overwhelming - a lifetime project accomplished in only twelve years. To this gentleman and dedicated scholar of early telescopes, including their acquisition and restoration, with a keen discernment for quality, I can only conclude by saying, in awe: Well done, my good and faithful friend!”

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Don V. Yeier
Former President & Owner of VERNONscope & Co.
Candor, New York, USA