Glancing through the recent additions to Project Gutenberg, I encountered this nice little book which details some of the pioneering scientists in the field of astronomy. It even has some nice illustrations which might be useful, such as the one on the right of Newton’s first reflecting telescope.
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Pioneers Of Science, by Oliver Lodge.
One day in London I went to the Royal Society with a group of American Astronauts. Martin Rees was there. Stephen Hawking too. On the table in the library they had placed two items for us have a look at. One was the original manuscript of Newton’s Principia. The other was the little telescope pictured in your blog posting (the original). Obviously we were all quite impressed!