the observer’s handbook for 1974 is the sixty-sixth edition. I wish to thank all those who assisted in its preparation: those whose names appear in the various sections, and my assistant editor Marie Fidler Litchinsky. Special thanks go to Margaret W. Mayall, Director of the A.A.V.S.O., for the predictions of Algol and of the variable stars, to Leslie V. Morrison and Gordon E. Taylor, British Nautical Almanac Office, for the predictions of lunar occultations and of planetary appulses and occultations, respectively, and to Maude Towne and Isabel Williamson for the tables of moonrise and moonset. The planet and asteroid maps were drafted by Ron Upcraft. I thank the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources for the maps of time zones, the director of the David Dunlap Observatory for his support, and the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, England, where most of this edition was prepared. Finally, my deep indebtedness to the British Nautical Almanac Office and to the American Ephemeris is gratefully acknowledged.

John R. Percy