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Purchased by a farmworker in the 1880s who became a self taught astronomer.Born in 1865 in Longside, Aberdeenshire, Alexander John Smith was the son of a local stonemason but left school at 13 to become a farm worker. Fascinated by the night sky he purchased his Wray telescope (a very expensive purchase for a man on a farm worker's pay), in the 1880s and became a self-taught astronomer. Throughout his long life he remained an agricultural worker but astronomy was his passion. During his limited spare time he made detailed and accurate scientific notes of his observations in a collection of well-worn notebooks which are now in the collection of Aberdeenshire Heritage at Mintlaw. The collection is important as it illustrates a Scottish tradition of self-taught artisans who embraced the rarefied worlds of science, literature and art.

Purchased by a farmworker in the 1880s who became a self taught astronomer.