These are the tools (mathematical instruments) which were commonly used by Georgian astronomers to record their observations of the 1761 and 1769 transits of Venus, and by their early Victorian successors who illustrated the events afterwards. Starting from the upper left are a quill knife, a porte-crayon, a glass inkwell, a copper-alloy, leather, and glass travelling inkwell, a quill pen, an ebony and copper-alloy parallel rule, copper-alloy and steel dividers, a boxwood and copper-alloy English sector, and a boxwood plane scale. They are shown with several late-Georgian engravings, the top one displaying the appearance of Venus during different phases, and the bottom one showing among other phenomena the aureole effect and the black drop. Image courtesy of Specula astronomica minima (©Specula astronomica minima).

18th-19th century ToV recording tools