"Wilt thou lere of sterres aught?

Elles I wolde thee have told,"
Quod he, " the sterres names, lo,
And al the hevenes signes to,
And which they ben."

Dan Geoffrey Chaucer's Hous of Fame

This list of star-names is published in the endeavor to fill an acknowledged vacancy in our popular astronomical literature. It is not intended for the professional astronomer, who, as a rule, cares little about the old designations of the objects of his study,—alphabets, numerals, and circles being preferable, indeed needful, for his purposes of identification. 

From the introduction