Flamsteed was refusing to publish work commissioned by the king , so in 1712 Newton and Edmond Halley published a preliminary version of Flamsteed 's Historia Coelestis Britannica . They did so without crediting the author . Flamsteed was refusing to publish work that had been commissioned by the king , and in 1712 Newton and Edmond Halley published a preliminary version of Flamsteed 's Historia Coelestis Britannica without crediting the author .