I would have a look at Robert Burnham's Celestial Handbook which is a 3-volume set published by Dover Books. It gives a constellation by constellation synopsis of the bright stars found in each constellation, and a bit about the history of some of the brighter double stars. The above image is of one of the components (Mizar A) in the binary star Mizar in the handle of the Big Dipper, which is itself a binary star!
Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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