Manuscripts

[Anon.], [Mirror of Wonders and Goal of Every Seeker in the Art of Medicine], folios 124v and 125r (right to left).

As with printed books, Lewis Evans’s founding collection of manuscript treatises on dialling and related themes formed the core around which a collection of manuscripts and archives has developed over the years. The collection embraces a great variety of source material in the history of science, with scientific instruments, practical mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, microscopy, and Oxford science as particular strengths.

The nature of archival materials and, not least, the Museum’s broad interpretation of its theme, mean that the scope of the collection can seem rather miscellaneous. From an early fake Copernicus letter to King Charles II’s address book, from mechanically-generated ‘spiraloid’ curves to drawings of mites or the moon, the manuscript collection is full of surprises as well as treasures. Being part of a Museum means that documents or whole collections are often directly related to objects, their donors, or their contexts; while being part of Oxford University and nearly next-door to the great manuscript collections of the Bodleian Library has allowed the Museum to concentrate on preserving less mainstream materials, such as ephemera relating to instruments, papers of scientific amateurs, and also (in the more modern period) papers of several historians of science.

For general information about the Museum’s library and archive holdings, and access to them for researchers, see the Library & Archives introductory page. For more detailed guidance or specific research enquiries, consult the Summary List that follows or contact the archivist.

Summary List of Manuscripts in the Museum of the History of Science

Manuscripts are listed by named collection; the shelfmark and correct designation of any item takes the form MS + collection-name + number, for example, MS Allen & Hanbury 2; the general or miscellaneous collection is MSS Museum; fuller descriptions are available, and for certain items much more detailed catalogues, either follow the links given or contact the archivist; all material is available for study by bona fide researchers, who should contact the archivist to discuss their needs and make arrangements well in advance

MSS Allen & Hanbury

Prescription records of Allen & Hanbury’s, pharmacists, and some earlier orders for chemical and pharmaceutical supplies, 1790-1894

Deposited on loan by Messrs Allen & Hanbury in 1945

summary list

1          Early orders for chemicals, drugs, and pharmaceutical supplies from the Plough Court pharmacy, 1795-1802

2          Collection of autograph medical prescriptions (174 prescriptions), 1822-73 and one item 1790, assembled by the Hanbury family

3-5       Three examples of prescription books from a chronological series designated by letters, 1840-72

6-9       Four examples of prescription books from an alphabetical series designated by alphabetical spans and volume numbers, 1875-94

[Other material from this provenance: MSS Museum 14, 27-28. Note: the prescription books (MSS Allen & Hanbury 3-9) are sample volumes only, other company records remain with the successor company Glaxo]

MSS Arnott

Sketchbooks and drawings of Audrey Juliet Arnott (1901-1974), medical illustrator, chiefly of surgical subjects, 1933-62; together with some related surgical illustrations

Transferred from the Department of Medical Illustration, Oxford, in 2001

summary list

1-63     Series of 61 sketchbooks containing drawings of surgical procedures, mostly made in operating theatres at the London Hospital and then at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, 1933-62 [numbers 15 and 35 were not received]

64        Mounted photographic artwork derived from Arnott’s drawings (7 items), 1934-45 and n.d.

65        Miscellaneous surgical illustrations: unsigned suite of coloured ?endoscopic drawings; unsigned piece of artwork with the halftone produced from it; item of original artwork by Margaret C. McLarty (1908-1996); copy photographs of illustrations by McLarty [modern copies from her book Illustrating Medicine and Surgery (1960)]

MSS Blundell

Papers and memorabilia of the Dollond family, optical instrument makers, chiefly family and personal items, 1728-1938; together with papers of some related families, 17th – early 19thC

Presented by Mrs M. D. Keates in 1998, including material initially deposited on loan by Mrs K. B. Blundell in 1978, and with additions

summary list

1          Published article by A. M. Broadley, mainly about scientific instrument makers’ trade cards, 1912

2          Peter Dollond’s certificate of fellowship of the American Philosophical Society, 1786

3          Letter to Susan Huggins from George Dollond snr, 1819

4          Certificate of freedom of the City of London issued to George Huggins (George Dollond jnr), 1827

5          Printed handbill or instruction sheet re the achromatic lens, [early 19thC]

6          Translation of part of an Italian work by Lorenzo Selva, re achromatic lenses, [late 18thC]

7          Journal of Susan Huggins for the years 1785-1847

8          Papers re the Long and Burgh families, early 19thC

9          Receipt for the burial expenses of William Dollond, 1893

10        Photocopy of exercise book belonging to Katherine Bertha Blundell (née Dollond) containing family trees and genealogical and biographical notes re the Dollond/Huggins families

11        Two printed leaflets re Sir Anthony Browne’s School, Brentwood, mentioning A. W. and H. B. Dollond, 1877

12        British Museum Reading Room ticket of A. W. Dollond, 1889

13        Newspaper and magazine cuttings re A. W. Dollond’s photographic work, 1890s

14        Letters patent granted to A. W. Dollond re tripods, 1885

15        Letter to A. W. Dollond from Kenric B. Murray, 1894

16        Incomplete issue of the European Magazine for August 1820

17        Issue of the Gentleman’s Magazine for July 1852

18        Telegram announcing the death of H. B. Dollond, 1938

19        Pen-and-ink set labelled ‘A Worthing Gift’, [early 19thC, perhaps belonging to Susan Huggins]

20        Volume containing fair copy of instructions and similar descriptive texts meant to accompany Dollond instruments, [late 18th/early 19thC]

21        George Dollond [snr]’s copy of J. F. W. Herschel’s published article “Light”, [1845]

22        Draft by Peter Dollond headed ‘An answer to a paper presented to the Royal Society by Mr Jesse Ramsden F.R.S. … relating to the invention of the achromatic Telescope’, [1789]

23        Scrapbook re the Dollond family and business, c.1752-1917, including: printed pamphlet by John Kelly, “The Life of John Dollond, F.R.S., Inventor of the Achromatic Telescope”, [reprinted] from the Philosophical Magazine, 1804; printed booklet The House of Dollond, [1917]; warrants appointing John and Peter Dollond Optician in Ordinary to His Majesty, 1761 and 1762; photograph of George Dollond [jnr, c.1852]; letter to Susan [Huggins] from P. Dollond, 1804; early Dollond trade labels, trade cards, and signatures; engraved portraits of John and Peter Dollond, latter 1820

24        Papers re the Long and Burgh/Brugh families, 17th – early 19thC

25        Front board and first pages of a book used as a family bible by the Long family, the book dated 1716

26        Front board and first pages of a French Bible used as a family bible by John Dollond, 1728-49

27        Certificates re the Dollond/Huggins family, 1831

28        Two certificates of conveyance for burial plots, issued to George Dollond [snr and jnr], 1849 and 1857

29        Certified copy of marriage certificate of William Dollond and Katherine Mary Long (1856), 1879

29        Certified copy of marriage certificate of William Dollond and Katherine Mary Long (1856), 1879

30        Series of 4 warrants appointing George Dollond Optician in Ordinary to His/Her Majesty, 1820, 1830, 1837, and 1853 [last refers to George Dollond jnr]

31        Two certificates of freedom granted by the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers to George Dollond [jnr], 1852, and to William Dollond, 1867

32        Two newspaper cuttings re A. W. Dollond’s school days, 1877-78

33        Documents re A. W. Dollond’s patents, 1885-88, including letters patent re tripods, 1886

34        Correspondence of A. W. Dollond (6 letters), 1889-94

35        Photographic journals and extracts containing published papers by A. W. Dollond, 1895-1906

36        Certificate granting Alfred Dollond ‘Permission to Photograph Scenery’ in West Wickham Common, 1903

37        Descriptions of an ‘Explosion Engine’ (for motor cars) by A. W. Dollond, 1905

38        Documents re A. W. Dollond’s M.B.E., 1920-21

39        Photograph of two ladies on a large-wheeled, tandem tricycle

40        Original copper plate for the engraved portrait of Peter Dollond (with small telescope) by J. Thomson, [1820]

41        Framed and glazed engraved portrait of Peter Dollond (as above), from the European Magazine, 1820

42        Certificate of freedom of the City of London issued to William Dollond, 1854

43        Impression in red wax of ‘The Seal of The Spectacle-Makers Company Lond: Incorp: 1629’, in turned wooden box

44-46   Three examination and prize medals of A. W. Dollond, n.d. and 1887-88

47        Silver M.B.E. medal in case [belonging to A. W. Dollond]

[Other material relating to the Dollonds: MS Museum 59; MS Radcliffe 29. There are further business and family papers at the Guildhall Library, London. Some recent additions are not yet included in the list]

MSS Bowen

Papers and correspondence of Edmund John Bowen (1898-1980), chemist and historian, especially relating to his historical interests, 1921-80

Presented by the Contemporary Scientific Archives Centre, on behalf of Dr H. J. M. Bowen and Mrs Bowen, in 1981

summary list

A1-A17   personal and autobiographical papers

A1       Obituary of Bowen from The Times, 1980

A2       Photocopy of Bowen’s curriculum vitae and list of publications

A3       Autobiographical reminiscences prepared by Bowen in 1973

A4       ‘Notes on Research Work of E. J. Bowen et al.’, up to c.1957

A5-A9   Letters of congratulation on Bowen’s election as F.R.S., 1935

A10     Correspondence re honours and awards, 1960-68, including letter from the Royal Society announcing the award of the Davy Medal, 1963

A11-A16   Miscellaneous correspondence (arranged chronologically), 1931-80

A17     Offprints of Bowen’s published papers re photochemistry, 1921-63

B1-B29   historical and biographical papers

B1       Draft on the history of atomic and molecular concepts in chemistry

B2       ‘Notes on the concepts of the Electron, Atom, Molecule, etc.’

B3       Draft entitled ‘The Progress of Photochemistry’ (up to 1969)

B4       ‘Notes on early spectroscopy’

B5       Printed pamphlet by M. Purver and E. J. Bowen, The Beginning of the Royal Society, 1960, together with photocopy of related poem

B6       Drafts entitled ‘Science and Scientists at Oxford’

B7       Notes mainly re history of Oxford science

B8       ‘Oxford Physical Science from 1850’ (probably a talk)

B9       ‘Chemistry at Oxford’, 1969

B10     Miscellaneous papers originally kept with preceding, some unrelated, 1934-69

B11     ‘The Alembic Club. The First Fifty Years’, 1967

B12     Notes, drafts, and printed matter re the Alembic Club

B13     ‘Oxford University Chemical Club’, [c.1967]

B14     Offprint of article “The Balliol-Trinity Laboratories, Oxford 1853-1940”, 1970

B15     Letters of thanks from colleagues on receipt of copies of preceding, some containing their reminiscences, 1971

B16     Earlier account of the Balliol-Trinity Laboratories, 1969, and related notes and photographs

B17     Draft re Oxford science in the 17thC

B18     Draft entitled ‘Robert Boyle, 1627-1691’

B19     Offprint of Bowen’s Royal Society memoir of “Dalziel Llewellyn Hammick, 1887-1966”, 1967, and other obituaries of Hammick; and related letters

B20     Draft and proof of Bowen’s obituary of “Sir Harold Hartley”, and obituaries by others, 1972-73

B21     Draft and offprint of Bowen’s obituary of “Sir Cyril Hinshelwood, 1897-1967”, 1967, and related printed matter

B22     Letters from colleagues commenting on Bowen’s obituaries of Hammick and Hinshelwood, 1967-70

B23     Drafts of obituary of ‘Dr. Bertram Lambert’, 1963, and related correspondence

B24     Offprint of Bowen’s obituary of “Dr. Peter Pringsheim”, 1965

B25     Drafts of obituary of ‘Dr. A. S. Russell’, and related printed matter, 1972

B26     Obituary of Sir Harold Thompson, and related printed matter, latter 1975-76

B27     Offprint of E. J. Bowen and Sir Harold Hartley, “The Right Reverend John Wilkins, F.R.S. (1614-1672)”, 1960

B28     Draft and offprint of preface to a festschrift for L. A. Woodward, and related papers and notes, 1969-76

B29     Photocopy of Bowen’s account of the history of ‘Park Town, Oxford’, 1976

[Other material from this provenance: MSS Museum 88, 153, 158, 167, 202 (early scientific research notes), 363. Bowen was also the source or intermediary for much archival material from Oxford chemists, chemistry laboratories, and societies received in the 1960s-70s (see MSS Museum)]

MSS Buxton

Manuscripts collected by Harry Wilmot Buxton (1805-1880), lawyer and scientific amateur, chiefly papers of Charles Babbage (1791-1871), mathematician and inventor, 1817-69; also some papers of John Lee (1783-1866), lawyer, antiquary, and astronomer, and of Sir John Ross (1777-1856), navigator and explorer; together with a few papers of Buxton himself, and later items, mostly relating to Babbage

Presented by Miss E. M. Buxton in 1994; initially deposited on loan by the Executors of the late Dr L. H. Dudley Buxton in 1939

summary list

1          Bound collection of papers and correspondence of John Lee (originally John Fiott), mostly re his early continental travel, 1814-66; preceded by Buxton’s biographical memoir of Lee

2          Bound collection of papers and correspondence of Sir John Ross, mostly personal, but also re his plans for the relief of Sir John Franklin, 1813-56 [one of the Franklin papers is bound in MS Buxton 1]

3          Transcriptions [by Buxton] of three writings by Charles Babbage: ‘The science of Number reduced to Mechanism’ (unfinished), an untitled account of the conception and early development of the difference engine (original 1822), and ‘On the mathematical powers of the Calculating Engine’ (original 1837)

4          Bound collection of printed papers by and belonging to Charles Babbage, chiefly privately-printed pamphlets and reprinted articles re the Scheutz calculating machine, the difference engine, Babbage’s mechanical notation, and the analytical engine, their original dates 1822-56; prefaced by a printed ‘List of Mr. Babbage’s Printed Papers’, [c.1864]

5          Printed pamphlet Sir H[arris] Nicolas, Statement of the Circumstances Respecting Mr. Babbage’s Calculating Engines, 1843

6          Printed pamphlet Charles Babbage, A Chapter on Street Nuisances, 3rd edition, 1864

7          Bound collection of MS writings by Charles Babbage, mainly re his calculating engines, 1822-69, including: ‘On the mathematical powers of the Calculating Engine’, 1837, ‘Of the Analytical Engine’, 1869, ‘Skeleton of Principles and Grammar of Mechanical Notation’, 1844-50, ‘Sketch of the principles of the Analytical Engine’, 1841, ‘The Analytical Engine’, 1869, and an untitled account of the conception and early development of ‘my calculating engine’ [the difference engine], 1822

8          Transcriptions [by Buxton] of various notes and unfinished writings by Babbage [mostly from originals in preceding]

9          Charles Babbage, ‘The Science of Number reduced to Mechanism’, [1839] (unfinished); early notes and drawings on the difference engine, beginning with the heading ‘Engine for table of differences’, [1821-22]

10-11   Corrected galley-proofs of Charles Babbage, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, [published 1864], and miscellaneous notes

12        Further corrected galley-proofs of same, together with miscellaneous Babbage papers, including transcriptions of letters from Sir James South, J. F. W. Herschel, and E. Ryan, (originals 1826), and draft or copy of letter from Babbage to [Sir William Fairbairn], 1855

13        Charles Babbage, ‘The History of the Origin and Progress of the Calculus of Functions during the years 1809 1810 …….. 1817’, a narrative of the early mathematical discussions and correspondence of his Cambridge circle of friends, especially in the Analytical Society (founded 1812) and then after leaving Cambridge, including transcriptions of correspondence with Edward F. Bromhead, J. F. W. Herschel, W. H. Maule, and others

14        Calculation tables for loads at various prices, n.d.

15        Three books of tables calculated and printed on Scheutz machines, 1857, 1859, and 1862

16-17   MS of Buxton’s ‘Memoir of the life and labours of the late Charles Babbage Esq F.R.S. …’, [1870s, unpublished until 1988]

18        Offprint of L. H. Dudley Buxton, “Charles Babbage and his Difference Engines”, from Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 1933-34 (paper given 1933)

19        Correspondence about Babbage, and about the deposit of the Buxton collection in the Museum, 1934-39

[A Babbage letter of uncertain provenance is MS Gunther 57. The Museum’s other Lee papers are part of the Gunther collection, MSS Gunther 9-10, 16, 23, 35, 36-38, 39-41, 53, 92. Babbage’s technical notebooks and engineering drawings are in the Science Museum, London]

MSS Clifford

Notebooks of Cecil Frank Clifford (1903-1995), engineer and horologist, relating to his experimental work in horology, especially development of the magnetic escapement, 1946-82

Deposited on loan by Horstmann Group Ltd in 1989

summary list

1-153   Series of 135 numbered uniform notebooks of Cecil Clifford, containing experimental or laboratory notes and copy letters, 1946-82 [numbers 50-67 were not received]

MSS Collie

Papers of Carl Howard Collie (1903-1991), chemist and physicist, especially relating to his interests in radioactivity, nuclear physics and nuclear instrumentation, and electronics, c.1922-1989

Presented by Mrs D. Takiguchi in 1993

In process (small collection) – for more details please contact the archivist

[See MSS Museum 160, 161, 194-200]

MSS Edmonds

Some papers and correspondence of James Marmaduke Edmonds (1909-1982), geologist and historian, relating to certain aspects of his historical interests, 1949-81

Presented by Mrs J. Edmonds in 1983 and 1984

summary list

1-2       Notes, published articles, photocopies, and other papers assembled by Edmonds re Edward Lhuyd and his book, 1949-78

3-7       Notes and correspondence on the bibliographical details and the location of copies of Edward Lhuyd, Lithophylacii Britannici Ichnographia (1699 and 1760), 1949-81

8          Notes from and transcriptions of correspondence between William Bateman and White Watson (the correspondence 1801-36)

9          Photocopies of J. E. Jackson’s lecture notes from William Buckland’s lectures on mineralogy and on geology (1832)

10-28   Research papers, correspondence, photocopies, and drafts of an introductory and explanatory text, re attendance at science lectures in early 19thC Oxford, the correspondence 1977-80

[Other material from this provenance: MS microfilm 59. The main collection of Edmonds’s papers is in the University Museum of Natural History, Oxford]

MSS Elliott

Archives and other papers of Elliott Brothers, scientific instrument manufacturers and electrical engineers, and of some associated companies, 1795-1979 with later additions; also some papers of Francis Watkins (1796-1847) and Watkins & Hill, scientific instrument makers, 1816-56

Presented by the Marconi Corporation in 2003

In process (large collection) – for more details please contact the archivist

MSS Evans

Manuscripts collected by Lewis Evans (1853-1930), paper manufacturer and sundial collector, chiefly illustrated treatises on sundials and other aspects of practical mathematics, 16thC – 1910s; also papers and correspondence of his great grandfather Revd Lewis Evans (1755-1827), mathematician and astronomer, 1767-1827, incorporating some papers of Thomas Simpson Evans (1777-1818), mathematician; together with papers and correspondence of Evans himself, 1878-1930. Lewis Evans was the founding benefactor of the Museum of the History of Science in 1924

Presented by Dr L. Evans in 1924 and 1928

summary list

1-32     papers of revd lewis evans (1755-1827), mostly astronomical and mathematical notebooks with titles as quoted

1-5       Series of 5 pocket notebooks containing a course of 7 lectures on astronomy and the solar system, starting with ‘History of Antient Astronomy’ and ending with ‘Of Herschell and his 6 Satellites’, 1812

6          ‘Lecture Hist. of. Astron’ [a continuation of MS Evans 1]

7          ‘Lecture On the Tides’; and (other way) untitled lecture on astronomy,       attacking superstitious interpretations of astronomical events

8          ‘On the Constellations’, lecture, (watermark 1803)

9          ‘Mnemonics’, notes and diagrams for a series of 7 lectures on mnemonic systems, (watermark 1809)

10        ‘Projectiles’; and (other way) ‘Of Pendulums’ and ‘The motion of bodies upon inclined planes’ (mathematical procedures and examples, not lectures)

11        Miscellaneous notes, scientific and otherwise, mostly 1805-06, including drawings of watch springs, and of a telescope, ‘Notes from Dr Higgins on Calcareous Cements’, and various recipes and calculations

12        Miscellaneous notes, scientific and otherwise, mostly 1817-20, including re the comet of 1819, and the solar eclipse of 1820

13        Early notebook containing mathematical problems and examples, originally dated 1767 [and probably used into the 1780s]

14        ‘Astronomical Memoranda’, 1811-12, containing rules, procedures, and equations for astronomical observations and calculations

15        Notes on physical and metrological subjects [in an unfamiliar hand, probably J. Fergusson’s], 1790; and (other way) notes mainly on wells, 1849-56, and rivers, 1873-91 [by Sir John Evans (1823-1908)]

16        Early notebook entitled ‘L E 1772 Curious Receipts & other Matters in Clock-Work’, 1770-74 and later additions, containing notes on clock and watch wheelwork, early personal notes, and various recipes etc

17        Group of miscellaneous mathematical and astronomical notes, (watermarks 1807-26), including cards [probably for use when lecturing], and a translation of ‘A new Instrument for comparing Linear measures by M. de Prony’ (1818) [latter by Thomas Simpson Evans]

18        Bundle of papers and correspondence, consisting of 3 groups: (1) ‘Catalogue of the Books belonging to the Mathematical School Christ’s Hospital’ [presumably by Thomas Simpson Evans]; and (other way) Cambridge examination questions (1817-18); (2) [Lewis Evans, ‘Of Observatories’, c.1814], draft of a practical treatise, with drawings, on the design, arrangement, and equipment of a small observatory; (3) letters to Lewis Evans on astronomy and mathematics, from A. Robertson, N. Maskelyne, T. Cock, Thomas Jones, H. Bartholomew, Thomas Taylor, 1788-1826, together with copies of other letters

19        ‘Practical Questions’, entitled inside ‘Practical Questions in Mensuration’, 1811-12 [and earlier]

20        ‘Equations’, entitled inside ‘Miscellaneous Equations’, 1817-26 [or earlier], containing solutions to algebraic equations

21-22   ‘Fluxions. 1’ and ‘… 2’, (watermarks 1807 and 1809)

23        ‘M. Fluxions’, (watermark 1796); and (other way) notes including ‘Burkhard’s construction of a Time-piece to shew both sidereal and mean time, from the Connaissance des Tems. 22’ and ‘A demonst[r]ation of Sir Isaac Newton’s Binomial Theorem …’ [published 1824]

24        ‘Geometrical Problems. Gunnery &c.’, 1800

25        ‘Miscellaneous Ma[t]hematics’, (watermark 1809)

26        Astronomical observations entitled ‘Computations of Mean Time from Sidereal Time. 1825 continued’, 1825-27

27        Mathematical notebook containing ‘Mensuration of Superficies’, ‘Mensuration of Solids’, and ‘Practical Questions in Mensuration’, a neatly written textbook of rules and examples, with diagrams

28-29   ‘A short account of the improvements gradually made in determining the Astronomic Refraction. By. T. S. Evans’, the final MS of an article, [published 1810/11]

30        ‘Cavallo’s Micrometer, Lowe’s Transit Circle, &c.’, containing chiefly: ‘Description and Use of the Telescopical Mother-of-Pearl Micrometer Invented by Tiberius Cavallo, F.R.S.’, 1814 [transcribed from a pamphlet published in 1793]; ‘Essays on placing Transit Instruments in the Meridian …’ (etc) by G. Lowe (1796) [probably transcribed from Lowe’s MS]; ‘Easy and correct method of verifying the position of a transit Instrument. By J. S. Butt Esqr. …’, transcribed from Nicholson’s Journal, 1806; and other notes re Evans’s transit circle

31        ‘A Transcript of Correspondence verbatim & literatim’, containing mathematical problems and solutions submitted by Evans to the Ladies’ Diary and the Gentleman’s Diary, with covering letters to the editor [Charles] Hutton, 1782-94; the letters evolve into a more extensive and personal correspondence

32        ‘A Collection of Mathematical questions, with solutions, transcribed from various Authors by the late Thomas Glass of Titcomb, Wilts. L.E.’, including material from published sources (n.d. and 1734-54)

33-39   papers of lewis evans (1853-1930)

33        Miscellaneous notes on sundials

34        Analysis of the cost or value of Evans’s collection of instruments, [?c.1920], and a record of the number of books and MSS in his collection

35        Notes on ‘Clog Almanacks’, (watermark 1877) [but later]

36        Notes on a ‘Clog Almanac. From the collection of Mr Drain Cardiff July. 1916’

37        Notes on sundials and related matters, [1890s-c.1920], including notes for a talk on the history of time measuring instruments, and notes on ancient and Roman sundials including a summarised translation of Baldini’s article about a Roman sundial (1741)

38        Bound volume of MS and printed material re exhibitions of Evans’s instruments, 1878-1903 (and several items 1930), chiefly catalogues and programmes, newspaper cuttings, and lists of items lent; also MS of Evans’s paper ‘On a portable sundial of gilt brass made for Cardinal Wolsey’, 1901

39        Bound volume of letters to Evans, mainly re sundials, mostly 1899-1914; the correspondents are Eleanor Lloyd, J. Drecker, E. C. Middleton, Jules Sottas, H. S. Cowper, Horatia K. F. Eden, D. S. Margoliouth, [Mrs] J. P. Margoliouth, Margaret L. Huggins, Sir Alfred Scott-Gatty

40 onwards   manuscripts collected by lewis evans (1853-1930), chiefly treatises on sundials and practical mathematics

40        Hugh Anderson, an English work on dialling written for the latitude of London, 51.32 [though the writer is Scottish], 1684-89 and also dated 1708 at end

41        Anonymous, ‘Arithmeticae Practicae Epitome’, a Latin work on mathematics written in England, [mid 17thC]

42        Giovanni Astolfi, ‘Costruzioni geometriche dell’ Orologio Solare’, a short Italian work on dialling, [published version Milan, 1823]

43        Anonymous, ‘Astronomicarum Institutionum Libri II’, ‘Gnomonica seu De Horologiis’, ‘Tabulae Gnomonicae ad Latitudinem graduum XLI’, ‘Longimetria …’, ‘Kalendarium …’, ‘Breuissimus Catoptricae Tractatus’, a Latin work/compendium on astronomy, dialling, surveying, and calendrics, in sections as given, written in Italy for latitude 41 [Naples etc], 1724

44        Anonymous, Avis contenant les vrais moyens de regler les montres tant simples, qu’ a repetition, a printed pamphlet, n.d., followed by 2 leaves of MS in Italian consisting of a text entitled ‘Equazione degli Orologj’ and a table, [late 18th/early 19thC]

45        [François Bédos de Celles], ‘La Gnomonique, ou l’art, de tracer des Cadrans Solaires, avec la plus grande precision, par les meilleures methodes …’, a transcription of [the published book by Bédos de Celles (1760)] adjusted for the latitude of Ghent, 51, by P. F. de Cooman, 1796

46        Padre Benigno di S. Giovanni di Val’ d’Arno, ‘Instruzzione breve e facile por far’ Orologi Solari, fissi, e portatili, a qual’ si vogli altezza di Polo’, an Italian work on dialling, 1731

47        Giuseppe Bernardino, ‘Trattato di Gnomonia’, an Italian work on dialling written at Milan, 1793

48        T. B., a Dutch work on mathematics, instruments, and astronomy, containing ‘I. Sphaerische Triangül Rechnüng. II. Usus Globorum. III. Gnomonica. IV. Astronomia’, partly copied from works by W. J. Blaeu and Lansberg, 1655-73

49        A. P. Bonfa, ‘Mathematicorum tractatus amoenissimi’, a work on mathematics (including mensuration and dialling) written at Avignon in both Latin and French, 1707

50        Abraham Bosse, ‘La Maniere Vniverselle de Mr Desargves pour poser l’essiev et placer Les heures et aues choses aux cadrans av soleil’, consisting of the frontispiece, title page, and engraved plates from Bosse’s published book, Paris, 1643, interleaved with a greatly abbreviated version of the text in MS

51        Georg Brentel, ‘Ein Künstlicher von newem Aüssgesünnene[s?] Weg oder form welcher massen eine Regül oder Linial aüsszütheilen, Aüss welchem ein Feder der sachen gering verständiger Ihme selbstenein Sonnen Uhr ahn allen orten und enden mit kleiner mühe wohin er will machen kan …’, a German work on dialling written at Lauingen (Laugingen) for latitude 48, [c.1600]

52        F. Alexandro Francesco Capuccino, ‘Gnomonices Biformis’ consisting of ‘Liber Primus Isagogicus’ and ‘Liber Secundus Horographicus’, then ‘Synopseos Gnomonices Biformis Partis Tabularis’, a Latin work on dialling, the tables for latitude 45 [northern Italy], [mid 17thC]

53        Angelo Maria Colomboni, Giuseppe Maria Figatelli, and P. Gio. Batta Vimercato, ‘Pratica Gnomonica’, an Italian compendium of three works of the same title on dialling, written at Mantua by one hand (probably Colomboni’s), 1695

54        Anonymous, ‘Compendium Brevissimum describendorum Horologiorum Sciothericorum’, a Latin work on dialling written in the Low Countries for latitude 52 [The Hague etc], [17thC]

55        Henricus de Coninck, ‘De Konst van de Sonne-Wysers’, a Dutch/Flemish work on dialling written at Antwerp, 1721, with introduction added by Godefridus Bouvaert in 1744 (2 vols)

56        Francesco Locatelli di Cormons, ‘Fabrica de gli Horologi Solari dellineati in figure et loro Regola descrita da farli. & prima che cosa Sia Horologio da Solle dichiaratione’, an Italian work on dialling, 1692

57        Anonymous, ‘Cosmographie’, a French work, [early 18thC]

58        Anonymous, ‘Dialling Or The Art of Shadows’, an English work on dialling, the sundials for latitude 51.32 [London], [early or mid 18thC]; ownership inscription of ‘Wm 1794 Davis of Overton Flintshire’

59        Joseph Drecker, ‘Gnomons and Sundials’, an English translation of Drecker’s published book [Gnomone und Sonnenuhren] (1909)

60        Anonymous, ‘Elementi di Gnomonica’, an Italian work on dialling, in two hands, with sundial for latitude 43 [Perugia etc], [late 18thC]

61        Eugenius, ‘Varia Notata’, a compendium of notes on dialling, the astrolabe, mechanical wheelwork, etc (partly transcribed from published books), written in both Latin and German, probably at Augsburg, with identifying inscription ‘Spectat ad P: Eugenium Ried: Capucinum 1724 Varia Notata’ (and similar), 1724-26 [and earlier]

62        Lewis Evans, ‘The Method of drawing a Vertical Declining Dial by the Line of Latitude and line of Hours’, instructions and drawing for making a sundial for ‘the south end of Mr. Joanes’s Workshop, No. 16 Warwick street, Worthing, Latitude 50°-49′ north. L.E.’, c.1816

63        Joannes Franciscus, ‘Horologium …’, an actual instrument with accompanying Latin description (‘Horologii Declaratio et Usus’), written at Freising, 1703 (6 sheets of parchment, bound)

64        [Pierre Georges], ‘Usages du nouveau Magnetique Excentrique p[ou]r trouver les heures du iour et de la nuit lors mesme q[ue] le ciel est couvré, si seulement on peut appercevoir dans quel endroit est le Soleil ou la Lune …’, a French description of an instrument, [the author’s Horloge Magnetique was published at Toulon, 1660] (6 leaves)

65        Francisco Benigno da Giarole, ‘Gnomonica in Pratica osia Novo, e Facil Modo, chiaro, e sicuro, mediante il quale, potvanno farsi orologi, Italiani, Babilonesi, Astronagi, a qual si voglia altezza, di polo’, an Italian work on dialling, mostly consisting of drawings, with tables for latitude 45 [northern Italy], 1767

66        Jacobus Masso, Johannes Baptista Giattino, and Anonymous, ‘Mathematicae. Tractatus Romae An: MDCLII’, a Latin compendium of mathematical treatises written at Rome by one hand (probably Giattino’s), 1652 (changed to MDCLXXI, 1671 throughout); includes sections on armillary spheres by Masso and on sundials by Giattino

67        Anonymous, ‘Gnomonica oder Beschreibüng, wie man allerhand Sonnen-Ühren aüf ebenen Orten khünstlich aüfreiβen und leichtlich virfertigen soll’, a German work on dialling, [late 16thC]

68        Anonymous/S. M. I., ‘Gnomonica Bornellana’, a Latin work on dialling written for latitude 49.10; a colophon at end reads ‘Finis Bornellae Kalendis Januarij anno a partu Virgineo 1712o’ [Bornella is evidently Brno, Moravia, now Czech Republic]

69        Anonymous, a work on mathematical and geometrical subjects, including instruments and astronomy, also containing some religious matter and a chronology of events ‘del nostro secolo’ (1600-39), written in Italy in both Italian and Latin, 1661 [and earlier]

70        Aubert Hazard, ‘Horographie ingenieuse Et Curieuse’, a French work on dialling and other scientific subjects, including experiments, recipes, etc, a table for latitude 50.40 [Lille, or Liège, Belgium], the sundials dated 1716

71        David Hopf, ‘Der Italianische Vestungs bau: mit Ein vorhergehenden Zinss Tariffa und 35 Sonenuhren. wie auch das Jochlein in der Donau Brück wie es ist ein gesetzt worden Ao. 1729’, a German work on dialling written at Ulm, 1729-31

72        Anonymous, ‘L’ Horographie mise en pratique Contenant Diverses Methodes nouvelles & Generales, pour faire promtem[en]t Justement & facilem[en]t avec le seul Demi cercle, toutes sortes d’horloges et Cadrans Solaires’, a French work on dialling written at Avignon, [c.1700]

73        Anonymous, ‘De Horologiis Sciothericis et aliis quibusdam Brevis Institutio’, a Latin work on dialling written for latitude 46.30 [probably in France], [mid 17thC]

74        Anonymous, ‘Tractatus Practicus de Horologiis Solaribus’ (decorative short title ‘De Horologiis Solaribus’) and ‘Tractatus Compendiarius de Sphaera’, a Latin work on dialling and the sphere, [17thC]

75        Anonymous, ‘Ad Horologiorum Descriptionem Brevis Explicatio Sinuum Tangentium atque Seccantiu[m]’, ‘De Cosmographia Tractatio’, untitled section on surveying and measuring, including use of a circumferentor, untitled section on ‘Spiritalium’ (hydrostatics and pneumatics): four Latin treatises in the same hand on mathematical and physical subjects, probably written in Italy, the sundials for latitude 42 [Rome], [17thC]

76        Anonymous, ‘Verhandeling over de Sonnewysers’, a Dutch work on dialling, the descriptions and tables for latitude 52, [18thC]

77        Anonymous, a compendium on mathematical subjects containing ‘Modo di conoscere ove trovasi acqua’, ‘Aritmettica’, ‘Geometria’, and chiefly ‘Compendium Brevissimum Describendorum Horologiorum Horizontalium ac Verticalium ad quamuis Eleuationem Poli’, as well as miscellaneous notes; written in Italy in both Italian and Latin, the dialling section for latitude 42 [Rome], [mid 17thC]

78        Bound volume of letters and notes chiefly on astrolabes in Lewis Evans’s collection, 1909-22 (and enclosures dated 1906); the correspondents are E. B. Knobel (chiefly), C. H. Read, Alice C. Stewart, E. Box, C. F. Frere, Y. Daweed (accompanied by his notes and translations from Evans’s Islamic astrolabes), William J. S. Lockyer, I. Sassoon & Co, Percy Webster, Lewis Evans (to [R. T.] Gunther, 1922)

79        Johannes Herman Knoop, ‘Werkdaadige meet konst’ or ‘Geometerie of meet konst’, a Dutch work on geometry, navigation, and related subjects (including surveying, dialling, fortification, and astronomy), including a sundial for Amsterdam, latitude 52.23, apparently composed in 1750 and transcribed by Jan van Zee in 1769-71

80        William Lesow, ‘William Lesow’s Mathematical Book’, an English work on navigation (including ‘A Sea Journal’) and other geometrical subjects (including globes, astronomy, and dialling), the sundials for latitude 51.30 [London], 1713-14

81        Anonymous, ‘Libro de medidas cronicas, para el cognosci miento de las horas y de los Reloges Uniuersales y particulares que para cognoscellas sehan de fabricai, y de las diferencias y uso de llos, assi para de dia por las sonbras y alturas del sol, como para de noche por las disposiciones y alturas de las estrellas’, a Spanish work on dialling, 1600

82        Hans Löschner, an English translation of Löschner’s published book ‘Über Sonnenuhren, Beiträge zu ihrer Geschichte und Konstruktion nebst Aufstellung einer Fehlertheorie’ [(1905)], 1905-06

83        Pedro Manrrique, ‘Arte de haçer Reloges de Sol assi Verticales, como Horiçõtales, por Arithmetica’, a Spanish work on dialling written at Toledo, including diagrams with moving parts and extensive tables, 1621

84        G. H. Martini, ‘On the Sundials of the Ancients’, an English translation of Martini’s published book [Abhandlung von den Sonnenuhren der Alten … (1777)], 1902

85        Meucastel, ‘Traité De La Gnomonique. Ou L’Art de Tracer Des Cadrans’, a French work on dialling written at Angers, [early 18thC]

86        Anonymous, a notebook containing notes on mathematical and other subjects (some transcribed from publications), including dialling, astronomy, optics, and mechanics, written in England in both Latin and English, the sundials for latitude 51 [southern England] and dated 1681

87        Anonymous, ‘Methode curieuse Pour Faire des Cadrans Solaires sur toutes sortes de Planes ou Superficies’, a French work on dialling, probably written at Paris, [c.1730]

88        Anonymous, ‘Methode Ingenieuse Pour tracer exactement les Cadrans Horizontaux, Verticaux Droits, Verticaux Declinans, & Declinans Inclinez Par L’Addition des Logarithmes Des Sinus & Tangentes’, a French work on dialling; a colophon at the end reads ‘Fait à Bossey ce 17. Juin 1695. Est. Dec. M. D. S. E.’

89        Alfonso Moscatelli, ‘Enciclopedia Universale Ristretto delle Matematiche All’ Altezza, è grandezza de talenti del Serenissimo Ferdinando Carlo Duca di Mantova Monferrato &c’, an Italian work on mathematical subjects, with sundial for latitude 45 [Mantua] dated 1678

90        Anonymous/D. D. G., ‘Notizie Gnomoniche. DDG. 1761’, entitled at the beginning of the text ‘Notizie spettanti alla Gnomonica’, an Italian work on dialling, the examples using the date 1752

91        Anonymous, ‘Methode pour Verifier les Dates’, a French work on calendrics, with tables for finding the days of the week, etc, 1693

92        Pietro Bennini, ‘Notizie Relative alla Formazione D’Orologi Orizzontali, Verticali Precisi, e declinanti a qualungue parte ad Uso, ed istruzione del M R Pieto Beni L’Anno 1790’ (altered to 1799), an Italian work on dialling written for latitude 44 [north of Florence]

93        Francisco Parlano, ‘De Sphera Armillari, seu Artificiali Breuis Tractatus’ and ‘Breuis ac Clara Methodus Construendi horologia Solaria’, a Latin work on the sphere and dialling written in Italy, 1681

94        F. Paschasius, ‘Exercitatio Gnomonica Ex Compluribus Authoribus Mathematices peritissimis’, a Latin work on dialling copied or adapted from various publications, 1672; includes two printed plates, and a polyhedral sundial for latitude 50 ‘Herbipolensem. Bambergens. Moguntin. Pragens’ dated 1673

95        G. Rayet, bound volume of MSS and correspondence on dialling, mostly 1874-75

96        [There is no MS Evans 96]

97        Anonymous, ‘Regole Per formare Orologi Solari in Piani orizontali, e verticali …’ and ‘Spiegazione della sfera Armillare …’, two short Italian works on dialling and the sphere, for latitude 44, ‘Scritto in Pianètto l’Anno 1772’

98        Hieronymus Romanus, ‘Praxis Gnomonica Lunaris, atque Aritmetica …’, a Latin work on dialling written for latitude 42 [Rome], with extensive tables and a printed plate, 1700

99        Andreas Schöner, ‘Ein Kurtzer und gründlicher bericht, Leichlich und Künstlich aller art Sonnen uhren zu machen, zu mützlichen gebrauch aller Künstlichen …’, a German work on dialling dated 1562 and 1636 [a transcription, with omissions, of Schöner’s publication of the former date]

100      Satur St Sernin (or Cernin), ‘Cadran Solaire’, a French work on dialling and other instruments, including the quadrant, nocturnal, and astrolabe, written for the latitude of Paris, 48.51, [late 17th/early 18thC; completed before 1729] (2 vols)

101      Samuel Sturmy, ‘The Seventhe Booke, The Mariner’s Magazen or Sturmie’s Mathematical and Practical Arts. The Art of Dyalling by the Gnomonical Scale as by calculation’, the original MS of book 7 (on dialling) of Sturmy’s Mariner’s Magazine, marked up for the printer, 1667 [purchased by the Museum in 1943, and subsequently catalogued with the Evans collection in error]

102      Anonymous, ‘Tavole per l’Altessa del Polo gradi 44 Ad 15 luglio 1700 [altered to 1710] in Pesaro con le quali ciascuno puo far da si gli Horologi da Sole orizontali, e verticali di qual si voglia grandezza’, an Italian work consisting mainly of tables calculated for Pesaro

103      Antonio Tentori, ‘Trattato di Gnomonica o sia Mettodo Facile Per Descrivere Orologi Solari Orizontali, è Verticali all’ Altezza Del Polo Di Gradi. 45. Minuti – 50. Polum. Patauii Est Grad: 45. Min. 28. Antonio Tentori Patauino Feci Anno 1775’, an Italian work on dialling written for a latitude just north of Padua

104      Anonymous, ‘Traité de Gnomonique ou de La Construction des horloges Solaires’, a French work on dialling with ?printed illustrations, 1756

105      Anonymous, ‘Traité D’horlogiographie Contenant la maniere de construire Sur touttes surfaces, touttes Sortes de Lignes horaires, et autres Cercles de la Sphere Avec quelques Instrumens pour la meme Pratique’, a French work on dialling, [mid 18thC]; one of the tables and a cylinder sundial are for the latitude of Nancy, 48.45

106      Anonymous, ‘Trattato di Gnomonica’, an Italian work on dialling, [18thC]

107      Urbano Urbani, ‘Regola, che insegna il Modo di Cavere qual si voglia Radice di numeri … de me F. Urbano Urbani Domenicano da Venetia …’, ‘Trattato Che insegna il modo di formare qual si voglia Horologio Solare …’, ‘Trattato Della Navigatione delli Mari …’, and ‘Trattato Della sfera celeste armilare, fatta in Lingua Latina …’, a work in 4 sections on mathematics, dialling, and astronomy in both Italian and (the last section) Latin, written at Venice with sundials for latitude 45, 1692-93

108      Anonymous, ‘Verhandeling Over het Maaken Van Zonnewijzers’, a Dutch work on dialling written for latitude 52, ?early 18thC

109      Aurelius Augustin Widmann, ‘Gnomonica Practica. Oder Anweisüng, Sowohl die 9 Regular: altz aüch die abweichente Vertical: … Züsamen gesammlet, ünd gezeichnet Von Aüreli Aügüstin Widmann I.U.C. Fridbergensi … 1760’, a German work on dialling, with sundials for latitude 48 [?Friedburg, Austria]

110      Abraham Wilmer, ‘Booke of Mathematicall Questions …’, an English work on navigation and (other way) geometry, instruments, and dialling, with sundials for latitude 51.30 and 32 [London], 1667-72

111      Anonymous, ‘Wiskonstige Reckening van Zonnewyzers’, a Dutch work on dialling for latitude 52.40 [north of Amsterdam], 1762

112      Anonymous, a Dutch work on dialling, with detailed geometrical designs and calculations including sundials for latitude 52, ?late 17thC; ownership signature of Simon Speijert van der Eyk, Leyden, 1809

113      Perikles Rediadis, Der Astrolabos von Antikythera, a printed pamphlet, 1903 (translated into German by W. Barth); bound with a MS English translation, 1913

114      Anonymous, a German work mainly on dialling, with some other aspects of geometry including use of the sector, 1695

115      Charles René Morin, ‘La Gnomonique Pratique, ou l’art de traçer les Cadrans Solaires avec la plus grande précision. Par les meillieures methodes mises à la portée de tout le monde …’, a French work on dialling based on the published books of Ozanam and Bédos de Celles, 1767

116      Anonymous, ‘Orologi Solari’, a folder of notes and drawings on clocks and sundials, in Italian, beginning ‘Orivolo de Sign. Franklin Filosofo di Pensilvania …’, and including ‘Rosa di Bussola co nomi de venti usati nel Mediterraneo’, [late 18thC]

117      Lewis Evans, calculating discs drawn in ink on card, one signed and dated 1891-92; they relate to paper sizes, quantities, and costs

118-119   Further and residual Lewis Evans papers

120      Scrapbook of printed material re sundials, chiefly extracts from periodicals and newspapers, illustrations (including a drawing [by Evans]), with some ephemera, 1645-c.1930; mostly collected by Evans but continued and probably bound in this form by R. T. Gunther

[Other material from this provenance: MS Museum 25; Evans’s correspondence with R. T. Gunther is in MSS Gunther Archive; Evans’s card catalogue of his collection of instruments, books, and MSS is the foundation of the Museum’s collection documentation. Some hitherto uncatalogued items are not yet included in the list]

MSS facsimile

Paper copies of manuscripts in other collections, including a small collection of such copies belonging to Henri Michel (1885-1981), engineer, historian, and collector (some accompanied by notes or correspondence)

Acquisition details vary; incorporates material presented by Monsieur H. Michel in 1962

summary list

1-10     facsimile manuscripts collected by henri michel

1          Adelard of Bath, ‘De operatione astrolabii’, ?c.1140 (Cambridge University Library)

2          Petrus Peregrinus, ‘Nova compositio astrolabii particularis’, 1261 with annotations 1330-40 (Vatican Library)

3          Franco de Polonia, ‘Tractatus de torqueto’, 1284 (Bibliothèque Communale, Erfurt)

4          ‘Almanach Prophacii Iudei’ for 1312-83 (Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels)

5          ‘Alphonsi Regis tabulae’, c.1344 and 1400, with star table dated 1320 (Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels)

6          Simon Tunsted, ‘Ars componendi rectangulum’, 1326 copied c.1400 (Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels)

7          ‘Tractatus abbreviatus et compendiosus ad faciendum astrolabium’, c.1370 (Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels)

8          Thabit ibn Qurra, ‘De motu octaue spere’, 15thC (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)

9          Nicephoros Gregoras, a treatise in Greek on the astrolabe, 14thC (Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid)

10        ‘Tractatus compendiosus de spera solida’, c.1430 (Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels)

11-20   facsimile manuscripts reflecting some research interests of c. h. josten

11        Robert Fludd, alchemical notebook, early 17thC (Trinity College, Cambridge)

12        Baldwin Hamey, ‘Bustorum aliquot reliquiae’, 17thC (Royal College of Physicians, London)

13-14   Chemical notes of and re F. M. van Helmont by Daniel Foot, 1662 and after (British Library)

15        Robert Fludd, ‘Declaratio Brevis’, early 17thC (British Library)

16        John Dee, ‘The Compendious Rehearsal’, 1592 (British Library)

17        Robert Fludd, ‘A Philosophicall Key’ and a treatise on wheat, c.1620 (Trinity College, Cambridge)

18        ‘Thesauraus aegyptiacae antiquitatis’, a Greek corpus Hermeticum belonging to John Dee (Landesbibliothek, Kassel)

19-20   John Dee, ‘Praefatio Latina in Actionem …’, 1586, 2 MSS (Bodleian Library)

21 onwards   facsimile manuscripts re scientific instruments

21        Paulus Tritius, ‘Compositurus Astrolabium’, ?16thC (Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan)

22        John of Gmunden, ‘Equatorium’, 15thC (source not known)

[See also MSS microfilm]

MSS Ferguson

Papers and correspondence of Allan Ferguson (1880-1951), physicist and science writer, 1912-51; also some papers of his wife Nesta Ferguson (née Thomas) and of her brother Meirion Thomas (1894-1977), both botanists, 1911-60

Presented by Professor J. Ferguson in 1967 and 1972, and by Mrs E. Ferguson in 1991, 1999, and 2001

summary list

In process (small collection) – for more details please contact the archivist

MSS Gabb

Manuscripts collected by George Hugh Gabb (1868-1948), chemist, antiquary, and collector, 1830s-1915, including papers he acquired from Richard Inwards (1840-1937), engineer and meteorologist; and papers and correspondence of Gabb himself, 1882-1945

Presented by the Executors of the late G. H. Gabb in 1948

summary list

1          Correspondence between Gabb and Antonio Favaro and J. J. Fahie re portraits of Galileo and related matters, 1918-30; together with related printed items

2          Correspondence between Gabb and Cecil H. Cribb re scientific instruments for sale, 1907-32

3          Papers and correspondence of William Harvey (1806-1876), surgeon, 1847-76, including letter from Sir John Burgoyne, 1865, and photographs and obituary of Harvey

4          Cuttings of press notices of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, 1927-37

5          Correspondence between Gabb and Robert T. Gunther re scientific instruments and the formation of the Museum of the History of Science, 1919-26; together with a photograph of ?Gabb

6          Correspondence and papers of Gabb re history of science and scientific instruments, 1920-40

7          Miscellaneous printed papers belonging to Gabb, including small collection of colour-printed trade cards advertising patent medicines, mainly 19thC American, and auction sale catalogues containing scientific instruments or scientists’ effects, 1913-31

8          Correspondence and other papers of and re Richard Kerr (d.1915), science lecturer, 1894-1915, including correspondence with Richard Inwards, letters from Kerr to Gabb, and newspaper cuttings

9-10     Collection of papers on geometric and harmonic curves assembled by Richard Inwards, mainly printed but including original and printed specimens of curves drawn with lathes, harmonographs, and similar instruments, and some MS notes and correspondence, mostly 1877-1907; includes material by or from Joseph Goold, Edith L. Somervell, Dr McKellar, Archibald Williams, Margaret Watts-Hughes, Henry Perigal, F. C. Penrose, Otto Boeddicker, S. B. Burnaby, and Inwards himself

11        Papers of Henry Perigal (1801-1898), mainly printed curves (associated with preceding), 1846-98

12        Notes and designs [by Richard Inwards] for an ‘epithet machine’, and re other similar devices, [late 19thC]

13        Notes and correspondence of Gabb re the telescope of Maria de Rheita (17thC), 1933-34

14        Correspondence of Gabb re history of scientific instruments and related matters, 1913-45

15-16   Printed papers of and re Henry Perigal, chiefly re the moon controversy and other astronomical matters, geometry, and circular motion, 1840-1905, including Frederick Perigal’s booklet Henry Perigal … A Short Record of his Life and Works, 1901

17        Printed sheets of Henry Perigal’s bicircloids (35 sheets), 1854

18        Two stereoscopic pendulum curves by A[ugustus] Stroh, 1893

[Other material from this provenance: MS Museum 64; photographs and prints. An Inwards item from a different provenance is MS Museum 290; a small collection of Perigal papers acquired more recently from a separate source is MSS Museum 332-339. Some hitherto uncatalogued items are not yet included in the list]

MSS Gowing

Papers and correspondence of Margaret Mary Gowing (1921-1998), historian, 1932-97. Margaret Gowing was the first professor of the history of science at Oxford (1973-86)

Presented by Professor M. M. Gowing in 1991, with additions to 1997; and further material presented by her sons in 1998, and by the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority in 1999 and 2000

In process (large collection) – for more details please contact the archivist

[Note: the collection does not include records of Gowing’s work as official historian of the UK nuclear programme, which are government records]

MSS Gunther

Manuscripts collected by Robert William Theodore Gunther (1869-1940), zoologist, historian, and museum curator, 14thC – 1930s; also some papers and correspondence of Gunther himself, 1891-1939 (but most such papers are MSS Gunther Archive), and some items acquired for the general collection of the Museum in Gunther’s time. R. T. Gunther was the founding curator of the Museum of the History of Science in 1924, and the first reader in the history of science at Oxford (1934-38)

Mostly presented by Dr R. T. Gunther and Dr A. E. Gunther at various dates, including items initially deposited on loan in 1940 (and thereafter) and presented by Dr A. E. Gunther in 1986; also some items acquired from other sources by the Museum during Gunther’s curatorship, 1924-40

summary list

1          Compendium of scientific and miscellaneous tracts, notes, tables, and diagrams, two-thirds being occupied by two treatises entitled ‘Secreta philosophorum’ and ‘Secreta secretorum Aristotelis’, 14thC; also including a Latin and English glossary of the names of herbs, and a diagram of a planisphere as from an astrolabe

2          Commentary by Walter Burley on the Meteorologica of Aristotle, entitled ‘De primis igitur causis et cetera’, followed by related notes mentioning Wycliffe, Burley, and Porphyry, 14thC

3          ‘A List of Revercions wth. the Proprietors & their Shares, Made An 1716’, and other financial accounts, 1716-30

4          Minutes of the Coffee House Philosophical Society, transcribed by William Nicholson, re experimental science chiefly chemistry, physics, meteorology, and technology, 1780-87

5          Diary of Robert Kell (of Edgbaston, near Birmingham), 1842

6          Notes and related papers by Gunther re the financial papers of Edward Gibbon jnr and snr (the historian and his father), [1922-23]; together with an original paper of 1784

7          Comparative notes by Gunther on herbals and their illustrations, with particular reference to a copy of Dioscorides’ Herbal, 1925

8          Notebook by Gunther entitled ‘Notes on & from Sir. Th: Sclater’s Catley & Linton Book. 1674-1682’, re gardening and garden management

9-10     Two commonplace books of John Lee (1783-1866), compiled chiefly at Hartwell House, 1824-57 with older insertions, containing numerous signatures, MS writings, illustrations, and inserted items, mostly contributed by guests, representing a variety of subjects and activities including archaeology, astronomy, chess, collecting, Egyptology, geography, history, law, linguistics, meteorology, numismatics, peace and ‘Universal Brotherhood’, photography, and temperance; there are several early photographs, drawings by Charles Piazzi Smyth and others, and minutes of the formation and proceedings of various societies, including the British [later Royal] Meteorological Society

11-13   Papers of Albert Günther, chiefly correspondence and printed material re scientific societies and institutions, mostly 1896-1900

14        Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks, with enclosures, especially re botany, zoology, and also archaeology, mostly 1775-1817, including several papers by Banks himself, and letters reporting natural curiosities etc; together with several earlier letters, 1738-63

15        Financial papers of Captain Edward Gibbon (1666-1736) [grandfather of the historian], 1702-10

16        Small collection of autograph letters of scientific men assembled by John Lee, 1677-1836, writers including Copernicus [forgery], John Flamsteed (to Sir Jonas Moore, 1677), Nevil Maskelyne, P[eter] Coll[inson], R[ichard] Pulteney, J. J. Dillenius, David Wilkins, and signatures of Linnaeus and Philip Miller; together with items engendered within Lee’s circle or connected with W. H. Smyth

17-19   [Items transferred to Museum reference files]

20        File of material re astrolabes formed by G. R. Kaye, early 20thC, including translation of Luciano Pereira Da Silva, [Astrolabios Existentes em Portugal (1917)]

21        Letters from William Buckland to Andrew Bloxham, 1823-24

22        Group of miscellaneous unrelated papers, including: assignment of money to John Radcliffe, 1705; letter from Fredrick Accum, 1819; papers on precious stones belonging to Arthur Deck, 1867-80; watch certificate by Breguet, 1900

23        Papers of John and Edward Riddle and the Nautical School, Greenwich, 1846-61

24        Italian sketchbook of Eustace Neville Rolfe, mainly archaeological and ethnographic, including items at Pompeii, 1894-95

25        Papers of Gunther, mostly articles and lectures, 1930s, including on Robert Hooke and on Sir Thomas Sclater’s fruit and fish culture; also TS copies of several articles by others on 17thC gardening

26        Letter to Richard Sheepshanks from W. Yolland re triangulation of Aylesbury and Oxford, 1842

27        Miscellaneous papers of Gunther, mainly correspondence, 1925-38, together with H. G. S. Barrett’s sketch of the [Radcliffe Observatory] equatorial sector, 1934

28        Diary of Sarah Angelina Acland (1849-1930), 1870-72 and 1888

29        Notebook of Sarah Angelina Acland, containing poetry and other transcriptions, 1866-1909

30        Holiday diary of Sarah Angelina Acland, Madeira, 1908

31-33   Papers from Francis Galton’s anthropometric laboratory, mostly instruction leaflets, test cards, signs, recording forms, statistical tables, and graphs used or displayed in the laboratory, mostly 1883-84

34        Keene family deeds: re the sale by Thomas Sclater King of the manor of Duxford Bustlers etc, 1772; and establishing the Castle Camps Sunday School Trust under the will of Benjamin Keene, 1838

35        Astronomy lecture notes of John Fiott (later John Lee) at Cambridge, [between 1802 and 1806]

36-38   Three astronomy scrapbooks of John Lee, 1837-60 with a few earlier items, including MS notes, newspaper cuttings, other printed items, illustrations, and letters; there are drawings and MSS by W. H. Smyth and family, early photographs of the Cape of Good Hope Observatory by Charles Piazzi Smyth, 1842, and a silhouette of Caroline Herschel as a young woman, [before 1772]

39-41   MS of William Pearson, [An Introduction to Practical Astronomy, published 1824-29] and related papers, mostly c.1818-28

42        [Item withdrawn by A. E. Gunther and given to the Bodleian Library]

43        Letter to S. Rigaud from B. L. Vulliamy, on the economics of clock and watch making, 1830

44        [Items transferred to MSS Gunther Archive]

45        TS copy of letter to John Loveday from William Huddesford (original 1769), 1936

46        Papers of and assembled by Gunther re Cambridge science and scientific instruments, in connection with the 1936 Cambridge exhibition, mostly 1934-36, including printed material and correspondence

47        Papers of and assembled by Gunther re microscopes and microscopy, mostly 1930s, including printed material and correspondence

48        Printed papers of Gunther re his work in history of science and as curator of the Museum, 1909-39

49        Warrant from King Charles II (signed) for the payment of £1000 to Sir Samuel Morland for mathematical instruments, 1667

50        Gunther’s student notes from Edward A. Minchin’s zoology course, Oxford, 1891

51-52   Two notebooks of Gunther re books belonging to the original Ashmolean Museum and to Ashmole (in the Bodleian Library), [c.1930]; together with TS of an article on them [published 1930-31]

53        Richard Pulteney’s rearrangement according to the Linnean system of the woodcuts from Fuchs’s herbal (De Stirpium Historia, 1545), 18thC

54        Transcriptions by Richard Ellis of Edward Lhuyd’s correspondence (originals 1693-1702), [c.1908-09]

55        Student register of the Millard Laboratory, Oxford, 1886-1901; together with letter from Jim Mogridge, 1933

56        [Items transferred to MSS Gunther Archive]

57        Letter to Charles Babbage from Alexander S. Herschel on astronomical matters, 1861

58        [Items transferred to MSS Gunther Archive]

59        ‘Extracts from Memories by William Simms, F.R.A.S. Begun in 1885 …’, and other memorabilia, sent with letters to Gunther from his daughter Catharine M. Tucker, [c.1930]

60        Address book of King Charles II, [c.1660]

61        Transcription of Henry Bate’s Magistralis compositio astrolabii (a printed book, 1485), 1930

62        Papers re James Watt copying machines, including letters to J. P. Muirhead from Gilbert Hamilton, 1859 and 1869

63        Correspondence of Baden Powell (1796-1860), chiefly from Charles Piazzi Smyth and re instrument mountings (21 letters), 1856-59

64        Bound volume of printed and MS material re the Botanic Garden, Oxford, including correspondence, assembled by Edward Chapman and Gunther, 1873-1918

65        Bound volume of material, mostly printed but some MS notes, correspondence, and plans, re Oxford science departments, the Faculty of Natural Science, and the development of the Science Area, assembled by Edward Chapman and Gunther, 1858-93 with some later items

66        Photographic copies of the minutes of the Oxford Philosophical Society (1683-88), and notes and drafts by Gunther, 1924

67        Photostats of Robert Hooke’s diary (1688-93), c.1935

68        Papers re the geological collections and studies of Lady Elizabeth Hippisley, including letters, lists of specimens, and notes on analysis and classification, c.1801-18; the writers and correspondents include W[illiam] Allen, [Sir Humphry Davy], Charles Hatchett, [Henry] Heuland

69        Poem headed ‘The Cube Root Rule’ by S. Rigaud, 1833

70        Album of 20 lithographs illustrating characters and costumes of Italy or of Naples, early 19thC

71        Printed book John Pointer, Oxoniensis Academia …, 1749, interleaved with a MS account of a tour of Oxford by five students in 1750

72        Printed book The Oxford University and City Guide …, [1818], bound with a MS journal of a tour on the continent by H. F. Spens, 1820

73        Printed book Ebenezer Henderson, Life of James Ferguson, 1867, with amendments and additional matter, and letters from Henderson to Nicholas Milne about Ferguson relics, 1869-70

74        Album of 35 photographs of Holtzapffel lathes, lathe parts, and ornamental pieces turned with the lathe, c.1892

75        Four spiraloid curve designs drawn by a lathe or harmonograph, [possibly by S. B. Burnaby, late 19thC]

76        Circular papers for use in drawing curve designs with a lathe, mostly bearing simple test designs, [?late 19thC]

77        Photograph of specimens of ornamental turned work by J. H. Evans, with letter to E. Chapman from Evans, 1899

78        Table for screw-cutting by E. T., 1877

79        Photograph of T. H. T. Hopkins’s Holtzapffel lathe, c.1880

80        Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings, prints, MSS, drawings, and several photographs, mostly re lathes and turning, mechanics, and industrial and workshop machinery, begun by T. H. T. Hopkins and continued by Edward Chapman and Gunther, 1862-1919

81        Two labels to pieces of apparatus used by Daubeny, written by T. H. T. H[opkins], c.1872

82        Printed numbers for use in labelling specimens of minerals in the Daubeny collections, 19thC

83        Printed pamphlet Catalogue of the Philosophical Apparatus, Minerals, Geological Specimens, &c. in the possession of Dr. Daubeny …, 1861

84        Auction sale catalogue of Sir Frank Crisp’s collection of microscopes, 1925, with annotations and insertions by Gunther, including letters from Thomas H. Court and R. S. Clay, and a large group of Crisp’s engraved illustrations of microscopes

85-88   Sir Frank Crisp’s catalogue of his collection of microscopes, [before 1919], bound in 3 vols with various additions including things added by Gunther, 18thC – 1936; together with 4 folders of loose material, mostly Crisp’s engraved illustrations of microscopes

89        Record cards by E. M. Nelson of technical and historical data and bibliographical references, mostly optical, microscopical, and mathematical, 1920s-30s, and a series of weather records for 1904-27

90        Pamphlet entitled ‘Comets’ by Edward Milles Nelson, 1931

91        Translations and transcriptions by Sister Lavine of writings by Richard of Wallingford, [1920s]

92        Unused (empty) volume of John Lee’s astronomical scrapbooks [see MSS Gunther 36-38]

93        Large album entitled ‘Portraits of Eminent Men’ containing Charles Daubeny’s collection of portrait prints, early and mid 19thC

[Material of various kinds belonging or relating to Gunther, the Museum’s founding curator, occurs throughout the Museum; items identified among the general collection of MSS as having belonged to Gunther are MSS Museum 10-13, 17, 22, 97, 99, 102, 111, 112, while others associated with him include MSS Museum 7-8, 20, 42, 61, 109, 120, 173, MS Evans 120. Personal and family papers are mostly MSS Gunther Archive]

MSS Gunther Archive

Papers and correspondence of Robert William Theodore Gunther (1869-1940), zoologist, historian, and museum curator, and of his family, 1869-1940 with later additions; and part of the archival records of the Museum of the History of Science under Gunther’s curatorship, 1924-40

Mostly presented by Dr A. E. Gunther in 1965-86, including items initially deposited on loan and presented in 1986; also some items transferred from the Museum’s internal archive

For more details of this collection please contact the archivist

[See also MSS Gunther and MSS Museum Archive. There are further Gunther papers in a number of other repositories, including the Bodleian Library, Oxford; Magdalen College, Oxford; Natural History Museum, London; Royal Geographical Society, London]

MSS Josten

Papers of Conrad Hermann Hubertus Maria Apollinaris Josten (1912-1994), historian and museum curator, especially relating to his historical and biographical research, c.1948-66. C. H. Josten was curator of the Museum of the History of Science (1950-64)

Partly presented by Dr C. H. Josten in 1964; and partly transferred from the Museum’s internal archive

In process (small collection) – for more details please contact the archivist

[Josten figures prominently in MSS Museum Archive, and also in MSS SHAC and MSS facsimile. Note: the collection consists of material left in the Museum in 1964; no further papers were received after Josten’s death, so no personal or political papers are held]

MSS Ludlow-Hewitt

Some papers of Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley (1887-1915), physicist, and of his mother Amabel Moseley (d.1927), 1901-18

Deposited on loan by Professor J. L. Heilbron, on behalf of the owner Mr A. Ludlow-Hewitt, in 1977

summary list

1          Job application, testimonials, and published papers of H. G. J. Moseley, forming his application for the post of professor of physics at Birmingham, 1914, together with letter from Oliver Lodge

2          Diaries of Moseley’s mother, Amabel Moseley (from December 1914, Mrs Sollas), for 1901, 1903-15, and 1918

[Other material relating to Moseley: MS Museum 118; photographs. Note: these items are part of the family collection, most of which remains in private hands]

MSS microfilm

Microfilm copies of manuscripts in other collections

Acquisition details vary, mostly purchased by the Museum

summary list

1-32     Royal Greenwich Observatory MSS, chiefly observations (136 vols), 1676-1775 (Public Record Office)

33        Written answers to Oxford final examination papers, 1940

34        ‘Le chemin aisée applani pour aller droit à la sacrée citadelle d’Hermès’, an alchemical work, late 17th/early 18thC (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)

35        Ibn ar-Razzaz al-Jazari, ‘Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices’, 13thC (Topkapi Seray Library, Istanbul)

36        Illustrations of the astronomical clock of Giovanni de’ Dondi (Bodleian Library)

37        Polish inventory of scientific instruments, 1959

38        Preliminary tables for a second edition of L. A. Mayer’s Islamic Astrolabists and their Works

39        Robert Fludd, ‘A Philosophicall Key’ and other works, c.1620 (Trinity College, Cambridge) {as facs!}

40        Thabit ibn Qurra, ‘De motu octaue spere’, 15thC (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris) {as facs!}

41        Chemical notes of and re F. M. van Helmont by Daniel Foot, 1662 and after (British Museum) {as facs!}

42        Two versions of Giovanni de’ Dondi’s treatise on his astronomical clock, 1364 (Biblioteka Jagiellonska, Cracow)

43        ‘Thesauraus aegyptiacae antiquitatis’, a Greek corpus Hermeticum belonging to John Dee (Landesbibliothek, Kassel) {as facs!}

44        ‘Old Grace Book of the Inner Temple’ (Inner Temple, London)

45        The so-called ‘Erfurt clock MS’, a medieval treatise on astronomy and time-telling (Biblioteka Jagiellonska, Cracow)

46        Accounts of the making and installation of the Perpignan clock and bell, 1356 (Archiva de la Corona de Aragon, Barcelona)

47-48   Alfonsine star catalogues (Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid)

49        Calendrical compilation, 15thC (Chetham’s Library, Manchester)

50        Table of fixed stars, with commentary, by Levi ben Gerson, 15thC (Nationalbibliothek, Vienna)

51        Treatise on mathematics and astronomical instruments by Levi ben Gerson, ?15thC (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich)

52        ‘Extracta ex tractatu magistris Leonis Judaei’ (Levi ben Gerson), 15thC (Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Brussels)

53-56   Four MSS of ‘Libros del saber de astronomia’ of King Alfonso X, 13thC (Escorial Library; Vatican Library; Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid; University of Madrid)

57        Malayendu Suri, ‘Yantrara Jagamavyakhya’, a Sanskrit treatise on the astrolabe, 14thC (Wellcome Institute)

58        Inventory by Edward Nairne of the physics apparatus used by Thomas Hornsby at Oxford, 1790 (Bodleian Library)

59        Correspondence of William Buckland, early 19thC (Royal Society)

60        Notes from the chemistry courses of Peter Stahl at Oxford and Exeter, 1650s-80s (British Library)

61-64   Diaries of John Ward containing accounts of his chemistry studies in Oxford, 17thC (Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington)

[See also MSS facsimile]

MSS Millburn

Papers and correspondence of John Richard Millburn (1925-2005), engineer and historian, especially relating to his historical interests, c.1930-2005; together with some manuscripts collected by Millburn, 1730-1893

Bequeathed by Mr J. R. Millburn in 2006

In process (large collection) – for more details please contact the archivist

[The Millburn bequest also included small collections of printed ephemera, prints and maps, patents (photocopies), acts of parliament, newspapers (1688-1999), and microfilms]

MSS Museum

The general collection of manuscripts of the Museum of the History of Science, 1457 onwards. This class embraces those manuscripts and small collections acquired from various sources and not belonging to a named or separately-listed provenance collection; note that it also includes some collections accumulated over a period and thus listed discontinuously

Acquisition details vary, mostly small gifts and purchases, and material transferred from departments of Oxford University, 1924 onwards (continuing)

summary list

1          Miscellaneous scientific, historical, theological, and literary notes, and geometrical exercises, by Thomas Langley, 1693-1702, and some financial accounts dated 1780

2          [Gaspar] Neumann, ‘Lection: Chymico-Pharmaceuticarum Experimental. Cursus III’, early 18thC [probably transcribed from the published book]

3          ‘Dr: Bradleys Mathematical Lectures abridged November 1747’, containing an abstract of or notes from a course of 20 lectures on experimental philosophy [given by James Bradley in Oxford]

4          Attendance register of the Oxford Microscopical Society, 1864-66

5-6       ‘Index to English Mechanics …’, indexing topics in the magazine The English Mechanic, [after 1907]

7          ‘Correspondence of the Philosophical Society of Oxford’ (1681-90), transcribed from a Bodleian Library MS in 1937

8          ‘Correspondence of the Dublin Society with the Philosophical Society of Oxford’ (1683/4-86), transcriptions [1937] from a Bodleian Library MS and photocopies from MSS in Trinity College, Cambridge

9          Fragment (letter A only) of an index of chemical substances, in Greek and Latin, 1652

10-13   Political papers of Sir John Coxe Hippisley (1746-1825), including election papers, correspondence, handbills, poll-book, and a notebook, re parliamentary elections at Sudbury, Suffolk, 1790-1813 [these papers are on permanent loan to the Suffolk County Record Office, Ipswich]

14        MS copy of a list of oriental herbs and materia medica sent from Cochin [Vietnam] to King Manuel of Portugal by Thomas Pires (1516), 1869

15        Letter from Oliver Goldsmith to ‘Mr. Johnson’, 1758 [forgery]

16        Photographic copies of a MS list of John Bainbridge’s scientific books and instruments (original 1629), ending with a memorandum on the inadequacy of his premises and equipment [in Oxford], 1937 and 1949

17        Volume of ‘Drawings on Artillery. R.M.A. J. R. Keene’, done at the Royal Military Academy [Sandhurst], (watermark 1851)

18        Notebook of drawings of clock-hands by J[ames] Minn, [?late 19thC]

19        Essay or talk by G. J. Evans entitled ‘The Production of New Races of Animals and Plants by Selection’, 1912

20        Essay by E. Graham Laws entitled ‘The Researches of Faraday, Graham and Mitscherlich in Physical Chemistry’, [?c.1908]

21        Papers sent to F. Sherwood Taylor by Robert Eisler re globes and ‘The Polar Sighting Tube’, including a draft of Eisler’s article of that title [published 1949], c.1943

22        Notebook of turned designs made with a Holtzapffel lathe, with technical notes, [19thC]; together with a bill to John Chapman from Holtzapffel & Co for the supply of a lathe with accessories etc, 1847

23        Collection of bills from traders in Paris, including pharmaceutical supplies, confectionery, ironmongery, water closets, and a laundry (17 papers), 1837-50

24        Papers by John Pointer re 3 instruments: ‘The meaning of the Geometrical Sun Dial done on Box …’, ‘A Brass Plate, on ye one side of which is an Altimetric Quadrant …’, and ‘A Perpetual Ephemeris’, [late 17th/early 18thC]

25        Group of printed material re sundials, mainly plates illustrating dialling from various encyclopedias, [18th and 19thC], together with a TS about dialling by E. C. Middleton, [?early 20thC]

26        Spanish watermark of an early locomotive, mid 19thC

27-28   Two letters patent granted to Edwin Hawker for ‘Improvements in the manufacture of Jujubes and other articles of confectionery’, 1874

29        Patents of Frederick J. Jervis-Smith (1848-1911), including letters patent, specifications, applications, and other related papers, 1881-1906, including re photography, chronographs, and electric signalling

30        Miscellaneous printed patent specifications: (1) William Storer for ‘an optical Instrument, called an accurate Delineator, which entirely obviates the Defects of the Camera obscura’, 1778; (2) James Yate Johnson (as agent for the firm of Carl Zeiss) for ‘Improvements in or connected with Telescopes’, re binoculars, 1894; (3) Fairfax Fearnley for an ‘Elastic Ear Cushion for Use on Telephone Receivers’, 1894

31        ‘Extract from Mr. Telford’s Report “The New River”’, re use of water from the River Lea to supply London, c.1833

32        Papers and correspondence arising from a debate on radiation optics and especially Abbe’s theory of numerical aperture, between E. M. Nelson and M. J. Michael, 1896

33        Calculations re technical optics (achromatic and apochromatic lenses) and the properties of optical glass, [probably by E. M. Nelson], 1909-13

34 & 36   Early notes and drawings by the geologist John Phillips on technical and engineering subjects, especially railways, wheels and wheeled vehicles, printing presses, surveying instruments, lathes, and instrument-making techniques, 1819-22; together with engraving of ‘J. Blenkinsop’s Patent Steam Carriage. Middleton near Leeds’, 1819

35        Large drawing of a Robert Stephenson ‘Crampton’ type locomotive, 1849

36        [See 34]

37        Correspondence of Baden Powell (1796-1860) on scientific subjects including the vibrations of light (14 letters), 1836-58; the letters are from ?E. J. L., G. G. Stokes, G. B. Airy, H. Lloyd, W. H. Smyth

38        Small group of papers re Joseph Wright and the English Dialect Dictionary [published 1898-1905], including letters from Wright, J. Drummond Robertson, and Clara L. Skeat, 1894-95 and 1930

39        Correspondence of H. H. Turner (1861-1930) and the University Observatory, Oxford, re astronomical and historical matters, 1900-13, with enclosures including a letter from Otto Struve re W. Herschel, 1903, and the minute of election of Charles Pritchard as Savilian Professor of Astronomy, 1870

40        Group of miscellaneous unrelated items, including: scroll bearing a chronology of Old Testament history, (watermark 1813); letter and note re ‘Priestley’s Thunderhouse’, 1913 and n.d.; 2 translations of inscriptions on Persian instruments, 1812; miniature portrait on ivory of John Everett, [early 19thC]; MS pocket book entitled ‘Practical Rules for Elevation & Ranges with Field Guns’, [early 19thC]

41        Group of miscellaneous and mostly unrelated letters of scientists, 1796-1905: John Kidd (to Mr Paxton, 1825), Charles Daubeny, A[bram] Robertson (to Dr Hutton, 1796), J. J. Conybeare, J. C. Lettsom, G. A. Mantell (2 letters), W[illiam] Buckland, Edwin Lankester, B[enjamin] Silliman, S. J. Johnson, 3 business letters to E. J. Stone, G. C. Jenner (to Dr Williams, re alleged failure of vaccination in Oxford, 1801)

42        Newspaper cuttings re sundials and instruments, 1930s

43        [Item transferred to MSS Gunther Archive]

44        Group photograph of the Société d’Anthropologie de Paris, and 2 menu cards with signatures, 1909

45        Thirteen lecture-attendance and similar cards or tickets for the medical course at Edinburgh, belonging to John Duck, 1784-86

46        Account book of Francis Newbery recording sales of ‘Dr. James’s Fever Powder’, 1768-98; under 1774 is a MS re the death of Oliver Goldsmith, denying the allegation that it was caused by James’s powder; enclosures include newspaper advertisements for the powder, 1751 and 1763, and modern cuttings etc, 1901-35

47        Invoice to Mr Reid from C. Tiffin, ‘Bug Destroyer, to His Majesty, Upholsterer and Undertaker’, 1827; together with a printed trade card bearing a priced list of bug-destroying

48        Apothecary’s bill to John Somersett from Daniel Price, listing a large quantity of drugs etc, 1718

49-51   Three attendance registers of the chemistry laboratory at Queen’s College, Oxford, 1900-34 [the complete life of the laboratory]; enclosed in one are 3 newsletters issued from the laboratory, 1924-25

52        Laboratory notebook from the Balliol-Trinity Laboratories, Oxford, beginning with a note by O. L. Hughes, 1933

53        Letter-book of Lord Berkeley, containing copies of correspondence about apparatus for his private laboratory at Foxcombe, near Oxford, 1911-15; together with instrument test and calibration certificates and reports from the National Physical Laboratory, 1900-17

54        Scrapbook containing correspondence and other papers re Dunsink Observatory, near Dublin, compiled by Sir Robert S. Ball and Arthur A. Rambaut, 1884-93; includes routine correspondence, and correspondence with Sir Howard Grubb, with accompanying specifications, drawings, etc, much of it re installation of a telescope given to the observatory by Isaac Roberts; enclosed are some later papers of Rambaut’s, 1899-1906

55        Notes headed ‘History of the Lucifer Match’, also covering other types of match, 1877

56        Group of material illustrating the complex two-dimensional designs and curves that can be generated by the lathe and related instruments, including specimens assembled (in 1928) for a display of epicyclic turning and security engraving, 1818-1920s

57        Engraved border cut in 3 strips from an estate map, depicting surveyors and surveying instruments, 1733

58        Small group of letters to Sir John Lubbock from Sir John Herschel, 1845-54; and some other papers from the Herschel family, including a note signed by [Sir] William Herschel re investments, (watermark 1810), and a letter to [R. T.] Gunther from Constance A. Lubbock, 1930

59        Invoice from G. Dollond for ‘A Camera Lucida’, [?c.1820]

60        Piece of parchment with signatures of Henry G. Liddell, Charles Daubeny, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, and E. Thorold Rogers, [?c.1860]

61        Group of papers and photographs assembled by R. T. Gunther re the microscope and microscopy, especially the work of E. M. Nelson, 1744-1938

62        Correspondence of Frederick J. Jervis-Smith on scientific subjects, 1883-1911, consisting of letters from the Bishop of Bath & Wells, William Odling, Lord Kelvin, Charles A. Parsons, Lord Berkeley, G. Eiffel, W. J. Herschel, Frank M. Newton, Sir Oliver Lodge, Lord Rayleigh; together with obituaries of Jervis-Smith, 1911, and later notes by his widow, [1933]

63        Letter from M[ichael] Faraday to [illegible], 1854

64        Printed pamphlet [by Joseph Bonomi], Catechism of Health, or “The Sound Mind in the Sound Body.” How Maintained, [c.1860]; together with photographs of the author, notes, and an obituary, latter 1878

65        Letters to R. T. Gunther from John Chalk and others re Robert Cockram and the Oriel College astrolabe, with notes by Gunther, 1936

66-79   papers of sir benjamin collins brodie jnr (1817-1880), chemist

66        Letters to Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie jnr (19 letters), 1870-74, including from Henry J. S. Smith, Arthur Hobhouse, A. W. Hofmann, and graduate students enclosing experimental notes

67-70   Miscellaneous papers of Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie jnr re chemistry, ‘chemical calculus’, and university reform, including notes, drafts, corrected proofs, and a bundle of charts, 1860-80

71-72   Printed papers of Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie jnr re chemistry, 1849-79, including syllabuses of his course, Oxford, 1856-57

73        Laboratory notebook of Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie jnr, labelled ‘Giessen Note-Book. Analysis in Liebig’s Laboratory’, [c.1845]

74        Notebook associated with Brodie, containing calculations and laboratory or lecture notes in German, signed ‘F. Schickendantz’, 1860-61

75        Notebook of or associated with Brodie, labelled ‘IV 1. Determination of symbols of compounds 2. Anomalous Densities 3. Normal Densities’, draft text of ?lectures, n.d.

76        Laboratory notebook of Brodie, labelled ‘June 25-Nov.12. Graphite experiments & melting point of Sulphur’, 1853

77        Notebook of Brodie, entitled ‘Examples – Calculus -’, containing mathematical procedures [not chemical calculus], n.d. (watermarks 1830-35)

78        Notebook of Brodie, containing list of chemicals with their notations [according to his chemical calculus] and related notes, n.d.

79        Notebook of Brodie, containing draft text and calculations, probably for lectures, n.d.

80        Papers of John Soper Streeter (1802-1873), obstetrician, including lecture attendance cards, certificates, letters and testimonials, notes on midwifery, drawings and prints of obstetrical subjects, several printed pamphlets on midwifery and hospitals, and photograph of a portrait, 1820-52 and earlier

81        MS instruments by James Ferguson, all 1775: (1) ‘The Solar time-finder in the latitude of Bungay’, with integral instructions; (2) ‘The Universal Analemma, or Solar Time-finder …’ and on the reverse ‘The Nocturnal or Star-Dial’ with table of days and dates for 1770-1800, each side with appropriate volvelle; (3) instruction sheet for preceding

82        Three miscellaneous medical and optical papers: ‘Recipe against Infection’, ‘New Remedy for a Cancer …’, and description of a glass and liquid lens, [late 18th/early 19thC]

83        Account book and attendance register (in same vol) of the Balliol-Trinity Laboratories, Oxford, 1904-25

84        Alchemists’ petition, incorporating draft letters patent and authorised as a warrant, from Gylbert Kymer and ten other persons desiring exemption from a statute prohibiting the practice of alchemy, the exemption being granted to John Faceby, John Kyrkeby, and John Rayny, 1457; together with a 17thC transcription

85        Group of papers of H. H. Turner re the time of sunset and the determination of ‘lighting up time’ or ‘lamp time’, 1902-04, including versions of his ‘Mechanical Map …’

86        Fragment of a letter to William Huddesford from William Borlase re the copper plates of his [Cornish Antiquities], 1767

87        Notes from [John] Kidd’s chemistry lectures at Oxford, 1811 (with an item of 1804 on the back pastedown)

88        Drafts of Margery Purver and E. J. Bowen, ‘The Beginning of the Royal Society’, 1958-59, and related notes

89        Album of newspaper cuttings etc reporting the work of Frederick John Jervis-Smith, and short articles and letters to the press by him, re physics, mechanics, and experimental engineering, 1889-1907

90-92   [Duplicate entries deleted]

93        Bound volume of mathematical and miscellaneous Spanish MSS, 18thC, including several connected with Francisco Xavier de Santiago y Palomares, one a list of ‘Instrumentos Matematicos, y Mapas, para los usos del Globo Celeste y Terrestre …’, Toledo, 1773

94        Martin Harvey, ‘Know the Root’, a conference paper (astrological) on royal nativities and family ‘genitures’, 1953

95        Bound volume of scientific correspondence of Samuel Rouse, 1728-61, chiefly with Richard Dunthorne re astronomy, including notes of observations at the observatory at Trinity College, Cambridge (30 letters plus substantial enclosures), 1737-53; the other letters are from Edmund Weaver, Tycho Wing, Charles Leadbetter, Thomas Milward, Edward Laurence, Thomas Eayre, T. Williams, William Ludlam

96        Physician’s notebook of medical recipes and prescriptions, with miscellaneous notes on other subjects, including ciphers, [early 19thC]

97        Medical lecture notes taken by Robert Ogill, surgeon, from the Edinburgh lectures of [John] Gregory, 1771

98        Notes by Robert Symonds under the headings ‘The Art of Logick’, ‘Medical Collections Vol: 4’, ‘Of the Rule of Three’, and ‘Copernicus’s System of ye World’, [Oxford, c.1740-43]

99        MS of James Keir, ‘A Treatise on Cholera containing the authors experience of the epidemic known by that name, as it prevailed in the city of Moscow in autumn 1830 & winter 1831 …’, 1831 [published 1832]

100      Microscopist’s diary of Frederick Thomas Hudson for 1849-64, including notes on meetings of the Microscopical Society, microscopes, accessories, the preparation of specimens, etc

101      Notebook of F. W. Loring, of Boston, USA, containing notes of photographic solutions, processes, etc, 1876

102      Catalogue of minerals in the collection of Lady Hippisley, (watermark 1802)

103      Notes by H. G. M[adan] from lectures ‘On the Metallic Elements’ given by B[enjamin] C[ollins] Brodie [jnr], Oxford, 1861-62

104 Papers of Frank Sherwood Taylor re the history of alchemy and chemistry, mainly research notes and transcriptions, together with lecture ‘From Alchemy to Chemistry’, [1940s-50s]

105      Lecture by C. H. Josten on ‘The Life of Sir Humphry Davy’, 1951

106      ‘Lectures on Surgery by Percivall Pott, F.R.S. London. Transcribed by H. J. 1784’

107      Désirée Hirst, ‘Clement Edmondes: A Distinguished Fellow of All Souls’, [c.1962], referring to the ‘mathematical pillar’ he gave to the Bodleian Library in 1620

108      Marine herbarium labelled ‘Seaweeds. La Chaire, Jersey’, containing 12 mounted specimens of algae (seaweed), [19thC]

109      R. T. Gunther, ‘Catalogue of Physical Apparatus belonging to Magdalen College Laboratory, 1899 …’, with a few later additions

110      Large scrapbook of George Claridge Druce (1850-1932), botanist, containing correspondence, newspaper cuttings, printed forms and notices, and some other items, mostly re botanical and pharmaceutical subjects, pharmaceutical, natural history, and scientific societies and meetings, and Oxford City Council matters and local politics, c.1882-1913

111      Marine herbarium entitled ‘Zoophytes & Algae … 1861-81 …’ compiled by E. M. [Eliza M’Intosh (1801-1881), grandmother of R. T. Gunther]

112      Marine herbarium containing zoophytes, inscribed ‘From Prof Wm Knight MA. LL.D.’ and with dates 1845-53 [though Knight died in 1844]

113      Sir John Herschel’s photographic experiments, consisting of the actual experimental images, as well as unused paper samples, treated papers and other tests, interleaving papers, some incidental MS notes and fragments, and prints used in the experiments (697 pieces), 1839-44

114      Research notes by C. H. Josten: re Fludd’s ‘Philosophicall Key’, Dee’s ‘Monas Hieroglyphica’, ‘De Tribus Impostoribus’, and geomancy, [c.1960-64]

115      Two notebooks containing C. H. Josten’s transcription of Robert Fludd, ‘A Philosophicall Key’, from a MS at Cambridge (original c.1620) [in connection with his paper in Ambix, 1963]

116      Research materials, notes, and drafts for C. H. Josten’s article ‘William Backhouse of Swallowfield’ [published in Ambix, 1949]

117      Miscellaneous papers of the University Observatory, Oxford, mostly 1881-1904, including: letter to [F. A.] Bellamy from H. H. Turner re discovery of a nova, 1903; list of De la Rue’s photographs of the Moon, 1904; printed leaflets by C. Pritchard re Sir William Herschel’s tomb and the Oxford Planisphere, 1881 and [1889]; photograph of the earlier University Observatory, [1860s/70s]

118      Small group of papers of and re H. G. J. Moseley, c.1914-1924, including some scientific papers of Moseley, and correspondence of G. Urbain, Sir Ernest Rutherford, and Amabel Sollas (Moseley’s mother) re his death in 1915

119      Small collection of mostly printed material belonging to James Patrick Muirhead re James Watt, Matthew Boulton, and M. P. W. Boulton, 1825-1912, including: correspondence with M. P. W. Boulton, c.1846-64; his pamphlet On Aerial Locomotion, 1864; auction sale catalogue of Watt’s library, 1849; material re the alleged invention of photography by Watt, 1863-64

120      Group of miscellaneous unrelated items, including: transcription of a letter to Arthur Charlett from Mr Thornhill re Savery’s engine and Boyle [original n.d.]; letter to Lucy Coxhill from Rowland and Jane Wheeler re their grandfather Wheeler’s Banksian Medal, 1894; letter to R. T. Gunther from F. J. Jervis-Smith re laboratory fees, 1903; papers re Arabic alchemists, c.1924; letters to R. T. Gunther from E. Wiedemann, 1927

121/1   Group of letters, certificates, receipts, and related papers re radioactive samples used by Frederick Soddy, 1921-25

121/2   Papers of and re Frederick Soddy (1877-1956), 1913-59: notebook and loose notes recording experiments, 1913-14; letters to [F. M.] Brewer from Soddy (3 letters), Thomas E. Soddy (brother), and Muriel Howorth, 1951-59; letter to Sir Harold Hartley from [Brewer], 1953; TS and working drawing re ‘Soddy’s Machine for solving the cubic equation with three real roots …’, 1956; printed material by and re Soddy, 1923-57

122      Small group of papers re Oxford’s two chemical societies, 1901-20: letter from G. W. F. Holroyd on the origins of the Alembic Club, 1920; regulations of the Chemical Club by A. Angel, 1905; list of meetings of the Alembic Club, 1901; menu card for Alembic Club 100th meeting, 1906, bearing photographic vignettes of ‘Presidents of the Club, 1901-1906’; TS transcription of the first minute book of the Chemical Club (1899-1910)

123      Lecture notes entitled ‘Aceto-acetic condensations of esters’ [in the hand of A. F. Walden, presumably notes for his own lectures], 1907

124      Catalogues of books in the Department of Chemistry, Oxford, by John Watts, one dated 1890; together with issue of Proceedings of the Chemical Society containing catalogue of Roscoe’s book collection, 1906

125      German translation of [Arthur Robert Green, Sundials. Incised Dials or Mass-Clocks …, 1926, the translation c.1957]

126      Two groups of papers of Frederick Soddy: (1) notes for 24 lectures on radioactivity [probably the course given at Aberdeen in 1915]; (2) absorption, deposit, and decay curves for radioactive substances, 1914 and 1917; and notes on actinium, [c.1915-17]

127      Papers of John A. Cranston from the Soddy papers: notes on ‘Iodine Experiments’ etc; TS of a paper entitled ‘The Radiation from Meso-Thorium 2’; ‘Notes on Work on Origin of Actinium’, 1915

128-130   Three notebooks of Allan F. Walden (1871-1956), chemist, containing lecture notes on mathematics and chemistry, one dated 1902 [Walden’s own lectures]

131      Notebook containing lecture notes taken by N. V. Sidgwick (1873-1952) on ‘History of Chemical Theory’ by J. E. Marsh, 1893, and ‘The Indigo Compounds. Part II’ by W. Odling, 1894, and data re solubility; and (other way) lists of members of the Alembic Club [down to c.1918]

132      Two talks given to Oxford societies by N. V. Sidgwick on ‘Tautomerism’ and on ‘Keto-Enolic Tautomerism’, 1898 and 1902

133      Notebook of N. V. Sidgwick containing detailed Oxford chemists’ examination marks for 1908-09; and (other way) lecture notes from W. Odling, ‘The Sugars’, 1893

134      Minute book of the Chemical Club, Oxford, 1910-14 [& see 321]

135      Attendance register of the Chemical Club, Oxford, 1905-14

136-137   Two minute books of meetings of chemistry lecturers and afterwards the Sub-Faculty of Chemistry, Oxford, 1910-27 and 1927-41

138-139   Two notebooks of N. V. Sidgwick containing notes on meetings of chemistry lecturers and afterwards the Sub-Faculty of Chemistry, Oxford, 1921-28 and 1930-39

140-150   Ten minute books of the Alembic Club, Oxford, 1908-58 [the number 142 does not exist; for the next in the series see 265]

151-152   Two boxes of printed programme cards and dinner menus of the Alembic Club, 1902-54, many of the menus bearing signatures

153      Versions of the rules of the Alembic Club, Oxford, 1919 and 1952; carbon TS letter to Sir H. W. Florey from [?E. J. Bowen] on the history of the Alembic Club, 1964; printed brochure of the Triennial Exhibition and Conversazione of the Junior Scientific Club, 1939

154      Printed dinner menus of various gatherings of Oxford chemists, some with signatures, 1898-1900 and 1932-65; together with group photograph around a dining table, with identifying list, [1898]

155      Catalogue of clocks and watches in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, [by John James, 1937]

156      Correspondence of H. H. Turner and the University Observatory, Oxford, re astronomical matters, 1900-30, with enclosures; correspondents include Percival Lowell (1902, with spectrographs of Saturn and Jupiter), C. R. D’Esterre, and P. Melotte (1904, with photographs of Neptune, etc)

157      Notes by E. M. Nelson on the optics of microscopes and telescopes, n.d.

158      Notes by E. J. Bowen on the Balliol-Trinity Laboratories, Oxford, including a rough diagram of the layout between 1920 and 1940, [?1969]

159      Notebook of essays on chemistry written by W. S. Gosset as a student, Oxford, 1897

160      Spectrographic analysis (3 graphs and 2 glass negatives) of Soddy’s lead, 1950; with a covering letter from C. H. Collie, 1971

161      Notes (2 sheets) by Erwin Schrödinger, written in answer to a query after one of his lectures in Oxford [1933-36]; with an explanatory note by C. H. Collie, 1971

162      Note by H[enry] Wilde on the rate of change of magnetic declination in London between 1657 and 1817, 1893

163      [Item transferred to museum files]

164      [Item transferred to MSS Evans]

165      [Duplicate entry deleted]

166      Notes re a waywiser lent to the Museum by A. F. Bellman [in 1925], c.1860

167      E. J. Bowen, ‘The Alembic Club. The first fifty years’, covering the period up to 1956, 1967; together with notes on the history of the ‘Oxford University Chemical Club’

168      TS notes by Allan Chapman on ‘The cost of physics research and teaching at Oxford University over the years 1900-1910’, 1973

169      Notebook on practical mathematics and the use of instruments, beginning ‘The use of the Staffe …’ but chiefly ‘The Arte of Dyallinge …’, anonymous, c.1640; the illustrations include a drawing of the polyhedral sundial made by Nicholas Kratzer for Corpus Christi College, Oxford

170      Papers re authorisation of work on animals under the Vivisection Act by George Rolleston, Oxford, 1876-77

171      ‘Catalogue of Sundials’ in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, by Kathleen Higgins, [1953]

172      Two volumes from Lord Berkeley’s private laboratory at Foxcombe, near Oxford: thermometer record book, 1895-1927; calibration record book, 1909-17

173      Anonymous talk on the history of astronomy, [1930s]

174      [Item transferred to MSS Ferguson]

175      Instruction sheets by Andrew Pritchard for the jewel microscope formerly belonging to the Ashmolean Museum, [?1820s]

176-178   [Items reclassified as MSS University Observatory 3, 4, 5]

179      Letters from Edward M. Nelson to Chapman Jones re scientific optics including micrometry, the theories of Gordon and Abbe, numerical aperture, and true and false images, 1917; together with 3 printed optical tables by Nelson, one dated 1914

180      [Item reclassified as MS University Observatory 6]

181      [Item transferred to MSS Museum Archive]

182      [Item transferred to MSS Museum Archive]

183      Instrument calibration book from the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford, 1927 onwards

184      Notes on the recent history of the Alembic Club, Oxford, by David Beveridge, 1972; printed programmes and notices of the club’s meetings and other events, 1969-72

185      Album of photographs of windmills, compiled and mostly taken by H. M. J. Underhill, c.1897-1912; also including a few watermills, and some personal and holiday photographs

186      [Item transferred to MSS Gunther Archive]

187      Two exercise books containing rules and worked examples in mensuration and surveying, written by Thomas Harbidge, 1757; includes the inscription ‘Wrote at Somerton and Taught by Mr. Whitley …’

188      Glass photograph of Mars taken by E. C. Slipher, 1911, with a related letter to [Sir David] Gill from Percival Lowell, and a drawing based on the photograph, 1911

189      Account book of the Balliol-Trinity Laboratories, Oxford, 1922-41

190      Laboratory notebook recording results of experiments obtained by students in the Balliol-Trinity Laboratories, Oxford, 1880-81

191      Instrument record book from the Balliol-Trinity Laboratories, Oxford, containing operating instructions, related notes, test certificates, printed leaflets, etc, and some letters and illustrations, 1893-1937

192      Reagents book of the Balliol-Trinity Laboratories, Oxford, 1886

193      Planisphere for latitude 40 degrees South (New Zealand) made by D. M. Y. Sommerville, 1917; together with his article “Description of a Planisphere”, from New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology, 1919

194-200   Student notebooks of C. H. Collie re chemistry, especially physical chemistry, Oxford, c.1922-25

201      ‘Note on the Periodic Law’ by Allan F. Walden, chiefly a historical account, [1916 or after]

202      Laboratory notes of research on photochemistry by E. J. Bowen, 1920 and 1922-25; the 1920 notes are headed ‘Calculations on the efficiency of isotope separation’

203      Notes or texts for a course of 7 lectures on ‘Practical Mechanics’ by Sir Edmund Frederick Du Cane (1830-1903), also covering elementary physics and engineering, [mid 19thC]

204      Bound volume of printed pamphlets and articles by Sir Edmund Frederick Du Cane, and some related newspaper cuttings, including re fortification, military strategy and tactics, the convict system, and Du Cane’s work as criminologist and prison inspector, 1859-64

205      Arithmetic exercise book of George Larkham, written at Morlaix [France], 1646; he describes himself as ‘moy George Larkham Angloix’

206      Charles North, ‘The Description and Use of the Plane Calendar. 1656’

207      Notes taken by Jacob Wragg at the mathematical lectures of Nicholas Saunderson, Cambridge, 1725

208      [Item reclassified as MS Royal Microscopical Society 37]

209      Album of photographs of Indian astronomical instruments and observatories taken by G. R. Kaye, c.1915

210      Notebook of John Thompson, surveyor, on ‘Conic Sections’ and ‘Fluxions’ (calculus), 1755

211      Notebook of worked examples in geometry, mensuration, and surveying by Ralph Thompson [son of John Thompson], 1773-74

212      Notebook on surveying by Samuel Thompson, 1778-79; also containing 3 letters to John Thompson from A. Thacker, 1742, Reuben Robbins, 1765, and G. Cetii, 1766, and a letter to John Thompson jnr [?grandson] from Joseph Kidger, 1849

213-214   Two bound volumes of papers of Conrad W. Cooke (1843-1926), 1891-1927, including: notes for a lecture on ‘Automata and Mechanical Toys’, 1895; draft of ‘Automata Old and New’ [given as a talk 1891, published as a book 1893]; drafts of ‘Hero of Alexandria’, 1901; photograph of Cooke, 1925; letters to R. T. Gunther from Mrs Sophie Cooke, 1927 and 1936; sale catalogues of Cooke’s scientific instruments and books, 1926-27

215      Notebook of a French surveyor (identified as ‘Par L’jenieur d’jpreuille’), entitled ‘Table des Angles; Pour Leuer Les Plans, et Les Trascer Sur le Terrin’, very neatly written and drawn, [18thC]

216      Small notebook on surveying, with 2 folding coloured plans, [18thC]

217      Mathematical notebook containing two sections, ‘Practical Geometry’ and ‘Arithmetick’, anonymous, [late 17th/early 18thC]

218      ‘Studium Matematice seu tractatus horologiorum’, a treatise on dialling, apparently by Jacopo Antonio Conti, 1740s; an engraved sundial is signed ‘Iac Ant. Conti … 1750’ and a drawing ‘Iac: Ant: Conti delin. 1743’

219      French treatise on dialling and related subjects, including the astrolabe, anonymous, [18thC], including tables for different latitudes

220-221   Two volumes by William Ludlam (1717-1788) comprising a detailed inventory, financial account, and record of his tools and instruments (scientific, horological, mechanical, workshop tools and materials, etc) and his dealings with various workmen and suppliers, chiefly compiled 1757-58, covering 1743-82

222      Two letters to E. M. Baurens from Hartnack & Prazmowski (Paris and Potsdam) re an order for optical instruments, 1875; and their printed catalogue of microscopes, 1874

223      Papers of the Bate family: (1) patent application and specification, with drawing, for a form of folding eye glasses invented by Robert Bretell Bate, 1825; (2) printed leaflets re ‘Bate’s Ready Reckoner’, [c.1824]; (3) sequence of 45 geometric models of card and paper made at school by B[artholomew] Bate to illustrate the eleventh book of Euclid, [c.1840]

224      Kathleen Higgins, ‘The Development of the Sun-Dial Between A.D. 1400 and 1800’, Oxford BSc thesis, 1953

225      G. A. Rowell, ‘On the Origin of the Ashmolean Museum and on Ashmoles Name in connection with it as the Founder’, taking an unfavourable view of Ashmole, [?1860s]; together with a TS transcription

226      [Item reclassified as MS Royal Microscopical Society 38]

227      Letter to Charles Singer from S. J. Thompson, 1943, with 2 drawings of the ‘Hero engine’ and the ‘Pompeii’ boiler

228-239   [Items transferred to MSS Museum Archive]

240      Instructions and recipes for setting up histology practical classes at the Physiology Laboratory, Oxford, 1908

241-250   Papers from the Physiology Laboratory, Oxford, mostly of Thomas A. Marsland, technician, reflecting the work of bio-medical technicians and laboratory assistants, including training, professional organisations, laboratory equipment and materials, practical classes, and examinations, especially in histology, 1921-64

251      A. F. Walden, ‘Some developments of the Kinetic Theory of Gases’, a talk given to the Alembic Club, Oxford, re gas chromatography, 1914

252-253   Alembic Club treasurer’s accounts for 1924-35 and 1940-45

254      Correspondence, membership lists, rules, and other administrative papers of the Alembic Club, 1952-65

255      Alembic Club printed programme cards, 1952-65

256      Papers re Lady Gertrude E. Crawford and her Holtzapffel lathe, 1897-c.1915, including drawing of Lady Gertrude with her lathe, 1904, and 3 letters and specification from Holtzapffel, 1897

257      Mark Taylor, ‘Sundials, their meaning, their making and mending’, 1973

258      John McCrae, ‘A Chronologically Arranged List of People Concerned in the Development of Chemistry’, 1951

259      P.-J. Charliat, ‘L’Academie Royale de Marine (1752-1793)’ and ‘L’Academie Royale de Marine et la Revolution Nautique au XVIIIème Siecle’, latter a TS transcription of his article from Thales (1934), 1952

260      J. F. Hanson, ‘The History of Anaesthetics’, Westminster College [near Oxford] dissertation, [1960]; together with photographs of apparatus

261      Service manual for a Radio Corporation of America electron microscope, containing service reports for 1952-64

262      Printed service sheets for memorial services to Howard Walter Florey at Marston Church and Westminster Abbey, 1968 and 1980-81; text of the address given by Frank Fenner in 1981; together with related letters, 1981

263      Collection of 60 rubbings of clock hands by A. J. Barnsdale, [watchmaker], early 20thC

264      Group of letters and printed material re the Alembic Club, Oxford, belonging to J. C. Smith, 1930-73, including: letters from scientists re speaking at meetings or dinners in 1935; menu of a dinner in honour of Sir Cyril Hinshelwood’s Nobel Prize, 1957, and letter from him

265      Minute book of the Alembic Club Senior Section, Oxford, 1956-65 (when the section was wound up) [previous books are 140-150]

266      Drawings of a hygrometer and microscopes, one captioned ‘Solar Microscope’, [?19thC]

267      Notebook of exercises in ‘Surveying’ by John Boyes, of ‘W. C. Adamson’s Academy’, 1827-28

268      Papers that came with Sir Julian Huxley’s lantern slides: record cards, mostly bibliographical references to zoological papers, mid 20thC; lecture notes extracted from among the lantern slides

269      United States letters patent granted to Charles Falck for an ‘Improved Refrigerator’, 1866

270      Notebook entitled ‘Equatorial Instrument’ and signed ‘F L. Wollaston. 1818’, but empty except for notes of an observation of 1803

271      Engraving of Michael Faraday, framed along with a letter from Faraday and the cover bearing Faraday’s wax seal, 1836

272      Paper bearing the signature of J. J. Berzelius, [early 19thC]

273      Ten notebooks of R. M. Acheson as a chemistry student, first at school (and also in a laboratory at home) and then at Oxford, including in the Dyson Perrins Laboratory, 1938-45

274      Four notebooks of H. J. Harris, a chemistry student at Queen’s College, Oxford, n.d. and 1912-13

275      Three letters to John Phillips on geological matters, from J. W. Hulke (2) and from Thomas Davidson, 1873; together with a review of Phillips’s book Geology of Oxford … (1871) by Archibald Geikie, 1872

276      ‘Memorandum on a 250ft aperture Steerable Radio Telescope’, by A. C. B. Lovell with chapters by J. A. Clegg and J. G. Davies, the original proposal-dossier for ‘the first giant radio telescope’ [the famous Mark I] at the Jodrell Bank Experimental Station of Manchester University, 1951

277      Printed pamphlet bound in a MS notebook: (1) anonymous, A Description of the Nature and Motions of Comets, with a history of Several Comets, Which have appeared since the Year 1337; to which is added, an account of the Comet of the Year 1811, annotated; (2) untitled MS continuing the theme of the pamphlet and discussing comets of 1742-1812, by J. W. Woollgar, [c.1812]

278      Small group of papers belonging to Vernon John Greenhough re botany teaching at Glasgow and Edinburgh, 1873-79, including Alexander Dickson’s Glasgow syllabus, 1876, and Edinburgh examination papers

279      Papers of and re Henry Reginald Arnulph Mallock (1851-1933): (1) A. Mallock, “Growth of Trees, with a Note on Interference Bands formed by Rays at Small Angles”, from Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1918, with annotations and enclosures; (2) Royal Society obituary of Mallock by C. V. B[oys], 1933, with enclosures, including photograph of Mallock, and letter to Mallock from J[oseph] Larmor, latter 1929

280      Kathleen Higgins, ‘Merton College Mural Dial’, c.1950; together with photograph and large diagram

281      ‘Birds Eggs 1799’, home-made booklet containing 132 coloured illustrations of British birds’ eggs by William Jones, with captions

282      Duplicated MS catalogue leaflet and instruction pamphlet for a ‘Drawing Room Radium Outfit’ by H. J. Gray, Lewes, 1923

283      Signed invoice from C. D. Ahrens, ‘Optical Prism Worker of every description’, for ‘1 Large Nicols prism’ and a piece of spar, 1885

284      Prescription by or belonging to Nurse Brooks, 1938

285      Two hand-outs for the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Oxford in 1954, one a potted history of ‘This Room’ (used by crystallography) by H. M. Powell

286      Watercolour drawing of an alchemical laboratory, showing a balneum mariae (alchemical water-bath) on the upper floor, heated from a large furnace on the ground floor, the alchemist or assistant working a large bellows, [the picture thought to be German, ?c.1660]

287      Four drawings of ‘Hercules-Engonasin’ by W. Parkinson, copied from various representations of the constellation, [c.1925]

288      Five prints of optical instruments by ‘Utzschneider & Fraunhofer in München’, with a letter to B. L. Vulliamy from F. Abbott, 1842

289      Two pages from a scrapbook on which are mounted ‘Harmonic Curves’ drawn by means of a harmonograph, signed ?‘J. C.’, 1892

290      Album of ‘Spiraloid Curves by Richard Inwards. 1893-1898’, drawn with a harmonograph of his own design (121 circular designs)

291      Geometrical and technical drawings by Cyril H. H. Franklin (1885-1976): 5 of hypersolids, 1910; ‘Compound Gyroscope …’, 1912; together with correspondence between Franklin and the Museum, 1971-73

292      Geometrical drawings and technical charts by Cyril H. H. Franklin (rolled): 3 re geometry of hyperspace, 1937; 2 re testing engines, 1940-43

293      Letters and other papers sent to Cyril H. H. Franklin by Dorman Luke, re the mathematics and geometry of polyhedra, hyperspace, and geometrical designs and models, 1948-63

294      Photographs of geometric models made by Paul S. Donchian, and a photograph of Donchian (9 photos, sent to Cyril H. H. Franklin), 1934-36

295      MS in an invented or nonsense language purporting to contain designs and technical data for spacecraft and their instruments, entitled ‘D[symbol] Wave X’xroxxqiode Metera …’, by ‘Darwin hEql Hospesills – Motha | Athor : D[symbol]. wave’ (the name appears internally as ‘Athor Motha D. H. H.’), [1960s]

296      MS display list of ‘Benefactors’ [of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford], about a quarter of the entries under the date 1824

297      ‘A List of Objects’, small paper listing microscope slides, [late 18th/early 19thC]

298      Four slight papers accompanying George Rolleston’s craniometric instruments, including note signed ‘JP’ [John Phillips, c.1870], and a letter to Rolleston from Francis Galton, 1875

299      Page from a scrapbook bearing photograph of George Rolleston [c.1860], and several newspaper cuttings re his death and funeral, including an obituary by W. H. F[lower], all 1881

300      F. Sherwood Taylor, ‘Greek Alchemy’, 2 vols, [his London PhD thesis, 1931]

301      I. R. F. Calder, ‘John Dee studied as an English Neoplatonist’, 2 vols, London PhD thesis, 1952

302      R. L. Helps, ‘Some Reflections on the Contribution of Islam to European Science’, University of Exeter dissertation, 1964

303      Allan Chapman, ‘Dividing the Circle: The Development of Techniques of Precision Angular Measurements in Instrument Making, and their Relationship to the Practice of Astronomy, 1500-1800’, Oxford DPhil thesis, 1978

304      W. D. Hackmann, ‘John and Jonathan Cuthbertson: The Invention and Development of the 18th Century Plate Electrical Machine’, Oxford Jane Willis Kirkaldy Prize essay, 1972

305      Peter J. T. Morris, ‘18th Century British Chemists: Their Ideas and Education’, Oxford Jane Willis Kirkaldy Prize essay, 1978

306      Gertrude Hamilton, ‘Old Scientific Instruments’, copy TS of unpublished book (1935)

307      John Ward, ‘The History of Sundials in the United States, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the British Isles’, illustrated travel journal, 1984

308      Album entitled ‘Aerostation’ containing F. W. Hope’s collection of ballooning prints and ephemera, 1783-1852 with several earlier items

309      Scrapbook of cuttings and photographs on aeronautics (balloons, airships, and early aeroplanes) compiled by Roger Knight Hitchcock, 1906-08

310      Large portfolio containing papers of James Patrick Muirhead re the illustrations for his books about James Watt, especially engraved prints, proofs, paper samples, and including 2 original drawings, mostly 1847-54

311-317   papers and other items from the private laboratory of j. s. haldane (1860-1936), physiologist

311      Letters to Constance Burch re the death of George James Burch (1852-1914) (149 letters), and related papers, 1914

312      Invoices, receipts, and related papers re instruments for chemical and medical experiments supplied to Anthony Mavrogordato, 1909-13

313      Small laboratory notebook used by a collaborator of J. S. Haldane, 1903

314      Two large drawings of a diving suit, full length and detail of the helmet (rolled), ?c.1910

315      X-ray photographs of respiration experiments conducted by J. S. Haldane and J. G. Priestley, early 20thC

316      Miscellaneous items belonging to J. S. Haldane, including personal and family memorabilia, items from his laboratory, and the contents of his stationery drawer

317      Papers and correspondence of Charlotte Burghes (1894-1969) (from 1926, Mrs J. B. S. Haldane) and the Science News Service, a scientific press agency she established in 1925, 1925-27, including a selection of reports and articles

318      Group of photographs mostly belonging to Frank McClean, astronomer, 1890s-c.1920, including of the installation of the McClean Telescope at the Cape of Good Hope Observatory, 1898

319      Scrapbook and notebook re photography compiled immediately after its invention by John Thomson of Leith, 1839-43

320      Group of trade literature re calculators, from the Chemical Crystallography Laboratory, Oxford, 1950-59

321      Minute book of the Chemical Club, Oxford, 1899-1910, and a TS transcription made c.1953 [& see 134]

322      Scrapbook of photographic ephemera and cuttings compiled by Miss C. Steele, 1901-08

323      Minute book of the Alembic Club, Oxford, 1938-46

324      Small group of correspondence of Thaddeus J. Trenn re history of science topics, 1969-75

325      H. J. P. Arnold’s photograph of the sun’s analemma, 1988-89, with accompanying TS text

326      Small group of papers of and re A. S. Russell, chemist, 1912-72, including photographs

327      Album of Kodak snapshots, mostly scenery and buildings, photographer unknown, c.1900

328      Research notes and materials of Vanda Morton for her book on Nevil Story-Maskelyne [published as Oxford Rebels, 1987]

329      Copy photographs of some of Nevil Story-Maskelyne’s photographs (originals 1840s-50s)

330      Book of Common Prayer, 1693, used as a family bible by the Sadler family of Oxford, 1718-1800

331      Photographs of a print of James Sadler in the Irish Sea (1812); photograph of a portrait of Sadler as an old man, with letter from Harold Sadler, 1930

332-339   papers of henry perigal (1801-1898), geometrician and mechanician [see also mss gabb]

332      Volume of ‘Bow-Pen Drawings’ by Henry Perigal (91 drawings), 1832

333      Three volumes of ‘Kinematic Curves’ or ‘Experimental Researches in Kinematics …’ by Henry Perigal (294 printed designs), 1838-42

334      Two volumes of ‘Dynamic Curves’ by Henry Perigal (duplicates of preceding), 1838-41

335      ‘Geometrical Dissections and Transformations …’ by Henry Perigal, consisting of 30 printed plates with MS text, 1843-44

336      ‘Kinematic Bicircloids’ by Henry Perigal, 6 large printed plates (each with 80 figures) and MS text (mostly formulae), 1854 and 1872

337      The 80 figures from one of the large plates of Perigal’s bicircloids, mounted and folded as a pamphlet, [1854]

338      Some of Perigal’s curves reproduced as a halftone, [?1901]

339      Two printed pamphlets belonging to Perigal: John Holt Ibbetson, A Brief Account of Ibbetson’s Geometric Chuck …, 1833; James Smith, The Problem of Squaring the Circle Solved …, 1859

340      Catalogue of the alchemical library of Gerard Heym (covering only modern works), on slips of paper/card, 1970s/80s

341      Gerard Heym, ‘Talk on Alchemy’, 1947

342      Two architectural drawings of the Old Ashmolean Building, Oxford, by C. S. B. Smith, 1945

343      Two files of correspondence, lists, etc re the Alembic Club/Oxford chemists reunion dinners of 1973 and 1978

344-345   Two minute books of the Physical Society, Oxford: Physical Society, 1937-40 and 1945-46, and Physical and Radio Society, 1940-41

346-348   Papers and correspondence of Frederick Addey, science lecturer, 1924-43, including his history of science lecture texts and syllabus, and collected printed material and cuttings

349      Alembic Club dinner menu signed by N. V. Sidgwick, H. T. Tizard, and others, 1907

350      Collection of mostly personal and family photographs belonging to Anthony Peter Riza and his mother Ella, early 20thC

351-370   papers re the dyson perrins laboratory and oxford chemistry, assembled by sir ewart jones (1911-2002)

351      Papers occasioned by the death of C. W. Dyson Perrins, 1958-59

352      James Dyson Perrins’s bookplate, [19thC]; papers re James and C. W. Dyson Perrins, and Lea & Perrins, including photocopies sent by David J. D. Perrins, 1970-88

353      Papers re the Lea & Perrins 150th anniversary plate, 1974-78

354      Collected material re the Perkin family, 1906-65, including printed items re Sir William Perkin, 1906-07, obituaries of W. H. Perkin jnr, 1929, articles by Sir Robert Robinson, 1956, and J. C. Smith, 1965

355      Group photograph of the Solvay conference, Brussels, 1931

356      Large sheet of notes and formulae by Sir Robert Robinson (1886-1975) re the molecular structure of penicillin, [1944, predating verification of the structure, Robinson’s hypothesis being incorrect]; together with 4 smaller sheets of related notes

357      Photographs of laboratories at Manchester, including the opening of the Robinson Laboratory in 1950

358      Obituaries and other posthumous papers re Sir Robert Robinson, 1975-76, including memorial addresses by L. E. Sutton and Lord Todd; together with offprint of article on chemical genetics by Rose Scott-Moncrieff, from Notes & Records of the Royal Society of London, 1981

359      Offprints of 5 articles on strychnine by Robinson and collaborators, 1934; offprint of Robinson’s Bakerian lecture, 1931; and 2 letters to Sir Ewart Jones from J. C. Smith (1900-1984), referring to these and some other things in the archive, 1979

360      Small group of papers re partition chromatography, including letters to Sir Ewart Jones from the inventor R. L. M. Synge, all 1981

361      Correspondence, notes, and printed material assembled by Sir Ewart Jones re the careers of (recent) Oxford and Dyson Perrins Laboratory chemists, 1956-86

362      Various accounts of Oxford chemistry, 1957-77, including: J. C. Smith, “The Perkins and the Perrinses”, from Zenith, 1965, with annotations by Smith; hand-outs for Dyson Perrins Laboratory open day, 1969; I. M. Herrman & D. C. Moore, “Universities and Industry: Oxford and ICI”, from ICI Magazine, 1977

363      E. J. Bowen, ‘Chemistry at Oxford’, 1969 with corrections to 1979

364-366   Papers re J. C. Smith’s history of the Dyson Perrins Laboratory The Development of Organic Chemistry at Oxford, 2 parts, [c.1969 and 1975], including corrections, distribution lists, and correspondence, 1967-79

367      Papers re chemical verse, chiefly correspondence of Sir Ewart Jones with William Gerrard and E. J. Bowen, 1969-70, and photocopies, including of a book Discursive Chemical Notes in Rhyme (1876)

368      Miscellaneous photographs from the Dyson Perrins Laboratory, 1921-83, including of Hinshelwood’s (1963) painting of South Parks Road, Oxford [the painting, a framed group photograph, a collection of portrait photographs, and lecture slides are also held by the Museum]

369      Album of photographs of T. G. Halsall’s retirement dinner, 1986

370      Annual reports of the Dyson Perrins Laboratory, Oxford, 1929-74

371      Geoffrey Lewis’s file of correspondence with H. E. Stapleton, 1948-51, and related papers

372      Medical diary of [A. G. Gibson], a young doctor and pupil of Sir William Osler, for part of 1905 only

373      Minute book of the Clinical Club, Oxford, 1930-36, with rules for 1929 and list of members

374      Group of trade literature re instruments for physical or chemical analysis, especially spectrometry, assembled by Peter J. Placito, 1950s; and related papers including 11 reports by Placito on instruments and procedures, 1957-58

375      Standard spectrum photographs from the Research Laboratories of GEC, Wembley, including by Hilger and by Gerard Turner, 1925-51

376      G. I. Sapunov, ‘Criticism of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity’, an English translation, with long letter to C. A. Coulson from Sapunov, and additional paper by him, 1956-57

377      Annotated X-ray photographs mapping the molecular structure of vitamin B12 by Dorothy Hodgkin, c.1950

[See also MSS Gunther, MSS Evans, and MSS Museum Archive. Items identified among the Gunther collection as belonging properly to the Museum are MSS Gunther 16, 22 (1), 28-30, 31-33, 49, 55, 59, 61, 62, 63. Some hitherto uncatalogued items and recent (continuing) additions are not yet included in the list]

MSS Museum Archive

Archival records of the Museum of the History of Science (founded 1924)

Internal archive of the institution, 1924 onwards (continuing)

For more details of this collection please contact the archivist

[Early material of this kind is included in MSS Gunther Archive]

MSS North

Papers of John Mercer (1791-1866), chemist and textile printer, and of his family, including records of chemical and dyeing experiments as well as family and local material, 1791-1944

Deposited on loan by Mrs S. M. North in 1979

summary list

1          Lease of land at Great Harwood, Lancashire, for building a factory for John Mercer & Co, 1869

2-6       Five letters patent (3 of them Scottish) granted to John Mercer and various collaborators, re printing and dyeing fabrics, 1842-52

7          Printed book Edward A. Parnell, The Life and Labours of John Mercer …, 1886; together with notebook re sales of the book, 1895-97

8          Photograph on textile of John Mercer, [c.1860]

9          Photostat of article J. T. Marsh, “Textile Research A John Mercer Centenary”, from an unidentified newspaper, 1944

10        Notebook of John Mercer on ‘Dung’, 1839-41

11        Notebook of John Mercer of recipes re bleaching and dyeing, with numerous samples of dyed cotton

12        Bundle of papers and correspondence re various Mercer family philanthropic projects, mostly 1900, including draft deeds of foundation of the Peel Foundation, Blackburn, and of the Mercer Memorial Scholarship

13        Notebook of or belonging to Robert Mercer on photography, 1855-59

14        Notebook of John Mercer entitled ‘General Trial Book for the Year 1847’

15        Notebook of John Mercer entitled ‘Exp. on Light 1844-1854’ re fading of dyed cloth in sunlight, with samples of dyed cotton

16        Notes by John Mercer on ‘Printing Turkey Reds’

17        Notebook of John Mercer of chemical experiments, ?c.1856

18        Notebook of John Mercer entitled ‘Experiments III’ containing chemical experiments, 1829

19        Notebook of John Mercer re chemistry, 1857-58

20        Anti-Corn Law League medal, [c.1840]

21        Poster for the opening of Mercer Park, Clayton-le-Moors, 1916

22        Reel of Dewhurst’s Sylko mercerised cotton thread; 5 wooden printing blocks for textile printing

23        Notebook of John Mercer entitled ‘No. 1 General Trial Book, 1847, February’ containing dyeing recipes, with numerous samples of dyed cotton

24        Papers and correspondence re sales of Parnell’s biography of Mercer, 1895-1901; bundles of certificates (baptism, burial, etc) re members of various families (147 items, originals 1774-1906)

25        Miscellaneous biographical and historical papers, mostly 20thC, including TS of Richard Broughton, ‘John Mercer and Chromatic Photographs’, 1920, and issue of the Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists containing ‘The First John Mercer Lecture’, 1944

26        Plan and elevation for extensions to the Wesleyan Mission Chapel, Clayton-le-Moors, 1892-93

27        Box of mostly personal papers and memorabilia of John Mercer and family, 1791-1860s and some later items, including photographs of Mercer, Anti-Corn Law League membership cards, Mercer’s baptism certificate, 1791, notebook re chemical nomenclature, 1813, brief autobiographical notes by Mercer, [1860s], and notes on Mercer by Lyon Playfair, [c.1886]

28        Miscellaneous residual items, including wooden trap from the ball game of ‘bat-and-trap’

[There is another collection of Mercer papers in Lancashire County Record Office]

MSS Oriel College

Two items from Oriel College, Oxford, relating to botanical studies, c.1700 and 1843

Deposited on loan by the Provost and Scholars of Oriel College, Oxford, in the 1930s

summary list

1          Herbarium or collection of pressed plants with MS captions (90 specimens), c.1700, remounted in a modern volume

2          First fascicule of the cyanotype herbarium by A[nna] A[tkins], Photographs of British Algae. Cyanotype Impressions, consisting of 12 leaves sewn in blue wrappers, each leaf being a cyanotype or blueprint photograph, 1843

[Other material relating to Oriel College: MSS Museum 65, 173]

MSS Radcliffe

Astronomical and other archives of the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford (founded 1772), and papers of successive Radcliffe Observers, chiefly Thomas Hornsby (1733-1810), astronomer and physicist, 1753-early 20thC; also astronomical papers of the 4th Duke of Marlborough (1739-1817), 1779-1800, and some other external manuscripts collected by the Observatory, 16th-early 19thC

Presented by the Radcliffe Trustees in 1932-34

summary list

1          Early notebook of Thomas Hornsby, containing exercises in arithmetic and astronomy, notes of observations, including the date 1759, transcriptions of meteorological publications, and some meteorological observations for 1753-58

2-5       Four volumes of observational computations by Hornsby, 1781-93

6          Miscellaneous computations and observations by Hornsby, 1753-86; scrap paper used for calculations includes some of Hornsby’s lecture notices, 1770-76

7          Observations (including from other sources), computations, and notes by Hornsby, including the 1769 transit of Venus and observations at Shirburn Castle, 1769-80

8-11     Four volumes of computations, observations, and notes, in Hornsby’s hand but some from other sources, covering 1689-1800

12        Tables of precession, aberration, and nutation by Hornsby, 18thC

13        Astronomical tables by Hornsby, [c.1761], with notes and computations enclosed

14        Notebook of Hornsby containing a catalogue or bibliography of printed books on astronomy (1496-1770), [1770s]

15        Hornsby’s draft of a primer of astronomy for the Duke of Marlborough, especially re use of the quadrant, with observations and examples mostly 1774-86

16        Notebook belonging to the Duke of Marlborough, containing astronomical notes and instructions extracted from letters of Hornsby, c.1784-99

17        Notes by F. Bayley taken from chemistry lectures, some or all of the lectures by [William] Cullen [at Edinburgh], 1758

18        Solar and lunar tables by Hornsby, 18thC; together with similar printed tables

19        Astronomical tables by Hornsby, 18thC

20-21   Two volumes of transit observations by Hornsby, 1761-64 and 1776, 1791, and 1794

22        Working catalogue of fixed stars by Hornsby, c.1780

23        Fair copy of Hornsby’s catalogue of fixed stars [preceding] for the epoch 1780

24        Records of transit and quadrant observations made at Shirburn Castle and Oxford, 1766-70, including the ?discovery of a comet

25        Group of miscellaneous notes by Hornsby and others re astronomical and meteorological observations at Shirburn Castle and Oxford, mostly 1753-63, including early observations by Hornsby, 1753-60s, calculations of the latitude of Oxford, 1758 and after, and notes on regulator clocks and their pendulums, 1760-61

26        Astronomical papers of the Duke of Marlborough, mostly 1781-82, including observations at Blenheim, papers written for the Duke by Hornsby, and 5 astronomical drawings by Elizabeth Spencer, 1779

27        Astronomical papers of the Duke of Marlborough, mostly 1784-96, including tables, observations at Blenheim, calculations, and instructions; the tables include a printed barometer table, the observations include Jupiter’s satellites, 1784

28        Two folders of astronomical papers of the Duke of Marlborough: (1) re his transit instrument, 1782; (2) re observation and calculation of the right ascensions of stars and sun, 1781, with other observations at Blenheim, 1781-86, a letter from Hornsby, 1781, and miscellaneous astronomical and meteorological notes, 1780s-90s

29        Agreement between John Bird and the Delegates of the Clarendon Press for the supply of 5 observatory instruments, 1771; invoice from P. & J. Dollond for 2 achromatic telescopes, 1774; together with several other papers, including a printed syllabus, John Rowning & William Deane, A Compleat Course of Experimental Philosophy and Astronomy, [c.1730]

30        Miscellaneous papers, including: observations of various stars, and related computations, by Hornsby, 1776-95; ‘Dr. Robertson’s Report of Book’s, &c.’, listing books and MSS at the Observatory after Hornsby’s death, [1810 or soon after]

31-33/1   Three bundles of tables for facilitating astronomical computations, by Hornsby, 18thC

33/2     Corrected proofs of the introductory pages (by Hornsby) of James Bradley’s Astronomical Observations, 1798

34        Large parcel of astronomical computations based on observations at Greenwich and Oxford, and reductions of James Bradley’s observations (1750-62)

35        Notes in which Hornsby explains to the Duke of Marlborough how to find the sun’s right ascension and longitude, 1781

36        Notebook belonging to the Duke of Marlborough, containing an elementary outline or textbook of astronomy, [c.1780]

37        Astronomical papers of the Duke of Marlborough: tables of epochs and related astronomical data (for 1740-1810), including instructions and examples dated 1794-96

38        Astronomical papers of the Duke of Marlborough: stellar observations made at Blenheim, 1793-97

39        Large bundle of miscellaneous astronomical papers of the Duke of Marlborough, 1780s-90s, including tables of astronomical data for Blenheim and Sion Hill, printed instruction sheet for a maximum and minimum thermometer, 4 letters from J[esse] Ramsden, 1796, and printed pamphlet on meteors by Nevil Maskelyne, 1783

40        Astronomical papers of the Duke of Marlborough: meteorological observations at Blenheim, 1791-1800; papers re measurement of a degree of meridian, 1784 and n.d. [one in Hornsby’s hand], including ‘Measure of a Degree of Latitude in Lapland by Messrs. Maupertuis &ca …. 1736’

41        Four notebooks of S. P. Rigaud (1774-1839) entitled ‘Transits reduced as taken by Jones’s Circle 1837’ and ‘Trials &c. of Jones’s Circle …’, 1837-38

42        Letters to S. P. Rigaud from Thomas Jones re the meridian circle, 1831-38; and 2 invoices, 1836

43        Computed (predicted) occultations sent to S. P. Rigaud by the Astronomical Society of London, 1829-30 and 1832-33 (printed)

44        Letters to S. P. Rigaud from George Bramwell, John Charles Rossi, and John Nixon, re the relievos on the Observatory tower, 1834-36

45        Printed papers belonging to S. P. Rigaud re the Equitable Assurance Office, 1829-30

46-47   Two volumes of observations by Abram Robertson, 1813-15; enclosed in the first is a drawing of the equatorial sector

48        Notes re adjustment of the transit instrument, [by Abram Robertson, c.1815]

49        Miscellaneous papers of Manuel Johnson, including drafts and notes re the St Helena Observatory and observations there, [c.1835]

50        Pendulum records by Manuel Johnson, n.d.; letter from W. H. Jones re a 10-foot equatorial telescope, with description and sketch, 1842

51        Draft obituary of E. J. Stone by W. Wickham, and related correspondence, 1897

52        Correspondence of E. J. Stone re interference with the meridian line by a proposed extension to the Radcliffe Infirmary, 1892-93

53        Bundle of papers re inventories and expenditure, mostly 1800s-1839, including: inventories of instruments, furniture, etc, 1800s-1828; list of books etc left to the Observatory by G. Powell, 1830; receipts for assistants’ salaries, 1827-38

54        Tables and computations, some in Hornsby’s hand, and notes ‘On the perpetual Log’ and ‘Trial of Foxons Hydrometer … 1773’

55        Miscellaneous papers re instruments: catalogue of Tycho Brahe’s instruments, 18thC; descriptions of Hadley’s quadrant and an optical theodolite by J[eremiah] Watkins, late 18thC; instructions for adjusting the quadrant by E[dward] Troughton, [c.1818]; notes re large object glasses, 1903-08; drawings and blueprints of chronographs by Sir Howard Grubb, 1897-99; photograph of an electrical apparatus

56        Circular slide-rule of ink on pasteboard, signed ‘Invented and Published … 1789, by Geo. Margetts’

57-63   Seven notebooks containing reductions of Norman Pogson’s ring micrometer observations, 1852-58

64        Letters to A. Rambaut from Sir Howard Grubb, and related papers, re a revolving dome, lifting floor, etc, 1899

65        [Item reclassified as MS University Observatory 1]

66        ‘Note on Professor Kapteyn’s Method of Determining the Parallax and Proper Motions of Stars by means of Photography’, and related notes, [by A. A. Rambaut, 1905]

67        Miscellaneous papers, 1831-1900, including re the Observatory buildings, stars visible near the south pole, and astronomical expeditions

68        Notes on Radcliffe Observatory instruments by F. A. Bellamy, 1935

69        Waxed-paper photo-meteorographic recordings (28 papers in 4 groups), 1861-74; and sunshine records, 1882-91

70        Four boxes of record cards with information from photographic plates for determining stellar parallax and proper motions by Kapteyn’s method, [early 20thC]

71-73   moon drawings and related papers of john russell (1745-1806), artist

71        Sets of unused printed gores for John Russell’s moon globe, 1797

72/1     Large album containing 187 observational drawings of parts of the moon by John Russell, c.1764-1805, mostly 1787-94

72/2     Contemporary papers re John Russell’s moon project, including: long letter to Thomas Hornsby from Russell, 1789; printed proposals for the moon globe, [before 1797]; printed pamphlet A Description of the Lunar Planispheres …, 1809

72/3     Later correspondence, notes, articles, and photographs re John Russell’s moon drawings and globe, c.1870-1930

73        Photographs (glass negatives) of John Russell’s large pastel drawing of the moon and of one of his original drawings, [1895]

74        Large bound volume or portfolio of planispheres, ink on pasteboard, including a pattern for an astrolabe, 1556/57

75        List of magnifying powers of the ‘Great Telescope’ [James Short 18-inch reflector], 1771, with related letter to [Abram Robertson] from M. Maylard [?or Maylord], 1812

[Other material from this provenance: MS Museum 54; MS Gunther 27 (5); MS Museum 41 (12, 13, 14); MSS University Observatory 12, 13; prints and ephemera. Another group of Radcliffe Observatory papers is at the Royal Astronomical Society, London; Radcliffe Trust and Rigaud papers are in the Bodleian Library, Oxford; a collection of Hornsby’s papers is at Corpus Christi College, Oxford]

MSS Royal Microscopical Society

Manuscripts collected by the Royal Microscopical Society (founded 1839), chiefly papers and drawings of various microscopists and naturalists, 1713-1930s

Variously purchased from and presented by the Royal Microscopical Society in 1970 and 1991

summary list

1          Three volumes of microscopical drawings of ‘Infusoria Diatomacae Desmidiacae Algae &c.’ by James George Tatem, 1864-68

2          Collection of 135 microscopical drawings of rotifers by P. H. Gosse, the originals for the plates in Hudson & Gosse’s The Rotifera … [1886-89], 1849-87 mostly 1885-86

3          E. B. L. Brayley’s synopsis of Hudson & Gosse, The Rotifera … [1886-89], 2 vols, 1915

4          MS of Frederick William Mills, An Index to the Genera and Species of the Diatomaceae and their Synonyms [published 1933-35]

5          Catalogue of microscope slides of molluscs mounted by H. M. Gwatkin, 1883-90

6          Microscopical notebook and correspondence of H. G. W. Aubrey, 1869-79, together with newspaper cuttings and advertisements

7          Bound volume entitled ‘Microscope Technique A selection from the letters of Edward Milles Nelson (1851-1938) … to Alfred Charles Coles (1866-1944) …’, containing photostats of 43 letters (and enclosures) re technical aspects of microscopy and use of the microscope (originals 1904-25), 1946

8          MS of an unpublished book on the microscope by E. M. Nelson, [c.1930-38]

9          Scrapbook of Edward Heron-Allen containing papers and correspondence (259 letters) re his presidency of the Royal Microscopical Society and his election to fellowship of the Royal Society, 1914-20

10-11   Microscopical papers, drawings, and correspondence of F. R. Dixon Nuttall (d.1929), 1884-1928, together with printed pamphlets, and a notebook dated 1854-67

12 & 14   Microscopical papers and notebooks of David L. Bryce (1843-1934), 1884-1932, mostly re rotifers

13        Catalogue of microscope slides, mainly of diatoms, 1860-69

14        [See 12]

15        Scrapbook of drawings of rotifers and other microscopical papers, some by F. R. Dixon Nuttall [who may be the compiler], 1887-94 with later items to 1928

16        Microscopical drawings by James Murray, the originals for the plates of his book Aptera (published 1877)

17        Microscopical sketchbook of Thomas Bolton entitled ‘Rotatoria’, 1889

18        Catalogue of microscope slides entitled ‘Histological Catalogue’, covering chemistry, micrometers, textiles, etc as well as the usual diatomas and natural history objects, 1892

19-20   E. B. L. Brayley’s synopsis of W. Saville Kent, A Manual of the Infusoria [1880-82], 2 vols, 1917-18

21        Card index of habitats of ‘The Rotifera of Scotland’, [c.1931]

22-24   Three volumes of microscopical drawings of hydracarina (water mites) by Charles D. Soar (1853-1939), the originals for the plates in Soar & Williamson, The British Hydracarina, [1925-29], 1909-28

25        Proofs of 49 printed plates from Charles D. Soar’s drawings

26        Papers and drawings of Charles D. Soar re certain families of acarina (mites), 1909-33, together with printed pamphlets, 1898 and 1919

27-35   Nine notebooks of Charles D. Soar, containing notes, drawings, and some printed items re various species of acarina (mites), 1910-33

36        Abraham Flatters’s transcription of Asa Gray, Structural Botany [1879], 1885-86

37        W. T. Suffolk’s own copy of his book On Spectrum Analysis as applied to Microscopical Observation, 1873, containing 3 letters from [Sir] William Crookes, 1873 and 1886

38        Charles D. Soar’s bound copy of F. Koenike, “Hydrachniden-Fauna von Madagaskar und Nossi-Bé”, 1898, and C. J. Neuman, Om Sveriges Hydrachnider, 1880; with 11 postcards from Koenike, 1902-13

39        H. H. Chase, ‘Index Diatomacearum’, a huge TS list of diatoms, 1894

40        William Boys’s annotated copy of the published book on his shell collection, George Walker, Testacea Minuta Rariora … / A Collection of the Minute and Rare Shells, lately discovered In the Sand of the Sea Shore near Sandwich; By William Boys …, [1784], with MS lists

41        Henry Baker (1698-1774), ‘Memoranda, principally relating to pecuniary affairs, Interspersed with Anecdotes of Himself & Family …’, 1713-67; includes material re his teaching of the deaf

42        Bound collection of auction sale catalogues of scientific instruments (20 catalogues), 1769-95

[The Society’s internal records are MSS RMS Archive. Some hitherto uncatalogued items and recent additions are not yet included in the list]

MSS RMS Archive

Archival records of the Royal Microscopical Society (founded 1839)

Deposited on loan by the Royal Microscopical Society in 1991, with additions (continuing)

For more details of this collection please contact the archivist

[Manuscripts collected by the Society are MSS Royal Microscopical Society]

MS St John’s College

Single volume from St John’s College, Oxford, consisting of a catalogue of his collection by John Pointer (1667-1754), collector and tutor (accompanying the Pointer natural history collection)

Deposited on loan by the President and Scholars of St John’s College, Oxford, in 1925

summary list

1          John Pointer, ‘Musaeum Pointerianum’, a descriptive and discursive catalogue of his collection written as if intended for publication, and covering coins and medals, all kinds of natural history and geological specimens, some antiquities, ‘Artificial Rarities’, and ‘Miscellaneous Curiosities’, and also containing discourses on various subjects, especially waters and bathing, [early 18thC]

[Other material from this provenance: MS Museum 24]

MS Sharp

Single volume from a private owner, consisting of an anonymous student or amateur’s handmade astronomical compendium

Deposited on loan by Mr R. Sharp in 1979

summary list

1          Volume of astronomical charts, volvelles, and diagrams with moving parts, with text (including several pages in French), illustrating solar-system motions, distances, calendrics, etc, 1814-19

MSS SHAC

Archival records of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (founded 1935)

Partly deposited on loan by the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry in 2007, with additions (continuing); and partly transferred from the Museum’s internal archive

summary list

A/1/1   Original printed ‘Constitution and Rules’, 1936-38

A/1/2   Revised ‘Constitution and Rules’ of 1957 and 1975

A/1/3   Constitution and rules, 21stC

A/2/1   Papers re registered charity status, 1991

A/2/2   Papers re data protection registration, 1985-87

A/3/1   Early general leaflets, hand-outs, and circulars about the society, or aimed at recruitment, 1935-47

A/3/2   Recent printed leaflets, 21stC

B/1/1   Printed ‘Proceedings’ and annual report, 1938

B/2/1   [Number left free in case earlier minutes should turn up]

B/2/2   Minute book of Council meetings, 1945-96

B/3/1-2   Council meetings files, 1954-83 and 1984-99

B/4/1   Spare duplicate Council minutes

C/1/1   Photocopies of documents re early ordinary meetings or lectures, (originals 1937-38)

C/2/1-5   General meetings files, 1967-2005

C/3/1   List of ‘SHAC Open Meetings’ (1968-80), 1980

C/4/1   Papers re the meeting to launch Frank Greenaway’s memoirs and festschrift, 2007

D/1/1   Photocopies of the earliest surviving correspondence, (originals 1936-39)

D/1/2   ‘Summary Proposals for Reorganisation’, 1939

D/1/3   General correspondence and papers, 1947-48

D/2/1-3   General correspondence and administrative main files, 1952-2001

D/3/1   Correspondence of F. W. Gibbs, 1957-66

D/4/1   General correspondence of W. H. Brock, 1967-92

D/4/2   Correspondence of W. H. Brock as chairman, 1992-2005

E/1/1    List of original members, 1936-37

E/1/2    Subscriptions book containing list of members, 1937-38

E/1/3    List of members, 1947

E/1/4    Card lists of members of the society and subscribers to Ambix, 1952 [probably commenced in 1946]

E/1/5    List of members and subscribers, 1956

E/1/6    List of members, 1988

E/1/7    Card list of members and subscribers maintained by N. G. Coley

E/1/8    List of members, 2007

F/1/1    Early balance sheets for 1936-37 and 1937-38, and summary of accounts for 1938-45

F/1/2    Photocopies of balance sheets and pseudo-balance sheets submitted with Royal Society grant applications, (originals 1946-56)

F/1/3    Annual accounts and balance sheets for 1957-2000

F/2/1    Receipts, invoices, statements, and other financial papers, 1936-39

F/2/2    Treasurer’s correspondence and miscellaneous papers, of Denis Duveen and S. F. Mason, 1946-49

F/2/3    Letter from C. G. Jung, 1946

F/2/4    Treasurer’s correspondence and miscellaneous papers, of C. H. Josten, 1953

F/2/5    Treasurer’s correspondence and miscellaneous papers, of W. A. Smeaton, 1957-77

F/2/6    Treasurer’s correspondence and miscellaneous papers, mostly of N. G. Coley, 1977-89

F/2/7    Papers and correspondence from Heffers re the printing and distribution of Ambix, 1980-87

F/3/1    Account book of income and expenditure kept by Douglas McKie, 1936-40

F/3/2    Account book of income and expenditure kept by W. A. Smeaton, 1957-62

F/3/3    Petty cash book kept by W. A. Smeaton, 1957-78

F/3/4    Account book kept by N. G. Coley

F/4/1    Bank paying-in book, 1936-48

F/4/2    Bank statements for 1939-47

F/5/1-2   Two receipt books for membership subscriptions, 1936-39

F/5/3-4   Two receipt books for membership subscriptions, 1946-52

G/1/1   ‘Resolutions passed at Council Meetings held on 14/3/46 and 26/4/46’, re Ambix editorial procedures and rules, 1946

G/1/2   Spare duplicate editor’s reports

G/1/3   ‘Discussion Paper on the Future of Ambix’, by Brock, Homburg, Morris, and Roberts, 2000

G/2/1   [Number left free in case an earlier editorial file should turn up]

G/2/2   Correspondence and related papers of F. Sherwood Taylor re Ambix editorial matters, 1949-50

G/2/3   Correspondence of W. H. Brock re Ambix editorial matters, 1974-2000

G/3/1   Correspondence of W. H. Brock as reviews editor, 1988-99

G/4/1   Papers re production of the 1955 Ambix leaflet, 1954-55

G/5/1   Offprints of some early articles in Ambix, 1937-48

G/5/2   Printed leaflets for Ambix, 1962

G/5/3   Contents and index volume of Ambix (1937-2003), 2004

G/5/4   Volume of reprints from Ambix, 2004

H/1/1   Papers re the establishment of the Partington Prize, 1972-75

H/2/1-2   Partington Prize files, 1975-84 and 1987-99

J/1/1     Paper copies of e mails and draft pages re initial development of the web site, 1996-97

J/1/2     Paper copies of e mails re development and maintenance of the web site, 2001-03

J/2/1     The society’s newsletter Chemical Intelligence, 2009-10

K/1/1   W. A. Smeaton’s fiftieth anniversay account of the history of the society and its journal, 1987

K/1/2   W. H. Brock’s accounts of the history of the society and its journal, 2005-10

K/1/3   Other published accounts of or referring to the history of the society and its journal, 1998

K/2/1   Copies of obituaries and death notices in the first 50 vols of Ambix, (originals 1946-2002)

K/2/2   Obituaries and similar notices of Charles Singer and John Fulton, 1960

K/2/3   Obituaries of officers and leading members, 1996-2009

K/2/4   Biographical articles, 1987-2009

K/2/5   Biographical miscellanea, 1993-2007

K/4/1   Papers re the deposit of the archive in the Museum of the History of Science in 2007

K/4/2   Catalogues of the archive

X/1/1   Photocopies of articles and reports in external journals and newsletters

X/4/1   Liebig commemorative medal, 1978

X/4/2   Japanese model alembic, c.1980

[See also MSS Stapleton 241-243, 250; MSS Taylor 12, 26, 282-287, 293. Some recent additions are not yet included in the list]

MSS Stapleton

Manuscripts collected by Henry Ernest Stapleton (1878-1962), chemist, educational administrator, and historian, chiefly alchemical treatises in Arabic script, both antique manuscripts and modern copies, AD 1500-1956; and papers and correspondence of Stapleton himself, 1894-1961

Presented by Dr H. E. Stapleton in 1948, with additions, and by his Executors in 1962

summary list

1-49     MANUSCRIPTS AND COPIES OF ALCHEMICAL WORKS IN ARABIC SCRIPT

1          Muhammad ibn Umail at-Tamimi, Al-ma’ al-waraqi wa’l-ard an-najmiya (The Silvery Water and the Starry Earth), dated 1089 [AD 1678], incorporating the same author’s qasida entitled Risalat ash-shams ila’l-hilal; Muhammad ibn Umail, Qasidat an-nuniya; anonymous, Mir’at al-‘aja’ib wa ghaya kull talib fi fann as-san‘a (antique manuscript)

2          Copy of a MS of Muhammad ibn Umail’s Al-ma’ al-waraqi wa’l-ard an-najmiya in the Arabic Museum, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leningrad (St Petersburg), 1929 (photographic copy)

3          Copy of a MS of Muhammad ibn Umail’s Al-ma’ al-waraqi wa’l-ard an-najmiya in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, ?c.1926 (photographic copy)

4          Six treatises copied from original MSS in the Asafiyah Library, Hyderabad: ‘Abd al-’Aziz ibn Tammam al-’Iraqi, Risala, with a commentary; Aristatalis (Aristotle), Risala; Asfidus, Risala fi’l-hikma ila aflarus, addressed to Aflarus; Hurmus (Hermes), Risala; Muhammad ibn Umail at-Tamimi, Risala manzuma; anonymous, Risala tarkib al-miyak (modern transcription)

5          A MS bound with a printed pamphlet containing 2 treatises (printed at Bombay, 1314 [AD 1896/97]):(1) Ar-Razi, Kitab al-asrar (Book of Secrets), dated 1311 [AD 1893/94]; (2) Ar-Razi, Kitab as-sirr, in Persian; Husain Akhlati, Kitab matla’na-nayyirain, in Persian (semi-antique manuscript and a lithographically printed pamphlet)

6          Ar-Razi, Sirr al-asrar (semi-antique manuscript)

7          Ar-Razi, Kitab al-asrar, copied from an original MS in the Bibliotheca Senatoria, Leipzig, 1905 (modern transcription)

8          Ar-Razi, Kitab sirr al-asrar, copied from (?photostats of) an original MS in the Escorial Library, Madrid, 1905 (modern transcription)

9          Seven treatises copied from original MSS in the Rampur library: Ar-Razi, Al-madkhal at-ta’limi; Shah Razin, Risala; Ja‘far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq, Risala; Ja‘far an-Nassab al-Baghdadi, Risala; Ja‘far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq, Sifa ma’ al-baid; Abu ‘Abdallah al-Bakawi, San‘at al-hajar al-aswad; Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik as-Salihi al-Khwarizmi al-Kathi, Kitab ‘ain as-san‘a wa ‘awn as-sana‘a (modern transcription)

10        Three treatises copied from original MSS in the Rampur library: Zusmus (Zosimos), Kitab risamus al-hakim; unidentified compendium of extracts and prescriptions, including extracts from works by Jabir; Ar-Razi, Kitab ash-shawahid (modern transcription)

11        Three treatises copied from original MSS in the Khedivial Library, Cairo, 1909: Khalid ibn Yazid, Kitab fi ‘ilm al-hajar al-karim; Zusmus (Zosimos), Rasa’il fi as-san‘at al-alihiya; Zusmus, Mafatih as-san‘at al-hakim (modern transcription)

12        A majmu‘a (entitled on the spine ‘Majmoai Kimya’) containing about 18 distinct treatises, substantial extracts, or compilations in various hands, together with miscellaneous and unidentified material; the main items are: Ibrahim, notes and extracts dated 905 [AD 1499/1500]; As-Sarukhani, Risala daqa’iq al-mizan fi maqadir al-awzan, copied in 1136 [AD 1723/24]; extracts from or commentary on an alchemical work of Al-Ghazali; Aidamir ibn ‘Ali al-Jildaki, Mukhtasar al-burhan fi asrar ‘ilm al-mizan, copied in 1136 [AD 1723/24]; an anonymous Risala on alchemical balances and unions; Abu ‘Ali Sina (Ibn Sina), Risala fi al-hikmat al-mastura, written for As-Sahli; Jabir ibn Hayyan, Kitab al-wasiyya; Abdul Jabbar Al-Hamadani, Tazkirah, copied in 1089 [AD 1678]; Ibn Wahshiyyah, Kitab al-‘ishrin (antique manuscript)

13        Two printed pamphlets bound together and forming a single work containing 11 treatises of Jabir ibn Hayyan (printed at Bombay, n.d. [AD 1891]), together with a MS containing one of these treatises copied from another source, probably in Tehran, 1904: (1) Kitab al-bayan, Kitab al-hajar, Kitab an-nur, Kitab al-idah, Kitab al-ustuqus parts 1 and 2; (2) continuing from preceding: Kitab al-ustuqus part 3, Tafsir kitab al-ustuqus, Kitab at-tajrid, Kitab ar-rahmat as-saghir, Kitab al-malik; (3) the MS: Kitab al-ustuqus (two lithographically printed pamphlets and a modern transcription)

14        Jabir ibn Hayyan, Kitab ar-rahmat al-kabira, copied from an original MS, probably in the Asafiyah Library, Hyderabad (modern transcription)

15        Seven treatises copied from original MSS in the Khedivial Library, Cairo, 1908: Arsimun, Risala fi as-san‘at al-alihiya; Aghatadimun, Risalat al-hadar; Salim al-Harrani, Risala fi ‘ilm as-san‘at al-alihiya, but this is largely a treatise by Zosimos; Mariyah al-Qibtiyat al-Misriya, Risalat at-taj wa khilqat al-mawlud; Jabir ibn Hayyan, Kitab fi ‘ilm as-san‘at al-alihiya wa’l-hikmat al-falsafiya; Safidis, Risala fi’l-hikma; Mahraris, Risala (modern transcription)

16        Husain ibn ‘Ali ibn Isma‘il at-Tughra’i, Kitab mafatih al-hikma, copied from an original MS in the Asafiyah Library, Hyderabad (modern transcription)

17        Translations by Salih ibn Nasrallah al-Halabi [d.AD 1669] of two Latin works by Paracelsus and Oswald Crollius: Barakalsus, Kitab at-tibb al-jadid al-kimiya’i, re medicinal chemistry; Quruliyus, Al-kimiya basiliqa ya‘ni al-kimiya al-malikiya (his Basilica chymica …, 1609 etc); copied by ‘Abd al-Karim at-Tayyib an-Nassaba in 1267 [AD 1850/51] (semi-antique manuscript)

18        Extracts from a treatise of Ibn Wahshiyyah, Makhzan al-asrar fi ‘ilm as-san‘a, and other miscellaneous material (semi-antique manuscript)

19        Balinas (Apollonius), Kitab al-mudkhal al-kabir ila ‘ilm af‘al ar-ruhaniyat, copied from an original MS, probably in the Asafiyah Library, Hyderabad; it is a translation by Hunain ibn Ishaq of an introduction to Apollonius’s treatise on talismans (modern transcription)

20        Ahmad ibn Sa‘dallah, Ta‘widh al-hakim, an alchemical treatise purporting to be by the Egyptian King Al-Hakim, this version copied from an original MS in the Rampur majmu‘a (modern transcription)

21        A compendium of prescriptions, extracts, and transcriptions copied by Mir Beg in 1165 [AD 1751/52], in Arabic and Persian, including Muhammad ibn Ibrahim at-Tiflisi, Risala, and an anonymous Risala said to have been found in a pillar at Alexandria (antique manuscript)

22        Five treatises copied from original MSS in the Rampur majmu‘a, 1904: Ibn Sina, Risala for Al-Barqi, with modern editorial notes from another MS of the same treatise; Khalid ibn Yazid, Risala fi as-san‘at ash-sharifa; Khalid ibn Yazid, Risala; Jamas, Risala fi as-sirr al-maktum; Zusmus (Zosimos), Kitab risamus al-hakim (modern transcription)

23        Shanaq, Kitab fi as-simum wa’t-turyaq, copied from an original MS in the Khedivial Library, Cairo (modern transcription)

24        Muhammad Marqus Fakhruddin Rumi, Tambih at-talibin, copied from an original MS written in India and ‘found’ in Kariya, Calcutta in 1904 (modern transcription)

25        Sayyid Qasim, a Persian translation by Husain ibn ‘Ali al-Wa‘iz al-Kashifi of the Lubb-i-labab and the Liwa-al-albab, known collectively as Asrar-i-qasimi, principally re natural magic and cosmology (semi-antique manuscript)

26        Anonymous, Kimiya-i-tib, in Persian; copied by Muhammad Nabi Shirazi in 1237 [AD 1821/22] (semi-antique manuscript)

27        Anonymous, Risala-i-mumiya’i, in Persian, said to be a translation of the famous Dhakhir-i-Iskandari (Treasure-Book of Alexander) written for Alexander the Great by Aristotle (antique manuscript)

28        Hasan Zahid Gharib Kirmani, Miqlad al-kunuz, an abridgement of his longer work, Kitab miftah ar-rumuz (semi-antique manuscript)

29        Baraklus (Proclus), Kitab al-iksir fi sana‘at al-kimiya’i; ?anonymous, Al-wusul ila ‘ilm al-iksir, in Persian (printed at Bombay, 1331 [AD 1913]) (lithographically printed pamphlet)

30        Husain ibn ‘Ali at-Tughra’i, Mafatih as-san‘a wa masabih ar-rahma, in Persian (printed at Bombay, 1315 [AD 1897/98] (lithographically printed pamphlet)

31        Hajji Badi‘ ad-Din Muhammad Kushhali, Ma‘alim at-tajarab … dar san‘ati kimiya, in Persian (printed at Bombay, n.d.) (lithographically printed pamphlet)

32        Tanklushah al-Babili, Kunuz-i saba‘ dar ‘ihn-i iksir, in Persian (printed at Bombay, 1311 [AD 1893/94]) (lithographically printed pamphlet)

33        Jabir ibn Hayyan, Kitab al-muktasab, with commentary by Al-Jildaki, in Persian (printed at Bombay, 1307 [AD 1889/90]) (lithographically printed pamphlet)

34        [Aflatun (Plato)], Musahahat aflatun dar ‘ihn asrar huruf wa jafr wa nujum, in Arabic and Persian (printed at Bombay, 1312 [AD 1894/95]) (lithographically printed pamphlet)

35        Hurmus (Hermes), Thamrat al-funun [listed for completeness but not present when the collection came to the Museum]

36        ?Anonymous, Ad-durrat al-bayda’ fi-sana‘at al-yaqutat al-hamra’ fi-l-iksir (printed at Bombay, n.d.) (lithographically printed pamphlet)

37        Imam Sufyan ath-Thuri, Sharh kitab as-surur fi ‘ilm as-san‘at (printed at Bombay, n.d.) (lithographically printed pamphlet)

38        Abu’l-Qasim al-‘Iraqi [Hurmus], ‘Uyun al-haqa’iq (printed at Cairo, n.d.) (lithographically printed pamphlet)

39        Hurmus (Hermes), As-saba‘ kawakib as-sayara (printed at n.p., n.d.) (lithographically printed pamphlet)

40        Copy of the whole of Rampur MS No.17, a majmu‘a containing 20 distinct treatises or other works and compiled in the 13thC, the photostats 1956; together with an annotated offprint of Stapleton’s 1910 article describing this MS and listing its contents, which are: Jamas, Risala fi as-sirr al-maktum, dated 682 [AD 1283/84]; Khalid ibn Yazid, Fi as-san‘at ash-sharifah wa khawassiha; Khalid ibn Yazid, two ?extracts; Shah Razin, Risala; Ja‘far as-Sadiq (?or Ja‘far an-Nassab al-Baghdadi), Risala consisting of prescriptions and extracts; untitled Persian treatise consisting mainly of prescriptions; fragment containing two alchemical prescriptions; untitled Persian treatise containing prescriptions and accounts of alchemical operations; untitled compendium of extracts and prescriptions; Zusmus, Kitab risamus al-hakim, in 6 sections; Ar-Razi, Kitab ash-shawahid; King of the Greeks, chapter on sulphur; Ar-Razi, Kitab al-madkhal at-ta‘limi; Jamal ad-Din, a prescription for making gold from lead; anonymous, extract from Sirr al-maknun; Ibn Sina, Risala fi san‘at al-‘aliya, written for Al-Barqi; Persian extract containing three prescriptions; Ahmad ibn Sa‘dullah, Ta‘widh al-hakim, ascribed to Al-Hakim, King of Egypt; Ja‘far as-Sadiq, Sifa ma’ al-baid; Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik, ‘Ain as-san‘a wa ‘aun as-sana‘a (photographic copy)

41        Part of the Rutbat al-hakim (attributed to Al-Majriti), copied ?from an original MS in the Cairo library, with annotations, 1904; part of Stapleton’s translation of this text (modern transcription)

42        Unidentified work neatly copied from an original MS in the Hyderabad library (modern transcription)

43        First 2 pages of Abdul Jabbar Al-Hamadani, Tazkirah, copied from an original MS in the Hyderabad library, 1926 (modern transcription)

44        Arabic version of the Syriac text of the treatise of Mahraris, copied from the published version in Berthelot & Duval, vol II, 1893, pp.61-98 (incomplete) (modern transcription)

45        Edited text of Ar-Razi, Madkhal at-ta‘limi, with footnotes (modern transcription)

46        Edited text of Muhammad ibn Umail, Qasidat an-nuniyah, with annotations recording variations in the two Hyderabad MSS (where it is called Risala manzuma) (modern transcription)

47        Three texts of Ibn Sina’s Risala for As-Sahli: photostat of the MS in Stapleton’s majmu‘a; transcription of another MS [?Bankipore]; edited version with footnotes (photographic copy and modern transcriptions)

48        Unidentified qasida, acquired by Stapleton for its handwriting, written in the 18th/19thC (semi-antique manuscript)

49        Residual papers or fragments in Arabic script

50 onwards   working papers, research notes, and correspondence

50        Analyses of the Ma’ al-Waraqi, Risalat ash-Shams, and Qasidat an-Nuniyah of Muhammad ibn Umail, and of an anonymous work, the Miracat al-Ajaib, 1933 and earlier

51        Analysis of the Ma’ al-Waraqi of Ibn Umail, c.1933 and 1960

52        Papers re the Ma’ al-Waraqi of Ibn Umail, and re a Latin version of part of it, the Tabula Chimica of Senior Zadith, 1927-32

53        Correspondence and other papers re the Leningrad MS of the Ma’ al-Waraqi, mostly 1929

54        Translation of parts of the Ma’ al-Waraqi, and related notes, 1925-c.1933

55        Translated extracts from, and indexes of, the Ma’ al-Waraqi

56-58   Translated extracts from the Ma’ al-Waraqi, [c.1933]

59        Translated extracts from the Ma’ al-Waraqi, and article on “The Sayings of Hermes …”, 1949 and earlier

60        Miscellaneous notes and translated extracts re the Ma’ al-Waraqi

61        Analysis of Al-Jildaki’s commentary on the Risalat ash-Shams of Ibn Umail

62        Papers re the Miftah al-Hikmat al-’Uzma of Ibn Umail, and re a Latin version of it, the Clavis Sapientiae of Alphonso the Wise, 1935

63        Translation of the Shawahid of Ar-Razi, 1954 and earlier

64        Translated extracts from the Shawahid

65        Comparative analyses of MSS of the Kitab al-Asrar of Ar-Razi

66        Analyses of MSS of the Kitab al-Asrar and Sirr al-Asrar

67        Papers re the Kitab al-Asrar, and especially Ruska’s study of it, c.1937

68        Copy of a Latin version of the Kitab al-Asrar of Ar-Razi, the Liber Secretorum of Bubacar, [1904-05]

69        Material on Ar-Razi from secondary sources

70        Main file of material re Ibn Sina, and especially his two alchemical treatises for As-Sahli and Al-Barqi, [c.1903]-1961

71        Papers re Ibn Sina, and especially his treatise for As-Sahli, and a Latin version of it, the Epistola De Re Recta of Avicenna, [c.1905-c.1962]

72        Notes by B. B. Dutt on the chemistry of Ibn Sina’s treatise for Al-Barqi, [c.1925-30]

73        Notes on Aristotle’s influence on Ibn Sina, [c.1905]-1961

74        Translation of the Rutbat al-Hakim attributed to Maslama ibn Ahmad al-Majriti, translated by Ibrahim B. Qamar (6 vols), 1933-34

75        Correspondence with Ibrahim B. Qamar re his translation of the Rutbat al-Hakim, 1933-36

76        Analysis of the Rutbat al-Hakim, a page-by-page outline of contents, [?c.1908]

77        Analysis of the Rutbat al-Hakim, a selective analysis with translated passages

78-79   Translated extracts from the Rutbat al-Hakim

80        Translations of parts of the Ustuqus al-Us of Jabir ibn Hayyan, 1904

81        Analysis of At-Tughra’i’s commentary on the Kitab ar-Rahmah of Jabir ibn Hayyan, translation of part of Jabir’s Kitab al-Kharsini, and related correspondence with Turab ‘Ali, 1926-27

82        Notes from E. J. Holmyard’s edition of the Bombay lithographed collection of works by Jabir ibn Hayyan, [c.1928]

83        Lists derived from Paul Kraus’s edition of works by Jabir ibn Hayyan, [c.1935]

84        Translation of the account and bibliography of Jabir from the Fihrist, 1904

85        Paper on Khalid ibn Yazid by Stapleton and Hedayet Hosain, [1937] and later

86        Paper on Khalid ibn Yazid, [c.1936-37]

87        Pedigree of Khalid ibn Yazid, and chronological table of Arabian history, [c.1937-c.1950]

88        Translation and Arabic text of Al-Baladhuri’s account of Khalid ibn Yazid, c.1937

89        Papers re Khalid ibn Yazid, including analyses and translations of some of the texts ascribed to him, [c.1926]-1948

90        Main file of material re Khalid ibn Yazid, especially correspondence with J. W. Fück, biographical notes and translations, and translations of poems ascribed to Khalid, 1950-52 and earlier

91        Copy of two Latin works attributed to Hermes from a MS in Paris, [1904/05]

92        Material re the Latin MSS of the Tabula Smaragdina attributed to Hermes, 1934

93        Translations of the Arabic passages in Ruska’s book Tabula Smaragdina [published 1927]

94        Translations of Hermes quotations from Festugière’s book [published 1944]

95        Translation of the extract from Salim al-Harrani in Ar-Razi’s Shawahid

96        Translations of fragments of the works of Salim al-Harrani, [c.1948]

97        Paper on Salim al-Harrani and Harbi, 1925

98        Correspondence with Ibrahim B. Qamar re Shanaq, 1932-33

99        Notes on chemical operations in the Indian Charaka, and in alchemy generally, 1925-26

100      Description of the Musahahat Aflatun, an Arabic treatise on the beliefs of Plato, 1920

101      Notes on Asfidus or Safidus, mainly from At-Tughra’i

102      Translation of the treatise on the Black Stone by Al-Bakawi

103      Analysis of a MS containing the Makhzan al-Asrar of Ibn Wahshiyyah, 1920s

104      Translation and analysis of Arabic MSS of works by Zosimos, 1926 and 1948

105      Arabic incipits etc of the treatises in the Rampur majmu‘a, [c.1905]

106      Contents list of a sequence of MSS at Cairo, [before 1908]

107      Analyses of the treatises in the Cairo majmu‘a, and some translations, 1926

108      Analyses of the treatises in Stapleton’s majmu‘a, [c.1936 and c.1958]

109      Translations of the related treatises of Jamas, Agathodaimon, and Asfidus

110      Analyses of a group of Persian and Arabic treatises on alchemy, medicine, and magic, acquired for Stapleton by W. Ivanow in 1928

111      Papers reflecting Stapleton’s choice of projects in progress, especially re Hermes and Khalid, 1948 and earlier

112-113   Miscellaneous analyses, translations, and other papers

114      Copies of published items on the history of alchemy, especially re the Jabir debate of 1923-24

115      Notes and copies from secondary sources on the history of philosophy and religious ideas, especially as they relate to alchemy, 1920s

116      Miscellaneous copies from secondary sources

117      Translation of Wiedemann’s edition of the Haji Khalifa text (1922), and related papers

118      List of alchemists mentioned by Haji Khalifa, 1926 and earlier

119-120   Lists of alchemists and substances from Ruska’s edition of the Turba Philosophorum (1931)

121      Notes and correspondence re MSS at St Joseph’s College, Beirut, 1911 and 1925-26

122      Lists derived from Paul Kraus’s edition of works by Jabir (1935)

123      Translation from the German of part of Ruska’s book on Jafar as-Sadiq (1924)

124      Translation from the German of Ruska’s article on Ar-Razi (1924)

125-127   Translation from the German of Ruska’s Tabula Smaragdina (1926)

128      Translation from the German of Ruska’s article “Über das Fortleben …” (1927)

129      Translations from the German of Ruska’s articles on Ibn Umail (1934 and 1936)

130      Translation from the German of Eisler’s article on Babylonian chemical terminology (1926)

131      Translations from the German of two works by Scholem on the Kabbala (1928 and [?1932])

132      Translation from the German of Kraus’s article on Jabir (1931)

133      Notebook, chiefly containing translations from the Fihrist, analysis of the Rampur majmu‘a, and translation of Ibn Sina’s treatise for Al-Barqi, 1903-04

134      Notebook, chiefly containing translations from the Shifa of Ibn Sina, from the writings of Khalid ibn Yazid, and from the Rutbat al-Hakim, 1903-04 and later

135      Notebook, chiefly containing translation of part of the Mafatih al-‘Ulum of Al-Khuwarizmi, and translations of the Madkhal at-Ta’limi and the Shawahid of Ar-Razi, 1904-05

136      Notebook, containing R. F. Azo’s edited Arabic text of Ibn Sina’s treatise for As-Sahli, and translations of the treatises of Jamas, Asfidus, and Agathodaimon, [1903-05] and 1926

137      Notebook, chiefly containing translations from the Shifa of Ibn Sina and translation of the ‘Ain as-San‘a wa ‘Aun as-Sana‘a of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik, 1904-09

138      Earliest alchemical correspondence, 1903-05

139      Other early alchemical correspondence

140      Correspondence with Julius Ruska, 1923-34

141      Correspondence with E. J. Holmyard, 1923-34

142      Alchemical correspondence, 1925-26

143      Correspondence with Haraprasad Shastri, 1926

144      Miscellaneous alchemical correspondence, 1927-34

145      Correspondence with and re Bhudeb Mookerji, mostly 1928

146      Correspondence with J. W. Fück, 1933 and 1935-36

147      Correspondence with Paul Kraus, 1935 and 1937

148      Miscellaneous alchemical correspondence, 1935-38

149      Letter in Arabic from George Sarton, 1355 AH (AD 1936)

150      Correspondence with Julius Ruska and George Sarton, mostly 1937

151      List of the MSS acquired for Stapleton by W. Ivanow in 1928

152      List of lithographed booklets purchased by Stapleton from Molvi Mohammed bin Gulamrasul Surti’s Sons in 1936

153      List of Stapleton’s library as given to the Museum of the History of Science in 1947

154      Stapleton’s memorandum ‘Proposals for the Translation and Publication of Alchemical Texts in Arabic’, 1948

155      Description of a chemical operation by B. B. Dutt, 1928

156      Copy of Arabic passage re amulets

157      Three original drawings

158      File for residual alchemical notes and fragments

159      Papers re the preparation of Stapleton’s Amsterdam 1950 conference paper

160      Two pocket notebooks re alchemy, ancient philosophy, etc, 1950

161      Copy of letter from Ian R. F. Calder, 1950

162      Correspondence re publication of “The Antiquity of Alchemy” and of its abstract, 1950-53

163      Lists of Arabic alchemical MSS at Rampur, and related correspondence, latter 1932-36

164      Revised version of Din Muhammad’s Rampur catalogue, 1936

165      Short tabular version of Hurmuzullah’s Hyderabad catalogue

166-167   MS and TS of Hurmuzullah’s Hyderabad catalogue, [1930-31]

168-171   MS and TSS of Ghafoor Ahmad’s Hyderabad catalogue, 1936-38 and c.1947

172      Index to Ghafoor Ahmad’s Hyderabad catalogue

173      Lists of Arabic alchemical MSS at Hyderabad, 1930s and earlier

174      Correspondence with Ghafoor Ahmad, and related papers, 1935-39

175      Correspondence and other papers re the Hyderabad library, 1935-36

176      Later correspondence re the Hyderabad catalogue, 1949-50 and one item 1935

177      Later correspondence re the Hyderabad catalogue, 1950-51, and papers of Ghafoor Ahmad, [c.1935-39]

178      Correspondence with western historians re Arabic alchemical MSS in India, 1925 and 1933-36

179      Correspondence re Arabic alchemical MSS in various Indian libraries, and related papers, 1931-36

180      “Note on the Arabic MSS. on Alchemy in the Asafiyah Library, Hyderabad …”, 1931-32

181      Report on the MSS in the Rampur library by Hedayet Hosain, 1932

182      Report on the MSS in the Hyderabad library, 1935

183      “Further notes on the Arabic alchemical manuscripts in the libraries of India”, 1936

184      Lists of Arabic alchemical MSS in the British Museum

185      Lists of Arabic alchemical MSS in European libraries

186      Material re the Alaja Höyük standards, 1953-56

187      Paper on the Alaja Höyük standards, [1954]

188      Diagrams and posters used in presenting Stapleton’s Florence paper, 1956

189      Abstract of Stapleton’s Florence paper “The Hand (with its 5 Fingers) …”, 1958

190-191   Article on “Ancient and Modern Aspects of Pythagoreanism”, 1958-61

192      Correspondence re the preparation and publication of Stapleton’s Florence paper, 1953-59

193      Papers re revision and extension of the Florence/Osiris paper, and related research, 1953-58

194      Correspondence following the publication of “Ancient and Modern Aspects of Pythagoreanism”, 1959-61

195      Notes by H. C. V. Philpot and M. C. Green on magic squares, 1953

196      H. C. V. Philpot’s notebooks (9 items), 1954-c.1960

197      Notes by H. C. V. Philpot on the geometry of pyramids

198      Notes by H. C. V. Philpot, and related papers, 1959-60

199      Paper on Babylonian Pythagoreanism by Philpot and Stapleton, 1960-61

200-203   Notes by H. C. V. Philpot, and related papers, mostly 1957-61

204      Papers on magic squares and related matters, c.1950-53

205      Article “Probable Sources of the Numbers on which Jābirian Alchemy was Based”, 1952-53

206      Correspondence re Meso-American ziggurats, 1953

207      Paper on the Borsippa Ziggurat, [c.1953]

208      Paper on ‘The Origins of Pythagoreanism’, 1953-57

209      Notes and correspondence of M. C. Green, 1953-56

210      Copy of De la Fuÿe’s article on the pentagram (1930), and related notes, c.1955

211      Correspondence with Joseph Needham, and related papers, 1956-61

212      Paper on the right-angled triangle, [after 1956]

213      Correspondence with G. J. Whitrow, 1957-60

214      Stapleton’s ‘Primitive Hut’ paper, and correspondence with W. C. Brice, 1957-58

215      Correspondence re Egyptian metallurgy and the geometry of pyramids, 1959

216      Josef Peller papers, 1960 (originals 1923-58)

217-218   Pythagorean notes and correspondence, 1950-54

219      Four pocket notebooks, mostly containing notes on early geometry and mathematics, and on ancient history, 1952-53

220      Miscellaneous Pythagorean notes and correspondence, 1954-58

221      Miscellaneous Pythagorean notes, and Stapleton’s paper ‘The Importance of Symbolism …’, mostly c.1954-60

222      Residual Pythagorean notes and fragments

223      Papers re the London 1931 history of science conference

224      Papers re the London 1934 anthropological conference

225      Papers re the Copenhagen 1938 anthropological conference

226      Papers re the Lausanne 1947 history of science conference

227      Papers re the Brussels 1948 anthropological conference

228      Papers re the Amsterdam 1950 history of science conference

229      Papers re the Istanbul 1951 oriental conference

230      Papers re the Vienna 1952 anthropological conference

231      Papers re the Jerusalem 1953 history of science conference

232      Papers re the Cambridge 1954 oriental conference

233      Papers re the Florence 1956 history of science conference

234      Papers re the Moscow 1960 oriental conference

235      Papers re the Ithaca 1962 history of science conference, 1961 [Stapleton died before the conference]

236      Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1917

237      Papers re the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1930s

238      Papers re the Comité International d’Histoire des Sciences, 1929-34

239-240   Papers re the Académie Internationale d’Histoire des Sciences, 1947-48 and 1954-61

241-243   Papers re the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry, 1936-39, 1947-48, and 1956-59

244      Papers re the Chemical Society centenary celebrations, 1947

245      Papers re the British Society for the History of Science, 1947-56

246      Correspondence re the gift of Stapleton’s library on Islamic alchemy to the Museum of the History of Science, 1947-48

247      Correspondence with Geoffrey Lewis, 1948-51

248      Correspondence with F. Sherwood Taylor, 1949-50

249      Correspondence with C. H. Josten, 1951-58, and correspondence re the acquisition of photostats from Rampur

250      Correspondence with F. Sherwood Taylor, 1952-54

251-253   Bibliographical Commission (and related) correspondence, minutes, etc, 1948-61

254      Correspondence and other papers re Alfred Siggel and his catalogues, 1950-51

255      Correspondence and other papers re photostats of MSS in Turkish libraries, 1952-55

256      Correspondence with Martin Plessner, 1953-59

257      Correspondence and notes re atomic science and the possibilities of transmutation, 1947-50

258      Notes and printed material re atomic science, 1946-57

259      Jersey cow papers, mostly 1949-60

260      Article on the history of Jersey cattle, 1952-53

261      Letter upon the liberation of Jersey, 1945

262      General correspondence, 1947-51

263      Correspondence with J. W. Fück, 1949

264      Correspondence with R. J. Forbes, mainly re early history of alchemy, metallurgy, and distillation, 1949-54

265      Correspondence with Martin Plessner, 1949-51

266      Correspondence with H. J. Fleure and others re ancient history, archaeology, and anthropology, 1950-51

267      Correspondence with Joseph Needham and Homer H. Dubs on Chinese alchemy and ancient history, 1950-52

268      General correspondence, 1952-56

269      Correspondence with G. J. Whitrow, 1956-61

270      General correspondence, 1957-61

271      Correspondence with L. Fowden, 1959

272      Correspondence on the death of E. J. Holmyard, 1959

273-274   Scientific and English Mechanic cuttings books, 1894-95

275      Student notebook on practical physics and volumetric analysis, Oxford, [c.1897]

276-277   Two student notebooks on chemistry, Oxford, 1897-98

278      Published papers by Prafulla Chandra Ray and Siegfried Ruhemann, 1897-1903

279-280   Published papers by Ruhemann and Stapleton, 1899-1902

281      Publications of the Indian Science Congress, 1928

282      Reports and other papers of Visva-Bharati, 1925-27

283      Handbook to Aligarh Muslim University, 1931

284      Correspondence and other papers re Stapleton’s activities in Indian archaeology, history, and education, 1930s

285      Who’s Who entry, 1929

286-287   Miscellaneous financial papers, 1943-53

288      Papers re a family trust fund, 1959-60

289      Golden wedding speech, 1961

290      Letter re the Dokachi meteorites, 1907

291      Note of Stapleton’s first ‘Manuring & Cropping …’, [c.1922]

292      Papers re coin collecting and selling, 1943-44 and 1949

293      Graph recording Sheila’s lactations, 1950-53

294      Residual personal papers and fragments

295      Miscellaneous photographs

296      Miscellaneous printed ephemera, 1929-60

297      Miscellaneous cuttings from newspapers and periodicals, 1933-60

298      Offprints of some of Stapleton’s published papers

299      Some printed books of personal relevance

[Stapleton items of uncertain provenance are in MSS Museum 40, 120; Geoffrey Lewis’s correspondence with Stapleton is MS Museum 371]

MSS Taylor

Papers and correspondence of Frank Sherwood Taylor (1897-1956), chemist, historian, and museum curator, 1914-62. F. Sherwood Taylor was curator of the Museum of the History of Science (1940-50), and director of the Science Museum, London (1950-56)

Presented by Mr J. Sherwood-Taylor in 2007; initially deposited on loan by Mrs M. Sherwood Taylor in 1986

summary list

1          Two horoscopes of Taylor, in his own hand

2          School certificate, 1914

3          Letter to Taylor’s mother from Mervyn F. ?Voules, 1916

4          Taylor’s letters to his mother written during his war service and subsequent invalidity, 1917-18

5          Certificate of registration [for voting], 1918

6          Three Oxford University certificates, 1919-25

7          Small group of papers mainly re Major Cyril Taylor, 1929-32

8          Small group of papers re Seaton Frank Taylor, 1931-32

9          Bundle of correspondence and related papers re John Seaton Taylor, 1930-40

10        Printed literature re Lincoln’s Inn, 1932; letter from Frank Archer re Taylor’s shops, 1933

11        Miscellaneous business and financial papers, 1933-42

12        Scrapbook of newspaper and magazine cuttings re and by Taylor, 1935-39

13        Two book reviews (of books by Taylor), 1941 and 1948

14        Three printed pamphlets of societies he belonged to, 1944-48

15        Letter and financial accounts re Taylor’s shops, 1945

16        General and personal receipts, invoices, and other financial papers, 1948-50

17        Journal of Chemical Education containing biographical profile of Taylor by Ralph E. Oesper, 1950

18        Two membership certificates, 1950 and 1954

19        Newspaper cuttings re Taylor’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, 1952

20        Notes re Ampleforth College, 1952

21        Curriculum vitae, [1953-54]

22        Reviews of An Illustrated History of Science, 1955-56

23        Letter enclosing proof of a ‘Profile’ intended for publication in The Observer [not published because Taylor died], 1956

24        Obituaries of Taylor, 1956

25        Posthumous correspondence and papers, mainly re publishing, 1956-62

26        Miscellaneous posthumous printed items, 1956-60

27        Reviews of A History of Industrial Chemistry, 1957-58

28-29   Photographs of Taylor

30-66   correspondence, mostly in original folders with titles as quoted

30        ‘Newman Assoc. Correspondence’ and other material, 1944

31        ‘Chambers Encyclopaedia’, 1946

32        Letter and pamphlet re Sheffield University, 1946

33        ‘St Xavier’s College’, 1946-48

34        ‘Chymia’, 1946-49

35        Three loose items of correspondence, 1947

36        ‘Manley-Bendall. (Translation)’, 1947

37        Four loose items of correspondence, 1947-48

38        ‘St. Joseph’s College …’, 1947-48

39        ‘Pearn, Pollinger & Higham’, 1947-50

40        ‘Heinemann’, 1947-50

41        ‘Stapleton on Atomic Physics’, 1948

42        ‘Macdonald’, 1948-50

43        ‘Newman Association Publications Cee’, 1948-50

44        ‘Georgetown Correspondence’, 1950

45        ‘Crux’, 1950

46        Correspondence and other material re article for Research, 1950

47        Letters of congratulation upon appointment as Director of the Science Museum, 1950

48        ‘Papers for Visit to Royal Dublin Society …’, 1951

49        ‘P. R. Fontaney …’, 1951-52

50        ‘Nottingham …’, 1951-52

51        ‘Papers on proposed lecture to be given on William Higgins’ (by T. S. Wheeler), 1951-53

52        ‘Society for Freedom in Science’, 1951-55

53        ‘Friends of University College’, 1952

54        ‘Sheffield Visit …’, 1952-53

55        ‘Correspondence with Frederick Muller, Ltd. Publishers’, 1952-54

56        ‘Foyle’s Lecture Agency’, 1952-55

57        ‘Research’, 1953

58        ‘Hodder & Stoughton’, 1953

59        ‘Sheffield Visit’, 1953

60        ‘Papers for Newcastle …’, 1953

61        ‘Papers for Leeds … and York …’, 1953

62        ‘Scotland’, 1953-55

63        ‘Papers relating to Course of 6 Lectures … Oxford Institute of Education’, 1954

64        ‘Otterden Place’, 1954-55

65        ‘Times Educational Supplement. Galileo’, 1955

66        ‘Correspondence with Publishers, Agents etc.’, 1951-55

67        Large bundle of correspondence, mostly re lecture engagements, book reviews, broadcasts, and articles, 1951-55

68        Large bundle of correspondence, mostly re lecture engagements, 1952-55, including re participation in television programme Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?

69        Correspondence, mostly with publishers, 1952-55

70        Two letters on religious matters, [c.1954]

71        ‘Dr. F. Sherwood Taylor’s Private Papers, Etc.’, a posthumously assembled file of miscellaneous last letters, 1954-55

72        Letter from Gustav Scherz re Nicolaus Steno, and issue of his journal Stenoniana Catholica, 1955

73        Correspondence re An Illustrated History of Science and A History of Technology [edited by Singer and others], 1955

74        Drafts of the collaborative article ‘Double Salts and Anions Derived from Halides of Certain Metals’, [1937]

75        Course of lectures on inorganic chemistry, [1930s]

76        Correspondence and other material re revisions of The World of Science, 1948

77        Report for the revision of Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry

78-80   Correspondence and related papers re ‘General Science for Catholic Schools’ [published as General Science for Girls and A Short General Science], especially from Sister Mary Cecilia [Oddie], 1947-55

81-83   Drafts and research materials for ‘Fuels & Power’ [published as Power To-day & To-morrow, 1954]

84        TS of Power To-day & To-morrow, [c.1954]

85        Index to ‘Fuels & Power’

86        Pulls of figures for same book

87        Corrections and comments re same book, [c.1954]

88        Draft and notes for projected book ‘New Trends in Science’, [1948]

89        Draft of ‘The Fine Structure of Things’, [?c.1948]

90        Proposal and outline of projected book ‘The Physical and Chemical World’, [1955]

91        Draft entries for ‘Odhams Encyclopaedia’

92        Lecture (or article) ‘Medicine and the Bomb’

93        Lecture (or article) ‘Man in the Year Two Thousand’

94        Notes on a Greek alchemical text, 1919 and later

95        Translation of ‘Letter of Synesius the Philosopher to Dioscorus on the book of Democritus …’ and notes on Greek alchemy, [1920s]

96        Lecture ‘Greek Alchemical Texts’

97        Offprint of “The Visions of Zosimos” [1937], with enclosed translation of alchemical letter from Philocosmos to Hyanthe

98        Offprints of “A Survey of Greek Alchemy”, 1930

99        Notes, drafts, and photostats re Stephanos of Alexandria, [1930s]

100      Translation of the first, second, and third lectures of Stephanos of Alexandria, and related papers, [c.1937]

101      Photographs of a Greek MS of works by Stephanos of Alexandria

102      Notes and drafts for article on the alchemical poem ‘The Argument of Morien and Merlin’, 1947

103      Notes and drafts on alchemical subjects, especially English alchemists, [1948]

104      Notes on alchemy from Ashmole MSS, [c.1946]

105      Photostats and transcriptions of alchemical poems

106      TS copies of alchemical poems by Thomas Vaughan

107      Analysis, and transcriptions of parts, of a printed book by Patrick Scot, The Tillage of Light

108      Photostats of three John Dastin MSS

109      Draft footnotes to article [“An Alchemical Work of Sir Isaac Newton”, published posthumously 1956]

110      Draft of The Alchemists [published USA 1949 and UK 1952]

111-112   TSS of The Alchemists, [c.1949]

113      Bibliography of The Alchemists

114      Notes and draft for article [“The Idea of the Quintessence”], with related letters, [1946-48]

115      Incomplete TS of same article

116      Two lectures on alchemy, and one on phlogiston

117      Four lectures ‘On the Development of the Principles of Chemistry’ (mostly classical and alchemical), with related notes

118      Notes from Roger Bacon and Albertus Magnus on alchemy

119      Material re alchemical words for the Mediaeval Latin Dictionary, 1946

120      Note on ‘spirit’ in the writings of St Thomas Aquinas; description [by H. E. Stapleton] of an Arabic MS of a work derived from Paracelsus

121      Photostats of part of a printed book on alchemy (etc) by John Joachim Becher, Magnalia Naturae … (1680)

122      Boxfile of articles, lectures, research notes, and some related correspondence, on history of alchemy, [early 1940s], including unfinished first draft of a general history [precursor of The Alchemists], letter from G. H[eym], and writings re Jung’s interpretation of alchemy

123      Large bundle (former boxfile) of articles, lectures, broadcasts, research notes, and some related correspondence and photographs, on history of alchemy, [mostly 1940s], including notes for dramatised ‘Broadcast on Alchemy’, and material re Stephanos of Alexandria

124      Lecture on ‘Galileo & the Freedom of Thought’, [1930s]

125      Notes and outline for projected new book on Galileo, [c.1953]

126      Outline for lecture or article on Galileo, [c.1955]

127      Photographs re Galileo, [c.1955]

128      Corrected proof of The Conquest of Bacteria, for 1945 edition

129      Revised organic formulae and index for new edition of The Conquest of Bacteria

130      Papers for revised editions of Science Past & Present, chiefly extensive additions, together with report by I. Bernard Cohen, latter 1947

131      Extracts from documents and classic works in the history of science and medicine, related to Science Past & Present

132-134   Drafts of A Century of British Chemistry, [published 1947]

135      Galley proofs of A Century of British Chemistry, 1947

136-137   Material re centenary of the Chemical Society, especially the exhibition and its catalogue, 1946-47

138-140   Drafts of projected book ‘A Century of Chemistry’, 1948 [unpublished; different from A Century of British Chemistry]

141      Miscellaneous notes, drafts, and other material re same book

142      Miscellaneous papers assembled in boxfile entitled ‘History of XIX Century Science / Notes’, including notes re ‘A Century of Chemistry’, and outline of projected general history of science from late 18thC onwards, [c.1948]

143-144   Notes re projected book ‘Scientific Thought of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’, including long lists of matters to be treated

145      Outline of same book

146      Two notebooks of research notes [for article “The Teaching of the Physical Sciences at the End of the 18th. Century” in The Philosophical Magazine Commemoration Number, published 1948]

147      TS of same article

148      Galley proof of same article

149      Drafts and texts, research notes, and correspondence re history of Oxford science and Museum of the History of Science, 1946-49, including ‘Memorandum on the Teaching of the History of Science in Universities’, and notes on history of the School of Natural Science

150      Notes, drafts, and correspondence re history of Oxford science from 1850 for projected book, 1949

151      Lecture ‘The Changing Relations of Science and Industry’ by M. P. Applebey, 1947

152-153   Photostats and other research materials and notes connected with the centenary of the School of Natural Science, Oxford, [1949-50]

154      Galley proof of article ‘The Teaching of Science at Oxford in the Nineteenth Century’ [published 1952]

155      TSS of article ‘An Early Orrery by Thomas Tompion and George Graham’, co-written with G. H. Gabb, and related papers, [1948]

156      Lecture on medieval scientific instruments

157      Offprints of article “Mediaeval Scientific Instruments”, 1950

158      Notes and correspondence re weird machines and instruments (e.g. perpetual motion machines) alleged in works of Fludd and others, 1949-50

159      Proof of letter to Nature on ‘Early Record of Temperature-control in Distillation’, co-written with C. H. Josten, [c.1950]

160      Picture captions and index for book [An Illustrated History of Science, published 1955]

161      TS of same book

162      Earlier TS of same book, and correspondence with A. R. Thomson re the illustrations, 1953

163      A. R. Thomson’s draft illustrations [for An Illustrated History of Science] and related notes and correspondence, [1954-55]

164-165   Lists of illustrations for same, [1953/54]

166      Twenty-three notebooks containing notes and drafts for A History of Industrial Chemistry [posthumously published 1957]

167      Notes on chemical medicines

168      Notes on 16thC cosmetics

169      Research notes on modern industrial chemistry, 1953

170      Book list re industrial chemistry

171      TS of A History of Industrial Chemistry

172-175   Various TS pages and sections of same

176      List of illustrations for same

177      Course(s) of lectures on ‘History & Method of Science in XVII Century’, given to military cadets in wartime, [early 1940s]

178      Course of lectures on ‘Scientific Method in the XVII Century’, [early 1940s]

179-180   Course of lectures on ‘History of Science & Social History in XIX cent’ alias ‘Science & Human Affairs in XIX Century’

181      Ten notebooks and small group of loose papers containing notes and drafts for course of lectures and projected book on 13thC science

182      Record cards bearing references to passages in works by [Roger] Bacon and Al[bertus Magnus]

183-184   Outlines of projected book ‘Physical World of XIII Century Christendom’

185      TS headed ‘Induction & Verification & Falsification in Physics’, re approaches to physical evidence in the 13thC

186      Course of 24 lectures on the history of science (general), given to military cadets in wartime, and related correspondence, [early 1940s]

187      Course of 6 lectures on the history of biology, [c.1950]

188      Course of lectures on the history of astronomy

189      Drafts of Man’s Conquest of Nature, 1947

190      Notes analysing John Evelyn’s two chemical MSS, and draft of article about them [published 1952]

191      Drafts of articles on Albertus Magnus, and related papers, 1950

192      Notes and drafts for lectures ‘The Attitude of the Schoolmen to Observational Science’ and ‘The Experimental Method in the Middle Ages’, [1944]

193      Lecture to the Newcomen Society ‘Some Metallurgical Processes of the Early Sixteenth Century (1530)’, and related papers and correspondence re the book Voarchadumia by Pantheo, 1954

194      Outline, notes, and draft for ‘The Theory of Metals in the Thirteenth Century’, [c.1952]

195      Drafts of lecture (or broadcast) ‘Inventions That Have Changed Men’s Lives’

196      Speech delivered at opening of Ramsay Centenary Exhibition, Science Museum, 1952

197      Broadcast ‘The Founding of the Chemical Industry’, 1945

198      Script for the summary version of his Royal Institution Christmas Lectures performed for television, 1953

199      Broadcast ‘Scientific Developments of the Early Nineteenth Century’, [1950]

200      Papers re the unfavourable review of An Illustrated History of Science by A. and N. L. Clow, 1955-56

201      Galley proof of Chapter 13 [of A History of Technology], ‘Prescientific Industrial Chemistry’, co-written with Charles Singer, 1955

202      Photostat of book review “The Letters of Nicolaus Steno”

203      Large bundle (former boxfile) of drafts and texts of articles, lectures, broadcasts, and some other writings on history of science, also some related notes and correspondence, 1940-50

204      Large bundle (former boxfile) of notes, drafts, and texts of articles, lectures, broadcasts, and some other writings on history of science, also some related correspondence, 1945-49

205      Notes, drafts, and texts of book reviews, broadcasts, and some other writings, [c.1946-47], including radio script of debate on miracles with J. R. Baker, and MS [not in Taylor’s hand] on Leibniz

206      Large bundle of drafts and texts of lectures and articles, mainly academic lectures given while Director of the Science Museum, 1951-55

207      Bundle mostly of radio broadcasts on history of science, 1952-53, together with television script [of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures]

208      Bundle of TSS, proofs, and some drafts of articles, lectures, and other writings, mainly book reviews and speeches at gallery openings etc, with some related printed items and correspondence, 1950-55

209      Miscellaneous drafts, notes, and fragments re various history of science writings and research topics, [1940s]

210-211   Drafts for projected book on religion and its relation to science [which evolved into The Fourfold Vision, 1945, and other works], with section of biographies of saints [unpublished]

212      Drafts and proofs of Two Ways of Life [published 1947]; ‘Notes on Natural & Human Law’ from St Thomas [Aquinas] and Suarez, and other ?related material, [c.1943-44]

213      Introduction and first two chapters of projected book ‘The Place of Science and Religion’ [version of The Fourfold Vision, 1945]

214      Part draft of ‘Men & Things’, a work on scientific and religious philosophies and perceptions, including discussion of alchemy

215      Course of 6 lectures on ‘The Relations of Religion and Science’, [1953]

216      Course of lectures (3 present) on ‘Modern Science and Faith’

217      Course of 3 lectures on science and religion etc; notes and draft for lecture ‘The Substitution of Science for Religion’ [published 1950]

218      Lecture ‘The Scientists [sic] Approach to the Church’; notes for review of book by E. F. Caldin; notes for lecture at Shrewsbury on the nature and philosophy of science

219      Lecture ‘Science and the Catholic Church’

220      Lecture ‘The History of Science in Relation to Religion’, [1954]

221      Notes, outlines, and drafts for lecture(s) on ‘Nature & Limitations of Science’, with related correspondence, and for a book [parts of Concerning Science, published 1949], 1949-50

222      Notes and draft ‘The Scientific View’, with related letter, 1946

223      Lecture ‘Science & Creation’; notes for different lecture with similar title

224      Lecture or article on the nature and limitations of science

225      Outline and draft (incomplete) for lecture ‘The Scope of the Natural Sciences’

226      Notes and drafts for lecture(s) or article(s) containing headings ‘Science and Pleasures’ and ‘Trespassers on Science’

227      Two versions of article (or lecture) ‘Science, Truth & Ethics’

228      Two versions of lecture ‘Science & Belief’

229      Draft and text of broadcast ‘The Influence of Science on Religion’ (draft title), 1947

230      Lecture ‘The Catholic Scientist’

231      Lecture ‘Some Moral Problems Raised by Science’

232      TS ‘Science Materialism and Free-Will’ [not lecture]

233      Two issues of the Catholic Herald containing Taylor’s article “Catholics and Public Life …” and a response, 1949

234      Mutilated offprint of “On the Excellence of Things”, 1946

235      Boxfile of drafts and texts of articles, lectures, and broadcasts, with some proofs, printed items, notes, and correspondence, on science in general, 1937-47, including various war-related lectures and articles, TS of ‘Double Salts and Anions Derived from Halides of Certain Metals’, 1937, and examination papers for Taylor’s history of science courses, 1945

236      Bundle of drafts and texts of lectures and some other writings, with some related notes and correspondence, on science and religion, 1952-55

237      Boxfile of drafts and texts of articles, lectures, and some other writings, with some proofs, notes, and correspondence, on religion and science, 1943-50, including ‘The Eucharist Considered Apart from Substance’, proposals for a Catholic university, 1943, and lecture ‘Evolution and Religion’

238-239   Notes on the theology and philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas, [1940s]

240      Notes on the theology and philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas, 1943, together with notes on alchemists

241      Notes re Cornoldi’s views on Aquinas’s science

242      Carbon copy of letter and enclosure from Taylor to Beatrice White, re Aquinas, 1943

243      Drafts of article ‘A Hymne of Paradise’

244      Galley proofs of article “A Hymne of Paradise”

245      Photographs, and TS of poem, re same article

246      Issue of Westminster Cathedral Chronicle containing article “The Confessions of Saint Augustine”, 1945

247      Translation of part of the Soliloquies of St Augustine

248      Material for translation of The Seven Steps of the Ladder of Spiritual Love by Jan van Ruysbroeck, including correspondence, 1942-43

249      Galley proofs of translation of The Soul’s Betrothal-Gift by Hugh of St Victor, 1944

250      Unfinished translation of Book of the Spiritual Exercises of the Threefold Way … by John Michael de Coutances, with photostats, [1940s]

251      Lecture ‘Christian Responsibility’, [1950/51]

252      Two versions of article (or lecture) ‘The Catholic Layman and his Responsibilities’ [published 1948]

253      TS of ‘Love’s Philosophy’, a small book presenting a personal philosophy of secular love [unpublished]

254      Drafts of ‘Sophia’, an unfinished novel set in the 17thC, [?early 1940s]

255      Drafts of lecture ‘The University and Education’

256      Discussion document ‘Proposal for a Catholic Institute of Learning’, [1943/44]

257      Discussion document (or article) ‘A Catholic University’, [1950s]

258      Discussion document ‘Memorandum on the Teaching of the History of Science in Universities’, 1946

259      ‘Report on the State of the Old Ashmolean Building and the Work Required in Order to Fit it for Use as a Museum and Centre for the Teaching of the History of Science’, [c.1946]

260      Minutes of Museum of the History of Science committee meeting, 1948, and ‘Report on Lectures given in the History and Method of Science’ during 1947-48

261      Lecture on use of history of science in science teaching, 1948

262      Notes for lecture on Science Museum, [1950s]

263      Mixed-subject notebook, mainly re alchemy

264      Mixed-subject notebook, mainly re English alchemists

265      Mixed-subject notebook, including transcription of an Ashmole MS, and draft of letter answering criticisms of his views on science and religion

266      Mixed-subject notebook, including notes and draft for lecture on Leonardo, and notes re projected book on 20thC science

267      Mixed-subject notebook, mainly drafts of various scientific and history of science writings

268      Mixed-subject notebook, including notes re projected book [‘Scientific Thought of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’], and re the metallurgical book Voarchadumia by Pantheo

269      Mixed-subject notebook, including draft of article on Museum of the History of Science

270      Mixed-subject notebook, mainly re lectures

271      Mixed-subject notebook, mainly re Victorian geology, for broadcast

272      Mixed-subject notebook, mainly notes (for book review) from Butterfield’s Origins of Modern Science

273      Miscellaneous notes re science and history of science

274      Notes on recent developments in medicine and astronomy

275      Miscellaneous notes and fragments, mainly re science and history of science, including glossary of ‘Mediaeval Technical Words’, A-H only

276      Miscellaneous TS fragments, mainly re history of science

277      Outline of projected book on history of medicine by A. H. T. Robb-Smith, [1948 or after]

278      Papers by others on science and Catholicism, 1940-41

279      Matriculation certificate of Thomas Patrick Sherlock, 1942

280      Proofs of preliminaries and introduction to A. C. Crombie, Augustine to Galileo, 1952

281      Miscellaneous photographs re research or writing projects

282      Letters between Taylor and Douglas McKie re Ambix editorial matters, 1938 and 1949

283      Letter from V. A. Petrow, 1946

284-285   TSS of articles for Ambix by Lippmann, Duveen, and Shirley, [for 1948-49 issues]

286      Proof of complete issue of Ambix , 1950

287      Printed leaflet advertising Ambix, [1954]

288      Pamphlets by or partly by Taylor, 1945-50

289      Periodicals containing articles by Taylor, 1937-55

290-291   Offprints of articles by Taylor, 1937-56

292      Common Ground publication with “General Introduction” by Taylor, 1950

293      Three offprints of articles in Ambix prepared for the press by Taylor after their authors’ deaths, 1948

294      Pamphlets by others belonging to Taylor, 1942-51

295      Two periodicals belonging to Taylor, 1947 and 1953

296-298   Offprints of articles by friends and colleagues, 1926-54

299      Group of official publications re scientific research in industry, 1947-48

300      Group of Common Ground teaching notes and related literature, 1948-49

[Other material of Sherwood Taylor: MSS Museum 104, 300; he also figures prominently in MSS Museum Archive and MSS SHAC]

MSS thesis

Theses and other formal dissertations

Acquisition details vary, usually presented by their authors (continuing)

summary list

[Listed in alphabetical order of author]

ASAKAWA, Tasia, ‘Electricity and Electrical Instruments in Eighteenth-century England: The Making and Unmaking of a Leading Electrician, Sir William Watson Sr. (1715-1787)’, Oxford MSc 2004

ATTWOOD, Thomas Vincent, ‘Uranium Isotope Separation in the U.K. during World War II’, Liverpool PhD 2004

BAKER, Alexi, ‘’A New Visible World’: Microscopical Correspondence of the Royal Society, 1666-1705’, Oxford MSc 2004

BASAK, Polly Anna, ‘Globes and their Makers in Eighteenth Century London’, Oxford MSc 2005

BELLAMY, Edward James, ‘The Longitude Problem in the Eighteenth Century: The Case of William Whiston’, Oxford MSc 1997

BERRY, David A., ‘Collecting at Oxford: A History of the University’s Museums, Gardens, and Libraries’, Oxford DPhil 2004

BERTUCCI, Paola, ‘’Electricity render’d useful’: medical electricity in England in the later eighteenth century’, Oxford MSc 1997

BOND, Derek A., ‘On the Effects of Instrumentation upon Nineteenth Century Chemistry’, Oxford BA (Chemistry Part II) 1978

BOWLES, Geoffrey, ‘The Place of Newtonian Explanation in English Popular Thought, 1687-1727’, Oxford DPhil 1977

BOXER, Alexander, ‘How Newtonian were Eighteenth Century Demonstrations of ‘Newtonian’ Mechanics?’, Oxford MSc 2002

BROOKES, Carol, ‘Experimental Chemistry in Oxford 1648-c.1700: Its Techniques, Theories and Personnel’, Oxford BA (Chemistry Part II) 1985

BRUNDTLAND, Terje, ‘Technical Problems with Early Air-Pumps: Experiments and Apparatus in Pneumatics 1700-1750’, Oxford MSc 1998

BRUTON, Elizabeth Mary, ‘Marconi Wireless Telegraphy in the British Army During World War One’, Oxford MSc 2005

CALDER, I. R. F., ‘John Dee studied as an English Neoplatonist’, 2 vols, London PhD 1952 [MS Museum 301]

CAMPBELL, Heather Suzanne, ‘Art of the Astrolabe’, American University in Cairo MA 2004

CHAKRABARTI, Samidh, ‘Transacting Philosophy: A History of Peer Review in Scientific Journals’, Oxford MSc 2004

CHAPMAN, Allan, ‘Dividing the Circle: The Development of Techniques of Precision Angular Measurements in Instrument Making, and their Relationship to the Practice of Astronomy, 1500-1800’, Oxford DPhil 1978 [MS Museum 303]

CROWTHER, Barbara A., ‘A Study of the Phenomenon of the Sundial’, ?York BA, 1998

D’AUBYN, Matthew J., ‘The History of The Dyson Perrins Laboratory 1955-1978: The Era of Sir Ewart Jones’, Oxford BA (Chemistry Part II), 2001

DAVIES, Owain, ‘The Scientific Career of James Smithson’, Oxford MSc 1998

DAVIES, Owain, ‘The Chrysotype – An investigation into a nineteenth century photographic process’, Oxford BA (Chemistry Part II) 1997

DEIMAN, Johannus Cornelis, ‘Microscope Optics and J. J. Lister’s Influence on the Development of the Achromatic Objective, 1750-1850’, London PhD 1991

DOWNING, Gillian, ‘Chemical and Bacteriological Analysis of Water Supplies Through the Nineteenth Century’, Oxford BA (Chemistry Part II) 1980

EDWARDS, Charlotte Elizabeth, ‘Michael Butterfield and his Dials’, Oxford MSc 2005

FREIBURGER, Dana A., ‘18th Century Surveying Instruments of John Thompson’, Oxford MSc 1998

FREMONTIER, Camille, ‘A Catalogue of Mathematical Instruments Cases and Related Instruments from the Landau Collection in the Louvre’, Oxford MSc 1997

GERBIG, Samantha Scripps Booth van, ‘The Wonder and Romance of Science: the Popular Science Writing of Charles R. Gibson (1870-1931)’, Oxford MSc 2003

GLOBUS, Samuel, ‘The Polymerase Chain Reaction: Invention and the Birth of Biotechnology’, Oxford MSc 2004

HANSON, J. F. ‘The History of Anaesthetics’, Westminster College (near Oxford) 1960 [MS Museum 260]

HELPS, R. L., ‘Some Reflections on the Contribution of Islam to European Science’, University of Exeter Department of Education 1964 [MS Museum 302]

HERBST, Klaus-Dieter, ‘Zur Entwicklung des Meridiankreises 1700-1850 unter Berücksichtigung des Wechselverhältnisses zwischen Astronomie, Astro-Technik und Technik’, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena doctoral 1990

HIGGINS, Kathleen, ‘The Development of the Sun-Dial Between A.D. 1400 and 1800’, Oxford BSc 1953 [MS Museum 224]

HIGTON, Hester Katharine, ‘Elias Allen and the Role of Instruments in Shaping the Mathematical Culture of Seventeenth-Century England’, Cambridge PhD 1996

HORSFALL, Jane S. M., ‘The Importance of Metals in the Development of the Machine Tool Industry 1785-1830’, Oxford BA (Metallurgy Part II) 1978

HOWARD, Jennifer, ‘A Victorian Woman’s Experiments in Botanical Illustration: A Historical Bibliographical Approach to Anna Atkins’ Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions’, London MA dissertation 2011

HUMPHRIES, Ann E., ‘A History of the College Laboratories in Oxford’, Oxford BA (Chemistry Part II) 1970

HUTCHINS, Roger, ‘Professor John Phillips at Oxford, 1853-74; Catalyst for the University Observatory’, Oxford BA (Modern History) & Jane Willis Kirkaldy Prize essay 1992

JENKYN-JONES, Bruce, ‘Some Chemical Aspects of the Colours and Tones of Nineteenth Century Photographs’, Oxford BA (Chemistry Part II) 1988

KINSLEY, Shaw, ‘Willughby’s Fishes: A Publishing Venture of the Early Royal Society’, Oxford MSc 1999

LALANDE, Thierry, ‘The Philosophical Table of King George III: Instruments and Practices of the Diffusion of the New Mechanics’, Oxford MSc 1998

LANCASTER, Rebecca, ‘The Mechanics and the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London’, Oxford MSc 1998

LARSEN, Paul, ‘Scientific Accounts of a Vanishing Lake: Janez Valvasor, Lake Cerknica and the New Philosophy’, Oxford MSc (Economic & Social History) 2003

LEANEY, Enda, ‘The Museum of Irish Industry 1845-1867’, Oxford MSc 1998

MANASEK, Francis J., ‘Selenography in Victorian England: Amateur Astronomers Map Our Nearest Neighbor’, Oxford MSc 1999

MELICONI, Ilaria, ‘The Spectroscope and the Social Construction of Technology’, Oxford MSc 1997

MILLER, Nigel Ian, ‘Chemistry for Gentlemen: Charles Daubeny and the Role of a Chemical Education at Oxford 1800-1867’, Oxford BA (Chemistry Part II) 1986

MILNE, Denys G. ‘Tiny’, ‘Sir Robert Moray FRS: First President of the Royal Society of London 1660’, Oxford MSc 1999

MORRIS, P. J. T., ‘The Education of British Chemists in the Eighteenth Century’, Oxford BA (Chemistry Part II) 1978

PARSONS III, Robert Thad, ‘The Collection and Exhibition of Post-World War Two Science and Technology: the Festival of Britain, 1951’, Oxford MSc 2005

PERRIN, Lynn, ‘Henry Clifton Sorby and the Beginnings of Microscopical Metallography’, Oxford BA (Metallurgy Part II) 1976

PETROU, Georgia, ‘Philosophical and Scientific Textbooks in the Greek Speaking Regions from 1750 to 1821: The Example of Two Greek Translations’, London PhD 2003

RATCLIFF, Jessica, ‘Samuel Morland, Inventor: calculation and career in the seventeenth century’, Oxford MSc 2001

RUIZ CASTELL, Pedro, ‘Astronomy and its Audiences: Robert Ball as a popular author and lecturer’, Oxford MSc 2002

SAFER, Michelle, ‘The Scientific Iconography of Medals in the Museum of the History of Science’s Collection: Prize Medals from London Scientific Societies’, Oxford MSc 2001

SANDERSON, Jeremy Brittain, ‘A study of two diatom test-objects used to evaluate the performance of the light microscope’, City & Guilds/Royal Microscopical Society 1990

SARSON, Elizabeth A., ‘On Developments of Spectroscopic Apparatus in the Nineteenth Century’, Oxford BSc 1973

SCHEINFELDT, Tom, ‘Instrumental, Practical and Constructivist Historiography: Some Implications for Museums’, Oxford MSc 1999

SHARP, Lindsay Gerard, ‘Sir William Petty and Some Aspects of Seventeenth Century Natural Philosophy’, Oxford DPhil 1976

SHEPPARD, Eleanor, ‘Marketing Mathematics: Georg Hartmann and Albrecht Durer, a Comparison’, Oxford MSc 2003

SILLS, Jonathan, ‘Technology and Culture in Flux: The Case of the Transistor Radio’, Oxford MSc 1997

SIMON, Josep, ‘Adolphe Ganot (1804-1887) and his Textbooks of Physics’, Oxford MSc 2004

SMITH, Thomas W. M., ‘The Balliol-Trinity College Laboratories’, Oxford BA (Chemistry Part II) 1979

SNOBELEN, Stephen David, ‘Selling Experiment: Public Experimental Lecturing in London, 1705-1728’, University of Victoria Master’s 1995

TAPDRUP, Jan, ‘Textbooks in Transition: Disciplinary and Taxonomic Developments in Examples of Late 18th Century Natural Philosophy’, Oxford MSc 1998

TAYLOR, F. Sherwood, ‘Greek Alchemy’, 2 vols, London PhD 1931 [MS Museum 300]

TURNER, Jane, ‘An Examination of the Engraved Lettering on English Mathematical Instruments 1550-1800’, Reading BA 1982

VLAMINCKX, Bart, ‘Virtual Observing: The use of graphic material in the early Royal Society’, Oxford MSc 2001

WALTERS, Alice Nell, ‘Tools of Enlightenment: The material culture of science in eighteenth-century England’, University of California at Berkeley PhD 1992

[Certain other thesis-like texts, such as prize essays, will be found in MSS Museum]

MSS Underhill

Papers of Henry Michael John Underhill (1855-1920), grocer, naturalist, and illustrator, chiefly entomological and natural history notebooks, sketchbooks, and drawings, 1869-91

Presented by Miss M. Underhill in 1926 and 1935

summary list

1          Notebook containing notes and microscope and other drawings of spiders and insects, and hydra, 1869-77

2          Notebook containing notes and microscope drawings re mites, 1877-78, a series of microscope drawings or paintings of polyps, 1884, and ‘Notes on Japanese Art’, including printed lecture notices, 1890

3          Biological and microscopical sketchbook, including spiders and insects, especially eyes, also hydra and polyps, 1884-88

4          Microscope drawings and reproductions (duplicated, printed, and photographed), artwork for illustrations, and some photomicrographs, of spiders, insects, and polyps, 1887-88

5-6       Two pocket notebooks ‘Records of Captures’, mostly of insects and spiders, 1872-75 and 1875-78 (revived in 1888 and 1891)

7          Natural history diary containing meteorological, botanical, zoological, and general notes, 1871

8-10     Three biological and microscopical sketchbooks, including polyps (especially floscularia), hydra, flies, spiders, lichens, and fungus, 1885-89

11        Mounted coloured drawing of polyps (probably floscularia), 1884

[Other material from this provenance: MSS Museum 61 (part), 185; photographic and hand-painted lantern slides]

MS University College

Single volume from University College, Oxford, consisting of scientific lecture notes taken by Sir William Scott, later Baron Stowell (1745-1836), lawyer and politician

Deposited on loan by the Master and Fellows of University College, Oxford, in 1933

summary list

1          Notes from lectures on chemistry, mineralogy, and geology, taken by William Scott when a student or young don at Oxford, [1760s/70s, from the lectures of either John Parsons or John Smith]

MSS University Observatory

Archives and other papers of the University Observatory, Oxford (founded 1875), 1873-1932; together with some external manuscripts collected by the Observatory, 1774-c.1900

Transferred from the Department of Astrophysics (formerly the University Observatory), Oxford, at various dates, 1920s-1990

summary list

1          Inventory of books, smaller instruments, and other items in the Observatory after the death of Charles Pritchard (1808-1893), compiled by F. A. Bellamy, 1893

2          Plans and architects’ drawings, 1873-1928, including drawings of the unbuilt first proposal, 1873, together with some engineering drawings re instruments, and earlier engravings of De la Rue’s telescope

3-4       Financial accounts, 1875-93

5          Fourteen notebooks of sunspot observations by an American astronomer, 1860-70

6          Sir William Herschel, ‘Experiments on the construction of Specula. Vol 1’, the original first volume of his daily record, 1778-90

7          Catalogue of the Savilian Library, listing books in the Bodleian Library, 1906 (MS copy of an 1821 original)

8          Annotated and expanded proof copy of Charles Pritchard, Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis, 1885, with numerous MS and other insertions, many of them letters to Pritchard, 1885-86

9          Proof copy of Charles Pritchard’s lecture on lunar theory, c.1890

10        Portfolio of spectrographs by George Higgs, as published, with additional MS notes, 1893-96

11        Two boxfiles of observations or computations, early 20thC

12        Reductions of Thomas Hornsby’s observations at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford (1774-98), reduced by Knox-Shaw, Jackson, and Robinson in 1925-32 [and published 1932]

13        Old papers extracted from the preceding, 18thC – c.1900, including sheet of solar observations, 1774, and letter from J[esse] Ramsden to Hornsby re a barometer, 1780

14        Empty photograph album for ‘cabinet’ format portraits, formerly belonging to H. H. Turner, c.1894

[Other material from this provenance: MSS Museum 39, 117, 156; MS Gunther Archive, F. A. Bellamy Documents; prints and photographs. Other material relating to H. H. Turner: MS Museum 85. Some hitherto uncatalogued items and recent additions are not yet included in the list]

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