GEOLOGY

3 pp, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Central horizontal fold. Each page on a separate piece of paper, with the three pieces stapled together. In small print (not typed).

See his entry and hers in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, and both on bifoliums folded for postage. Both signed ‘Robert Murchison’ and addressed to ‘Dear Lady Theresa’. The subject of the first letter is Sir Thomas Villiers Lister (1832-1902), son of Lady Theresa Lewis by her first husband the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). ONE (‘Monday Mng’): 3pp, 12mo. On his arrival at Burnham Beeches the previous afternoon he ‘found all the party sported with young Ladies in riding habits & your boy looking very well & in high spirits, but without a voice’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bivolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Dear Friend’ and signed ‘Thos. Thomson.’ Begins: ‘Having a few moments to spare, I take the opportunity of writing to you. I am sincerely sorry I shall not be back in time to see you before you leave for school, it would have afforded me much pleasure to have cemented our friendship more firmly.’ He likes the medical profession ‘better than any other’, and there is ‘every probability’ of his joining it. He would like to know the recipient’s opinion.

The last paragraph of McKenny Hughes’s entry in the Oxford DNB deals with his marriage, noting that his wife was ‘a keen amateur archaeologist, a botanist, and a distinguished artist, and under his tuition she became a valuable geologist’, and that the couple ‘travelled together on field excursions’, being accompanied on a trip to the Balkans by an armed guard. Six boxes of her papers are among the rest of those of the Hughes family in the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge. The present item is 64pp, 4to, mostly on the rectos of a ruled ‘Universal Exercise Book.

The two volumes contain a total of 239pp., 12mo, in ink and pencil, with entries dating from between 29 November 1912 and 28 March 1950. In fair overall condition, with light signs of age and wear. In two Keuffel & Esser notebooks, each in remains of brown calf binding, the first with 'MINING | TRANSIT BOOK | 363' stamped on front cover, and the second with 'Cross Section Book | 375 S'. In manuscript on cover of first volume: '19<...> Dec. | The Psilomelane D | of the Francis <....> | by | Don <...> | Under Prof. A. C. L <...>'.

Four pages, 12mo, very good condition, in a generous hand. Text: The Queen writes to me this morning to ask if you would like to be appointed Groom in Waiting to her, & says that is she would have great pleasure in naming you as such. | The duties are to attend the Queen when at Windsor Castle & Buckinghamd Palace. | Lorne [Marquess] wishes me to add that attendance on horseback is not one of the duties, as that is the Equerries' particular office, & that you could still employ half the year in studying Glaciation.

16pp, 8vo, paginated 673-688. Stitched into brown wraps, with typed white label on front cover. At the head of the front cover, in manuscript: 'II | Prof C. G. Curtis | With the Authors' Compliments.' The offprint in good condition, on lightly aged paper, the brown wraps aged and chipped, with small of back wrap torn away at rear. The only other copy of this offprint on OCLC WorldCat at Durham University.

3pp., 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. With date stamp of the RSA, and endorsement in blue pencil. He is writing to inform Wood that 'a relative of mine has written a paper on a subject of importance regarding the connection of fat [containing glycerin] with manufacture of explosives in Germany - and showing how that Country is approaching a crisis - when her supply of fat will be approaching exhaustion'.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from tipping-in affecting the lower part and underlining of Wyatt's expansive signature. Folded twice. 71 lines of text. Note in pencil at head of first page states that the letter was 'sent to Saml. Sharpe of Northampton author of The Moabite Stone', but the writer of the note has confused the Egyptologist Samuel Sharpe (1799-1881) with the real recipient, the geologist and antiquary Samuel Sharp (1814-1882), for both of whom see the Oxford DNB.

Three pages, 12mo, bifolium, good condition,difficult hand at times. "I am very glad that you have had so successful an expedition. | The objects to which you allude do not appear to be interglacial. They consist 1. of cores left in [turning?] vases, grey [schistore?] slatewith a few garnets, [found?] used to strengthen a [?] [track?] - the Val d'Ayas, Italian side of monte Rosa [???] of the material & given to the BM by W.B. Rickman & Gorrell Barnes. 2.

Title continued: [...] Prefaced by the Announcement of the award of the Wollaston Medal [...] The Murchison Medal [...] and the Lyell Medal and Fund [...]. [76]pp., 8vo, lacking blue front wrap, remnants of binding in miscellaneous volume of pamphlets at spine, title sl. sunned, otherwise good condition. It includes a lengthy obituary of Charles Lyell who had died the previous year. Scarce: copies held by copywright libraries and Columbia.

A good letter, breathing enthusiasm for his field of study. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. He begins by stating that he will not be calling at the Museum that week, but writes to 'drop you a line to say that I have received a very long letter from Mr [Suett?] full of details regarding Ilrigocephalus etc and in which he mentions that he can drown you with notes on Rudists'. He also refers to 'a good paper by V. Hauren on the Structure etc of Caprina Partschi' ('a synonym of Cap. Paradoxa Matheron').

The previous year Green had succeeded Prestwich in the Chair of Geology at Oxford. In the same year the second volume of Prestwich's 'Geology' was published for the University by the Clarendon Press, the first volume having appeared in 1886. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. The subject of the letter is 'the plates of “Geology”', with Prestwich writing that his 'only object is to make the book useful in as many ways as possible.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, somewhat aged and worn. The recipient is not named, but is presumably George Frederick Armstrong (1842-1900), Professor of Engineering, Ediinburgh, from whose family papers the item derives. Geinitz writes: 'With many thanks for your kind letter to introduce Mr. Pilkington. I only regret, that snow and other effects of Winter-time did not allow any trip in the neighborhood [sic] for Geological purposes: we could only spend some days for studies in our Geological Museum, which Mr.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He cannot accept her dinner invitation as he has 'promised to go to the Red Lion dinner & as the friend who got me the invitation there had I fear some trouble to do so, I do not like to withdraw'.

Four pages, 4to, unbound (signs of extraction so probably bound into a periodical as advertisement), 1" closed tear both leaves repaired, mainly good condition. He discusses his lectures at King's, gives illustrations (eg ichthyosuarus, ammonite, etc), describes the informative collections he is able to supply, describes books available (by his predecessor, Mawe; material re minerology, conchology ("inherited Mrs.

2pp., 12mo. Bifiolium. Mimeographed document in purple ink. The date, Ramsay's name and Bonney's signature are added in Bonney's autograph. The Association's council, 'acting under the powers conferred upon them by the General Committee in accordance with their Report, have appointed a Committee [...] to carry into effect the recommendations of the portion of the Council Report accepted by the General committee'. A 'List of the Committee' is on the second page, the eleven members headed by 'Mr. H. G. Fordham (Secretary)' and featuring 'Mr. Francis Galton' and 'Mr. A. Ramsay'.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. A tantalizing extract from a correspondence. He begins: 'I doubt whether domestic service, as a rule, is quite the state of slavery you depict, but, as I said before, the question which you ask me is less simple than you appear to think and I can only say that every employer is bound to remember that those he (or she) employs has wants, bodily and spiritual, very similar to his own.' He concludes the letter, and the correspondence, by apologising that he 'cannot continue to write on the subject'.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, tipped-in onto part of a page from an album. He begins by stating that he is returning a 'paper altered and corrected'. He goes on: 'We have had some warm work at the H[ouse]: of Commons of late'. (Percy had been appointed Superintendent of Ventilation of the Houses of Parliament in 1865. Percy is 'working very hard at my 3d volume, a large portion of which is in type'.

1p., 12mo. Heavily aged and worn, with closed tear along fold line at head, and remains of mount on reverse. Horner's note, on the upper part of the paper, reads: 'Dear Sir | Be so good as admit Mr Phillips to the privileges of the Reading Room at the British Museum - | Yours faithfully | Leonard Horner | University of London | 11 Feby 1830'. Beneath this Ellis has written: 'My Dear Sir | Mr. Phillips can be admitted at the Age of Eighteen, but is not eligible for our Reading Room at present | Ever faithfully Yours | H. Ellis | L. Horner Esqr'.

2pp., 8vo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He is sending 'the first two volumes of the Proceedings of the Mineralogical Section of the Acad - as also some papers of my own'. He has heard of Ramsay's 'Scientific Roll', and desires to 'heartily endorse it', in the 'hope that it may be continued – It will be of very great service to scientific men'. He will be glad to receive it, and in return to send 'from time to time both the Proceedings of the Section and other original material'.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition. The recipient is not identified. The letter begins: 'Dear Madam | It always gives me pleasure when I can in any way assist a student of Geology, and the pleasure is not lessened when the student is a young lady.' He proceeds to explain how the two specimens about which she has written to him ('Frigonia incurva' and 'Pleuromya Voltzi') have been wrongly identified, concluding: 'Your specimens appear from your drawings to be only casts and may therefore be difficult to determine satisfactorily.'

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. He thanks him for a copy of his 'papers', 'though I regret to say they are sealed books to me'. He explains how 'Pebbles of white quartz are originally derived from veins in the metamorphic rocks by marine action. They may occur in any formation & are common in many.' He describes the locations where they are to be found, before sending his and his wife's regards to Plarr and his wife.

2pp., 12mo. 29 lines of closely-written text. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. 'Such a calamity must be a terrible blow for you all but more especially to Mrs. Joy and yourself. To lose a daugher just blossoming out into womanhood is tragic indeed, the more so, if that were possible, in that she was such a bright girl.' He continues 'By the same post I have word that one of my uncles has just died, and that another has been given up by the doctors. They have both lived full lives, and, in their way, interesting lives, so that, there, one can hardly talk of a tragic end.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In very good condition, lightly aged. Had he known that Hughes's wedding was 'coming off so soon' he would have been 'in time with a little gift'. As it is, he asks him to choose for himself, 'with the aid of your wife': 'Are you and she sick of the Oxford Books of Verse? Is Shakspeare's England too weighty (avoirdupois) for war-time establishments?

Hughes's mother Margaret - wife of Rev. Joshua Hughes (1807-1889) - was the daughter of Sir Thomas McKenny (1832-1917), Lord Mayor of Dublin. According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, Hughes and his wife 'attended the International Geological Congress of 1891 in the USA, where they were part of a small group which visited the national parks of North America, including the Grand Canyon, into which descent was made from the north rim. Much of the journey was made on horseback, through territory still under Native American occupation.' 2pp., 8vo. In ink and pencil.

Thomas McKenny Hughes was the son of Rev. Joshua Hughes and his wife Margaret, daughter and of Sir Thomas McKenny, Lord Mayor of Dublin. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1853 (B.A., 1857), and joined the Geological Survey in 1861. He was Woodwardian Professor of Geology, Cambridge University, 1873-1917, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1889. He was the prime mover behind the creation of the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge. In November 1882 he married Mary Caroline Weston, daughter of Canon G. F. Weston.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. He begins by commending the recipient's 'interesting paper': 'Of the justice of your remarks there can of course be no doubt, and even the small amount of knowledge that I have been able to acquire of the nature of rocks, has for some time past convinced me of the importance of what you '. He explains that he did his best 'in getting specimens of the Lafoten rocks, but the tast was very difficult and very unsuccessful, owing to the great hardness of the rocks. Quarries of course were absent'.

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Dr '. The letter reads: 'Dear Sir | Having been requested by Mr Merry the Depy Secretary at War to propose him as a Member of the Geological Society, I shall esteem it a favor, if you will put your Name to the enclosed Paper, & return it to me by the Post.'

Shrubsole was a frequent contributor to the Manchester Guardian, and its obituary of 21 May 1927 was headed 'DEATH OF GREAT SHEERNESS GEOLOGIST WHO WON FAME THROUGHOUT THE WORLD' ('Experts in every continent sought his wonderful advice, and it was during his researches at Sheppey that he made many valuable discoveries. Below we are able to give a detailed account of his brilliant career. He was a frequent contributor to the columns of the "Guardian" up to the time of his death.'). 3pp., foolscap 8vo, in a bifolium. Printed in three columns of small print.