This class contains thirty-two volumes relating to the theory of navigation, mathematics and astronomy, fifteenth to nineteenth centuries. The earliest is Italian, written between 1470 and 1529, entitled 'Ragioni Antique Spettanti all Arte del Mare et Fabriche de Vaselli', which includes entries in many hands on navigational calculations, astronomy, astrology, sailing directions for the Mediterranean and the building and fitting of galleys. Chronologically, the next volume is the 'Regimento de la Declinacion del Sol', a Spanish navigator's manual, c 1500; the next is English, containing mathematical rules for measuring height and length, 1557; then follows 'L'Arte della Navigatione', Italian, with tables and moveable dials, 1567; and the last of the sixteenth century is by a Jesuit, Francisco da Costa (1567-1604). 'Arte de Navegar', written between 1596 and 1598 and illustrated with sketches of the astrolabe and compass. There are three seventeenth-century volumes; a treatise on astronomy by Thomas Willford entitled 'A genuine description and use of the perpetual calendar', 1654, which also contains a description of measures and of 'moveable fairs' around the country; a volume containing navigational exercises, often illustrated, by William Downman, written between 1685 and 1686, with a large amount of other information, including lists of ships, drawings of flags. poems, victualling and measures; and a workbook by Edward Ward, 1698, containing execises in navigation, astronomy and mathematics. The eleven eighteenth-century volumes include a copy of Robert Wright's 'Treatise on finding longitude at sea', 1726; a volume of lecture notes on navigation and astronomy given in Naples, 1755; and a volume in Turkish by Ibrahim Haggi, ca.1800, entitled 'Marifet Nameh' ('Encyclopedia of Knowledge'), on astronomy, architecture and geography. There are twelve nineteenth-century volumes dating between 1804 and 1883, all of which contain navigational and astonomical exercises transcribed by British seamen.

Notes on astronomy, 1888-1903. The date 1905 occurs on p. 173, and the eclipse of that year is mentioned on p. 1214: on p. 1213 the year 1910 is spoken of in the future tense.

Paper for reading before the Royal Society by an unknown author entitled 'Nouvelle Theorie du mouvement des Planets et des Cometes'.

Observation file of Capt Temple Leighton Phipson-Wybrants, Mozambique, 1880, comprising many pages of astronomical observations and calculations to establish latitude or logitude; some simple sketch maps of various locations; some references to Mr Coles' 'training instructions in the use of instruments, mapping, etc.'

Records of the Department of Physics of Imperial College, 1882-1985, including a departmental history from 1851-1960; papers relating to courses, 1885-1982, including course syllabus, 1885, 1903, 1928; laboratory experiment papers, 1982; research on uranium, 1940-1941; laboratory notes, 1895; papers relating to a departmental photograph, [1893]; lecture notes, 1892;
correspondence, including with the adminstration department, of Professor Hugh Longbourne Callendar, 1908-1929; Professor Robert John Strutt, 1908-1920; Professor Alfred Fowler, 1910-1924; Professor Frederic John Cheshire, 1917-1925; Professor Louis Claude Martin, 1917-1950; Professor Alexander Oliver Rankine, 1927-1937; relating to photography, 1945-1951; Rectors' correspondence, 1955-1980; purchase of equipment, 1965-1974; examination papers, 1933-1969; inventories of apparatus, 1947-1969; students' newspapers, 1985;

papers relating to Astronomical Physics, including reports of the Solar Physics Committee, 1882-1911; demonstrations and practical work, 1889-1931; Spectroscopic laboratory record, 1906-1936, equipment, 1912; examinations notebook, 1883-1921; Astronomical laboratory visitors' book, 1907-1914 (KPA);

correspondence of Professor Herbert Dingle, 1928-1944, principally relating to the acquistion of a spectrograph (KPAB); correspondence of Reginald William Blake Pearse, 1931-1950 (KPAC); papers written by Sir William de Wiveslie Abney (printed), 1874-1917 (KPC);

course booklet for Atmospheric Physics, [1977] (KPM); papers of the Applied Optics Section, including correspondence, 1912-1918; minutes and correspondence of the Technical Optics (later Applied Optics) Committee, 1918-1974; papers relating to events, including open day, 1961; Jubilee celebrations, 1968; 60th anniversary celebrations, 1978; general papers, 1943-1979 (KPT); inventory of apparatus, 1917-1960 (KPTA).

Letter from Charles Pritchard of 17 Westcliff Terrace, Ramsgate, [Kent] to [Augustus De Morgan], 21 Jul 1860. Referring to Pritchard's Calculations of the three Conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in B.C. 7 B.C. 66 and A.D. 54, in which he showed the inadmissibility of Ideler's identification of one of them with the star of the Magi.

Autograph, with signature.

Papers, 1835-c1975, of and relating to the Rev Thomas Pyne, comprising correspondence and accounts, 1839-1845 and undated, documenting Pyne's guardianship of (John) Ossoo Ansah and (William) Quanti Massah in England (1840), associated expenses, and aspects of their trip including invitations to dinner, entrance permits to London Zoo and to George Heriot's Hospital [School], Edinburgh, undated plan of a breakwater, Falmouth(?), undated print of Brighton Pavilion and other ephemera relating to places visited, photographs of paintings of the princes, and various visiting cards; other correspondence and papers of Pyne, 1835-1873 and undated, including printed Thanksgiving sermon preached at St Peter's Church, New York, including anti-slavery sentiments, 1835, pamphlets by Pyne on peace, 1844 and undated, and astronomy, 1852, a letter from L'Institut d'Afrique to Pyne concerning honorary membership, 1843, miscellaneous pamphlets relating to African affairs, and a photograph of Pyne, 1870; correspondence, notes, transcripts from original documents, and other papers, 1950-1953, c1975 and undated, concerning Pyne and his papers, and the two princes, including their portraits.

Papers of Arthur Cowper Raynard, 1881, comprise a letter to Mrs [Sophia] De Morgan, widow of Augustus De Morgan, offering to lend her Professor Edward Singleton Holden's biography Sir William Herschel, his life and works (London, 1881).

Observation files by Robert Lawrence Reid including two angle books, time book, astronomical observations and barometric readings, Anewimi region, 1905-1909. Journal MSS: 1902, 'Some explorations in Portuguese East Africa'.

Papers relating to the work of the Royal Geographical Society, cientific enquiries, instruments and instruction, 1830-1938, including rough minutes of the Scientific Committee, 1830; note on the potential effects of the projected magnetic expedition, 1842; draft letter to Sir Robert Peel, 1843; plan for correcting and extending knowledge of the Chinese Empire; suggestions for the captains of vessels proceeding to the Antarctic seas, 1892; notes on instruments including of the Instruments Committee, 1857-1860; memorandum on training travellers to make useful scientific observations, by Clements Markham, 1879; draft of proposed arrangement with Mr Coles for instruction, 1879; rough minutes of Scientific Purposes Committee, 1879; instruction and instrument report, 1881; list of instruments lent to travellers, 1877-1883; proposals for instruments, 1884; report on instruments, 1894; prospectus for a 'Course of Instruction in Practical Astronomy and Surveying…' as given by E A Reeves, 1922; 'Course of instruction in exploratory survey and field astronomy', by Col C F Close, 1931; minutes, notes and correspondence of the Committee of Supervision of Instruction, 1936-1938 and instruments catalogues, 1862-1941.

Library Manuscripts comprise manuscript items donated to the Royal Geographical Society. They are chiefly single files or a small number of items which are not large enough to warrant forming a special collection. The papers include, astronomical and meteorological observations, diaries, correspondence, notes, conference papers, reports, articles, photographs, sketches and maps covering all aspects of geography and exploration across the globe and date from 1691 to 1994. Highlights include:

Memorandum on a map of South America, by John Arrowsmith.

Papers of Maj R A Bagnold, 1929-1933, comprising positions, routes and heights in Egypt and letters from Bagnold.

Letters from Sir John Barrow to Lord Melville, 1935-1945 and letters to Barrow from Murzuq, 1822 and J D Dundas, 1818.

Papers of Dr Heinrich Barth, 1846-1952, letters and copy of a sketch map of Timbuktu.

Notes on heights of mountains in America by Capt F W Beechey, 1826.

Letters from the King of Siam to Sir John Bowring, 1855.

Letters relating to the British Arctic Air Route Expedition, 1928-1932.

Correspondence and reports of the British Ornithologists' Union Expedition to New Guinea, 1908-1911.

Papers of G Wyman Bury, 1913-1918.

Papers of Capt R F M Crozier, 1836-1906.

Account of a journey to Lhasa and central Tibet by Sarat Chandra Das, 1902.

Papers of Lt James Barker Emery, chiefly relating to Mombassa, 1822-1835.

Plan and elevation of the Screw Yacht FRAM as reconstructed in 1898.

'Narrative of a small party of HMS LEVEN under command of Lt C W Browns sent to explore the Zambesi by one of the survivors, a native of Angola', by Antonio Jozi, 1823.

Journal of Joseph Kaye's voyage from London to Genoa.

Papers and maps relating to William Kennish's exploration in South America for a canal route.

Papers relating to the Kufara expedition led by H W C J Penderel and P A Clayton to Gilf Kebir, 1933.

Papers relating to the Livingstone Award, 1875-1970.

H B Molesworth's diary of a journey to Mokalla (Mukalla), 1893.

Letters from Sir John Morrison to Henry Dundas and others concerning Persia and trade with Persia, 1783-1792.

Narrative of a shipwreck on the southern shores of Arabia by B A R Nicholson, 1836.
Correspondence of Walter Oudney, 1821-1823.

Papers of Adm Sir W E Parry, relating to the Arctic, 1819-1823.

Papers relating to the Pitcairn Islands, 1831-1885.

Annotated 'Code of Naval Signals' belonging to Adm Sir Home Popham, 1799.

Letter from Sultan Husain Sufrari, 1708.

Account of explorations on the coast of Patagonia by B Villarino, 1782.

Travel journals of J Washington, chiefly in South America, 1822-1829.

Letters to A F R Wollaston, 1896-1926.

Papers of Francis Rodd, including typescript copies of journals and astronomical and hypsometric records on expeditions to Air and the southern Sahara, 1922 and 1927. Seven folders of notes and correspondence relating to the same expeditions: notes on the Sahara from authorities of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; journal of route in 1927, with geographical and meteorological notes; drawings, unused chapters of Rodd's book People of the veil; copies of rock drawings, drafts for book lectures; diary, 1927; correspondence concerning the planning and conclusion of the expedition; papers on special subjects arising out of the 1927 expedition including botanical, anthropological and archaeological; survey notes; notes on instruments and chronometer ratings and letters from Francis and Peter Rodd to their parents, May-Jun 1927.

The collection consists of approximately 100 items on alchemy and early chemistry, the most notable item being De Secretis Mulierum. The collection also includes manuscripts of lectures given by Sir Henry Roscoe; his notes on solar chemistry work; letters written to him by a number of his peers and his notebook from 1849. The many volumes of letters in the collection includes correspondence with contemporaries such as Robert Bunsen, Michael Faraday, Dmitri Mendeleeff and Louis Pasteur as well as with a number of Presidents of the Chemical Society and the Royal Institute of Chemistry.

Minutes of Visitations of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, together with relevant extracts from the Minutes of the Council of the Royal Society.

The collection contains correspondence related to the theme 'Scholars and Learned Ladies', including letter from Anna Gurney to Sir William Hooker, c. 1850. Correspondence dealing with the election of Miss Mary A Blagg as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Extract from Professor Turner's introduction to Miss Blagg's 'Collated List of Lunar Formations'. Letters from Professor Turner. Letter from Frank Dyson. A short account of the life and work of Mary Blagg produced by her nieces, 1968. Correspondence in 1962 about the late Miss Pernel Strachey's typescript edition of the Emmanuel College manuscript. Admission of women Fellows to the Royal Society. Correspondence between Royal Society, Society for Women's Service, Mrs Hutton and Miss P Strachey, 1954. Correspondence between Lucy Norton, John Carter and Joan Bennett about some George Eliot letters and an article on them by Joan Bennett, 1968. Copy of a letter from Mrs Baines (Bedford College) to Miss Pernel Strachey about a tapestry for Newnham College, 1945. Letter from Myra Curtis (Newnham) to Pernel Strachey, 1945. Letter from Hertha Ayrton to Dr Gorthon, 1911. Autograph signatures of Margaret McNair Stokes, Mrs Agnata Frances Butle, Jane Ellen Harrison.

Manuscript of a paper 'Astronomical Experiment on the Peak of Tenerife, carried out under the sanction of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. By Professor C. Piazzi Smyth. Communicated by G.B.Airy, Esq., Astronomer Royal' in 'Philosophical Transactions' Volume 148 (1858) pages 465-534. Folder of drawings and watercolours, including tipped-in stereoscopic cards. Received 2 June 1857, read 18 June 1857. Last two pages in the manuscript provide an explanatory account of the photographs, how they were taken and developed, and what materials were used.

Papers of Bertram Sidney Thomas, 1930-1940, including lists and notes on observations made during his expedition to southern Arabia, 1930: appendices to article by Thomas, 'A Journey into Rub' Al Khali: The Southern Arabian Desert', The Geographical Journal, Vol. 77, No. 1 (Jan, 1931), pp. 1-31; and astronomical observations, Arabia, 1930-1931.

Minutes of the Committee of Management, excerpts of reports by the Finance and General Purposes Committee and the Academic Council and various appendices including financial information, annual reports and details of the transfer of administrative control of the Observatory to University College.

Papers of Professor William Cawthorne Unwin, 1856-1952, comprising correspondence, principally concerning engineering matters, 1856-1931, 1950,1952, notably with Edward Dean Adams, including the Niagra Falls Scheme, 1890-1929, Sir Benjamin Baker, including the Forth Bridge, dam schemes, 1882-1898, Sir William Fairbairn, including experiments, appointments, 1856-1874, Thomas Hardy, concerning astronomy, 1881, Imperial College, 1910-1926 (as representative of the Institution of Civil Engineers);
research papers, 1859-1924, notably Fay and Newall brakes, 1859, observations on the Thames, 1882-1883, Nile Project Committee, 1919, dam schemes, 1899-1905;
speeches and addresses to various institutions, including presidential addresses to the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1912, and Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1916; engineering drawings, 1875-1906, of apparatus, machinery, sections of the Thames, Telok Ayer key wall, Singapore; two portraits of Unwin, undated;
additional material, comprising papers relating to Windsor Water Works arbitration, 1884; reports on compression gauges, 1886-1887; Birmingham dams, 1895; notes on dam theory, 1905; papers relating to Stockport water supply and Kinder Dam, 1905; notes relating to schemes for Niagra and central London.

'Leçons sur l'astronomie sphérique', illustrated by numerous pen-drawn diagrams and figures. The MS. is written with very wide margins, and contains the complete course of 54 lessons.

Notes of lectures delivered in Cambridge by Nicholas Sanderson. Subjects covered include hydrostatics, tides, sounds, optics, mechanics and astronomy.

Papers of Thomas Wilson, mid to late 18th century, comprising a volume containing notes by Wilson, of lectures given by John Hunter. Including notes on astronomical and mathematical topics, c 1854.