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'Records and recollections' by Arthur Herbert Church, published in Gloucester: John Bellows 1940. Number 4 of 40 copies with 4 photographs and obituaries.

The boxes contain notebooks and papers, 1895-1947, mainly on the history of science and technology, with special reference to China.

Papers of John Canton.

Correspondence, comprising a private letter book 1863-1867, and correspondence and reports relating to the laying of the West Indies cable 1869-1870. The private letter book contains bound letters refering to cable laying in India, the West Indies and Brazil, resistance testing to find faults on cables in a long letter to Fleeming Jenkin, mining companies with which Bright was involved, the Steam Engine Improvement Company and the Railway Lubricating Company. The volume contains many blank pages and some pages have been cut out. Some letters are illegible because of the very faint copy, and there appears to be a double impression on some pages suggesting that a second letter may have been copied onto the same page. The loose correspondence relates to the setting up of the West India and Panama Telegraph Company and includes reports and correspondence concerning the laying of the cable. Some of the papers were used in a court case in 1872 between the West India and Panama Telegraph Company and the India Rubber Company for failing in their contractual obligations.

The correspondence, papers and diaries of Sir Charles Blagden. Blagden's papers are interesting on several levels, generally for his close contact with European men of learning, and his relationship with Sir Joseph Banks. Blagden's professional researches are represented by medical notes in the boxed sequence. These are grouped with papers on other subject interests, including linguistics, e.g. a draft Tahitian-English dictionary, compiled from conversations with Omai, whom Blagden inoculated after Omai's voyage to England with James Cook. Blagden's interest in antiquities and travel is documented by diary entries, as is his intercourse with fellow scientists, particularly those associated with the founding of the Royal Institution.

The papers are extensive, relating to almost every aspect of Blackett's career in science and public life. There is biographical and personal material including large numbers of letters of congratulation received on the occasion of the various scientific and public awards and honours with which Blackett's achievements were recognised. There are records of his work on particle disintegration, cosmic rays, astrophysics and magnetism in the form of laboratory notebooks, working papers, correspondence, lectures, publications and broadcasts. There is documentation of his activities on various defence projects and as a member of government committees before, during and after the Second World War. Blackett's political interests are represented by material relating to the Association of Scientific Workers, Labour Party discussion groups on science and technology policy and the Ministry of Technology instituted after the Party's 1964 electoral victory. There are records of a wide range of science-related interests such as the history of science and technology, science, education and government, and nuclear weapons and disarmament, and of his overseas activities including material relating specifically to India and that concerned with matters more generally affecting developing countries.

A few lacunae in the surviving material have been identified. There are no documents relative to Blackett's service with the National Research and Development Corporation or the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and, of his correspondence during the Second World War, only that for 1942 survives.

A collection of letters from Jean-Baptiste Biot and his grandson-in-law F Lefort, to Augustus De Morgan,1855-1863. Including related papers. Many of the letters refer to an article by Biot on Sir Isaac Newton in the Biographie Universelle.

Letter from Charles Babbage of Dorset Street, Manchester Square, [London] to an unknown recipient, 8 Nov 1850. Giving directions for meeting Babbage on Wednesday at 7 o'clock. Autograph, with signature. Last leaf only of a letter written on several sheets.

Letter from Charles Babbage of Dorset Street, Manchester Square, [London] to M Sylvain van de Weyer [Belgian ambassador in London], 29 May 1837. Presenting a copy of his book 'The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise'. Autograph, with signature.

Papers concerning Jean Anisson and his improvements in printing including a memorandum by Anisson on his new press; an extract from the register of the Academie Royale des Sciences and another memorandum by Anisson, 1783.