Letter from Sir Benjamin Thompson of Munich to Lord Sheffield [John Baker Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield], 18 Nov 1791. Describing the condition and people of Bavaria. Speaking of the Elector's troops: '... I know of no Troops that are so well and so comfortably clothed as ours, both for Summer and Winter ...'. Giving details of the crops, minerals and commerce of Bavaria. 'It would be difficult,'he writes, 'to convey to your Lordship an adequate idea of the Ignorance, Superstition and corruption which pervade and darken every part of this neglected Country.' Says that the clergy and nobility hold a monopoly of the beer in Bavaria: '... which is the great source of their riches, and on that account Drunkenness must be encouraged.'

Autograph, with signature.

Volume containing engraved pages completed in manuscript listing fortnightly prices of corn in the markets of the principal towns of each Généralité of France; headings and wheat prices have been added in manuscript for the years 1771-1773.

Papers of Sir (Alfred) Chester Beatty and the Selection Trust, [1906-1980], comprising extensive information on mining for base metals, diamonds and oil, in countries including the USA, Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Burma, Australia, South Africa, Angola, Tanzania, Northern Rhodesia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, French Guinea, Botswana, Hungary, Russia, Yugoslavia, the USSR and the North Sea; papers relating to the central administration and history of the Selection Trust, notably photographs, notebooks and printed materials; personal material concerning Sir (Alfred) Chester Beatty and his son, Alfred Chester Beatty.

Manuscript volume containing a copy of the Scottish Act of Sederunt for the regulation of the prices of meat and other victuals in Edinburgh, [1688], entitled 'Coppie of the act of sederunt for regulateing the pryces of vivers', and beginning 'The Lords of Councill and Sessione considering the prejudice which his Majesties Leidges repairing to and resideing in this towne doe sustaine through the exorbitant rates exacted for fleshes and other vivers, they ordain that the rates and pryces of butcher fleshes...sold within the towne of Edinburgh, suburbs thereof and Leith shall not exceed these contained in the table underwryten'.

Scotch Mines Company records comprise the original charter of incorporation and a contemporary copy 1729; court minutes 1819-1861; agreements, leases and other papers 1729-1814; list of proprietors 1843; dividend book 1803-32 and 1861; journals 1755-1772 and 1812-1827; treasurer's cash and bill book 1776-1798 and ledgers 1755-1811.

Plea for food and money from Jews in French internment camp, 1941, comprises a copy of a letter from Dr Michel Lewinsohn and David Kraus in Camp de Vernet- d'Ariège to the Jewish community in Lisbon asking for kosher food for Passover, and money.

Scrapbook of cuttings collected and notes made by Dr John Percy between 1864 and 1888, including transciptions of a series of twelve lectures given at the Royal School of Mines in December 1863 and January 1864, as published in 'Chemical News' between January and August 1864. The lectures, entitled 'Chemical Geology', are annotated and cover subjects such as silicon, alumina, sulphur and diamond.

These cuttings from 'Chemical News' are interspersed with those from several other publications, primarily the 'Engineering and Mining Journal', 'Mining Journal', and 'The Times' newspaper, as well as handwritten notes by Percy. Content mostly involves diamonds, diamond mining, and other mining activities.

Papers of Sir Shirley Foster Murphy, 1890s-1900s, comprise correspondence and both unpublished and published work in the fields of health and medicine and relate to his work as a medical officer. The collection notably comprises correspondence from Dr Ernest Pfeiffer, 1899-1901 (Murphy/01); handwritten extracts and notes from works concerning slaughterhouses and meat inspection, [1890s-1900s] (Murphy/02); manuscript titled 'Alcohol in relation to the Child and to National Health', [1890s-1900s] (Murphy/03); manuscript notes on topics including 'liberty and authority' and 'alcohol and poverty', [1890s-1900s] (Murphy/04); published paper concerning the sale to the public of tuberculous meat (British Congress on Tuberculosis for the Prevention of Consumption, by Shirley Murphy, Medical Officer of Health of the Administrative County of London), [1890s-1900s] (Murphy/05) and an address, perhaps given to his colleagues at County Council of London on the subject of food supplies, with reference to tuberculosis, [1890s-1900s] (Murphy/06).

Papers of Professor James Watson Munro, 1931-1961, comprising records relating to Imperial College, notably Departmental reports for Zoology and Applied Entomology, 1936-1961, papers on the establishment of the Biological Field Station, Slough, 1931-1938, correspondence concerning administration, 1940-1942, staff, 1937-1954, air raid precautions, 1940-1942 (A);

papers relating to committees, including Biology War Committee, 1942-1945, Empire Marketing Board Advisory Committee, 1930-1934, Forestry Commission Committee on Ecological Reserves, 1939-1946, Pest Control Research Committee, 1938-1942 (B);

papers relating to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, notably correspondence relating to the Forest Products Research Laboratory, 1928-1941, student grants, 1931-1940, pest infestation and food storage, 1936-1943, staff, 1939-1944, relationship to the Department, 1938-1945 (C);

general correspondence, notably relating to committees, courses, staff appointments and testimonials, research, principally pest infestation and food storage including for the war effort, job vacancies, Slough Biological Field Station, Ministry of Food, 1932-1947 (D).

Letters from Sir Robert Moray to his friend Alexander Bruce, Earl of Kincardine, also known as 'The Kincardine Papers'. Bruce was sick of the ague in Bremen for part of this time, and the letters were written to alleviate the tedium of of Bruce's illness, hence ranging over topics which might not otherwise have been the subjects of correspondence. They include accounts of chemical experiments in his laboratory, his interest in magnetism, medicine in all its aspects, horticulture, fuel, whale fishing, its risks and profits, coal mining, water wheels and tide mills, stone quarrying and the various qualities of different stones, the pumping works needed for undersea coal mines at Bruce's home at Culross in Fifeshire, even to the trees whose wood was best for pipelines, and the diameter of the bore best suited to the purpose. Familiarity is shown with mathematical and surveying instruments, with music, and all sorts of mechanical devices and especially clocks and watches, more particularly the taking out of a patent in respect of a clock for use at sea for finding longitude. Bruce is advised on the choice of books over a wide range of subjects. Moray includes anecdotes to amuse his ailing correspondent; he describes his quiet life and is enthusiastic about many of his chemical experiments. Notable at the end of the letters Moray added what he described as his Masonic signature - a pentagram which also occurs in his crest.

'Geological researches round London', comprising five volumes of manuscript copies, by a number of hands, of notes made by James Mitchell principally on the geology and botany of London and the Thames Valley during his residence in the City, [1832-1840]. Also includes some cuttings of Mitchell's published articles. An index to the papers appears at the front of each volume and the titles or subjects listed are:

VOLUME 1

Loampit Hill; Cavern on the side of Blackheath; Pit in the old Charlton Parish; Shooters Hill; Pit at New Charlton near Woolwich; Sundridge Park near Bromley; Erith; Crayford; Bexley Heath; Dartford; Road from London to Gravesend; Greenhithe Park; Northfleet (including fossils and plants); Shorne; Holly Hill; Gadshill; Pits at Chatham; Gravesend to Wrotham; Town Malling; Quarry near Maidstone; Kits Cotty; Isle of Sheppey; Cliff at Reculver; Margate Sands; Chatham to Canterbury; Key Street; Sittingbourne; Canterbury to Margate; Isle of Thanet; Sandwich; Richborough Castle; Channel Flints; Dover to Folkstone; Hayes Common; Pratts Bottom; Knockholt Beeches; Knockholt to Tunbridge; Tunbridge to Maidstone; London Clay in Kent; Sand found in the Thames; Brickmaking; Useful applications of Chalk; Limeburning; Great Lime; Lias Lime; Cement Stone; Heights in Kent; Manufacturing of Whitening.

VOLUME 2

Heights of various places in Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex above the low water according to the Trigonometrical Survey; London Clay; Remains of quadrupeds; Of gravel; Animal remains in flint found in the Clay; Kensington; Hampstead; Highgate; Tottenham Marshes; From London to Edgeware; Stanmore Common; Harrow on the Hill; London to Uxbridge; Amersham; Watford; Hatfield Herfordshire; Well at Beaumont Green; Ware; Hertford; Ware to Cambridge; London to Romford and Brentford; Brook Street; Warley Common; London to Chigwell and Ongar; Ongar; London to Cambridge by Epping; Saffron Walden; Alluvial soil on the banks of the Thames; Purfleet; Artesian Well in the Marsh near Purfleet; Button's Breach; Gray's Thurrock commonly called Grays; London to Woodbridge; Chiselhurst; Gravesend; Dartford Marshes; Orpington; Wandsworth; Knightshill; Kingston upon Thames; Croydon; Head of the Wandle; Carshalton; Beddington Surrey; Mitcham Common; Wells at Mitcham; Ashtead Surrey; Ewell Surrey; Carshalton Downs; Croydon to Merstham; London to Merstham; Merstham; Well below the Church at Merstham; Gatton Park; London to Reigate by Sutton; Reigate; London to Godstone; Godstone; The Bourne; Tilburstow; Bletchingly; Fuller's Earth Pits; London to Dorking; Dorking to Limepits; Dorking to Leith Hill; Leatherhead to Guildford; Guildford; Chelsworth House; Langdon Hills Essex.

VOLUME 3

New River Company's well at the end of Tottenham Court Road; Upper Clapton; List of minerals and fossils in the pits at Muswell Hill by Frederick Purdey; Brentford; Hounslow Heath; Hanwell; Wells at Hanwell; Harefield; Enfield; Northan; Cheshunt Street; Watford; Wades Mill; Puckeridge; Much Haddam; Royston; Tring; Strata of Essex; Waltham Abbey; Sewardstone; Epping Forest; Stratford; Dagenham; Ilford; Romford; Upminster; Peckham Rye; Counter Hill; Norwood; Epsom; Sutton; Cheam; Road from Croydon to Limpsfield; Merstham; Bletchingly; Nutfield and Fuller's Earth Pits; Barnes; Chertsey; Plumstead; Sydenham; Dartford Heath; Chiselhurst; Westerham; Farningham; Maidstone; Wrotham; Upnor; Cliff, Cooling and All Hallows; Cuxton; Halling; Isle of Sheppey; Sittingbourne; Windsor; North side of Bagshot Heath; Bagshot Heath; On the Blackheath formation; Druid Sandstone; On the changes produced on chalk flints.

VOLUME 4

Section of the London and Croydon Railway; Of the London Basin; Of the London Clay; Age of the London Clay; Fossil wood in London Clay; Septaria or Cement Stone; Wells in London; Bognor Shells; Woolwich Shells; Mineralogical substances in Middlesex and Essex (Cement Stone, Pyrites, Selenite, Wood, Sulphate of Magnesium); Quartz; Gravel. Series of papers on the construction and description of water wells, including: Foul air - wells; Wells at Sanderstead, Norbury, Epsom Downs, Kent; Air pump used in well digging and well boring; Expense of well digging and well boring; Direction of underground currents; Foul air in Wells in Essex and Middlesex; Beds of sand in the blue clay beneath it; Wells rot each other; Wells at Sheerness and in Sheppey; As to whether digging or boring be preferable; Muswell Hill; Barnet; Hemel Hempstead; Tring; Buntingford; Royston; Hare Street; Danbury; Rochford and Rayleigh; Wallisea Island; Wigborough; Coast near Malden; Braintree; Croydon and the neighbouring Country; Brixton; Forest Hill; Well at Balham Hill; Well at Mortlake; St George's Hill; Kingston to Guildford; Weybridge; Well at Cobham; Godstone; Well at Merstham; Waltham on the Hill; Headley; Reigate; Red Hill Reigate; Dorking; Wells at Normanry and Ash; Wells in the Weald of Sussex; Reading; Newbury; Bexley Heath; Chelsfield and Well Hill; Wells at Margate; Great Baddon; Wells in various places.

VOLUME 5

Superficial strata of the county of Middlesex; Wells in Middlesex; Well at St Mary Woolnoth; Church Fenchurch Street; The Thames Tunnel; Mud and sand carried out by the Thames; Hampstead Heath; Watery action on the surface in Essex; On wells formed by digging and boring in Essex; Stratford in Essex; Chigwell and Chigwell Row; Kelvedon; Copford; Great Wakering; Wakering Marsh; Foulness Island; Walton on the Naze; On the watery action on the surface of the county of Surrey; On the sections at New Cross; on the strata of the of the Jolly Sailor Station of the Croydon Railway; Shirley sand pits; Addington Hills; Croham Hurst; Croydon; Woking Common; Leatherhead; Nettley Heath; Heights above the level of the Thames of places in and about London; On the foul air in the chalk and in the strata above the chalk in the country near London.

Records of the Department of Mineral Resources Engineering of Imperial College, 1908-1992, including departmental history from 1851-1964; course leaflets, 1923-[1989]; newsletters, 1990-1991; reports and reviews, 1938, 1987-1992; Professorial correspondence, 1908-1935; papers of the Merricks Committee, 1930-1932; Rectors' correspondence, 1955-1981; correspondence relating to the headship of the department, 1967-1979; change of name, 1965-1975 (KMIN); papers relating to the new course of Environmental and Earth Resources Engineering, 1992 (KMIN/E);
papers relating to Tywarnhale mine, Cornwall, 1908-1971, including correspondence concerning its purchase, 1908-1912; general administration, 1909-1939; with the Duchy of Cornwall, 1910-1922, 1950-1951; purchase of land, 1946-1965 (KMIN/M);
papers relating to the Petroleum Engineering Section, 1973-1978, including working party papers on proposed course; Chair of Petroleum Engineering, 1974-1975; course leaflets, 1975-1978 (KMIN/P);
papers relating to the Rock Mechanics Section, comprising MSc course details, [1968]; research reports, 1967, 1969, 1975 (KMIN/R);
report on the Royal School of Mines examination, 1924 (KMIN/S);
papers relating to the Mineral Technology Section, comprising brochures, establishment of the section, 1949-1950 (KMIN/T).

Records of the Metropolitan Committee for War Savings, comprising a minute book of the Committee, 1917-1918. The book had first been used (reversed) to record details of the war savings situation (local committee, local activities, facilities available, etc.) in 60 districts, one by one, in alphabetical order, in the metropolitan area, some as far afield as Barking and Kingston. The last seven entries, at the end of the alphabet, are covered by the later minutes of the executive committee (pasted in), running across them from the other end of the book.

The meetings recorded in the minutes were held at the Mansion House and the Lord Mayor was normally in the chair. Attendance at the first two meetings was large and included a number of mayors and a sprinkling of senior council officers. Attendance at the executive committee meetings was usually nine or ten. It appears that this is the only main minute book of this body. It does not, however, contain the minutes of its various sub-committees and ancillary committees.

Two papers, each in a different hand, containing observations on the price of wheat and flour and its effect upon the price of bread, with reasons given for the fluctuations and suggestions for dealing with them, with particular reference to London, [1800-1801]. The items are enclosed in a wrapper, possibly sent by J. Williams (maybe the MP for Winchelsea), addressed to Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, Bt, Commissioner of H.M. Dockyard, Portsmouth, dated and franked 14 Dec 1831.

Letter from Thomas Robert Malthus of London to Rev George Turner, Kettleburgh, Wickham Market, [Suffolk], 28 Nov 1800. Referring to Malthus's tract An Investigation of the Causes of the present High Price of Provisions(1800). 'I sat up till two o'clock the evening before I went to Bath to finish it that it might come out before the meeting of Parliament.' Referring to the the famous Essay on the Principle of Population: 'The prevailing conversation about the pop[ulation] of the country has caused enquiries to be made about the Essay, which is now nowhere to be bought. This I hope will animate me to proceed in another edition, though to say the truth I feel at present very idle about it'.

Autograph, with signature.

[A letter from James Bonar to Professor H S Foxwell, asking permission to print Malthus's letter, and a corrected proof of the letter for the Economic Journal are filed with Malthus's original letter.]

London Port Area Grain Committee records comprise: minutes, 1939-1954 (Ms 23216); and minutes of the establishment sub-committee, 1951-1954 (Ms 23217).

Certified copy of grain prices in Lanarkshire for 1799-1820. The first three leaves contain the prices for the upper ward of the country, 1799-1811, and for the whole county, 1812-1820. These are certified as 'a true copy of the fair prices...of grain before mentioned' in a declaration signed by John Marr, 1 Nov 1821. Each page also bears his signature at the foot. Another hand continues the list up to 1823, adding prices of beans, pease and malt. The document is twice endorsed as being a certified copy for 1799-1820.

Papers of the Parkes family, 1634-1865. The main part of the collection consists of letters to Joseph Parkes. In addition, there are a few letters to his elder brother Josiah, to their father John, and to other members of the family. There are also a few miscellaneous papers. The Parkes family deeds are also part of the collection, consisting of family deeds, subsidiary title deeds, grants of mineral rights, deeds held as Trustees, and miscellaneous. The deeds are dated 1634-1800 and the correspondence is dated 1801-1865.

Minutes of the Executive Council and other committees; accounts; central memoranda and correspondence; projects and reports on subjects including the Ethnographic Survey of Africa, Industrialisation, Pan African Exchange, Food Supply in Gambia, West African Museums and Somali Refugees; papers concerning seminars; research works submitted to the IAI for consideration, some smaller research projects, and Nigerian intelligence reports, some of which touch on Cameroon; proofs and correspondence relating to IAI publications; printed publications; material relating to other organisations such as UNESCO, the Ford Foundation, and the United Nations Organisation; and general correspondence.

Records, c1946-1985, of Christian Aid and its predecessors, comprising correspondence, minutes and reports concerning aid projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean; papers of the Directorate including constitutional material, committee minutes of the British Council of Churches, and Christian Aid Board papers; organisational material including correspondence with other fund-raising bodies such as Oxfam, the Red Cross, and a selection of Christian Aid publicity material including Annual Reports.

Papers of Prof Stanley Henry Beaver, 1930-1980, including papers on European railways; draft chapters for The British Isles; notes for Admiralty Handbooks on the Netherlands East Indies; papers on housing and planning and papers on British sand and gravel resources.

Papers of Henry Compton Anderson Baynes inclusing official service documents, 1866 to 1901; an article on 'Armament of Battleships', undated; a letter, 1888, concerning Whitehead torpedoes; a few letters about Baynes's fishery protection work in the North Sea in the 1890s and three night order books, 1893, 1895 and 1901.

Papers of the Baynes and Nias Families:

Papers of Henry Compton Anderson Baynes inclusing official service documents, 1866 to 1901; an article on 'Armament of Battleships', undated; a letter, 1888, concerning Whitehead torpedoes; a few letters about Baynes's fishery protection work in the North Sea in the 1890s and three night order books, 1893, 1895 and 1901.

Papers of Sir Robert Lambert comprising official service documents, details of ships on the Pacific Station 1854 to 1860, an autobiographical outline of his career, 1810 to 1857, invitations to social events, and other personal papers.

Papers of Sir Joseph Nias, comprising letters and orders received, 1815 to 1867, and service papers, and eighteen letters from Sir William Parker to Nias while he was Senior Officer at Hong Kong, 1841 to 1842.