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Lowell Lectures, Boston, 21 October 1845 - 28 November 1845

 File
Identifier: Coll-203/B14/9

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This series includes the archival material for Lectures 1-12, plus loose miscellaneous items related to the entire series, listed at the end:

  1. Lecture Cards, promoting Lowell Institute lectures on Geology by Charles Lyell, F.H.S, on Tuesday and Friday evenings, to commence 21 October 1845, printed signature B.E. Cottings.
  2. ‘Lecture Coal.’ 1 page, begins with ‘Carbonif[erous]. Flora p37, July 1845. Sedgwick’. This note appears to have been written prior to the lectures, in July 1845.
  3. Outline of course of lectures, Boston 1845. Details of Lectures 1-8. 1 page, with alterations.
  4. Booklet of numbered short notes, with a map showing layout of illustrations for lecture, and with timings. With original wrapping, ‘Lect. 1’, labelled in pencil ‘51’, ‘Geogr[aphical] Distribution of animals etc etc'.
  5. Lecture 2 Boston Oct 24 ‘45. Map of illustrations for lecture, with original wrapping, ‘Lect. 2, Boston Oct 1845 – Tertiary Fossil quadrupeds’.
  6. Lecture 3, Boston 1845. Short notes, long notes, two versions showing the layout; one with paper pieces glued and one with additional illustrations - also coloured illustration labelled Limagne, Tartaret, Mont Dor.
  7. Lecture 4 Boston 1845. Outline, booklet of short notes with numbered points and sketch of layout. Longer notes, and large original envelope wrapping ‘Boston 1845 4th Lect, Auvergne Lava-currents'.
  8. Lecture 5, Boston 1845. Small folded booklet with notes numbered 1-11 - makes references to 'Travels'.
  9. Lecture 7, Coal.’ Nov. 11, Boston 1845. Half page of notes with numbered points 1-5, short notes, long notes, and original packaging.
  10. Lecture 8, Boston Nov. 14, 1845. Booklet of numbered short notes, with numbered sections and timings, list of illustrations. Long notes, pp. 1-7 starting ‘Desolation Island, and appears to be copy of a letter - with illustration of icebergs in the sea moving past strata of rock - from Joseph Dalton Hooker, written at Falkland Islands 6 September 1842, to Charles Lyell at Kinnordy. Written on back: 'Erratum for ‘Park Ice’ read ‘Pack Ice’.
  11. Lecture 9, Boston. Newspaper cutting from the Athenaeum, relating to the Geographical Society meeting of 14 January 1839 and entitled ‘Extracts from the following papers were read: Notice of a few simple Observations which is desirable to make on the Frozen Soil of British North America, communicated by Dr. Richardson...’. File also contains long notes ‘Lecture 9’, pp.1-8. With original newspaper wrapping, labelled ‘9. Isothermals’.
  12. Lecture 10 Boston 1845. Outline, short notes, longer notes with annotations, list of illustrations and original wrapping.
  13. Lecture 11 & 12 - long notes, ‘Erratics - Glaciers, Boston’, pp.1-3. Combination of long notes, with omissions noted from Lecture 12.
  14. Lecture 11 Boston 1845. Short notes, longer notes with annotations, list of illustrations, timings and original wrapping.Newspaper wrapping, with note ‘8’ - and in pencil, ‘54, 55, 56’. Two hand-drawn illustrations of ‘Berg with rocks, Jan 1840...Lat. 66.S’. ‘Barrier commences here; Mt. Terror – seen 40 miles off - Mt. Erebus...Latt 77, 30.S’. Printed article, folded. Glaciers and Icebergs in Scotland in Ancient Times (From the Scotsman of Wednesday, Oct 1, 1845). Handwritten note: ‘I read this in the newspaper and wrote to Maclaren[?] for a copy of the paper to send you. I also send his answer. - L[J?].W.’ A5 lecture short notes, starting page titled Lect. 11, Philadelphia. Glaciers – Erratic blocks. 18 short points before continuing on third page, as ‘Lect. 11 Boston’ for the remaining 13 pages, including sketches.
  15. Lecture 12, Boston. Long notes, ‘pp. 1-10, with pieces of prose writing cut up, and glued in place to the papers. Booklet of short notes, ‘Lect. 12, Boston Nov 26, 1845’, with list of illustrations and enclosed paper slip of layout of illustrations. With original wrapping, ‘12’.
  16. One page of pencil notes: ‘Area of coal seams’. Workings of numbers and list of places (Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New Jersey). With newspaper cutting; ‘Travels through the Alps of Savoy and other parts of the Pennine Chain, with observations on the phenomena of Glaciers.’ by James Forbes. Post Dec 1843 – Likely Oct 1845. ‘We take this opportunity to apologise to Professor Forbes for an expression we used in our former notice of his work, nearly two years ago...’
  17. 'List of sections etc.' being a list of the illustrations, numbered 1-150 and 'Loose titles' which appear to be a list captions.
  18. Five small diagrams and drawings folded in envelope - appear to be the drawings Lyell wants scaled up to use in the lectures. No. 26: S. Wales Coal-Field, coal of underclay 8ft high, 2 wide. No. 95 and 96: Planorbes and Limnea [sic Lymnaea]. No. 103: Larva of recent Phryganea, 3ft by 2. No.104: Cypris unifasciata, a living species, greatly magnified. 3ft by 2. No. 107: Industrial Limestone 4ft by 3.

Dates

  • Creation: 21 October 1845 - 28 November 1845

Creator

Full Extent

4 folders

Language of Materials

English

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections Repository

https://library.ed.ac.uk/heritage-collections
Contact:
Centre for Research Collections
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