Bookplate: Mary Smith, Thorney Abbey; the bookplate has this imprint: Cambridge: Printed by Fletcher & Hodson. (The printing firm of Fletcher & Hodson operated from late 1766 to about 1777) DSI
Index listing occasionally refers to a second volume of notes, but the whereabouts of that volume, if it indeed existed, is unknown
Three pages of handwritten notes laid in DSI
Title devised by cataloger DSI
Also available online
Also available online.
According to an accession card in the Dibner Library's files, this manuscript was purchased by Bern Dibner in 1958 for $40.00 from London antiquarian bookdealer Ben Weinreb
Collected by Bern Dibner for his Burndy Library in Norwalk, Connecticut, founded in 1941. Donated to the Smithsonian Libraries in 1974 by Dibner DSI
Elecresource
SCDIRB copy 39088003881232 has bookplate: Burndy Library ... gift of Bern Dibner
SCDIRB copy has a contemporary blind-ruled vellum binding with title inked on spine (Mary Smith, Science Math); re-backed
Summary:
A. two-part manuscript handwritten in ink. The first part is an index to the contents of the second part, arranged in alphabetical order by topic, with thumb tabs. The second part of the volume contains excerpts and summaries of scientific, medical, mathematical, and technological information, taken from a variety of contemporary sources. Some of the material comes from contemporary periodicals, including the Cambridge chronicle, the New universal magazine; the London magazine; the Philosophical transactions; the Gentleman's magazine; the Monthly review; and the Universal museum. Frequent reference is made to lectures and articles sponsored by the Royal Society and the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. Some of the authors mentioned include Nicholas Robinson, John Rowning, William Jones, Benjamin Franklin, and Andrew Baxter (author of Matho). There are also numerous Biblical references. Some of the topics examined include the Copernican System, Newton's works, astronomy, mathematics, physics, geology, scientific instruments such as the telescope, the barometer, and the chronometer, and medical subjects (e.g. treatments for smallpox, cancer, and other ailments)
