Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Samuel Smith to Charles Leigh – April 9, 1702
Item info
Date: April 9, 1702
Author: Samuel Smith
Recipient: Charles Leigh
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4038
Folio: f. 323
Original Page
Transcription
A man from the country who had an article in the Philosophical Transactions has a letter for Sloane. Smith saw William Derham, who had received a letter from Sloane. Smith had left a note at ‘Childs’ to meet Sloane, but there was a mix up and they did not meet.
Samuel Smith apprenticed to the book trade in 1675 and was indentured to the bookseller Samuel Gellibrand followed by Moses Pitt. Smith joined the Stationers Company and became freeman of the company and then freeman of the city of London in 1682. Smith published the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions from the beginning of his career and he and his partner Benjamin Walford were officially named ‘printers to the Royal Society’ in 1693 (Marja Smolenaars, Ann Veenhoff, Smith, Samuel (bap. 1658, d. 1707), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/63289, accessed 27 June 2013]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Samuel Smith to Hans Sloane – June 15/21, 1702
Item info
Date: June 15/21, 1702
Author: Samuel Smith
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4038
Folio: ff. 355-356
Original Page
Transcription
Floyer asks Sloane about some papers. Smith has a receipt for some papers and will inform Dr Grim of this fact. Smith forwards Floyer’s note to Sloane along with some papers and a flyer.
Sir John Floyer was a physician, advocate of cold bathing, and advised Dr Samuel Johnson, when the latter was a child, to visit Queen Anne to cure his king’s evil, which was done 1714 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Floyer_(physician)).
Samuel Smith apprenticed to the book trade in 1675 and was indentured to the bookseller Samuel Gellibrand followed by Moses Pitt. Smith joined the Stationers Company and became freeman of the company and then freeman of the city of London in 1682. Smith published the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions from the beginning of his career and he and his partner Benjamin Walford were officially named ‘printers to the Royal Society’ in 1693 (Marja Smolenaars, Ann Veenhoff, Smith, Samuel (bap. 1658, d. 1707), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/63289, accessed 27 June 2013]).
Posted on March 17, 2017 by Amy Smith -
William Reading was appointed librarian of Sion College, London, in 1708 with the support of Bishop Compton and oversaw the expansion of its collection. He held lectureships at various London churches. Reading reorganised the collection, wrote a celebrated catalogue of its holdings (1724), and published works of ecclesiastical history as well as his own sermons.
Reference:
R. Julian Roberts, ‘Reading, William (1674-1744)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23237 [accessed 29 July 2013]).
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane:
Virtual International Authority File:
Posted on February 18, 2017 by Tracey Cornish -
John Mortimer (1656?-1736) was an agricultural writer. Born in London, he received a commercial education and became a successful merchant. In 1693 he retired to practice his ideas on agricultural improvement. He published ‘The Whole Art of Husbandry, in the way of Managing and Improving Land’ in 1707 which was popular and influential. He dedicated this work to the Royal Society, of which he had been a Fellow since 1705.
Reference:
Thomas Seccombe, Mortimer, John (1656?1736), rev. Anita McConnell, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19348, accessed 18 July 2013].
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane:
Virtual International Authority File:
Posted on March 13, 2017 by Amy Smith -
James Salter was the owner of Salter’s Coffee House and at one time was a servant of Sir Hans Sloane. He accompanied the latter on his travels. His establishment was more commonly known as Don Saltero’s Coffee House and it was famous for its museum of curiosities from around the world.
Reference:
W. W. Wroth, ‘Salter, James (d. c.1728)’, rev. P. E. Kell, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2007 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/24569 [accessed 19 July 2013]).
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane:
Virtual International Authority File:
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
William Sherard to Hans Sloane – August 23, 1698
Item info
Date: August 23, 1698
Author: William Sherard
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4037
Folio: ff. 113-114
Original Page
Transcription
Sherard updates Sloane on his Italian travels. He has enclosed a list of the books available in Rome and draws attention to those that are ‘wanting or scarce in England’. Sherard has managed to obtain about half of the books Sloane had commissioned and states that he shall procure more of them, having sent catalogues to most cities in Italy. Sherard requests that Sloane prepare a catalogue of books at Oxford. He offers his services to Sloane and his friends and will try to write him monthly.
Sherard was a botanist and cataloguer. He worked for the Turkish Company at Smyrna where he collected botanical specimens and antiques (D. E. Allen, Sherard, William (16591728), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25355, accessed 24 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by Lisa Smith -
John Percival, 1st Earl of Egmont to Hans Sloane – June 8, 1721
Item info
Date: June 8, 1721
Author: John Percival, 1st Earl of Egmont
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: ff. 85-86
-
Language
English
-
Library
British Library, London
-
Categories
Collections, Social, curiosities
-
Subjects
Eagle Stones, Gresham College, Pregnancy, childbirth, eaglestone, popular belief
-
Date (as written)
June 8, 1721
-
Standardised date
June 8, 1721
-
Origin (as written)
Charlton
-
Others mentioned
Mr Thomas Lady Catherine Percival
-
Patients mentioned
Original Page
Transcription
[fol. 85] Charlton 8 June 1721 Sr My servant waits on you to beg the favour of lending me one of the Eagle stones that belongs to the Repository of Gresham Colledge. My wife who is with child places some confidence in it, and has engaged me to give you this trouble, which I hope youl be so good to excuse from Sr Yr. most obedt. servt Percival If youl give a line to Mr. Thomas he will comply with it
Percival was a politician, diarist, First Earl of Egmont, and and an instrumental figure in the founding of the North American colony of Georgia (Betty Wood, Perceval, John, first earl of Egmont (16831748), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21911, accessed 24 Aug 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Edmond Halley to Hans Sloane – November 7, 1722
Item info
Date: November 7, 1722
Author: Edmond Halley
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: f. 307
Original Page
Transcription
[fol. 307]
Honoured Sr
I must entreat you to putt into your Coach
tomorrow Michel Mastlin’s Observations
of the Comet of 1580, which I want to
compare with Tycho Brahe’s Observations
of the same, which were putt the other day
into my hands by the Society. I know you have
the book, for I formerly borrowed it of you, and
made an extract thereof, which having mislaid
is at present lost to me. If you please to favour
me in this matter you will lay a new obligation
on your most faithfull and Obedient servant
Edmond Halley
Greenwich Novemb 7
1722
Edmond Halley left Oxford without an undergraduate degree to travel the world, giving him the opportunity to study astronomy on the spot. Upon returning to England he had a prestigious career and collaborated with Sir Isaac Newton, entered the public service, served as a professor at Oxford, and was appointed Astronomer Royal in 1721 (Alan Cook, “Halley, Edmond (1656-1742)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12011, accessed 1 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Richard Richardson to Hans Sloane – December 23, 1722
Item info
Date: December 23, 1722
Author: Richard Richardson
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: ff. 320-321
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Language
English
-
Library
British Library, London
-
Categories
Collections, Library, Medical, Scholarship, Scientific
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Subjects
Books, Botany, Fossils, Geology, Plants, Precious Stones, Smallpox, Specimens
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Date (as written)
December 23, 1722
-
Standardised date
-
Origin (as written)
North Bierley
-
Others mentioned
Dr Morton
-
Patients mentioned
Original Page
Transcription
Richardson thanks Sloane for lending him a book, but is ‘concerned that I should mislay the grass which I thought I had sent you’. He received ‘a printed letter’ on the ‘petrifyed melons of mount Carmel’ and stone specimens commonly found in English quarries. Richardson saw ‘a red stone filled wth Britsol Diamons’. Smallpox proved fatal for several children in his community. He describes the nature of the pustules formed on their skin, which seemed different from regular smallpox pustules.
Richardson was a physician and botanist who traveled widely in England, Wales, and Scotland in search of rare specimens. He corresponded and exchanged plants with many well-known botanists and naturalists (W. P. Courtney, Richardson, Richard (16631741), rev. Peter Davis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2010 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23576, accessed 31 May 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
John Ray to Hans Sloane – August 25, 1695
Item info
Date: August 25, 1695
Author: John Ray
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4036
Folio: ff. 217-218
Original Page
Transcription
Ray received ‘the 3 Tribes’ Sloane sent him. He is eager to peruse and send them back before winter comes. The cold weather makes it difficult for him to write. Ray has not heard ‘of the reservatory of water made by the disposition of ye leaves of the Viscum Caryophlloides’ Sloane mentioned in his last letter. His wife sends her best to Sloane.
Ray was a theologian and naturalist who collected and catalogued his botanical findings in the much lauded Historia plantarum (1686, 1688) (Scott Mandelbrote, Ray , John (16271705), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2005 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23203, accessed 18 June 2013]).
