MAY, Henrietta

Three manuscript notebooks listing mineral specimens...

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Winchester, 1857. Three small notebooks, duodecimo, with altogether 84 pages of manuscript notes; one notebook scorched lower right corner with some minor loss, otherwise all in good condition in original decorative coloured paper wrappers. The geology of the Barossa Valley and elsewhere, as recorded by Henrietta May of Winchester, who has inscribed and dated (1857) her three notebooks in a clear hand. Evidently an amateur, she may be seen as representative of the burgeoning group of amateur women geologists in the mid-nineteenth century. Due to the restrictions on women entering the fields of science on a professional basis - the Geological Society of London admitted no women at all, not even as guests - they were forced to pursue their interests on their own. These notebooks provide a fascinating insight into the working methods of the author.

The first two books are clearly written whilst travelling, and the general wear to them is indicative of fieldwork. The script, though entirely legible, confirms this: it is unaffected, and in places irregular. The notebooks provide a systematic classification of minerals and stones collected by the author and identify their localities in detail. The first is devoted chiefly to stones found in Australia - and the Barossa Valley in particular. Whether Henrietta May actually travelled to Australia is unclear, although a visit is certainly implied by the precise location given: we have found no record of her name in any of the obvious resources. If she did indeed visit the Barossa her visit would understandably have escaped the historical record as she would have been among a crowd of people at the height of the gold rushes. The second notebook lists minerals found across Britain. The final book, clearly written in a different environment and indexed, is a breakdown of minerals and metals in their constituent forms. It is likely that the author used it as a guide on her travels as her fieldbooks are structured accordingly.

• AUD 4,250.00 > otras divisas
• nº de pedido: 211_632

• librero: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)