IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0117 EL
Held at: Royal Society
Title: Early Letters
Date(s): 1613; 1642; 1651-1740
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 38 volumes containing 4,390 items
Name of creator(s): Various
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Original manuscripts of letters to the Royal Society, which are largely scientific. These papers form the raw material from which the Letter Books were compiled. There are many letters of importance, 1613; 1642; 1651-1740.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English, French, Latin and Dutch
System of arrangement:
Volumes are arranged alphabetically by author, and chronologically within author groups, with a single supplementary volume of letters essentially to Robert Boyle from Henry Oldenburg and from John Beale. This order was published in 1840 by Shuckard, who numbered each letter sequentially in his catalogue. The numbering system used here is the item number assigned to individual letters within each volume and not Shuckard's system. A few letters were added after 1840.
Conditions governing access:
Open
Conditions governing reproduction:
No publication without written permission. Apply to Archivist in the first instance.
Physical characteristics:
The volumes were rebound in 1991and 1992.
Finding aids:
Alphabetical list of correspondents published in W E Shuckard, 'Catalogues of the miscellaneous manuscripts and of the manuscript letters in the possession of the Royal Society' (London: Royal Society, 1840), with dates.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Letters have been microfilmed by University Publications of America (UPA).
Related material:
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Copied from the Royal Society catalogue by Sarah Drewery.
Date(s) of descriptions: Feb 2009.