Early Letters

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0117 EL
Held at	: Royal Society   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://royalsociety.org/collections/ ›
Full 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
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

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 & 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.

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

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Copied from the Royal Society catalogue by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions:
General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Feb 2009.