Handbook of practical formulas : technical, astronomical, medical, electrical, etc

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Handbook of practical formulas : technical, astronomical, medical, electrical, etc

Title:

Handbook of practical formulas : technical, astronomical, medical, electrical, etc

Producer:

[Great Britain?] : [producer not identified ], [between 1870 and 1880?]

Description:

22 unnumbered pages, 180 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Full Text:

CC0

Notes:

A handbook compiled by an unknown person, possibly John Churnside, whose name and address "71 Bell Terrace" are written in pencil on the back paste-down endpaper; or perhaps Churnside was a later owner of the volume. The contents suggest that the handbook is of British origin

Approximate date range of compilation is based on references in the text. On page 19, there is an entry on the variation of compass which notes that the present year is 1870. Another entry mentions viewing Coggia's comet through a telescope (July, 1874), and there are mentions of the weather in 1878 and 1879 on page 158

Fifteen blank leaves are bound in at the end of the volume

Handwritten in dark brown and black ink on re-purposed lined paper printed with these vertical columns: Serjeants; corporals; trumpeters; farriers; privates

Some entries, particularly those referring to machinery, are illustrated with hand-drawn diagrams

Some leaves were removed apparently by the creator of the handbook, leaving short stubs, however the contemporary pagination sequence is uninterrupted

The first 24 pages of the volume form a handwritten index to the entries, with alphabetical thumb tabs

Title devised by cataloger

Also available online.

Summary:

A handbook with wide-ranging contents of interest to a late 19th century rural household. Entries range from a few lines to several pages, on topics as diverse as remedies for illnesses in people and animals, the preservation and preparation of foodstuffs, recipes for paints, dyes, and varnishes, meteorological and astronomical observations, agricultural advice, instructions for woodworking, and estimates of steam and horse power. Many entries describe the construction and/or use of mechanical equipment, such as voltaic coils and flywheels

Provenance:

Collected by Bern Dibner for his Burndy Library in Norwalk, Connecticut, founded in 1941. Donated to the Smithsonian Libraries in 1974 by Dibner

Cited/Indexed in:

Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Manuscripts of the Dibner collection, 1043

Local Note:

SCDIRB copy 39088003311990 has bookplate: Burndy Library ... gift of Bern Dibner

SCDIRB copy has a contemporary half-leather binding with marbled boards and a later handwritten spine label. A metric scale measured in mm, cm and dm is hand-drawn in ink on the front free endpaper. Some notes are handwritten on the back free and paste-down endpapers

Elecresource

Location:

Smithsonian Libraries, Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology, National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Constitution Avenue & 12th St. NW, Washington, DC, USA 20013-7012 https://library.si.edu/libraries/dibner

Formulas, recipes, etc.

Machinery.

Medicine -- Miscellanea.

Meteorology.

Science -- History.

Technology -- History.

Woodwork.

Handbooks, vade-mecums, etc.

Manuscripts (documents)

Sources.

Added Author:

Churnside, John, active 1870-1879, associated name

Dibner, Bern, former owner, donor.

Burndy Library Manuscripts Collection (Smithsonian Libraries)

Burndy Library, former owner, donor.

Added Title:

Handwritten (later) spine label: Technical, astronom., electrical, c. 1875

Catalog Source No.:

(OCoLC)ocm09986462

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