Archives of the Scientific Revolution

Manuscript collections created by the individuals and institutions who were responsible for the scientific revolution offer valuable evidence of the intellectual aspirations and working practices of the principal protagonists. This volume is the first to explore such archives, focusing on the ways in which ideas were formulated, stored and disseminated, and opening up understanding of the process of intellectual change.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-851-15553-1

Price:  £50.00

Flamsteed's Stars

John Flamsteed played a leading role in English astronomy for nearly half a century, from his appointment as `astronomical observator' to Charles II and first director of the new Royal Observatory at Greenwich, in 1675, through five successive reigns until his death on the last day of 1719. The Observatory's innovative instruments enabled him to plot the movements of the heavenly bodies with unprecedented accuracy, but he was also in correspondence with other astronomers, participating in the controversies of the day and caught up in a lengthy rivalry with Isaac Newton and Edmond Halley - reflected in the complex publishing history of the Historia Coelestis, detailed here. This book confirms Flamsteed's achievements as astronomer, mathematician, instrument maker and writer on optics, and also discusses more personal issues such as his relations with the Royal Society, his pursuit of professional recognition, and the friction between him and his eventual successor Halley.
FRANCES WILLMOTH gained her Ph.D. for her biography of Flamsteed's patron, Sir Jonas Moore.
Contributors: JIM BENNETT, FRANCES WILLMOTH, MORDECHAI FEINGOLD,ADRIAN JOHNS, HESTER HIGTON, ROB ILIFFE, IAN G. STEWART, OWEN GINGERICH, ALAN COOK, WILLIAM J. ASHWORTH, ADAM PERKINS   hardback   ISBN 978-0-851-15706-1

Price:  £50.00

Gentlemen, Scientists and Doctors

This book offers the first full-length study of medical education at the University of Cambridge for nearly 70 years. Drawing on the extensive records in the university archives and contemporary periodical literature, it sets thedevelopment of the Cambridge medical school in the context of the history of medicine, science and higher education. The author begins with the preservation of the faculty in the face of early nineteenth-century attacks on privilege in medicine and higher education, presenting a detailed investigation of the reforms of the 1860s and 1870s which led to the creation of the laboratories in the experimental sciences such as physiology and pathology on which somuch of the University's twentieth-century reputation was to rest, and of a clinical school which faded quickly and was soon forgotten. The second half describes the evolution of this reformed faculty into the model of academic medicine that we recognise and follow today. Nor are the students forgotten: their experiences of medical education at the University are illustrated with numerous quotations from periodicals such as Granta and the Magazine of the Cambridge University Medical Society.
Dr MARK WEATHERALL was at Cambridge from 1986 to 1997, and held a Wellcome Trust Research Fellowship for the year 1994-5; he is currently a SHD at the Whittington Hospital, North London.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-851-15681-1

Price:  £55.00

Heaven and Earth in the Middle Ages

What were the ideas held by medieval man concerning the size and shape of the earth? How many planets were there, and of what material was the universe constructed? What was the relationship between the sky and Heaven? How were snow, thunderstorms and comets explained? In this fascinating book Dr Simek shows that though nature was thought to be permeated by the will of God, there were numerous explanations for unknown phenomena, from the simple theories of the early middle ages to the more sophisticated ideas of the centres of learned scholasticism in Paris and Oxford. He presents a cross-section of the medieval knowledge of the physical world as deliberated and discussed by authors from the 9th to the 15th centuries. He touches on fields as diverse as astronomy, geography, physics, botany and chemistry, and shows how medieval knowledge combined `scientific' explanations with others from popular mythology and folklore.
RUDOLF SIMEK is Professor of Medieval German and Scandinavian Literature at the University of Bonn in Germany.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-851-15608-8

Price:  £40.00

Minute-Books of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society, 1712-1755

Facsimile of record of matters and items discussed by this society, modelled on the meetings of the Royal Society.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-901-50349-7

Price:  £25.00

Photography in a Nutshell

Includes apparatus, aims, plate, films, exposure, Special Subjects, Development, Fixing, Washing, Varnishing Negatives, Intensifies and Reducers, Preparing Negatives, Printing Papers, Printing, Mounting and Framing, Photography in Hot Climates, Lantern Slides and Enlarging, etc. Plates and illustrations. 155 pages plus 56 pages of fascinating illustrated advertisements.    

Price:  £8.50

Robert Boyle (1627-91): Scrupulosity and Science

Robert Boyle (1627-91), one of the seminal figures in the origins of modern science, yet a complex and tortured personality, has been the subject of much scholarly attention in recent years. Here, Michael Hunter, the acknowledgedexpert on Boyle, makes use of much hitherto unpublished material to offer a novel and distinctive view of the man.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-851-15798-6

Price:  £55.00

Science and Exploration in the Pacific

The exploration of the Pacific in the eighteenth century by western Europeans has an enduring fascination for both specialists and a wider public. Within this field, Cook's voyages have a particular appeal: they include exciting elements of danger, scientific investigation, encounters between different cultures. The essays in this volume take as their point of departure Cook's first voyage in the Endeavour (1768-71); they re-evaluate its political and social context, look at the expectations and outcomes of the event, and focus on the scientific and cultural issues emerging from this and subsequent Pacific voyages.   paperback   ISBN 978-0-851-15836-5

Price:  £19.99

Science, Religion and Politics in Restoration England

Richard Cumberland is one of the seventeenth century's most interesting political theorists. His masterpiece, the De legibus naturae(1672), has rarely been examined on its own terms, but by tracing the political, religious and intellectual circumstances of the composition of this puzzling work, and showing its importance as a critique of Thomas Hobbes, author of the Leviathan, Dr Parkin demonstrates how Cumberland created a new political and ethical theory which absorbed and neutralised many of Hobbes's insights..   hardback   ISBN 978-0-861-93241-2

Price:  £50.00

The Scottish Enlightenment

A collection of ten specially commissioned essays addressing five themes central to any study of the Scottish Enlightenment: (1) the place (both physical and cognitive) of science and medicine in the Scottish Enlightenment; (ii) the institutionalisation of enlightenment in the universities; (iii) the cultivation of the different branches of 'the science of man' in the Scottish Enlightenment; (iv) the national and international contexts of enlightenment thought in Scotland; and (v) the historiography of the Scottish Enlightenment.   hardback   ISBN 978-1-580-46065-1

Price:  £45.00

The Triumphs of Steam

A fascinating history of steam engines containing information about the use of steam powered engines in everything from the cotton mills to locomotives. The harnessing of steam power completely revoutionised the whole world of industry and transport and would have affected virtually all of our ancestors in some way. This type of book helps you to understand the world our forebears lived in and how events impacted upon their lives.    

Price:  £12.13

Understanding the Universe in Seventh-Century Ireland

Scarcity of scientific data, a real interest in the physical world, and the need to validate the scriptures encouraged seventh-century Irish scholars toward critical reflection on scientific matters. Their world-view was based onmaterials drawn from the Bible, on earlier Christian works and on personal reflection and contemplation. This volume looks at the Irish contribution to the development of western thought in the early middle ages.
MARINA SMYTH is librarian of the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame, and teaches early medieval cultural history.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-851-15313-1

Price:  £50.00