News-sheet — April 2010
The men have been drawn up this morning upon the market hill, and a concert such as we have not heard these many years, has been performed at no great distance from our window. Your mother and I both thrust our heads into the coldest East wind that ever blew in April, that we might hear them to greater advantage. The band acquitted themselves with taste and propriety, not blairing like Trumpeters at a fair, but producing gentle and elegant symphony, such as charmed our ears and convinced us that no length of time can wear out a taste for Harmony . . . .
— William Cowper to Rev. William Unwin (Saturday, 27 April 1782)
I. Latest news
Map room expansion
We have begun the first phase of a major development of the map room this month. This area provides a home within EE for our continued research on location information. We start off with three main sections:
- Atlases - where we provide a selection of images of historic maps;
- Gazetteers - with details on locations in EE;
- Research - a home for our on-going work into location data.
II. Miscellany, April 2010
Esoteric science...
In this month's Miscellany, "Esoteric science...", you'll discover that the 17th century was a fertile time for scientific experimentation and speculation of every kind.
III. New functionality
Oxford English Dictionary search
We have added the ability to search the Oxford English Dictionary from Lives pages — so you can find out what it means to say that Robert Boyle's father was an "escheator".
Seadragon
We have integrated Microsoft's Seadragon software into Electronic Enlightenment, this allows us to present wonderfully rich and detailed Maps and other images across EE.
For a sample, see Scherer's map of the world in our fledgling EE Atlas.
IV. MARC records, March 2010
Our Spring update of EE MARC records is now available. You can find more details and free download links on our MARC record page.
V. New editions
The Correspondence of Robert Boyle
EE is pleased to announce inclusion of the first volume of The Correspondence of Robert Boyle, ed. Michael Hunter et al. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2001). The first of a six volume edition, this volume will add 452 new letters and documents and over 60 new biographical notes to the collection. Here are a few sample letters:
- 26 November 1640 — Robert Boyle to Richard Boyle, 1st earl of Cork;
- 16 March 1647 — Robert Boyle to Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh;
- 25 March 1650 — Robert Boyle, John Sadler, Rev. John Dury, Samuel Hartlib, Benjamin Worsley, Henry Robinson to Cressy Dymock.
VI. New biographies
The Correspondence of Robert Boyle provides many new and interesting people related to Boyle by lineage and through his love of science, including: Richard Boyle, 1st earl of Cork, Samuel Hartlib, Sir William Petty, Walter Pope and George Starkey. Here are a few sample lives:
- Richard Boyle, 1st earl of Cork (1566–1643), Irish aristocrat, landowner, government official;
- Samuel Hartlib (c. 1600–1662), German educational reformer, author;
- George Starkey (1628–1665), Scottish alchemist.