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A royal gift? Mrs Strangways Horner’s small silver clock, 1740
This article celebrates the rediscovery of a small silver-cased clock allegedly given to Mrs Strangways Horner by Lady Archibald Hamilton on behalf of Augusta, Princess of Wales in 1740.
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A statistical campaign: Florence Nightingale and Harriet Martineau’s England and her Soldiers
An essay on the making of England and her Soldiers, a book written by Harriet Martineau and based on the statistical work of Florence Nightingale.
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An overlooked eighteenth-century scrofula pamphlet: changing forms and changing readers, 1760–1824
This article explores the medical context, editorial history and varied reader reception of an eighteenth-century pamphlet on scrofula written by John Morley, a wealthy Essex landowner.
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Chronometers, charts, charisma: on histories of longitude
Charismatic objects provide invaluable, if challenging, resources for telling stories about the history of longitude at sea. In this article recent collaborative research and museum work is used to explore some opportunities and puzzles of the combination of object study and public exhibitions.
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James Short and John Harrison: personal genius and public knowledge
This is a study of the positive relationship between James Short and John Harrison, set in two eighteenth-century contexts: the notion of individual aptitude or ‘genius’ unspoilt by education or training; and the problem of how individual ability might be captured and formulated as public knowledge.
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Reading, writing, drawing and making in the 18th-century instrument trade
In 1761–62, King George III commissioned a group of philosophical instruments from the London instrument-maker George Adams. This article traces Adams’s techniques of borrowing and adapting printed instrument designs, as he produced this spectacular collection.
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Review: Ships, Clocks & Stars: The Quest for Longitude
A review of the Ships, clocks and stars: the quest for longitude exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.
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Review: Perfect Mechanics: Instrument Makers at the Royal Society of London in the Eighteenth Century, by Richard Sorrenson
A critical review of the publication Perfect Mechanics: Instrument Makers at the Royal Society of London in the Eighteenth Century, by Richard Sorrenson
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Watt’s workshop: craft and philosophy in the Science Museum
A close examination of James’ Watt’s workshop, preserved in the Science Museum’s collections since 1924 and redisplayed in 2012, suggests a richer, more nuanced interpretation of his contribution to Britain’s Industrial Enlightenment as both philosopher and practical maker.