A good collection of offprints and manuscript notes with som...

Hammer

£440

A good collection of offprints and manuscript notes with some
letters from Edward Milles Nelson, a former President of the

Royal Microscopical Society
Amongst the offprints are Descriptions of some Nondescript Insects
from Assam, William Griffith, 1840 (with large coloured plate); A
Handbook of British Mosquitoes', by William Dickson Lang, 1920;
The Ectoparasites of the Red Grouse, A E Shipley, 1909; Directions
for Preserving Insects, Nathan Banks, 1909; Report of Injurious
Insects and Common Farm Pests during the year 1899, Eleanor A.
Ormerod, 1900, (a presentation copy from the author); The
Orthoptera of Nova Scotia, Harry Piers, 1917 &etc including one or
two on 'the Age of the Earth'.
Amongst West's notes are several pages on Navicula Rhomboides
(microalgae), where he discusses observing them under the
microscope. Three autograph letters from Edward Milles Nelson
[1851-1938] described in his obituary as a 'pioneer of modern
microscopical observational technique' to George West go into some
technical detail with small sketches on the same issue. The letters
(4pp, ip, and 3pp) are all closely dated, March 1913 and come from
his home in Beckington near Bath. Nelson was involved for some
years in a controversy with Ernst Abbe [1840-1905] A German
physicist and optical scientist, over technical issues in the workings of
the microscope.
From 1902 to 1926, Edward Milles Nelson [1858-1938] was the
owner of Beckington Castle, in the village of Beckington in Somerset.
Nelson was President of the Royal Microscopical Society from 1897-
99 and author of 'The Cult of Circle Builders'.
(Quantity. Approx 20 offprints plus MSS notes made by George West
on various subjects)

More Information

The following lots of books represent the library of George West.
West's biographical details are hard to pin down, his date of birth
unknown, (probably around the 1880's) and his death sometime after
1945. He is known to have worked as an assistant and then lecturer in
Botany at the University of Dundee from 1906. At that time the
university was a constituent college of St Andrews University. West
seems to have remained there until around 1926. In his publication
'Practical Principles of Plain Photo Micrography' (1916) he describes
himself as a lecturer in Botany. Most of the books in the sale bear the
handstamp, 'George West' to the front pastedowns. Many volumes bear
extracts from booksellers' catalogues with prices of the titles,
suggesting that West liked to keep up with the current values of his
library.
The books represent a working library and many are also
annotated in pencil in his hand, cross-referencing other works and
adding his comments. To the front of the first volume of Walker's
Diptera (see lot no.) he has inserted his handwritten poem, 'To the
Future Owners of this book'.

Geordie has now turned up his toes
And gone aloft to seek repose
From various varmints nips and stings,
Especially those base mankind brings...

.....

...He trusts the child who gets this book
Will on the various notes just look
And feel that every pencil stroke
Helps on the game dear Walker wrote...

Although a botanist by profession, his main interest, judging by
his library appears to have been entomology and amongst the books
are some rare titles in that field many dating from the nineteenth

century, a golden age for the natural sciences. Many of the giants in
the field of Entomology are represented in the books and there are

good sets of Curtis, Donovan and Stephens with many exquisite, hand-
coloured illustrations. Geology was another of his interests, as well as

microscopy.
What little is known of George West is largely gleaned from a
publication from Hereford Museum published in 2007. West had
donated a large collection of mineralogical specimens to the Museum
in 1945. His connection with Hereford, however, appears to be
tenuous and the man remains something of an enigma.