Lot 135
Student of John Walker (1731-1803)
Manuscript of lectures on natural history, c.1782
Auction: 16 June 2026 from 10:00 BST
Description
8vo (20.6 x 12.6cm), modern brown morocco with gilt spine, 267 ff. with text of lectures given by Walker on natural history at the University of Edinburgh in the early 1780s, the text is written by a student of Walker's in neat italic hand on the rectos only and foliated with index leaves at the end, among the subjects covered are: hydrography, geology, mineralogy, botany, and meteorology; the majority of the lectures in this volume are devoted to meteorology, including peculiar weather phenomena, use of the barometer and thermometer, and hydrography, including the natural history of the ocean, the text of the volume concludes with "the end of the first volume" implying that other volumes were compiled, first leaf in volume with paper repair, occasional staining, but otherwise internally clean
Footnote
John Walker (1731-1803), natural historian and Church of Scotland minister, was appointed regius professor of natural history at the University of Edinburgh and keeper of the University's museum in 1779. ‘His lectures were considered clear but dry and formal. His teaching emphasized a utilitarian natural history … His breadth of expertise was remarkable but his posthumous reputation suffered from his not having published much during his lifetime' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Outlines of Walker's natural history lectures were published in Institutes of Natural History (Edinburgh, 1792).