News-sheet — May 2010
Shall I then ever see a valley of ice which was formed at the creation, or only a day or two afterwards at farthest? mountains of ice that will never melt till the earth diſsolves? and crevices through which one might descend to the nursery of earthquakes and volcanoes? . . .
— Norton Nicholls to Thomas Gray (Saturday, 6 August 1768)
(EE letter id: graythOU0031041a1c)
I. Latest news
Map of Denmark and Iceland
We have added an early ninteenth-century map of Denmark courtesy of David Rumsey/Cartography Associates. We have over a dozen letters written or received in Denmark, for which this map provides good geographical context. What gives it particular interest, given recent events, is the detailed inset map of Iceland in the top right corner where one will find, just inland from the southern tip of the main island, a clear depiction of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano (spelt "Eyafialla Jokul" on the map). For more on volcanoes and vulcanism, read our May Miscellany, "Volcanoes: the good, the bad and some science".
II. Miscellany, May 2010
Volcanoes: the good, the bad and some science
In this month's Miscellany, "Volcanoes: the good, the bad and some science", you'll discover some 18th-century views of volcanoes and vulcanism, from travel descriptions and metaphorical comparisons to some remarkably good science.
III. New Documents
The Correspondence of Robert Boyle, volume 2:1662–1665
EE is pleased to announce inclusion of the second volume of The Correspondence of Robert Boyle, ed. Michael Hunter et al. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2001). The second of a six volume edition, this volume will add 340 new letters and documents and 45 new biographical notes to the collection.
IV. New biographies
The second volume of The Correspondence of Robert Boyle provides many new and interesting people. Here are a few sample lives:
- Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk (c. 1646–1666), Native American student, university graduate;
- Rev. Israel Tonge (1621–1680), English clergyman, schoolmaster, anti-Catholic propagandist, conspiracy theorist;
- Daubeney Turberville (1612–1696), English oculist.