Books in Cambridge Library Collection - Egyptology series

English anatomist and biologist Richard Owen (1804-92), who in 1842 coined the word 'dinosaur', published this book in 1859, the year of On the Origin of Species. He reviews ancient and recent studies of mammals in Western science before going on to present his own updated categorisation of the class. Owen's eye for detail and range of scholarship are evident in this work, which is an extensive catalogue of mammals based on biological, geographical and anatomical characteristics. It incorporates, among other things, detailed classifications and sub-classifications of genus based on dental structures, food habits and cerebra. Owen's prose is lucid and precise and his investigations scrupulous, demonstrating the commitment that led him to become one of the foremost anatomists of his time. An appendix reveals Owen's views on the hotly debated theories of transmutation and extinction proposed by scientists such as Lamarck, Lyell and Darwin.

Although in the original preface to this work the British naturalist Charles Waterton (1782-1865) modestly says his book has 'little merit', his account is a rich description of his experiences in South America and the Caribbean. Waterton managed his family's sugar plantations in Demerara from 1804 to 1812, studied natural history, and later (1812-25) divided his time between the Americas and Europe. This book, originally published in 1825 and reissued here in its 1828 second edition, describes his four expeditions, beginning with his search deep in the rainforest for samples of the rare poison, curare. Waterton also recounts a fierce battle with the Maroons, but his main focus is zoology, including the capture of 'an enormous Coulacara snake', encounters with sloths, monkeys and vampire bats, and close observations of a huge variety of birds. The final chapter describes Waterton's methods of 'preserving birds for cabinets of natural history'.

Reginald Campbell Thompson (1876-1941), grandson of the mathematician Augustus De Morgan, studied oriental languages at Cambridge, and in 1899 began his career in the British Museum's department of Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities. He participated in excavations at Nineveh and Carchemish with colleagues including Leonard William King and David George Hogarth (whose works are also reissued in this series). Thompson's later publications included a verse translation of The Epic of Gilgamish, and studies of ancient science. Published in 1903-4, this two-volume work made a substantial contribution to modern knowledge of ancient Babylonian demonology and magical practices. Volume 1 focuses on tablets produced in the seventh century BCE to record protective spells against evil spirits, and exorcism rituals. The work includes transliterations and explanatory notes, and was designed to accompany earlier British Museum publications of cuneiform texts from the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh.

Richard Owen F.R.S. (1804-92) was a controversial and influential palaeontologist and anatomist. Owen studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and at London's St Bartholomew's Hospital. He grew interested in anatomical research, and after qualifying he became assistant conservator in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and then superintendent of natural history in the British Museum. He quickly became an authority on comparative anatomy and palaeontology, coining the term 'dinosaur' and founding the Natural History Museum. He was also a fierce critic of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, and engaged in a long and bitter argument with Darwin's 'Bulldog', Thomas Huxley. Published in 1868, this is the third book in a highly illustrated three-volume set that comprises a thorough overview of vertebrate anatomy. This volume completes the analysis of mammalian anatomy and includes a chapter of general conclusions.

In terms of musical composition, all but the first five of his thirty-five years were astoundingly productive for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91). A stream of glorious symphonies, piano concertos, chamber music, operas and the sublime but unfinished Requiem poured from his pen. German philologist and archaeologist Otto Jahn (1813-69) was inspired to write a scholarly biography of Mozart following a conversation at Mendelssohn's funeral in 1847. He immersed himself in intensive research on the composer and his music, publishing the first edition of this landmark work in four volumes between 1856 and 1859. A second edition followed in 1867, incorporating new material and making use of Köchel's 1862 catalogue of Mozart's works. It is from this edition that Pauline D. Townsend made her three-volume English translation, first published in 1882. Volume 3 discusses the Mozart-Da Ponte operas and the Requiem, and also includes a list of his works.

Sir John Richardson (1787-1865), surgeon, naturalist and Arctic explorer, went on Sir John Franklin's first two Arctic expeditions as ship's doctor and naturalist, and made observations and collected a large number of plant and animal specimens from the Canadian Arctic. On his return to England after the second expedition he began to write this four-volume work of natural history, first published between 1829 and 1837. A volume is dedicated to each of the classes of mammal, bird, fish and insect, which are found in the Canadian Arctic. This work is an interesting example of pre-Darwinian natural history, full of detailed descriptions of the appearance, anatomy and behaviour of the different species. Volume 3 was first published in 1836 and is devoted to the species of fish found in the Canadian Arctic. It contains many detailed illustrations, and discussions of the similarities between different species of fish.

Thomas Stevenson (1818-1887) was the son of the engineer Robert Stevenson, and father of the writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Like his brothers David and Alan, he became a lighthouse designer, being responsible for over thirty examples around Scotland. Throughout his career he was interested in the theory as well as the practice of his profession, and published over sixty articles on engineering and meteorology. He was an international expert on lighthouses, and advised on projects in India, China, Japan, New Zealand and Canada. Lighthouse Construction and Illumination, published in 1881, was an expanded version of his Lighthouse Illumination of 1859, and remained a standard text. Many of his improvements in illumination came into universal use. According to his son, as a result of Thomas' work 'the great sea lights in every quarter of the world now shine more brightly'.

'Birds have been to me the solace, the recreation, the passion of a lifetime.' So wrote Reginald Bosworth Smith (1839-1908), former Classics master at Harrow School. As a young man, he published his first book on birds while teaching at Oxford, and he continued to combine his lifelong love of birds with classical and literary teaching and research. He retired to a country house in Dorset and in 1905 published this book, based on a series of articles written in his retirement. Recording his own observations, some of many years before, and peppered with scholarly references to birds in literature, the essays cover individual birds such as the owl, the raven and the magpie, as well as bird-watching in Dorset and beyond. Imparting a love and respect for wildlife that remains inspiring, this book will be of great interest to the bird-lover and scholar of today.

This children's history of England by Maria Callcott (1785-1842) was written as though she were telling a series of stories to a young boy known as 'Little Arthur'. Having travelled widely during her first marriage, publishing accounts under the name Maria Graham, she had become an invalid by 1831 owing to a burst blood vessel. Nevertheless, she continued her literary activity and became best known for this highly popular work. The first edition, published by John Murray in two volumes in 1835, is reissued here in a single volume. In the course of the century after its appearance, the book went through seventy editions and sold some 80,000 copies. Its success stemmed partly from its romantic and patriotic depiction of the protagonists of English history. Also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection are Callcott's travel journals describing her time in India, Brazil and Chile.

Leveson Francis Vernon-Harcourt (1839-1907) drew on a distinguished career in canal and river engineering for this illustrated two-volume survey, here reissued in its enlarged 1896 second edition. Having started as an assistant to the civil engineer John Hawkshaw, Vernon-Harcourt was appointed resident engineer in 1866 for new works on London's East and West India docks. Later, as a consulting engineer, he specialised in the design and construction of harbours, docks, canals and river works, and he was elected professor of civil engineering at University College London in 1882. This publication covers the design and construction of tidal and flood defences, canals, locks, and irrigation works. Volume 1 covers the physical characteristics of rivers and estuaries, and the control of their flow through dredging and works such as weirs and breakwaters. Vernon-Harcourt also discusses the design of flood defences. His Harbours and Docks (1885) is also reissued in this series.

Spherical or positional astronomy is used primarily to map objects on the celestial sphere. In this technical work, first published in 1908 and intended for advanced students, Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840-1913) breaks down the field into distinct areas of study. Assuming a good level of geometry and trigonometry, he begins with fundamental formulae before moving into the determination of coordinates, atmospheric refraction, the theory of cartography, and more. Each section contains exercises derived from a variety of sources, including contemporary Cambridge examinations. The coverage ranges from the calculation of stellar parallax to the geometrical principles behind the Mercator projection. Testifying to the knowledge expected of university students in the early twentieth century, Ball's book remains instructive to their modern counterparts. More accessible to the general reader, The Story of the Heavens (1885), Star-Land (1889) and A Popular Guide to the Heavens (1905) are also reissued in this series.