The largest surviving collection of papers and letters of the natural philosopher Henry Cavendish (1731-1810). The collection consists of Henry Cavendish's scientific papers, his correspondence, his journals, his library catalogue and the "White Book": his only known notebook to survive. His scientific papers cover descriptions and explanations of experiments, preliminary research notes and data, figures and diagrams, analytical tables, drafts of Papers and Propositions, algebraic calculations, formulae and computations.
The collection is organised by subject matter of his scientific research. His scientific papers are followed by his personal papers: HY/10 contans his journals and his correspondence, including correspondence with several leading scientists such as Dr Joseph Priestley, John Michell, Nevil Maskelyne and William Herschel. HY/11 is concerned with the administration of his estates, including correspondence with his agents. Two manuscript items, Henry's Library Catalogue and his White Book, with corresponding loose pages, are contained in HY/12. The scientific papers are written by Cavendish unless otherwise stated. Any title in inverted commas are made on the papers themselves by Cavendish or a later commentator.
Cavendish's papers have been published partially in several publications: James Clerk Maxwell editted a collection of Cavendish's electrical research shortly before his own death: Maxwell "The Scientific Papers of Henry Cavendish: Electrical Researches" (1879; Cambridge, Cambridge University Press). This collection was re-published as the first volume of Sir Edward Thorpe's "The Scientific Papers of Henry Cavendish: Chemical and Dynamical" (1921; Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) with a new Volume II being a collection of Cavendish's scientific papers in other areas with commentary by leading scientists at the time.
His life has been subject to several biographies: he has an entry in Lord Brougham's "Lives of Men of Letters and Science Who Flourished in the Time of George III" Vol. I (1845). Brougham had personally met Cavendish and had access to his papers. The first full biography was Wilson, George, "The Life and Works of Cavendish, including Abstracts of his more important scientific papers, and a critical inquiry into the claims of all the alleged discoverers of the composition of water" (1851; London). This biography focuses on Cavendish's role in the discovery of the composition of water and quotes from his papers relating to that topic.This was the only biography until Berry, AJ "Henry Cavendish: His Life and Scientific Work" (1960). Berry viewed Cavendish's papers, whcih were then at Chatsworth. Only the first chapter is a biography of Cavendish with the remainder of the book concerning his scientific work. Jungnickel, Christa and McCormmach, Russell "Cavendish" (1996; American Philosophical Society), updated and re-published as "Cavendish: The Experimental Life" (1999; Bucknell University Press is an extensive view of Cavendish and his father Lord Charles' lives with the latter publishing the majority of Cavendish's letters. McCormmach went on to publish two further books on Cavendish: "Speculative Truth: Henry Cavendish, Natural Philosophy and the Rise of Modern Theoretical Science" (2004, OUP) which published Cavendish's manuscript on a theory of heat; and "The Personality of Henry Cavendish: A Great Scientist with Extraordinary Peculiarities" (2014; Springer) which focuses on Cavendish's personality and theories suggesting that he was an autistic person. Finally, there is a small booklet by Jonathan Powers "The Hon Henry Cavendish FRS FSA: The Man who Weighed the World" (2012; iOpening Books), a publication based on a lecture he gave on the 200th anniversary of Cavendish's death.
These published works are referenced throughout this catalogue.