Sketches of tracings of watermarks collected by Felix Oswald, Honorary Reader of History of Roman Britain at The University of Nottingham, 1883

The collection comprises:

• Volume containing loose items; tracings and sketches of watermarks. The items are undated and the sources for the tracings are not identified. The volume is marked 'Felix Oswald, 1883' (MS 165/1).
• Copy of an article entitled 'The Romance of Papermarks', by Harold Bayley and from an edition of 'The Bibliophile'. The date is unknown (MS 165/2).

There is no obvious connection between this small collection of material concerning watermarks and Oswald's academic career. It seems possible that his work on watermarks was a youthful enthusiasm.

Felix Oswald DSc FSA was born on 3 November 1866 and as a young geologist travelled extensively in Eastern Europe and Central Africa. He was awarded his DSc by The University of London for his thesis on the geology of Armenia. He had a life-long interest in classical archaeology and studied in France, Germany and Spain. As a result of this work, he became an acknowledged authority on the pottery of the Roman Empire and wrote numerous monographs on Samian and Arretime ware. His greatest contribution to the history of Roman Nottinghamshire was his excavation of the site of Margidnum on the Fosse and the subsequent classification and explanation of the pottery found there. He was Honorary Reader of History of Roman Britain at The University of Nottingham and died on his ninety-second birthday.

An obituary notice can be found in the University of Nottingham Gazette (No 30, p 476, January 1959).

ACCESS: Accessible to all registered readers.

REPROGRAPHIC: Reprographic copies can be supplied for educational use and private study purposes only, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.

This description is the only finding aid available for these items. Copyright in the description belongs to The University of Nottingham.

COPYRIGHT: Permission to make published use of these items must be sought in advance in writing from the Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk). The Department will try to assist in identifying copyright owners but this can be difficult and the responsibility for copyright clearance before publication ultimately rests with the person wishing to publish.

LANGUAGE: English

These items were acquired by The University of Nottingham's Department of Manuscripts in September 1965.