Oct 17, 2011 - Sale 2256
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Sale 2256 - Lot 267

Price Realized: $ 660
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 2,000
(MANUSCRIPT.) Watt, William. Natural Philosophy [spine title]. illustrated manuscript in english, written in neat cursive script in black ink, 24 lines, recto and verso, on wove paper watermarked C WILMOTT 1807. 12 full-page drawings in ink and watercolor, including one signed "William Watt 1810," and 47 text illustrations. 163 leaves. 188x117 mm, contemporary 1/2 sheep gilt, spine ends chipped, covers detached, with free endpapers rehinged with tape; minor stains on folding drawing of steam engine, occasional show-through or offsetting from coloring on text illustrations, contents otherwise generally clean. Aberdeen, circa 1807-10
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Additional Details

According to research provided to the current owner by Dr. Ben Marsden of the University of Aberdeen, William Watt attended King's College in 1806-10 and likely produced the manuscript in connection with the course in natural philosophy given there by Robert Eden Scott, considering its textual similarity to a volume of lecture notes from Scott's class preserved at Aberdeen. The illustrations appear to have been copied in part from those in the 1805 edition of James Ferguson's Lectures on Select Subjects in Mechanics [etc.] edited by David Brewster, and in the 1806 Treatise of Mechanics by Olinthus Gregory. The full-page drawings show telescopes, microscopes, magic lantern, camera obscura, meal mill, air pump, fire engine, and Boulton and Watt steam engine.