The Sir John Herschel Collection
The preparation of the print Calendar of the Correspondence of Sir John Herschel (Michael J. Crowe ed., David R. Dyck and James J. Kevin assoc. eds, Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998, viii + 828 pp) which was funded by the National Science Foundation, took ten years. It was accomplished by a team of seventeen professors, visiting scholars, graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and staff working at the University of Notre Dame.
The first online version of Calendar was created in 2009 by Dr Marvin Bolt and Steven Lucy, working at the Webster Institute of the Adler Planetarium, and it is that data that has now been reformatted for incorporation into Ɛpsilon.
Further information about Herschel, his correspondence, and the editorial method is available online here: http://historydb.adlerplanetarium.org/herschel/?p=intro
No texts of Herschel’s letters are currently available through Ɛpsilon.
Thanks for [Cape Results] and copy of JH's portrait. Attributes JA's passion for astronomy to JH's influence. Recalls happy visit to Collingwood.
Received Cape Results. Compliments JH's industry.
Gratitude on behalf of Institution for receipt of [Cape Results].
Obviously a ring of planets is being discovered. Congratulations on the discovery. Is the reading based on one night's observations only? Gives it a female name, possibly Iris.
Has been to Cambridge to support a friend in a vote; JH comments on the dry state of the countryside, and responds to a number of family matters, including one in which JH is trying to get the message across that he is not interested in personal advancement.
Grateful for JH's Cape observations. Has nothing new to report on the ring of Neptune. Has been troubled with dew on his prism, but has now succeeded in overcoming this difficulty.
Bookbinder is inserting epigraphs into selected copies [of JH's Cape Results] for distribution Monday to addresses in London. Took liberty to include four copies for members of Royal Society in Edinburgh. Waiting for JH's instructions for dispatch to Cape of Good Hope.