Cole, William ( -1701)

A minute book of heads of promiscuous notions on observations of things vegetable animall [sic] and minerall [sic]. Begun 1 Jan 1691/2.

1692-1695

1 volume 164 pp. + 1 l. folio. 31 x 20 cm. Original rough calf binding. Pp. 65-74, a number of leaves at the beginning before p. 1, and two leaves at the end have been cut out. Pp. 13-130, 141-158 are blank. The section on 'Vegetable things' is wanting. The title of the MS. as given above is written in ink on the upper cover.

Purchased 1910.

The author of this MS has been identified by internal evidence, as William Cole, a Surveyor of Customs at Bristol, and an enthusiastic naturalist who corresponded with many of the most eminent members of the Royal Society, including Robert Hooke, who refers to him in a letter in 1677 as 'a very good friend of mine at Bristol, the Ingenious and Inquisitive Mr. W.C.'. Cole spent some fifty years in gathering a museum of 'natural curiosities' which included fossils, shells, and botanical and zoological specimens. He had written a work on natural history which he hoped to have published by Oxford University, to whom he wished to bequeath his collections. Owing to the conditions upon which he insisted-a separate building and the publication of his book-the arrangement was not concluded before his death, and the collection was sold to a Dr. Lane of Bristol, and his book remains unpublished.

The word 'Bonds', partly erased, is found above the title of this MS. I am indebted to my friend Dr. Poynter of the Wellcome Library, for the suggestion that the ledger containing this MS.-which is ruled in red ink in 18 columns-was originally intended to be a record connected with Cole's work at the Customs Office. [Cf. Eyles (V. A.). Bristol and its Adjoining Counties. 1955, pp. 127-129.]

Database description transcribed from S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).