Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. 1665. No.9. pg.147.

In an article in The Press, 12 July 1934, the then Canterbury College Librarian, Clifford Collins, stated that all knowledge of how the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London was obtained was unknown. He does go on to acknowledge the gift of the present Transactions from Dr C. Coleridge Farr, F.R.S. - The Press, Volume LXX, Issue 2121, 12 July 1934.

Knowledge of how UC obtained the early Transactions remained unknown until the recent (2021) discovery of two articles explaining their purchase in 1880.

The first article notes that a set was available for sale for £150:

“The committee recommends the Board to make provision for the purchase of a complete set of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London from 1665, at a cost of £150, for the College Library, in accordance with a recommendation of the Professorial Council. The Rev. Mr Fraser moved that the recommendation be adopted. The motion was seconded by Mr Potts. Mr Hamilton remarked that it was a large sum proposed to be expended, but did not oppose the proposition. The question was then put to the meeting and carried.” – The Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1873. 24 February 1880.

This set was sold before Canterbury College could make the purchase; fortunately it was only a few months later that a second set for sale was located:

“The Committee reports receipt of a letter from Mr B. Quaritch, stating that the copy of the ‘Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society,’ ordered by the Board at a cost of £150, had been sold. He had secured another at a cost of £175, and would recommend the College to purchase it. The committee have adopted Mr Quaritch’s recommendation…”– The Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1992, 13 July 1880.

It is not known what volumes the 1880 purchase covered. The binding of the early run is consistent, although this does not help answer the question. From 1665 to 1779 the cover design is a marble style which changes to a tree-calf cover to 1867, with the spine design remaining the same. 1867 to 1886 the style changes completely to a full cloth-cover. There are no signs of provenance within the Transactions apart from the Canterbury College bookplate. There is also no official record of what volumes were purchased in 1880, nor of Dr Farr’s gift in 1934.

Included in the Transactions series is the 1679-1682 Philosophical Collections. The University of Canterbury holds all seven volumes, bound as one, of this rare title. In the case of the Philosophical Collections, it is not known how UC came to hold this item, and its significance within the UC collection was only noted as recently as 2017. The Philosophical Collections, edited by Robert Hooke, were issued to fill a void during an interruption in the publication of the Royal Society’s better known journal.