L13404

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Lot 216
  • 216

Liveing, Edward H

Estimate
2,000 - 3,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Scientific and mining papers, comprising:
  • ink on paper
13 autograph notebooks, in pencil and black ink, containing detailed notes on laboratory experiments on various subjects including metallurgy, speculative ideas for further research, work on his Patent Gas Indicator (1870s), notes on the Lewis Thompson Calorimeter, reports and results of mining assays, mostly relating to coal deposits in South Wales and Queensland, and engineering notes relating to Siddeley and Wolseley motorcars, including many diagrams and sketches, 12mo, most with labels on spines; together with more than 100 leaves of further loose notes and letters, including letters received (some carbon copies), drafts of letters sent, and other papers, relating to subjects including his patented inventions and his involvement in various mining projects such as gold mining in Kalgoori, Western Australia, Southern Australia, and Transylvania, a small quantity of family correspondence, and notes from printed sources; also with 10 printed items including pamphlets by Liveing; c.1874-1923, nicks and tears, some dust staining

Catalogue Note

A significant archive relating to science, engineering, and mining technologies in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. Edward Henry Liveing was closely involved in the mining industry, both in technological developments within the industry (for example in his Patent Gas Indicator), and also in searching out new mineral deposits in Western Australia and elsewhere. His interests were much wider, however, and of particular interest are a group of papers relating to the contested invention of the electric light bulb. One of his notebooks includes "my Idea of a perfect Electric light (Feb/79)", and in the early 1880s Liveing got drawn into the patent dispute between Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan. The papers include a letter from Swan's lawyers explaining their defence against Edison (2 pages, 4to, 14 June 1883), and Liveing's draft reply outlining his involvement in and knowledge of the crucial technological innovation of a "fine Carbon Thread lamp of high resistance" that Swan had developed by early 1879, independently of Edison.