Thornton and Tully's Scientific Books, Libraries and Collectors: A Study of Bibliography and the Book Trade in Relation to the History of Science

In the 25 years since the last edition of Thornton and Tully's Scientific Books, Libraries and Collectors was published, scientific publishing has mushroomed, developed new forms, and the academic discipline and popular appreciation of the history of science have grown apace. This fourth edition discusses these changes and ponders the implications of developments in publishing at the end of the twentieth century, while concentrating its gaze upon the dissemination of scientific ideas and knowledge from Antiquity to the industrial age. In this shift of focus it departs from previous editions, and for the first time a chapter on Islamic science is included.Recurrent themes in several of the ten essays in the present volume are the definition of 'science' itself, and its transmutation by publishing media and the social context. Two essays on the collecting of scientific books provide a counterpoint, and the book is grounded on a rigorous chapter on bibliographies. The timely publication of Scientific Books, Libraries and Collectors comes at the coincidence of the advent of electronic publishing and the millennium, a dramatic moment at which to take stock.

William H. Brock read chemistry at University College London before turning to the history of science. He spent his academic career at the University of Leicester where, until his retirement in 1998, he was Professor of History of Science. Paula Findlen teaches in the History Department at Stanford University, where she also directs the Science, Technology and Society Program. Brian J. Ford, the newly-appointed Royal Literary Fund Fellow in Authorship at the Open University, is a Fellow of Cardiff University and Honorary Surveyor of Scientific Instruments at the Linnean Society of London. A Fellow and Chairman of the History Network at the Institute of Biology, he is a member of Council at the Friends of Cambridge University Library Andrew Hunter is an antiquarian bookseller, specialising in rare scientific books. He is a director of Bernard Quaritch Ltd. Frank A.J.L. James is Reader in History of Science at the Royal Institution Sachiko Kusukawa is College Lecturer in History and Philosophy of Science, Trinity College, Cambridge. Steven J. Livesey is Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oklahoma. Henry Lowood is Curator for History of Science and Technology Collections in the Stanford University Libraries and a lecturer in the History of Science Program and the Department of German Studies at Stanford University. Giles Mandelbrote is a Curator, British Collections 1501-1800, at the British Library. Jack Meadows joined the Department of Information and Library Studies at Loughborough University as Professor and Head of Department in 1986. He has subsequently been Dean and Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Tara Nummedal is completing a PhD in early modern European history and the history of science at Stanford University. Judith Overmier has been on the faculty of the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Oklahoma since 1989. Robin E. Rider is Curator of Special Collections Memorial Library, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and lecturer in the Department of History of Science there. Jacques Sesiano is a Lecturer in the history of mathematics at the Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne. Liba Taub is Curator of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, part of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Newnham College.