William Smith, the ‘father of English geology’, is famous for creating the first geological map of a country – the ‘Map that changed the world.’ One of his famous geological maps of England and Wales now hangs in our entrance hall at Burlington House, where visitors still flock to see it. But what did he … Continue reading
Category Archives: Library
Shedding light on the mystery of the Library’s ‘Pilkington Glass’ chandeliers
Visitors to the Library of the Geological Society often ask about our stunning chandeliers, but up until now we’ve not been able to tell them much. It depends on who you ask – rumour has it that they are made from Pilkington Glass, while others state that in fact they were gifts from the Pilkington … Continue reading
Publishing maps: a cautionary tale
Visitors to the building may notice an addition to the Lower Library – a display about the fortunes and misfortunes of one the UK’s most famous geologists never to be a Fellow, William Smith. Smith’s most celebrated achievement, the first geological map of a complete country, now hangs in our entrance hall, but he didn’t … Continue reading
Sedimentary my dear Watson?
During the last month or so, I’ve been cataloguing the ‘Merriman Collection’ (ref: LDGSL/1088) from our archives. The collection of 412 glass lantern slides, primarily dating from 1880s-1910s, was donated to the Society by Mrs Mary Merriman in 2002 after being found languishing in a garden shed for decades. Around half of the slides relate … Continue reading
Murchison’s Peacetime Map of Siluria
Sir Roderick Impey Murchison spent much of the early 1830s stomping round Wales and the West Midlands immersed in an oceanic world of metre-long sea scorpions. A world which later gave rise to both leeches and creatures with backbones. Above the waters, plants began to grow on Avalonia. It was the dawn of the age of … Continue reading
Early Geological Social Networking
When I imagine the early geological map-makers, I think of men on grand tours, taking geological hammers to prise fragments of rock from exposed strata. Late at night they’d examine their findings by candlelight, take notes and draw sketch maps, later to be incorporated into the great cartographic works they published and left to us … Continue reading
Digitising the map collection: new toys
‘Do you have a digital copy of that map?’ It’s probably the most common question I get asked in the Map Room. Currently our collection is almost 100% hardcopy mapping, collected by Fellows and librarians throughout the 200 years of the Society’s existence. We hold all sorts of maps including one printed on silk and … Continue reading
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