The Erasmus Darwin House is delighted to announce that after years of diligent research and painstaking work by a small team of dedicated volunteers, Erasmus Darwin‘s Common Place Book has been fully transcribed and is now available in a beautifully bound publication. We are officially launched the Book on Thursday 8th September.
The book has been on loan to Erasmus Darwin House since 1999 and is by far the most important item in our collection. With the kind permission of English Heritage only 12 copies have been produced, one of which will be on permanent display in the Museum for researchers and the general public alike to more easily appreciate the genius of Erasmus Darwin.
Selected as an item of significance for the British Museum’s project ‘Teaching History Through 100 Objects’, the Book’s 300 pages contains the thoughts, ideas and inventions of Erasmus Darwin in his own hand. It includes delightful sketches, annotations, marginalia, and hand-coloured drawings that expand on his concepts and its transcription is a glowing example of successful heritage preservation.
The Book gives us a window into Erasmus Darwin’s mind, an insight into his concerns, personality and interests of which he had many. As one of our volunteer’s stated, “transcribing the page was like listening to Erasmus speaking to you”. It is also a valuable resource for the chemical language used in the 18th Century before the periodic table was established.
The Book also contains personal and intimate correspondence between Erasmus and his relatives, including a letter written by his brother Robert describing their journey home from school as they witnessed a hare mauled by dogs causing Erasmus to cry uncontrollably.
Excerpt on a smallpox case study:
“I think to cool the red skin by bathing or fomenting it constantly with water, cold or tepid…is too violent action & thence…I should wish to try opium in small quantity”
Each Common Place Book is entirely unique to its creator, it starts life with empty pages and begins to be filled with, in our case, the personality and passions of its writer.
The entries in Erasmus’s book vary widely and include excerpts on: flushing toilets, speaking machine, meteorology, botany, music, caterpillars, jewellery, asthma and drunkenness. In all, the Book contains 63 pages on inventions and 60 pages on medical topics.
Other notable Common Place Book keepers: Marcus Aurelius, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon and Bill Gates.
The project was generously funded by the Staffordshire Local Community Fund and the Friends of Erasmus Darwin House.
