A Rare Cased Smith and Beck Binocular Microscope with Thomas Glazebrook Rylands Archive, circa 1858
Marks: Smith & Beck; 6 Coleman St.; LONDON, 1538
17-1/4 inches high (43.8 cm) (instrument)

PROVENANCE:
Thomas Glazebrook Rylands;
By descent;
Acquired from above.
PRIVATE WEST COAST COLLECTION

The instrument being the Large Best or No. 1 Stand. With two full boxes of many rarely seen accessories and bulls eye condenser, all in original cabinet. See Richard Beck, "The Achromatic Microscope", a virtual instruction manual on this instrument. Turner, p. 178-80. for examples of later models. This instrument was the personal property of Thomas Glazebrook Rylands, gentleman scientist extraordinary. The instrument was sold indirectly to the seller by a direct descendant of Rylands. A search of the original Smith & Beck records in Edinburgh, Scotland, found,"No.1538 was a large best sold to T.G.Rylands." The entry date is 26th July, 1858 and there is a cross-reference F371, possibly to a workshop book. Converted to a Wenham binocular after 1860.

A similar example can be viewed in Bracegirdle's book, p. 68.

Accompanying this lot is an extensive archive on the microscope's original owner, Thomas Glazebrook Rylands, including: Nine hand-drawn charts and illustrations in Ryland's hand including calibration measurements and a variety of botanical specimens; A Memoir of Thomas Glazebrook Rylands, by R.D. Radcliffe, 1901; photocopied newspaper articles and research; Bulletin of the John Rylands University of Manchester, Volume 71, Number 2, Summer 1989; research on the Smith company; photocopy of Observations on the Snows and Snow Crystals of the Winter 1854-1855 made at Warrington, Lancashire, Thomas Glazebrook Rylands, Liverpool, 1855; photocopy of An Enquiry into the Merits and Demerits of Tobacco Smoking, T. Glazebrook Rylands, 1843; Rylands family geneaology; John Rylands of Manchester, D.A. Farnie, University Library of Manchester,1993; Journal of the Microscopal Society of Southern California, Volume 3, No. 6, 1998 with biographical article on Rylands and the present lot.