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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Letter, from Sir John Herschel to Richard Sheepshanks, dated at Slough

Reference number: HS/16/8

Date: 14 July 1839

Description

Autograph letter signed by sender. On the difficulties of writing his book [Cape Results]. Feels he has been at everyone's disposal but his own and is finding notes made at the Cape difficult to decipher. Asks Richard Sheepshanks to report to him from Germany on the state of telescope manufacturing there and on the progress of F. G. W. Struve's great refractor.

Reference number
HS/16/8
Earliest possible date
14 July 1839
Page extent
3 pages
Format
Manuscript
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Creator name

John Frederick William Herschel

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Citation

John Frederick William Herschel, Letter, from Sir John Herschel to Richard Sheepshanks, dated at Slough, 14 July 1839, HS/16/8, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/hs_16_8/letter-from-sir-john-herschel-to-richard-sheepshanks-dated-at-slough, accessed on 20 August 2026

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  • Herschel Letters

    This collection of nearly 10,900 letters, drafts, copies and notes is the largest repository of scientific correspondence from and to Sir John Herschel, leading figure of Victorian science.

    Dates: 1807 - 1875

    View collection