CLARKE, Edward Daniel.
(1769 – 1822)
Clarke was Senior Tutor of Jesus College, Cambridge. Beginning in the 1790's and lasting until near his death, he traveled extensively. Between 1799 and 1802, these tours included a long ranging excursion throughout Asia and Asia Minor. In 1808, he was appointed the first professor of mineralogy at Cambridge University. He also accepted a posts as Vicar of Harleton in 1805 and Rector of Yeldham in 1809, both of which he retained until his death. He built up a substantial mineral collection of worldwide localities, which was purchased after his death by Cambridge University in 1823 for £1,500. Clarke's Travels in Various Parts of Europe, Asia and Africa (6 vols., London, 1810-20) was a work said to be reliable in its descriptions and popular within English society.
Biographical references: Barr, Index to Biographical Fragments, 1973: 50. • BBA: I 234, 337-371; II 1387, 47-55. • Cleevely, World Palæontological Collections, 1983: 83. • DNB: 4, 421. • Drugulin, Sechstausend Portraits, 1863: no. 966. • DSB: 3, 290-2 [by D. McKie]. • Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition. • Poggendorff: 1, cols. 450-1. • Sarjeant, Geologists, 1980: 2, 732-3 & Suppl. 2 (1996), 1, 511. • Waller, Dictionary of Universal Biography, 1857-63. • Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica, 1824. • WBI. • Wilson, History of Mineral Collecting, 1994: 47, 86 & 165. • World Who's Who in Science: 341.
1. English, 1807.
A | Syllabus | Of | Lectures In Mineralogy | By | Edward Daniel Clarke, LL.D. | [double rule] | Cambridge | Printed By R. Watts At The University Press. | [tapered rule] | 1807.
8°: π6 B-Q4 R6; 65l.; [2], [i]-ii, [1]-126 p., 5 leaves printed recto side only. Page size: 245 x 150 mm.
Contents: [2 pgs], Title page, verso blank.; [i]-ii, "To The | University Of Cambridge."-signed E.D. Clarke, 12 August 1807.; [1], "Logic Of The Distribution."; [2], "And God said, Let the Waters under the | ..."; [3]-126, Text.; [1 leaf], "Synopsis, | Exhibiting | The Classification Of Minerals | According To | The Author's Methodical Distribution."; [4 leaves], Tables, printed on recto only.
Rare. This book contains an outline of Clarke's mineralogical lectures as delivered at Cambridge University in the early part of the nineteenth century. The author follows the Linnaean natural history model in his classification, by placing minerals into a Class, Order, Genus, Species, Variety schematic. This text would have been used by students attending the lectures and consequently many copies were probably badly damaged or destroyed by their owners.
Other editions, 2nd edition, 1818: A Syllabus of Lectures in Mineralogy, containing a methodical distribution of minerals. (Second edition.). London, T. Cadell & W. Davies, 1818. 8°: 103 p. [BL, 433.b.19.]
3rd edition, 1820: A Syllabus of Lectures in Mineralogy, containing a methodical distribution of minerals. London, T. Cadell & W. Davies, 1820. 8°: 111 p. [BL, B.374.(11.).]
Bibliographical references: NUC.
2. English, 1819.
The | Gas Blow-Pipe, | or | Art Of Fusion | By | Burning The Gaseous Constituents | Of Water: | Giving | The History Of The Philosophical Apparatus | So Denominated; | The Proofs Of Analogy In Its Operations To The | Nature Of Volcanoes; | Together With | An Appendix, | Containing An Account Of | Experiments With This Blow-Pipe. | [double rule] | By Edward Daniel Clarke, LL.D. | [...3 lines of titles and memberships...] | [double rule] | Suum Cuique. | [double rule] | London: | Printed For T. Cadell And W. Davies, | By R. Watts, Crown Court, Temple Bar. | [short rule] | 1819.
8°: π4 B-G8 H7; 59l.; [4], [i]-iii, [1], [1]-109, [1] p., frontispiece (showing a gas-blowpipe in operation). Page size: 212 x 132 mm.
Contents: [Frontispiece].; [2 pgs], Title page, verso blank.; [1 pg], "Explanation Of The Frontispiece."; [1 pg], Blank.; [i]-iii, "Preface."-dated 19 January 1819.; [1 pg], Blank.; [1]-103, Text.; [104], Blank.; [105]-109, "Index | To | The Experiments."; [[1 pg], "By the same Author: | Printed for T. Cadell And W. Davies, Strand: | ..."
Plates: Frontispiece: "Apparatus for using the Gas blowpipe, and for securing the safety of the Opeator." Signed: R.B. Harraden del. J Schury sculp. A descriptive commentary of this plate is included in the text.
Scarce. This work describes in detail Clarke's version of the hydrogen-oxygen blow-pipe. The author provides a short history of the problem, a review of his new apparatus design, and descriptions of a large number of experiments that were completed before the extremely high temperature of the blow-pipe. Included in the discussion are Clarke's successful experiments in reducing apparently non-metallic mineral substances to their metallic state. These include the reduction of lime, Iceland Spar, Aragonite, common chalk, and limestone from various world locations, to elemental Calcium, various Apatite specimens to Phosphorus, aluminum containing minerals to elemental Aluminum, etc. In another part, Clarke describes the unsuccessful experiments in reduction. Included are Barite, strontium earth, Cerite, Columbite, Chromite, Titanite, Scheelite, meteoritic stones, etc. As can be judged, this work was important step in high temperature analysis of mineral substances.
Bibliographical references: Bolton, Bibliography of Chemistry, 1893: 368. • Cole, Chemical Literature, 1988: no. 279. • NUC [NC 0460548]. • Oldroyd, D.R., "Edward Daniel Clarke, 1769-1822, and his rôle in the history of the blow-pipe", Annals of Science, 29, (1972), 213-35 [critical comments]. • Partington, History of Chemistry, 1961-70: 3, 725.
3. English, 1812 [American issue].
Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. Part the First: Russia, Tartary, And Turkey. By Edward Daniel Clarke. Philadelphia, Published by Anthony Finley; Printed at the Lorenzo Press of E. Bronson, 1812.
8°: 612 p., 2 maps (one folding).
Very scarce. An important early account of Clarke's journey through Russia, with stays in Moscow and St. Petersburg before traveling to the Crimea, the land of the Don Coassacks, Tartary, Circassia and Turkey. Throughout his life, he travelled widely throughout Europe and Asia, collecting sculpture and manuscripts as well as the geological specimens that were his academic study. This book was later reprinted several times, and its text was included in the comprehensive four volumes of travels Clarke eventually published.
Contents include: Tables of Russian Measure; Petersburgh; journey from Petersburgh to Moscow; Novogorod; Moscow; journey from Moscow to Woronetz; to the territory of the Don Cossacks; capital of the Don Cossacks; voyage down the Don, to Azaf and Taganrock; European and Asiatick shores of the Sea of Azuf; journey through Kuban Tartary to the Frontier of Circassia; journey along the frontier of Circassia to the Cimmerian Bosporus; from the Cimmerian Bosporus to Cassa; fro Caffa to the Capital of the Crimea; to the Heracleotick Chersonesus; along the south coast of the Crimea; from the Crimea, by the Isthmus of Perecop, to Nicholaef; to Odessa; voyage to the Harbour of Ineada in Turkey; from the harbour of Ineada, in the Black Sea, to Constantinople; etc.
Bibliographical references: NUC. • Shaw & Shoemaker, American Bibliography, 1958-83: no. 22541.
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