Title: Augustus De Morgan (1806–71), His Reading and His Library
Abstract:This chapter begins by discussing the formation and constitution of the famous mathematician De Morgan’s library. It then examines how he used his books and what we learn about his reading from variou...This chapter begins by discussing the formation and constitution of the famous mathematician De Morgan’s library. It then examines how he used his books and what we learn about his reading from various sources: his notes in his books; his published writings (especially his bibliography, Arithmetical Books from the Invention of Printing to the Present Time (1847), Budget of Paradoxes (1872) and articles in the Penny Cyclopaedia); and biographical knowledge. In so doing, it examines through De Morgan the relationship between the books he owned and the books he read, emphasising the importance of looking at various sources to establish a person’s reading. Finally, it explores the pitfalls of assuming that a collection is static, or that a personal collection equates to the one subsequently fossilised in an institution, arguing that, for De Morgan, neither assumption is true.Read More