The Life of William Nicholson, 1753-1815: A Memoir of Enlightenment, Commerce, Politics, Arts and Science

The Life of William Nicholson, 1753-1815: A Memoir of Enlightenment, Commerce, Politics, Arts and Science

by Frank James (Author), Frank James (Author), William Nicholson (Author), Sue Durrell (Editor)

Synopsis

A prominent member of a flourishing scientific and literary community, William Nicholson, author, patent agent and civil engineer, founded a widely-circulated journal (universally known as 'Nicholson's Journal'), which helped establish Humphry Davy's reputation. He was the first person to decompose water by electrolysis and was the inventor of cylindrical printing. Despite this, little has been written about his colourful life. This memoir, written by his son in 1868, now published for the first time, revisits London's rich cultural scene at the end of the eighteenth century, documenting Nicholson's overlooked part in this milieu of consilience and revolution. From inventions and significant contributions to science, to his work in literature and his friendships with the leading lights of the period, such as Sir Joseph Banks, Thomas Holcroft and William Godwin (he was invited to make a phrenological study of the infant Mary Shelley), William Nicholson's life reads as a microcosm of an Enlightenment making way for Romanticism. Bringing together Jacobin intrigue and a cast of familiar characters, it will please historians of the era and historians of science alike

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
Edition: None ed.
Publisher: Peter Owen Publishers
Published: 22 Feb 2018

ISBN 10: 0720619572
ISBN 13: 9780720619577

Media Reviews
`During the period when he lived he knew the world was chiefly alive to the progress of mind and political science . . . As a man of invention, of acquirement - of mingled theory and practice, Nicholson would have prospered in these days of mines, tunnels, railroad and steam engines.' - Mary Shelley
Author Bio
Sue Durrell writes extensively on marketing for the legal profession and has edited thousands of legal articles. She also writes occasionally on hiking and fly-fishing. Based in Staffordshire, she became interested in Nicholson via his connections with Josiah Wedgwood `the father of marketing' and his work as an early patent agent. Sue created the acclaimed website www.nicholsonsjournal.com and she is the author of a biography of William Nicholson due to be published in November 2018 FRANK JAMES is Professor of the History of Science at UCL and the Royal Institution where he is also Head of Collections.