Rare book on display in the library

The rare book on display from our collection is: The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, during the years 1832 to 1836. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin, naturalist to the expedition. Part III. Birds, described by John Gould, with a notice of their habits and ranges, by Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co.; 1841.Balfour Library shelfmark: qKZ.8 (7)

The book is open at: Plate 7: Pyrocephalus nanus, a Tyrant Flycatcher. The pair of flycatchers perch on a branch: the bright scarlet male reaches for a spider that hangs from its thread while the pale brown female looks on. The beauty and quality of Gould’s hand-coloured plate is evident here. This species lives in the Galapagos Archipelago (except San Cristóbal).

John Gould (1804-1881) was an English ornithologist and publisher. Gould did not paint the final illustrations in this or subsequent works himself, but he collected the specimens, classified them, made rough drawings, wrote the text and designed and arranged the birds naturally on the plates, which was his distinctive genius.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) returned from his voyage on HMS Beagle in the autumn of 1836. Darwin selected several scientists to describe his collected specimens, and Gould was presented with the birds. In January 1837 Gould pronounced a group of twelve birds from the Galápagos Islands, which Darwin thought to be ‘blackbirds, warblers, wrens and finches’, as all one family of finches, with variations in their beaks and size. This was the crucial piece of evidence that enabled Darwin to come to his theory of island speciation. Gould contributed to this ‘bird’ volume of Darwin’s Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle.

Sources: John Gould (1804-1881):doi:10.109/ref:odnb/11154, IBC: The Internet Bird Collection http://ibc.lynxeds.com/

IRIS SURVEY - iPod & Borders vouchers to be won!

How do you search for books, journal articles or other information for your course? What information is important to you? How do you know where to find it?

If you're a student at Cambridge University, we'd love to hear your views. Click below to take part in the IRIS Survey and for your chance to win an iPod Nano or one of two £25 Borders vouchers.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=uT9TQN6x1q1It30ZjANzqQ_3d_3d

The IRIS survey can be submitted anonymously and takes 2-5 minutes to complete. Closing date: Friday 6th March.

IRIS is a research project which forms part of the Arcadia Fellowship Programme. IRIS seeks to map the information skills and needs of students at Cambridge University in the digital age. We hope that this information will be useful in planning future services and facilities for students. If you'd like to find out more about the project please visit the IRIS website at:

http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/iris/

See also the IRIS Blog http://www.cambridgeiris.blogspot.com/

Contact: Lizz Edwards-Waller, Arcadia Office, University Library

ew257@cam.ac.uk / Tel: 01223 (7)68876

New library books and theses acquisitions

Books:

A geologic time scale 2004, edited by Felix M. Gradstein, James G. Ogg, and Alan G. Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2004. Balfour Library shelfmark: GJ (37)

Handbook of the birds of the world, volume13: penduline-tits to shrikes, edited by Josep del Hoyo, Andrew Elliott, David Christie. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions; 2008. Balfour Library shelfmark: qK (61)

Measuring behaviour: an introductory guide, 3rd ed., by Paul Martin, Patrick Bateson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2007. Balfour Library shelfmark: GFU (204ciii) (Overnight Loan shelves)

Theses:

Development and patterning of motorneuron dendrites in the Drosophila embryo, by Alex Mauss. Cambridge; 2009. Thesis (456)

Ebooks evaluation survey - win £200 worth of Amazon vouchers

JISC NATIONAL E-BOOKS OBSERVATORY EVALUATION

As a student, you will be aware of the problems that university libraries sometimes have in making sure that there are enough copies of popular course texts to go around, especially at times of peak demand.

One of the key aims of our project, which is funded by a major government agency, JISC, is to explore whether electronic course texts might offer a solution to these bottlenecks. In other words, whether offering you access to selected textbooks from your library website as electronic documents, might be a way forward?

You can help us by letting us know what you think about e-books by joining our survey. It should take no longer than 10-12 minutes to complete (much less if you don't already use e-books - but we would still LOVE to hear from you).

You can enter the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=svBYxG5fk_2bMEYLaq9at5zQ_3d_3d

If you leave your university email at the end of the survey, you will be entered into our prize draw for £200 worth of Amazon vouchers.

You are under no obligation whatsoever to take part in this survey. Any information you give us will be held securely and we will under no circumstances reveal any findings other than at a highly aggregated level. We are collecting the data through a third-party, Survey Monkey, and you can check their privacy policy here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/Monkey_Privacy.aspx

If you have any problems or questions, please contact me at i.rowlands@ucl.ac.uk

Dr Ian Rowlands

Balfour Library copy of 'On the origin of species' on Countryfile

The Balfour & Newton Libraries' first edition copy of Charles Darwin's 'On the origin of species' will feature in the next episode of Countryfile, to be shown on Sunday 8th February, at 11.00am, on BBC1.

Filming has taken place in the University Museum of Zoology Cambridge for BBC1's Countryfile programme next Sunday. John Craven spent three days filming in the University of Cambridge and in the city for this episode to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.

The Museum's exhibition Darwin: Beetles, Finches, Barnacles features the Balfour & Newton Libraries' first edition copy of Darwin's book, 'On the origin of species'. This copy was originally owned by one of the founders of the libraries, Professor Alfred Newton. Newton was the first Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in the University of Cambridge, and was a contemporary and correspondent of Darwin. Newton apparently acquired his copy of the book, as he annotated on page i, just a few weeks after it was published in November 1859. Only 1250 copies of the first edition were ever published so this copy is quite rare and precious.

John Craven was filmed next to this exhibition handling the book. The Librarian was on hand to advise on this and enjoyed watching the whole filming process.

This copy of the book has been scanned by the The 'Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online' project, see http://darwin-online.org.uk/ and click on 'Origin of species', '1st ed.'

Professor Alfred Newton bequeathed his collections of books of outstanding historical importance, especially for ornithology, to the Department of Zoology in 1907. More information on the Balfour & Newton Libraries' Special Collections can be found at http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/index.html