Books

A volume from Peterson Field Guide written by Boughton Cobb and providing the definitive guide to the ferns of Northeastern and Central American ferns. 281 pages with many illustrations and diagrams.

This is Series 4, volume 2, no's 1-3 of the Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club edited by H. Dennis. Published just after the end of the Second World War as life was struggling to come back to normal, volume 2 had only three numbers dated April 1945, February 1946 and April 1947. Obviously, these show signs of their age but are all complete and intact. A collector's item.

Written by Rev. J G Wood in 1938, this really is an excellent book on microscopes and specimen preparation. The type of book that isn't published today. It contains many excellent colour and black and white illustrations. Cover in detail specimen preparation for botany, insects, pond and seawater life and the world around us in general. Hard backed with original dust cover. 184 pages with an index

This is a superb book, but it is a book for the serious microscopist with some science background. It is certainly not for the 'amateur'. That said, it is absolutely superbly written and covers every aspect of microscopy including dark ground, phase, DIC, polarising, fluorescence, confocal and digital. Written by Murphy and Davidson and published by Wiley-Blackwell. A substantial book, hard backed, 538 pages with an index, glossary and a resource list

An excellent book on the topic from an age when British microscope manufacturers commissioned books to support their products. Polarising microscopy has not changed much over the years and this book published by Cooke Troughton and Simms remains current. Written for them by A F Hallimond it conjoins microscopy and mathematics. It even has SIN tables in the appendix - remember them? Hard backed with 219 pages and an index

This is a book for the serious microscope user. It deals in detail with the process and the theory and practice of microscope lens production. If you have ever wondered how, it was done this is the book for you. Written by Rudolf Kingslake and published by Academic Press it is hard backed with 374 pages and an index

When it comes to the evolution of the microscope together with its history there are few more prolific authors that S. Bradbury - his name assures quality of material. This book of his follows the evolution of the microscope from its first days to the development of electron microscopy. If microscopes are your thing this is the book for you. Hard backed with 353 pages and a name and subject index. Recommended.

This is a complete Series 4, volume V, no's 1-16 of the Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club edited by H. A. Dade. Published during the period after the Second World War when life had returned to some sort of normality. The numbers date from 1958 through to 1961. Obviously, these show signs of their age at the edges but are all complete and intact.

If making microscope slides is your thing, then this is a must have book. The skills and knowledge that makes this possible just isn't in microscopy books today. This volume as you can see has been well used probably in a laboratory situation, but the information between its covers is priceless. All aspects of slide preparation are covered in detail with recipes and practical tips in abundance. Hard backed with 330 pages and an index. Recommended

This is one of the classic microscopy books that has been out of print for too long. It deals with the microscope as an instrument with its structure and application explained in detail - you won't get this from the Internet at least not all in the one place. 220 pages with and index.

This is a very good book for the microscopist who needs to know how a microscope works and how to prepare slides for it. The book details not only the many types of microscopes that there are but also explicit step-by-step procedures on how best to use them and prepare specimens. Hard backed with 491 pages and an index. A book that we highly recommend.

There is quite a large number of microscopists who collect the instruments themselves, and this is a book that would be essential reading for all microscope collectors. Written by Gerard L'E Turner it covers the Christies Collectors Series. Hard backed with many superb colour photographs. It was first published in 1981 and has a list of values of microscopes from that date. It is quite straight forward to adjust these values based on the decades. Recommended.

Written by F Shillington Scales in 1926, this book follows the classic pattern of the time. The first section deals with how to use a microscope and taking photographs with it, and the second section deals with the full range of specimen preparation. The interesting thing is that a book that is now a century old is still very relevant for two reasons. Firstly, the laws of optical physics have not really changed during that period and neither have the principles of specimen preparation - visit any histology laboratory in any hospital path lab and the core of the specimen preparation remains the same. Hard backed with good illustrations, 326 pages with index

Tardigrades are probably amongst the most ugly - yet interesting creatures that you will see with a microscope. Written by Morgan and King. This book shows in excellent detail the parts of these amazing creatures. 112 pages with many drawings.

How many houses in this country are not shared with numbers of these little creatures that have acquired so many 'pet' names. In my household they were called 'Billy Bakers' - I have no idea why and maybe your names are more relevant. Either way if you want to know about the microscopic structure of these little creatures this is the book for you. 144 pages with an index.

This book is part of the RMS handbook series and is written by two authors well known to microscopy - Bradbury and Bracegirdle. It covers the basic concepts of compound and stereomicroscopes and the different illumination systems. It is very much a step-by-step publication and is recommended. Pages 123 with an index

John Benjamin Dancer was an optician who lived most of his like in Manchester. He was the inventor of microphotography. The Dancer microscopic photographs averaged 1/8" inch in diameter and were produced as a scientific novelty to be viewed through a microscope. This excellently presented book brings together for the first time a nearly complete representation of the Dancer 1873 collection with biographical information on each microscopic photograph. Written by Brian Bracegirdle and James McCormick. Hard backed with 280 pages and a hard backed sleeve. Condition excellent

This is a pair of books that will appeal to the microscopists who are into Diatoms.
Number 1. Is the Illustrated Guide to the Diatoms of Costal Plankton and
Number 2. Is the Identification of Common Benthiic diatoms in rivers

This is an excellent book published by Vickers Instruments from a time when British microscope manufacturers published support literature for their equipment. Written by A F Hallimond this excellent book is very up to date on this topic. It is a third edition dating from 1970 and is hard backed with the original dust cover. 302 pages with an index. If polarising microscopy is your thing this is the best book you will find.

One of the aspects of microscopy that we get asked about almost on a daily basis is the taking of photographs through a microscope. This book answers all the things that we say in response. Written by the pair of microscopy authors - Bracegirdle and Bradbury the subject is dealt with in detail and paying particular attention to illumination which is key to good results. 94 pages with an index. Recommended.

Another example of microscope manufacturers publishing support material for their instruments. This one was published by Cooke Troughton and Simms and concentrates on all types of microscopes and what the various parts do. If microscopes are your interest this book is ideal Hard backed with 210 pages with an index

Written by Gerard L'E Turner (a prolific microscopy book writer) this is a complete history of the Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) over 150 years. Hard backed with 166 pages and some excellent photographs down the ages. Excellent condition.

Published by the Freshwater Biological Association, this is a book for the diatom specialist. Written by Barber and Haworth this examines in detail the differences in diatom frustules which is one of the major identification elements of the type of diatom. Many excellent drawings showing the finer points. 112 pages

This is without doubt the definitive book about diatoms within British water. Arranged by B. Hartley and based on illustrations of the late Horace Barber and J C Carter. Horace Barber was the driving force behind producing an atlas of all the diatoms found in the British Isles - he was also an accomplished artist. This is 'the' book for diatom microscopy. Hard backed with 601 pages and a full classification. Still in current publication.

Written by Hall and Linssen, this is a book for the beginner microscopist. It concentrates on the high power microscope and how to prepare common objects for microscope slides. A valuable book if information for starting microscopy is what you need. Hard backed with its original dust cover it has 79 pages with a list of UK microscope manufacturers sadly none of these servive today.

This is one of the RMS series of microscopy books. Written by Greaves and Saville, it deals with the identification and measurement of fibres for polarising light microscopy and also scanning and transmitted electron microscopy and also confocal light microscopy. 92 pages with an index. Still available by special printing at £45.

Another excellent RMS publication. Combines the key aspects of theoretical and practical fluorescence microscopy and includes all the latest techniques and applications. The book describes the principles involved in fluorescence microscopy, the equipment required and the technology involved. Still a current publication costing £40. Condition excellent.

A set of four books all relating to freshwater organisms.
1. An Illustrated Guide to River Phytoplankton. 64 pages many illustrations
2. Freshwater Protozoa. 78 pages many illustrations
3. A Beginners Guide to Freshwater Algae. 47 pages illustrated.
4. Key to British and European Freshwater Bryozoans. 27 pages and illustrated

A very specialised RMS microscopy handbook series 19. If the microscopy of crystals is your interest this is the book for you. However, it is not really for those with a passing interest in crystals. This book is where geometry meets microscopy. 122 pages with an index. Condition very good.

This book deals with how to make three dimensional measurements in microscopy. Written by C V Howard and M G Reed and is part of the RMS series. What is impressive is that the authors deal with this in a practical way that is easy to understand and they avoid complex mathematical formulae. They cover number estimates, length and particle sizes etc. 246 pages with an index. Condition very good.

This is an excellent book written by Roger Blackman. It contains everything you need to know about aphids including how to identify them and culture them. There are over 500 different species of aphids in the British Isles (most are on my broad beans!). Hard backed with 168 pages and in very good condition

One of the classics. Contrast in an image is essential to distinguish features from one another. This book covers them all bright and dark field contrast, Rheinberg illumination, dispersion staining, polarised light, phase and modulation contrast, DIC and fluorescence. Written by Bradbury and Evennett it has a wealth of knowledge. Condition excellent.