Books

The Royal Microscopical Society has published a range of microscopy books and these tend to drop in and out of availability. This book is number 1 in the series and is not currently available. It is an excellent book that describes the microscope and its various parts. There is an excellent section on how to put things right that have gone wrong and a really good glossary of terms. Written by Savile Bradbury it has 86 pages and an index.

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.

As the title suggests this is a book that is concerned with the photography of scientific specimens under low power magnification. Without doubt this is the challenging end of magnification and photography. Written by Bracegirdle the content is clear and precise. RMS series number 31. It deals with both transmitted and incident illumination. 105 pages with an index

This is the book needed to take the next steps in obtaining better detail in microscopy imaging. Written by the notable authors Bradbury and Evernett the book covers all aspects of the technology needed for phase contrast, DIC etc. A well written book full of practical information and currently no longer in print.

This is an excellent book compiled by the Nomenclature Committee of the Royal Microscopy Society. The clue is in the name - a wealth of information. RMS series number 15. 138 pages with an index.

A book for those with a keen interest in microscopy. Written by Robinson and Bradbury - who both know what they are talking about! This is part of the RMS series of publications - number 09. It deals with the somewhat complex area of polarisation microscopy is a very sensible way - including DIC. 120 pages with an index. Condition excellent.

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.

This is an excellent book detailing the fundamentals and laws of light physics behind the various types of microscopy including polarisation, phase contrast, DIC, modulation contrast, confocal and fluorescence. It is definitely not for the beginner or those wanting to know how to make slide preparations, But if you want to know why and how these different types of microscopy work then its for you. It has many diagrams and illustrations and the odd mathematical formula. Hard backed with 368 pages and an index.

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 Graham Kingham and published by Northern Bee Books - this does exactly 'what it says on the tin'. The structure and anatomy of the honeybee is covered in full with many excellent illustrations both macroscopic and microscopic. Soft backed with 184 pages and a glossary. Good condition particularly valuable to beekeepers studying for their British Beekeepers Association Module…

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

An in depth account of all aspects of microscopy to a very high level. Certainly not suited to the relative beginner to microscopy. However if the physics of light formation and its relevancy to microscope images could add to your existing knowledge then this would be a very valuable book.
Hard backed with 288 pages and an index.

Produced by Kodak who obviously had an interest in this subject and written by John Delly. As would be expected the images are excellent. Although this book covers the subject from the perspective of traditional film the information and practical advice is just as relevant in today's digital world. A very practical book covering what is seen by many as one of the problem areas in microscopy. Paper backed with 96 pages and an index. Good condition

Written by Ted Benton this book covers the life cycle and habitat of the solitary bees found in the British Isles. It has an extensive glossary with a detailed key to the identification of all the genera of bees found. Soft backed with 202 pages and an index. Naturalists Handbook series number 33

This is a book that is so complete about its subject matter and so large that it is difficult to understand how the authors managed to pull it together in their life time! Written by Hickman and Roberts it literally covers all of Zoology and the complex relationships therein. A monster of a book - hard backed with 1065 pages with glossary and index.

This book was written by Brian J Ford who is an authority on microscope publications designed to make the understanding of microscopy easily understood. He is now a 'senior' citizen of the microscopy world having been born in Wiltshire in 1939. Like all of his books this is very revealing and takes us through the journey of what microscopes have been able to tell us over time. Hard backed with its original dust cover it has 208 pages with an index and many photographs

The name of the book tells you everything. Whatever you need to know about natural history its in here. Written by Lincoln and Boxshall it is difficult to imagine how on earth they gathered together all this information. That apart, there are over 10 thousand entries with many having illustrations. A soft backed volume with 413 pages. Worth every penny!

This is definitely a book for the relative beginner. Written by Krauter. It has a section that is really a refresher about the use of the microscope. However, the main part of the book deals with the process of making slide preparations from basic substances, such as foodstuffs (tea, coffee and tobacco), wood, textiles and paper and experiments with blood, bacteria and moulds. Soft backed with 223 pages with an index and many illustrations.

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.

The name 'Drone' has unfortunate connotations with laziness which means that the poor old honeybee drone receives far less attention than their sister honeybee workers who effectively work themselves to death for the sake of the hive. This fine book written by Graham Kingham to a degree redresses the balance. It covers the life cycle, anatomy and detailed dissection of the drone with many excellent illustrations and photographs.

This book would be the 'Bible' for anyone that is seriously into slide preparation. It is the equivalent of Mrs Beetons Cookbook in microscopy slide making. There is probably no methodology that is not here. Full recipes with the detail of how to prepare the solutions and how to use them. For those wanting to go even further there is a section on Histochemistry which is really Chemistry on a microscope slide. Not really for the beginner, but a must for those who are serious about slide preparation.

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

To be fair there are few to whom this book would be relevant, but for those few it would be invaluable. From the RMS handbook series it is number 25. Written by Richards and Footner, it does exactly that by showing how microscopes can assist with identifying component failure in microelectronics. 108 pages with an index.

RMS handbook series number 23. Written by Savile Bradbury, it addresses one of the constant issues that we get telephone calls about - how do I measure how big something is under a microscope? This book not only explains linear measurement but also the measurement of angles and depth. Extremely well written. 97 pages with an index