Hi folks--
Just in case anyone else is geeky enough to find it interesting: Google Books has a scanned copy of John Farley's "General view of the agriculture and minerals of Derbyshire; with observations on the means of their improvement" published by McMillan in 1811, available free via the Open Library:
[archive.org]
The author was a mineral surveyor for the government and spent about two years in Derbyshire to survey, well, just about everything. It's heavy on the geology but includes more general information on methods of coal mining, lead and arsenic processing as well as all sorts of other sociological tidbits such as how the landowners (though themselves proper Anglicans) weren't averse to Methodists proselytizing among their laborers because there tended to be a decline in drunkenness, etc. Also, pages 95 to 105 summarize the climate of various parts of Derbyshire, including 50 years of rainfall measurements from Chatsworth (p. 99)-- who knew the Duke of Devonshire was a climatologist before his time!
I dare you to take one look at it and tell me you don't instantly imagine Darcy curled up with a copy in front of the fire on a cold winter's night... ;)
Best,
-Jean
Just in case anyone else is geeky enough to find it interesting: Google Books has a scanned copy of John Farley's "General view of the agriculture and minerals of Derbyshire; with observations on the means of their improvement" published by McMillan in 1811, available free via the Open Library:
[archive.org]
The author was a mineral surveyor for the government and spent about two years in Derbyshire to survey, well, just about everything. It's heavy on the geology but includes more general information on methods of coal mining, lead and arsenic processing as well as all sorts of other sociological tidbits such as how the landowners (though themselves proper Anglicans) weren't averse to Methodists proselytizing among their laborers because there tended to be a decline in drunkenness, etc. Also, pages 95 to 105 summarize the climate of various parts of Derbyshire, including 50 years of rainfall measurements from Chatsworth (p. 99)-- who knew the Duke of Devonshire was a climatologist before his time!
I dare you to take one look at it and tell me you don't instantly imagine Darcy curled up with a copy in front of the fire on a cold winter's night... ;)
Best,
-Jean