Scientist of the Day - Mary Ward
Detail showing a geranium petal, hand-colored lithograph, Sketches with the Microscope: In a Letter to a Friend, by Mary Ward, plate 13, p. 44, 1857 (Linda Hall Library)
Mary Ward, an Irish microscopist, popular science writer, and illustrator, was born Apr. 27, 1827, at the family estate, Castle Ward, County Down. When she was 18, her father bought her a microscope, built by Andrew Ross of London. It was probably the finest microscope in all of Ireland, and it came with a variety of eyepieces and objective lenses. Mary used it to explore the world of insect eyes and fish scales, a microcosm that she faithfully recorded in her own drawings. She described all she saw in a letter to her friend Emily, illustrated with 14 lithographs that she herself drew on stone. Trade editions of this book appeared with regularity from 1858 on. We described a third edition in our collections in a post on Ward, published on Aug. 21, 2021.
Title page, Sketches with the Microscope: In a Letter to a Friend, by Mary Ward, 1857 (Linda Hall Library)
Ward's book, however, had first appeared in a private printing in 1857, with the title: Sketches with the Microscope. It was printed in Parsonstown, the home of her older cousin, William Parsons, the third Earl of Rose, who in 1844 had unveiled the largest telescope in the world, the 72-inch reflector known as the "Leviathan of Parsonstown.”
Microscope (made by Andew Ross), with wings of moths, hand-colored lithograph, frontispiece to Sketches with the Microscope: In a Letter to a Friend, by Mary Ward, plate 3, 1857 (Linda Hall Library)
Our rare book librarian, Jason Dean, managed to acquire a copy of this rare first edition last year, which necessitates a follow-up post, since this copy is so much nicer than any of the commercial editions that were printed later.
Detail showing the structure of a feather, hand-colored lithograph, Sketches with the Microscope: In a Letter to a Friend, by Mary Ward, plate 10, p. 26, 1857 (Linda Hall Library)
Jason wrote a fine article on the new acquisition for the "News" section of the library webpage, with many illustrations, which you can read here, and I will try not to trespass too much on its domain, and show you different illustrations in this post.
Eyes of insects, hand-colored lithograph, Sketches with the Microscope: In a Letter to a Friend, by Mary Ward, plate 12, p. 36, 1857 (Linda Hall Library)
One thing I noticed immediately about the first edition is how much brighter the illustrations are, perhaps a result of its being limited to 250 copies. I also noticed that the first-edition illustrations had lithographed captions, whereas in the later editions these were typeset.
View of her room through the compound eye of a dragonfly, detail of hand-colored lithograph, Sketches with the Microscope: In a Letter to a Friend, by Mary Ward, plate 12, p. 36, 1857 (Linda Hall Library)
I reproduce here some of the hand-colored lithographs (there are 14 plates in all), mostly details, so that you can appreciate the exquisite nature of Mrs. Ward’s drawings. One of the figures on the insect-eyes plate shows a view of Mary Ward's room through a dragonfly eye, which I thought was both witty and charming (fifth and sixth images).
Detail showing scales of moth wings, hand-colored lithograph, Sketches with the Microscope: In a Letter to a Friend, by Mary Ward, plate 4, p. 14, 1857 (Linda Hall Library)
Jason Dean showed the last Ward plate in his article, with a detail of the bottom left, identifying the printer of the lithographs. I include here a detail of bottom right (eighth image), where the artist is identified as "M. W." – one of only two places in the book where Mrs. Ward's initials appear; the other is on the final page of text (ninth image). Her full name is conspicuously lacking, even from the title page (second image).
Detail of signature of artist, “M.W.”, on final plate, Sketches with the Microscope: In a Letter to a Friend, by Mary Ward, plate 14, p. 49, 1857 (Linda Hall Library)
I chanced to look for Castle Ward on the National Trust website, where I saw a note that some 12,000 objects in the castle had been digitized. I searched for "microscope", and there it was, the Andrew Ross instrument that Mary Ward used for her Sketches (last image), still preserved at the castle. It looks just like her drawing on the frontispiece.
Last page of text, signed by “M.W.”, Sketches with the Microscope: In a Letter to a Friend, by Mary Ward, p. 44, 1857 (Linda Hall Library)
Mary went on to write other popular books on science, including a well-illustrated book on the astronomical telescope in 1859 that we will profile someday. Her science writing went on until 1869, when, as we discussed in our first post, she was killed in an automotive mishap while visiting the Earl of Rosse at Parsonstown. She was 42 years old at the time of her death. I have been unable to find the location of her grave.
Mary Ward’s microscope, built by Andrew Ross of London, with carrying box and extra eyepieces, now at Castle Ward, County Down, Ireland, National Trust (photo by Alessando Nasini, National Trust)
There is only one known portrait of the “Hon. Mrs. Ward”, as she was called on the later editions of her books. I showed that portrait in our first post, and as it is typically severe and Victorian, I do not show it again here. Her microscope drawings are a much better representation of her lively, inquisitive spirit.
William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor emeritus, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.
