London 29-7-2015

After correcting my computer date/time I am now "ahead" by a day. I also cleaned up some drafts that were still in the system, either deleted or published, so the chronology of my Blog may be off.

London - NHM

Little sleep and an early breakfast. House-keeping with my emails and Blog.

Made my way to NHM by Bus and walking. Arrived just before 10 am, so used the staff/visitors entrance. It took a bit to navigate through the building to the Library but got there by the 10 o’clock start time.  Three boxes of Bauer’s zoology drawings were available, up to drawing 36 (see Mabberley and Moore 1999), I received/purchased a photocopy (cost $7) of this guide to the collection and its current catalogue numbers. I took photographs of selected drawings, mainly terrestrial animals this time. [It is a joy to work with the NHM staff.]

I spent time searching for information on the method used by Bauer; specifically the missing “Colour chart” he used. I located and downloaded a copy of an article by Erika Pignatti-Wikus, Christa Riedl-Dorn, and David J. Mabberley (2000) that has an appendix giving a basic description of a reconstruction of the chart. I will check for any later published work on this chart but it does give me scope for building a partial “Chart” from the marine specimens where I have parallel drawings (with annotated “chart” numbers) and the finished colour paintings. Unlike the description in the article, these are nearly one-for-one transpositions so a number versus representative swathe of colour should be possible.

Excellent find, but the article/appendix was not mentioned when I was in Vienna visiting their archive in 2011. Prof Riedl-Dorn mentioned that they were working a reconstruction of the chart so there may be a later article.

I finished just after lunch time at around 2.30 and headed back to Penbridge Hall (Notting Hill Gate). I needed to check my Qantas cash-card worked given it was “loaded” at a better exchange rate than currently available. The Sky News gives the current rate as 1A$ is worth 0.46 pounds or you need roughly A$2 to buy 1 pound. Not going well although the Euro exchange rate is slightly better. I checked with the RBS bank and used their ATM to successfully withdraw 10 pounds. I also loaded 5 pounds onto my Oyster transport card.

Bought another days food at TESCOS and headed back to Pembridge Hall. I had a combined lunch and dinner at 5.30-6.0 pm then sorted my photos and watched TV news until 9.00 pm when I crashed.