Catalogue of a Collection of Minerals and Geological Specimens.

Bookseller Notes

Listed are 442 items in various categories, usually with a note of the origin of the sample - mainly the British Isles, but also from all over the world - with the occasional note about a particular sample. We are slightly vague about the number since some are fragments only (perhaps broken off). Some 43 are loose, and 13 in tiny sample bottles (there are also 4 empty bottles and 3 loose corks). This is an early example of a Tennant Catalogue.James Tennant (18081881) was 'in October 1824 apprenticed as shop assistant to John Mawe, mineral dealer, of 149 Strand, London. Mawe had been a great traveller and his shop was a resort for men of science from all over the world. Here Tennant gained his acquaintance with minerals. Mawe also sold turned ornamental marbles worked in Derbyshire, business which Tennant continued after Mawe's death.Tennant attended lectures at his mechanics' institute and, later, those given by Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution. Faraday was a Mawe customer; he bought minerals there for use in his experiments. When Mawe died in 1829 his widow, Sarah, maintained the business, with Tennant now as resident manager. In 1838 Tennant was elected a fellow of the Geological Society, and was appointed to assist John Phillips (18001874) as lecturer in geological mineralogy at King's College, London, on Faraday's recommendation. 'His class here [became] the largest in the kingdom' (ILN, 12 March 1881). Sarah Mawe had been created mineralogist to Queen Victoria on her accession. In February 1840 Tennant purchased the Mawe business and, on 15 October 1840, he inherited this title. The business lay only three doors from Somerset House, home of the Geological Society of London from 1828 to 1860, which helped to extend his circle of customers. By 1844 Tennant's shop was already"'too well known to require comment" (G. A. Mantell, Medals of Creation, 2.987)' (ODNB).According to the Mineralogical Record, 'although the range of material he offered was notable, he was not an important supplier of individual specimen minerals'. Boxed educational sets comprise most of the known Tennant minerals today, the more expensive ones containing excellent specimens. Individually labeled Tennant minerals are very rare, as are Tennant labels in general.A list of the labeled minerals is available on request.