Item 1 - Letters from J. W. L. Glaisher to W. W. Johnson

1 folder

The nine letters reflect the two men's shared interest in mathematics and their closer ties of friendship: the discussions of mathematical problems and recent work appear in letters with private nicknames: Brer B'ar and Wicked Will (Johnson) and Brer Crawfish and Bullfrog (Glaisher). Glaisher also shares his opinions on international copyright, the cost of books used by schools, his work editing papers, his preferred work pattern. He writes a good deal about Trinity College life and politics, noting with pleasure the number of Trinity men in the Cabinet, and provides an assessment of Prince Albert Victor at Trinity ("I only hate him when he picks his teeth"). In one 30 page letter dated 25 October 1888 he writes candidly about the internal politics surrounding the election of a Trinity representative to the University Council, and has much to say about certain members of the Trinity College Fellowship: H. M. Taylor, A. R. Forsyth, Arthur Cayley, Henry Jackson, James Ward, J. N. Langley, and the Master H. M. Butler. Accompanying the letters is a note dated 21 Feb. 1891 recording a divided vote on Tutorial accounts which appears to have been separated from an explanatory letter.