Collected Poems

London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1925. Very Good. FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Textured brown cloth, gilt stamped lettering and ruling to spine, single blind ruling and gilt-stamped roundel to upper board. Pushing to spine ends, nick to head-cap. A few marks to lower board. Top edge dusty. Toned feps, a few spots to front and rear, 'L.R.W.' in pencil to front pastedown, 'Philip, Son & Nephew, Ltd, Liverpool' label to rear pastedown. Single-page letter addressed to 'Mrs Wilberforce' laid in. Else, clean and tight. A very good copy of Baring's poems and plays, with an interesting scientific provenance. The fond letter (21.12.28) suggests the book was a Christmas gift to Professor and Mrs Margaret Wilberforce (n�e Raynes) from Alfred Weale. L.R.W., Lionel Robert Wilberforce (1861-1944) was the Lyon Jones Professor of Physics at University College, Liverpool (from 1903 the University of Liverpool) from 1900-1935 (succeeding Sir Oliver Lodge), and acting vice-chancellor between 1926-27. Early in his career, he held a range of teaching roles at Cambridge, as well as undertaking research on electrostatics with J. J. Thomson at the Cavendish Laboratory. He invented the Wilberforce pendulum c. 1896 (see his paper of that year, 'On the Vibrations of a Loaded Spring'). While later research focused on electrical and magnetic units, his key contribution was to the teaching of physics, which included developing the appropriate apparatus and techniques (including his own spring), at the same time he oversaw the gradual growth of UoL's Department of Physics (ODNB). L.R.W. was a great grandson of William Wilberforce (through his father Edward and grandfather Robert). It seems likely that Alfred Weale was a former student of Wilberforce's; Weale graduated from Liverpool University with an MSc in 1927 and went on to work for Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, the largest British chemical manufacturer in its heyday.