Records of Experiments on Living Animals, Bacteriology Department, University of Aberdeen, 1967-1980

Records of Experiments on Living Animals, Bacteriology Department, University of Aberdeen, 1967-1980.

A substantial large-format institutional ledger, purpose-made for recording experimental work at Aberdeen University’s Bacteriology Department. Around 15% of the volume is completed by hand, covering the period from 1967 to 1980, with no further entries thereafter. The manuscript records relate to small mammals – such as mice, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, rabbits, and chickens – with no evidence of work on primates or higher mammals.

Produced specifically for laboratory use, each page is printed on pale blue paper with darker blue ruled lines and headings, tailored to the recording of experimental procedures. The entries provide a snapshot of late 20th-century biomedical research before the introduction of modern digital data systems and updated regulatory frameworks in the 1980s.

The ledger is bound with a leather spine and corners, green cloth boards, and a black cloth title label to the spine. Covers show some scuffing and wear, particularly to the rear board, and the title label is rubbed. Marbled endpapers. Two gatherings of manuscript pages at the front are now detached but present. The text pages are printed on a pale blue paper with darker blue rules and headers. The edges of the text block are attractively tinted in purple and green.

Beyond its historical significance to the study of scientific practice, this impressive ledger – at over 36 cm tall and 6.5 cm thick – would make a striking period prop for stage or screen, evoking the look and feel of a mid-20th-century research setting.

Very scarce indeed in private hands.

Text in English.

Unpaginated.
Dimensions: approx. 360 mm high × 240 mm wide × 65 mm deep.
Weight: approx. 3.75 kg (unpacked).