Autograph Letter Signed by William C. Ottley, Calculus and Chemistry Author.

A little brochure on Life Contingencies

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1840 autograph letter signed by William Campbell Ottley (1808–1843), Cambridge University junior fellow and calculus and chemistry author. Writing to “Mons[ieu]r. Le Comte de Ripert Monclar,” Ottley discusses a brochure on life insurance he has written:

In the mean time allow me to present you with the inclosed humble effort of my pen—the little brochure on Life Contingencies is very far from treating the subject as it ought to be treated but this must be excused on the grounds stated in the introductory notice. It is yet incomplete, but I venture to hope that even as it is, it may tempt you to peruse it.

William C. Ottley was the son of William Young Ottley (1771–1836), art writer, collector of old master drawings, prints, and paintings, and keeper of prints and drawings at the British Museum. William C. Ottley studied at Cambridge University where he earned his B.A. (1832) and M.A. (1835). From 1835 to 1841 he was a junior fellow of Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge.

He was the author of such books as Dictionary of Chemistry and of Mineralogy Connected with It (London, 1826), written at the age of 18, and A Treatise on the Differential Calculus (London, 1838).  “Went abroad, owing to failing health, and died at Paris, May 9, 1843. For a time he took pupils in Cambridge; and shortly before his death projected a Life Assurance Company, to be called the New Equitable; which did not succeed.”¹

Price: $50.00