Mr. Cavendish's Librarian: Charles Haydinger and the Library of Henry Cavendish, 1783-1801

The not insignificant contribution of Charles (Carl) Heydinger (d. 1801) to Anglo-German cultural exchange in the eighteenth century has long been apparent. His activities as translator, editor, printer, and bookseller in London (and at the Leipzig book fairs) in the years from 1766 to 1779 have made his reputation in this regard secure. More recently, we have acquired a better understanding of his varied activities in the last two decades of his life, during which he took on the role of librarian to the scientist Henry Cavendish (1731–1810). Cavendish’s private library in Bedford Square, London (England), was open to scholars from about 1785. Although few archival sources and little correspondence relating to Heydinger or to the library have been preserved, and much of the surviving testimony is anecdotal, it has been possible to trace the association of Heydinger and Cavendish in outline. The library’s manuscript catalogue from c. 1795, presumably compiled by Heydinger, also gives us an insight into the range and scope of this important collection.