[MASSACHUSETTS] [METEOROLOGY] BROOKS, Charles (Rev)

The Tornado of 1851, in Medford, West Cambridge and Waltham, Middlesex County, Mass. being a Report By Rev. Charles Brooks, and Reports by Other Committees

Boston: J.M. Usher, 1852. First Edition. 16mo (15cm). Embossed cloth wrappers, titled in gilt on front cover; 72pp. Old cloth tape reinforcement at bound edge; soil to wrappers, with small chip at lower fore edge of front cover; internally complete and clean. A Good, sound copy.

A detailed account, by a local resident and community leader, of the massive Middlesex County tornado of August, 1851, which caused extensive damage to several towns surrounding Boston including Waltham, Arlington, and Cambridge. Rev. Brooks' description of the extent and path of the damage is both personal – mentioning by name the individuals most affected by the disaster, praising their kindhearted neighbors for their willingness to render aid – and scientific, including a systematic investigation of the effects of the twister on various tree species, and the patterns formed by the direction of their fall. Following Brooks' text are numerous reports from the individual municipalities precisely locating damaged properties, together with estimates of the dollar value of damage to individual landowners. A fascinating little book by a man who clearly embodied the spirit of the Victorian naturalist-polymath.

Price: $200.00

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