Charles Hudson’s Transparencies (Lit & Art Section)

Charles Hudson’s Transparencies.
The spectacular visual aids of a Victorian microscopist and lecturer.

A talk by Robin Wootton.

Charles Thomas Hudson was a Victorian schoolteacher and an expert microscopist, who illustrated his lectures with 58 superb hand-painted, back-lit transparencies. These lay undisturbed in a cupboard at Exeter University until 2010, when they were photographed, catalogued and described in volume 143 of the Transactions. Now in the University’s Special Collections, their unique quality is recognised, and they were this year the subject of a splendid, unusual, large-format book, which will be on display.