All the illustrations in the books mentioned in this category were by Mrs Ward and printed by Fawcett. The books were all published by Groombridge.

The Honourable Mrs Mary Ward, née King, was from an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family. She was also a naturalist, astronomer, microscopist, author and artist. In 1845 she documented the building of a reflecting telescope with a six-foot mirror at Birr Castle by her cousin William Parsons, the Third Earl of Rosse. It was called the Leviathan of Parsonstown and was the world's largest telescope for over 75 years until the building of the Hooker Telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory, California in 1919. The Hooker Telescope was used by Edwin Hubble in his discovery of galaxies beyond the Solar System and his theory of an expanding universe. This, in turn, led Albert Einstein to admit his biggest mistake and to modify his equations having previously said that the universe was static. A painstaking restoration of the Leviathan was carried out using Mrs Ward's sketches along with photographs taken by Mary Rosse, the Earl's wife. The restoration was completed in 1999.

Mrs Ward produced a number of books and revisions on the microscope and telescope.

A World of Wonders revealed by the Microscope 1858
The Telescope 1859
Telescope Teachings 1859
Microscope Teachings 1864
The Microscope 1869

Mrs Ward was the first person to be killed in an automobile accident when she fell under the wheels of her cousins' experimental steam-powered car on 31st August 1869, aged 42. Her great-granddaughter is the actress Lalla Ward who played Doctor Who's assistant, Romana. Lalla Ward was formerly married to Doctor Who actor, Tom Baker, and is currently separated from her husband, the leading Humanist, Richard Dawkins.

A recent edition of the BBC's Antiques Roadshow came from Mary's ancestral home, Castle Ward. Here's a picture of presenter Fiona Bruce in Mary's study with her telescope and microscope. Although it wasn't mentioned, the two books on the table were illustrated by Benjamin Fawcett.

Louisa Lane Clarke was from the Channel Islands where she was very much a part of the landed gentry. She was the daughter of Major-General Ambrose Lane and Elizabeth Le Mesurier, and grand-daughter of Peter Le Mesurier, governor of Alderney. Her cousin, Peter Le Pelly, was the Lord of Sark. Louisa married the Reverend Thomas Clarke and while resident in his parish of Woodeaton, Oxfordshire she wrote the well-known A Country Parson's Wife. After Thomas' death in 1865, she returned to Guernsey where she subsequently wrote Objects for the Microscope 1870 with illustrations that were by Mrs Ward and printed by Fawcett. She was also a noted botanist and travel writer.