The pocket diary contains:

• Elegiac lines to the memory of Maurice Margarot by Clio Rickman
• A fragment by Clio Rickman
• Impromptu Reply to Impertinence by Clio [Rickman]
• A mathematical riddle on the name of Napoleon Buonaparte
• Passport issued to William Bland, 1816 to travel from London to Paris via Calais
• Half sheet of a letter about procuring certain Roman coins the writer requires and how much he is willing to pay. On the back is a sentence about Voltaire and ‘this blockhead Lewis’.

Jean le Rond d’Alembert writes that in 1746 or 1747 he gave to the Académie royale des sciences two or three mémoireson the orbit of the moon. He notes that he has not printed these as he has since producedsomething better on the same subject but that he would like either the original memoirs or copies of them returned to him along with the precise dates of when they were discussed. He apologises for the trouble this may cause the General Secretary, but asks that the mémoiresare sent as soon as possible via the post, adding that the General Secretary needs not worry about the postage price that Jean le Rond d’Alembert will pay. He adds that he thinks it would be good for at least one copy of the mémoires to remain in the Académie’s archives.