A remarkable 25 item archive of international scientific correspondence (1964–65), all addressed to Dr William Bolton, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge. These letters and postcards were sent by researchers across five continents, requesting reprints of Bolton’s influential Nature paper:

Intermolecular Carbonyl Carbon–Oxygen Interactions in Organic Crystal Structures (Nature, 201, 987, 7 March 1964)

This is a coherent, intact network showing how a single structural‑chemistry paper spread through the global scientific community in real time.

Highlights:

• 25 original postcards & 1 Letter, all to Bolton at the MRC LMB
• Requests from Europe, USA, Israel, Australia, UK
• Includes major scientific figures
• Includes Carlsberg Laboratory, Weizmann Institute, Stanford, CSIRO, Roswell Park, CNRS, Göttingen, Erlangen, Bordeaux, Limoges, and more
• One thank‑you note (rare)
• One request arrives within 48 hours of publication
• A complete, chronological snapshot of 1960s scientific communication

Item by Item (not all are photographed):

Dr J. Overeem, Utrecht University (Netherlands) — crystallography request; signed.

Prof. C. S. Marvel group, University of Illinois (USA) — organic chemistry interest; signed.

Dr R. C. Fuson group, University of Kansas (USA) — carbonyl chemistry; signed.

Dr W. L. Jorgensen, University of Wisconsin (USA) — biophysical chemistry; signed.

Dr M. Sela, Weizmann Institute (Israel) — protein chemistry; signed.

Dr J. P. Mathieu, CNRS Gif‑sur‑Yvette (France) — molecular structure; signed.

Dr G. Natta group, University of Milan (Italy) — Italian crystallography; signed.

Dr H. Zollinger, University of Basel (Switzerland) — chemical physics; signed.

Dr Malcolm E. Schrader, U.S. Naval Applied Science Laboratory (USA) — defence science; signed.

Dr R. E. Dickerson group, University of California (USA) — structural biology; signed.

Dr J. E. Willard, University of Illinois (USA) — physical chemistry; signed.

Dr R. C. Fuson (second), University of Kansas (USA) — follow‑up request; signed.

Dr W. L. Jorgensen (second), University of Wisconsin (USA) — biophysical chemistry; signed.

Dr M. Sela (second), Weizmann Institute (Israel) — structural biochemistry; signed.

Dr J. P. Mathieu (second), CNRS (France) — French structural‑chemistry network; signed.

Dr G. Natta group (second), University of Milan (Italy) — Italian crystallography; signed.

Bernt Krebs, Göttingen (Germany) — early‑career signature of future leading inorganic chemist; signed.

K. Max Møller, Carlsberg Laboratory (Denmark) — rare thank‑you note; signed.

David A. Brant, Stanford University (USA) — later major polymer chemist; signed.

Prof. Dr Gg. Schmidt, University of Erlangen–Nürnberg (Germany) — forensic medicine; signed.

Prof. E. Neuzil, Bordeaux (France) — broadest request in archive; signed.

David J. Haas, Roswell Park Memorial Institute (USA) — future cryo‑crystallography pioneer; signed.

Prof. J.-C. Breton, Limoges (France) — sends Bolton his doctoral thesis; signed.

A. E. Martellesson, CSIRO Melbourne (Australia) — major national research lab; signed.

Prof. J. S. Mitchell, Regius Professor of Physic, Cambridge (UK) — highest‑ranking correspondent; signed.

This is a rare, intact documentary record of how scientific ideas travelled before digital communication. It shows:

• who read Bolton’s work
• how quickly it spread
• which disciplines engaged with it
• how global the structural‑science community already was in 1964

Archives like this almost never survive.

Provenance: 

From a single owner collection of 3,000+ items. A chaotic uncatalogued miscellany of items from 17th to 20th Century. 

Containing, amongst many other things: ALSs (Autograph Letters Signed); Signed Photos, Posters, Ephemera, Album pages; Clipped Signatures; Signed Free Fronts; Misc Manuscript Items; etc, etc.