p. 71, when chief surgeon at Royal Naval Hospital Haslar: Richardson “was charged with caring for the hospital’s library and museum…. Between 1840 and 1850, he built up an important facility for research in natural history …and a first-rate library of natural history.” Visitors included Darwin, Lyell, Gray, and Hooker.
p. 81: during land search for Franklin with John Rae in 1848-59 while wintering at Fort Confidence: “The winter passed pleasantly. Richardson wrote, ‘In fact, we are provided with everything essential to comfort, including a good supply of teacups, plates and cooking utensils.’ He had his books, mostly chosen by his wife. They were not many but he thought that was an advantage; he would read them with more care and deliberation. He had his Bible and Prayer-Book, and ‘an excellent book by Bishop Wilson’ which was a great help to him in his devotions. By November he had got through one volume of Shakespeare’s plays which his mother-in-law had given to him, and he said he felt their beauties more than he ever had time to do before….. He also studied the Scripture, and was fond of quoting poetry of which he had memorized a vast store, as John Rae noted.”