RePoSS #11: The Mathematics of Niels Henrik Abel: Continuation ...

Appendix B
ABEL’s manuscripts
Manuscripts and drafts constitute an important source for historical inquiry, especially
when the historian aims at discussing the genesis of certain ideas. In the case of ABEL,
the extent sources not published within or immediately after his lifetime fall into two
categories:
1. Manuscripts — to various degrees of completion — of papers not published in
ABEL’s lifetime.
2. Drafts and notebooks documenting the working mathematician but not intended
for publication.
Items in the first category was to some extent considered and included in the com-
pilations for both editions of ABEL’s collected works (N. H. Abel, 1839; N. H. Abel,
1881). In the second volume of the second edition (1881) collected works, SYLOW also
included a general presentation of the known items from the second category 1 .
The present appendix has as its aim to document the whereabouts of archival mate-
rial concerning ABEL. This aim is achieved by reproducing registrants of the archives
at the Manuscript Collection, University of Oslo (see table B.1) and the Mittag-Leffler
Institute, Djursholm, Sweden (table B.5).
1 (N. H. Abel, 1881, vol. 2, 283–289)
2 The author gratefully acknowledges the participation of KLAUS FROVIN JØRGENSEN in obtaining
the information presented in table B.5.
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