Manuscript, in a single hand, of a description of summer tours, in the author's phaeton, through England, Wales, and Scotland, both alone and accompanied by family members. Each journey begins and ends in Wanstead; along the way, the author records the quality of the roads; houses he visits; and the names of significant inhabitants. In Llangollen, he admires the library of Miss Ponsonby and Miss Butler; in Aberystwyth, he describes the sea and the bathing procedures of women there. In Edinburgh, he writes approvingly of a Presbyterian service he attends but complains of the dark taverns, "and the Stair Cases are nasty & very dark when perhaps your room is 3 or 4 stories high." He visits several factories in Birmingham, including Mr Bolton's, whose factory produces ormolu, silver plate, boxes, and buttons; and Mr Clay's, "who has a Patent for making paper pannels for Coaches tea boards &c." The volume also includes several charts listing mileages from Wanstead to the author's various destinations
Description:
George Bowles (1732-1817) of Wanstead Grove, Essex, and Burford House, Salop, was High Sheriff of Essex in 1785. He died unmarried and left Wanstead Grove to his niece, Anne Rushout, whose bookplate is pasted into the volume., In English., Pasted in on flyleaf: envelope front addressed to "The Lady Rushout"; with Windsor postal stamp; 1-penny postage; and a drawing of a black figure playing tennis., Bookplate of Honorable Anne Rushout., Marbled endpapers., and Binding: full calf. Printed on spine: Travels.
Subject (Geographic):
Aberystwyth (Wales), Birmingham (England), Edinburgh (Scotland), and Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Bowles, George, 1732-1817.
Subject (Topic):
Gentry, Conduct of life, Travelers' writings, English, Description and travel, and Social life and customs
Manuscript, in a single hand, listing the goods of the deceased James Beechan, probably a weaver, and signed by the two appraisers: Thomas Straton and J. Watkins. The sheet is laid down on later paper
Description:
In English., Title from first page., and For further information consult library staff.
Manuscript poem, in an unidentified hand, consisiting of eight lines. "Under the Earth / Lies the skin / under the Skin / The Body / Of a Psyche Bitch / Wife of a Cupid Dog. / She lived very mild / And died with Child." Above the poem, in the upper left corner of the sheet, is written "Vive" in the same hand
Description:
In English., Title from first two lines of the poem., Attributed to René de Percy based on manuscript note in a different hand below poem: By [the] Abbé́ Percy échantillon of English., Date based on the death date of Richard Bull, who owned and likely assembled the album in which this poem was found., Formerly laid in at page 120 of an album containing 402 pages, bound in red morocco leather with single gilt ruled line; spine stamped in gold "Drawings." Now disassembled and matted separately: Bull, R. Scrapbook of drawings. [England], [not after 1806]., Matted to 49 x 37 cm., and Original case shelved separately.
An album of music, songs, engravings, newspaper clippings, chapters from books, broadsides, maps, tickets, a watercolor, etc., all relating to Spring Gardens, Vauxhall with an emphasis on the music performed. Engravings include portraits of actors and performers, politicians, ladies of fashion, views of the gardens, maps, and both songs and engraved musical scores
Description:
In English., Title from spine., and Bound in half sprinkled calf, gilt panelled back, with crimson morocco label and gilt emblems of lyres.
Subject (Geographic):
England, London., and Vauxhall Gardens (London, England)
Subject (Name):
Lowe, Thomas, ca. 1719-1783., Vernon, Joseph, 1737 or 1738-1782., and Stevenson, Miss.
Manuscript, in Walpole's and others' hands, of a collection of several dozen scraps of notes, verse fragments, sketches, and drawings, collected from Walpole's papers. The notes are primarily epigrammatic or anecdotal, on such topics as printing books; British monarchs; Waldegrave's time as ambassador at Paris; Lady Mary Coke's affectations; and Sir W. Draper's gambling. The collection also includes several riddles and verses. Some of the notes have been transcribed, on the same page, by Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis and The manuscript also contains 29 drawings, including pencil sketches of Strawberry Hill some done by Walpole and others possibly by John Chute; a pen-and-wash drawing of a scene from The Castle of Otranto accompanied by a note of thanks from Mrs Susanna (Highmore) Duncombe; a pen drawing of the actor William Kemp copied from the frontispiece of a book; numerous busts; a detailed pastoral landscape scene in pencil, possibly by Agnes Berry; pencil sketches of a pig, cow, and dog; pen sketches by Sir John Fenn; and a woodcut title page to a book of John Skelton's works, dated 1523
Alternative Title:
Walpoliana mss and drawings
Description:
In English., Laid in: scrap of paper with faded ink writing, possibly Walpole's., Marbled endpapers., Binding: full calf; gilt decoration. In gilt on spine: Walpoliana mss and drawings., and For further information, consult library staff.
Manuscript, in a single hand, of a collection of descriptions of residences of English nobility. The author focuses on descriptions of the views from each seat and the landscape in which the house is situated; occasionally he also describes the architecture and furnishings of the houses and provides anecdotes about the owners. He calls Winander Meer in Westmoreland "the largest water of the kind in England," and notes its picturesque promontories and shrub-decorated shores. At Raby Castle in North Riding, Yorkshire, the seat of the Earl of Darlington, he praises the Gothic taste of the windows; provides the dimensions of the "rendezvous apartment"; and explains how the dog-kennel, "rising out of a wood," beautifies the scene. He also speaks approvingly of Sir James Lowther's project in Cumberland of "building a town to consist of 300 houses, for the use of such of his Domesticks, and other people as are married," which he calls "a most incomparable method of promoting population."
Description:
In English., Alphabetical table of contents at beginning of manuscript., At end of manuscript: "The following table of Rooms in the Noblemen & Gentlemen's Seats mentioned in this Vol[u]me do not give the exact proportion of any whole house ... .", Title from title page., Bookplate of Philip Shirley., Bookplate of Ettington Manuscript Library. Written in ink in center: No. 62., Steel engraving pasted on preliminary leaf, opposite clipping with description: Ickworth House near Bury St. Edmunds : the seat of the most noble the Marquess of Bristol / engd. on steel by Alfred Adlard. 50 Dorset Street, Salisbury Square., and Binding: quarter calf over marbled boards. Printed on spine: Noblemens Seats.
Subject (Geographic):
England., England, and Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Young, Arthur, 1741-1820.
Subject (Topic):
Architecture, Domestic, Gentry, Homes and haunts, Nobility, Social life and customs, Travelers' writings, English, and Description and travel