Holograph diary transcribed by Charles Lucas from memorandum written by his cousin James Lucas during a tour to France in 1816.
LWL Mss Vol. 249
Acquired October 2019
A letter from Caroline of Brunswick to Lady Abercorn, in a secretary’s hand, which conveys a sense of her isolation living in London after her separation from the Prince of Wales. The letter begins with her friendly thanks to Lady Abercorn for the “keepsake” or “talisman” which she sent onto Dr. Pimberton that she suspects would have decorated “the grand Mufti”. She continues with apologies for the need to decline her invitation to the seaside due to her mother’s (Princess Augusta) uncertain health and her “knowing so few people in England”. She talks of other mutual acquatiances who have visited her, the Aberdeens and Lady Maria Chaperone, and reports on Lady Maria’s recovery. Caroline writes of her pleasure in Walter Scott’s visits and a lively evening with Monk Lewis who told “ghost stories the whole evening” and how his embellishment of a story she told made it unrecognizable. She end with regards to her and her family “who have not yet forgotten me and my nonsense.”
LWL Mss File 146
Acquired July 2019
An account book kept by James Stark Senior, for substantial building work carried out at Ryston Hall, Norfolk, England between September 1795 and September 1798. Ryston Hall, in Norfolk, was built between 1669 and 1692 by the English architect Sir Roger Pratt, 1620-1684. Ryston Hall was remodelled by Sir John Soane in 1787, the work having been commissioned by Edward Roger Pratt, an acquaintance of Soane made on a grand tour; the quantity of bricklaying in these accounts suggest that additions were still being made to the house. In the 36 months covered in this book, Stark charged a total of approximately £1,462.18.7: listings include the number of days worked by a small team of carpenters and bricklayers, together with additional bills from suppliers and extra workers when required. The core team includes three members of the Colcher family, Tibbet, Barrit & Stark. The bricklayer is recorded as Butrice (spelled various ways throughout). Many of the workers, including Butrice, come accompanied with ‘his lad’ or ‘his son’. One record includes ‘Burton'(?) and ‘his daughter’, who worked only one day. In addition to the regular bill for labor and materials, entries include ‘Beeston’s bill for greenhouse £48.10.6’ and ‘Stark‘s bill for greenhouse £57.2.0’.
LWL Mss Vol. 248
Acquired June 2019
Manuscript record of rental accounts and disbursements between 1761 and 1775 for properties in Homerton, the Old South Sea House Estate and Tower Hill, London, owned by William Harvey and his heirs. Included are records of residents on the Old South Sea House estate, which was well-positioned in the City of London, among them being listed Joseph Mellish, Samuel Waldo, John Boissier, Stephen Tessier and Sir John Chapman. There are also a few commercial rents, including a “warehouse & compting house” leased to Mr. [Mark?] Cramer. The costs of the annual maintainence of the properties, including taxes and bills for expenditure on carpentry, bricklaying, glazing and plumbing are recorded in great detail.
LWL Mss Vol. 247
Acquired June 2019
A collection of twenty engraved and letterpress British inn bills completed in manuscript in various hands from regions throughout England and Wales, dating between circa 1780 and 1841. Many are printed with menus listing food and drinks as well as services, providing insight into what travellers at the end of the Georgian era were offered in any given region in this period; they are also early examples of the growing tourism trade. Beside tea, coffee, milk, soda water, lemonade, cider (cyder), and a wide range of spirits, other options for speciality drinks include: negus, punch, Geneva, perry, and malt liquors. Many of the various services relate to the care and maintenance of horses and carriages; besides blacksmithing, farrier and saddling services, many of the inns offered hay and corn, rush lights, etc. Also on offer were “servant’s eating and ale”, beds with extra charges for “fires in a bed chamber”, and washing; other services listed included “Chaise hire”, servants, providers were sometimes available. Other common services and goods included writing materials, postage, tobacco, and, of course, meals with various foods like fruit listed separately. The printed invoices and menus include some with engraved designs or woodcuts that incorporate a representation of a local attraction or motifs indicative of the trade. Several of the bills also include the imprint of the provincial printer. The majority have manuscript annotations.
Two invoices from Welsh business are produced by “Watton, Printer, Shrewsbury Chronicle” for Bedd Gelert Hotel, Carnarvonshire A. Prichard and Harod Arms Hotel, Devil’s Bridge, a village and community in Ceredigion, Wales, both of which are illustrated on the fronts and backs, with the same image on the back: The Iron Suspension Bridge, completed and opened on Monday, Januaray 30th, 1826, over the Menai Strait from Carnarvonshire into Anglesey. The fronts include the advertisements for the individual business but also include other natural wonders of the area: Cataracts and Aber Glaslyb Bridge, the Salmon Leap and the Pass in Snowden.
LWL Mss File 147 & LWL Mss File 148
Acquired June 2019
An account detailing posts and times for each section of the journey, with notes on inns, conditions of roads, places of note and numerous personal observations; quality of gardens, vegetations and art, the prevalence of goitres in one particular area, the need to obtain the correct paperwork to avoid one’s baggage being rummaged through, and the need to have luggage “plumbed” upon departure from Florence. Clearly written in the hand of Thomas Martyn, this particular tour can be found mentioned in Martyn’s entry in DNB: starting in 1778 he was accompanying his young charge, Edward Hartopp, on his two year continental tour, part of which was later published and made it into his “Gentleman’s Guide in his Tour Through Italy” in 1787 and “Sketch of a Tour Through Switzerland” of the same year.
LWL Mss File 149
Acquired April 2019
A first-hand account of the Lisbon earthquake that struck on November 1st 1755 destroying 85% of buildings and killing upwards of 60,000.
LWL Mss File 151
Acquired December 2018
Almost 300 pages of slightly sprawling but legible hand. Manuscript digest of Burke’s Peerage laid in at front, opposite a hand-written note stating: “Manuscript of Travels of my Uncle Major Gen. S. Lambert in 1816 and 17, given to me by my Uncle Morton, Augt. 18th 1881.”
LWL Mss Vol. 238
Acquired July 2018
A manuscript letter book containing copies of incoming correspondence from George Beauchamp Proctor, Mr. Oldenshaw, Lancaster Framingham, the Duke of Richmond, Sir William Fordyce, Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, Mr. Lionel Smythe, Benjamin Stehelin, and others as well as Townshend’s outgoing letters to Mr. Stacpoole, the earliest dated 5 March 1785 and the last dated 22 June 1785. The subjects discussed with Thomas Beevan include a living in his posession that he did not confer on Beevan’s son, to Beevan’s great disappointment; issues regarding his regiment with Major Taylor; his appointment by the King to the Board of Land & Sea Offices to investigate the plans to secure the dock yards at Plymouth and Portsmouth; a court martial of 1785; the American loyalists (“I have given one fourth of my Lot to the unfortunate American Loyalists”; military patronage, concerns about his son Frederick, who was later declared insane for shooting his brother. Other matters include the difficulties in assembling an impartial jury and other parliamentary matters and references to the wishes of the King.
LWL Mss Vol. 245
Acquired March 2019
Two letters signed pseudonymously ‘Salamander’ and ‘Montezuma’. The first, addressed to the Right Honourable Lord Cornbury, was sent with the second, a duplicate of a ‘love’ letter sent to Catherine Douglas, the Duchess of Queensberry.
LWL Mss File 150
Acquired November 2018