A collection of 24 items including 11 letters from the coal merchant Frederick Miller invoicing Sir William for coal, five orders of ale from James Musgrave, and a beautiful printed receipt (completed in manuscript) for the use of one four-wheel carriage. Also included is an estimate by H. Gurney, dated December 8th, 1798 for ‘a roof to a new house at Hartwell’. Illustrated with a plan, the proposed cost was £122.6.0. Sir William died in 1799 and it is unknown whether the roof was ever constructed. A superb and rare archive providing both an invaluable record of the construction trade in Georgian England and, in the inventory of Sir William Lee’s London residence, a detailed picture of how an eighteenth century home was furnished room by room.
- Title: An inventory of the household furniture, linen and china, in Bloomsbury Square, the house of William Lee Esq., deceased; together with an archive of manuscript invoices, receipts and quotations for building work carried out on behalf of the Lee family, 1734-1799.
LWL MSS 18
Acquired April 2016