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
A depiction, in three rows, of some 20 fanciful designs for spritely demons, ranging from the buxom to the bizarre, probably meant to mock the contemporary early-Romantic interest in ‘fairy painting’ by such artists as Henry Fuseli (1774-1825) and William Blake (1757-1827), especially their well-known interpretations of Shakespeares A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Fuseli’s highly sexualized depictions of nightmares.
796.11.25.03+
Acquired December 2018
An engraved sheet folded and mounted on wooden sticks secured with brass and bone hardware to form a fan, probably designed as a portable aide-memoire, includes musical scores for eighteen dances as well as directions for the dance steps — e.g., “The 2nd Lady Lead round the 2d. Gent, the Gent. Do the Same, Lead Down the middle up again Cast off. Pousete” is given for the Duke of Clarence’s Fancy. The decorative border is hand-colored in pink. On the verso is a sheet decorated with a small emblem with musical instruments and notations.
792.00.00.106 Object Room
Acquired December 2018
A volume of etchings by three daughters of art collector John Ingram 1767-1841) of Staindrop Hall in County Durham — Elizabeth Christian Ingram (1795-), Caroline Ingram (1800-1819), and Augusta Isabella Ingram (1802-) — who were living in Venice and took instruction from Venetian etcher Francesco Novellli whose own etchings were in manner of Rembrandt and whose influence can be seen in the sisters’ etchings. The style of the various impressions are very similar and were apparently made within a fairly short period if the dated prints are any indication, all bearing the date 1816 with some of the prints bound in first dated February 1816 and then March 1816. This dating seems to be confirmed by a contemporary inscription on the front free endpaper: “These are the works of the Miss Ingrams’ from their first lesson, 18…” Only five of the prints are unsigned; several impressions are in two or more states, using brown and black inks and various stocks of paper, a few bearing a British watermark and date of 1814. Some of the prints have been mounted, but most have been printed directly on contiguous leaves forming the signatures of the volume.
Quarto 75 In54 816
Acquired December 2018