“Two tiers of single English figures expressing appropriate opinions about the coronation of Napoleon.”–British Museum online catalogue.
804.07.16.03+
Acquired November 2020
“A hand projects from the upper margin, holding the ornate beam of a pair of scales against the irradiated inscription Mene mene–Tekel, &c. [cf. British Museum Satires No. 10072, &c.]. One scale (left) is filled by a large melon from which a slice has been cut, and by a paper: One Million Sterling!! The scale is inscribed The times are Rank Hamlet. This slightly outweighs the other scale which is filled by a ducal coronet and papers: Lt R. N–; Duke E[ar]l Baron; Earl of–; Hery Grd Falconer; Chany; Nell Gwynn!; Hery Regr Chancery! The scale is inscribed A Pledge of Better Times.”–British Museum online catalogue.
825.11.00.01+
Acquired November 2020
“The irradiated head of George IV in profile to the left, is almost covered by the darkly shaded head of Wellington, which is almost full-face, but glaring to the right with fierce yet apprehensive melancholy. From this darkened mask slants down and to the right a broadening shadow which passes across a terrestrial globe at the base of the design, covering an island inscribed ‘England’, but leaving ‘Ireland’ (right) unobscured. The rays from the King’s head, only a few of which are covered by the shadow, extend to the margins and illuminate the edge of a border of dark cloud.”–British Museum online catalogue.
829.06.00.02+
Acquired November 2020
“Prince Leopold (right), in uniform, puts his head through a glassless aperture in a window in the door of his ‘Grecian Establish[ment]–Co[burg]’, to look intently at a fat Turk who stands in profile to the right, elaborately dressed and holding a long pipe with smoking bowl. The door, partly cut off by the right margin, is flanked by a Corinthian pillar and set in a wall on which are placards: ‘This . Shop!!! will shortly open under entire new Management–Vivant [sic] Rex’; a Union Jack poster (partly covered); the Russian eagle, and a fleur-de-lis, the two last inscribed ‘Loan’. The Turk: ‘What have you taken the Shop? well if you take my advice you will not give Your Customers too much Credit for I can tell you they are a queer set to deal with by the bye they nearly ruined me–and mind that you look sharp after your Shopmen’.”–British Museum online catalogue.
830.04.10.01+
Acquired November 2020
“Prince Leopold sits enthroned, flanked by his new subjects; he wears uniform with a crown, and sits on a two-tiered circular dais in a chair of state, the seat of which is covered with giant thorns. Punctured and frightened, he grasps the arms of his chair with crisped fingers; his toes are drawn back, touching the ground, and he looks towards a savage-looking Greek (right) who kneels before him with a long knife held behind his back. A similar ruffian kneels on the left; others approach menacingly from the left, one smoking a long pipe and grasping a knife. They wear Greek costume with embroidered jackets and full white breeches. On the right are long-robed ecclesiastics, headed by a bearded patriarch with a cross in one hand, a knife in the other.”–British Museum online catalogue.
830.03.06.01+
Acquired November 2020
“George IV, dressed as a sportsman, in a broad-brimmed hat, jacket with many pockets, and gaiters above the knee, walks in Windsor Park beside a deer with a woman’s head and wearing a collar inscribed ‘Chester’. He puts his arm round her neck, and says, staring at her amorously, ‘”I’ll build you my Dear [altered to] deer a neat Cottage close by, | Where We can retreat unobserved, on the sly, | So be not afraid of the old Cunning Doe, | Whose stale selfish Tricks are become quite So-so.’ They are under a tree; bushes screen them from the Cottage (left), just below Windsor Castle on its steep hill.”–British Museum online catalogue.
829.00.00.114+
Acquired November 2020
“A front elevation of a theatre-box crammed with delighted children fills the design. In the front row are a lady and four little girls. In the middle sits the father, one small boy on his knee, an arm round another child. Eight more children fill the box. Behind them a lady chooses fruit from an old woman’s basket. Two men stand behind. Over the front of the box hangs a playbill: During the Xmas Holidays–Pantomime of Harliquin–Clown by Mr G [Grimaldi].”–British Museum online catalogue.
826.12.26.01
Acquired November 2020
A journal kept by the farmer Edward Burton in which he records business matters along with accounts of local events around the Leicestershire villages of Hemington and Castle Donington. He records crops sold, laborers’ expenses paid, and the days on which neighbors began their respective harvests. Burton also used the volume as a commonplace book, including notes on remedies, proverbs from printed sources, and lists of authors and scientists, much of the information derived from almanacs of the day.
Laid in the front pocket of the binding were, eight receipts for purchases, all dated 187-, 1871 or 1872, made out to later members of the Burton family, Thomas and Arthur Burton and Burton Creswell. Now housed separately with the volume.
LWL Mss Vol. 259
Acquired November 2020
A journal that details John Thornton’s Grand Tour, which began in Riga and took him through Prussia, Italy, and back to England through France, Flanders, and the Netherlands.
LWL Mss Vol. 258
Acquired November 2020
A notebook kept by Thomas Virgo, a gardener, in which he records a wide range of observations on the best care for specific plants he uses but also advice on thatching, the making of ice and ponds, catching wasps, building fires and other areas that hint at how he earned a living. He records many recipes for a wide range of aliments — several remedies for gout, rheumatism, and hoarseness and at least one for coughs, piles, pleurisy, and dropsy. Also included are notes on topics as varied as the Anabaptists, the age of the moon, virginity, supplies for drawing, an occasional verse, and some brief Biblical glosses. He occasionally records purchases that he has made and advice on re-using old clothes (getting gloves from old britches). Additional, unrelated, entries were made by a later owner in the early- to mid-19th century, on pages left blank by Virgo. These later entries include mentions of the death dates of several people including Lady Heathcote; Arthur Thistlewood and his companions sentencing to the Tower or a house of correction; details of weather on specific days.
LWL Mss Vol. 260
Acquired November 2020