One of the most important art collections in Britain of the 17th century was that of Thomas Howard, 8th Earl of Pembroke (1656-1733) (of Pope’s ‘statues, dirty gods, and coins’ fame). He had a particularly strong collection of coins, and his is the best documented of any early British coin collection. In 1746 Numismata Pembrochiana was published, consisting solely of over 300 plates. It is attributed to Nicola Haym, author of Il Tesoro Britannico (1719-20), an account of the previously unknown ancient coins in English collections, including that of Pembroke. Haym, who is probably better known as the librettist of several of Handel’s operas, was planning to publish a more substantial book on numismatics, but was prevented from doing so by his death in 1729. The 1746 book was published many years after the death of Haym, but something is known of an earlier history of the volume from the correspondence of William Stukeley. He records on 2 December 1732 spending ‘Tuesday night with old Carvilius [Pembroke]’, who ‘showed me all his medalls engraved in 5 large vols qto upon 300 plates, a most surprising sight for number and value’. Stukeley relates how they ‘were all drawn by Signor Haym’s own hand’, and how after Haym’s death some of the plates were lost and others destroyed by his widow. A very few ‘proofs’ of the early version have been discovered, all in private hands until now. Two have a single additional title page signed by Haym, but two others contain extensive additional written material, mostly written on the printing plates, but some added by hand. Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the National Libraries, one of these has now been acquired by the British Museum. It is an important addition to the Museum’s world-class collection of antiquarian numismatic books.
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The Red Book, a record of the work undertaken by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild (1839-1898) at Waddesdon Manor, his neo-Renaissance mansion near Aylesbury. Copies of this private publication are extremely rare—this is only the sixth recorded. Dating from1897, the Red Book opens with an introduction by Baron Ferdinand, followed by a series of invaluable photographs detailing the various rooms and the collections displayed with such artistry within them. Particular attention is paid to the New Smoking Room, which Baron Ferdinand designed to display his ‘Renaissance Museu’, a treasury which had a special role in his mind as a collector. He bequeathed the contents of this room to the British Museum under the terms of his will, to be known as ‘The Waddesdon Bequest’. The Bequest has been on permanent display in the British Museum since 1899, and in June 2016, was redisplayed in a splendid new gallery in the old Middle Room of the British Museum, funded by the Rothschild Foundation.
This autograph letter with envelope from the composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934) is addressed to Mrs Bell, wife of the Bishop of Chichester. The Museum did not previously not have any letters associated with Bishop Bell, who was a great friend of Gustav Holst. Holst was eventually buried at Chichester Cathedral, which makes this connection even more significant. George Kennedy Allen Bell (1883-1958) was an Anglican theologian, Dean of Canterbury (1925-29), Bishop of Chichester, member of the House of Lords and a pioneer of the Ecumenical Movement. As Dean of Canterbury, he initiated the Canterbury Festival of the Arts, with guest artists such as John Masefield, Gustav Holst, Dorothy L. Sayers and T. S. Eliot.
In 1886, the artist Norman Garstin (1847-1926) and his wife Louisa joined the blossoming artistic community in Newlyn and Penzance and it became home for them and their three children. All of the family were exceptionally gifted and excelled in their chosen spheres.The Garstin archive includes draft manuscripts, photographs, business papers and letters from fellow artists and writers. However, the core of the collection consists of over one thousand letters written by the Garstin family to each other during the course of their lives: love letters shared by Norman and Louisa, letters between parents and children during childhood, and letters exchanged among the family as adults. The correspondence is affectionate, often humorous, and includes poems and sketches. All of the family excelled in writing engaging and descriptive accounts of the people and places they encountered, creating fascinating vignettes.
This archive relating to George Walker of Killingbeck is a good fit with one of the jewels in our archival crown, the famous set of 39 original watercolours by Walker which were published as The Costume of Yorkshire in 1814 (YAS MS1000). These were among a large bequest to the society by Sir Thomas Brooke, president from 1866 until his death in 1908.
The collection is now in safe keeping at the Brotherton Library Special Collections, University of Leeds, forming part of the YAHS collection and listed under YAS/MD489. The list can be seen online at https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections. We are immensely grateful to FNL for their support, enabling the society to bid for all four lots and to keep the collection intact.
Formally known as Letters Patent, those signed by the monarch - Royal Letters Patent - are uncommon and this one also has the Great Seal attached to it, reinforcing its importance and legitimacy at a time of upheaval. It is essential in the story of the civil war in the city and county, and is especially meaningful for Worcester, which sees itself as ‘the faithful city’, loyal to the king in the conflict. It is in the characteristic legal hand of the period, written by or under the supervision of Sir Richard Willys, the king’s secretary, but the official signature of the king himself is visible at the top of the document.
The Commission appointed Edward, Lord Dudley, Thomas, Lord Coventry, and Sir Thomas Littelton with 23 others, including Henry Townsend whose writings are an essential source for the civil war in Worcester. The commission of array was an obsolete summons to arms to serve the king, deployed in the middle ages but fallen into disuse until Charles I revived it in 1642.
This map depicts the manor of Trotton and Cumbers Farm, owned by Laurence [Lawrence] Alcock, lord of the manor of Trotton. It records a wealth of information including the names of the individual fields which made up the manor and farm, their acreage, and the names of the surrounding landowners. The borders are beautifully decorated with vines, thistles and other plants, and the body of the map shows houses, other buildings and woodland. The title is enclosed in an elaborate cartouche and the map features a finely drawn thirty-two point compass.
Estate maps are valuable sources for researchers seeking to trace changing boundaries, land usage and land ownership over time, predating similar sources such as tithe and enclosure maps and awards. This survey is particularly useful when taken in conjunction with complementary material at West Sussex Record Office, which includes a court roll for the manor of Trotton, 11 Sep 1617-10 Jan 1625, and draft minutes and working papers in connection with the court baron of Trotton in the Delme Radcliffe papers, 1572-1778.
The records are a crucial part of Warwick's economic and industrial heritage and a testament to the entrepreneurial and engineering expertise of the local area. The company played a ground-breaking role in British motor design and sporting success. The archive's unique research value though is in the building of a brand and high quality marque synonymous with British style. The elegance of the design of Healey cars as well as the company's contributions to motor-racing and speed record breaking attempts are key parts of the collection's appeal. The high status of the collection and strong local connections will bring new audiences to heritage and there will be opportunities to use the collection for income generation activities, which will help improve the sustainability of Warwickshire County Record Office.
The archive includes drawings; business, legal, research and development correspondence and files; photographs; sales and promotional material; and press cuttings.
The Marchmont Manuscript of the key Scottish legal text Regiam Majestatem is written in Lowland Scots. The manuscript is signed and dated 18 October 1548 by the scribe Robert Ewyn, presented to the poet Alexander Hume by his maternal uncle, Alexander Hume of Manderston, in 1582, and bears the heraldic bookplate of Patrick Hume, first Earl of Marchmont, Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, 1702.
A small but significant collection of letters between Shetland antiquary Edwyn Seymour Reid Tait (1885-1960) and Horace Alexander Duncan, always called Barry Duncan (1909-1985), a native of Lerwick who had eventually become an artist and antiquarian bookseller in London.