Thomas Thirlby (circa 1500-1570) was the one of the last generation of Tudor bishops who were also diplomats in the service of the state. As bishop, successively, of Westminster, Norwich and Ely, Thirlby represented Henry VIII at the court of the Emperor Charles V, negotiated with the Scots on behalf of Edward VI and led an embassy to Rome following on from the accession of Mary I. The purpose of this mission, in 1555, was to gain papal confirmation for Cardinal Pole’s plans to reunite the English church with Rome. Their three months on the road saw the death not only of Pope Julius III, but also of his successor, Pope Marcellus II. By the time Thirlby arrived, he found instead the newly elected and pro-French Pope Paul IV. In spite of this, the negotiations were completed successfully.
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One of only twelve manuscript missals for York use known to survive, and the only one left in private hands. It was written and illuminated in the early 15th century, although where it was actually made remains to be established. The volume bears interesting annotations and evidence of its use in the 15th and 16th centuries in the parish church of All Hallows, Broughton (near Preston, Lancashire), including some textual changes made in the course of the Reformation. It was rediscovered in Pleasington Hall, Lancashire, in the 1930s. It survives in its original (first) binding of tawed leather over wooden boards. Textually, it lacks its Canon miniature and a few leaves at the end, but is otherwise complete. It retains its York calendar, a crucial feature.
Rupert Brooke died on the eve of the battle of Gallipoli. His personal papers were divided between his mother and his friend Sir Edward Marsh. In 1930 Mrs Brooke bequeathed hers to his old Cambridge college, King’s College. Marsh’s papers about Brooke passed to his executor, who sold them to John Schroder, who continued to collect Rupert Brooke books and papers all his life. In acquiring the Schroder Collection, King’s College, Cambridge, has created single Brooke archive from the two largest and most significant collections.
Queen Mab, Shelley’s first major published poem, is part fairy tale, part political treatise, and totally enthralling. This is a first (and extremely rare) edition of this work, printed for Thomas Hookham in 1813. It is one of just seventy to have been distributed in a so-called ‘mutilated’ state and was handled by Shelley himself, who removed the politically radical work’s title page and dedication so as to conceal his identity and save himself from likely prosecution.
Keats-Shelley House is owned by the Keats-Shelley Memorial Assocation, which is a UK registered charity, hence its eilgibility for FNL grants.
One of the sets of the presentation issue of the official descriptive and illustrated catalogue of The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, from 1851, had become available on the market. It contains 154 mounted calotype photographs printed by Nicolaas Henneman (1813-1898), William Henry Fox Talbot’s assistant, from albumenized glass plate negatives and calotype paper negatives by Claude Marie Ferrier (1811-1889) and Hugh Owen (1808-1897).
A rare and poignant autograph letter written by Austen's sister, Cassandra, in the days following the author's death. The letter is addressed to Fanny Knight, the eldest child of Cassandra’s brother Edward. It documents the anguish faced by Cassandra as she returned to Chawton from Winchester, where she had for two months been nursing her dying sister, and on its second page describes the modest funeral of Jane Austen that had taken place a few days previously. As well as being written in Chawton, in the home Jane and Cassandra shared for eight years, Cassandra’s closing comments refer to the types of memorial jewellery now in the Museum’s collection.
Letter from President of the Royal Society, Joseph Banks to Astronomer William Herschel, praising the efficiency of his telescopes and offering him a pair of his old shoes. The letter is an important document for any museum or institution with an interest in William Herschel, as it represents one of the earliest pieces of correspondence between the eminent botanist and the amateur astronomer.
Minnie Burton married her second husband in 1914, the British archaeologist and photographer Harry Burton (1879-1940), whom she accompanied on all his travels. Her diary covers the period from the 4th of May 1922 to the 20th of October 1926 and contains daily entries recording social engagements and memorable events, including the excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter’s team, of which her husband Harry was a part. The diary details her life and travels with her husband at home in Florence, their stays in Egypt (especially in Luxor, but also in Cairo), the trip they made across the US and to Hollywood in 1924, and various holidays in Europe.
Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) was one Britain’s most influential garden designers. This unique album of platinum prints dates from between 1885 and 1886. Jekyll took up photography, probably under the tutelage of her brother, Sir Herbert, in 1885, developing a special interest in recording English vernacular architecture and rural traditions. Jekyll was important as one of the few garden writers and designers who took and used her own photographs alongside her text in order to emphasize her aesthetic style and represent visually the ideas suggested and discussed in her writing. The superiority of the platinum prints in this album illustrate her skill as a photographer and her superior grasp of the technical craft of exposing and developing fine art photography prints.
The letter is a testimonial of Georgiana Morson, a matron at Urania Cottage, the home for 'fallen women' that Dickens established with the wealthy philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts. It is in support of her application for a position at the Foundling Hospital, and as such, speaks to the relationship between the writer, the Foundling Hospital and Urania Cottage.