Grants awarded in 2021

The volume’s title page describes it as ‘A booke of Receipts of all the Quitt rents, Heriotts, Aliena[c]ions, Reliefs, Amercements and other P[er]quisites belonging to the Mannour of Sundridge in the County of Kent’.…

William Hay (1695-1755) of Glyndebourne was an extremely interesting owner of the estate, the archive of which is held by the office, who overcame severe personal difficulties. Hay suffered considerably disability – he had been born a hunchbacked dwarf and stood under 5ft in height.…

The auction listing stated the account books were of the firm Arnold Tuff & Grimwade. However, after delivery of the books, inspection and research, the collection of accounts books are in fact from the solicitor’s firm when they were in a variety of different partnerships models.…

The Refuge Assurance Company was founded in 1858 by James Proctor and George Robins in Dukinfield, Cheshire. It soon grew to become the major insurance company based in the North West and in 1890 Proctor employed the nationally celebrated architect, Alfred Waterhouse to design a new headquarters building in Manchester.…

Hand-typed autographed letter from composer Gustav Holst to photographer Herbert Lambert, 1923.

This late 15th century Latin Bible published in Strasbourg by the prolific printer Johann Reinhard Grüninger. This copy contains signs of English ownership from the 16th century onwards, and perhaps was present in England from its publication, providing vital evidence for the import trade of books into England during this period.…

Joanne Fitton, Associate Director Special Collections and Galleries, writes: The Brotherton Library holds a significant collection of 17^th and 18^th century manuscript verse, developed over the last 50 years or more.

Robin P Jenkins, Senior Archivist, writes:  Despite the restrictions enforced during the coronavirus pandemic, Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office (LLRO) was able – through the generous support of the Friends of the National Libraries - to purchase a small but significant collection of Market Harborough

Hensall is a village lying at the very extremity of North Yorkshire, approximately eight miles from Selby, and south of the River Aire.  Although not a separate ecclesiastical parish until 1855 and created a civil parish only in1866, it can trace its roots back to the Domesday Book in which it is named as Edeshale.…

This set of design drawings for the ‘Campanula’ tea and coffee service, which was designed by French designer Paul Follot (1877-1941) for Wedgwood. There are ten drawings in the set, drawn in pencil on tracing paper and paper.…

Robert Baxter, Senior Archivist, writes: The family was extant at Huddleston, Yorkshire in the mid 13th century. John de Hudleston (died c.1252) married Joan, daughter and heir of Adam de Boyvill, whose ancestor had been granted the Lordship of Millom, Cumberland, by William le Meschin (d.

Among these acquisitions was a letter, dated September 1927, by Florence Hardy to a Mr. Lea of Bockhampton portending Thomas Hardy’s death.  A set of two letters concerning the arrangements of the burial of the author in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey.…

Thomas Plume's Library is an extraordinary survival. In 1704 Dr Thomas Plume (1630-1704), Archdeacon of Rochester, bequeathed his collection of c.…

The collection comprises 36 boxes of scripts and files of agency contracts and correspondence which document Howerd’s career between the late 1940s and his death in 1992.…

A rare copy of Hachiman Tarō Ichidaiki, a work of popular illustrated fiction published in the second half of the 18th century. This set is complete in five volumes, each preserving its original cover and pasted title slip.…

Any document relating to the Cook voyages is now extremely rare.  Imprest documents are unusual and only two others survive from those issued by Captain Cook on this voyage, neither of which are held in this country.

The writer of the letter was John Munro Mackenzie, Chamberlain of the Lews from 1848 to 1854, and the recipient was Charles Wilson, a distinguished architect based in Glasgow who had designed Lews Castle. The letter described delays in the final completion of the plastering and decorating of the new Lews Castle which, the Chamberlain hoped, would b…

It is a manuscript of 206 pages and has four sections. The first three are acre books of Pinchbeck (1595), Spalding (1617) and Cowbit (1640), all written in different secretary hands.  The fourth section consists of seven pages of indexes compiled in the 19th century. The sections were bound into the book in the early 19th century.…

Lord Provost's Visitors’ Book for the City and Royal Burgh of Perth, 1945-51, with related scrapbook, that belonged to Lord Provost John Ure Primrose (1901-1985) who was Provost of the City and Royal Burgh of Perth from 1945 to 1951.…

The Anglo-Zulu War (1879) was fought between the British and the Zulu kingdom of Cetshwayo kaMpande. It is one of the foremost campaigns of imperial expansion into Africa, with victory enabling British political and economic aims in the region.…

John Wickins was a friend, collaborator and amanuensis of Isaac Newton. The notebook contains transcripts of letters and other writings by Newton, including the longest example of Newton’s writing to be found in the past 50 years.

The testament of Alexander Jaffray is a unique manuscript of major regional and national significance. Original documents that shed light on religious belief in 17th-century Scotland are extremely rare.…

The survival, discovery and purchase of this map is of great importance to the Essex Record Office; It is unlikely that the opportunity to acquire a map by John Walker will ever emerge again. Between 1584 and 1628 the Walkers produced some 35 beautifully coloured and surveyed maps.…

Dating from when the Lodge was opened on 1 January 1840, the minutes chronicle 25 years of activity and provide fascinating insights into life in the local community.…

Pantglâs Hall was a splendid 19th century country house with landscaped gardens, located near the parish of Llanfynydd to the north-east of Carmarthenshire. In 1850, the 7,854-acre Pantglâs estate was purchased by David Jones (MP for Carmarthenshire, 1852 – 1968) where he built a large house there at the considerable cost of £30,000.…

Richard Ford (1796-1858) was an English writer, collector and amateur artist. In 1830 he visited Spain and over the next three years in the country he made over 500 drawings, one of the most complete pictorial records of Spanish cities and their monuments before the advent of photography.…

Written up by Harvey whilst a student at Queens’ College (1824-7), this book provides an eyewitness account of the aftermath of what was perhaps the most important event in the history of enslavement, the revolution of 1791-1804 that occurred in Haiti.  There, for the first time in history, a violent uprising of enslaved people had brought about th…

Derby Museums already holds the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of work by Wright, including works on paper and oil paintings, and a small selection of archival material including some correspondence.…

The terrier is a beautifully preserved account of Thomas Yardley’s land with a few drawings and scratchy cartoon letters, on two pieces of parchment sewn roughly together, and then again sewn on a cloth binding at the title end. Some twenty-four estates are referred to in the roll.…

Chronicle of Fortingall, long out of public sight and yet of the greatest significance for the study of Highland history, was our most exciting manuscript acquisition of the year. The purchase of the Chronicle received wide attention in the media and met with a positive, often heartfelt response from many members of the public.…

Euclid, The Elements of Geometrie.  Translated into English by Sir Henry Billingsley, with a preface by John Dee (London: John Day, 1570).

This rare chapbook publication (four are held in libraries worldwide), a “deathbed” confession of a highwayman and robber appealed to the Museum as it gave voice to a criminal whose activities occurred in Horsham.  However, Thomas Munn’s reflective and self-aware account provided a much richer tale which had a number of links to the town and Museum…

The Mark Hinchliffe Ted Hughes Collection has been described as “one of the finest [Hughes collections] in private hands, and a rival to those deposited in a number of University libraries on both sides of the Atlantic”, (Simon Cooke, The Private Library, 5:4, Winter 2012).…

Over 100 documents, mostly title deeds, ranging in date from 1589 to 1845. These represent many of Raper and Fovargue’s major clients. These join an earlier acquisition of material which had also been salvaged in about 1970 by the vendor, then a young articled clerk, from the stables in the office yard at Upper Lake, Battle.…

The current owner of the residual library (sales had occurred in 1990s and early 2,000) sold off parts of the library in 2019 at Christie’s and dealer Nigel Burwood. This included three items not listed on his ABE entry, but through correspondence, the dealer told the Curator about.…

On the 13 March 1781 William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus using a homemade reflector telescope from his home at 19 New King Street in Bath, now home of the Herschel Museum of Astronomy.…