Miscellany
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Bretts Coffee Rooms
Found on page 200 of Bentley's Miscellany vol XLVI, 1859. Likely relates to Henry Brett & Co, Old Furnival's Inn, Holborn. A coffee house keeper in the 1881 census along with his wife and daughter who worked as the waitress. Furnival's Inn originally one of the Inns of Chancery developed into appartments where Charles Dickens was a tenant and began his Pickwick Papers there. Bretts Hotel, 138 - 140 Holborn in about the 1850s.
The first Colour Magazine
In the second half of the eighteenth century, as the magazine publishing industry grew, copper plate illustrations appeared. Publishers began offering readers coloured natural history illustrations. The Gentleman’s Magazine, one of the country’s most successful titles, published hand-coloured depictions of birds and plants, as well as a few snakes. These two are from 1752, volume XXII (S93.22). This volume is online.
The Gentleman's Magazine was read by women as well, in this case a Martha White in a 1742 edition (S.93.12).
The Magazine was the first to use that term, 'magazine'. It was founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It appeared monthly for almost 200 years, until 1922. Cave's innovation was to create a monthly digest of news and commentary on any topic the educated public might be interested in, from commodity prices to Latin poetry.
The magazine included readers' letters such as the example from Sharlot Wealthy, right. Whilst clearly a pseudonym, is this a parody or a true reflection of a wealthy C18 woman?
Anti-Ageing Cream?
In S.105.35, a treatment applied more than 30 years ago, Klucel G, introduced into book conservation in the 1980s. Applied to fragile and mould damaged paper, Klucel G in a 1-2% solution will cohere loose fibres, add strength and facilitate further repair. Used to treat leather that is starting to deteriorate from red rot or leather that is becoming powdery. In the case of this tome, the latter. It is still used to this day.
This may be the original binding with a replaced label.
Frances Cust (1756-1847) & her 3rd son Richard Cust (1785-1864)
In the study, S.106.29 is the authorised 1638 bible belonging to Frances Cust and given to her third son, the Honourable Reverend Richard Cust. After his death the bible placed within the Chapel. The handwriting resembles that of Caroline Cust.
The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New: Newly translated out of the originall Tongues, and with ye former translations diligently compared and revised, by his Majesties speciall command. Appointed to be read in Churches, Cambridge: printed by Tho. Buck, and Roger Daniel. Printers to the University, 1638
The bible belonged to Lady Frances Brownlow (nee Bankes) Cust, second wife of Brownlow Cust the 1st Baron Brownlow. She brought a dowry of £100,000, and a collection of her father's pictures. She bore him 11 children.
Richard was the Prebendary of Lincoln, Rural Dean of Grantham, and for 54 years the Rector of Belton.
Richard Cust © National Portrait Gallery, London
Mice
Why we check the books!
S.105.55, a mouse's lunch. Rodents including mice and rats love to eat books, gathering nesting material. But here no signs of droppings, and so a historical rodent gnawing a historical book.
John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow
He was educated at Eton (1788–93) and Trinity College, Cambridge (1797) before undertaking a European tour of Russia and Germany in 1801. These are his lecture notes dated 1797 & 1799
An envelope addressed to Messrs Broadwood & Co. in S.141.3
Messrs Broadwood & Co, Gt. Pultney Street, Golden Square was the London address of the famous keyboard manufacturers. They had their offices in Great Pulteney Street and used No. 9 Golden Square as a warehouse. The envelope, 95 mm long seems to have been first used for a receipt of payment before being used as a marker. In 1903, the firm moved the office and showrooms from Great Pulteney Street to premises in Conduit Street and so the envelope predates that year. Broadwood hold records of purchasers from 1817 to 1952 and so one could likely trace the piano and who bought it.
Henry Fowler Broadwood married Juliana Maria Birch in 1840. She was descended from the Cust, Holland and Reynardson families.
Two envelopes in Book, Library 41.B.10
The first, addressed to the Earl Bronwlow from the Duke of Rutland 9th August 1843 with a Penny Red imperforate (it had to be cut from a sheet with scissors) cancelled with a Maltese Cross.
Penny Red stamps were the main type of postage payment in the UK for almost 40 years. First printed in February 1841, its distinct brownish-red colour replaced the Penny Black, just nine months after it had been issued. This was because of the difficulty of seeing franking marks on the Penny Black. Around 21 billion Penny Reds were produced by Perkins, Bacon & Co until the stamp’s usage came to an end in 1879.
To identify its position on the plate, each stamp had unique corner letters, here N A, plate 33. In 2016, a Plate 77 Penny Red was bought for £495,000. This is not from plate 77!
Initially, the Maltese cross cancelled the stamp, but this began to be replaced in 1844 by a numeral obliterator, known as the ‘1844 type’.
Queen Victoria Pink Envelope
Postage One Penny prepaid envelope with an embossed Victoria. Addressed to the 1st Earl Brownlow, from .GG.? Has an ugly barrelled cancellation mark 321 for Grantham first issued 1844, last used 1910. Countess Emma Brownlow built Belton Lodge in the 1840s, on Higher Lincombe Road overlooking the sea and they often went to stay in Torquay, Devon. Stamped on the back 11 April 1848. The Western Times - Saturday 18 March 1848 records them as recent arrivals at Torquay.
Sir Godfrey Kneller
Anne Brownlow, Lady Cust (1694-1779)
Daughter of Sir William Brownlow 4th Bt (1665-1702) and Dorothy Mason (d.1700). Married in 1717, Sir Richard Cust, 2nd Bt (1680-1734), of Pinchbeck. Sister of Sir John Brownlow, Viscount Tyrconnel (1690-1754). She was the mother of Sir John Cust (1718-70), speaker of the House of Commons.
She wrote her unmarried name first in a series of volumes on the History of the English Civil War and then again after her marriage.
Her embroidery work. For 45 years she was a widow, devoting herself to her large family. Inheriting Belton in 1754, she made over her own Grantham House to her son, Sir John, but exchanged with him again in 1766, so that he should have a house befitting his dignity as Speaker. She lived in Grantham House with her unmarried daughter Lucy.
The Welby Family of Denton
Transcripts of letters published in 1842. The weather and life in the 1690s was very different than now.
Joseph Strutt (1765–1844) was the youngest son of Jedediah Strutt inventor and cotton manufacturer, and Elizabeth Woollat . He was the only member of the family to be educated at the Derby School. He shared his family's politics and Unitarianism—in 1817 he supported the accused in the Derby treason trials. He established a Lancastrian school in Derby and in 1824–5 a mechanics' institute; in 1835 he was first mayor of the reformed borough. He opened his house, St Peter's, with its paintings and statues, to the public, and in 1840 gave to the people of Derby an 11 acre arboretum planned by J. C. Loudon.
Glig Gamena Angel-Deod, or the Sports and Pastimes of the People of England
First edition. Letterpress and plates watermarked: 1799.
Strutt, antiquarian and skilled engraver, culled many of his descriptions and images from medieval manuscripts and early printed books to produce his history of sports. Included are archery, hawking, horse racing, gambling, dancing, and cock-fighting.
“In turning to the British Museum for models for his engravings [Strutt] developed that combination of text and illustration which made his antiquarian works uniquely valuable” (Kunitz & Haycraft, 499).
Internet Archive version, but not in colour.
Plants
Found in this volume of The Garden: An Illustrated Weekly Journal of Gardening in All Its Branches 1879, two plant specimens and notes and a bookmarked page for a Rhododendrum.
Masdevallia reichenbachiana is an orchid named for a German ornithologist of the same name. Masd. reichenbachiana is a cool (to intermediate) grower native to high elevations in Costa Rica.
The handwriting is that of Florence Helen Woolward (1854-1936) botanical artist and an expert on orchids. Schomberg Kerr, 9th Marquess of Lothian commissioned her to paint his extensive orchid collection, and this was published as "The Genus Masdevallia". Woolward had no formal education in artistry or botany, but spent ten years on visits to Newbattle Abbey, depicting more than 350 orchids, of which 85 were Masdevallias.
Having been unable to employ a professional botanist to write the text accompanying each plate, Florence wrote it herself. The work appeared in nine parts between 1891 and 1896, each part with ten plates and text, the final part having seven plates. Each species has detailed notes on its habitat in the Andes written by Friedrich Carl Lehmann. The plates were lithographed by Florence herself. Originally 250 copies were planned, but it appears that only 150 were actually issued, with 100 being bound. Florence said, "It is no doubt advantageous in botanical work … that the person who makes the original drawing from nature should also lithograph the plates and indicate the colours to be used by the colorist, for, by this means, the work passes through fewer hands and is more likely to turn out accurate. I have therefore pursued this method throughout the present work, and have, besides, touched up the colouring of every plate sent out, numbering nearly 9,000".
I4 may be its location in the original library on the upper ground floor. It has Alice's bookmark and that of the 1st Earl. The annotation top right is B: de: 1690: prce: 15 s - £150 today. She has annotated many of the pages.
Pertinent to Alice was the section on child-birth. She was probably pregnant with Eleanor the year of purchase. Eleanor's birth date and year is unrecorded, but a portrait on vellum in 1710 has her as 19 to 25 years old on AI. She would go on to have Anne Brownlow bon 22 May 1695 and died 2 days later. She bequeathed her books to Viscount Tyrconnel and her daughter Eleanor.
