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EXTRA-ILLUSTRATIONS IN SAMUEL JOHNSON, LETTERS TO AND FROM THE LATE SAMUEL JOHNSON... (London: A. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1788)

 Collection
Call Number: GEN MSS VOL 421

Scope and Contents

Extra-illustrations in Letters to and from the Late Samuel Johnson... are tipped in throughout the two volumes. The extra-illustrations include letters, engraved portraits, a few tickets and other ephemera, and numerous clippings and manuscript notes by William Dorset Fellowes. They span the years ca. 1746-1847. This finding aid does not itemize the clippings or Fellowes's notes. Items listed are in the order in which they appear in the volumes. The volume and page number at which each item is placed can be found in the column at the left. Where more than one item is placed at one page, the page numbers are listed as 1.1, 1.2, etc.

These volumes originally belonged to Sir Horace Mann (1744-1814). According to Fellowes's notes, Mann left them to Hester Lynch Piozzi, who gave them to Fellowes in 1819. Both volumes contain bookplates of Sir Horace Mann and William Dorset Fellowes. Fellowes added the extra-illustrations, generally placing them near passages which mention or relate to the author or subject of the item.

Clippings throughout both volumes document current events during Johnson's lifetime, such as the riots of 1780 and public perception of Lord Shelburne, as well as after it, such as the death of Fanny Burney. Extensive manuscript notes by Fellowes concern his family's friendship with Mrs. Piozzi, his position at court, his memories of people mentioned in the text, and his political opinions. Some of the clippings and several of Fellowes's notes relate anecdotes about Johnson or Mrs. Piozzi, but the majority of the extra-illustrations bear little relation to Johnson. There are several letters or notes from Mrs. Piozzi to Fellowes's parents and one to Fellowes himself, which document her friendship with the family.

The rest of the letters, including one from Piozzi's daughter Queeney (Viscountess Keith) to Baron Gwydir, document Fellowes's career as Secretary to the Lord Great Chamberlain and as Deputy Great Chamberlain. The letters are addressed to the Duke and Duchess of Ancaster, Lord Gwydir, and Fellowes, and they mainly concern admission to Westminster Hall for various trials or for the coronation of George IV. A few concern court business, including a letter from Edmund Burke informing the recipient of an adjournment during the trial of Warren Hastings.

Dates

  • circa 1746-1847

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Extra-illustrations in Samuel Johnson, Letters to and from the Late Samuel Johnson... are the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from Goodspeed on the D. Newton Barney Fund, 1943.

Associated Materials

The materials described in this finding aid are located in: Johnson, Samuel. Letters to and from the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., to which are added some poems never before printed. Published from the original MSS. in her possession, by Hester Lynch Piozzi. London: Printed for A. Strahan and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1788.

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet (2 volumes, 1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.fellowes

Overview

Extra-illustrations in Letters to and from the Late Samuel Johnson... are tipped in throughout the two volumes. The extra-illustrations include letters, engraved portraits, a few tickets and other ephemera, and numerous clippings and manuscript notes by William Dorset Fellowes. They span the years ca. 1746-1847.

HISTORICAL NOTE

William Dorset Fellowes (1769-1852) was the son of Dr. William Fellowes (b. 1738), Surgeon to the Forces and later Physician Extraordinary to George IV during the Regency, and Mary Butler. William Dorset Fellowes served as a captain in the Royal Navy, surviving the shipwreck of the Lady Hobart in 1803, before he became Secretary to the Lord Great Chamberlain. He held this post, according to his annotations in these volumes, from "the end of the reign of George III to that of William IV." Hester Lynch Piozzi was a Fellowes family friend, and Fellowes's younger brother, Sir James Fellowes (1771-1857), was Piozzi's literary executor.

When William Dorset Fellowes was first appointed Secretary in the reign of George III, the hereditary office of Lord Great Chamberlain was held by Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster (1714-1778). After his death, it passed first to his son Robert Bertie, 4th Duke of Ancaster, who died in 1779, and then jointly to his two daughters, Priscilla, Baroness Willoughby de Eresby (1761-1828), and Georgiana (1764-1838), later Marchioness of Cholmondeley. In 1781, Priscilla's husband, Sir Peter Burrell (1754-1820, created Baron Gwydir in 1796), was appointed Deputy Lord Great Chamberlain. After his death in June 1820, the sisters appointed William Dorset Fellowes as their Deputy for the trial of Queen Caroline and the coronation of George IV. The duties of Lord Great Chamberlain at this time included controlling access to the Palace of Westminster.
Title
Guide to the Extra-Illustrations in Samuel Johnson, Letters to and from the Late Samuel Johnson ... (London: A. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1788)
Status
Under Revision
Author
by Ellen Doon
Date
February 2002
Description rules
Beinecke Manuscript Unit Archival Processing Manual
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository

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