Walpole family ephemera collection

Collection

Call Number: LWL MSS 17

Scope and Contents

A collection of printed portraits, topographical views, real estate advertisements, maps, and other ephemera associated with the English historian and collector Horace Walpole (1717-1797), his family, and their properties. The majority of the items are plates produced for publications, and over half of the collection is related to two of the family's estates, Strawberry Hill in Twickenham, Middlesex, and Houghton Hall near King's Lynn, Norfolk.

Series I holds engraved portraits of Walpole, his father Robert Walpole, other Walpole and Waldegrave family members, and friends such as Mary Berry and Anne Seymour Damer. Series II documents the sale and development of Strawberry Hill and Houghton Hall through printed prospectuses with hand-colored maps and site plans issued by London firms marketing the properties. Also present are engraved views of the houses, a photograph of Houghton Hall taken from Norfolk Photographically Illustrated (1865), prints of Strawberry Hill interiors, and views of homes of Walpole's associates. Series III contains a disparate group of Walpole-related items, including a receipt signed by Horatio Walpole of Wolterton (1716), a manuscript note from Horace Walpole to Joseph Cooper Walker (1792), and a prospectus for Mrs. Paget Toynbee's edition of The Letters of Horace Walpole (1903), among other papers, prints, and photographs.

Dates

1716 - 1903

Creator

Stoke Newington Public Library

Language of Materials

In English.

Conditions Governing Access

This material is available for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from Marlborough Rare Books Ltd., January 2006.

Arrangement

Organized into three series: I. People (1746-1884), II. Places (1773-1901), and III. Other Papers (1716-1903).

Extent

2.08 Linear Feet (2 boxes + 1 broadside)

Catalog Record

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

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/lwl.mss.017

Additional Description

Overview

Stoke Newington Public Library

The Stoke Newington Public Library was founded in the early 1890s, in a building constructed with funding from the philanthropist John Passmore Edwards. It is located in the Borough of Hackney, in northeast London.

Custodial History

The material in the collection was formerly owned by the Stoke Newington Public Library in London, and all items have the library's ownership stamp.

In 1905 the library was the beneficiary of a substantial bequest from the antiquarian collector and historian Edward J. Sage, one of the founding library commissioners for Stoke Newington. His bequest included more than five thousand books and a large collection of prints, manuscripts, and ephemera. While it is not certain, it is likely that much of the material described in this finding aid was part of that bequest as other Walpole-related items in the Sage bequest were purchased at auction, and from dealers, by Wilmarth Lewis during his lifetime, and by the Lewis Walpole Library afterward. This material can be identified by searching "Stoke Newington Public Library" in the Yale University Library catalog.