Showing 12332 results

A journal of John Griffith (1713-1776) of co. Radnor and Pennsylvania, Quaker, recording his voyage from America to England, 1747-1748 (ff. 2-13, 67v); his itinerary of England and Wales, visiting Quaker meetings and including a visit to his mother in co. Radnor, 1748-1750 (ff. 14-35); his return voyage to America, 1750 (ff. 55-62v, 35v-7v); his second voyage to England, 1750 (ff. 38-54); and personal memoranda (ff. 63v-7, 68r-v). The writer describes his detention at Bayonne (f. 7r-v) and Dax in France in December 1747, his ship having been seized by a French privateer off San Sebastian, and comments upon the superstitions and religious customs of the inhabitants (ff. 7v-11v). Much of the contents of the manuscript was later used in his autobiography, A journal of the life, travels, and labours ... of John Griffith (London, 1779).

An incomplete autograph letter, ?1753, from Goronwy Owen (1723-1769) to Lewis Morris (1701-1765), enclosing Cywydd y Calan.

The pedigree of the Lloyd family of Dolobran, Montgomeryshire, from the sixth to the eighteenth centuries, compiled by Charles Lloyd, November 1753.

Documents, 1730-[c. 1752], probably accumulated by a French lawyer, Daminois, for a legal case, concerning the silver mines of Guadalcanal, Spain, and the alleged defrauding of investors in that enterprise by Lady Mary Herbert ('Demoiselle Powis'), daughter of the Marquess of Powis, and her agent Marc Antoine Mortemer.
They comprise three cross-sections of the mines, one printed, dated 1730 (f. 1), one watercolour (f. 35) and one in pencil (f. 45); a printed petition to the King of Spain from the Duc d'Estrées, Marechal of France, the Duc de Béthune and other French nobles complaining about Demoiselle Powis, [1733x1737] (ff. 3-9); a legal memoir by the lawyer Daminois, defending a Mr Privat, deceived by Demoiselle Powis and jailed, [c. 1752] (ff. 36-44); and four draft memoirs, [after 1741], in the same hand, describing the exploitation of the Guadalcanal mines from June 1725 to December 1730 (ff. 10-14), the alleged swindling of French nobles (ff. 15-20), and two documents reciting the history of the mines from the Roman period up to February 1732 (ff. 21-34).

A volume comprising Michael Drayton's Poly-Olbion, Part 1 (London, 1622, STC 7228, ESTC S121639), and Part 2 (London, 1622, STC 7229 or 7230, ESTC S121637 or S121634), extensively annotated, 1755, by the Welsh polymath Lewis Morris.
Part 1 appears to be the 1622 edition, omitting however that version's letterpress title page and binding the index after Part 2 (now pp. 169-176); the title page of Part 2 is also missing. Morris's annotations consist of marginal notes and occasional footnotes glossing the printed text, together with underlining of text and manicules. The annotations are mostly confined to the introduction by John Selden and the notes (or 'Illustrations') supplied by him to each song in Part 1 (pp. xi-xvi, 15-21, 34-36, 50-52, 54, 66-74, 83-85, 95-99, 108-110, 122-132, 143-156, 164-169, 182-189, 191, 193-194, 209-210, 224-225, 234-235, 244, 253-256, 267-272, 274-279, 281, 300-303). There are further annotations by Morris to Drayton's songs and elsewhere (Part 1, pp. i-iii, v, vii, ix-x, 1, 4, 29, 83, 87-89, 91, 95, 102-103, 158, 213, 250, 283, 295-297; Part 2, pp. i, iii-iv, 171). Morris's notes, partly in Welsh, mainly concern the Welsh language and Welsh and Ancient British history; he has also emended the text in line with the corrections listed in the errata (Part 1, p. xx).

A transcript of two letters written by Lord George Lyttelton (1709-1773) from Brynkir, 6 July 1755, and from Shrewsbury, 14 July 1755, describing a tour in North Wales.

Account book, 1754-1756, of Charles Cope Trubshaw, architect, builder and mason, relating to work carried out mostly in Staffordshire.
The volume contains accounts, with notes and memoranda, January 1754-February 1756 (ff. 1-70); and estimates, notes and sketched designs and plans for specific projects, 1754-1755 (ff. 70 verso-103, inverted text). There are numerous references to the building of the new parish church at Stone, Staffordshire (ff. 6-89 passim). A few additional items are loose within the volume (ff. 73a, 105) or have been tipped in (f. 104).

A manuscript volume, 1750-1758, compiled by Henry Young, perhaps of Tregaron, Cardiganshire, containing commonplace entries including notes on astronomy, astrology, physiology, weather lore (ff. 1 verso-3 verso) and Biblical and historical material, amongst which are extracts from R. B., The History of the nine worthies of the world (London: printed for Nath. Crouch..., 1687, STC C7337). Also included are model letters, extracts from poems by John Gay (ff. 6 verso, 30) and Alexander Pope (ff. 33 verso-35), valentines and other verse, medical and cookery recipes and recipes for ink and gilding, together with many related drawings and decorations in ink and polychrome.

Journal of tours of Holland, France and Italy undertaken probably by a member of the family of Rushout of Burford, near Tenbury.
In A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701-1800, compiled from the Brinsley Ford Archive by John Ingamells (New Haven and London, 1997), p. 829, the manuscript is ascribed to John Rushout, 1st Baron Northwick (1738-1800) of Northwick Park, Worcestershire; the Dictionary also briefly describes the manuscript's contents.

A holograph letter from Mat[thew] Henry [Presbyterian minister and author], from Chester, to [ ], 1694 (the illness and death of recipient's son, who appears to have been resident in the writer's home, and his burial in the chancel of St. Bridget's church [Chester], a visit paid by the writer's father [Philip Henry, Presbyterian minister and diarist], 'an aged min[ister] in the Country some miles off', to the writer's home, during the deceased's illness, and a sermon preached by him prior to the funeral) (mutilated); and a holograph letter from T[homas] Pennant [naturalist and author], from Bychton [co. Flint], to the Rev[eren]d Mr. [William] Borlase [rector of] Ludgvan, Cornwal, 1763 (points of ornithological interest, the preservation of birds, a request for information about seals).

Ten letters in Latin, 1762-1764, from Laurent Theodor Gronovius, Dutch naturalist, to Thomas Pennant, traveller and naturalist, mainly relating to their natural history studies and exchanges of books and specimens.

A volume of music for the harp, [c. 1764], including compositions by, and variations on the work of, Handel and John Parry Ddall of Rhiwabon. The manuscript is in two hands: possibly that of Robert Edwards, a pupil of John Parry (ff. 1-14, 24 verso-26, 36 verso-40), and possibly that of Thomas Roberts (ff. 14 verso-24, 26 verso-36, 40 verso-42a).

Account book of Thomas Edwards, Forest, 1760-1772, relating to sales of barley, wheat, and oatmeal, the payment of servants' wages and rent, harvest labour, sheep shearing, etc.

Manuscript memoir, 1774-1775, of William Owen, recalling his early years in the Royal Navy, from 1750 to 1761, in particular his time in India from 1754. The volume recounts life and events on board ship, together with incidents, escapades and misadventures ashore.
Owen went to sea as a midshipman and passed his Lieutenant's exam on 1 February 1758 (pp. 328-329). He served aboard several ships, most notably HMS Tyger, 1754-1759 (pp. 137-403), and HMS Sunderland, 1759-1761 (pp. 411-547). He participated in several naval and land actions in the Carnatic, Bengal and elsewhere, including the capture of Geriah (Vijaydurg), February 1756 (pp. 194-204), the expedition to retake Calcutta, December 1756-February 1757 (pp. 242-68), the battle of Chandernagore, 23 March 1757 (pp. 282-9), the naval battles off Cuddalore, 30 April 1758 (pp. 343-7), Negapatam, 3 August 1758 (pp. 368-73) and Pondicherry, 11 September 1759 (pp. 444-9), and the subsequent siege and blockade of Pondicherry, August 1760-January 1761 (pp. 530-53). Other incidents of note include a fraught voyage from Jamaica to England, October 1753-January 1754 (pp. 120-32), an ill-fated shooting expedition in Trincomalee, Ceylon, July 1759 (pp. 427-36), the loss of his right arm during a raid at Pondicherry, 6 October 1760 (pp. 531-6), and the sinking of HMS Sunderland in a cyclone shortly before Owen was due to rejoin her, 1 January 1761 (pp. 544-7). The volume, which contains occasional corrections, deletions and interpolations, is based mainly on Owen's journals, log books and other papers (see NLW, Glansevern Estate Records). In addition, certain passages, especially accounts of wider events, are either copied verbatim or adapted, without acknowledgement, from published works including Edward Ives, A Voyage from England to India… (London: Edward and Charles Dilly, 1773, ESTC T12210) (pp. 154-5, 163, 171, 178-9, 195, 197-8, 200-204, 210-13, 218, 223-5, 234, 242-3, 251-2, 259-60, 262-3, 264-6, 269-76, 280-81, 284-5, 294-305, 313, 316-7), and unidentified editions of Richard Owen Cambridge, An Account of the War in India, Between the English and French… (London: T. Jefferys, 1761, ESTC T145098) (pp. 339-41, 345, 353-60, 366, 368-70, 372, 386-9, 403-9, 454-90, 496-7, 513-20, 523, 558-62), John Entick, The General History of the Late War…, 5 vols (London: Edward Dilly and John Millan, 1763, T138198) (pp. 506-12, 520, 523-6, 540-43, 550-51, 553, 562-7), An Impartial History of the Late Glorious War (Manchester: printed by R. Whitworth, 1764, T110585) (pp. 459-50) and the third volume of An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere..., ed. by John Hawkesworth, 3 vols (London: printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell in the Strand, 1773, T74465) (pp. 578-82). Owen's second volume of memoirs is partly published in Narrative of American Voyages and Travels of Captain William Owen, R.N., and Settlement of the Island of Campobello in the Bay of Fundy 1766-1771, ed. by Victor Hugo Paltsits (New York, New York Public Library, 1942), a copy of which is included with the present manuscript (NLW MS 24132E(a)).

A manuscript containing an account of a tour from London through parts of England and Wales, 1776.

A volume containing transcripts, 1778-1781, by Thomas Evans, Cydweli, of pastoral poems (bugeilgerddi) by Edward Richard, Ystradmeurig, dated 1764-1776, together with a few other eighteenth-century poems in Welsh and some medical and veterinary recipes.

Nine letters, 1782-1784, from [the Rev.] E[dward] Owen of Warrington, schoolmaster and translator, to John Blackburne, Chester, mainly concerning points of difficulty in translating Classical Latin authors.
Owen comments on the works of Livy (ff. 1, 3 recto-verso, 5 recto-verso, 7 recto-verso), Horace (ff. 9-10, 12) and Catullus (ff. 12-13, 14-15). He also discusses a variety of subjects including Roman land measurement (f. 1 recto-verso), Roman coins (ff. 1 verso, 3 verso-4), Roman numerals (f. 16) and the arrangement of rowers in Roman ships (ff. 16 verso-17). Although apparently living in Chester at this time, John Blackburne's family owned Orford Hall, near Warrington, and he was elected MP for Lancashire in 1784.

A catalogue, 1781, compiled by the Rev. John Jones, Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, of Welsh manuscripts in the library of Sir John Sebright (1725-1794), Beechwood, Hertfordshire, which formerly belonged to his grandfather, Sir Thomas Saunders Sebright, bart (1692-1736).

Papers relating to the probate of the will of Mary Delany (1700-1788); and an attested copy of the will of Dr Patrick Delany, dean of Down. English. Purchased from Ifan Kyrle Fletcher, London, November 1965.

Journal, July-October 1788, of Thomas Ellis Owen, then a student at Christ Church, Oxford, later rector of Llandyfrydog, Anglesey, describing a tour of Germany, from London to Weimar.
The journal includes descriptions of Hamburg (ff. 2-3), Hanover (ff. 4 verso-6), Wolfenbüttel (8 recto-verso), the silver mines at Goslar (ff. 9 verso-11 verso), Göttingen (ff. 13-14), Münden (ff. 14-15), Cassel (ff. 15-19), and Weimar and its environs (ff. 21-28). The volume includes an anecdote relating to Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (ff. 18-19), and an account of a conversation with Goethe. (ff. 27 verso-28 verso).