Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1798-1803 (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
i, 225 ff. (text mainly on versos; old pagination with errors 1-149, 149-171, 53-65, 65-237, 338-437) ; 320 x 140 mm.
Quarter leather and marbled paper over boards.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Archival history
The manuscript appears to have remained in the possession of the Thomas family of Pencerrig until the death of Miss Clara Thomas (d. 1914), the last descendant in the direct line; owned by Mr D. E. T. Lindsay, Aclare House, Drumconrath, County Meath, Ireland, in the late 1940s when the Walpole Society edition of the manuscript was in preparation; subsequently in the collection of Mrs Jane Evan-Thomas, widow of Commander Charles Lindsay Evan-Thomas, RN (1891-1950) of Pencerrig.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Mrs Jane Evan-Thomas, per Thomas Snell & Passmore, Solicitors; Tunbridge Wells; Bequest (with NLW MS 23811E); July 2000; A2000/47.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Memoirs and journal, compiled 1798, of the artist Thomas Jones, Pencerrig, recounting in detail his life in London, France and especially Italy during the second half of the eighteenth century.
The volume briefly recounts Jones's ancestry and early years, becoming more detailed from the 1760s, with the last detailed entry being for December 1783 (f. 218 verso); the bulk of these later entries are extracts from Jones's own journals. The final entry was signed by the artist at Pencerrig, November 1798 (f. 220 verso). The main text, including some later deletions, is written on the versos only; notes and emendations, [1798x1803], have been added by Jones on the rectos and the volume has been signed and dated 1803 by him inside the front cover. Family memoranda, in a different hand, have been added after Jones's death (ff. 225 verso). Friends and acquaintances referred to include the artists William Pars (ff. 15 verso-177 passim), Richard Wilson (ff. 17 verso-20 verso, 35 verso, 56 verso, 85, 90 verso-91, 219 verso), John Hamilton Mortimer (21 verso, 27 verso-48 verso passim, 59 verso, 64 verso, 136 verso, 217 verso), Guiseppe Marchi (ff. 27 verso, 36 verso), Thomas Hardwick (ff. 66 verso-70 verso, 90 verso-100 verso, 115 verso, 130 verso) and Anton Raphael Mengs (ff. 101 verso, 130 verso, 148 verso, 161 verso), the composer Stephen Storace (ff. 117 verso-121, 146 verso), and the art collector Sir William Hamilton (ff. 127 verso-188 verso passim, 215 verso, 219 verso). A sketch of Mount Vesuvius is on f. 118; a plan of his lodgings in Naples is on f. 142. For a complete transcript (with index) see 'Memoirs of Thomas Jones, Penkerrig, Radnorshire', The Walpole Society, 32 (1951), 1-162; this transcript is also available on the Library's website.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Item: 1.1. Action: Condition reviewed. Action identifier: 004176290. Date: 200500303. Authorization: Selected for conservation. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: J. Thomas. Status: Manuscript volume : Damaged corners, board edges Textblock : Some minor tears. Institution: WlAbNL.
Item: 1.2. Action: Conserved. Action identifier: 004176290. Date: 200500520. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: J. Thomas. Status: Manuscript volume : Damaged corners and board edges repaired Textblock : Some minor tears repaired. Institution: WlAbNL.
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies;
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright laws apply.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
English.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Many leaves partly excised; many leaves inserted; covers very rubbed.
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Digital version available http://hdl.handle.net/10107/4777260 (January 2018)
Digital version available https://www.library.wales/discover-learn/digital-exhibitions/manuscripts/early-modern-period/thomas-jones-pencerrig
Related units of description
Publication note
R. C. B. Oliver, The Family History of Thomas Jones the Artist, of Pencerrig, Radnorshire (2nd ed., Llandrindod Wells, 1987).
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Note
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23812D [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
GEAC system control number
Access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Pencerrig Estate (Radnorshire, Wales) (Subject)
- Jones, Thomas, 1742-1803 -- Family. (Subject)
- Jones, Thomas, 1742-1803 -- Diaries. (Subject)
- Pars, William, 1742-1782. (Subject)
- Wilson, Richard, 1713-1782. (Subject)
- Mortimer, John Hamilton, 1741-1779. (Subject)
- Marchi, Guiseppe Filippo Liberati, 1735?-1808. (Subject)
- Hardwick, Thomas, 1752-1829. (Subject)
- Mengs, Anton Raphael, 1728-1779. (Subject)
- Storace, Stephen, 1762-1796. (Subject)
- Hamilton, William, Sir, 1730-1803. (Subject)
- Jones, Thomas, 1742-1803 -- Homes and haunts -- Italy -- Naples -- Designs and plans. (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Description follows NLW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
March 2012.
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Description revised by Rhys Morgan Jones;
Digital object metadata
Latitude
Longitude
Media type
Image
Mime-type
image/jpeg