MANUSCRIPTS

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Autograph letter by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin to Mr Hull
Autograph letter by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin to Mr Hull
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812 - 1852) was the English architect who paved the way for the revival of the Gothic style in religious architecture, especially in its connection to British Catholicism. A precocious talent (he designed the new furniture for Windsor Castle at fifteen), Pugin discovered his vocation thanks to his father, who had been among the first architectural illustrators in Britain (i.e. he had worked with the likes of Thomas Sandby and John Nash and illustrated Rudolph Ackermann’s Microcosm of London). A relentless worker who travelled Europe extensively to understand the original nature of Gothic, Pugin managed to reshape the architectural character of Victorian Britain from Scarisbrick Hall, Lancashire, to St. Giles’, Cheadle; his early death, however, did not allow him to see the completion of his most important commission, namely the design of the interior of the new Palace of Westminster and its clock tower, usually referred to incorrectly as ‘Big Ben’ (this being the name of the bell and not that of the tower itself, renamed in 2012 as ‘Elizabeth Tower’). This letter, addressed to ‘Mr Hull’ at 109 Wardour Street, was written in 1841 from Ramsgate, his beloved aunt Selina’s town where in a few years he would build the Grange, his characteristic family home. Pugin’s friendship with the London broker Edward Hull had started in 1827, when the Soho area swarmed with antiquities shops. His reference to the fact that he is enjoying his new work may be related to his major book The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture (1841), where he expressed the idea that function and shape must work in harmony in architecture.
Autograph letter by Benjamin Robert Haydon to J. R. Prentice
Autograph letter by Benjamin Robert Haydon to J. R. Prentice
Gift of Tanya Moskewitch, 14 May 1962.
Autograph letter by Benoit Constant Coquelin to Marquise de Viti de Marco
Autograph letter by Benoit Constant Coquelin to Marquise de Viti de Marco
Benoît-Constant Coquelin (1841 - 1909) was a celebrated French actor who, among his different achievements, counted that of having toured in America with Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress of the age. In this letter dated 20 February 1903, Coquelin writes to Marchesa de Viti de Marco from the French Embassy in Constantinople; as specified on the page on display, the actor’s Roman performances, which he believes will be postponed by 48 hours, are Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac (1897) and Molière’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670). Regarding the former, it is to be noted that in the year 1900 Coquelin had also played the role of the duelist in Clément Maurice’s eponymous short movie, which is nowadays considered to be the first film to have employed both colour and sound. A Keats-related curiosity: in the letter displayed here Coquelin wonders how many hours it will take to get from Naples to Rome. When Keats and Severn had to undertake the same trip in, 1820, it was not a matter of mere hours, but of seven days.Benoît-Constant Coquelin (1841 – 1909) was a celebrated French actor who, among his different achievements, counted that of having toured in America with Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress of the age. In this letter dated 20 February 1903, Coquelin writes to Marchesa de Viti de Marco from the French Embassy in Constantinople; as specified on the page on display, the actor’s Roman performances, which he believes will be postponed by 48 hours, are Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac (1897) and Molière’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670). Regarding the former, it is to be noted that in the year 1900 Coquelin had also played the role of the duelist in Clément Maurice’s eponymous short movie, which is nowadays considered to be the first film to have employed both colour and sound. A Keats-related curiosity: in the letter displayed here Coquelin wonders how many hours it will take to get from Naples to Rome. When Keats and Severn had to undertake the same trip in 1820, it was not a matter of mere hours, but of seven days., Written in the French Embassy in Constantinople., Gift of Marchesa de Viti de Marco (née Harriett Lathrop Dunham).
Autograph letter by Captain Daniel Roberts to John Barrow
Autograph letter by Captain Daniel Roberts to John Barrow
Explanation for a disputed flying of the pennant on Byron’s ‘Bolivar’ during a sail with Trelawny., Gift of Henry Cannon to the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association (KSMA), 21 February 1907.
Autograph letter by Captain Daniel Roberts to Lord Byron
Autograph letter by Captain Daniel Roberts to Lord Byron
The letter concerns the gift of clothes to the crew of the 'Bolivar'., Gift of Henry Cannon to the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association (KSMA), 21 February 1907.
Autograph letter by Captain Daniel Roberts to Lord High Admiral
Autograph letter by Captain Daniel Roberts to Lord High Admiral
In this letter Captain Roberts requests exemption from tonnage and anchorage taxes in Sardinian ports for 'Bolivar'., Gift of Henry Cannon to the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association (KSMA), 21 February 1907.
Autograph letter by Charles Cowden Clarke to Alexander Main
Autograph letter by Charles Cowden Clarke to Alexander Main
Purchased by the UK Committe of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association (KSMA), 1949.
Autograph letter by Charles Cowden Clarke to Alexander Main
Autograph letter by Charles Cowden Clarke to Alexander Main
Purchased by the UK Committe of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association (KSMA), 1949.
Autograph letter by Charles Cowden Clarke to Alexander Main
Autograph letter by Charles Cowden Clarke to Alexander Main
Purchased by the UK Committe of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association (KSMA), 1949., Letter accompanied by original envelope.
Autograph letter by Charles Cowden Clarke to Alexander Main
Autograph letter by Charles Cowden Clarke to Alexander Main
Continuation of letter numbered 5.25., Purchased by the UK Committe of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association (KSMA), 1949.

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