| Description | Signed, manuscript letters addressed 'Dear Sir' from Edw[ard] V[ernon] Utterson, Beldornie Tower, Ryde, I[sle] of W[ight] to James Maidment Esquire (c 1793-1879) [antiquary, lawyer and publisher].
/6396 Dated 13 March. Utterson sends 'a trifling production of ... [his] private press' having heard from a friend that Maidment may like it [presumably the 1841 reprint of the 1596 edition of Richard Lynche's, 'Diella: certaine sonnets' in which the letter is tipped in].
/6397 Dated 15 April. The address given on the reverse identifies the recipient as James Maidment Esquire, advocate, Edinburgh. Utterson writes enclosing a second book [presumably the 1841 reprint of Hannay's 'Songs and Sonnets' in which the letter is tipped in]. He regrets being unable to help with information regarding 'the "Widow Edyth"'; he comments on Maidment's lucky purchase of a 'curious miscellaneous volume ... windfalls at a reasonable price, rarely occur in our Southern Metropolis'; if Maidment writes to him over the next five weeks he should send to the Six Clerks Office, Chancery Lane'.
NB TO REQUEST THESE ITEMS PLEASE GIVE THE DETAILS OF THE BOOK WHICH THE LETTERS ARE TIPPED IN (see Physical Description) |
| Administrative History | Edward Vernon Utterson, c 1777-1856, antiquary and literary editor, was educated at Eton Collge and Trinity College, Cambridge. Having been admitted to Lincoln's Inn, London in October 1794, he was called to the Bar in February 1802. From 1815-1842 he was one of the Six Clerks in Chancery, working from the Six Clerks Office, Chancery Lane, London. He also edited and reprinted early works of English literature and founded the Beldornie Press. He was fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a member of the Roxburghe Club and the Athenaeum. In May 1803, he married Sarah Elizabeth Brown (?1782-1851) with whom he had several children; 'Tales of the Dead' translated from the French by [Sarah Utterson] was published in London in 1813. Utterson died in Brighton, 14 July 1856.
Source: Sherbo, Arthur. 'Utterson, Edward Vernon (bap. 1777, d 1856).' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: OUP, available at: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28039 (accessed 25 July 2014). |
| Custodial History | The full custodial history of the letters prior to their being added to Cadbury Research Library rare book collections is unknown. Probable previous ownership of the volumes in which they were found is indicated by both having armorial bookplates of James Maidment (1793-1879) and Francis Frederick Fox (1833-1915) pasted in on the front pastedown and flyleaf. Much of Maidment's extensive library was auctioned in 1880 by Thomas Chapman and Son, of Edinburgh, and it is possible that the volumes and letters changed hands at this point. Source: J. C. Hadden, ‘Maidment, James (bap 1793, d 1879)’, Rev Murray C. T. Simpson, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17801, accessed 24 July 2014] |