Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding Aid for the Booksellers' Correspondence and Letters Written by Women, ca. 1710-1931
1480
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Booksellers' Correspondence and Letters Written by Women
Date (inclusive): ca. 1710-1931
Collection number: 1480
Extent:
1 document box (.5 linear ft.)
Abstract: The collection is comprised of booksellers' letters, women's letters, and correspondence pertaining to Arwarton (Erwarton)
Estate in Suffolk, England. Letters and printed materials in the booksellers' correspondence (ca. 1710-1854) are both to and
from British booksellers, customers, authors, and others involved in the book production process. The women's correspondence
(ca. 1712-1931) includes letters from prominent British and French authors, social activists (particularly those involved
in the British women's suffrage movement), members of the nobility, and wives of prominent government officials. The letters
pertaining to Arwarton (or Erwarton) Estate in Suffolk, England (ca. 1754-1771) mainly concern financial transactions of the
estate.
Language: Finding aid is written in
Primarily English, some French and German.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Lawrence Clark Powell purchase, 1960.
Processed by Whitney Braun in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Kelley Wolfe Bachli,
2009.
[Identification of item], Booksellers' Correspondence and Letters Written by Women (Collection 1480). UCLA Library Special
Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
4232710
Letters in the collection range in date from 1710-1931. The booksellers' correspondence series, with letters to and from booksellers,
customers, authors, and others involved in print production, documents the British book industry in the eighteenth and first
half of the nineteenth century. The correspondence includes letters from Nichols & Co, the prominent London publishing firm;
Frances Mary Richardson Currer (1785-1861), one of Europe's foremost female book collectors; a paper with note (probably
from dealer) reading "W. Godwin's writing"; and the address portion of a letter to "Samuel Richardson, Printer" (presumably
the celebrated author).
The women's correspondence series includes letters from notable French and British authors, social activists, members of the
nobility, and wives of government officials. The collection includes materials probably from authors Mary Shelley (1797-1851),
Elizabeth Hamilton (ca. 1756-1816), and Catharine Macaulay (1731-1791); International PEN cofounder Catherine Amy Dawson Scott
(1865-1934); Nobel Peace Prize recipient Baroness Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914); and noted patron Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond,
Marquise du Deffand (1697-1780). Prominent social activists represented in the collection include Katharine Furse (1875-1952),
Ursula Mellor Bright (1835-1915), Louisa Twining (1820-1912), Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845), Gertrude von Petzold (1876-1952),
and a number of women's suffrage movement leaders, such as Charlotte Despard (1844-1939), Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847-1929),
and Martina G. Kramers (1863-1934). Items in the collection from prominent social figures include materials probably from
Princess Louise (1848-1939), daughter of Queen Victoria; collector Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (1715-1785);
Lady Anne Grenville (1772-1864), wife of Prime Minister William Grenville; the Marechale de Mac-Mahon (perhaps Elisabeth de
La Croix de Castries (1834-1900), wife of Patrice de Mac-Mahon, president of France); and Marie Adelaide Charlotte de Narbonne
de Rambuteau (1790-1856), granddaughter of Louis XV. The collection also includes bound manuscript letters to King Louis XV
from the women of the Abbaye Royale de Montmartre (dealer suggests connection of letters with Marie-Madeleine Adelaide de
Rochechouart, yet connection is unclear).
The last series of the collection includes letters and documents pertaining to the Arwarton (or Erwarton) Estate in Suffolk,
England. Most letters are written by or concerning Lady Martha Chedworth (1715-1775), co-heir of the estate and wife of John
Thynne Howe, the second Lord Chedworth. It is known that Ann Boleyn spent some of her childhood at Arwarton (Erwarton) Hall.
The collection is divided into booksellers' correspondence, women's letters, and documents pertaining to Arwarton (or Erwarton)
Estate in Suffolk, England. The booksellers' correspondence is comprised of letters and some printed materials (advertisements,
prospectuses) in English from approximately 1710-1854. Letters are both to and from booksellers, customers, authors, and others
involved in print production. Subjects include requests for books, bills, advertising, materials in booksellers' catalogues,
and printing and publishing methods and instructions.
The collection of women's letters, ranging in date from approximately 1712 to 1931 and written in English, French, and German,
includes manuscript letters from authors, many members of the nobility, religious figures, British women's suffrage movement
leaders, social activists, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner (Bertha von Suttner). Topics range from social visits and societal
news to literary transactions, the women's suffrage movement, religious matters, bills and financial matters, and requests
for funding. The series also includes a small number of printed materials (mainly biographical materials concerning the letter
writers), a postcard with portrait (of Bertha von Suttner) and a photograph postcard (from Clementine de Chaumont-Quitry,
Baronne de la Grange).
The documents pertaining to the Arwarton (or Erwarton) Estate include letters, notes, lists, and charts (in English) from
approximately 1754-1771 regarding income, expenses, financial transactions, leases, land values, and other matters involving
the estate. The majority of the documents are written by and/or concerning Lady Martha Chedworth.
Arranged in the following series:
- Booksellers' Correspondence
- Women's Letters>
- Documents Pertaining to Arwarton Estate
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Booksellers and bookselling--England--Correspondence.
Women--Correspondence.