Letterbooks of outgoing correspondence : Correspondence c.1660-1730.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Notes:

AMDigital Reference:Add. MS 78439

British Library Add. MS 78439 is a box consisting of three manuscripts associated with Mary Evelyn, wife of the diarist John Evelyn. Pages in each manuscript measure approximately 197 x 160 mm. Manuscript 1 consists of fragments of an autograph letterbook of outgoing correspondence, compiled by Mary Evelyn. Fols 1-8 comprise a single gathering of 8 leaves, on which are transcribed 10 letters. The letters are all undated and most of the addressees are unspecified, but on internal evidence the British Library catalogue identifies the recipient of all but two as Evelyn's cousin, Sir Samuel Tuke, and dates them to the early 1660s. The one letter with a named addressee is headed 'To Sir Sam' - probably Tuke (fol.5v); while the two remaining letters are addressed 'To a brother' (fol.7r) and 'Madame' (fol.7v), respectively. The letterbook is accompanied by a bifolium (fols 9-10), on which are transcribed two more letters: one addressed to 'Brother', the other addressed to 'Dear Cousin' and dated 14 September 1671. 'Brother', both in the booklet and the bifolium, is most likely to denote Evelyn's brother-in-law, William Glanville, a regular correspondent of hers. Manuscript 2 (fols 11-30) is a fragmentary letterbook of Mary Evelyn's outgoing correspondence. It is not autograph, but consists of copies of fifteen letters transcribed by a later Mary Evelyn - the daughter of Mary and John Evelyn's grandson, Sir John - probably around 1730. The letters date from between 1658 and the early 1670s; recipients include Samuel Tuke, Elizabeth Viscountess Mordaunt, Susan Hungerford, and the Countess of Guildford. The manuscript lacks a cover, and several leaves have been excised. Manuscript 3 (fols 32-60, plus one endpaper) is another letterbook of Mary Evelyn's outgoing correspondence, in the hand of her great-granddaughter, Mary. Most of the letters are transcribed from Mary Evelyn's own copies in manuscript 1 of Add. MS 78439 and in Add. MS 78438. Recipients include Sir Samuel Tuke, Susan Hungerford, William Glanville, James Tyrell, Elizabeth Evelyn, and the younger Mary Evelyn. The manuscript is bound in a pink floral paper wrapper (foliated 31 and 62), and also appears to be incomplete: the first letter begins mid-sentence and is preceded by a stub. This box of manuscripts was formerly British Library Evelyn MS ME 11.