Item 1.73 - Botanical notes and poems by George Crabbe

1 vol.

Note pasted to inside front cover: 'This volume, which formerly belonged to Crabbe the poet, was given to the Library by Edward Fitzgerald, M.A. April, 1871.’

On the fly-leaf are some lines of poetry partly pencilled and then inked over, partly in ink originally. On the fly-leaves at the other end are further fragments in ink and pencil, and one is headed: ‘Plan of a Poem. The Seasons. | Spring. The Visitation, &c.’ Other verses in pencil are on blank pages in the body of the volume, which consists of botanical notes, predominantly on fungi. At the other end is the date 23 Sept. 1793.

Other notebooks by Crabbe, several on botanical subjects, at Cambridge University Library, MS Add.4190-4192, 4194, 4422-4426.

For a discussion of Crabbe's interest in botany, see Mahood M. M. (2008), 'Crabbe’s slimy mallows and suffocated clover', The Poet as Botanist pp. 82-111.. Cambridge University Press.