Item 1 - Bound volume containing two letters from Thomas Babington Macaulay to his sister Margaret Cropper

1 vol., with '1' marked on the front.
From front: free endpaper and flyleaf, pp. 1-6, pp. 7-10 removed, pp. 11-45. Two letters, each of 7 folded sheets, tipped in between pp. 12-13 and pp. 25-26. A pasted in document has been removed at p. 28.
From back: pp. 1-9 removed, pp. 10-13, pp. 14-21 removed, pp. 22-31.

Note by Margaret Cropper, née Denman, to her son [Edward] Denman Cropper on free endpaper: 'I have done my best my very dear dear Boy to preserve this very interesting collection of letters, wh[ich] your dearest Father had carefully kept for many years - they will both by right, & by your Father's wish belong to you, & you will I am sure remember his wish that you should not separate or destroy them. God bless you my dear Denman - you be as good & truly excellent a man as your dear Father, & may you be spared the heavy trials he has had! - May you while young profit from your great advantages, & in time make yourself worthy of the celebrated men with whom your father was connected ie his Brother in Law L[or]d Macaulay - & his Father in law, yr Grandfather Denman. Your loving Mother M. C.'

The inside front cover is headed [again in Margaret Cropper's hand?] 'Letters from Lord Macaulay. - For E. D. Cropper from his Father', followed by a page index numbered 1-30 but left blank. The inside back cover is headed 'For E. D. Cropper' and 'Contents beginning this end'; a page index numbered 1-31 follows, and this one has several entries, including early autograph hymns by T. B. Macaulay, odes, 'squibs' and so on. Several of the following pages are also labelled to indicate contents; however, none of these documents are now present, and many pages have obviously been removed.

Margaret Cropper, née Denman, remarried in April 1879 (her husband Edward having died in 1877), which suggests that this book was put together before that date.