Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- July–Dec. 1817 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 volume, measuring about 27 x 24 x 8 cm, containing a title-leaf, an index, and 170 letters and other papers pasted onto guards. There is a stiff fly-leaf at the front and another at the back. Half-bound in light-brown leather and marbled paper.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Dawson Turner was born and spent much of his life at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. He was admitted as an undergraduate at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1793, but returned to Yarmouth before graduating, in order to take his place in the family banking business.
For some years Turner's chief interest was botany, particularly mosses, and he published several works on the subject and corresponded with many of the notable botanists of his day. In later life he concentrated on antiquarian pursuits, amassing a valuable collection of historical documents and autographs, as well as a substantial library which was eventually dispersed in a series of sales. He was a Fellow of various learned bodies, including the Royal Society, the Linnaean Society, and the Society of Antiquaries.
In 1796 Turner married Mary Palgrave, by whom he had eight surviving children. Mary Turner and her daughters were talented amateur artists; they were tutored in drawing by John Sell Cotman and also mastered the arts of etching and lithography. Between them they produced a significant number of sketches and prints, especially portraits and architectural studies, examples of which were often used by their father to embellish his books.
Repository
Archival history
See the general note under O.13.1. The following letters were removed from the volume before it came to the Library. Their current locations, where known, are shown in brackets.
Letter from Hudson Gurney, 4 July (TURN III A10/14).
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 6 July.
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 12 July.
Letter from Hudson Gurney, 14 July (TURN III A10/15).
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 18 July.
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 22 July.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 23 July.
Letter from Hudson Gurney, 25 July (TURN III A10/16).
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 3 Aug.
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 11 Aug.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 31 Aug.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 9 Oct.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 2 Nov.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 11 Nov.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 20 Nov.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 2 Dec.
Letter from Hudson Gurney, 5 Dec. (TURN III A10/17).
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 23 Dec.
Letter from Hudson Gurney, undated.
The undated letter from Gurney is listed in the indexes after that of 5 Dec. The General Index and the Index in O.13.13 list only one letter of 23 July from Hooker; the Index in the present volume lists two, in different places, probably by mistake.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JUL.–DEC. | 1817’.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The documents are numbered in the order in which they stand. In two cases different numbers were mistakenly given to parts of the same document when the contents were originally numbered. The superfluous numbers (Nos. 61 and 97) are now marked ‘Number not used’.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- French
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Seven loose documents or parts of documents (Nos. 13, 24, 28, 109, and 125, and parts of Nos. 139 and 147) have been removed from the volume for safe-keeping.
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Existence and location of copies
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This description was created by A. C. Green in 2021.