Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- Jan.–June 1824 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 volume, measuring about 26 x 22 x 8 cm, containing one title-leaf, an index, and 119 letters and other papers pasted onto guards, with four blank leaves after the index. There is a stiff flyleaf at the front and another at the back. Various seals removed from letters have been embedded in the inside of the front and back covers, behind flaps. 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 In later life he concentrated on antiquarian pursuits, amassing a valuable collection of historical documents and autographs, as well as a substantial library which was eventually dispersed in a series of sales.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 documents were removed from the volume before it came to the library. Their current locations are shown in brackets:
Letter from Mary Anne Turner to Dawson Turner, 12 Jan. 1824. (TURN III/A/34/1.)
Letter from Mary Anne Turner to Dawson Turner, 13 July 1824. (TURN III/A/34/2.)
Letter from Mary Anne Turner to Dawson Turner, 12 Aug. 1824. (TURN III/A/34/3.)
Letter from Elizabeth Palgrave to Dawson Turner, 22 Jan. 1824. (TURN III/A/21/29.)
Letter from Elizabeth Palgrave and Mary Turner to Dawson Turner, 20 Mar. 1824. (TURN III/A/21/29.)
Letter from Elizabeth Palgrave to Dawson Turner, 9 Apr. 1824. (TURN III/A/21/31.)
Letter from Elizabeth Palgrave to Dawson Turner, 13 May 1824. (TURN III/21/32.)
Letter from Elizabeth Palgrave to Dawson Turner, 1 June 1824. (TURN III/A/21/33.)
Letter from Mary Turner to Dawson Turner and Hannah Sarah Turner, 11 Mar. 1824. (TURN III/A/33/5.)
Letter from Mary Turner and Mary Anne Turner to Dawson Turner, and from Harriet Turner to Hannah Sarah Turner, 25 Mar. 1824. (TURN III/A/33/7.)
Letter from Mary Turner and Hannah Sarah Turner to Dawson Turner, c. 30 June 1824 (TURN III/A/33/8.)
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
On the spine is stamped ‘Correspondence | JAN.–JUNE. | 1824’ and ‘SEALS, A-L.’. See below for descriptions of the contents. The index corresponds to both volumes for the year 1824. It therefore also serves as the index for the letters bound in O.13.28. Dawson Turner has marked many of the letters with the date of reply in ink, and has added pencil dates at the head of most of the letters which are either undated or dated at the end.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The documents are numbered in the order in which they stand. Nos. 22a, 33a, 41a, 56a, 60a, 64a, 64b, 64c, 75a, 82a, and 105a have been inserted as these items were not originally assigned numbers. In one case different numbers were mistakenly given to parts of the same document when the contents were originally numbered. The superfluous number (No. 27) is now marked ‘Number not used’.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- French
- German
Script of material
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Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
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Notes area
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Dates of creation revision deletion
This description was created by A. C. Green in 2021 and revised with further information by I. David in 2024.