Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1811 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 volume, measuring about 27 x 24 x 6 cm, containing a title-leaf, an index, four blank leaves, and 107 letters and other papers pasted onto guards. The volume also contains a number of botanical specimens (see Nos. 35, 48a, 61, 83, and 85a). 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 In later life he concentrated on antiquarian pursuits, amassing a valuable collection of historical documents and autographs, as well as a substantial library which was eventually dispersed in a series of sales.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 (NRO = Norfolk Record Office).
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 10 Feb. 1811.
Letter from Hudson Gurney, 20 Apr. 1811 (TURN II K1/13).
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 5 June 1811.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 24 June 1811.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 4 July 1811.
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 9 July 1811 (NRO, MC 2487/4).
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 20 July 1811.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 25 July 1811.
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 31 July 1811 (NRO, MC 2487/5).
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 9 Aug. 1811.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 21 Aug. 1811.
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 25 Aug. 1811 (NRO, MC 2487/6).
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 15 Sept. 1811.
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 20 Sept. 1811 (NRO, MC 2487/7).
Copy of a letter from W. J. Hooker, 3 Oct. 1811.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 8 Oct. 1811.
Letter from Hudson Gurney, 18 Oct. 1811 (TURN II K1/14).
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 1 Nov. 1811.
Letter from Hudson Gurney, 28 Nov. 1811 (TURN II K1/15).
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 28 Nov. 1811.
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 11 Dec. 1811.
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 17–18 Dec. 1811 (NRO, MC 2487/9).
Letter from W. J. Hooker, 19 Dec. 1811.
The volume Index and the General Index (O.14.51) also refer to the following four items, which were probably also removed from the volume, though their original positions have not been identified:
Letter from Elizabeth Turner (Dawson Turner’s daughter), 30 Aug. 1811 (TURN III A20/1).
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 6 Dec. 1811 (NRO, MC 2487/8).
Letter from J. S. Cotman, 1811 (NRO, MC 2487/9).
Letter from Francis Turner, 1811.
The third and fourth of these items are undated in both indexes, but the former is listed between letters of 6 and 17 Dec.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–DEC. | 1811’. Turner has marked some of the letters with the date of reply. The contents include one letter (No. 52) written in 1810.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The documents are numbered in the order in which they stand.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
One loose document, No. 95, has been removed from the volume for safe-keeping, as has a small parchment bookmark found in it.
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Preferred form of reference
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
This description was created by A. C. Green in 2021.