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General note

The volumes in this series were made up and bound in a uniform style during Turner’s lifetime. Since the contents of the first volume include a transcript of an obituary of September 1833 (No. 116a), this must have taken place some time after that date. Most of the volumes contain a printed title-leaf and an index, headed ‘Contents’, arranged in alphabetical order of the correspondents’ names. The information in the indexes is not always complete or correct. Some of the volumes have collections of seal impressions mounted behind a hinged panel inside the front cover. The printed titles all begin, ‘LETTERS | CHIEFLY | ON LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS, | ADDRESSED TO | DAWSON TURNER, | DURING THE YEAR’, the relevant year or period being printed below, with the following epigram: ‘Quemnam ego thesaurum amicorum epistolis permutare vellem? Epistolae sunt amicorum absentium colloquia; nec absentes modo per has adsunt, sed et mortui resuscitantur. Longo tamen post tempore legentibus afferunt amari lugubrisque multum, quamvis dulcedine non sine mira: per coemeterium amicorum bustis repletum, sed et violas rosasque ubique redolens, incedere videmur. AUCT. ANON.’ (‘What riches, indeed, would I accept in exchange for my friends’ letters? Letters are the conversations of absent friends; by their means not only are those who are absent made present, but those who are dead are raised to life again. Nonetheless, with the passage of time they bring us as we read them many feelings of bitterness and melancholy—yet not without a wonderful sweetness: we seem to pass through a cemetery filled with the busts of friends, yet with everywhere the scent of violets and roses.—Anonymous author.’ Later volumes have ‘SCRIPT. INCERT.’ in place of ‘AUCT. ANON.’) The phrase ‘amicorum colloquia absentium’ occurs in Cicero’s Second Philippic, but the anonymous author or unknown writer is probably Turner himself.

Inside the front cover of each volume is a printed bookplate bearing the following text: ‘BIBLIOTHECAE | COLL. SANCT. ET INDIV. TRIN. CANTAB. | DONAVIT | ELEANORA JOANNA JACOBSON, | DAWSONI TURNER FILIA, | ET | GULIELMI EPISCOPI CESTRENSIS VIDUA. | A.D. 1890.’ (‘Given to the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in Cambridge by Eleanor Jane Jacobson, daughter of Dawson Turner and widow of William, Bishop of Chester. A.D. 1890.’)

Note on the present volume

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–DEC. | 1790–1801’. There are two title-leaves, one for the years 1790–9 and one for the years 1800–1, and two corresponding indexes. Turner has marked many of the letters with the date of his reply, and added pencil dates at the head of most of the letters which are either undated or dated at the end.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–DEC. | 1812–1813’. See below for descriptions of the contents. Turner has marked some of the letters with the date of reply. The contents include one letter (No. 8) written in 1811 and another (No. 156) partly written in 1814.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–DEC. | 1814–1815’. Turner has marked some of the letters with the date of reply.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–DEC. | 1816’.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–JUNE | 1817’.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JUL.–DEC. | 1817’.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–JUNE | 1818’.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JUL.–DEC. | 1818’.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–JUNE | 1819’.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–JUNE | 1820’. The contents are described individually.

On the spine is stamped ‘JAN.–DEC. | 1802–1803’. There are two title-leaves, one for each year, but only one index. Turner has marked many of the letters with the date of his reply, and added pencil dates at the head of most of the letters which are either undated or dated at the end. The book contains one letter from 1801 (No. 50).

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JUL.–DEC. | 1820’. The contents are described individually.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–JUNE. | 1821’. The binder’s label of Diboll & Son, bookbinders, Howard St, Yarmouth, is pasted to the front pastedown. The contents are described individually.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JUL.–DEC | 1821’. The binder’s label of Diboll & Son, bookbinders, of Howard Street, Yarmouth, is pasted to the front pastedown. On the back of the front flyleaf is written: ‘The Index in the 1st Part of the year 1821 necessarily includes he Letters which are bound in the present Volume, as well as those in the preceding one.’ The contents are described individually.

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.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JUL.–DEC. | 1824’. See below for a description of the contents.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–DEC. | 1804–1805’. There are two title-leaves, one for each year, but only one index. Turner has marked many of the letters with the date of his reply, and added pencil dates at the head of most of the letters which are either undated or dated at the end. The volume contains one letter from 1802 (No. 113) and one from 1806 (No. 187).

See the individual descriptions. On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–DEC. | 1806’. There is a title-leaf and an index. Turner has marked many of the letters with the date of his reply. The volume contains two letters from 1807 (Nos. 4 and 8), and one which was begun in 1806 but not completed till 1808 (No. 148).

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–DEC. | 1807’. Turner has marked many of the letters with the date of his reply. The volume contains one letter (No. 119) which is probably from 1801.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–DEC. | 1808’. Turner has marked many of the letters with the date of his reply. The contents include one letter (No. 137) partly written in 1809.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–DEC. | 1809’. Turner has marked many of the letters with the date of reply.

On the spine is stamped ‘CORRESPONDENCE | JAN.–DEC. | 1810’. Turner has marked some of the letters with the date of reply. Turner has marked some of the letters with the date of reply. The volume contains two letters (Nos. 62 and 83) from 1809.