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Athenæum June 9th 1817.

My Dear Sir.

I am unwilling to lose any time in answering your obliging letter of the 2nd Inst., and in assuring you that I shall have great pleasure in executing your Commissions to the best of my ability;―the first relative to Mr Roscoe’s Catalogues I shall have no difficulty, as the three are in this Library with the prices and purchasers† names to each, if you will have the goodness to send me yours I will make them as complete as possible.―There is only one engraved portrait of Mr Roscoe, and that by no means a good one, there is also a small bust which is much worse, the best likeness is a terracotta Medallion, about nine inches in diameter, and shewing the head and neck in profile, it was executed by a person of the name of Gibson in this town, and owing to a similar cause is nearly as rare as the Miller halfpenny, one is offered me for a guinea, and if you wish me to purchase it I will thank you to inform me. I shall be very happy to contribute all in my power to your stock of Autographs, and will lose no opportunity of doing so. I have not been so fortunate as to see Mr Martin since I was favoured with your letter, but will mention it to him as soon as I see him.―I am very much obliged by your kind offer of Etchings and shall be very grateful for any you have to spare, which will serve either to illustrate my few works on Topography, or the Walls of my Parlour; should the excellent portraits by Mr Phillips be engraved I should be very happy to receive them. I have frequently regretted that the hasty manner in which I left Yarmouth, prevented my accepting the offer you so repeatedly made of giving me etchings, this regret however is now removed by your recent renewal of that offer.―I have had several interviews with Mr Roscoe, and every one has increased my respect for that estimable man, and I hardly know which to admire most in him, {1} the fortitude with which he bears the {2} deprivation of one of the finest collections in the possession of any individual, or that rigid sense of honour which influenced him in making so great a sacrifice. Mrs Burrell desires me to express her thanks united with mine for your kind congratulations and good wishes, and with best respects to Mrs Turner and family

I remain Dear Sir
Yours most respectfully
George Burrell

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{1} Comma supplied. The preceding word is at the end of a line.

{2} Most of this word was torn away with the seal.

Transcript

Athenæum 8th Jany 1818

Dear Sir.

As Mr Roscoe has just called upon me to know if I wished to send any thing to you by a parcel he is going to forward to Sir James Smith, I avail myself of the opportunity to send you the Bust and Catalogues. I would advise you not to have the Catalogue of Mr R’s books bound at present, as I have lately learnt there was an appendix printed, which has become more scarce than the Catalogue, and which Mr Roscoe tells me he has some idea of reprinting, it contains about a sheet. You will, most probably, receive with this, the address delivered by Mr Roscoe, at the opening of the Royal Institution in this town, I hope you will derive as much gratification at reading it, as I did on hearing it, I wish we had more such men among us, but the Journal and Ledger are more read than any other description of books. You will perceive by the Catalogue, that ours is a good library, so far as it goes, and we have many very valuable works, but very few have been purchased lately, at the unfortunate failure of Mr Roscoe, we had in their hands a balance of nearly £800, this has cramped us sadly, we have received a dividend of 3s/4d, and I was publicly told, we must think ourselves lucky if we ever get another. The expences of our News Room, which is supplied with all the London, most of the provincial, and many foreign Newspapers, magazines &c &c. were in the last year nearly six hundred pounds. Our annual Income is £1312..10..—so that when the Expences of the Newsroom, the general expences of the Institution;—Salaries, Taxes &c. are deducted, we have very little remaining to purchase books with, and even that “little” is objected to, by the Commercial and Political Quidnuncs, whose numbers considerably exceed those of the Bibliomaniacs. I regret I have not been able to see Mr Martin respecting the autographs, but as soon as I do, I will not forget to mention them to him. As I have several times mentioned Mr Roscoes† portrait to him (Mr R.) I conclude he will inform you about it, in the letter he intends writing to you. Most sincerely wish {1} you, Mrs Turner, and family the Compliments of the Season

I remain Dear Sir | Yours sincerely | and respectfully
Geo Burrell.

I have just heard from good authority that the second Dividend of Messrs Roscoes will be paid in March, and not an Inch of the landed property has been disposed of. At the time of their failure, Mr Roscoe’s Coalmine, was inserted in the Schedule at £20000, but the Creditors thinking it not worth so much, two Engineers were employed to value it, who declared it worth at least £90000 and one of the finest Mines in Great Britain

[Direction:] Dawson Turner Esq | Yarmouth.

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No marks of posting.

{1} Probably a slip for ‘wishing’.

Transcript

Liverpool, 18th May 1817.

My Dear Sir,

You will have thought me quite inexcusable in not sooner acknowledging your obliging Letter by Mr Martin, & thanking you for the beautiful Etchings by Mrs Turner, which I assure you form a very important feature in my little collection, & from their taste, spirit, & variety, are highly admired by my friends. I may indeed most truly say that my present assemblage of books &c, is more precious to me than ever; as it almost intirely† consists of those memorials of regard & affection which serve to console me under every vexation.—You will however believe me, when I assure you that the interval that has passed since I heard from you, has been one of the most anxious & trying periods of my life. The depressed state of the times has added inconceivably to our difficulties, particularly in preventing our selling any part of our real Estates; so that a more unfortunate combination of circumstances could scarcely have occurred.—Thro’ all this we have however fought our way; & been enabled to make good our engagem[en]ts. This has been in a great degree effected by the aid of our Collieries, which are daily becoming more productive, & wou’d I believe, alone be found ultimately sufficient for the payment of all our debts. The publicity of these circumstances has restored us to a considerable degree of public confidence, & had a favourable effect on our business, which we still carry on with satisfaction & advantage. I shou’d not have ventured to have troubled you at such a length on this subject, but from your kind enquiries, & the very friendly interest which, from the first, you have taken in these concerns; which I can truly say appear to me, & I believe to others, in a much more favourable light than they did at this time last year, altho it is impossible to divest oneself of anxiety till the object is finally obtained—

I have seen Mr Burrell who has been elected Librarian of our Athenæum, which office he appears to me to be calculated to fill in a very superior manner, & I am glad to find he seems highly pleased with his new situation—We have now a much more important undertaking on hand, under the name of the Liverpool Institution, of which I hope shortly to send you a new Report which is now preparing.—You will also be glad to hear that a Botanic Garden by subscription is likely to be soon established at Glasgow, on a handsome scale. {1} I grieve at the interruptions I have had in binding Mr Coke’s MSS. which are now however once more in good train. Adieu my Dear Sir—Remember me most kindly & respectfully to Mrs Turner, & believe me ever, Your obliged & affectionate friend

W: Roscoe.

[Direction:] Dawson Turner Esq[ui]r[e] | Yarmouth

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Postmarked at Liverpool on 17 May 1817. The date of the postmark, if correct, indicates that the writer misdated the letter. Letters omitted from words abbreviated by superscript letters have been supplied in square brackets.

{1} A few words in this sentence and the next were torn away with the seal, and have been supplied by Turner.

† Sic.

(Printed by Smith & Galway. Directed to Dawson Turner at Yarmouth, and postmarked at Liverpool on 12 Mar.)