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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

―――――

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

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

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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’.

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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.)

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Liverpool 28th Decem[be]r 1817.

Dear Sir.

I feel great regret at not having forwarded to you Mr Roscoe’s catalogues, which have been finished a long time, but detained in expectation that a vessel would sail from hence to Yarmouth, by which I could have sent them. I am going to send a parcel to my father (viâ London) in the course of a fortnight and shall enclose them with the medallion of Mr Roscoe, and a Catalogue of our Library; I shall request my father to forward the parcel to you by coach as soon as he receives it, and by these means you will get it much earlier than if it were sent by sea, as the parcel you sent me in the summer was two months in reaching me. I have made the Catalogues as complete as possible, and shall be most happy to do any thing else in my power for you. The Catalogue of the Athenæum Library is now 15 years old, and I hope soon to have another, you will not therefore consider the one I shall send you as a “correct report;” there having been 4000 volumes added since it was printed. In your catalogue of Mr Roscoe’s books, you will see a great many articles with the letter A prefixed, I have done this in consequence of the following circumstance. At the auction, a purse was formed by a number of gentlemen, for the purpose of purchasing some books, and presenting them to Mr Roscoe. A selection was made of those marked A in the catalogue; 220 volumes in number, and purchased for about £300, a sum infinitely below their value; but as the circumstances under which they were bought, were pretty well known there was but little competition. When their intention was made known to Mr Roscoe, he gratefully but firmly declined receiving them, unless he was allowed to pay for them the money they had cost. This, of course, was not agreed to; and Mr R. then stated it as his wish that the books should be presented to the Athenæum; {1} this was finally agreed upon;—a very handsome case has been made to contain them, and the different works published by Mr R. and given by him to this Institution and the whole termed the “Roscoe collection.”

I am now about to mention a subject, which I cannot think of but with great pain, when I consider the many and great obligations you have already conferred on me. I allude to the Bill coming due in March for twenty pounds, and which I very much fear I shall be unable to provide for. When I came here, I had only fifty pounds, and the expences I naturally incurred at commencing housekeeping, and the prospect of an increase of family, which I may look for about that time, with the expences attended upon it;—have and will make such demands upon my income as to render it a matter of great inconvenience, if not impossibility.—It is on this account, my Dear Sir, I make the request and believe me I feel much shame in doing it that you will withhold the Bill, till my means will better enable me to take it up, than they will when it becomes due. I have great reason to suppose that my income in the next year will be larger than the present, as I hope to increase it by the arrangement of several libraries, and by receiving some other appointment which I could hold together with this;—as all the Proprietors of the Athenæum to whom I am at present known, treat me with the greatest respect, and many of them have made voluntary offers to serve me, whenever an opportunity may occur. I will not mention any time for the bill to be withheld, but leave that entirely to you, considering myself of course accountable for any interest which may occur upon it. As I feel very considerable anxiety and uneasiness on this subject, I shall feel very much obliged by your writing me respecting it as early as convenient.—You have, doubtless, seen the Bibliographical Decameron, {1} a fine copy of it has been given to me by the Bookseller to this Institution. It is a very splendid, and I think not a dear work; in a letter to Mr Roscoe, Mr Dibdin says it has cost him 5000 guineas. I think it might have been more generalized, as your Library will afford specimens of “bibliopegistic” excellence, not surpassed by any London binder, and Jones our bookbinder, who has been, and is engaged in binding many of Mr Coke’s valuable manuscripts, beats Lewis hollow. I have seen a copy of the Decameron bound by Lewis, which so far from being superior to, is absolutely worse than many common specimens of country binding. I most heartily wish Mrs Turner and yourself may enjoy much pleasure in your journey to the Classic land, you will I have no doubt, pick up many rare articles. I will take the earliest opportunity of speaking to Mr Roscoe about his portrait, and will also remind Mr Martin of the autographs, both which I will endeavour to procure and send you with the Catalogues. I beg that you will present my best respects to Mrs Turner and your family, and to Mr Sparrow, whose kind attention to me I ever most gratefully remember, and believe me Dear Sir

Yours most respectfull and sincerely
Geo Burrell.

If you should ever want any engravings to be cut in wood, I can recommend a very able artist to you in my assistant librarian, I think Mr Roscoe has sent you one of his specimens in Lord Nelson’s monument, and by the parcel, I will send you some more of his doing.—

[Direction:] Dawson Turner Esq. | Yarmouth.

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Postmarked at Liverpool, 29 Dec. 1817, and marked with the postage charge ‘1/1’. Letters omitted from words abbreviated by superscript letters have been supplied in square brackets.

{1} Semi-colon supplied. The preceding word is at the end of a line.

{2} The Bibliographical Decameron, or Ten Days’ Pleasant Discourse upon Illuminated Manuscripts and Subjects connected with Early Engraving, Typography, and Bibliography, by T. F. Dibdin (3 vols, 1817), published for the author by W. Bulmer and Co.

Transcript

Liverpool Jan[uar]y 15. 1818.

My Dear Sir.

I hardly know how to express in adequate terms my sensations on receiving your very friendly letter, and if upon former occasions I have not known how to address you, what must I now do, when the weight of obligation is increased by an act of generosity as great as it was unexpected. I feel a conviction that your letter demanded an earlier notice, but although I have frequently begun a reply, I could never sufficiently master my feelings as to be able to conclude it, and though I am now renewing the attempt, the same obstacles present themselves, and I feel the inability of any language to thank you as I ought, but believe me, my dear Sir, although my tongue expresses but little, or my pen continue un-employed, my heart is filled with a gratitude which nothing can diminish, nor the most protracted period of human life destroy.—I can only offer you, the most sincere and grateful thanks of two beings, placed by you in a comfortable and respectable situation, who acknowledge with gratitude how large a portion of their present happiness is derived from you, and whose minds you have now restored to tranquility† from a state of severe and oppressive anxiety;—at the same time, be assured, that should my circumstances ever become more prosperous than they now are, I will seize the earliest opportunity of discharging that part of the debt it will be possible for me to repay.—Our thanks are also due to you, for the very excellent advice you are kind enough to give us, and I assure you, it is in perfect conformity to the plan we had adopted, and which we are resolutely determined to adhere to. Since we have been in Liverpool, we have not incurred a single debt, nor do we intend it; our Income thought small, is certain, and no temptation shall induce us to exceed it. I am blest with an excellent and invaluable wife whose disposition would lead her to oppose me, were I to entertain any extravagant or expensive ideas. I am gradually increasing my acquaintance with the Proprietors who treat me with great respect, and I may say with great truth my situation is much more comfortable than I had any reason to suppose it would be.—I did not receive your letter till the day after I had given the parcel to Mr Roscoe, which I hope you have by this time received safe. I have requested my brother to forward to you a copy of the Charities of Thetford, and am sorry it is not better worth your acceptance; my father has repeatedly expressed a desire to see you, and shew you his curiosities, and I am sure he would have great pleasure in so doing; he is a singular character, but I find that distance and seperation† have restored to his mind those feelings of parental affection which I once feared he had entirely forgotten. I enclose your autographs of Dr Currie and Gilbert Wakefield; the father of Mr Koster, whom I know, is not in Town, but as soon as he returns I will procure an autograph of his son for you. Should you have any duplicate autographs which will serve to illustrate the Decameron, I should be much obliged to you for them, and I will do all in my power to collect for you. The etchings you were so good as to give me in the summer have been much admired by several of my friends, could you favour me with those of Sir Jos. Banks and Mr Miller, those you gave me I have parted with, and they would come very well into the Decameron. I enclose you two or three specimens of Mr Clements’s engraving, he is a steady deserving young man, but his abilities require a large sphere of action, and better encouragement than the fine arts receive in Liverpool. At your leisure I hope you will occasionally favour me with a letter, and with my best respects to Mrs Turner and family

I remain Dear Sir | Yours most gratefully and truly
Geo Burrell—

If the Catalogues meet your approbation I hope you will soon employ me again, in a similar, or in any other manner.

[Direction:] Dawson Turner Esq | Yarmouth.

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No marks of posting. Letters missing from a word abbreviated by a superscript letter have been supplied in square brackets.

{1} Burrell’s Account of the Gifts and Legacies that have been given and bequeathed to Charitable and Public Uses in Thetford, published in 1809.

† Sic.

(The signature has been cut off.)

(Transcript by Turner. At the head is written, ‘The original of this letter is among Autographs, Series A.’)