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

(The signature has been cut off.)

Undated. Postmarked 12 June 1821.

Includes two etchings.

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.

Transcript

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.

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