Horsham - Could WW ascertain from Mr Pricket [Marmaduke Prickett] what his views are as to a curacy. Obviously if he decides to sit for a fellowship again there is an end to the matter, but if not would he be interested in HJR's curacy? He has been ill and reading Napier's [William F. P. Napier] 'Peninsular War': 'What for a man! as my friends the Germans say - A coldblooded, long headed, Scotch Whig! What a combination of detestables! The cold admission that the war was unjust - the regular determination to defend every French act of atrocity as necessary severity - and to systematize the outbreakings of Spanish indignities as mere savage ferocity - the resolute and cold hearted depreciation of all the heroic efforts of the Spaniards at the beginning - and (with all their defects) their unbroken resolution and constant rallying under defeat'. Napier 'is a Scotchman writing for the Duke of Wellington and therefore determined to make him everything and the Spaniards nothing'. HJR would like to know what Charles W. Le Bas is preaching about: 'I envy you all being able to hear him'. HJR expects 'Eastlake [Charles Lock Eastlake] the painter here everyday and wish you could meet him'.
On the spine is stamped ‘Philobiblon Society’ and, at the foot, ‘1854 | 1859.’ The contents are mainly minutes of meetings of the Society. These meetings were usually held at the residence of one or other of the members, and the minutes were usually written up by the host. Each set of minutes typically records the date and place of the meeting, followed by a description of books and other articles exhibited. Additions were sometimes made by one of the secretaries.
In the list below, only the first page of each item is indicated. The addresses are in London unless indicated otherwise. The member associated with each address is identified only on its first occurrence.
(Loose after the free endpaper.) Note on Society members, by Lord Houghton.
p. vii: Printed title: ‘Transactions of the Philobiblon Society 1854’.
p. ix: Printed section title: ‘Rules.’
p. 1: Printed rules.
p. 8a: Printed section title: ‘Members.’
p. 9: Signatures of members.
p. 20a: Printed section title: ‘Meetings.’
p. 21: Minutes of a meeting on 25 Mar. 1854 at 128 Park Street, Grosvenor Square (residence of William Stirling).
p. 25: Minutes of a meeting on 29 Apr. 1854 at 123 Park Street, Grosvenor Square (residence of Richard Ford).
p. 29: Minutes of a meeting on 13 May 1854 at 59 Grosvenor Street (residence of the Earl of Gosford).
p. 33: Minutes of a meeting on 27 May 1854 at Orleans House, Twickenham (the residence of the Duke of Aumale).
p. 47: Minutes of a meeting on 9 June 1854 at 50 Portland Place (the residence of Sylvain Van de Weyer).
p. 55: Minutes of a meeting on 24 June 1854 at the Lodge, Eton College (the residence of Edward Craven Hawtrey).
p. 59: Memorandum of alterations to the rules of the Society.
p. 61: Minutes of a meeting on 8 July 1854 at 16 Upper Brook Street (the residence of Richard Monckton Milnes).
p. 71: Minutes of a meeting on 3 Feb. 1855 at the Deanery, St Paul’s (the residence of H. H. Milman).
p. 73: Minutes of a meeting on 3 Mar. 1855 at 50 Albemarle Street (the residence of John Murray).
p. 79: Copy of a letter from Henry Ellis to R. Monckton Milnes, 14 Mar. 1855. British Museum.—Acknowledges the receipt of the first volume of the Society’s Miscellanies, and thanks them for it.
p. 80: Copy of a letter from Bulkeley Bandinel to R. Monckton Milnes, 26 Mar. 1855. (Bodleian Library, Oxford.)—Acknowledges the receipt of the first volume of the Society’s Miscellanies, and thanks them for it.
p. 82: Minutes of a meeting on 31 Mar. 1855 at 36 Eaton Place (the residence of Sir Erskine Perry).
p. 89: Minutes of a meeting on 28 Apr. 1855 at Bridgewater House (the residence of the Earl of Ellesmere).
p. 93: Minutes of a meeting on Saturday, — May 1855, at Stoke Park, near Slough (the residence of Henry Labouchere).
p. 96: Minutes of a meeting on 30 June 1855 at Orleans House, Twickenham.
p. 100: Minutes of a meeting on 21 July 1855 at (1) Addison Road, Kensington (the residence of Charles Richard Fox).
p. 120: Minutes of a meeting on 10 Nov. 1855 at 16 Upper Brook Street.
p. 127: Minutes of a meeting on 23 Feb. 1856 at 128 Park Street, Grosvenor Square.
p. 135: Printed leaves containing the rules of the Society and a list of its members for 1855–6.
p. 149: Minutes of a meeting on 15 Mar. 1856 at 8 Sussex Square (the residence of Thomas Longman).
p. 157: Minutes of a meeting on 26 Apr. 1856 at 50 Portland Place.
p. 161: Minutes of a meeting on 17 May 1856 at 7 Grafton Street (the residence of Robert Curzon).
p. 169: Minutes of a meeting on 7 June 1856 at Newstead, Wimbledon Park (the residence of John Murray).
p. 171: Minutes of a meeting on 21 June 1856 at Orleans House, Twickenham.
p. 175: Minutes of a meeting on 14 Feb. 1857 at the Deanery, St Paul’s.
p. 179: Minutes of a meeting on 25 Apr. 1857 at the Clarendon Hotel.
p. 204: Minutes of a meeting on 23 June 1857 at 50 Portland Place.
p. 209: Minutes of a meeting on 30 June 1857 at Dufferin Lodge, Highgate (the residence of Lord Dufferin).
(Dated Saturday, 20 June 1857, by mistake.)
p. 212: Minutes of a meeting on 18 July 1857 at Orleans House, Twickenham.
p. 216: Minutes of a meeting on 27 Feb. 1858 at the Deanery, St Paul’s.
p. 219: Minutes of a meeting on 20 Mar. 1858 at 7 Fitzroy Square (the residence of Sir Charles Eastlake).
p. 222: Minutes of a meeting on 8 May 1858 at Arklow House, Connaught Place (the residence of Alexander Beresford Hope).
p. 224: Minutes of a meeting on 22 May 1858 at 45 Berkeley Square (the residence of the Earl of Powis).
p. 231: Minutes of a meeting on 26 June 1858 at 18 Eaton Terrace (the residence of Evelyn Philip Shirley).
p. 235: Minutes of a meeting on 10 July 1858 (at 16 Upper Brook Street).
The place of meeting is identified simply as ‘the house of Mr Monckton Milnes’.
p. 243: Minutes of a meeting on 19 Mar. 1859 at 50 Portland Place.
p. 245: Minutes of a meeting on 25 June 1859 at Newstead, Wimbledon Park.
p. 247: Minutes of a meeting on 23 July 1859 at Orleans House, Twickenham.
Philobiblon Society7 Fitzroy Square, (London).—She and her husband are grateful for Mr Milnes’s tribute to Miss Berry (i.e. his poem on her funeral).
—————
Transcript
7. Fitzroy Square
Dec[embe]r 2. 1852.
Dear Mrs Milnes
Instead of trusting to the slender chance of finding you at home on occasion of a call I venture to write & tell you how grateful Sir Cha[rle]s & I feel, in company with many others, to Mr Milnes for his most beautiful tribute to the venerated Miss Berry.
He has spoken the language of all our hearts, & I feel convinced that each who knew Miss Berry must feel as if a sweet & sacred duty had been fulfilled for them—& fulfilled exactly as each could wish—& as none other could have done—Pray tell Mr. Milnes this—truly my heart seems lightened by his lines—
Hoping that yourself & your little daughter are well whose christening I was sorry not to be able to congratulate you on I beg to remain
Your’s truly
Eliz. Eastlake