Item 744 - Two items by Richard Porson

Identity area

Reference code

Add. MS a/744

Title

Two items by Richard Porson

Date(s)

  • 1787, n.d. (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

1 folded sheet and 1 single sheet.

Context area

Name of creator

(1759-1808)

Biographical history

Archival history

These items were purchased in 2019 from Richard Ford Ltd, dealers in books, printed ephemera, and manuscripts. There is no indication of the intervening provenance of the items.

Both have stubs from mounts attached to them, suggesting their removal from a bound volume. The pencil annotation on the letter was written later, as Porson only became a professor in 1792.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Richard Ford Ltd.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

A letter purporting to be from John Villette to Sir Busick Harwood on how to make money from the corpse of an executed man. Actually written by Richard Porson as satire. 'In the handwriting of Professor Porson. Evidently a joke' is annotated in pencil at the head.

With a handwritten Latin exercise, preceded by a line of Greek text. 'Porson' is annotated in ink at the head and '5' is annotated in pencil at the top of the stub.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

    Script of material

      Language and script notes

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      Finding aids

      Allied materials area

      Existence and location of originals

      Existence and location of copies

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      Alternative identifier(s)

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      Status

      Level of detail

      Dates of creation revision deletion

      Description created by I. David in 2025.

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          Accession area