Finding Aid for the William Roscoe Collection 1774-1887, undated

Series 1. Correspondence 1796-1833, 1887, undated

Physical Description: 1 box

Scope and Content Note

The majority of the correspondence collected here consists of outgoing letters written by Roscoe to his sons and to colleagues and friends in the worlds of publishing, art and politics, though there are also incoming letters addressed to him and others close to him. Some letters are brief notes regarding social engagements, while others contain more substantive discussions of topics ranging from slavery to bookselling and art collecting. Frequent correspondents include sons Robert, Richard, Thomas and Henry as well as booksellers Cadell and Davies and artist Martin Archer Shee.

Arrangement

Items are arranged in two subseries: Subseries 1. Correspondence from William Roscoe, 1797-1830, undated and Subseries 2. Correspondence and material from others, 1796-1833, 1887, undated.

Subseries 1. Outgoing correspondence from William Roscoe 1797-1830, undated

Physical Description: 47 letters

Arrangement

Letters are arranged in chronological order.

Box 1, Folder 1

To James Heath (1757-1834) 4 March 1797

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 2

To Cadell & Davies [1799?]

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 3

From Rev. Henry Boyd, with appended note from Roscoe to Cadell & Davies, booksellers August 1802

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 4

To Messrs. Lackington, Allen & Co., booksellers 8 December 1803

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

Ordering 13 books and requesting book catalog.

Box 1, Folder 5

To unknown correspondent 8 February 1805

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

Regarding an engraving of Allerton Hall.

Box 1, Folder 6

To unknown correspondent 9 June 1805

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 7

To Joseph Cooper Walker 26 August 1805

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 8

To Rev. William Parr Greswell (1765-1854) 22 June 1806

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 9

To Cadell & Davies 6 September 1806

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 10

To Richard Taylor (1781-1858) 30 January 1807

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 11

To [David Steuart Erskine], Lord [Buchan] 3 March 1807

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 12

To William Barber 19 March 1807

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 13

To Thomas Winstanley 6 April [1807?]

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 14

To [Thomas Cadell?] 5 December 1807

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 15

To [Cadell & Davies] [24 January 1808]

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

List of persons to whom WR would like sent his Considerations.

Box 1, Folder 16

To Cadell & Davies 26 May 1808

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 17

To Martin Archer Shee (1769-1850) 4 November 1808

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 18

To W[illiam] M[acDowal] Tartt 2 January 1809

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 19

To William Wilberforce 10 July 1809

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 20

To Henry Wilckens 18 April 1810

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 21

To unknown correspondent 20 October 1814

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 22

To [Dawson Turner (1775-1858)?] 25 November 1814

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 23

To Martin Archer Shee 17 April 1819

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 24

To Robert Roscoe 24 April 1819

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 25

To Archibald Constable 28 July 1819

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 26

To Thomas Winstanley [ca. 1820]

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 27

To William Bullock (fl. 1808-1828) 1 January 1820

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 28

To Edward Rushton 15 September 1821

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 29

To unknown recipient 13 October 1821

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

Fragment of a letter, with signature on verso and six lines of text on recto. Mentions a present to His Majesty and Sir Benjamin Bloomfield.

Box 1, Folder 30

To William Earle 6 October 1822

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 31

To [James Cropper?] 23 January 1823

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 32

To Mrs. [Frances Smith] Martin 10 Sept [ca. 1825-27?]

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 33

To Miss [Margaret] Holford 19 January 1825

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 34

To [Mr. Barclay?] 15 September 1825

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 35

To unknown correspondent 12 November 1825

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 36

To Rev. Domenico Moreni 20 January 1826

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

In Italian.

Box 1, Folder 37

To J. Wesley? 29 September 1826

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

Name of correspondent from docket; not clearly legible.

Box 1, Folder 38

To Jonathan Trevanion Hatfield (1793-1840) [February 1827]

Physical Description: 1 item

Note

Signature and date cut away from original letter, affecting several lines of text. Modern paper inlaid, with missing text supplied in pencil and autograph supplied from another source.

Box 1, Folder 39

To [William] Jevons 15 August 1827

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 40

To Thomas Thompson (1776-1861) 5 December 1827

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 41

To Samuel Parker 7 December [1827]

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

Remargined and repaired with modern paper.

Box 1, Folder 42

WR autograph and poetical quotation 26 March 1829

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

With pencil note from one of WR's grandchildren. Remargined in modern paper.

Box 1, Folder 43

To George Smith 23 July 1829

Physical Description: 1 item

Note

Tipped onto gray album page.

Box 1, Folder 44

To [Nathaniel Wallich] 17 May 1830

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 45

To Mr Dodd 20 September 1830

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 46

To John McCreery (1768?-1832) undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 47

To William Rathbone (1787-1868) undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Subseries 2. Correspondence from others 1796-1833, 1887, undated

Physical Description: 14 letters

Arrangement

Letters are arranged in chronological order.

Scope and Content Note

This subseries includes letters written to Roscoe, as well as letters written to third parties connected to him. Several letters communicate messages to and from Roscoe to other parties via his sons Robert, Richard, Thomas and Henry. A letter from 1887 to great-grandson Frederick Warburton Dunston documents his acquisition of the items detailed in Series 2 of this finding aid.

Box 1, Folder 48

From Cadell & Davies to WR 30 Oct [1796]

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

Apparent draft copy of a letter to WR.

Box 1, Folder 49

From Georgiana Cavendish, Dutchess of Devonshire, to Dr. John Moore (1729-1802) [19 December 1798]

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

Letter intended to be forwarded by Moore to WR.

Box 1, Folder 50

From Mary Ann Roscoe Jevons to Mr Marples 9 January 18--?

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 51

From William Parr Greswell to Cadell & Davies 6 April 1801

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 52

From Richard Roscoe to Cadell & Davies [ca. 1814]

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 53

From Robert Roscoe to Cadell & Davies 7 June 1819

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

Gives instructions sent from WR.

Box 1, Folder 54

From Robert Roscoe to [?] Horwood 2 October 1826

Physical Description: 2 items

Scope and Content Note

Letter and autograph of W. Roscoe.

Box 1, Folder 55

From Henry Roscoe to unknown correspondent 19 June 1833

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

Regards his biography of WR and the unknown's friendship with WR.

Box 1, Folder 56

From Richard Roscoe to unknown correspondent undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 57

From Henry Roscoe to unknown correspondent undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 58

From Thomas Roscoe to Cadell & Davies undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 59

From Henry Roscoe to John McCreery undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 60

Excerpt from The butterfly's ball and the grasshopper's feast in Jane Griffies Roscoe's hand undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 61

From Sotheran and Co., booksellers, to Frederick Warburton Dunston 15 July 1887

Physical Description: 1 item

Series 2. Poetical commonplace book 1774-1790

Physical Description: 4 volumes

Scope and Content Note

This series consists of 4 volumes of commonplace books kept by William Roscoe's wife Jane Griffies Roscoe before and after their marriage. The volumes each contain contributions from Roscoe in his own hand, as well as poems written by him but copied by his wife. They also appear to contain original work written by Jane, as well as works by poets such as William Collins, Thomas Gray, Phillis Wheatley, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Lord Lyttleton and Samuel Johnson. Each volume contains an inscription on the first page by Frederick Warburton Dunston, dated 3 November 1893, noting that he purchased the "volumes at Sotheby's on or about 19 July 1887" and that the transcriber was Jane Griffies, afterwards wife of Wm. Roscoe of Liverpool." Dunston owned 5 volumes of this commonplace, but there are now only 4 volumes and it is unclear when the fifth may have been lost. He believed that all 5 volumes were at "one time in the possession of the late Joseph Mayer of Liverpool," who probably purchased them "from the widow of my great uncle Richard Roscoe MD," who had been a great collector of Roscoe family documents.

Arrangement

The four volumes of this work are organized in chronological order.

Box MS.2008.023 v.1

Volume 1 1774

Physical Description: 180 p. ; 21 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Calligraphic title page with ink drawings, reading "Poems extracted from several authors : with a few originals, JG, 1774." Contains what appear to be original compositions by JGR and WR on pages 1-21, and in other places throughout the volume.

Box MS.2008.023 v.2

Volume 2 1775

Physical Description: 7, [173] p. ; 21 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Calligraphic title page with embellishments reads, "Poems, JG, 1775."

Box MS.2008.023 v. 3

Volume 3 ca. 1775-1780

Physical Description: 160, [20] p. ; 21 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Calligraphic title page reading, "Poems collected by JG, Liverpool." There are black and white watercolor illustrations presumably by Jane Griffies on both the title page and a later page in the text. "To Julia" (the title has been supplied in pencil) on p. 1 is in the hand of William Roscoe.

Box MS.2008.023 v.4

Volume 4 ca. 1780-1790

Physical Description: [180] p. ; 21 cm.

Scope and Content Note

No title page. Several works apparently by JGR or WR; several works closer to the end of the volume signed "WR."

Series 3. Images and ephemera 1805-1853, undated

Physical Description: 1 box

Scope and Content Note

This series contains various pieces of Roscoe-related ephemera and images of Roscoe himself and his residences, collected by donor David H. Weinglass. Many items are undated, but the bulk of material appears to date from the first half of the 19th century. A medal issued on Roscoe's centenary (1853) by Joseph Mayer, a Liverpool arts patron and possible former owner of parts of this collection is also included.

Box Art storage room

"Allerton Hall, Lancashire" colored engraving in frame undated

Physical Description: In frame 23 x 27 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Additional unframed copy of this print in Box 1, Folder 74.

Box Art storage room

"Birth-place of William Roscoe, Liverpool" hand-colored engraving in frame undated

Physical Description: In frame 23 x 27 cm.

Box 1, Folder 62

Memoir of William Roscoe, Esq. The European Magazine July 1822

Physical Description: 10 p.

Scope and Content Note

An article about WR published in 1822, with an engraved portrait by J. Thompson.

Box 1, Folder 63

Engraved monogram "J McC" undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

Possibly the monogram of WR correspondent and Liverpool printer John McCreery.

Box 1, Folder 64

"W. Roscoe aetat: 38" black and white engraving from Bohn's standard library edition of the Life of Leo the Tenth undated

Physical Description: 6 p.

Scope and Content Note

Engraving and several pages from a later 19th century edition of WR's work.

Box 1, Folder 65

"Roscoe" engraving with pencil attribution to Williamson and Edwards undated

Physical Description: 26.5 x 17.5 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Apparently original printing of the same portrait as in folder 64. Light foxing to edges of sheet.

Box 1, Folder 66

Photograph reproduction of Roscoe portrait in Walker Art Gallery collection undated

Physical Description: 18.5 x 16 cm.

Box 1, Folder 67

Engraving of Roscoe portrait by J. Lonsdale, undated

Physical Description: 21 x 16 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Engraved by S. Freeman.

Box 1, Folder 68

Prospectus for the Landscape Annual, edited by Thomas Roscoe 1830

Physical Description: 1 item

Box 1, Folder 69

Roscoe portrait etching by Alfred Croquis undated

Physical Description: 22 x 13 cm., mounted to 25 x 21 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Published by James Fraser, 245 Regent Street, London. Pasted to gray album page.

Box 1, Folder 70

Cabinet card photograph of Roscoe portrait undated

Physical Description: 10 x 6.5 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Captioned "Wm. Roscoe" in ink. Produced by E. Cox-Walker, Liverpool & Rock Ferry.

Box 1, Folder 71

Engraving of Roscoe portrait by Hopwood 1815

Physical Description: 12.5 x 10.5 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Published by I.W.H. Payne, July 1st, 1815. Trimmed down from original size.

Box 1, Folder 72

Modern Roscoe related postcards and ephemera 20th century

Physical Description: 4 items

Box 1, Folder 73

Engraving of Allerton Hall by J. Storer from a drawing by E. Goodwin 1805

Physical Description: 21.5 x 13 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Captions read "For the Beauties of England and Wales" and "Allerton Hall, the residence of W. Roscoe, Esqr., Lancashire." Published by Vernor & Hood Poultry, March 1, 1805.

Box 1, Folder 74

"Allerton Hall, Lancashire" colored engraving undated

Physical Description: 20 x 13 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Framed copy of the same engraving stored separately, as above.

Box 2, Folder 1

William Roscoe, Esq., Engraved by C. Picart from an original picture by M. Haughton in the possession of Mr. J. McCreery 1813

Physical Description: 36 x 23.5 cm.

Scope and Content Note

Published Jan. 11, 1813 by T. Cadell & W. Davies, Strand, London.

Box 3, Folder 2

"Letter to William Roscoe, Esquire of Toxteth Park near Liverpool" from Roberts Vaux, Philadelphia, 10 May 1827. In Paulson's American Daily Advertiser 18 May 1827

Physical Description: 4 p.

Scope and Content Note

4 pages from the American Daily Advertiser of Philadelphia.

Box 2, Folder 3

Roscoe centenary commemorative medal 8 March 1853

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Content Note

Recto with Roscoe bust in profile also reads "Mayer Liverpool direxit" and "Allen & Moore f[ecit]." Joseph Mayer, the former owner of parts of this collection, is the likely candidate for the "Mayer" mentioned here.

Container List