Sketch book, 1742-c.1850

The sketch book contains prose, caricatures and student notes. The first complete item in thevolume appears to be a critical piece about Rev. Young who, with Henry Fielding, translated 'Plutus,the God of Riches: A Comedy by Aristophanes' from the original Greek in 1742. This piece appears todate from the middle of the 18th century and is therefore contemporary with the volume itself whichhas 'Y-Z' tooled on the spine.

The rest of the volume's contents are later, probably 19th century. These items include sketches,caricatures and doodles depicting family life, townscapes, paddle steamers and people. Speechbubbles are sometimes employed with caricatures. Occasional passages of text between the sketchesinclude student notes, fragments of children's stories and plays.

From physical evidence, the volume appears to date from the mid-eighteenth century. The identityof the compilers of the book are unknown. After its first use for prose, it seems to have been usedby one or more children for sketches and other occasional writings. Inside the back cover of thevolume is the name 'Master Shuttleworth'. It is not clear whether this is the name of the owner orcreator of the book or a reference to one of the caricatures featuring in it. Other names appear inthe volume include 'Debuhra' and 'Miss Ann Rees'.

No archival arrangement has been necessary.

ACCESS: Accessible to all registered readers.

LANGUAGE: English

• This description is the only finding aid available for the sketch book. Copyright in thedescription belongs to The University of Nottingham.

REPROGRAPHIC: Reprographic copies can be supplied for educational use and private study purposesonly, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.

COPYRIGHT: Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult.Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advancein writing from the Keeper of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk).

The early provenance of the volume is not known. It was acquired by the library of The Universityof Nottingham in the 1950s.