Manuscript catalogue of the library of George Cumberland, collated in 1793. Subjects covered in the collection include art history, theology and history.
Catalogue of the Library of George Cumberland
This material is held atUniversity of Manchester Library
- Reference
- GB 133 Eng MS 420
- Dates of Creation
- 1793
- Name of Creator
- Language of Material
- English
- Physical Description
- 188 x 234 mm. 1 volume (89 folios);
Scope and Content
Administrative / Biographical History
George Cumberland (1754-1848) was a man of artistic, antiquarian and literary tastes. Between 1793 and 1798, while living at Bishopsgate, Egham, Cumberland published seven works, including earlier works of poetry, A Plan for the Improvement of the Arts in England (1793), which included proposals for a national gallery of sculpture in Green Park; and other works illustrated by William Blake. Cumberland bought many of Blake's publications, pressed booksellers to take them, and found work for the artist. In 1803 Cumberland moved to Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, before settling at 1 Culver Street, Bristol, in 1807, where he lived until his death.
Source: Francis Greenacre, ';Cumberland, George (1754-1848)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. By permission of Oxford University Press - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/59709.
Access Information
The manuscript is available for consultation by any accredited reader.
Acquisition Information
Purchased by the John Rylands Library from the bookseller J.E. Cornish in March 1927.
Note
Description compiled by Henry Sullivan, project archivist, and Elizabeth Gow with reference to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article on George Cumberland.
Other Finding Aids
Catalogued in the Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, 1928 (English MS 420).
Bibliography
See G.E. Bentley, A bibliography of George Cumberland (1754-1848) (London and New York: Garland, 1975).