Literary Correspondence of Rev. Thomas Frognall Dibdin

This material is held atUniversity of Manchester Library

  • Reference
    • GB 133 Eng MS 1241
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1813-1849
  • Language of Material
    • English
  • Physical Description
    • 248 x 208 mm. 1 volume (90 letters); Binding: bound by Riviere in half black morocco, buckram-covered boards.

Scope and Content

Collection of letters, bound in one volume, and arranged in approximate alphabetical order.

Nos. 1-17, 19-46 and 48-88 (1 January 1814 - 28 June 1845) are letters to the Reverend Thomas Frognall Dibdin, mainly on bibliographical and literary topics, from various correspondents including: 

  • Dr Charles James Blomfield (1786-1857), Bishop of London, 1830 (no. 1);
  • Dr Philip Bliss (1787-1857), antiquary and book collector, n.y. (no. 2);
  • Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton (1811-1864), Lord Lincoln, later 5th Duke of Newcastle, 1844 (nos 3-4);
  • Dr Charles Parr Burney (1785-1864), schoolmaster and book collector, 1829-30 (nos 5-6);
  • Edward Herbert, formerly Clive (1785-1848), Lord Clive, afterwards 2nd Earl of Powis, politician, n.d. (no. 8)
  • Edward Copleston (1776-1849), Bishop of Llandaff, 1843-48 (nos. 9-10 and 47);
  • Robert Curzon (1810-1873), 14th Baron Zouche of Harringworth, traveller and collector of manuscripts, 1838 (no. 12);
  • George Canning (1770-1827), prime minister and parodist, 1822 (no. 15);
  • Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), Church of Scotland minister and social reformer, 1831 (no. 16);
  • Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie (1783-1862), physiologist and surgeon, 1840 and 1849 (nos 17-18);
  • Francis Douce (1757-1834), antiquary and collector, n.d. (nos 21-23);
  • Thomas Grenville (1755-1846), politician and book collector, 1829-45 (nos 27-30);
  • William Wyndham Grenville (1759-1834), Baron Grenville, prime minister and chancellor of Oxford University, 1829 (no. 31);
  • Charles Grey (1764-1845), 2nd Earl Grey, prime minister, 1837-38 (nos 32-33);
  • Sir Francis Freeling bart (1764-1836), postal administrator and book collector, 1826 (nos 34-35);
  • Joseph Hume (1777-1855), radical and politician, 1832 (nos 36-38);
  • William Howley (1766-1848), Bishop of London and, from July 1828, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1828-30 (nos 39-45);
  • Edward Craven Hawtrey (1789-1862), headmaster of Eton, 1829-43 (nos 48-50);
  • William Henry Lyttelton (1782-1837), 3rd Baron Lyttelton, politician, 1829-32 (nos 53-54);
  • Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859), Baron Macaulay, historian, essayist, and poet, 1834 (no. 56);
  • John Herman Merivale (1779-1844), lawyer and literary scholar, 1829 (no. 57);
  • William Charles Macready (1793-1873), actor and theatre manager, n.d. (no. 58);
  • Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton (1785-1851), 4th Duke of Newcastle, 1824 and 1845 (nos 61-62);
  • Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), prime minister, 1829 (no. 63);
  • William Roscoe (1753-1831), historian and patron of the arts, 1814 (nos 73-75);
  • George Granville Leveson-Gower (1786-1861), 2nd Duke of Sutherland, 1842 and n.d. (nos 77-78);
  • George John Spencer (1758-1834), 2nd Earl Spencer, 1815-1829 (nos 80-82, 84-86);
  • Dawson Turner (1775-1858), banker, botanist, and antiquary, 1823 and 1844 (nos 87-88).
Nos 18 (5 December 1849) and 47 (9 December 1848) are letters addressed to Miss Dibdin.

No. 89 is a note from Dibdin to the binder "Mr Herring" [Charles Hering], 3 April 1813, relating to 'the Spencer Volume'.

No. 90 comprises instructions from Dibdin to the printer concerning his Bibliotheca Spenceriana.

Custodial History

Signature of former owner, 'Wilfrid Ashley, 1909', written on the front flyleaf; [i.e. Wilfrid Ashley (1867-1939), Baron Mount Temple, politician].

Bibliography

See note in the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, vol. 42 (1959-60), pp. 261-2.

Personal Names