Anonymous and incomplete manuscript description of France, post-1785

The manuscript comprises an incomplete description of the topography and history of regions in northern France in the late eighteenth century. The manuscript is divided into articles and sections covering different parts of the country. Article 5 (incomplete) includes Soissonnois and Laonois. Article 6 is about the government of Champagne and article 7 covers the government of Lorraine, the Bishoprics of Messin, Verdunois and Soulois, and the Duchy of Bar. Article 8 (incomplete) describes the government of Alsace. The manuscript is written as a commentary of places visited by the author. Sites and customs observed during the tour have been described and placed in an historical context.

The authorship and provenance of these papers are not known. Although the paper and writing could by contemporary to the description, it is possible that they are in whole or part a copy from another source. The text seems to have been written c.1785 on folded pages, with each bifolium separately numbered. The beginning and conclusion of the study are not present; bifolia are numbered from 39 to 56.

No archival arrangement has been necessary.

ACCESS: Accessible to all registered readers.

LANGUAGE: English

• This description is the only finding aid available for the collection. Copyright on the description belongs to the University of Nottingham.

REPROGRAPHIC: Reprographic copies can be supplied for educational use and private study purposes only, 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COPYRIGHT: Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult.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 advance in writing from the Keeper of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk).

The manuscript was apparently transferred to the care of the Department of Manuscripts in 1951. The folder housing the manuscript bears a bookplate with the arms of the Barons Vernon, and it seems likely that the item at one time formed part of the Vernon library, which was passed to the University in 1945.