"Thuisiana", bound volume of verse in French, about 1808
Scope and Contents
Manuscript volume of sixty (60) leaves, containing French verse in ink, all in the same hand.
Contents:
[first leaf] blank
[second leaf] Title page: "Thuisiana. | ou | choix de quelques pieces de poesies | pour des Amis. | [pen flourish] | " . . . ne te ut miratur turba labores, | contentus paucis lectoribus. | Horace."
[i]-ii: "Vers à Mrs Lutwyche. | en lui adressant le Recueil." At the end of the poem "Cheltenham [pen flourish] juin 1807. ./."
iii-vi: "Lettre de Spitz (chienne de Mad'e le Comtesse | de Golowkin (femme du ministre de Russie.) | à sa maitresse. | au 1er janvier 1796. à Naples."
1-76: Poems, variously headed, some with prefatory notes and/or footnotes. Some reference dates, ranging from 1786 to 1808. The poem beginning on page 47 is headed "Extrait du Courier de Londres du 2 mars 1804 - No. 18." Several are dated at Bath, including "Vers à Lady Riddell | à Bath [pen flourish] mars 1807" (page 61). Other addressees include "la Duchesse de Cossé-Brissac (pages 1-12, 32), "Maitre Camus" (page 13), the marquise de Raigecourt (page 17), Adèle de Bourbon (page 44), Madame Le Brun (page 51), la comtesse de Vaudreuil (page 57), "Lady Riddell" (page 61), "the fair Miss Talbot" (page 63), "Miss Gurdon" (page 65), "Miss Burrell" (page 71).
77-94 blank
[95-96] Table of contents.
[three blank leaves]
[three leaves paginated as "Bis. 40-45"] containing additional verses, one about the fête on the Champ de Mars of July 14, 1802 and the other headed "Stance sur l'invasion" noting that it was copied from the November 1803 issue of the "Courier de Londres."
[unnumbered final leaf] contains a final four-line verse headed "Question resolve," about Bonaparte.
Given the language, subject matter, and dedicatee (Elizabeth Thomas Lutwyche, 1742 - 1845) it is possible that this volume was compiled by a French royalist in residence at Cheltenham following the French Revolution. Mrs. Lutwyche left her books to her cousin, a Rev. Thomas Collins of Knaresborough, Yorkshire, but we have not been succesful in locating any records of his library.
If you have information that might help fill out the context of this item, please contact us at speccoll@binghamton.edu.
Dates
- about 1808
Extent
From the Collection: 1 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Physical Description
Binding: 216 mm tall, brown calf with gilt borders on both borders and all edges. Spine largely perished, but richly stamped in gilt. Red and green headband. Dark green marbled endpapers at front and rear.
Paper: English. First and final three leaves of main textblock produced by Durham & Co., based near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. Their "Durham & Co. | 1795" watermark visible on the center of the first leaf; their cipher watermark visible at leaf [i]. Other stock used for the remainder of the text and the inserted four-leaf gathering at the rear is dated "1804" with a crown watermark and the apparent name "T. St[?]" (partial watermarks visible at upper corners of each sheet).
Provenance marks: on the verso of the front free endpaper are two notations in pencil: "4/6", perhaps a price, seems to be the earlier, and "x1261" seems to be the later. These are the only indications of prior ownership.
Repository Details
Part of the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections Repository