The letterbook is entitled 'Autographs chiefly of my Literary Friends'. As this indicates, the letters were mostly retained for the signatures and many letters have had the text removed, leaving only the signature and perhaps the address. Other letters are incomplete, usually retaining just the last sheet. Most of the letters are written to Weymouth himself, but some are in the form of testimonials for him.
Weymouth , Richard Francis , 1822-1902 , philologist and New Testament scholarPapers and correspondence, 1846-1974, of David Meredith Seares Watson and his family, largely comprising biographical material and family papers, scientific correspondence, and photographs, also including a few Exchequer receipts, 1568-1622.
Biographical material, 1886-1974, includes Watson's birth certificate, 1886; documentation, including certificates and correspondence, of Watson's career, honours and awards over a period of forty years, including election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, 1922, the award of its Darwin medal, 1942, and the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society, 1965; correspondence about the Directorship of the British Museum (Natural History), 1937; correspondence about the presentation album on his retirement from the Jodrell Chair, 1951; correspondence and papers relating to his final retirement from research, 1965; obituaries, 1973; F R Parrington and T S Westoll's memoir of Watson from Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1974; an account of Watson's early days and family background by his daughter Janet Vida; recollections by his research assistant Joyce Townsend; Watson's curriculum vita and bibliography.
Family papers include the birth certificate of Watson's father, David, 1846, correspondence with his wife Mary, 1888, and a letter of condolence to Mrs Watson on her husband's death, 1899; diaries of Mary Watson, 1881, 1885; birth certificate of their daughter Constance, 1888, letters from Constance to her brother David Meredith Seares Watson, 1905-1909 and undated; papers relating to Katharine Margarite Watson (née Parker), Watson's wife, including her birth certificate, 1891, marriage certificate, 1917, death certificate, 1969, and various correspondence; papers relating to Watson's daughter Katharine Mary, including letters of congratulation on her birth, 1918, and letters to her parents, 1950, 1955; material relating to Watson's mother's family, including letters of her father Samuel M Seares, 1871, 1879-1882; papers of Charles J B Hutchinson, 1879-1880, who emigrated to Australia after his engagement to Watson's mother was broken off but who remained in correspondence with her aunt, Fanny Rossiter; other Parker family papers, 1929-1972; miscellaneous other personal correspondence, 1896-1965.
Four Exchequer receipts dated 1568, 1580, 1616 and 1622 were found enclosed with a letter to Watson's wife.
Scientific correspondence of Watson, sometimes including photographs of fossil specimens, with leading palaeontologists in Africa, 1947-1953, America, 1915-1964, Australia, 1931-1962, China, 1926-1927, 1935-1964, England, 1913-1914, 1920, 1926-1960, France, 1930-1936, 1945-1956, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, 1920-1962, Russia, 1920-1962, and Scandinavia, 1922-1964, and with the palaeontologist Robert Broom, 1911-1950, and Watson's research assistant Joyce Townshend, 1929-1973, also including a few letters from Watson's wife and scientific colleagues, and an obituary of Watson, 1974; correspondence and papers on bones found at Qau, Egypt, 1930-1957, 1972; miscellaneous other palaeontological correspondence, 1912-1967. There are few copies of Watson's outgoing letters before the end of the Second World War.
Photographic material comprises photographs documenting Watson's career, [1912]-1965 and undated, some including colleagues; photographs of scientific colleagues, 1911-1951 and undated, including Watson's predecessor as Professor at University College London, J P Hill, and Robert Broom; album of photographs and signatures presented to Watson, 1951; undated family photographs, including a photograph of Watson as a boy, photographs of members of the Seares and Parker families, and photographs of Watson's wife, Katharine Margarite, and daughter, Katharine Mary; photographs of unidentified fossil specimens.
Royal Society Darwin Medal Award given to Watson, 1942.
Watson , David Meredith Seares , 1886-1973 , palaeontologistThe collection contains correspondence, diaries, travel journals, accounts, library catalogues and commonplace books of the Kenrick, Reid, Rogers and Sharpe families, which all help to complete the picture of the four related families. The correspondence covers many topics and is especially interesting on three counts: first, for the many letters from eminent men and women; second, for the range and depth of discussion and exchange of ideas on literary, artistic, religious and philosophical matters; and third, for the day-to-day letters written between parent and child over several generations, which provide a detailed account of family life during the period.
Kenrick , family Reid , family Rogers , family Sharpe , familyPapers, 1832-1968, of and relating to Soloman Marcus Schiller-Szinessy and his family, owned or created by Raphael Loewe. A file of documents from Hungary, 1832-1888, comprises personalia relating to Schiller-Szinessy's activities there, including school reports. A file on Schiller-Szinessy's time at Manchester includes correspondence and papers, 1851-1860, on the synagogues of the Manchester Old Hebrew Congregation and Congregation of British Jews, Manchester, and Schiller-Szinessy's association with them as rabbi. A file on Schiller-Szinessy's time at Cambridge comprises printed material, press cuttings, manuscripts, and correspondence of Raphael Loewe, and includes a letter to Schiller-Szinessy from Sir Moses Montefiore, 1883, replying to his ninety-ninth birthday greetings, and an unpublished manuscript by Schiller-Szinessy (in German), 1888, on 'Der Neue Catalog Der Hebraischen Handscriften In Der Bodleiana'. A file on Schiller-Szinessy's contribution to the Jewish press, 1850-1890, includes press cuttings of his articles and typescript notes on his work. A file on Schiller-Szinessy's other publications includes printed copies and press cuttings of his writings from 1845. A file on the marriage, offspring and death of Schiller-Szinessy comprises a letter from H Samuel to Schiller-Szinessy, 1861; papers relating to his marriage, 1863, and other family papers; a photograph of him, 1888; undated photographs of his daughters Henrietta and Eleanor; a photograph, 1963, of his gravestone; cuttings and other printed papers on his death, 1890, including letters of condolence to his wife; notes, cuttings and correspondence, 1962-1968 and undated, of Raphael Loewe on Schiller-Szinessy, including biographical information. A file of correspondence and papers of Raphael Loewe concerning Alfred Solomon Schiller-Szinessy includes a small scrapbook containing poems, 1886-1887 and undated, by Alfred S Schiller-Szinessy; a photocopy of an article by Alfred S Schiller-Szinessy on 'The Testaments of the XII Patriarchs' from The Jewish World, 1887; and two letters, 1962, concerning his education at the Perse School, Cambridge. A file on the Schiller-Szinessy children notably includes correspondence, 1958-1965, of Raphael Loewe on the welfare, death and burial of Sydney Schiller-Szinessy. Other original material comprises a manuscript transcript of Bereshith Rabbathi; undated manuscript accounts of the Hebrew language, for teaching; bound copies of Der Ungarische Israelit (in German), 1886, for Dr Schiller-Szinessy; a notebook containing manuscript verse and miscellaneous notes, inscribed [1903]. There is a typescript list of documents relating to Schiller-Szinessy, 1940, and a ticket for an address by Raphael Loewe on Schiller-Szinessy, 1962.
Szinessy , Solomon Marcus , Schiller- , 1820-1890 , rabbi and scholar Loewe , Raphael , fl 1940-1984 , Professor of HebrewCollection of autograph letters, 1756-1849, brought together by Lord Odo Russell. The correspondents are mainly European scientists, including Nikolaus Joseph and his son Joseph Franz Freiherr von Jacquin, both Professor of Chemistry and Botany at Vienna University; the zoologist Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger; and the botanist István Laszló Endlicher. The letters concern the natural sciences, the medical sciences, the physical sciences, the arts, theology, dealers, diplomats and statesmen, and others. There is also a note from Beethoven (post 1824) and a letter from Goethe (1807).
Russell , Odo William Leopold , 1829-1884 , 1st Baron Ampthill , ambassadorAutograph album, 1802-1805, with verses and notes from fellow students at Jena University.
Robinson , Henry Crabb , 1775-1867 , diaristFragments of mainly medieval and early modern manuscripts, primarily leaves from liturgical texts including missals, breviaries, psalters, bibles and biblical commentaries, but also including fragments of popular medieval textbooks including the Codex Justinianus and Graecismus . Also includes fragments of medieval music including noted missals, antiphonaries, graduals and noted breviaries. The music section includes fragments from two incunabula.
c150 itemsPapers of George Bellas Greenough, 1794-1855, falling into three broad sections: papers connected with his work, personal papers, and correspondence. They are hierarchically divided into nine series: published works; societies of which Greenough was president; travels; fields of interest; learned and scientific institutions and clubs with which he was associated; personal history; papers relating to his friends; acquired papers; and correspondence, relating mainly to geology or to some other aspect of Greenough's work. Greenough kept many series of notebooks and memorandum books into which he copied the notes he had jotted down in conversation or when reading. The 'Personal History' section contains little biographical or family data, although Greenough's early efforts in poetry, prose and translation from the Greek are well represented, and there are papers relating to his house, his garden and his investments. There are few letters to his friends.
Greenough , George Bellas , 1778-1855 , geographer and geologistManuscript items of John Flaxman, comprising his journal, kept by him in Naples in 1788, consisting of manuscript text and drawings; and a commonplace book containing manuscript notes on sculpture and art and some pencil and ink sketches.
Flaxman , John , 1755-1826 , sculptor and draughtsmanItalian Book of Hours, c1470-1480, beginning Officium Beatae Mariae Virginis (office of the Blessed Virgin Mary). Originally 106(?) leaves, with 19th-century additions: full page colour illustrations and decorated borders, including a Crucifixion, added by Caleb W Wing.
Cribellariis , Marcus , De , fl 1470-1480 , of Venice , scribe