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Letter from James Yates of Lauderdale House, Highgate, London to Samuel [A Thompson Yates], [1861-1871]. Mentioning 5s 6d paid to Mr Sackett for 'the engraving of Baskerville ... A person named Matthews in Birmingham has published a new edition of the view of the houses at Birmingham, which were destroyed at the Riots [of 1791 against Joseph Priestley and other non-conformists]. One of these is a view of Baskerville House. It [the house] was purchased and enlarged by Mr John Ryland, and in that state was destroyed by the mob ...'

Autograph, with signature.

Underdown ecclesiastical architecture and design collection, c 1760-1901, (bought from H. W. Underdown) includes: reproduction of print of Witham Friary (1760); print of drawing by Catton of Cromer, 1798; plate of engravings of arms and seals of Prior and Convent of St Saviour, Bermondsey, 1821; drawing of brass monument in North Mimms church (1823); photolithographs of monumental brasses in Norfolk and Westminster Abbey (1890s). Collection also includes prints of J. M. W. Turner watercolours painted at Farnley Hall.

Letter from Thomas Telford of Inverness to Rev John Warren, Dean of Bangor, [Caernarfonshire], 23 Sep 1811. Concerning a possible road to pass through Bangor, and giving instructions for the surveyor.

Autograph, with signature.

The following items are filed with the letter: (a) an engraving of Thomas Telford (1832); (b) engravings of Menai Bridge, the Vale of Llangollen and Conway, by W Radclyffe (undated); (c) a list of Telford's achievements, set out as if for a memorial plaque [produced after Telford's death in 1834].

Maps and rent rolls of the estate of Sir Richard St George, 1775.

Specification for Leeds and Selby Railway, contracts numbered 1 and 2, Sep 1830. This specification was owned by Rastrick but may not have been created by him.

Letter from Mr Rowcroft of Broad Street Buildings, [London] to Mr Tyrrell, Esq, Remembrancer, Guildhall, 4 Dec 1805. Stating that he will try to meet the Port Committee at the opening of the Blackwall Canal on the next Monday.

Autograph, unsigned.

Papers of John Urpeth Rastrick including memoranda, calculations and diagrams, including estimates for iron arch for Stratford-upon-Avon Railway Bridge; for a roof for William Foster; gasworks at Kidderminster; recipe for brass lacquer; lists of materials of six-horse Boulton and Watts engine, and of the contents of packing boxes, with diagrams of each item entered; notes, specifications and sketches for the Stratford and Moreton Railway; and detailed descriptions, statistics and sketches of bridges, railways and engines. Enclosing the following items: (i-ii) 2 sheets of rough calculations. (iii) Card bearing printed statistics of the Burnton and Shields Railway; annotated in MS and signed by Benjamin Thompson (23 January 1829). (iv) Printed wrapper sent from the Office of Ordnance to Messrs J Bradley and Co, [?at] Foster, Rastrick and Co Ironworks, Stourbridge; used for rough calculations and draft accounts in MS.

'Specification for rebuilding London Bridge to the design of the late John Rennie, Esq'. Dated at the Guildhall, 5 Dec 1823. Belonged to John Urpeth Rastrick but may not have been created by him.

The collection contains notebooks of sketches and drawings, 1838-1841; levelling books, 1840-1880; and Henry Rastrick's diary for 1884.

Letter from James Orme of London to Fenton, Esq of Newcastle[-under-Lyme], Staffordshire, 21 Aug 1804. Writing on behalf of Robert Shirley, 7th Earl Ferrers, discussing a proposed road to a colliery, to be built by the town corporation across land belonging to the Earl. Suggesting alternative methods of construction and stating that the corporation had not replied to the Earl's suggestion that the corporation should award him an equal quantity of land and destroy some buildings for him, in return for using his land. Asks for the reply to be send to Earl Ferrers, Park Lane, London.

Written in another hand and signed by Orme.

Papers of Robert Mylne relating to the drainage of the Fens, 1791, comprising;

1. Report, dated 26 Oct 1791 at New River Head, London, to the 'Committee of Land Owners and Others, interested in the Improvement of the Outfall of the River Ouze [at King's Lynn]', annotated, corrected and signed by Mylne. This report differs slightly from that printed in 1792 (for a copy see Goldsmiths' Library G.L. Cat. 15332); it does not, however, contain the appendix which forms pp.39-52 of the printed report.
2. 'List of Writers on the Fens', dated Nov 1791, giving 83 entries, some in pencil, from 1100-1791, mentioning books, printed reports and Acts of parliament.

Papers relating to the part of Jacques Louis Chaumont de La Millière in the creation of legislation in the Assembleé Nationale Constituante relating to the Ponts et Chauseés (or bridges and highways) of France, 1790, including:

1. Letter from Millière to [Pierre Louis] Roederer introducing a memorandum entitled 'Observations pour servir de réponse à un mémoire sur les travaux publics du Languedoc...une partie d'administration aussi importante', 30 Oct 1790. The mémoire referred to appears to be that entitled 'Extrait d'Observations faites il y a quelques mois sur un mémoir de l'Ingénieur en chef de la cydevant province de Bretagne par lequel il proposait de conserver à Rennes l'École particulière des Ponts et Chaussées...les observations...pourront servir de réponse à un mémoire d'un directeur des Travaux Publics du Languedoc'.
2. Letter from Millière to [Pierre Louis] Roederer, 20 Oct 1790, enclosing the 'dernières observations...sur la nouvelle rédaction du decret proposé par M. [Charles François] Le Brun [Duc de Plaisance] relativement aux Ponts et Chausées', with brief note in Millière's hand on the principles of the organisation of the Ponts et Chausées, and an item headed 'Observations sur plusiers articles du dernier projet du decret concernant les Ponts et Chausées proposés par le Comité des Finances'.

Large bound scrapbook entitled 'Madrid Plans II', and containing prints and engravings of plans and views of Madrid and certain buildings in the city. The material is generally not dated, but depicts scenes from the 15th to the 19th centuries. There are also some 19th century newspaper cuttings relating to buildings in Milan.

Letter from John Lee of the Traffic Manager's Office, Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company, Old Hall Street, Liverpool to E Hailstone of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Office, Leeds, 17 Jan 1877. Thanking him for the loan of the Bridgewater Canal Acts 'which I have perused in conjunction with our Leigh Branch Act'. Discusses the matter of tolls leviable by the Bridgewater Canal Company: 'In the case of one of our boats they have charge a much higher rate of toll than I feel disposed to pay, and before settling with them I am desirous to know what their powers really are'.

Written in another hand and signed by Lee.

Miscellaneous collection of deeds, bonds, indentures, correspondence and legal papers relating to London and the surrounding area, 1597-1774. Includes accounts for the building of 'Icknam Bridge' and for royal gardens, possibly St James's Park, [1650]; a fragmentary list of pictures in the house of Sir Godfrey Copley (d 1709), giving names of painters and dimensions of each work; valuations for work in Enfield Chase, Middlesex, 1728-1729; a rental for Southampton Row, 1731; various manorial documents for Enfield, 1718-1760, Hendon, 1623, Isleworth and Syon, 1662-1716, South Mimms, 1731, and Stanwell, 1670-1774.

Five plans, 1906-1910, of property drawn up in Singapore for John Crawford.

Contract, dated 28 Dec 1670, containing an undertaking by John Brown to repair the stables he rented from Thomas Panton, and to stop up the water course from the horse pond in Round Mill Yard. Signed and sealed by John Brown.

Two manuscript volumes containing accounts of John Carte of Ampthill, giving details of work done as a glazier, and, less frequently, as a plumber and decorator, 1793-1811. Customers are named, as are their places of residence, mostly in the immediate vicinity of Ampthill. Inserted loosely are four bills addressed to Carte for plumbing equipment and glass supplied from Birmingham and London, 1810-1815.

Documents relating to houses in Calle de San Anton, Madrid.

Letter from Sir Edward Henry Busk of Heath End, Checkendon, Oxfordshire to R A Rye. Referring to the removal of his household effects from his London house as 'almost as great a wrench a giving up the Chairmanship of Convocation.'

Autograph, with signature.

Papers of Esmond Burton, c 1955, comprise seven plaster miniatures of working men and women prepared by sculptor Edmond Burton, relating to the bas-reliefs on the three frontages of Bentham House, residence of the Faculty of Laws at University College London. The buidling was originally the headquarters of the General and Municipal Workers' Union (now part of GMB), and was designed by Hubert Lidbetter. Fourteen black and white photographs of the bas-reliefs and construction of the building. Note that the right-hand figure in the 'group of five' photograph is Hubert Lidbetter.