Manuscript volume containing a metrical chronicle composed by the Chandos Herald in French verse, commemorating the life and feats of arms of Edward the Black Prince, [1385]. The poem is a valuable authority for certain events of the Hundred Years War, and gives a brief description of Edward III's French campaign of 1346, culminating in the Battle of Crecy, and followed by the Battle of Calais, with some details of the plot for the recovery of the latter at the end of 1349. Next comes a very detailed description of the Battle of Poitiers (1356), and an eyewitness account of the Spanish Campaign of the Black Prince on behalf of Don Pedro (Peter) of Castile, culminating in the Battle of Nejera (1367). A brief overview is given of the end of the Black Prince's government in Gascony, and of the war which led to the loss of almost all the possessions gained at Brétigny, followed by a comprehensive account of the last years of the Prince's life. After the poem, the author also gives a list of the chief officers of the Black Prince in Aquitaine, and copy of the epitaph on his tomb in Canterbury Cathedral.

The manuscript contains a full-page miniature illuminated in gold and colours, which is divided into two compartments. The upper compartment contains a representation of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity; God the Father is here portrayed in a blue robe on a background of gold. He is seated on a throne and holds in His extended arms a crucifix, above which a dove is introduced to symbolise the Holy Ghost. In the lower compartment the Black Prince is depicted kneeling in adoration on a red cushion. His hands are joined in prayer, and his special devotion to the Holy Trinity is indicated by a scroll proceeding from his mouth bearing the words 'Et hec tres unum sunt' (1 John v.7). The Prince is clad in armour, covered by a tight-fitting leather jupon without sleeves, finished along the bottom edge with a border of escallops, and emblazoned with the arms of England and France. He wears a sword and dagger, golden elbow and knee cops, and golden spurs. On each side of the kneeling Prince, standing in a golden socket, is a large ostrich feather in silver, his personal badge assumed after the Battle of Crecy, with the motto 'Ich dene' on a scroll below. The text of the poem commences on the next page with a large illuminated initial O, containing the Royal Arms emblazoned, and this leaf is surrounded by a border of strap work and flowers in gold and colours. There are also a number of small initial letters in gold on a coloured background.

Notes and correspondence between Richard Hamer and various British and international libraries and archival institutions concerning Middle English verse, compiled in preparation of his book, An Manuscript Index to the Index of Middle English Verse, published in 1995 (1990-1992).

Biographical scrapbook, compiled by Cecil Frederick Crofton, including the following: correspondence, cuttings, watercolours and exam papers from Crofton's time at Forest School, near Snaresbrook, including cuttings of poems and articles by Crofton in the school magazine, exam papers, watercolours and illustrations of areas surrounding the school and correspondence with the headmaster regarding fees and attendance, 1874-1876; playbills, cuttings, posters, programmes and illustrations from a majority of Crofton's performances both as an opera singer and actor, both amateur and professional, also including dinner and engagement cards and illustrations and small watercolours by Crofton of theatrical scenes and fellow performers, 1877-1913; Cuttings and illustrations regarding the funeral of the Duke of Devonshire, 1908; correspondence, cuttings and illustrations regarding Sir Nevil Macready, 1919.

Research and lecture notes, drafts, library request slips and three unidentified tins of film used and compiled by Nowottny in her work on Shakespeare's sonnets and other poetry, including a typescript copy of her MA thesis (1947-1959).

Broadside ballad, sold at the time of the coronation of King George VI, printed and published by The Raven Press, Middlesex (1937).

Papers concerning American theatre and opera scrapbooks, 1875-1892, comprise to scrapbooks containing programmes of plays, concerts and operas performed in the USA, with particular reference to New York and the Metropolitan Opera House, from 1875 to 1892. MS1088/2 includes postcards of members of singers performing in the Metropolitan Opera 1890 to 1891 season, posing in some of their operatic roles. The volumes contained two loose inserts, which have now become MS1088/3 and MS1088/4.

Comprising photocopies of seven letters to Warwick Gould from H.P.R.Finberg regarding the latter's translation of W.B.Yeats' 'Axel' (July 1971 - February 1972); Photocopy of H.P.R.Finberg's obituary in The Times with a correction letter by Warwick Gould regarding the obituary (November 1974).

Handwritten research notes, offprints and publications compiled by Constance Mary Pott for her publications and many articles on the Bacon-Shakespeare authorship debate and Francis Bacon in general, including notes on emblems from natural history and other areas in Bacon and Shakespeare's works, along with correspondence with other Baconians, including Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence and James Cary, and records of the Bacon Society (1679-1949).

Papers and autobiographical memoirs, 1763-1786, apparently compiled for circulation amongst family and friends. Consists of an 'Account of Madeira wine for costs and charges' (ff.2v-3), 'Transactions of three years in trade [1760-63]' (ff.4-12) and 'Letters that were written to me in the progress of my misfortunes' concerning business, bankruptcy as a result of war, and personal matters (ff.13-146).

Manuscript volume containing a transcript of Joseph Massie's alphabetical index of the names of authors of commercial books and pamphlets written from 1557 to 1764 (British Library Lansdowne MS 1049). This copy was made in 1891 by Mr G W Gatfield of the British Museum.

Manuscript volume containing contemporary transcripts of theological works, [1560], namely 'Libellus introductorius in vitam contemplatium cui titulus Directorum paruum contemplari inchoantium', by Petrus Blomevenna, Prior of the Carthusian monastery of Cologne; an incomplete copy of a work on the Holy Eucharist, also by Petrus Blomevenna, entitled 'Enchiridion Sacerdotum'; and a copy of the acts and decrees of the Diocesan Synod convoked by Robert de Croy, Bishop of Cambrai in 1550.

Manuscript volume containing [a transcript of] a history of the House of Brandenburg, [1760], entitled 'Suite des mémoires de Brandenbourg composés par le Roy [Frederick II, King of Prussia] et imprimés à Potsdam 1751 en peu d'Examplaires', and mainly devoted to the life of Frederick William I, King of Prussia. A manuscript note below the title states that 'the contents of this Manuscript will be found printed in the Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire de [la] Maison de Brandenburg, par Frederic II, Roi de Prusse (Berlin, 1767, volume II, p 67-176)'.

Book, c1835, entitled Longinus on the Sublime in Writing. Translated, with notes original and selected, and three dissertations.

The collection contains two volumes. Volume one is entitled, 'Aboriginal State' and volume two, 'Improved Modern State'.

A journal kept by William Hoskins from 1 December 1655 to 13 November 1667.

Manuscript volume containing a transcript of English bards and Scotch reviewers: a satire (James Cawthorn, London, 1810), copied by Anne Livie and signed on 20 Nov 1817.

Manuscript volume containing a verse chronicle of the history of England from the legendary Brut up to 1272, [1440], most notably focusing on the barons' rebellion led by Simon de Montfort during the reign of King Henry III. The chronicle is written in rhymed couplets in a south-west Midland dialect, and was copied in a good semi-cursive hand by two, or possibly three, scribes. The chronicle is known in two versions, of which this is the shorter; in the longer version there is a reference to the darkness which fell on the surrounding country following the Battle of Evesham (Aug 1265), and this, as well as local knowledge of the area, has led to the author being traditionally named 'Robert of Gloucester'. On the verso of the second fly-leaf there is a 'Precepts in -ly' (moral or religious counsels) entitled 'A spesiall glasse to loke in daily', which is dated at Holy Rode on 14 Sep 1516. It was possibly written by Richard Whitford (1476-1542), who was chaplain to William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, and later to Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester, afterwards becoming a monk at Syon Monastery, Isleworth, until the Dissolution. It is unclear if Whitford also undertook the copying of the Richard of Gloucester chronicle. Folio 147 contains 25 lines of miscellaneous Latin, including a section relating to the prophecies of Merlin.

Two documents from 1792 containing biographical and critical notes on the poet William Drummond. The first document is the work of Thomas Park, while the second is in a different hand with Park's notes in the margin.

Manuscript of a William Wordsworth sonnet entitled On a portrait of the Duke of Wellington on the Field of Waterloo, by Haydon, suggested by Haydon's 'Picture of the Duke of Wellington upon the field of Waterloo, twenty years after the battle' (painted for St. George's Hall, Liverpool.) It comprises 14 lines of verse, with some alterations in the text.
A note on the page reads 'Composed while ascending Helvellyn. Monday August 31st 1840. Wm Wordsworth. Private at present'. The manuscript appears to be in the hand of Mary Wordsworth.

Manuscript 283 is a holograph manuscript of the short story, The Risks of Life, written by Enoch Arnold Bennett in 1913. SL V 45 is a holograph manuscript of The Lions Share 1916 and SL V 46 is a limited edition of The Old Wives' Tale 1908 by Arnold Bennett.

Manuscript Commonplace Book of English poetry and prose, dating from the 19th century, containing the second half of a long poem on early biblical history 'continued from the book in white forrel', and other items. Inserted is a folded leaf containing two poems, one dated 1834, by W. C. Yonge, who may have been the compiler of the volume.

Manuscript volume containing 'The Public and private life of Squallina, enriched with various anecdotes of distinguished persons, compiled by an intimate acquaintance of all', dated to the 19th century.

A manuscript and printed copy of William Hepworth Dixon's book, The London Prisons, 1850. Also includes newspaper cuttings collected by the author.

Two holograph manuscripts, 1859-1860, of addresses made by David Graham Drummond Ogilvy, 5th Earl of Airlie. Also contains two letters from Professor J D A Ogilvy.

Manuscript copy of 'Reuben Manasseh. A tragedy', in five acts (and in verse), by 'Alastor', dated December 1843. A letter concerning the identity of the author has been inserted in the volume, which asserts that he may have been James Orton, who published books under that pseudonym.

A bi-lateral cipher translation and transcription, prepared by Henry Seymour in 1921, from Bacon's The Historie of the raigne of King Henry the Seventh, 1622, using Bacon's own cipher, as given in the De Augmentis scientarum.

A volume, 1933-1934, of poetry, in German, by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by James Blair Leishman. It includes manuscript recommendations by Leishman and comments by Professor Geoffrey Tillotson.

Two holograph manuscripts, 1830-1. The first is a six verse poem written for The Metropolitan. The second is a draft of an article, 'Notices of the Life of Lord Byron by Mr Moore, and remarks on those notices by Lady Byron', published without significant alteration in The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Vol. 28 (1830), pp. 33.

A 64-line elegiac poem composed on the occasion of the death of Frederick Cornwallis, Baron Cornwallis of Eye, in January 1661/2. His virtues are recorded:
'... (though there bee
Twixt vulgar Spirits, and Nobilitie
A kind of Antipathie) yet will I
Appeale unto themselves [the Commons] what courtesie
They found in him: what affabilitie,
Humilitie, and sweetness, w[i]th rare parts,
Which (ev'n against their wills) had won their hearts.'
There is a reference to Prester John, and allusion is made to the office Cornwallis had held as Treasurer of the Household to Charles II:
'The King of Kings now meaning to confer
An higher title, made thee Treasurer
In Heaven's great Court, where thou had'st laid up store
Of never fading Treasure [long?] before.'
At the end runs a Latin inscription: 'Ita raptim flevit ex animo R.Wolverton. Eayensis sudor volgorum ex Icenis M.D.'

A volume, 1851-1852, containing autobiographical details, moral observations, criticisms of religious affairs and newspaper cuttings.

Manuscript travel journals, 1784-1790, comprising part of a 'Journal of an 8 month's [sic] tour on the Continent', 25 Apr-10 May 1784, describing the final phase of a tour from Sedan to Calais and London which lasted from October 1783 to May 1784, and including an itinerary of the whole voyage through Picardy, Paris, Burgundy, Switzerland and Belgium, and an anecdote concerning Voltaire; a 'Journal of a tour to the West in the summer 1788', describing a journey from London through Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall; and an unfinished 'Journal of a tour into Sussex', Jul 1790.

A typescript, c1908, entitled La Renaissance de la Tragédie et les Spectacles de Plein-air en France. Alterations and additions in the author's own hand.

Contains manuscript drafts, typescripts, transcripts and notes, proof sheets and other printed material of many works by Anne Ritchie including essays, autobiographical writings and short stories, c1864-1918.

A book of manuscript poems, composed by John Phillips from 1825 to 1863, lists of honours conferred on him, 1825-1860, lists of lecture engagements 1824-1860 and a manuscript entitled the incidents in the life of John Phillips, 1800-1860.

A manuscript volume, 1708-1760, compiled by John Sheffield and his third wife Katherine, on various aspects of their lives.

A copy from 1701 of The originall & progress of Mahometanism supposedly written, c1673, by Henry Stubbe (or Stubs). The manuscript also contains An epistle from Achmet Benabdalba a learned Moor concerning the Xtian religion.

A 54 line poem entitled 'The ultimum vale or last farewell of Thomas Earle of Strafford written by him selfe a little before his death', not in fact by Strafford, but copied, probably in or soon after 1641, on the verso of the front fly-leaf of the library's copy of The Historie of Philip de Commines (1601).

Incomplete manuscript article on Thomas Lovell Beddoes containing '...a short review of the...works of Beddoes [other than Death's Jest Book] together with a selection from some of their finest passages'. It was written, by an author unknown, as a supplement to Thomas Forbes Kelsall's article on Beddoes in the Fortnightly Review of 1872, Vol 18, pp.51-75. Although intended for the same journal it appears not to have been published either there or elsewhere.

Manuscript volume, originally used as a stock book for haberdashery, belonging to John Clark [of Bridgewater, Somerset], containing lists of hosiery, thread, pins, ribbons, laces, tapes, bobbins, blankets, flannel and other cloths, furs, tippets, muffs, capes, silk cloaks, cambric handkerchiefs, pasteboard, paper and umbrellas, 1832-1837. Many pages have had pasted on to them newspaper cuttings and illustrations from popular magazines, [1838-1852], including plans for the new parish church of Paddington, 1840. From folio 18, the volume has interspersed on previously blank pages a draft continuation by Clark of Byron's Don Juan (i.e. cantos xvii-xxiv), described by the author as 'rough copy - incorrect' (each leaf being cancelled presumably as the fair copy was made) and signed by himself as 'completed 1842 September 1, at X a.m. clk. struck, & flute playing in the street'.. There are also some notes on Byron's original poem, his life and literary style accompanying the continuation, which date from later in the 1840s. The vellum cover is inscribed 'John Clark's first copy of his poem'.

A forgery of a sixteen-line song composed in March 1791 by Robert Burns. It is written and signed in imitation of Burn's hand, c1888-1892.

Album with leaves of various colours containing poetry, chiefly of a religious nature, hymns and moral aphorisms; a few printed items have been inserted. The volume includes works by Isaac Watts, William Cowper, John Newton, Maria Abdy and James Montgomery, and shares with the last a Sheffield connection. One leaf bears the name 'Reginald Follett Codrington Hedgeland'. Compiled c1841-1846.

An English manuscript translation, 1890, of Robert Seidel's work Der Achtstundentag.

Manuscript volume containing a verse play, a prose history, and several songs concerning the Escalade of Geneva undertaken by Duke Charles Emmanuel of Savoy on the 12 Dec 1602.
The play is entitled 'L'Escalade de Genève, Tragi Comèdie Representée pour la prémière fois' 12 Dec 1603. The history is called 'Histoire De la Miraculeuse Délivrance envoyée de Dieu à la Ville de Genève' 12 Dec 1602. The songs, or 'Chansons de L'Escalade', are in French (Savoyard dialect - 4 songs) and English (1 song entitled 'On the Twelfth of December with wicked intent'. The airs of the songs are often given, e.g. 'Sur l'air de la Vendange'. The index to the first lines of the songs is dated 22 Oct 1765.
The front cover of the leather binding is stamped in gold 'Gedeon Macaire Fils MDCCLXIV'.

Holograph poem writeen by Ebenezer Elliott entitled 'William Cobbett. By the author of Corn Law Rhymes', and dated 23 Jun 1835. In addition there is a letter written from Sheffield by Elliott to Samuel Carter Hall at 4 Piccadilly, London, offering him the poem for publication: 'The poem I now send you is very unworthy of the Amulet, and infinitely so of the subject. But I have done my very best, as I always do...'.
This poem, inspired by the burial of Cobbett (he had died on 18 June 1835), was first published in The New Monthly Magazine, Vol 44 (1835), and reprinted (with the addition of a final verse) as 'Elegy on William Cobbett' in The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott, the Corn-Law Rhymer (1840). A portrait of the poet is enclosed.

The volume, c 1965, contains an unpublished typescript of Food of the Gods: Studies in Religion, written by Rev. Ernest Edgar Vyvyan Collcott.

Two typescript signed letters of 18 and 20 Apr 1957, from Dr Richard Flatter to Dr John Henry Pyle Pafford, then Librarian of the Goldsmith's Library, in reply to a letter of his of 12 Apr 1957 (carbon copy attached), all on the subject of the authorship of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. With Flatter's first letter he sent a typescript of 'Some remarks on the text of The Winter's Tale', written by himself in 1941, while in an internment camp in Australia; with his second letter he sent his contemporary 'miscellaneous observations' on the same play.

Commonplace book, written in the early 19th century, containing copies of poems by various authors, including Mrs. R. Wilmot, the Reverend John Chetwood, and Eward Wilmot. The poems include 'To Miss Wilmot, now Mrs. Bradford, on her arrival from Russia' by F.S.I. (p.135), and 'Prologue written for the opening of the Lyceum at Madras 1782, spoken by Major Maule, by Eyles Irwin, Esq.' (p.245). A few poems are dated, 1782, 1788, 1802-1816.

A volume from the second half of 18th century entitled Memoirs of the Life and Character of Mithridates K [ing] of Pontus. Extracted from various authors by Richard Gough Esq.

Extracts of poetry and prose collected by Penelope Baynes, 1793-1808. Occasionally the source of the extracts are mentioned.

A volume entitled A new Commonplace Book... properly ruled throughout with a complete skeleton index, and ample directions for its use.... London. Printed for Walker & Edwards, 44 Paternoster Row. Inscribed on the front fly-leaf 'Isabella Poyntz from her Uncle Courtnay Boyle.' The entries include passages from Samuel Johnson, Mme. de Staël, Blair's Sermons, Pestalozzi.