| Description | Letters from “titled and private gentlemen,” from 1775 to 1817. The correspondents include titled gentry, government ministers and overseas scientists, aristocrats and ambassadors. The letters concern engine enquiries, trade, and matters such as Boulton & Watt’s acquisition of a passport to go to France.
The arrangement and contents of this bundle must be considered as extremely speculative. The only record of its existance is a note in the List of the Contents of the Watt Room. Matthew Robinson Boulton kept a similar portfolio, “Familiarum Epistolæ et Selectæ.” The original bundle was dismantled, probably by Henry Hazleton, and many of the letters show signs of having been displayed in wall cases or mounted in guard books. Letters which seem to have come from this bundle were found in three locations in the Library’s system – Box 1/12, Box 34/1 and Box 35/1. The letters have been brought together, along with a few other letters that appear to belong with them. However, it should be borne in mind that many of these letters, particularly those concerning engines, may have been removed from the General Incoming Correspondence series or the Special Correspondents and Subjects bundles. |