Mr. John Northing's book

Name:

Northing, John

Date:

1796

Description:

English commonplace book written from both ends. From one end (f. 1r-26r) the book includes penmanship exercises, a number of medical and veterinary recipes (or 'receipts'), and other household preparations such as blacking; the names and baptism dates of the children of Thomas and Alce Northing, probably including the writer (f. 15v-16r); and notes on local towns and curiosities (f. 21v-24r). The pages starting from the other end (f. 26v-109v, starting from the end) feature numerous technical illustrations and instructions for looms and cording patterns for weaving woolen textiles such as coverlets, carpets, and other textiles, with names and locations of clients (f. 63v-109v); and 107 numbered medical and veterinary recipes (f. 26v-58v), with a table of contents (f. 60v-63r). A list of books owned includes the General dispensatory, the Universal letter-writer, the Arminian (Methodist) and Spectator magazines, two Bibles, and a number of devotional books (f. 30r-30v). Notes from the 1840s and 1850s were added later in blank spaces on pages with earlier content.

Language:

English

Provenance:

Offered for sale at auction by Hansons (Stafford, England), 9 October 2019, lot 1141.; Sold by Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers (London), 2020.

Relation:

The Faye and Gerson Blatnick Special Collections Fund Home Page: http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017.12/1339933

Subject:

Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions; Veterinary prescriptions; Woolen and worsted weaving

Form/Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts); commonplace books; diagrams; prescriptions; manuscripts (documents)

Physical Description:

109 leaves : paper, illustrated; 190 x 160 mm bound to 197 x 170 mm + 1 note.

Geographic Subject:

Lincolnshire (England) -- History -- Sources

Rights:

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Notes:

Ms. codex.; Probably born 1781 to Thomas and Alce (Alice?) Northing (f. 15v); married Mary Gill, 12 December 1803 (f. 25v).; Title from note pasted to title page (f. 1r).; Foliation: Paper, 109; modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto.; Script: Written in cursive script, possibly by multiple hands.; Decoration: Numerous diagrams for cording in ink (f. 63v-109v); a modern child's drawing of a house in ink (f. 6v).; Binding: Contemporary (late 18th-century) vellum; "John Northing Upton Near ... in the year 1806" written on one cover in faded ink.; Origin: Written in Upton, near Gainsborough in Lincolnshire (f. 1r), between 1796 (f. 1r) and 1856 (f. 37r).; Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Faye and Gerson Blatnick Special Collections Fund.

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, Ms. Codex 2068

Collection:

Faye and Gerson Blatnick Special Collections Fund