A common-place book for polite learning

Alternate Title:

Commonplace book for polite learning

Timespan:

18th century

Date:

1741

Description:

Unfinished commonplace book, possibly compiled by William Vaughan Riall (1699?-1781, member of a Quaker family of landowners and bankers based in Clonmel, Ireland), containing numerous excerpts from Shakespeare and Pope and a few from other authors such as Milton, Charles Churchill, and Edward Young. A few excerpts from Horace and Seneca are in Latin. More than half of the volume is blank (after f. 93), but an 18th-century ballad and a poem by Walter Chamberlaine are written out in full without subject categorization at the end of the volume (f. 254v-256r). The framework for an alphabetical index for subjects is laid out at the beginning (f. ii verso-iii recto) with some folio citations entered but no subject terms. Five blank fragments of leaves from the volume are laid in the back.

Language:

English

Provenance:

Probably formerly owned and possibly compiled by William Vaughan Riall (Dean Byass).; Formerly owned by Claude Phineas Bookey Riall, last member of the Riall family to live at Old Conna Hill, Bray, Ireland.; Sold at auction as part of the contents of Old Conna Hill, January 1953, to H. Rees Davies (not Henry Rees Davies of Glanaethwy, 1861-1940; note in ink, f. 1r).; Formerly owned by H. Rees Davies (note in ink, f. 1r).; Sold by Dean Byass Rare Books (later Dean Cooke Rare Books; Bristol, England), 2018.; Riall, William Vaughan, approximately 1699-1781, former owner.; Riall, Claude Phineas Bookey, 1876-1952, former owner.; Davies, H. Rees, former owner.

Relation:

Digital facsimile for browsing (Colenda): https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3wh2fg2m

Subject:

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 Quotations Early works to 1800; Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744 Quotations Early works to 1800; English poetry -- Early works to 1800; English prose literature -- Early works to 1800; Quakers -- Ireland -- History -- 18th century -- Sources

Resource Type:

Text

Form/Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts); commonplace books; excerpts; Manuscripts, European; manuscripts (documents)

Physical Description:

266 leaves : paper; 310 x 200 (310 x 150) mm bound to 320 x 225 mm + 5 notes.

Rights:

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

Notes:

Ms. codex.; English, with a few passages in Latin (for example, f. 1r).; Title from front flyleaf (f. i recto).; Collation: Paper, 266 leaves; 1¹²⁻²(-1 (front pastedown), -2) 2¹²⁻¹(-12) 3-4¹² 5¹²⁻¹(-2) 6-9¹² 10¹²⁻¹(-3) 11-12¹² 13¹⁰⁻⁵(-6, -7, -8, -9, -10) 14¹²⁻¹(-12?) 15¹⁰ 16¹² 17¹²⁻¹(-2) 18¹² 19¹²⁻¹(-8) 20¹²⁻¹(-?) 21-23¹² 24¹⁰⁻²(-1?, -10 (rear pastedown)); modern foliation in pencil, [i-iii, 1-263], lower right recto; original foliation in ink, 1-93, upper left verso, which matches the modern foliation until skipping a leaf after 66. All references in this record are to modern foliation.; Layout: Left margin ruled in faded red ink, with the subject of each excerpt written in the margin; folio format.; Script: Written in cursive script, probably by a single hand, possibly that of William Vaughan Riall (Dean Byass).; Watermark: Crowned shield with the harp of Ireland above the monorgram GR (for Georgius Rex, George III), with countermark TSlator (perhaps an error or a counterfeit of the paper of Thomas Slater, who operated a mill in Rathfarnham, Ireland, from 1737 to 1775).; Binding: 18th-century parchment, blind-tooled.; Origin: Probably written in Clonmel, Ireland (location of the Riall family), beginning in 1741 (f. i recto).

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, Oversize Ms. Codex 2120