A journal kept by Horace Walpole that documents the opertaion of the Strawberry Hill Press, his private press at his home Strawberry Hill (Twickenham, England). Starting on 25 June 1757 with the erection of the press by William Robinson, the first of several printers hired by Horace Walpole to operate his press, the journal contains a list of the titles published, receipts for payment to the printers and their assistants, the indenture of Joseph Forrester, correspondence between Walpole and his printers about operations and the choice of engravers, receipts for supplies, newspaper clippings announcing the publications from the press, and two vignettes used in the Press's publications. With a medley print by Jacobus Houbraken on front paste-down with portraits of early printers: Joannes Gutenburg, Joannes Faustus, Laurentius Costerus, Aldus Manucius, and Joannes Frobenius which was also the frontispiece to volume 1 of Michael Maittaire's work Annales typographici ab artis inventae origine ad annum MD (Hagae-Comitum: Apud Idssvu, Valillant, MDCCXIX. Also with two prints by Edward Edwards: tFarm yard and printing house at Strawberry Hill; and, a portrait of Thomas Kirgate
Description:
Title from text at head of page 1, in Walpole's hand. and In English with some French.
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
Kirgate, Thomas, 1734-1810., Kirgate, Thomas, 1734-1810,, and Strawberry Hill Press (Twickenham, London, England)
Label for the fishing eagle modelled by Mrs. Damer
Description:
Title from first line of text., Title in Hazen: Label for the fishing eagle modelled by Mrs. Damer. 1787., Mounted on page 253 of Richard Bull's copiously extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784. See Hazen, A.T. Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 13., and Sheet: 2 x 11.5 cm, mounted and bound to 56 cm. For further information, consult library staff.
Cover title., Place and publisher from Hazen., Signatures: A-E² (-E2)., and Stored in case: 27 cm. Hazen, A.T. Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press, no. 23 Copy 1 (page 111).
Caption title., First line: The morning fair, the sky serene ... ., Printed in blue., Date from Hazen., Mounted on page 2 of William Bawtree's extra-illustrated copy of Horace Walpole's: A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784. See A.T. Hazen's Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 11., Mounted with manuscript account by William Bawtree's grandson, G.F. Bawtree, of the incident on which the poem is based. Printed in blue., and Sheet trimmed to 24.2 x 18.8 cm, mounted and bound to 54 cm.
Master of Otranto to the Fairy Blandina and 'Twas on this lofty vase's side
Description:
Title from first lines of text., By Horace Walpole. See Hazen., Thomas Kirgate's reprint of "The master of Otranto" with ’ordered’ in the fourth line slightly to the left of ’Manner’., On the same sheet, printed below, Thomas Gray's: 'Twas on this lofty vase's side, Where China's gayest art has dy'd ... ., Hazen's titles: The Master of Otranto to the Fairy Blandina 1772 and Label for the pedestal of the China tub. 1773?, Fairy Blandina = Lady Blandford., Not in ESTC., Mounted on page 30 of Richard Bull's copiously extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784. See Hazen, A.T. Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 13., Pasted below a colored drawing of the vase in the Little Cloister; with Richard Bull's annotation in ink., and For further information, consult library staff.
Publisher:
Strawberry Hill Press
Subject (Name):
Blandford, Maria Catherina de Jong, approximately 1697-1779. and Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771.
Title from first line of text., Title in Hazen: This ticket to view Strawberry Hill, 1774., Mounted on page 7 of Richard Bull's copiously extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784. See Hazen, A.T. Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 13., Signed: Horace Walpole. Date supplied in manuscript: Thursday, Aug. 4th., and Mounted, bound to 56 cm. For further information, consult library staff.
Engraved depiction of a fragment of a sovereign of Elizabeth I; the obverse with Elizabeth's face is depicted on the left side of the design, and the reverse is depicted on the right side and "Genuine gold pound sovereign of Elizabeth I, retooled to depict her as an old hag and purporting to have been defaced by her in a fury. ... This gold fragment has no known history prior to 1742, when it was acquired by Horace Walpole at the sale of the Earl of Oxford's collection. Walpole described it as 'a fragment of one of her last broad pieces, representing her horridly old and deformed: An entire coin with this image is not known: It is universally supposed that the die was broken by her command, and that some workman of the mint cut out this morsel, which contains barely the face ... it has never been engraved'. As knowledge of the piece did not extend beyond Walpole and his circle, the suggestions as to its origin must be Walpole's own, rather than any real general opinion. ... The motive behind the original work remains unclear. It is obviously an attack on Elizabeth's alleged vanity, but whether the standpoint was political (republican or aristocratic hostility), religious (Catholic or extreme Protestant reaction to the glorification of Elizabeth's role in the English religious settlement), moralistic, or just mischievous cannot now be ascertained."--British Museum online catalogue, description of the original fragment after which this plate was engraved
Alternative Title:
Gold fragment of Queen Elizabeth's last broad piece
Description:
Title devised by curator; alternative title from Horace Walpole's description of the fragment in his work: A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole., Publication information from that of the volume for which the plate was engraved., Plate from: Walpole, H. A catalogue of the royal and noble authors of England. [Twickenham, England] : Printed at Strawberry-Hill, 1758, v. 1, page 126., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., Horace Walpole kept the original gold fragment, now in the British Museum, in the rose-wood case in the Library at Strawberry Hill. For a description of the fragment, see the British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: E.3392., and Mounted on page 89 of Horace Walpole's extra-illustrated copy of his: A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784. See Hazen, A.T. Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 12.
Publisher:
Printed at Strawberry-Hill
Subject (Name):
Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603, and Strawberry Hill (Twickenham, London, England)