Correspondence: Hunt papers

Description

Letters addressed to William Oakes Hunt, chiefly on the subject of the `Stratford portrait' of Shakespeare, and on the fund established in October 1861 for the purchase of New Place Gardens, etc., together with a few letters to other persons, reports of the Birthplace Committee, etc; 1861-1871.

Preceded (ff. 1-22) by an earlier series (1857-1860), chiefly addressed to Henry Kingsley, M.D., and relating to the annual Shakespeare Dinner, comprising letters from:
- George Bartley; London, 14 March 1857 (f. 1)
- John Payne Collier; Maidenhead, 17 March - 7 June 1857 (ff. 2, 7, 9, 11)
- John Shakespear; 18 March 1857 (f. 4)
- James E. Murdock; Malvern, 19 April 1857 (f. 5)
- John Denman; Warwick, 2 December 1857 (f. 13)
- John B. Buckstone, the actor; 6 April 1858 (f. 15)
- William Makepeace Thackeray; 9 March [1859] (f. 17)
- Charles Kean, the actor; 14 March 1859 (f. 19)
- Amara McCoy; Albany, U.S.; 23 April 1859 (f. 20)
- Earl of Carlisle; 20 May 1860 (f. 22).

Among other writers are:
i) Charles Holte Bracebridge - on a copy by Sir J. Reynolds of the bust of Antinous from Hadrian's Villa [April 1861] (ff. 23, 27v)- on W.O. Hunt's `Stratford Portrait'; 17, 20 April 1861 (ff. 32, 41v) - on the purchase of New Place, etc; 19 October 1861 - 25 May 1866. (ff. 90, 94, 96, 98, 173, 187, 213) - enclosing letters from Mrs. Lucy on his pamphlet `Shakespear no Deerstealer' and from Dr. Thomas Thomson on the `Deer Barn' at Fulbroke; 15 April 1871 (ff. 235-242)

ii) Thomas Thomson, M.D., on a gift to the Museum by Frederic Manning; 12 April 1861 (f. 28)

iii) Charles Wright (15 letters), J. Hogarth (2 letters) and S. Collins (6 letters) on the Exhibition of the Stratford `Portrait' in London; 15 April - 4 June 1861 (ff. 30-83) passim. sup plus;; A third letter from Hogarth, 27 April 1863, is at f. 182.

iv) J[ames] O[rchard] Halliwell - on the portrait, etc; 27 June 1861 (f. 84) - on the `Shakespeare Fund', with prospectuses, etc; 22 November 1861 - 13 May 1862 (ff. 99-104, 107-122, 134-145, 156) - on the Tercentenary; 9 May, 26 June 1863 (ff. 184, 191) sending draft of placard for New Place; [1863] (f. 194) - 26 November 1864-3 March 1870 (ff. 207, 215, 219, 221, 228-231)

v) G. Gwinnett, on excavations at New Place; Warwick, 27 November 1861 (f. 105)

vi) Sir Robert N.C. Hamilton, as Hon. Sec. of the National Shakespearian Fund; 1861-62 (ff. 123-133, 146, 154, 165, 167) The letter on f. 146 encloses (ff. 148-153) remarks on `the course to be pursued on Mr. Halliwell's having made over New Place' to the Corporation, dated 29 April 1862. Halliwell's notes on the same are at ff. 158-164.

vii) Edward Vere Nicoll, presenting to the Museum `the Old Plate and Engraving of Shakespeare's House', viz. by P. de la Motte, 1788; 28 June 1862 (f. 177)

viii) Ernst Rommel, enclosing a Tercentenary poem; Hanover, 14 April 1864 (German, ff. 199-203)

ix) W.O. Hunt: - to J.O. Halliwell, on the 5 May being now the correct day, N.S., for Shakespeare's birthday; 28 May 1870 (f. 233) - to [C.H. Bracebridge] on his liberality to New Place, 6 July 1871 (f. 243)

x) John Pickford, enclosing a copy of a letter in the Bodleian, from E. Malone to Bishop Percy, 21 September 1793, describing his researches at Stratford and his discovery of the Quiney letter, No Date (f. 247)

Included also are letters from:
a) Thomas H. Markham; Temple, 17 April 1861 (f. 34)
b) John Merridew; Leamington, 24 April-2 May 1861 (ff.38,48,52)
c) Lord Leigh; 24 July 1861 (f. 86)
d) Earl of Warwick; 16 September 1861 (f. 88)
e) James Dugdale; of Wroxall Abbey, 21 October 1861 (f. 92)
f) Rev. Charles Howes, Norwich, 7 January 1863 (f. 179)
g) Robert Wollaston; No Date (f. 197)
h) Frederick Manning; Leamington, 5 May 1864 (f. 205)
i) Rev. Charles Craven; Spixall Rectory, Suffolk, 17 December 1864 (f. 209)
j) Thomas Schideck, on behalf of `Das Freie Deutsche Hochstift in Goethe's Vaterhaus', Frankfurt, 2 March 1865 (German, f. 211)
k) Ansley Windus, as to Shakespeare relics; 8 May 1867 (f. 217)
l) John Payne Collier; 14 July 1867 (f. 220)
m) C. Roach Smith; 11 October 1868 (f. 222)
n) J.G. Waller; 19, 23 November 1868 (ff. 224, 226)
o) W.H. Bush; Bristol, 24 March 1871 (f. 234)

At the end are:
- `Statement of Account of the Tercentenary expenses'; 24 August 1864 (f. 251)
- List of presentations to the Museum; 16 December 1864 (f. 253)
- Reports of the Birthplace Committee, 1865-68 (ff. 253-262)