Add MS 65153 A-B

Add. 65153 A is an autograph draft of the memoir, whilst Add. 65153 B consists of separate notes, verses, letters and copies of letters and documents for inclusion in the text. In the Memoir as published in 1832, Hardy stated (p. 7) that the text was mostly written 'upward of thirty-four years ago' i.e. circa 1798. Some material in Add. 65153 B is of that date but Add. 65153 A bears a watermark of 1803. There may, therefore, have been an earlier draft or notes. The present manuscripts were formerly owned by D. Macpherson, editor of the published Memoir, who added to both volumes corrections, additions, deletions and directions to a printer or copier. The manuscript text has also been marked off against the printed version. Macpherson states (Add. 65153 A, f. 42v) that the latter was 'composed' from the former, but it is not certain that the present variant text and the notes were the direct sources for the printer.

The supplementary material in Add. 65153 B was mostly incorporated into the published Memoir, which resembles the text of the present manuscripts but with some minor omissions, additions and changes. The manuscripts bear evidence of grammatical amendments by Hardy or Macpherson and some parts are illegible. Deleted passages, not included in the Memoir, which are still legible in the manuscript concern Hardy's early life and his relationship with Lord George Gordon (Add. 65153 A, ff. 5, 8). Some of the documents published were probably once present in 65153 B but are now missing, for instance a letter to Hardy from Lord Lauderdale, 4 Sept. 1798 (Memoir, p. 70). Unpublished items in Add. 65153 B include Hardy's draft title-page (f. 3), derived from his title-page for the sketch of the London Corresponding Society (see Place Papers, Add. 27814, f. 8), and a copy of Hardy's letter to Francis Place, 1831, (ff. 59-61) containing an account of his arrest for treason in 1794 which differs from both the printed version and from an undated but earlier, briefer, version in Add. 65153 A, ff. 17-18. Add. 65153 B also contains the original letters to Hardy from Sir Francis Burdett (ff. 24, 25), the Marquis de La Fayette (ff. 29-30) and from Francis Place (f. 50) which are reproduced in the Memoir. Supplementing Hardy's notes concerning the London Corresponding Society in the Place Papers (particularly Add. 27808, 27811, 27818). Presented by Macpherson to a Humphrey Gibbs, 7 Jan. 1839 (note on f. 42v, begun on f. 1v). Purchased at Phillips's sale, 16 June 1988, lot 47, together with the Signet Library copy of the printed Memoir (ref. 89. e. 61), but the manuscripts do not appear to have come from that institution.

Paper. Two parts; ff. 43; i+67. 390 x 270mm.