Add MS 57846

CHARLES AND MARY LAMB: narrative of the travels of a lady in France; aft. Sept. 1822-bef. March 1833. Autograph fair copy, with revisions. Imperfect. This fictitious work, which takes the form of a letter addressed to 'My dear friend', was probably inspired by a visit that the Lambs made to France between June and Sept. 1822. The surviving portion is set mainly in the period from 1787 to Dec. 1788, following the narrator's move to France with her second husband, a merchant named McKenna. The main section (ff. 1-14) breaks off in mid-sentence, and the final fragment (f. 15) belongs to a later episode of the work, set in Revolutionary days. Transcription was begun by Mary Lamb and taken over, from the last two and a half lines on f. 7, by her brother Charles, who has added revisions throughout. No contemporary publication has been traced. For a further details see Louis James, 'The Lambs' story of revolutionary France: a newly discovered fragment', Charles Lamb Society Bulletin, NS II (April 1973), pp. 29-32. A note by the bookseller Edward Lumley at the head of the first leaf (f. 1) reads 'This Manuscript in the Autograph of Charles Lamb was given me by Westwood the Poet who was the intimate friend of Lamb. It has never been published.' Thomas Westwood the younger (d. 1888), the poet, was the son of Lamb's landlord at Enfield. Another hand has added the docket 'MS of Charles Lamb' on f. 14v. Owned, mid-late 19th cent., by the poet Joseph Ellis of Balcombe. Purchased from Mrs Cyril Ellis through Bernard Quaritch, 16 Jan. 1973.

Paper; ff. i+15. A contemporary foliation in ink runs from 1 to 14, the final fragment (f. 15) having no visible numbering. 300 x 170mm. approx. Text copied on rectos only of leaves, with countermark 'J WHATMAN 1814', excised from an East India Company ledger. Each surviving complete leaf of the original was later torn into two or three pieces and then reconstructed by being pasted together on the versos with slips of paper taken partly from the address-panels of two letters. One of these (pasted on ff. 1 and 2) is undated and directed to 'Chs. La mb Esq. [Enf] ield Cha[se]', the other (ff. 3-5 versos) addressed 'To the Lady of the H ouse' is postmarked (f. 7v) '12 NOON MR 29 1833'.