Add MS 72852-72855

PETTY PAPERS. VOLS. III-VI. Correspondence between the Petty and Southwell families, consisting chiefly of letters from Petty to Sir Robert Southwell, with many related papers and enclosures, relating particularly to Petty's shipping experiments and Irish affairs; 1661-1698. Petty's letters are originals, endorsed by Southwell, and Southwell's are drafts and copies. A few items such as medical notes by Southwell (72852, ff. 102-105), which have no connection with Petty, are also included, further evidence of the Southwell provenance. The collection was not acquired until the 1830s by Petty's descendants; Add. 72852 and 72853 probably by gift, since there is no evidence that they passed through dealers' hands, and Add. 72854 and 72855 by purchase in 1834 as indicated in the description below. Each of these two sets of volumes contains correspondence of the same period, and the separation into two sequences appears to be quite random; for example, the first sheet of one letter is in Add. 72855, f. 77, while the remainder is in Add. 72853, ff. 182-185. Most of the letters between 1676 and 1687 are printed in the Petty-Southwell Correspondence.

Four volumes.