I must tell you that I have got the better of my passion & I can now write to you calmly.... 41. DIARIES. Three volumes of diaries written by a young man, Frank B.W. 1834-1837, initially at Rounton in North Yorkshire, and then Mumby Parsonage in Lincolnshire. He appears to be a young schoolmaster, and he writes in a lively style with good local observations - out fishing the locals thought the party to be play-folk, such was their appearance - and with numerous friends and family members named. These are not fair copies but convey the immediacy of the moment. A note at the back of the first volume indicates that they were later read by his grandson, who has made a few notes, mainly indicating names. Two of the notebooks are in marbled card covers, the other in limp black roan. All have paper labels on the upper covers, most probably pasted on by the grandson. 180mm x 110mm. 1834-1837. £295.00 The first volume (April 7th - July 17th 1834 & marked No. 3) makes frequent mention of trips and walks with Papa, plays cricket, and ends with a copy of a letter from his love Lucy - “I have looked into your journal my dear Frank & I find you have not written for the same reason so there is no chance of our misunderstanding each other’s motives, but I have been perfectly bewildered the last few days & now you are still near me, if I sleep I trust that when I wake you will be away & that this trial will be past. I have struggled hard to hide what I feel at again parting with you for it would only have made us both more miserable to have given way to our feelings but you must cheer up my dear Frank and if we cannot be happy now we must look at the past which has been happy & the future which may be happier. I did not mean to have given you one more line in this but I must tell you that I have got the better of my passion & I can now write to you calmly.... Lucy W.” The second volume (March 12th - July 5th 1836) opens with an address to Lucy. “I began my last volume under very different circumstances from the present. I was then at Rounton, without you, dear L, & without a prospect of seeing you for 3 or 4 months
Catalogue 71 - Dec 2012 - Manuscripts, Drawings & Ephemera
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