• Title
  G. D. Whittington scrapbook `Theatrical Scraps consisting of Various Casts of Shakespears Plays, & other Stock Pieces. Also many other things relating to the Theatres of London', 1782-1799.
• Creator
  G. D. (George Downing) Whittington
• Call number
  SAFE/MLMSS 7631 (Safe 1/252)
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  1782-1799
• Type of material
  Textual Records, Clippings
• Reference code
  447266
• Issue Copy
  Microfilm : CY 4778
  
• Physical Description
  1 album (comprising chiefly newscuttings with manuscript notes)
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  This collection of playbills and newspaper cuttings is laid down in a quarto volume, bound in contemporary vellum. The volume contains approximately 250 individual items dating from 1782-1799, and reflects the changes and excitement of London theatre during this period. It includes cuttings of plays, theatre, poetry, pantomimes, ballets, harlequinades and circuses, cast lists and a partial handwritten index to the contents. Cuttings concerning battle plans and speeches, such as the Battle of Cadiz (1797) and the Battle of the Nile (1798) and some others, are also included.
  
  The inside front cover includes the signature of George Downing Whittington: `G.D. Whittington 1797'. Whittington is the author of An Historical Survey of the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of France (1809). The title page and index appear to be in the same handwriting. It is likely that this volume was compiled by Whittington. It is in a smiliar style to a Commonplace book of Whittington's dating from the same period and held in the collections of St John's College Library, Cambridge University. Whittington studied at St John's College.
  The volume is ex libris Bibliotheca Lindesiana, and includes the Lindsay bookplate. The bookplate is found in books once housed at the Lindsay family estates at Belcarres and Haigh Hall, Lancashire. The volume may have been acquired by the Lindsay family during the accumulation of their collection. The Lindsay family library has origins that date back to the 16th century but was developed into a formidable collection by Alexander William Crawford Lindsay (1812-1880), 26th Earl of Crawford and 8th Earl of Balcarres. His son, James Ludovic Lindsay (1847-1913), 27th Earl of Crawford and 9th Earl of Balcarres, continued the development of the library begun by his father.
  
  During the 1880s, in 1887 and 1889, the dispersal of the library began as a consequence of the economic hardship of the coal and iron industries upon which the family depended. In 1924 the bulk of the remaining collection was sold by James Ludovic's son, David Alexander Edward Lindsay (1871-1940), 27th Earl of Crawford and 10th Earl of Belcarres. The remainder was sold in 1947-1948. -- John P. Chalmers in Journal of Library History, vol. 18, no. 3, 1983, pp. 322-324; Libraries and Culture, `Bibliotheca Lidesiana', online reference, April 2006.
• Scope and Content
  1786-1799; Bound volume containing manuscript notes and newspaper cuttings of plays, pantomimes, ballets, harlequinades and circuses performed in various London theatres including Covent Garden; Theatre-Royal, Drury Lane; Jones's Royal Circus, St George's Fields; Theatre Royal, Haymarket; Sadler's Wells; New Amphitheatre of Arts; Royal Grove, Astley's Amphitheatre, Westminster; King's Theatre, Haymarket; and others.
  
  Page 93 includes `Botany Bay Theatricals' [1797 newscutting]
  
  Page 128 `Jones's Royal Circus. New South Wales; Or, Love in Botany Bay' [playbill, 1798]
• Access Conditions
  
  Access via appointment
• General note
  
  Digital order no:Album ID : 823643
• Name
  Jones's Royal Circus (London, England)
  
• Subject
  Crawford, Alexander Crawford Lindsay Earl of, 1812-1880--Library.
  Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay Earl of, 1847-1913--Library.
  Printed ephemera--Great Britain--18th century.
  Scrapbooks--Great Britain.
  Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Stage history--England--London.
  Theater--England--London--History--18th century.
  Theatrical companies--England--London--18th century.
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE4376531

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