Lansdowne manuscripts

The Lansdowne manuscripts are a significant named collection of the British Library, based on the collection of William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne.^[1] The purchase of the collection by the British Museum was in 1807.^[2]

Seal of Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke, from Lansdowne MS. 203.

The main features of the collection, as outlined by Nicholas Harris Nicolas, are:^[3]

• State papers and correspondence of Lord Burghley.
• Papers of Sir Julius Caesar.
• Papers of White Kennett; his manuscripts passed to James West and so to Lansdowne.^[2]
• Historical papers from the 15th century to 18th century, relating to major figures in English history.
• William Petyt's parliamentary papers, and papers of legal interest.
• Topographical and heraldic collections.

Notes

1. British Library, Manuscripts: Closed collections.
2. Dictionary of National Biography, Kennett, White, D.D. (1660–1728), bishop of Peterborough, by Thompson Cooper. Published 1892.
3. Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, A Description of the Contents, Objects, and Uses of the Various Works Printed by Authority of the Record Commission (1831), pp. 106–7; Google Books.

External links

• Catalogue of the Lansdowne Manuscripts in the British Museum (1819) (compiled by Henry Ellis and Francis Douce); Google Books.