SINGING, POTATO SALES & BENEVOLENCE IN SOUTH LANARKSHIRE 'James Smellie's Count Book in Carstairs School'

James Smellie of Carstairs

Verlag: Carstairs, Lanarkshire Unpublished 1802, 1802

Beschreibung

Hybrid daybook, notebook and school exercise book used by James Smellie of Carstairs over 50 years from 1802 and into the 1850s to record business transactions, Carstairs' village meetings, auctions, the activities of the Benevolent Society and on Friday evenings the 'Church Music Society'. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Small quarto (17x20cm) bound in exceptionally faded marbled card wrappers, reinforced with a wraparound slice of sheepskin. The manuscript is comprised of two main sections: [pp] 126 and [pp] 46 which have been hand stitched together through the spine. The manuscript's contents are easily legible but written on browned, faded and fingermarked paper, often dog-earred and grubby towards the foreedge. The contents do not appear in chronological order and many entries have been decorated with calligraphy and little figures who pass through these pages. The manuscript is housed in a drop back solander box. NARRATIVE: This is a remarkably engaging hybrid work which records the education and trading life of a boy-turned-man making his way in South Lanarkshire in the first half of the 19th century. It begins on the verso of the upper cover with a copy letter to Miss Cruickshank and Mr Straughshanks arranging 'to drink Tea with you both' in April 1830. There follow puzzles, notes of addresses and transactions - 'Dr Lococks wafers agents Da Silva. 1 bridge Lane, Fleet Street London' and many and varied calculations from the first decade of the century, which continue into the 1850s when Smellie was still noting down details of village meetings: 'Notice There was a meeting of the Feyears of the Village of Carstairs, and it was agreed that any person wishing to have the part, in the green. James Smellie Secretary' There is a proclamation of marriage in Carlisle (1834) and a commonplaced version of 'The Cards Spiritualized'. Several auctions of the contents of Potato Fields are noted and on an inserted bifolium the constitution of the Carstairs 'Church Music Society' which arranged to meet 'Every Friday Night at 8 O Clock in the Schoolroom of Carstairs' - with no member allowed to participate while drunk. A specimen of pasted-in miniature writing is supplemented by many currency exchange exercises: 'A Merchant in New England stands indebted to his Correspondent in London.' On the inserted final gathering Smellie lists his children(?) who were born between 1799 and 1810. The final leaves contain further notes of actual transactions - 'Lime from the Westsheeds Drove by Tho.s Boyd 1 Cart 2 bols.'; many sales of nails as well as details of an allowance paid by the Carstairs Benevolent Society. Please contact Christian White Rare Books Ltd for more information or images of this item. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 8442

Bibliografische Details

Titel: SINGING, POTATO SALES & BENEVOLENCE IN SOUTH...

Verlag: Carstairs, Lanarkshire Unpublished 1802

Erscheinungsdatum: 1802

Signiert: Signatur des Verfassers

Auflage: 1. Auflage