Chelsea, in the Olden & Present Times

Transcribed from the 1869 edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
BY GEORGE BRYAN.
“It is not given to all to have genius—it is given to all to have honesty of purpose; an ordinary writer may have this in common with the greatest—that he may compose his works with a sincere view of administering to knowledge.”—Bulwer Lytton.
Entered at Stationers’ Hall.
CHELSEA: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 4, ALFRED COTTAGES, CAMERA SQUARE, KING’S ROAD. MAY BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS.
1869.
There are circumstances in connection with the publication of this volume which I deem it necessary to mention. Some persons probably have thought that such an undertaking should have devolved on an individual possessing greater literary attainments, and occupying a higher position in the parish than I do in it. To this impression I willingly give my assent. But this has not been the case; and the length of time (upwards of forty years) since the late Mr. Faulkner published his “History of Chelsea,” and the consequent difficulty of procuring a copy—independently of the fact that much contained in that work is now altogether devoid of interest, and also that, from the great improvements and alterations in the parish, there required many additions to be made to it—induced me, in the decline of life, to undertake the present task.
As an additional justification for the course I have pursued, it must not be forgotten that Chelsea is my native parish, and that I have possessed peculiar facilities for acquiring the necessary information; and, moreover, that in early life I composed in type a great portion of Mr. Faulkner’s first edition, and at a subsequent period was employed as the printing-office reader of his edition in two volumes. This gave me frequent opportunities of seeing him, and witnessing his laborious exertions to produce a work as complete “as the utmost diligence, care, and patience enabled him to collect.” I cannot but think that these considerations—combined with the fact of my having been, for many years since that period, connected with the press in London—will remove all impressions of assumption, on my part, for submitting the present volume to the impartial judgment of the parishioners and the public.