PRIVATELY PRINTED BOOKS AND PRIVATELY ENGRAVED PORTRAITS.
If the "NOTES AND QUERIES," in the course of its career, had only called the attention of antiquaries to the necessities of collecting epitaphs and inscriptions to the dead found in churches, and thus brought into active exertion a large number of zealous and intelligent recorders of monuments, its usefulness would have been fully established; but the multitude of suggestive hints and recommendations constantly appearing in its pages, added to the great amount of precise and unquestionable knowledge given to the public through its means, have established the publication as of the greatest importance to archæologists, and literary men generally.
A noble and highly regarded author (Lord Braybrooke) has recently shown the necessity for recording the existence of painted historical portraits, scattered, as we know they are, throughout residences of the nobility and gentry, and from thence too often descending to the humble dwelling or broker's warehouse, through the effluxion of time, the ill appreciation, in some instances, of those who possess them, or the urgencies of individuals: but there are other memorials of eminent persons extant, frequently the only ones, which, falling into the possession of but few persons, are to the seeker after biographical or topographical knowledge, for the most part, as though they had never existed. I allude to Privately Printed Books and Privately Engraved Portraits. Surely these might be made available to literary persons if their depository were generally known.
How comparatively easy would it be for the readers of the "NOTES AND QUERIES," in each county, to transmit to its pages a short note of any privately engraved portrait, or privately printed volume, of which they may be possessed, or of which they have a perfect knowledge. Collectors could in most instances, if they felt inclined to open their stores, give the required information in a complete list, and no doubt would do so; but still a great assistance to those engaged in the toils of biographical or other study could be afforded by the transmission to these pages of the casual "Note," which happens to have been taken at a moment when the book or portrait passed under the inspection of a recorder who did not amass graphic or literary treasures.
As respects some counties, much less has been done by the printing press to furnish this desideratum; at least that of privately engraved portraits. In Warwickshire, a list of all the portraits (with a few omissions) has within a few years been brought before the public in a volume. In Norfolk, the Illustrations of Norfolk Topography, a volume containing an enumeration of many thousand drawings and engravings, collected by Dawson Turner, Esq., of Great Yarmouth, to illustrate Blomefield's History of the county, is also a repertory of this kind of instruction, as far as portraits are concerned. Privately printed books are entirely unrecorded in this and most other localities. Without the publication now mentioned, persons having no personal knowledge of Mr. Turner's ample stores would be not only unacquainted with that gentleman's wonderful Norfolk collection, but also ignorant that through his liberality, and the elegant genius and labours of several members of his family, the portfolios of many of his friends have been enriched by the addition of portraits of many persons of great virtues, attainments, and learning, with whom he had become acquainted. In Suffolk, the veteran collectors, Mr. Elisha Davy, of Ufford, and Mr. William Fitch, of Ipswich, have compiled lists of portraits belonging to that county. These are, however, in manuscript, and therefore comparatively useless; though, to the honour of both these gentlemen let it be said, that no one ever asks in vain for assistance from their collections.
I trust it can only be necessary to call attention to this source of knowledge, to be supported in a view of the necessity of a record open to all. I have taken the liberty to name the "NOTES AND QUERIES" as the storehouse for gathering these scattered memorabilia together, knowing no means of permanence superior, or more convenient, to literary persons, although I am not without fears indeed, perhaps convictions, that your present space would be too much burthened thereby.
As the volume of "NOTES AND QUERIES" just completed has comprised a large amount of intelligence respecting the preservation of epitaphs, the present would, perhaps, be appropriately opened by a new subject of, I am inclined to think, nearly equal value.
JOHN WODDERSPOON.
Norwich.