[Collection of 10 ALS to and from varied correspondents related to John Payne Collier]

About this book

[ALS to William Harness], [London], [ca. 1825-1833], 8vo. p. 1 + address leaf. Letter in which Collier shows regret that he cannot dine on Friday because of another ‘not very agreeable’ engagement. [ALS to John Foster], 1835-01-15, 4to. p. 1 + address leaf. Inviting Forster to dine and saying ‘it is so long since we saw you (meâ culpâ) that perhaps you may have forgotten where we live.’ [ALS to Mr Coffin], [ca. 1839-1842], 4to. pp. 2. Letter in which Collier says that it would have been better had Coffin sent his note to Collier’s home (24 Brompton Square) rather than the Morning Chronicle office. Still, ‘I shall always (as you know) be happy to aid any such project & you need not get Mr Easthope’s sanction to induce me to do all that lies in my power.’ [ALS to Swynfen Jervis], [London], 1848-12-30, 8vo. p. 1. Letter in wich Collier accepts an invitation. [ALS to Frederick Augustus Carrington, barrister of Lincoln’s Inn], Maidenhead, 1853-07-06, 8vo. pp. 2. Letter in which Collier replies to a note from Carrington, and hopes that he will be able to supply a reference from Coke concerning kerns and gallowglasses [see Macbeth, I.ii.]. ‘Here I have comparatively few books about me, and those not in the department of law: my law-books are [in storage] at the Pantechnicon.’ [ALS to Herman Merivale], Maidenhead, 1855-12-12, 8vo. pp. 3. Letter in which Collier explains that on the day before he had missed the only train that could have taken him to Devonshire House to join Merivale in inspecting the Perkins Folio again, and says that ‘I hope you will make any use of such points as appear to you to deserve notice, whether discovered by yourself or pointed out by me. The more public such matters are made the better.’ He asks if Merivale has seen the ‘voluminous notes’ he had sent to Forster (‘In two columns, upon many sheets, they give the old text and the new, without one word of comment or explanation, so that each emendation speaks only for itself ’), and says he would come to town at a day’s notice if Merivale wishes to inspect the Folio again with him. [ALS to H. J. Hall], Maidenhead, 1866-09-06, 8vo. p. 1. Letter in which Collier mentions Hall’s subscription to Collier’s reprint of England’s Helicon, and saying that he now intends to reprint Davison’s Poetical Rhapsody of 1602; it may cost as much as £1 10s., though not more, and will be 300 pages long. If Hall is interested, he should send Collier £1. Madden, Frederick, [ALS to John Payne Collier], [1843]-10-12, 8vo. pp. 2. Letter in which Frederick Madden tells Collier: ‘All that I did in regard to Shakspere’s Will, was to revise a proof of it, set up for Rodd, by the original in the Prerog. Office.’ He says he would be happy to show the proof to Collier, and did so: Collier prints the text in his 1844 Life of Shakespeare, and acknowledges Madden’s help (p. cclv). Halliwell, James. O. (James Orchard), [ALS to an unidentified recipient], [London], 1856-12-19, 8vo. pp. 3. Letter in which Halliwell stresses the desirability of publishing ‘any new fact at all bearing upon Shakespeare, & its due proof of authenticity amidst the unhappy forgeries now unfortunately perplexing half the Shakesperian readers’, but questions the relevance of his correspondent’s discovery. Samuel Schoenbaum to Stuart B. Schimmel, Schoenbaum is sending Schimmel his Times Literary Supplement article on Collier, published on 26.06.1969. Click here to view the Johns Hopkins University catalog record.