| Description | Includes John Hoveden of Howden manuscript volume c.1450; 'Beverley Charters and Grants' manuscript volume c.1803; Poulson's manuscripts relating to Allen's History of Holderness, Holderness Pedigrees, Abbey of Meaux, letters of George Scaum, Sutton, Sutton with Stoneferry and Somergames, 19th century; Champney bequest and Beverley Library garden records 1920s-1930s; Fairfax family transcripts, 1910-1911; Civil War and other tracts 17th century, Fairfax volume |
| AdminHistory | John Edward Champney (1846-1929) was born and bred in Beverley, but moved to Halifax and became a merchant. As his wife had predeceased him and there were no children, he acted as benefactor to Beverley and built the library there. His bequest gave the art galleries of Bunkfield, Halifax and York Corporation six pictures and drawings, and Beverley Library 'twenty of the remainder' of pictures and drawings and his book collection which comprised several thousand books. A small proportion of these consisted of archival material which it appears were purchased at auction in the early 20th century.
One manuscript includes copies of the work of John of Howden and other scholars. This contains some printed pages and so would have to postdate the 1450s when Johann Gutenberg developed the printing press. The manuscript apparently originally belonged to the Carthusian house of St Barbara in Cologne. The notable scholar of this period AG Rigg, has said that, although not contemporary, it is significant because 'in close friar and monastic communities...such manuscripts are often better witnesses...than earlier ones, especially if a manuscript has had an independent transmission.' Its provenance can be traced to a Sir Thomas Phillipps, baronet (1792-1872), collector of books and manuscripts. He amassed a vast collection of a wide range of historical documents, which was no less than an obsession, and referred to himself as a complete 'Vellomaniac'. By the early 20th century, this manuscript had been auctioned and was purchased by Champney.
The civil war tracts were purchased by Champney at auction around 1909 and comprise a small proportion of the thousands of political tracts published at this time in response to the deepening political crisis in England. They have been bound and some of them have their auction catalogue entry pasted onto the inside cover.
'The History of Antiquities of the Seignory of Holderness' was originally started by William Dade who created the Dade registers. He died before completing it and his work was taken over by George Poulson, who had previously published 'Beverlac' in 1821. The work reached completion under Poulson when it was published in 2 volumes in 1840-1841. |
| CustodialHistory | These records were originally part of the Beverley Local Studies Library collection |