4 - Description of BL Add. MSS 78169–78171

Summary

These papers are principally drafts and other matter used in compiling the 1562–3 Quarter Book. As mentioned above (p. 21 and Appendix 3), they form part of the material which Mary Evelyn inherited from her Gonson ancestors; they remained among the Evelyn family papers after the Quarter Book itself had been given to Pepys. Following acquisition of the complete Evelyn archive by the British Library, a descriptive list was compiled for eventual publication, now available in the Library and via the online catalogue. We are grateful to the British Library Board and to Dr F. Harris for permission to use the Library catalogue entry as the basis for this appendix. The original descriptions were the work of Mr H. Kelliher, to whom we are also indebted. The BL format has been largely reshaped to serve the needs of the present volume. Spelling has been modernised and other adjustments have been made to conform to our conventions. Minor diplomatic details have been omitted, and Gonson's private papers are treated more briefly. At the time of writing the papers remain in loose sections; it is intended that they should be bound with a consecutive foliation for each numbered volume, and that foliation is anticipated here; but in order to preserve a record of the component structure, the individual fragments are here distinguished by item numbers and letters, which will not be marked on the documents. We have added a full transcript of one short item by way of general illustration of the process through which drafts and fragments were absorbed into the finished Quarter Book. The chosen example nevertheless shows that useful scraps of additional information can sometimes be found where these working papers happen to survive.

BL Add. MS 78169. Evelyn Papers, vol. II (formerly Evelyn MS 68)

Benjamin Gonson's draft Quarter Book for Deptford yard for the fourth (Christmas) quarter of 1562 (1 Oct.–31 Dec.) [as finalised in 4, ff. 42–57 (above, pp. 79–106)].