Dugdale, William

Discussing antiquarian affairs following a trip to Norfolk, including the great church of Walpole St Peter and his belief that "Tis most apparent that the Romanes were in Marshland, for the Tumuli which are extant there" and enclosing "a proofe of the Saxon Dictionary, which I desire you will show to Mr Spelman," 1 page, folio (283 x 188 mm), integral autograph address leaf, "Blyth Hall (in Warwickshire) neere Coleshill," 17 June 1657; red pencil folio numbers in upper right corners, light spotting, neat repairs. Red cloth folding-box and slip-case.

acquisition: Pickering & Chatto, 1990

A fine letter that exemplifies the inquiring spirit of seventeenth-century antiquarianism. Dugdale writes this letter on his return from a visit to the Parliamentarian and lawyer Guybon Goddard (1612-1671) in Kings Lynn. Within the space of a page he expresses his enthusiastic interest in church architecture, heraldry, family portraiture, antiquities, monuments and philology.