Lot 3
  • 3

Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of

Estimate
1,500 - 2,000 GBP
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Description

  • Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of
  • The Life of Edwarde Earle of Clarendon, scribal manuscript
  • ink on paper
in a single hand, the text divided into seven parts, dated at the beginning and at the end of each part, Montpellier, 23 July 1669 to 1 August 1670, red-ruled margins, paginated, in 58 stab-stitched fascicules, 1407 pages, plus blanks, folio (325 x 200mm, Maid of Dort "Pro Patria" watermark), eighteenth century, severe damp damage to the final fascicule and the last few fascicule somewhat affected by damp 

Provenance

This is one of 22 lots that have been removed from Holywell House, Hampshire, the home of the Villiers family, Earls of Clarendon. They chiefly relate to the life and careers of two contemporaries: Henry Hyde, Viscount Cornbury (1710-53), and Thomas Villiers (1709-86), created successively Baron Hyde of Hindon (1756) and Earl of Clarendon (1776).

Cornbury was the last heir to the Earldom of Clarendon that had been created for the statesman and historian Edward Hyde (1609-1674). Cornbury had Jacobite sympathies but was MP for the University of Oxford – with which his family had powerful connections – from 1732 until 1751. He became disillusioned with politics in the later 1740s and spent his final years in France. Cornbury counted Pope and Swift amongst his friends, and was himself the author of pamphlets and at least two plays (see lots 6 and 7). He died, unmarried, in Paris in 1753. Most of Cornbury’s property was inherited by his niece, Charlotte (née Capel). Thomas Villiers, second son of the Earl of Jersey, was her husband. Villiers had spent the 1730s and ‘40s as a diplomat mostly in the German-speaking world (none of his diplomatic papers are included in this offering) and, following his retirement from the diplomatic service, he entered government in the 1760s. As Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1771-82 and 1783-86), Clarendon was in Cabinet during the American War of Independence (see lots 14-19).

Condition

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Clarendon wrote this account of his life after settling in Montpellier after being exiled from Britain by Charles II. It covers the period from his birth to the Restoration, so revisited the Civil War years covered by the History of the Rebellion, the first version of which had been written during a previous exile in the later 1640s, but is both more personal and more critical of Royalist policy. Eventually he merged the Life with the earlier History, and it is this combined text that was published as the History of the Rebellion in 1702. This copy of Clarendon's autograph manuscript was made before its donation to the Bodleian in 1789 (where it is now MS Clarendon 123). It was first published from the manuscript in 1827.