Upcott, William, 1779-1845
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Upcott, William, 1779-1845
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Upcott, William, 1779-1845
Upcott, William
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Upcott, William
Upcott, William, of Collumpton
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Upcott, William, of Collumpton
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Epithet: of Collumpton
Upcott was a British antiquarian and collector.
Upcott was a British antiquarian, collector, artist, and librarian.
William Upcott, an English antiquary and autograph collector, was a librarian at the London Institution from 1806 to 1834.
William Upcott (1779-1845) was an English antiquary, autograph collector and dealer. He was employed by several London bookshops and spent the period from 1806 to 1834 as a sub-librarian of the London Institution. Beyond collecting and selling manuscripts and prints Upcott wrote texts of his own, including A bibliographical account of the principal works relating to English topography. After Upcott's death his collections were sold at auction; the British Library purchased the majority of his manuscripts.
William Upcott was an English antiquary and collector, resident in Islington (London) from 1834. After his death many of his collections of autographs, original manuscripts, and personal and state papers, including papers of John Evelyn and Sir Thomas Browne, were purchased by the British Museum (now the British Library).
English collector.
William Upcott was an English antiquary and collector, resident in Islington (London) from 1834. After his death, many of his collections of autographs, original manuscripts, and state and personal papers were purchased by the British Museum (now the British Library).
As one of the leading sculptors of his day, Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823) was responsible for immortalizing many notable contemporary figures, from Laurence Sterne and Samuel Johnson to George III and Charles James Fox. Apart from the flow of individual commissions, Nollekens also produced a line of stock busts of such figures as Wellington and Pitt. With the additional activity of sculpting church monuments--perhaps the most famous being the monument to the Three Captains in Westminster Abbey--his artistic success led Nollekens to amass a vast fortune, estimated to be £200,000 on his death.
Nollekens left a will that was eagerly awaited by a number of interested parties. It turned out to be a complex document full of codicils and different bequests. One of the people with severely dashed expectations was his future biographer, John Thomas Smith (1766-1833). By profession a topographical draughtsman and antiquary, Smith had been appointed in 1816 to succeed William Alexander as Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. Smith had grown up almost as one of Nollekens' family, and had anticipated a generous sum from his friend; however, although he was co-executor with Francis Douce and Sir William Beechey, his bequest turned out to be a mere £100 (compared with Douce’s estimated £50,000). He immediately set to work to compile a discursive biography, Nollekens and His Times (first edition 1828; reprinted 1829), which quickly came to be considered as "perhaps the most candid biography ever published in the English language" (DNB).
Apart from dealing with the central figure of Nollekens, Smith widened the scope of the biography to give an overall view of numerous other artists of the period. Foremost among these was William Blake, who received by far the largest treatment. For this reason, the work has always been highly valued, as Smith's was one of the few first-hand accounts of Blake to be published.
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https://viaf.org/viaf/20036827
https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q8019624
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n84090029
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/n84090029
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Booksellers and bookselling
Booksellers and bookselling
Antiquarians
Antiquarians
Artists
Artists
Artists
Women authors
Autographs
Autographs
Autographs
Autographs
Collectors and collecting
Collectors and collecting
English literature
Manuscripts
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Portraits, British
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Women authors, English
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England--London
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Monkstown, Dublin
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Great Britain
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Great Britain
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Manchester, Lancashire
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Birkenhead, Cheshire
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England--London
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Dublin, Ireland
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Liverpool, Lancashire
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Walthamstow, Essex
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London (England)
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England--London
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Melton-Mowbray, Leicestershire
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Minster in Thanet, Kent
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Woodside, Aberdeen
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Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire
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Great Britain
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Great Britain
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Birmingham, Warwickshire
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Worcester, Worcestershire
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Mohill, Leitrim
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Bolsover, Derbyshire
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Great Britain
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England--Staffordshire
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Great Britain
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England
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London (England)
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Rhyl, Flintshire
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Amersham, Buckinghamshire
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Great Britain
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Gravesend, Kent
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East Ilsley, Berkshire
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