Manuscript catalog of portrait prints, probably belonging to a British printseller, ca. 1800. The inventory is in three sections, with headings "Portraits anglois, rares" (p. 4-212), "Etrangers en Angleterre, rares" (p. 214-238), and "Portraits eĢtrangers" (p. 239-241), apparently incomplete. Within each section, items are arranged alphabetically by subject. Each item is annotated with varying amounts of notes, recording information such as artist, engraver, engraving technique, and a brief description of the portrait. Many of the items are also annotated with references to published works about portrait prints or references to auctions of prints; references to auctions include prices, in English currency. Many of the items are coded with the initials S.W.M., followed by a price. These are prints from the collection of Sir William Musgrave, with the prices they fetched at auction, by William Richardson, in 1800. Consult: British portraits. A catalogue of a genuine and extensive collection of English portraits. [London], 1800. The description of entries in the manuscript frequently matches that of this printed work. Items coded "R. fev 1799", with prices, refer to A catalogue of a genuine and valuable collection of English and foreign portraits, india drawings, &c. comprising ... an auction catalog by William Richardson from February, 1799. Other codes refer to important catalogs of prints. The code 'G', with a Roman numeral and Arabic number, refers to volume and page numbers in James Granger's A biographical history of England, from Egbert the Great to the Revolution, first published in 1769. Granger's catalogue was the first important catalogue of English portrait prints and helped to create a fashion for portrait print collecting in England. Similarly, items coded 'B' in the manuscript refer to page numbers in A catalogue of engraved British portraits, from Egbert the Great to the present time, by Henry Bromley (pseudonym of Anthony Wilson), first published in 1793.
