Although I have used the Lord Byron and His Times (LBT) website with some frequency, it was only lately that it dawned on me to include here two books which the site searches and displays “mentions” of people one may be searching:
- Creevey, Thomas, 1768-1838: The Creevey Papers: A Selection from the Correspondence & Diaries of the late Thomas Creevey, M.P. (London: John Murray, 1903). Edited by Sir Herbert Maxwell
- Saba Holland: A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith. By his Daughter, Lady Holland. With a Selection from his Letters, edited by Mrs. Austin (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855)
There are MANY other documents, which may be found on the GENERAL INDEXES page (“Documents by Date“).
There is another Creevey book beyond Maxwell’s 2-volume edition. LONG ago I had purchased a paperback copy of John Gore’s The Creevey Papers. This later book does not, for the most part, duplicate information and letters from Maxwell’s edition. It also induced me to search for the earlier book, Maxwell’s, for more Creevey.
Of the two book on LBT:
Like Croker, Thomas Creevey was an inveterate writer about the machinations of the times in which he lived. David Hill Radcliffe has included a length “introduction” to the publication.
Radcliffe has also written a most useful introduction – and warning! – about Lady Holland’s work. Some letters went astray (or were destroyed), meaning that the two-volume edition of Sydney Smith letters, edited by Newell C. Smith (OUP, 1953), sometimes had to resort to using what they found in the Holland/Austin edition – despite known “errors” and conflations. Still, it is good to have access to this early biography and letters edition.
Mention must be made of Alan Bell‘s “continuation” of the Sydney Smith letters project. Bell had worked towards a new, more complete, edition of the Smith Letters; unfortunately, publication fell through. The vast amount of work Bell undertook in transcribing what he had located exists, and the typescripts are available (PDFs) on the Sydney Smith Association website.
A BONUS: Click on UNPUBLISHED LETTERS, and “1805” (or, click the above image) to see a letter from my own archive of 19th century manuscript material. Posted from Ledbury (in Herefordshire) to John Murray, Wimpole Street, London, the letter mentions others who, with Smith, founded The Edinburgh Review (in 1802). This affecting letter speaks of the recent death of Jeffrey’s wife, and briefly mentions Brougham. Email me should you wish a transcription.
Georgian Gems, Regency Reads & Victorian Voices 