Orlebar, Mary, 1730-1821, An excursion to Cheltenham, Birmingham, & Oxford, &c. &c. &c. , 1782
- Title(s):
- An excursion to Cheltenham, Birmingham, & Oxford, &c. &c. &c. : August the 26th, 1782.
- Published/Created:
- England, 1782.
- Physical Description:
- 1 volume ; 21 cm
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsDA522.O75 E93 1782Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund[Request]
- Copyright Status:
- Copyright Not Evaluated
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11369437
- Classification:
- Archives & Manuscripts
- Notes:
- Title from title page.
Bound in original dark blue glazed paper wrappers, with a small paper label (numbered "LVIII" in pen and black ink).
Manuscript diary of Mary Orlebar, documenting her travels in England, accompanied by her friends Rose and Charlotte Isted. The diary includes both her original private first draft, and her neatly written public version. The latter is written on 54 pages, signed at the end, and has a table of distances covered between each town (250 miles in total) and the inns where they lodged. The draft version covers 48 pages, with corrections and deletions, and ends abruptly as the party near Ecton, the home of the Isted family.
The diary notes visits to various country houses, picture galleries, and libraries. There are garden walks, including a lengthy descriptions of the Leasowes, Hagley and Winterdine, and Blenheim.
Orlebar and her companions also visit "the manufactures carried out under the directions of Mr. Bolton (sic) at a place called Soho," i.e. Matthew Boulton's Soho Manufactory, with descriptions of the engines: "the silver plating & filigree work is very pretty and curious." At Kidderminster a trip is taken to the carpet manufacture: "Mr. Penn (who is one of the principal people concernd in it) shew'd us his Manufactory: the weavers emplyd in the work copied the patterns from a very small bit of painted paper ..." They also visit a button manufactory: "the women employed in putting the catgut through the four holes that are first made with an instrument, in the button mold ..." - Subject Terms:
- Boulton, Matthew, 1728–1809.Button industry -- Great Britain -- 18th century.England -- Description and travel.Factories -- Great Britain -- 18th century.Isted, Charlotte.Isted, Rose.James Watt and Company (Birmingham, England)Orlebar, Mary, 1730–1821 -- Diaries.Rug and carpet industry -- England -- Kidderminster -- 18th century.Women travelers -- Great Britain.
- Form/Genre:
- Diaries.
- Export:
- XML