We start 2025 with good news of new acquisitions which arrived at Chawton House in the final months of last year.

1. Hannah More, ‘A King or a consul? A new song to the tune of Derry Down,’ (Bath: printed and sold by S. Hazard; sold also by Messrs. Rivingtons Hatchard, London; James, Bristol, 1803)

This rare single sheet ballad, written by the conservative writer Hannah More, responds to Napoleon’s planned invasion of Britain, after war was resumed in 1803. Although the invasion was never carried out, the mobilisation of huge numbers of French soldiers put Britain on high alert, with military preparations made in response, particularly in coastal towns, and a naval blockade of channel ports. The mood was captured in print, with caricatures fantasising about Napoleon’s gruesome defeat, and poems and ballads written to rouse the masses, including this nationalistic ballad by Hannah More. The ‘consul’ of the title is Napoleon Bonaparte, who was made First Consul on 10 November 1799, and throughout the verses, More insists on British freedom, honour and exceptionalism:

‘To Frenchmen, O Britons, we never will trust;

Who murder their Monarch can never be just;’

We are hugely grateful to Isobel Grundy for her donation of this item.

2. Frances Burney, Camilla: or, A Picture of Youth, by the Author of Evelina and Cecilia, 5 vols. (London: Printed for T. Payne, at the Mews-Gate; and T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies (successors to Mr. Cadell) in the Strand, 1796)

This is a beautiful first edition of Frances Burney’s 3rd novel, Camilla (1796). Published in 5 volumes, the novel contains a young Jane Austen’s name in the subscription list – the first time her name ever appeared in print.  Burney was well-connected and popular enough to make around £1000 from subscriptions from 1058 people, and was able to build a house (Camilla Cottage) in the village of Westhumble, Surrey, with the profits.

Jane Austen was clearly a fan of the earlier novelist. Her famous defence of the novel in Northanger Abbey (1818) makes direct reference to Frances Burney’s second and third novels, Cecilia (1782) and Camilla (1796) as exemplary. Burney’s satirical voice and sharp wit, as well as her detailed focus on society life and group dynamics are reflected in Austen’s work.

Generously donated by Juliet McMaster.

 

3. Edward Daniel Clarke, Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa, 4th edn., 11 vols. (London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1816 +)

Courtesy of the Godmersham Lost Sheep Society, and from Germany, this impressive 11-volume set arrived late in 2024. The author, Edward Clarke, was a clergyman, mineralogist, collector and travel writer.

Each volume contains fold-out maps and drawings of artefacts taken from vases and statues encountered on Clarke’s travels, as well as the bookplate of Montagu Knight, by which many books formerly in the Godmersham Park Library are identified.

Edward also has an Austen connection – he was the younger brother of James Stanier Clarke, the Prince Regent’s Librarian, who had an interesting correspondence with Jane Austen in the run up to the publication of Emma. You can read about their correspondence here on the Jane Austen’s House website.

You can also read the The Godmersham Lost Sheep Overview for 2024 here, which includes details of books tracked down over the course of last year which once formed part of the Godmersham Park Library. We are incredibly grateful to the wonderful team of book sleuths that make up the Godmersham Lost Sheep Society, and continue to locate Knight books, returning them to Chawton House when possible.