Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 159 6 Mar 2021
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Extraordinary Archive of Papers on Matthew Boulton, the Soho Mint, & Related Topics
Margolis Archives. A LIBRARY OF CAREFULLY REPRODUCED AND BOUND ARCHIVAL MATERIALS RELATING TO MATTHEW BOULTON AND THE SOHO MINT. Includes forty-one bound volumes, as described below. [Online description truncated: for the full description, see the printed or PDF cataloge.] All bound volumes are in modern brown cloth, gilt, and unless otherwise indicated comprise bound volumes of single-sided photocopies made by or for Richard Margolis at the library or archive indicated. Titles cited are based on the spine lettering. Occasional annotations in pencil in Richard Margois's handwriting throughout; a number of volumes feature detailed Tables of Contents in Margolis's hand. Also included is one volume of bound printouts (119 pages) of database listings made available by Adam Matthew Publications, on archival resources on Matthew Bolton and James Watt. Materials are generally fine. Highly important archival materials, and the backbone of Richard Margolis's personal research. Any doubts about the value of these materials-being "merely" photocopies-is quickly dispelled by closer examination. They bring together a remarkable array of documents stored in various archives, mostly in England and France: most substantially the Birmingham Reference Library, but also the Archives de la Seine, the Mauritius Archives, the Bibliothèque de l'Université (Paris), and even the Droz Family's archives. Many of the thousands of pages here present bear pencil annotations by Margolis, and a number of the volumes have been indexed by him. The correspondents whose letters are gathered together here include: Zacchaeus Walker, Sr. and Jr. (Junior was Matthew Boulton's nephew, sent to Russia to assist with the Russian Mint project); the engraver Jean-Pierre Droz; John Roberts, a bookkeeper of Boulton's; James Lawson, an early Soho Mint employee; one of Boulton's engineers, John Southern; Rudolf Erich Raspe, employed by Boulton at his Dolcoath Mine in Cornwall as an assayer; Soho Mint employee John Phillp; Dr. Francis Swedieur, Boulton's Paris agent; Boulton's physician and friend Dr. William Withering; various parties affiliated with the Monneron Frères firm; Philip Parry Price Myddelton, who had Boulton strike tokens for use in a proposed Kentucky settlement; Matthew Robinson Boulton, Mathew Boulton's son; and many others. In addition to letters, several extremely important volumes of Soho Mint business records are present, including a December 1790 inventory, the coinage daybook for 1791–1795, a 1782–1795 cash book, and an extensive coin and medal ledger. More personal Boulton records include his 1788 coining journal and a notebook from the following year on the Mint. It is obvious that Richard Margolis had long-term plans for an extensive and far-reaching Boulton project (he mentioned work in progress on multiple occasions), but sadly this was not to be. His annotations in these volumes, assembled by him over the course of many years, need to be preserved for future study.
Margolis Archives. A LIBRARY OF CAREFULLY REPRODUCED AND BOUND ARCHIVAL MATERIALS RELATING TO MATTHEW BOULTON AND THE SOHO MINT. Includes forty-one bound volumes, as described below. [Online description truncated: for the full description, see the printed or PDF cataloge.] All bound volumes are in modern brown cloth, gilt, and unless otherwise indicated comprise bound volumes of single-sided photocopies made by or for Richard Margolis at the library or archive indicated. Titles cited are based on the spine lettering. Occasional annotations in pencil in Richard Margois's handwriting throughout; a number of volumes feature detailed Tables of Contents in Margolis's hand. Also included is one volume of bound printouts (119 pages) of database listings made available by Adam Matthew Publications, on archival resources on Matthew Bolton and James Watt. Materials are generally fine. Highly important archival materials, and the backbone of Richard Margolis's personal research. Any doubts about the value of these materials-being "merely" photocopies-is quickly dispelled by closer examination. They bring together a remarkable array of documents stored in various archives, mostly in England and France: most substantially the Birmingham Reference Library, but also the Archives de la Seine, the Mauritius Archives, the Bibliothèque de l'Université (Paris), and even the Droz Family's archives. Many of the thousands of pages here present bear pencil annotations by Margolis, and a number of the volumes have been indexed by him. The correspondents whose letters are gathered together here include: Zacchaeus Walker, Sr. and Jr. (Junior was Matthew Boulton's nephew, sent to Russia to assist with the Russian Mint project); the engraver Jean-Pierre Droz; John Roberts, a bookkeeper of Boulton's; James Lawson, an early Soho Mint employee; one of Boulton's engineers, John Southern; Rudolf Erich Raspe, employed by Boulton at his Dolcoath Mine in Cornwall as an assayer; Soho Mint employee John Phillp; Dr. Francis Swedieur, Boulton's Paris agent; Boulton's physician and friend Dr. William Withering; various parties affiliated with the Monneron Frères firm; Philip Parry Price Myddelton, who had Boulton strike tokens for use in a proposed Kentucky settlement; Matthew Robinson Boulton, Mathew Boulton's son; and many others. In addition to letters, several extremely important volumes of Soho Mint business records are present, including a December 1790 inventory, the coinage daybook for 1791–1795, a 1782–1795 cash book, and an extensive coin and medal ledger. More personal Boulton records include his 1788 coining journal and a notebook from the following year on the Mint. It is obvious that Richard Margolis had long-term plans for an extensive and far-reaching Boulton project (he mentioned work in progress on multiple occasions), but sadly this was not to be. His annotations in these volumes, assembled by him over the course of many years, need to be preserved for future study.