Memoirs and journal, compiled 1798, of the artist Thomas Jones, Pencerrig, recounting in detail his life in London, France and especially Italy during the second half of the eighteenth century.
The volume briefly recounts Jones's ancestry and early years, becoming more detailed from the 1760s, with the last detailed entry being for December 1783 (f. 218 verso); the bulk of these later entries are extracts from Jones's own journals. The final entry was signed by the artist at Pencerrig, November 1798 (f. 220 verso). The main text, including some later deletions, is written on the versos only; notes and emendations, [1798x1803], have been added by Jones on the rectos and the volume has been signed and dated 1803 by him inside the front cover. Family memoranda, in a different hand, have been added after Jones's death (ff. 225 verso). Friends and acquaintances referred to include the artists William Pars (ff. 15 verso-177 passim), Richard Wilson (ff. 17 verso-20 verso, 35 verso, 56 verso, 85, 90 verso-91, 219 verso), John Hamilton Mortimer (21 verso, 27 verso-48 verso passim, 59 verso, 64 verso, 136 verso, 217 verso), Guiseppe Marchi (ff. 27 verso, 36 verso), Thomas Hardwick (ff. 66 verso-70 verso, 90 verso-100 verso, 115 verso, 130 verso) and Anton Raphael Mengs (ff. 101 verso, 130 verso, 148 verso, 161 verso), the composer Stephen Storace (ff. 117 verso-121, 146 verso), and the art collector Sir William Hamilton (ff. 127 verso-188 verso passim, 215 verso, 219 verso). A sketch of Mount Vesuvius is on f. 118; a plan of his lodgings in Naples is on f. 142. For a complete transcript (with index) see 'Memoirs of Thomas Jones, Penkerrig, Radnorshire', The Walpole Society, 32 (1951), 1-162; this transcript is also available on the Library's website.