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Ten letters in Latin, 1762-1764, from Laurent Theodor Gronovius, Dutch naturalist, to Thomas Pennant, traveller and naturalist, mainly relating to their natural history studies and exchanges of books and specimens.

Seven letters with related papers, 1764-[c. 1835], addressed to Thomas Pennant (ff. 3-10), his son David Pennant (ff. 13-17, 19) and David's wife, Louisa (ff. 11-12, 18) of Downing, Flintshire, on subjects including ornithology, zoology and wildlife drawings.
The correspondents are W[illiam] Myddelton, 2 March 1775, enclosing a note of hand of Thomas Pennant, 22 July 1774 (signature cut), donating £100 to a Welsh charity school in Gray's Inn Road (ff. 3-5); the Rev. Edward Williams, 24 August [?1795] (watermark 1794), including a watercolour drawing of a half-timbered house in Shrewsbury, and 26 September [1797] (watermark 1795), concerning the death of Mrs Emma-Elizabeth Corbet of Sundorne Castle (ff. 6-10); Katherine Plymley, Longnor, 18 January 1811 (ff. 11-12); Hugh Davies, Beaumaris, 5 November 1816, enclosing three pencil drawings of puffins (ff. 13-17); Margaret Roscoe, [12] August 1829 (f. 18); and [Canon] William Williams, Ysceifiog Rectory, 1 March [?1835], concerning the dilapidated state of the church at Ysceifiog (f. 19). Also included are financial accounts, 1764-1765, of the artist Peter Paillou relating to drawings purchased by Thomas Pennant (ff. 1-2).

Two letters in Latin, 1756 and 1762, from the historian and geographer Vito Maria Amico e Statella of Catania, Sicily, to Thomas Pennant, chiefly relating to crustaceans and molluscs.
In the first letter, 1 January 1756 (ff. 175-176), he arranges to send Pennant marine specimens; in the second, [23 November] 1762 (ff. 177-178), written just before Amico's death, and mainly in the hand of an amanuensis, he sends sample shells of snails and shellfish.

A holograph letter from Mat[thew] Henry [Presbyterian minister and author], from Chester, to [ ], 1694 (the illness and death of recipient's son, who appears to have been resident in the writer's home, and his burial in the chancel of St. Bridget's church [Chester], a visit paid by the writer's father [Philip Henry, Presbyterian minister and diarist], 'an aged min[ister] in the Country some miles off', to the writer's home, during the deceased's illness, and a sermon preached by him prior to the funeral) (mutilated); and a holograph letter from T[homas] Pennant [naturalist and author], from Bychton [co. Flint], to the Rev[eren]d Mr. [William] Borlase [rector of] Ludgvan, Cornwal, 1763 (points of ornithological interest, the preservation of birds, a request for information about seals).

Miscellaneous autograph letters from Sir William Jones, orientalist (1746-1794) to J. Miller and Samuel Parr (1747-1825), from Samuel Parr to William Roscoe (1753-1831) and from Thomas Pennant (1726-1798) to Richard Gough (1735-1809).

A letter, 17 August 1764, from Thomas Pennant, Downing, to his fellow naturalist [the Rev. William] Borlase, concerning Pennant's grief at the recent death of his first wife, a drawing [?of a lamprey] sent by Borlase, the receipt from a Mr Fleischer of Copenhagen of a Scandinavian collection of birds (see Thomas Pennant, British Zoology, 4 vols (London, 1768-1770), I, 134-135) and tips on the drawing of seals. There are also references to Sir J[ohn] St Aubyn, [4th baronet].

A letter, 17 July 1757, from T[homas] Pennant, Downing, to an unidentified fellow naturalist, ordering two copies of his new book ('the 1st volume of your History') and telling him of recent additions to his own collection.
The letter contains references to the naturalists 'B. Pontoppidan' [?Erik Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen], and [William] Morris of Holyhead.

Nearly one hundred and fifty letters, 1773-1798, from Thomas Pennant (1726-1798) of Downing, Flintshire to Richard Bull at Stratton Road, Piccadilly, London, and elsewhere, with numerous references to Pennant's publications and to prints and drawings by Moses Griffith (1747-1819) and John Ingleby (1749-1808), the artists employed by him, etc.