File NLW MS 23528E. - Letter-book,

Identity area

Reference code

NLW MS 23528E.

Title

Letter-book,

Date(s)

  • 1663-1678 / (Creation)

Level of description

File

Extent and medium

129 ff. (old partial pagination 1-50; leaves excised after ff. 26 and 48; f. 54 torn; ff. 27-48 verso, 104-5 blank) ; 380 x 240 mm. Vellum over boards, covered with coarse canvas.

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Archival history

The volume was transferred to the NLW MSS series in 1996.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Sir Pryse Loveden Saunders-Pryse, bart; Gogerddan; Deposit; 1948

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Letter-book of Sir Andrew King, London, merchant, containing copies of his outgoing correspondence written, 1663-5, just before his departure for and during his residence in Madrid where he was in the service of Sir Richard Fanshawe, the British Ambassador to Spain (ff. 2-26 verso, 105 verso-28 verso inverted text), and, 1667-78, after his return to Great Britain and his residence in London (ff. 49-103 verso inverted text). The letters written from Madrid are mostly to British merchants in London, Spain and elsewhere, and relate mainly to his commercial ventures, especially to his designs to import grain and olive oil into Spain to alleviate the shortages of those commodities there; many of the letters are to Sir Joseph Williamson, Whitehall, informing him of the economic, political and social conditions in Spain, and of the movements of the Dutch fleet, intelligence about which King obtained from British merchants and consuls resident in Spanish ports. A letter to Daniel Wycherley, whose son, the dramatist William Wycherley was also one of Fanshawe's gentlemen in Spain, assures him that his son is not proposing to convert to Roman Catholicism (f. 125). The letters from London comprise correspondence written, 1667-72 (together with a copy of one letter written in 1662), mostly to British colonists in the West Indies, especially to Sir James Modyford in Jamaica, and merchants in England, including Giles Vanbrugh, Chester, sugar-merchant, father of the architect and dramatist Sir John Vanbrugh, mainly relating to the engaging of servants for service in Jamaica; and, 1672-8, mostly to agents of the Royal African Company in Barbados, Guinea and Jamaica, concerning the supplying of negro slaves to the West Indies.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

Script of material

Language and script notes

English.

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

The contents of NLW MSS 22853-23691 are indexed in greater detail in Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, vol. 9 (Aberystwyth, 2003).

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Publication note

For William Wycherley's conversion to Roman Catholicism see Notes and Queries, 243, n.s. 45 (1998), pp. 53-4.

Notes area

Note

Title based on contents.

Note

The volume was deposited along with Gogerddan estate records, which were subsequently bought by NLW in 1949.

Note

Preferred citation: NLW MS 23528E.

Alternative identifier(s)

Virtua system control number

vtls004656156

Access points

Place access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales

Rules and/or conventions used

Description follows NLW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

May 2009.

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Archivist's note

Description compiled by Bethan Ifans for the retrospective conversion project of NLW MSS. The following source was used in the compilation of this description: Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Volume IX (Aberystwyth, 2003);

Accession area