MS 308 01

MS 308 01

William Johnson Cory: Journals and notebooks

Series

1852-1892

39 volumes

From his schooldays at Eton College to his death, Johnson kept notebooks in which he wrote an intermittent journal, verses, notes on books, extracts from books, reports of conversations and anecdotes as well as a variety of other matters.

The notebooks were rarely used for a single purpose, although some of the volumes were marked by Cory for a particular purpose. After Cory’s death his brother Wellington Furse, and subsequently his grandson, added additional labels to some of the volumes.

Journals
His autograph journal entries cover only a small proportion of his adult life and are not a continuous record. The entries vary between brief summaries to longer descriptions of his day to day tours and visits during the summer.

Verses
Cory’s verses are scattered throughout his notebooks, however two notebooks have been identified as ‘Ionica’ notebooks. These were identified by John W. Carter, and a full description on the contents is contained in Felicity Strong’s catalogue.

Also included in the notebooks are manuscript plays, translations, exercises for teaching, lectures and other miscellaneous notes

The notebooks were arranged by Felicity Strong according to the main purpose for each volume, which can be grouped as follows:

Journals
Verses
Plays
Translations
Exercises for teaching
Lectures
Notes
Pocket books (Jottings)
Religious notes
Common Place book
Inventory

This catalogue should be used in conjunction with Strong’s catalogue, which includes further details on the entries