'Gleanings of Antiquity from Verolam and St. Albans, collected by J. Webster'

MSS/0720

'Gleanings of Antiquity from Verolam and St. Albans, collected by J. Webster'

mid 18th century

Item

ff. xi + pp. 266.
Quarto.
Modern cloth binding, red, old red leather lettering-piece on the front. Armorial bookplate of Thomas Williams, fol. i.

'Gleanings of Antiquity from Verolam and St. Albans, collected by J. Webster' (fol. vii). A collection compiled by Dr Joshua Webster (1716-1801), medical practitioner and Jacobite of St Albans; mid 18th century. See East Herts. Arch. Soc. Trans., 5 (1912-14), 294-8. Includes notes and drawings, many in colour wash, of roman, medieval and ecclesiastical antiquities found in or relating to St Albans; the present location of many of these is not known. Prefatory material, fols. iii-xi, by Dr Webster includes a w/col copy (fol. vi) of a portrait of William the Conqueror then in his possession. Index, pp. 261-6. Items illustrated (and described as follows) include:- A fine oriental pearl from the shrine of St Alban, pp. 175-6; the sword of King Offa, pp. 250-3; the head of a crozier, dated 1070, borne by Odo of Bayeux, half brother of the Conqueror, p. 256; the head of Cardinal Wolsey's crozier, dated 1521, p. 257. Views of St Albans and Verulamium include:- A copy by Dr Webster of 'Dr Stukeley's Survey 1734', p. 24, and a double-spread colour sketch plan 'survey'd by J. W. 1745', pp. 26-7. Extracts from MSS include the Book of St Albans. References to Browne Willis, James West, MP for St Albans, and other antiquaries.

Webster, Joshua (1716-1801), physician and Jacobite

SAL/MS/720

Owned (in 1915) by Miss Williams of Bath. Purchased from Mrs Macpherson, 1951.