Additional Manuscripts: Western Manuscripts
Item
Country
GB
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Contact information: phone number
0044 (0)1937 546060 (Customer Services)
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
mss@bl.uk
Reference number
Add MS
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
Additional Manuscripts: Western Manuscripts
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
British Library
Date note
Bulk (Sephardic-related material): 17th century/18th century
Language(s)
deu
eng
fra
ita
lat
por
spa
others
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
The Additional Manuscripts collection is one of the open collections of the British Library. It gathers manuscripts acquired by the British Museum from 1756 onwards and by the British Library after its establishment in 1973. Miscellaneous in nature, the Western Manuscripts of the Additional Manuscripts collection include numerous items of interest for the history of the Western Sephardic Diaspora. Some examples are the following:
Add MS 14027 (Naval and Maritime Caesar Papers — papers of Sir Julius Caesar, judge of the High Court of Admiralty of England): includes a plea of a group of Portuguese New Christian merchants settled in Amsterdam (Manuel Dias, Belchior Mendes, Tomás Nunes, António Fernandes, Francisco Pinto de Brito, Jorge Rodrigues, Manuel Pinto, James Lopes da Costa, Manuel Lopes, Francisco Nunes Homem, among others) regarding the embargo of their goods in the way to Emden, taken by Sir Robert Mansell in 1601 (fols. 96, 101). The volume also contains letters of the States General of the Netherlands to the Privy Council on behalf of Fernando de Mercado, whose brother Simon, an immigrant to Amsterdam travelling in one of the six ships that were embargoed, was arrested (fols. 103-109).
Add MS 27877: List of foreign merchants in London who subscribed to a forced loan to the crown in 1612, which includes the name of Francisco Pinto de Brito, a Portuguese New Christian.
Add MS 28462: Collection of papers on New Christians and the Inquisition in Portugal, including "Tratado sobre la gente de la Nacion Hebrea de Portugal; offrecido a los Prelados que concurrieron en el Convento de Thomar, por los Doctores que â aquella junta fueron Ilamados", a treatise on the New Christians in Portugal submitted to the "Junta de Tomar" in 1629; and copies of state papers and letters relating to the New Christians of Portugal, dating from 1528 to 1629.
Add MS 38650 A-N: includes indexes of Barbados marriages (1643-1700) and wills (1647-1796), including of Portuguese Jews.
Add MS 37067: Index of the names of testators whose wills are preserved among the records of the island of Barbados, 1776-1800, compiled by Edwin Fitzpatrick, of Bridgetown. It includes wills of Portuguese Jews.
Add MS 27231: Collection of texts authored by Saul Levi Mortera (c. 1596-1660), including the "Dialogo dos Montes" (Amsterdam, 1645), a poem in the form of a dialogue between the mountains of the Holy Land and Jehoshaphat, King of Judah; "Repuesta a las objeciones con que el Sinense injustamente calumnia al Talmud" (Amsterdam, 1645), a Spanish reply to objections to the Talmud; and "Memorable relaçion para confusion de aquellos que niegan la providencia divina on las cosas humanas", another polemical treatise in Spanish.
Add MS 34015: "1655 Appearances of Persons coming from foreign parts", including references to a few Portuguese New Christians who arrived in London at the time of the readmission (1656), namely Manuel Pereira, Estêvão Rodrigues from Bayonne and Fernando Albin from Bordeaux, who was then living in a house near António Fernandes Carvajal's home in Leadenhall street. See Samuel (1921-23).
Add MS 40084: Copy of Isaac Oróbio de Castro's "Explicação Parafrastica sobre o capitulo 53 de Isaias" (Amsterdam, 1675), a treatise in Portuguese on Isaiah LIII against the Christian interpretation.
Add MS 36785: "Book of Tables", an account of the exports from, and imports into, the city of London, probably compiled by Charles Davenant, of the Inspector-General's office, in 1679, which includes references to a few Jewish merchants, among them Gomes Rodrigues and Álvaro da Costa, who was the sole London importer of brazilwood in 1669. See Woolf (1970).
Add MS 34340: includes letters from Manuel de Belmonte (Baron Belmonte) to William Blathwaite, secretary of William III in 1699-1701 (fols. 107, 115).
Add MS 29867: Common-Place book of Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1717-1791), containing notes and extracts relating to Jewish antiquities, and chiefly to the Jews in England (fol. 2); family anecdotes of Mendes and Da Costa families (fol. 19 b); "Notices and anecdotes of litterati, collectors, &c. &c." (fol. 30 b); notes on "antiquities, languages, belles-lettres, etc." (fol. 44b).
Add MS 29868: Collections relating to the Jews, by Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1717-1791), including a letter from Fernão Mendes to his brother, Jorge Mendes da Costa, at Rome, London, in April 1663 (fol. 12); list made by two informers accounting 41 Jews living in London in 1660 (fols. 16-17; see Samuel, 1937); memoranda relating to the family of Mendes da Costa, with pedigree (fol. 19); Hebrew letter from the Jews of London to the Jews in China in 1760 (fol. 23); Arabic letter from the Jews of England to the Jews in Western Africa [?] in 1760 (fol. 55); and copies and translations of Jewish inscriptions and bonds.
Add MS 21931: Jamaica wills and marriages from 1663 to 1750, including some regarding Jewish settlers.
Add MS 35172 A-B: "Surveys and Particulars of the Estates of Sir Sampson Gideon, Bart., in the counties of Cambridge, Lincoln Huntingdon, and Northampton, 1782" by George Maxwell. Other Samson Gideon's correspondence with 2nd Lord Egmont in 1742 can be found in Add MS 47013 B, fol. 30. A copy of his will on April 7, 1760, is in Add MS 89317/3/6, fols. 70-77v.
Other manuscripts of interest are part of subsets of the Additional Manuscripts that are described separately in this database.
Add MS 14027 (Naval and Maritime Caesar Papers — papers of Sir Julius Caesar, judge of the High Court of Admiralty of England): includes a plea of a group of Portuguese New Christian merchants settled in Amsterdam (Manuel Dias, Belchior Mendes, Tomás Nunes, António Fernandes, Francisco Pinto de Brito, Jorge Rodrigues, Manuel Pinto, James Lopes da Costa, Manuel Lopes, Francisco Nunes Homem, among others) regarding the embargo of their goods in the way to Emden, taken by Sir Robert Mansell in 1601 (fols. 96, 101). The volume also contains letters of the States General of the Netherlands to the Privy Council on behalf of Fernando de Mercado, whose brother Simon, an immigrant to Amsterdam travelling in one of the six ships that were embargoed, was arrested (fols. 103-109).
Add MS 27877: List of foreign merchants in London who subscribed to a forced loan to the crown in 1612, which includes the name of Francisco Pinto de Brito, a Portuguese New Christian.
Add MS 28462: Collection of papers on New Christians and the Inquisition in Portugal, including "Tratado sobre la gente de la Nacion Hebrea de Portugal; offrecido a los Prelados que concurrieron en el Convento de Thomar, por los Doctores que â aquella junta fueron Ilamados", a treatise on the New Christians in Portugal submitted to the "Junta de Tomar" in 1629; and copies of state papers and letters relating to the New Christians of Portugal, dating from 1528 to 1629.
Add MS 38650 A-N: includes indexes of Barbados marriages (1643-1700) and wills (1647-1796), including of Portuguese Jews.
Add MS 37067: Index of the names of testators whose wills are preserved among the records of the island of Barbados, 1776-1800, compiled by Edwin Fitzpatrick, of Bridgetown. It includes wills of Portuguese Jews.
Add MS 27231: Collection of texts authored by Saul Levi Mortera (c. 1596-1660), including the "Dialogo dos Montes" (Amsterdam, 1645), a poem in the form of a dialogue between the mountains of the Holy Land and Jehoshaphat, King of Judah; "Repuesta a las objeciones con que el Sinense injustamente calumnia al Talmud" (Amsterdam, 1645), a Spanish reply to objections to the Talmud; and "Memorable relaçion para confusion de aquellos que niegan la providencia divina on las cosas humanas", another polemical treatise in Spanish.
Add MS 34015: "1655 Appearances of Persons coming from foreign parts", including references to a few Portuguese New Christians who arrived in London at the time of the readmission (1656), namely Manuel Pereira, Estêvão Rodrigues from Bayonne and Fernando Albin from Bordeaux, who was then living in a house near António Fernandes Carvajal's home in Leadenhall street. See Samuel (1921-23).
Add MS 40084: Copy of Isaac Oróbio de Castro's "Explicação Parafrastica sobre o capitulo 53 de Isaias" (Amsterdam, 1675), a treatise in Portuguese on Isaiah LIII against the Christian interpretation.
Add MS 36785: "Book of Tables", an account of the exports from, and imports into, the city of London, probably compiled by Charles Davenant, of the Inspector-General's office, in 1679, which includes references to a few Jewish merchants, among them Gomes Rodrigues and Álvaro da Costa, who was the sole London importer of brazilwood in 1669. See Woolf (1970).
Add MS 34340: includes letters from Manuel de Belmonte (Baron Belmonte) to William Blathwaite, secretary of William III in 1699-1701 (fols. 107, 115).
Add MS 29867: Common-Place book of Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1717-1791), containing notes and extracts relating to Jewish antiquities, and chiefly to the Jews in England (fol. 2); family anecdotes of Mendes and Da Costa families (fol. 19 b); "Notices and anecdotes of litterati, collectors, &c. &c." (fol. 30 b); notes on "antiquities, languages, belles-lettres, etc." (fol. 44b).
Add MS 29868: Collections relating to the Jews, by Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1717-1791), including a letter from Fernão Mendes to his brother, Jorge Mendes da Costa, at Rome, London, in April 1663 (fol. 12); list made by two informers accounting 41 Jews living in London in 1660 (fols. 16-17; see Samuel, 1937); memoranda relating to the family of Mendes da Costa, with pedigree (fol. 19); Hebrew letter from the Jews of London to the Jews in China in 1760 (fol. 23); Arabic letter from the Jews of England to the Jews in Western Africa [?] in 1760 (fol. 55); and copies and translations of Jewish inscriptions and bonds.
Add MS 21931: Jamaica wills and marriages from 1663 to 1750, including some regarding Jewish settlers.
Add MS 35172 A-B: "Surveys and Particulars of the Estates of Sir Sampson Gideon, Bart., in the counties of Cambridge, Lincoln Huntingdon, and Northampton, 1782" by George Maxwell. Other Samson Gideon's correspondence with 2nd Lord Egmont in 1742 can be found in Add MS 47013 B, fol. 30. A copy of his will on April 7, 1760, is in Add MS 89317/3/6, fols. 70-77v.
Other manuscripts of interest are part of subsets of the Additional Manuscripts that are described separately in this database.
Archival history
The Additional Manuscripts are composed of volumes acquired by gift, bequest and purchase since the foundation of the British Museum in 1756. As the collection was intended to be a continuation of the Sloane collection, its numbering begins with the number 4101.
Administrative / Biographical history
The British Library was founded in 1973 in the sequence of the British Library Act. Several organisations were brought together to create a national library, including the British Museum.
The British Museum was created in 1753 as "one general repository" to hold the collections of Sir Hans Sloane, Sir Robert Cotton, and Robert and Edward Harley. When it inherited the library of George III in 1823, its printed books doubled in number, prompting a move to the site of the current British Museum. Opening in 1857, the British Museum Library’s Round Reading Room became an iconic destination in the literary landscape of London. The room welcomed many famous visitors including Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Karl Marx, George Bernard Shaw, and Virginia Woolf. During World War II, some of the British Museum Library's most precious treasures were moved to a secure cave in Aberystwyth, with round-the-clock guards.
The actual British Library's building in St Pancras opened its doors to the public in November 1997. The Library became the largest public building constructed in Britain in the last 100 years.
Over the last 250 years, the British Library has become one of the greatest libraries in the world. Its physical collections are growing all the time, and so are its digital collections, which include Digitised Manuscripts, the UK Web Archive, and over one million rights-free images.
The British Museum was created in 1753 as "one general repository" to hold the collections of Sir Hans Sloane, Sir Robert Cotton, and Robert and Edward Harley. When it inherited the library of George III in 1823, its printed books doubled in number, prompting a move to the site of the current British Museum. Opening in 1857, the British Museum Library’s Round Reading Room became an iconic destination in the literary landscape of London. The room welcomed many famous visitors including Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Karl Marx, George Bernard Shaw, and Virginia Woolf. During World War II, some of the British Museum Library's most precious treasures were moved to a secure cave in Aberystwyth, with round-the-clock guards.
The actual British Library's building in St Pancras opened its doors to the public in November 1997. The Library became the largest public building constructed in Britain in the last 100 years.
Over the last 250 years, the British Library has become one of the greatest libraries in the world. Its physical collections are growing all the time, and so are its digital collections, which include Digitised Manuscripts, the UK Web Archive, and over one million rights-free images.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
Access, restrictions
Digital copies of some items of this collection are available at:
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira and Kevin Soares, 2022
Bibliography
Published primary sources
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