Organization

Links to other volumes via titles and volume numbers.

Clumps of poems by certain poets. 

Final poetry section containing excerpts from Cowper’s Task and The Castaway–perhaps a final statement from Binns as he completes his own task.

The collection is prefaced by a lighthearted poem addressed to the reader.

Six poems befitting title "Poems. 1796" (recto sides only), followed by numerous blank pages, then the ambigraph section, presumably by Mary Dodd, recording domestic memoranda.

Brief ambigraph entry in Greek on the second last page.

Only recto sides filled.

Seven letters from Amynta to Aurelia followed by religious poems, then seven prose meditations.

An ambigraph collection, though relatively short.

At one end of the volume is a series of verses with the heading "Commendment in young beginners is very commendable."

A few lines of prose left on the second last leaf in the ambigraph section read like the translator's preface to a translation—maybe the end of a draft preface. 

“9” written on cover – possibly one of a series of notebooks.

At the end of the book: "Finis. Vivant Rex. Et Regina. Virtus clara Eternaque habetur. August ye 3^rd. Ann: Dom: 1728."

Some clusters seem either generic (epilogues and prologues) or author-oriented (Hoadly, William Taylor), but in general, the compiler seems to enjoy sharp contrasts between the high serious and the low. 

“The End” on final page with decorative date October 3 1787.

Contents tend to be organized thematically.

Address to the reader on pp. 1–2 and "Finis" on p. 57.

From p. 3 (item #2), all items written sideways across the page.

Many pages written sideways, depending on the length of lines, it seems.

Opening organization around poem accompanying gift of this book.

Latin and English poems (unusually) integrated. 

Intermingling selections from a small group of poets rather than blocks by one poet or another.

Apparently the third volume in the series based on the title (from the front flyleaf) and the note on the final page, “See Vol: iv.”

Most of the collection is organised by author with section headings for each.

Front flyleaf has inscription: 'Poetry Vol: iii'.

Reference to next volume on page 230: 'See Vol: iv'

All poems recorded on the recto sides of the pages with versos left blank or used for annotations, other notes.

Often uses loose thematic groupings (not necessarily arranged ahead of time, perhaps just a series of items the compiler chose to re-copy all at once because they were stored together ie. from the same period or on the same subject) eg. pp. 6–16 centred around trip to Tunbridge Wells/ Bath; pp. 34–44 bunch of poems from 1713, mostly centred around Tunbridge Wells and women; pp. 53–57 three items on “pretty Sally,” a barmaid, from 1732, pp. 80­–88 epitaphs and/ or descriptions of ills that befell famous men (mostly politicians) etc.

Titled on spine: ‘A.B. Selections by Col G. Lepipre/ 1753/ III.’

Poems recorded on the recto side of the page with versos left blank or used for annotations and other notes.

Often uses loose thematic groupings for items.

spine titled 'A.B. Selections by Col G. Lepipre/ 1753/ IIII.'

Initials C E on spine

Sequence of three poems about dead pets pp. 115–118.

Some informal thematic groupings, e.g., pp. ~241–265 religious material.

Verso pages tend to be blank except to complete poems.

Prefatory and concluding gesture to dedicatee, Sarah Leaper.

Rectos filled only, except for the few additions at the end of the manuscript.

"Finis" at the end of the last poem in each volume.

Latin note on inside pastedown: Quodcunque videris, scribe et describe, Memoria ne fide! January 1st. 1792.

The text on pp. 12–13, 21–28, 31–42, and 44–64 are written in a different page orientation.

"Palestine" (the longest poem in the manuscript) is copied horizontally while all other items are copied on the vertical page.

The work is divided into three sections. The first section contains nineteen (numbered) poems. The second and third section are both titled with table of contents and distinct pagination; the second section contains twelve poems, and the last section contains seven poems.

Occasional groupings of one author (eg. Samuel Rogers pp. 163–168) suggest the compiler may have been copying out of collected works. The large Crewe Hall section (from about 243–312) suggests the author groupings were less of a deliberate organisational tactic than a consequence of the compiler's moving through different sources. 

Recto side only, excepting a few pages at the beginning of the manuscript.

Verse preface "Oh you who would deign my book peruse..." dated "8th Jany 1814."

The Maria Riddell poems poems appear in a clump at the beginning (pp. 3–9).

The manuscript begins and ends with two bird drawings by Quarles Harris.

Sections of poems by a single author (e.g., 2–13 Elizabeth Carter, 125–135 Pope, 153–162 Shenstone). Displays an interest in individual poets (as opposed to individual poems).

Unclear if the book was compiled chronologically or not because while the dates are generally chronological, there are a few aberrations (e.g., p. 176 and 180).

pp. 167–171 section of epigrams; pp. 177–8, 180–81 features three poems related to the Duchess of Devonshire.

On title page: "Vol 1" (implies there were more volumes, or more anticipated). 

Frequently gives the impression of being organised by theme or author, namely from pp. 45–65 which only feature poems by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.

Opening poem is a meta-poem on the manuscript verse miscellany's creation titled "On the Hobble Mrs Frances Boscawen and Miss Julia Evelyn colecting[sic] and transcribing the following poems," by A.R.

Odd numbered and even numbered pages proceed independently from one another; ie. seems to have been filled out on recto pages consecutively, then on verso pages consecutively, front to back each time. Possibly prose on one side and poetry on the other.

Items entered only on the recto side of page, but use of verso pages to add fourteen final items, mostly on the early or final pages.

Versos left blank except for notes and attributions.

Organization is chronological and thematic.

Entries on recto side only, but frequent annotations or drawings on verso side.

At the end, references this is the fourth volume he has compiled.

A short title of the volume at the head of each page except for the Table of Contents pages of the first two volumes, where the header is “Table."

First volume is chiefly amorous songs, the other two are longer poems, poetical epistles, political verses and the like.

Compiled chronologically over tine. 

Numbered by item. 

The catalogue calls this book "Vol. III." but it's unclear if this designation was assigned by them or copied from the spine of the book.

Entries only on recto sides until f. 60v, the compiler perhaps conscious of running out of space.

Notebook 2: Order is chronological.

Tendency to have series of poems by individual authors.

Up to p. 93, the first two hands, spaces are often left from the ends of poems to the bottom of certain pages; these spaces are filled in by a 3^rd hand.

Volume divided into sections by genre.

Divided into sections by genre, with poetry comprising the first section (51 pages). Followed by a long section that seems more like an epistolary fiction than personal correspondence – letters between Julia, Urania, Silvia. Then a lengthy section of recipes; back to the epistolary fiction, now involving a Lady Charlotte; [then a short section in a 19th-c hand consisting of a table of coins – presumably from a collection]; then more of the epistolary fiction.

Note that the fiction sections contain a few interspersed passages of poetry, which seem to be part of the fiction.

Sources quite varied, even though there are blocks of poems by a single author—the compiler seems to have gathered material from diverse sources and organised them according to author, theme etc.

Divided into poetry and commonplace (recipes, prose notes on natural history, etc., with a couple of poems) ends – compiler clearly distinguishing by genre. Note that just as the commonplace end contains a couple of poems (perhaps written into its endpapers later), so the poetry end, towards the end of the section, contains 5 pp. of cooking and medical recipes—possibly a compiler error.

Volume flipped and last 82 pages written upside down.

Pages filled only on recto side (about half a dozen pages have items written on verso – seemingly later additions, perhaps related to the item(s) opposite), which is necessary for readability, because the paper is very thin and there is a lot of show-through.

"On the Death of Mr. Cotton" ends the first compiler’s section, "Finis" written after this poem.

The book has been written tête-bêche (written from both ends of the volume inwards toward the middle, with the text in one half the volume rotated 180° relative to the other half).

Mottos after the "Night" poem could be considered a sort of title page, followed by a blank verso. 

An ambigraph volume with poetry on both ends, in a single hand; middle section of recipes contains a second hand [this database entry is based on the 2 ends of the volume only].

Ambigraph book; the ambigraph section contains poems by Tibbits' cousin, Dr. Francis Drake.

Tibbits copied out her compositions in roughly chronological order, beginning with a story she wrote in 1774, at the age of 10, and continuing with additions up to about 1806.

Some introductory gestures in each case: Vol. 1 – Introductory Observations; Vol. 2 – dedication to Elizabeth Marsden, whom he was courting at the time; Vol. 3 – Preface; Vol. 4 – Preface. 

Volumes 1-3 have subsections by poetic subgenre.

Originally five volumes. Now only four, and it's unclear when the fifth one may have been lost. 

Vol. 1 has section subtitles.

There is an interval which records several important political events, then the volume returns to political satire.

Dates progress through the period from the start to the end dates of the book.

FINIS at end, followed by a few “afterthought” poems.

An epilogue ending on p. 91, dated 1729. 

Most sections were assigned a title by the compiler related to their topic, giving the book a sense of commonplacing. As the compiler ran out of space, they stopped giving a title to each section, instead writing “From the Same” in the right-hand margin of the final line of each excerpt.

A fairly messy book, with cross-outs.

Two pages at the end in another hand and inside back cover are written in reverse orientation. 

First part of the book seems Oxford-centred; second part more related to poverty, domestic trials. 

Book is an ambigraph – prose at one end; poetry from the other, reversed from top to bottom also.

Poetry written in vertically rather than horizontally.

Title page that reads: “"The following Collection commenced October An. MDCCLXXXVI." Second last leaf on verso reads: "The Foregoing Collection was completed December 4th MDCCXCVIII."

An ambigraph book – Shakespeare plays at one end, Chesterfield extracts and poetry at the other. 

Each section is preceded by a list of authors extracted. 

Seems to be organized thematically, with blank leaves in between to be filled later on same theme.

Often filled only on recto side of the page.

Very mixed book thematically. 

Prose piece of Mist's Journal functions as a kind of preface. 

Dedicatory poem.

Many dates attached to the entries, apparently not those of copying, and not in chronological order, though they still demonstrate a progression towards 1824, near the end of the first hand.

On the first fly-leaf is a statement written in an old hand: "There is another vol. smaller Quarto." 

M.a. 53 contains introductory remarks by Dixon's daughter, Judith Dixon Beecroft, and a laudatory poem by John Taylor. 

Earliest pages of the book in general used for longer poems.

Contents generally (though not strictly) chronological.

The last leaf of text contains the inscription "Finis—M Gay—July 22d 1809." 

Items often occur in clusters by one author, suggesting sources that are organized in this way (i.e. single-author books or collections with clusters by author).

The two plays are bound midway through the folio ie. at the book’s centre (Keith, p. lxv).

Seemingly composed from both ends at once (one end with commonplace extracts, the other with Shakespeare). 

No opening or concluding gesture.

Items from pp. 1–23 seemingly revolve around Church’s Harvard cohort. pp. 24–28 are not connected to Harvard, and end with a different concluding gesture, demonstrating a turn away from the manuscript’s character up to that point.

Volume two is divided into two parts. 

Opening letter—To the reveren’d Religioso… hoping he enjoys the manuscript etc. 

Introduction. 

The volume is compiled page by page, chronologically. 

Dedication in volume one, and opening gestures that nod to the previous volume in volumes two, three, and four. Five begins without ceremony. 

Versos were seemingly being saved for print additions which were added later on.

Ambigraph. Switch in orientation occurs between pp. 166–167. 

Vol. 1: "Finis," the date, and a swirl on the last page.

Vol. 2: Section 1 pp. 1–246, ambigraph section pp. 94–1. Ambigraph section contains no poetry except the on the flyleaf.

Titling, where there are titles, takes a topical approach, like a commonplace book (eg. On Wine; On Poets; etc.) 

Organised thematically, alphabetically, and/or by length to varying degrees throughout the book.

Ambigraph.

Entries on rectos only, except "Mason’s epitaph for Abigal[sic] Drummond" on f. 86v inserted there to be opposite “On the death of Miss C. Drummond aged 11 Months ...” on 87r.

In some cases, annotations are also provided on the verso page for the opposite poem.

Poems are mostly copied on the recto pages: ff. 82v, 83v, 94v, 97v–102v are the only versos filled.

Sequencing of poems in thematic clusters. 

Recto and verso pages proceed independently from one another from ff. 1–38. This is to say that items are copied either onto recto or verso pages. The items on the verso pages of this section are written vertically/ sideways.

ff. 39–43v (when the recto and verso pages come together for "Of Pleasing," and the rest of the manuscript) are also written vertically/ sideways.

ff. 44–69 versos are blank, except for the last line of the poem on f. 69r, which falls at the top of f. 69v.

Pages filled on the recto side only, except for the final item, seemingly in order to fit the item into the book before the beginning of the index.

An upside-down triangle pattern of horizontal lines after the final poem, as if indicating the completion of the book.

A flourish at the end of the index. 

Last few pages of the first-hand section all epitaphs.

Section titles: pp. 1–31 "Imitations and Translations out of Horace"; pp. 32–end of first hand (150) "Some few Epigrams out of Martial. and other Books. Translated and immitated[sic]".

Some titles resemble commonplace headings – e.g. Discord, Danger, Death.

pp. 66–73 written sideways.

p. 211: “I ended this book Novr. 13th. 1723.”

p. 99 underlined section title “Miscellaneous Poems.”

The second section (after the Table of Contents) is largely prose, and mostly Christian philosophy; it has the appearance of a commonplace book to some degree, with items like “Examples of sudden Death” (p. 8) and “Examples of great Strength” (p. 33). The first section is not so overtly religious.

Quite a difficult to follow manuscript because items aren’t always copied over consecutive pages. Items are frequently completed on pages elsewhere in the book, with notation to see that other page number; it seems that blank pages were left for these items (titles entered and blanks left), but there was a miscalculation of the needed space at times. References to other items in the form of “Look back to p. —” or “Look forward to page —”. In short, this manuscript was compiled out of order.

Organized into sections by author, though not labelled as such – could mean that the book is compiled from single-author volumes or miscellanies organized into sections of these author’s works. The two poems in the second hand do not follow this system.

Sections sometimes organized by theme, e.g. series of Christmas hymns; mementos of death; praise of religious writers, etc.

Divided into two books, pp. 1–33 and pp. 34, [5]–46.

Entries in the third hand are in vertical orientation for ff. 75v-77v, then reverse orientation for ff. 107-109v. 

Generally only one side of the page used up to p. 38.

Manuscript divided into four sections, separated by blank pages: “Edward the Second”; original poems by George Weller; Tonbridge School poems; and miscellaneous poems. Also a set of Jacobite and anti-Jacobite poems grouped together pp. [188]f. These are not especially clear divisions. 

"Finis" written at the bottom of the last poem.

The first half of the book shows more of a thematic interest in love and courtship, while the second half of the book is more satirical and contains a lot of poems about political celebrities.

The index is mainly copied on the recto sides of pages.

Poems addressed to or intended for the Blofelds begin each volume so the Marsh/Blofeld connection sort of frames the collection.

Items aren't necessarily organised by theme but they do follow certain interests: volume 1 begins with pastoral and morality poetry largely from the 16^th and 17^th centuries, then turns towards classical themes, and, finally, the poems are grouped by author. Volume 2 begins with original poetry and poetry about public affairs, then falls into a larger section of original poetry (primarily by Marsh); around p. 115 the volume turns back towards copied classical themes and religious poems until around p. 197 where there’s more original and public affairs poetry.

Some thematic development throughout the book. The manuscript begins with a significant amount of poems about (often satirising) women and marriage, with more religious satire, interest in classical themes, public affairs, literature, and theatre later on.

Obsolete University of Chicago Library call number gold-tooled on spine

Title page suggests this was the first of two volumes ("There is another vol, larger Quarto.")

Section of sacramental hymns ff. 170–197.

The rectos and versos proceed separately up to p. 128; there’s some crossover notes at the bottoms of these pages; the verso pages were seemingly filled in later.

Generally proceeds chronologically with loose sections dedicated to a particular celebrity subject.

Possible reference to other manuscript(s), e.g. on p. 13: “The Forest Hunt with an Answer by Zephalinda 10-10-66. vid Manuscript" (this poem does not appear in this book, perhaps the compiler is redirecting the reader to a different manuscript). 

The book begins with two poems by Lord Byron but shortly diverges into original poetry.

Second section of the book appears to have been created from separates or gatherings; irregularly paginated. The separate Table of Contents would suggest that this collection was also conceived of as a unit; based on one dated poem (Nov ’73), this section was either written around 50 years later or earlier than the rest of the contents.

Volume number (3) on spine.