Anne Heigham, 1781–ca. 1785. 

38 items.

Includes multiple female authors, son's tribute to mother at the end of the book, and epilogues presumably spoken at local productions.

Polite poetry.

Soame Jenyns, 1730.

19 items.

Perhaps a retained copy of poems written for Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, his daughter Margaret Cavendish Harley, and her circle of friends (presentation copy is British Library Add. MS 70494).

Flattery, panegyric.

Anonymous, though several items related to Pettiwards, ca. 1767–1783.

107 items (30 prose).

Pet poems; very miscellaneous prose items including a description of masquerade ball in Lincolnshire attended by Peart-Bate coterie members.

Mrs. Ogle, ca. 1747.

32 items.

Sequence of names and hands suggests it was originally a book of 24 poems compiled by Mrs. Ogle as a gift, then the recipient added 8 items, and a later hand contributed a few additions.

Lighthearted poems about love; some satire of manners, marriage.

Anonymous; perhaps Thomas Siw---, ca. 1750–1781.

Two sections: a poetry compilation and a commonplace miscellany (ca. 1813–1835)—this entry pertains only to the first section.

96 items.

Interest in women’s self-assertion, poems by Cambridge men, and Latin and Greek. Sources often identified as manuscripts or magazines.

Anonymous, ca. 1710s. 

3 items.

The first poem is a mock-heroic that praises the women of Stepney and Mile End, and the second and third respond to the first.

Stepney and Mile End coterie.

Anonymous, ca. 1760.

Unbound.

103 items.

Broad range of subjects organized thematically (e.g. divine poems, hymns, drinking themes, court characters, etc.) 

Richard Chaloner Cobbe, ca. 1753.

Thick boards seemingly worn by use. 

67 items.

Seems reflective of an Oxford circle of male poets.

Latin poetry, bawdy satire, and poems about women.

Gabriel Lepipre, ca. 1744–45. 

252 poems.

Mostly sociable verse, especially arising out of interactions with women, and public affairs. 

Arabella Browne, 1728.

28 poems.

Primarily epitaphs and songs, many satirising women and marriage.

Anonymous member of the Porter family, late eighteenth-century.

4 volumes, 2039 poems. 

Contemporary poetry, many items commonly included in manuscript verse miscellanies. 

Anonymous, maybe Diana Burroughs, ca. 1774–1787.

85 poems.

A mix of original and well-known poetry with a high proportion of original occasional verse.

Norfolk circle of EM and Diana Burroughs.

Thomas Crofton Croker, ca. 1814–1818.

40 poems.

Sentimental and light poems, almost all addressed to female acquaintances. 

Anonymous, ca. 1816.

Over 200 poems.

Serious, sentimental, and occasional poems, many addressed to individual women.

Charles Parr Burney, ca. 1803. 

354 pages.

Primarily elegies, love poems, and occasional verse, with some patriotic and religious verse, and short comic verses. 

A large section copied from a Crewe Hall album composed during the 1780s, reflecting the work of the Crewe coterie. 

James Forbes, 1766–1800. 

This entry concerns only the first volume, as the second is entirely prose. 

151 poems.

Poems on various subjects, including many on death and women, but also conduct, retirement, nature, and slavery. 

Joseph Taylor, 1799.

About 360 pieces of verse and prose. 

Satirical as well as sentimental and elegiac perspectives on the subjects of love, women, religion, and death. Also contains numerous humorous epigrams and epitaphs.

* As of yet, this manuscript has not been examined due to 2021-2022 pandemic access restrictions. This description is a temporary placeholder based on catalogue entries and Union First Line Index records.

Frances Glanville Boscawen and Julia Evelyn, begun in 1746.

120 poems.

Popular and original poetry on various themes. Large section of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.

Daughter or granddaughter of Elizabeth Amherst Thomas, 1798.

46 poems.

Entirely original Elizabeth Amherst Thomas poems compiled retrospectively, often whimsical, witty, resisting stereotypes about women.

Eleanor Peart, 1768.

Organized chronologically and thematically.

182 poems. 

A high proportion of original poetry; strong emphasis on the pastoral including the use of pastoral pseudonyms.

Peart-Bate coterie.

Reginald Heber, ca. 1768–1774.

12 poems.

All original poetry by his mother, Mary Allanson Heber; likely kept as a souvenir rather than read on a regular basis.

Ashley Cowper, ca. 1757–1780.

Indications of retrospective copying into this collection, and perhaps even later annotation.

19 poems.

All occasional original poetry, often involving women or public affairs.

Soame Jenyns, 1729.

Presentation copy of Beinecke Osborn c147, only slightly different contents. Poems written for Margaret Cavendish Harley, her father, Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, and her circle of friends. 

18 items.

Flattery, panegyric. 

Anonymous, ca. 1748–1750. 

Two consecutive hands within a short compilation period.

67 poems.

Many popular poets, themes of women and local interest.

Charles Plumptre ca. 1730.

79 poems.

Includes school exercises; some poems possibly from friendship circle that includes John Hoadly and Isaac Hawkins Brown; could be connected with Newcombe’s school in Hackney; satires on women; poems by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.

Azarias Williams, 1785–1790. 

The compiler blurs his own voice with that of his sources by signing his name to much of what he copies.

78 poems.

Choices seem significant autobiographically—themes of emigration, social behaviour, British patriotism, New York, death, children, sentimental courtship, male unfaithfulness/libertinism, religious/devotional expressions, and topographical poetry.

Anonymous, 1786–1798.

120 poems.

A very feminocentric collection with many female-authored work.

Tighe family coterie; Cavendish-Ponsonby-Crewe network.

Elizabeth Gilchrist, ca. 1800–1815.

One main hand plus one organising hand, maybe that of a daughter.

89 items, 74 poems.

Mixed book with themes of women, death, friendship, love, etc.

Anonymous (probably from Scotland), 1737–ca. 1740.

415 poems

Many religious/devotional poems.

Louisa Grey, ca. 1780s.

Some items specified as not for circulation. 

150 poems.

Many poems about women, love; some epitaphs.

Anonymous, 1731.

35 poems.

Sentimental poetry, many epistles and plenty about love.

Anonymous, 1726.

Two separate thematic clusters on recto and verso sides.

47 items.

Lots of poems "To a Lady," "about a Lady," etc. about courtship, marriage, women, and beauty on the verso pages.

Anonymous, ca. 1715.

72 items.

Essentially the "greatest hits" of Finch, Granville, and Waller, with some Pope thrown in. 

Anonymous, ca. 1750–1770.

This entry pertains only to ff. 1–64v (the first two compilers of three). 

68 items.

Many poems about love, courtship, marriage, women.

Anonymous, 1715–1717.

318 poems.

Diverse collection of poems, with a significant number of poems satirising women and marriage; also interested in the classics, public affairs, literature, Oxford, theatre, and religious satire.

John Liptrott, ca. 1786. 

215 items, 151 poems, many of which are introduced with lengthy prose anecdotes or critical prefaces. 

Contents include satires of social issues and political corruption, historical anecdotes supporting Church of England, nature poetry, recollections of favourite dogs.