From Wadham to Winchester: Reconstructing an Eighteenth-Century Gentleman's Library
Alexander Thistlethwayte (1718?-1771) was denounced by Horace Walpole as that most unpleasant of creatures, ‘a country squire’. Owner of a Hampshire estate and MP for the county for a decade, Thistlethwayte was in many respects a typical member of the provincial gentry. But in one respect he was remarkable: over a lifetime of collecting he amassed a library of over eight thousand books, and in the years before his death he made large donations to the libraries of Wadham College, his alma mater, and Winchester College, his nephew’s school. This talk will tell the story of the creation and dispersal of this little-known library and show how it sheds light on the social and cultural life of an eighteenth-century gentry family.
Date: 22 February 2018, 17:15 (Thursday, 6th week, Hilary 2018)
Venue: 11 Wellington Square, 11 Wellington Square OX1 2ES
Venue Details: Conference Room
Speaker: Dr. Carly Watson (English Faculty)
Organising department: Department for Continuing Education
Organiser: Graduate School (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: gradschool@conted.ox.ac.uk
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/portal/site/:continuing:academicadm:students:pg/tool/94bb1524-0a84-4980-b611-79c1f1bd2781/signupMeetings
Booking email: gradschool@conted.ox.ac.uk
Cost: free
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Laxchiman Gurung