Catalogue of Political Pamphlets by WALPOLE, Hon. Frederick - 1840: Walpoleana - A Family Production

Walpoleana - A Family Production

WALPOLE, Hon. Frederick. Catalogue of Political Pamphlets relating to Sir Robert Walpole's Administration. [n.p. n.p.], ca 1840.£2800

Manuscript on paper, 12mo, ff. 77, including the occasional blank, with further blanks at end, on folded notepaper loosely inserted into a limp vellum tongued wallet, inscribed 'Rt. Hble. The Earl of Orford' and 'Walpole Pamphlets / Catalogue of', stamp duty rates printed on the paper lining; a little marked but largely clean; from the Norfolk collection of Ronald Clive Fiske, with his armorial bookplate and shelf-mark label, occasional contemporary advertisements for similar works (some pasted to leaves), as well as more recent bookseller's descriptions loosely inserted.

A handsome and extensive nineteenth-century manuscript bibliography of pamphlets and other printed ephemera relating to Britain's de facto first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745).

Arranged alphabetically by title (as most entries are anonymous), this document presents a remarkably detailed bibliographical record of the Robinocracy - as Walpole's administration came to be known - and is also a fascinating labour of love and a record of familial interest. Although apparently treasured by the naval officer and Tory M.P. Frederick Walpole (1822-76), who has added a manuscript title-page, introduction (quoting Macaulay) and the occasional addition, the majority of the text is in at least one other distinct hand. We can speculate that the catalogue was in the family's possession for some time prior to Frederick's amendments, as the limp vellum wallet likely dates to 1815, with its printed reference to New Stamp Duties on the interior. Perhaps this was the work and possession of Frederick's father, Horatio, 3rd Earl of Orford (1753-1858). Whatever its aegis, it is an important near contemporary piece of Walpoleiana.

Few figures incited the churning of the eighteenth-century popular presses like Walpole. His actions, personality and lengthy tenure were so controversial that a vast amount of printed material was produced both in support of and opposition to his administration, much of which is recorded in this impressive manuscript catalogue.

Of course, many of the works were unfavourable; as Langford has observed, 'Walpole's characteristic image was that of a parvenu Norfolk placeman enriched by a career of systematic corruption (he had been prosecuted by the Tories for official peculation in 1712) and elevated to supreme power for his lack of principle... his hegemony inevitably drew the full fire of Grub Street on his personal position. He was the Great Man, the English Colossus, the Man Mountain. He also appeared as the perfect representative of the politics of illusion – the Norfolk trickster, the Savoy Rareeshowman, Palinurus the magician, Merlin the wizard, the Screenmaster-General'. Yet for each prose attack and satirical poem, his supporters produced counter epistles and treatises in his defense, many of which are systematically recorded here.