
Thomas Chatterton Manuscript Project
Key People
Edward Harry William Meyerstein
1889 - 1952


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Edward Harry William Meyerstein was a complex man, a writer and a scholar, who was and is highly revered by anyone with an interest in the life and works of Thomas Chatterton. His A Life of Thomas Chatterton, is viewed as the definitive work on Chatterton and, along with Donald Taylors 'magisterial' two volumes of The Works of Thomas Chatterton, form the bedrock for all Chatterton learning and ongoing research.
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Wickipedia has the story of his life, which sums him up nicely enough. It shows that he was financially secure and able at a young enough age to start buying and collecting rare books and manuscripts. I recall reading that he would use book dealers, such as Quaritch, to search out anything that interested him. I believe this is how he was able to obtain the two original hand written manuscripts of John Baker's letters to Thomas Chatterton - see below.
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In my early days researching Chatterton, the works by Meyerstein and Taylor were expensive to buy, and so I had to borrow them from Bristol Library, and I was delighted that I could. Eventually, I managed to find reasonably priced copies, and now have them by my side continually ( well almost continually).
This is what drove me to photograph Meyerstein's manuscript of his most famous book, which, throughout the literature on Chatterton, is simply called 'Life.' I should add, to be fair, that the printed copy is not always an easy read, and occasionally sections need to be read a few times to get clarification - but that is probably a personal scholastic failing of my own.
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It is also worth knowing, if you own a copy of the printed edition, that the Ms. copy is practically word for word the same as the printed edition - in other words nothing new to be discovered, however, I believe that there is another Ms., of the printed edition, which is held at the British Library. ​
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Contents of this Page with Links
A Life of Thomas Chatterton
The Collecting Madness of
The Other Works by
John Baker's Letters to Chatterton
The Wedmore Memorial Lecture
Links to
'A Life of Thomas Chatterton'
Meyerstein's Handwritten Manuscript
Tips for Viewing the Manuscript​
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The Ms. (manuscript) is presented as individual chapters (this is an aid to speed of viewing)​
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To read the book continuously click the link at the end of each chapter. ​
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Zooming to 200% on laptop or Desktop improves readability no end. ​
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The Ms. should be sharp and clear - mine is ; email me if you need help.​​
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The Main Problem :
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The number of pages and therefore the page numbers in the manuscript (a standard exercise book), differs from the printed edition :
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The Manuscript : 593 pages + prelims and blanks = 800+ photographs.
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The Printed edition : 584 pages + prelims.
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This is what you must do to overcome the above problem :​​
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In the list below, head for the specific chapter, where I have added two sets of bracketed page number sequences against each chapter;
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​The first set (in red) is the Printed Edition.
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The second set (in green) is Meyerstein's Handwritten Manuscript.
A rough and speedy intuitive calculation should lead you pretty close to the page you are looking for. Do bear in mind that Meyerstein's tiny writing is difficult to read and can, at times (most times), be a bit of a trial.
Preliminary pages : (Red = Printed Edition : Green= Ms copy)
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Introductions (6-14) (xi-xix): View Ms.
(Index was not included in the Ms. I've added a printed copy).
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(Started March 2023 and still working on it.)
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Chapters : (Red = Printed Edition : Green= Ms copy)
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Chap 3 : Infancy : (21-24) (40-43) : View Ms.
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Chap 6 : The Blank Years : (51-62) (74-85) : View Ms.
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Chap 8 : Girls : (79-103) (104-130) : View Ms.
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Note on the Juvenile Society : (100-103) (128-130) : View Ms.
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Chap 9 : The Bridge and the Parchments : (104-128) (131-157) : View Ms.
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Note on pieces in Felix Farley, 1763-1768 : (125-128) (155-157) : View Ms.
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Chap 16 : Shoreditch and Liberty : (348-386) (393-436) : View Ms.
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Note on "The Auction" : (383-386) (433-436) : View Ms.
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Chap 17 : Brooke Street : (387-413) (437-462) : View Ms.
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Chap 18 : Suicide : (414-448) (463-495) : View Ms.
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Note on "Last Verses : (446-448) (494-495) : View Ms.
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Chap 19 : Years of Controversy : (449-500) (496-543) : View Ms.
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Note : G. Stevens' letter to St. James Chronicle : (499-500) (542-543) : View Ms.
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Chap 20 : Fame : (501-529) (544-572) : View Ms.
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Portraits - there are none : View Ms.​
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A. Table of The Chattertons : (530) (573)
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B. Chatterton's Horoscope : (531-533) (574-576)
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C. A Poem and Three Fragments : (534-536) (577-579)
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D. "May" : (537-539) (581 five pages)
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E. Cary's "Elegy" : (540-542) (582-584)
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F. Aella's Speech to his Soldiers : (543-546) (585-588)
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Illustrations & Index : (551-584) (-) : View Ms.
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Note: Index & Illustrations not included in Ms.
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I have added copies from the printed edition.
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Extra Feature
Created March 2023 and still working on it when I have time.
John Baker's Letters to Thomas Chatterton
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An Article by E. H. W. Meyerstein
In The Times Literary Supplement, 1947

Meyerstein's Letter, to The Times Literary Supplement.
Includes Baker's letters to Chatterton in full : View

Meyerstein's delight with buying the two Chatterton letters at the Sotheby's auction is palpable, although, to be clear, I have a recollection that he may have actually bought them from Quaritch, the famous London book dealers. Quaritch acted on behalf of many clients and no doubt was instructed by Meyerstein to keep an eye open for anything related to Chatterton. None of the foregoing matters a jot, for our two letters were a mere speck in the auction of the enormous library of Thomas Phillipps ; 'enormous' is too small a word to describe the size of Phillipps' library, for it was so big that after his death the various sales were spread over a 60 year period.
The Collecting Madness of Sir Thomas Phillipps

Sir Thomas Phillipps
Thomas Phillipps' collections were so vast it is not surprising that Baker's two letters to Chatterton had disappeared into his library, but how did they get there? Well, it seems that Phillips was so besotted with his pastime that he would indiscriminately buy all the lots in an auction.
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Fortunately, books and manuscripts often only hide for a few generation and then they surface again. This is why the Thomas Chatterton Manuscript Project is important as it aims to bring all of Chattertons original works and correspondence to a common source and make it all available without cost to all parts of the wider community.
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Thanks to Dr. Toby Burrows of the UWA, for his help with information and supplying an image of the page in the Sotheby's sale catalogue - a first-class gent. We can now show that the two letters are genuine and that Meyerstein is innocent of the claim, made by a Chatterton commentator, that he himself created the letters. I never doubted Meyerstein for a moment!
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Notes:
John Ross Dix, author of The Life of Thomas Chatterton, wrote a letter to Sir Thomas Phillipps in 1844, which is a bit of a worry. What was Dix after, did he know about the two Chatterton letters? So many more questions on this subject - so, there will be more to follow on this........
The sale of 22 Sotheby's auction catalogues of Phillipps' collection fetched $3,120 : View
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Sir Thomas Phillipps a Manuscript Collector and his Legacy
A piece about Thomas Phillipps by Dr. Laura Cleaver - : View
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Biography of Sir Thomas Phillipps on Wiki : View
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Manuscript Mania:
How Sir Thomas Phillipps built the world’s greatest collection of medieval manuscripts : View
The Wedmore Memorial Lecture
by E. H. W. Meyerstein, 1947
'A Bristol Friendship'
'Thomas Chatterton and John Baker’

A Bristol Friendship : View
Other Works by Meyerstein
Working on this page

Redcliff Hill
A Colloquy in one Act

The Pageant and other Stories

Tom Tallion
The Door (1911), Joshua Slade (1938), Robin Wastraw (1951), and Phoebe Thirsk (1953), and many more.
U DX56 Manuscripts of Edward Harry William Meyerstein c.1922-1952
Biographical Background: Meyerstein was a poet, scholar and man of letters.
Born in London in 1889, he was educated at Harrow and Magdalen College, Oxford.
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He joined the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum in 1913 before serving in the First World War.
Thereafter he became a full-time writer. His first publication was a slim volume of poetry, The door (1911). He subsequently produced many lyrical and narrative poems, translations, short stories, novels, plays and biographies.
He died at his London home in September 1952.
Custodial history: Donated by Catharine Freeman, Mar 1964
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Description: The Meyerstein collection contains about 300 items, including manuscripts of plays and poems. There are also about 200 letters and postcards to Donald Mitchell between 1944 and 1949.
The Brynmor Jones Library also holds first editions of a number of his works, including The Door.
Extent: c.234 items Access conditions: Access will be granted to any accredited reader U DX56/1 Ms.
U DX56/1 :
'The Wadhursts. A Domestic Play' With ms. 1922.
'Redcliff Hill. A Colloquy' (published 1948).
U DXM/2 : Ms. 'Sketches and Tales of Shrimptonhill' 1924
U DX56/3 : Ms. 'Cockadoodledont' (poems) 1 item 1927
U DX56/4 : Ms. 'Retribution. A Discursive Biography' (Chapters 1-80) 1930s
U DX56/5 :
Ms. 'Retribution' (Chapters 81-100).
ms. 'A Girl's Heart', [1934] 2 items 1930s
U DX56/6 :
Ms. and ts. poems 24 items c.1931- c.1948
U DX56/7 : Letters and postcards from E.H.W. Meyerstein to Donald Mitchell c.200 items 1944-1949
U DX56/8 :
Copies of letters from E.H.W. Meyerstein to R.N. Green–Armytage. Anecdotes of Stanley Baldwin and Winston Churchill 2 items 8-10 Mar 1940
U DX56/9 : Epitaph of E.H.W. Meyerstein from 'The Times,' 13 Sep 1952.
Links to Chatterton's Works & Correspondence
Call it what you will, authentic, doubtful, lost, or plainly wrong - if it was linked with Chatterton it will be included below. This will be the base point from which we can examine every piece of work and add notes and enhancements accordingly.