Journal notes and drafts, of Recollections of an excursion to the monasteries of Alcobaça and Batalha (1835), 2-13 June, 25 July 1794, 1834-5, n.d.
- (fols. 1-10a) journal notes, 2-13 June 1794, with some later alterations and (fols. 5v-6v) two drafts, c.1834, of a passage printed in 1835, pp. 31-3; fols. 8-9 are the boards from a printed work, with journal entries written on the pastedowns
- (fol. 10b) entry headed 'Montserrat ce vendredi 25 Juillet 1794', with (fol. 10bv) draft beg. 'The twilight began to shade'
- (fols. 11-21) drafts, 20 Nov. 1834 and (fol. 21) 24 Dec. 1834, of the text printed pp. 98-136
- (fols. 22-35, 36-66, 67-90) draft of most of the work, with many alterations and re-workings, in three sections, the first undated, part of the second dated 10 Nov. 1834, parts of the third dated 2 Jan.- 4 Feb. 1835, corresponding to the printed text pp. 13-17 and 26-43, 44-140, and 141-224
- (fols. 91-119) drafts and re-workings of parts of the text, 18 Oct. 1834-11 Feb. 1835, n.d., some written on letters to Beckford
- (fol. 120) fair copy of the text printed as pp. 128-9, in the hand of an amanuensis, with alterations by Beckford, pages numbered 73-4 in a contemporary hand, the closest surviving text to a printer's copy, n.d.
- (fols. 121-2) draft of the entry for 3 June (printed text for 5 June, pp. 18-25), written 7 April 1835.
None of the drafts corresponds exactly to the 1835 text, and the dates of entries in the manuscript differ from those in the printed text (1 June becomes 3 June). There are at least four drafts of one passage (printed pp. 128-9), at fol. 19 (undated), fol. 99 (14 Dec. 1834), fol. 119 (11 Feb. 1835), and fol. 120. The journal notes for 2-13 June were published by Boyd Alexander in H.W. Gotlieb, William Beckford...catalogue of an exhibition (Yale University Library, 1960), pp. 90-100 (with a reproduction of fol. 8 at p. 90), and in Recollections of an excursion (Fontwell, 1972), pp. xxxvi-xlix (with reproductions of fol. 1 and fol. 9 at pp.xxvii and xlvii). Two pencil drawings by Beckford, (fol. 24) the Franciscan convent at Cadafaiz, 18 Feb. 1835, and (fol. 25) the castle of Alfagirão [Alfeizerão], 23 May 1835, 'from a sketch taken june 11 1794', are reproduced in The travel-diaries of William Beckford, ed. Guy Chapman, ii (1928), pp. 346 and 343 respectively.
Dates
- Creation: 2-13 June, 25 July 1794, 1834-5, n.d.
Extent
124 Leaves
Language of Materials
- English
Shelfmark
MS. Beckford d. 7
Repository Details
Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom
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