Letters from James Crossley (1800-1883) to William Harrison Ainsworth (1805-1882), novelist
1822-1881
Archives
Total copies: 1
Use Microfilm MF 3011-3013
Vol. 1 1822-1828
Vol. 2. 1829-1838
Vol. 3 1839-1845
Vol. 4 1846-1850
Vol. 5 1851-1854
Vol. 6 1854-1859
Vol. 7 1859-1861
Vol. 8 1862-1870
Vol. 9 1871-1875
Vol. 10 1875-1878
Vol. 11 1879-1881
Miscellaneous Manuscript Material (1 box - Green 7620).
Related Material:See also:
MSf 928.23 Ai.13 Letters from William Harrison Ainsworth to Aston and William Harrison Ainsworth to Hugh Beaver of Manchester and to James Harrison. 1822-1834
BR 928.23 A6 William Harrison Ainsworth - Memoir, Autographs etc.
Title:
Letters from James Crossley (1800-1883) to William Harrison Ainsworth (1805-1882), novelist
Date of work:
1822-1881
Reference number:
GB127.MS_f_828.23_A8
Level of description:
Fonds
Custodial history:
James Crossley was a lawyer in Manchester by profession, but by inclination a kind of literary and antiquarian dilettante. During his earlier years he contributed widely to such journals as Blackwood's Magazine, the Retrospective Review and the Quarterly Review, but his early promise was somehow never really fulfilled, though he later edited many volumes for the Chetham Society and counted among his friends many of the most distinguished literary figures of his time.
Crossley was a lover of good goof and wine but also an enthusiastic antiquarian and an avid book collector, being the possessor of an immense library of 100,000 volumes, which gradually filled up his house at Cheetham in a disorderly jumble. He was unmarried.
William Harrison Ainsworth was an novelist. He was born in Manchester, the son of a solicitor. He went to the Manchester Grammar School before becoming trained in the law. However the legal profession had no attraction for him, and going to London to complete his studies he made the acquaintance of John Ebers, publisher, and at that time manager of the Opera House, by whom he was introduced to literary and dramatic circles, and whose daughter he afterwards married. For a short time he tried the publishing business, but soon gave it up and devoted himself to journalism and literature his first success as a writer of romance being scored with Rookwood in 1834, of which Dick Turpin is the leading character; and thenceforward he continued to pour forth till 1881 a stream of novels, to the number of 39. Tower of London was his fourth work, and, according to Ainsworth himself, it was written chiefly with the aim of interesting his fellow-countrymen in the historical associations of the Tower. Ainsworth died in Reigate on January 3, 1882.
This collection of letters is invaluable not only for biographical material on Ainsworth himself, but also as a picture of a nineteenth century literary world. It was in fact used by S.M. Ellis in the compilation of his two volumes biography of Ainsworth, 'William Harrison Ainsworth and his friends (1911).
Access restrictions:
Unrestricted
Use restrictions:
Unrestricted
Record types:
Manchester Archives and Local Studies
Language:
English
Record number:
7207719