Writing case belonging to Mabella Beswicke (Mayall), wife of Port Phillip pioneer Charles Beswicke of Moodie Yallo Station.

A$1,800 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

[Between 1835 and 1840]. Portable case for writing accessories and paper, of thick card covered with hand-sewn floral-patterned purple velvet trimmed with corduroy, the underside covered in black silk, 220 x 285 x 30 mm (slightly irregular), with four flaps opening to 460 x 460 mm; the exposed card of the interior floor and flaps with extensive annotations in ink by the original owner, as well as a small pen and ink sketch and pen trials; two of the inscriptions on the flaps read: Mabella Beswicke Mayall, Clare Cottage, Waterhead Mill, Oldham and Mabella Beswicke Mayall s Writing Case ; the lengthy inscription covering the floor of the case gives a chronology of emigration to Port Phillip, Van Diemen s Land and New South Wales by various members of the Beswicke and Kenworthy families between 1834 and 1844, Mabella including the voyage of herself and her husband Charles in 1840; the wording of the last part of this inscription confirms that it was written by Mabella in 1844, a short time before her death in Port Phillip. A remarkable piece of early Port Phillip realia. The Beswicke and Mayall families both hailed from Waterhead, near Oldham, Lancashire, and both were involved in the textile industry. Charles Beswicke (1804-1885) ran a drapery firm in partnership with his wife Mabella (Mayall) and his sister Eliza. It is highly likely that Mabella sewed this charming writing case with her own hands, at some point in the late 1830s. When, in late June 1840, Charles and Mabella e

• Binding: Hardcover

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