AINSLIE, Jane Eleanor.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A manuscript of fine illustrations and calligraphic verse. A charming sketchbook likely bound for Jane Eleanor Ainslie (b. 1775). Among the exquisitely executed drawings is an ink sketch of Longner Hall in Shropshire, which the family historian Augusta E. Corbet describes as "the seat of the Burton family who for so many years had been closely connected with the Corbets" (p. 331). Jane Eleanor married into the Corbet family on 3 December 1794.Jane Eleanor was the eldest daughter of General George Ainslie (1730-1804), and niece of the Baronet Sir Robert Ainslie, who was then ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. The manuscript contains adept pencil and ink drawings of lanscapes, a characterful dog dated 31 March 1826, boats, and ports, as well as hand-coloured, calligraphic copyings of passages of poetry from well-known contemporary poets. There is also an untraced, perhaps original, poem the mourning being "parted by the briny sea" (l. 5), accompanied by a delicate drawing of a forget-me-not flower.The book also contains two illustrations by one C. Pratt, including one of Battle Abbey.

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