Description
Autograph Letter in the third person inviting Mr. Kaye Dowland to breakfast. 3½ x 6 inches, mounted with a printed prospectus of the second edition of The Fragments of Lancashire, and a separate mounted mezzotint portrait of Gregson. St. Ann’s Street, 17 July 1824. Matthew Gregson (1749–1824), antiquary, compiled a Portfolio of Fragments relative to the History and Antiquities of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster, which he brought out in 1817 in three folio parts. The second and enlarged edition is dated 1824, and the third, edited and indexed by John Harland, came out in 1867. This work led to his election as a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and to his honorary membership of the Newcastle-on-Tyne Society of Antiquaries. He was offered knighthood by the Prince Regent on presenting a copy of the book, but declined the dignity. He often wrote on antiquarian subjects in the Gentleman’s Magazine.