J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

This note is on the verso of a printed slip with handwritten charges for carriage and porterage from the Saracen’s Head, a London coaching inn (D08356; CXXII (1)). The slip is one of a grouping of four loose papers kept in the integral pocket inside the front cover of the Finance sketchbook (D40898). Two others (D08357, D08358; Turner Bequest CXXII (2), (3)) are pre-printed Bank of England slips with manuscript additions. A fourth is a much-folded sheet of accounts (D08359, D40900; Turner Bequest CXXII (4) and verso).

The upper half is taken up with the following note:

Turner’s ‘lb’ signifies pounds, equating to about a weight of about 18 kilograms for the item(s). 13 January 1814 was a Thursday, so Turner may either have been writing on 20 January about an otherwise unspecified delivery the previous week, or on 13 January itself about the week before that.

Technical notes:

All but the left-hand edge are slightly irregular. The sheet has several long-standing creases, particularly along the vertical axis, and was perhaps casually folded on receipt of the bill on its recto.