[John Wilson Croker, Anglo-Irish politician and author.] Autograph Letter Signed to John Gibson Lockhart, asking him to make an enquiry to Miss Mary Berry regarding Horace Walpole.

See his entry in the History of Parliament, and his and Lockhart’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, with thin strip of dried adhesive from mount along one edge, and tiny bit of loss at foot beneath the signature. Folded for postage. Begins: ‘My dear Lockhart / I should be very much obliged to you if you would ask Miss Berry whether she recollects why Horace Walpole’s amusing little tracts entitled “Miscellaneous Antiquities” & printed at Strawberry Hill, were not included in his works.’ He conceded that the work is ‘mainly composed of extracts & compilations’, but points out that the same is the case with the ‘Anecdotes of Painting’ ‘and several other pieces in that collection, & these are strongly marked with his peculiar manner & treat of some curious historical facts’. He presumes they were ‘omitted for some good reason, which, if it lingers in Miss Berry’s memory’, he would be curious to know. The item is from the papers of Lady Maria Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), to whom Mary Berry left her papers for publication. The Lewis papers also contain a covering letter on the subject to Lady Theresa Lewis from Lockhart.