Manuscript Letter and Account Book of H. Crofts, veterinary practitioner, of Offa Street, Bedford, 1869-1879, containing a long list of his Bedfordshire clientele.

105 pp, in contemporary 4to notebook; started at both ends, with 53 pp at one, and 52 pp at the other. Quarter-bound in brown calf, marbled boards. Aged, in worn binding with a few loose leaves, but fair, and with text clear and complete. Ticket of 'Gotelee, Bookseller Printer and Stationer, Oakingham' on front pastedown. In two hands, the first considerably neater than the other, writing 18 pp of patrons (23 to a page), beginning with 'His Grace the Duke of Manchester Kimbolton Castle Hants', and featuring Sir E. Page Turner Bart Battleden House Woburn'. The list continues over the following nine pages, in the second hand, with the occupation (farmer, miller) of a few patrons given. There follow copies of letters by 'H Crofts | VP' of Offa Street, Bedford, beginning in November 1871 and ending in February 1879. Topics include unpaid debts, certificates of examination, and the 'Veterinary Inspection Report' to 'The Mayor Aldermen & town Commit[ee]', dated 22 November 1876, reporting no foot and mouth disease and mentioning 'Typhoid Fever in Pigs'. Also a letter accusing a 'Mr John Thomas' of being 'clearly responsible for the damages to my gig and Harness' when 'upon the wrong side of the road'. Starting at the other end of the volume are indexed itemised accounts for fifty clients, followed by a few drafts of letters, 1876-1879, including a report of a 'Post Mortem Examination on the Two Calves'. The final two drafts, both from 1888, are to the President and Council of the Royal Agricultural Society (regarding outbreaks of pleural pneumonia), and to Lord regarding a motion in the House of Lords.