A small collections of letters to Robert Cole, and related notes and printed material.

The material is loosely sewn together and not bound, much marking and chipping but little textual loss. There is an interchange of information, the main drive being antiquarian material concerning Sir Michael Stanhope, however remote the connection, some elicited by a request for information in "Notes & Queries".Twenty-one autograph letters, most extensive, signed from antiquaries, many distinguished: Robert Lemon, archivist (DNB) (1), George R. Corner, antiquary (DNB) (9), "Mr Sage" (enclosed in letter from King - and TO H.W. King - but signature cut off: "E.J. Sage, antiquarian of Stoke Newington") (1), H.W. King (2), Edward J. Wilson (not to Cole but mentioning him) (1), [Impey?](1), W.H. Black, antiquary (DNB)(1), Richard Sims (1), unknown (2) Charles Frost, antiquary (DNB) (1), [J.H. Lury?] (1). The printed material includes a Handbill, 8vo, bifolium, recto with text, advertising the sale by auctioneers, Puttick & Simpson, "The Entire, Extensive, and Very Valuable Collection of Autographs and Manuscripts of Robert Cole, Esq., F.S.A." The autographs include Cromwell letters, American Presidents, signers of the Declaration, Samuel Johnson, Flora Macdonald, Major Andre, Handel, etc. The historical manuscripts include (relevant in the context of this archive) "Correspondence and other papers of Sir Michael Stanhope, of considerable interest, and bearing some important signatures", and "a Collection of interesting Deeds, some bearing rare Signatures" (including Raleigh). There are "County Collections"; the fourth edition of Locke's "Treatise on Human Understanding" "with the author's very ample corrections and enlargements"; "a volume of Papers and Accounts relative to Nell Gwynne, with three examples of her very rare autograph; a block of the Shakespeare Mulberry Tree"; etc. The collection also contains pp. 145-152 of the subsequent catalogue (Sheridan to Sterne, including a "VERY RARE" Tobias Smollett "Draft in his autograph to pay Mr. William Strahan" ), prices (and presumably reserves) marked by Cole himself, and including a lengthy description of "STANHOPE (Sir Michael) Original letters and correspondence whilst Lt.-Governor of Hull". The manuscript notes, mainly scraps of paper, in this archive are in Cole's hand. Note: Collections in the National Maritime Museum include "Sir Thomas Phillips (1792–1872), incorporating the collections of Robert Cole, George Jackson and the Southwell family on naval administration and policy, John Wilson Croker’s collection of Nelson correspondence, and William Upcott’s collection of eminent naval characters."