nav-imag.JPG (5508 bytes)An Index of Hone Correspondence,
1795-1810

 

Index of correspondence in this file:

1795:

To:  Mr. Bellamy Date:  12 November 1795
From: WH, 16 Albemarle St., Clerkenwell (?) Source:  Ogden 73 (loose sheet in front of vol. 2)
Contents:

WH requests prospectus for the Mirror

Notes:

Letter is in secretarial hand and signed "Wm. Hone, Jun."

 

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1797:

To: WH Date: September 1797
From:  C[harles] Few Source:  Hackwood, p. 67
Contents:

". . . that you are 'an original' cannot be denied and that you are sometimes 'leadeny' must also be admitted, and in the letter or note I am now answering I have a specimen of it. Oh! Hone, Hone, thou surely art somewhat confused in thy upper stories. . . . To be at variance with such a worthy fellow as W. H. would give me no small share of anxiety."

Notes:  

Few was an acquaintance of Hone from his time in Chatham and Rochester, later 1790s.

 

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1799:

To: WH Date: 13 May 1799
From: C. Townson  (Rochester ?) Source:  Hackwood, p. 67
Contents:

"As I have just returned from a visit to friend Seaton, you may naturally conclude that I shall not sympathise with you in your hypochondriac affections. . . . Laugh! laugh, you dog, 'tis the best cure in the world for the hyps . . . . You appear when you wrote to be under the influence of one of those melancholy moods which the soul is sometimes betrayed into. If the cause should proceed from some calamitous misfortune or real evil, it then stands in need of the soothing voice of consolation, or the pious breathings of religion. . . . Write soon, unbosom yourself to me, and the little comfort that I am able to give you shall be heartily at your service."

Notes:

Hone was troubled throughout his life by periods of despondency and depression.  This letter would suggest that these episodes started early in his life. 

 

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1801:

To: Baynes  (54 Paternoster Row) Date: 24 January 1801
From: Clarke Source:  Add. MS 40120, f. 4
Contents:

Brief materials regarding book sales.

Notes:

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To: WH Date: 1801 (after 20 July)
From: John Venning Source:  Hackwood, p. 68
Contents:

"Joy, joy my good fellow, I give you joy of your young she bairn--it's the wrong sex. You say nothing of Mrs. H.--hope she is in convalescence. Does the babe show any symptoms of Honeyism?"

Notes:

Sarah Hone had given birth to their first child, also called Sarah, on 20 July 1801.

 

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1802:

To: WH Date: 1802 
From: Venning  (Rochester) Source:  Hackwood, p. 68
Contents:

"I hope, Billy, you have met with another situation to your wishes or a greater share of business than when I last saw you. I am afraid Providence does not think itself under any obligation to bestow undeserving favours on you--You don't go to Church."

Notes:

Hone was engaged in several faltering book- and print-trade enterprises in the first years of the new century.

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1803:

To: WH Date: 21 March 1803
From: Venning  
Contents:

"The last letter I received from you informed me that I should hear again when you had taken possession of your house in St. Martin's Lane, which I suppose you have long since done. . . . I hope you push on prosperously in your new situation, and meet with all the encouragement you deserve. . . . No doubt ere this you have bought some experience to enable you to act on a steady principle, and to judge of things more by their intrinsic worth than from appearances, as you commonly used to do."

Notes:

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1804:

To: WH Date: 1804
From: John Venning (Chatham) Source:  Hackwood, p. 66
Contents:

"DEAR MILLINGTON--It appears to me unaccountable how such a subject ever popped into your head [Hone had just produced Millington's Cookery]. I should have wandered over the wide field of literature and stooped to cull many fairer flowers in preference to going near the hedge to pick gross herbs and aromatic plants for real use."

Notes:

Widely known as Millington's Cookery, a more complete citation is Charles Millington, The Housekeeper's Domestic Library; or, New Universal Family Instructor in Practical Economy . . . . London: M. Jones, 1805.  The work is a combination cookbook and how-to volume for other domestic chores.  Hone apparently acted as editor for the 1804 edition.

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To: WH Date: 1804
From: Venning Source:  Hackwood, p. 69
Contents:

"I cannot help noting with what facility you adopt the fusty old-fashioned and precise terms of thee and thou on all occasions in your prose correspondence . . . ."

Notes:

Venning's note is particularly interesting in light of Hone's upbringing in an environment of enthusiastic dissenters.  Perhaps his "fusty" language is an indication of this influence.

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To: WH Date: 1804
From: Venning Source:  Hackwood, p. 69
Contents:

"I am informed that you are about to commence a new scene of Life and to acquire Fame by a glorious display of those powers of mind which you should thank your Creator for--it is worthy and laudable so skilful a character should employ himself so advantageously for the public good."

Notes:

Exactly what the "new scene of Life" is in this case is unclear.  Certainly Hone did move quickly through a number of businesses during this period.

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1806:

To: WH Date: 8 June 1806
From: Venning (Chatham) Source:  Hackwood, p. 76
Contents:

DEAR HONE--You sent Charles a small political work written by a friend of yours, and copy of the Resolutions of the Society 'For the Gradual Abolition of the Poor's Rate' with your name subscribed as Secretary. By having read and heard more of the plan of this Institution from Mr. Bone's publication, I have conceived the highest opinion of the system and think that it does credit to those who are now labouring to do away [with] the corrupted establishments and inefficient measures which have for such a length of time been borne for the maintenance and keep of the poor in this country; yet I am persuaded that old prejudices are difficult to be done away. But, my good fellow, I do not prejudice your endeavours; my only anxiety is that as you have a wife and family to support and a reputation of talent and industry to sustain, they may perhaps suffer by your attention to this institution whilst other opportunities of improving your fortune may slip from under you, and you at length fall into a distressed and impoverished state of living.

Yours most sincerely,

J. VENNING

Notes:

Venning refers to the Tranquillity project that Hone started in partnership with John Bone in 1806.  The scheme lasted only about one year.

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1809:

To: Bone and Hone Date: 11 January 1809
From: Dr. Binney [perhaps Burney?] Source:  Add. MS 40120, f. 5
Contents:

[Brief note to correct an earlier book order.]

Notes:

This correspondence is related to the bookshop in the Strand operated by John Bone and William Hone from 1807 until their joint bankruptcy in 1810.

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To:  Date: 25 February 1809
From: [very bad hand] ReNanes? Archdeacon of Stafford ? Source:  Add. MS 40120, f. 6
Contents:

Notes:

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To: Sir Richard Phillips Date: 3 May 1809
From: Lord Northmore Source:  Add. MS 40120, ff. 7-8
Contents:

Phillips forwarded the letter to Bone and Hone on 5 May. Northmore suggests a "Political Almanack" as a potentially useful and profitable publication. In his forwarding note, Phillips says it's "something which may prove a source of profit to you."

Notes:

Obviously, Hone and Bone already are acquainted with Sir Richard Phillips; the note obviously has to do with the Bone and Hone bookshop (and small-scale publishing house).

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1810:

To: WH Date: 5 April 1810
From: Pinkerton Source:  Add. MS 40120, ff. 10-11
Contents:

"You are already in some measure apprized of the existing differences between Mr. Davies and myself, on the subject of the Atlas. As all my conversations, pending the negotiation for that publication, were with him alone, it is impossible that you can be otherwise acquainted with the facts, than through his representation; and I am led to believe that you, as joint proprietors of the work, are not correctly informed thereon, because from your general characters and reputation, I had a right to expect greater candour and liberality than I have experienced on this occasion. This consideration has induced me to make the present appeal to you, before I resort to such ulterior redress as justice to myself, in my mind, demands."

Notes:

Pinkerton, as his letter indicates, has a background in antiquarianism and sufficient money to pursue the interst. He arranged to publish an Atlas, which cost him a substantial sum of money, that came out in 1807 from Longmans. Davies, a person with whom such financial and other arrangements were made, is now bilking Pinkerton for money. He doesn't want to sue in Equity courts and hopes by making his position clear to Hone and Bone the matter will be cleared up.

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To: John "Toussaint L'Ouverture" Date: 23 October 1810
From: WH (331 Strand) Source:  Hackwood, pp. 83-84
Contents:

My Dear John,

I send you enclosed in this Letter "La Feuille Indicatrice des Tempéramens," and I wish you and your companions much amusement from the Temper telling Fish.

Do not return them until they cease to give you pleasure and by that time my little girls will be very glad to see their old friends move about again--as you can keep them as long as you please they will be of as much use to you as if they were bought with your own money.

I hope you will soon let me have the still greater pleasure of lending you some books, for from books you can gain more amusement than you can get from all the toys you have ever seen, and more instruction than you have had from all the people you have ever talked with.

After you begin to read you will soon be able to understand many things which you now only wonder at, and speedily be convinced of this grand Truth, delivered by one of our greatest Philosophers, that "Knowledge is Power."

I told Mr. Mercier to-day I was going to write to you, and he wished me to tell you that he was very glad to hear of your progress at Mr. Dalton's. Mr. Bone and all friends beg to be remembered to you, and we all most certainly send you the best of good wishes for your health and improvement.

I am, Dear John,

Your true Friend,

William Hone

Notes:

In one of the more interesting conjunctions in Hone's life, in 1810 Hone took in a young black child reputed (incorrectly, it turned out) to be the son of Toussaint L'Ouverture.  The boy, John, lived in the Hone household for some months before going on to a boarding school.  In the present case, Hone sends along a small toy and some advice about reading and books.

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