Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/203

 n s. XH. SEPT. 11, i9i5.] NOTES AND Q CJERIES.

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facsimiles of the most interesting, cloth, not printed for sale, 9s. 1851."

Last year I paid a visit to Oxford, strangely transformed from a students' university into a recruiting and hospital town ! My chief object after some years of absence was a visit to the Bodleian Library; and there I came across quite an unexpected find. Who, for example, would think of going there for London auctioneers' catalogues ? How- ever, they have a series of Messrs. Puttick & Simpson's which made me suspect our old friend Donnadieu was a professional instead of an amateur autograph collector. I had always supposed that he was an amateur living on his means, but these catalogues seem to reveal the fact that he made collect- ing a business.

Puttick' s first sale was on 27 April, 1847, in a five days' sale ; but the items were not all Donnadieu's : his name is only known at the Bodleian by a fortunate pencil note by the auctioneers.

The next sale (on 29 June, 1847, and follow- ing day) is of " Autograph letters, being a small portion of the well-known collection of Monsr. A. Donnadieu." The Preface to the catalogue says it is but a few " Years since that the Possessor commenced the formation of his Collection," of great rarity and im- portance. This catalogue is also in the National Library. At this sale numbers of lots were bought for the National Library, and all are marked in blue pencil in Bodley's copy.

The sales of 30 May, 1848, of engravings ; 9 July, 1849, 19 Dec., 1850, and 8 June, 1852, of autographs ; and 13 May, 1857, and 8 March, 23 April, and 8 June, 1858, of books, were all without Donnadieu's name. His autographs formed only a por- tion of the items offered, there being other owners. The final sale was the most impor- tant from the number of extraordinarily interesting and valuable items. The shortened title is:

" Catalogue of the highly interesting and valuable autograph letters and historical MSS., being the well-known collection of Monsr. A. Donnadieu : &c. 29 July, 1851, and 4 following days," pp. 166.

Numbers of lots were bought for the National Library, and it is said that portions formerly belonged to W. Upcott and John Evelyn. Preface of two pages and a half. The National Library shelf -mark is 11,901, Iv. 29, but there is also a large-paper copy with facsimiles, and crammed with extra autographs, apparently collected by Wm. Wright of Monson Road, Hatcham Park.

Among them is one from John Maddisott Morton dated from the " Charterhouse.'* It is, perhaps, necessary, in order that the present generation may identify him, to state that he was the author of the most popular farce ever written, namely, ' Box and Cox.'

Donnadieu spoke English well, but if he got excited about anything he at once con- tinued in French. The name is very un- common : I find very few in the library cata- logues, and only one in the present Paris Directory. The question is (or was), What was the Christian name of my " Monsr.. Donnadieu " ? Should Alexandre in Mr. Boase's great book be Alcide ? Mr. Boase, I suspect, 'obtained Alexandre from the * Post Office Directory,' in which Donna- dieu occurs as " Donideau."

Searches for Mr. Boase under the above variants for a certificate of Donnadieu's death at Somerset House have been un- successful. As regards any personal repre- sentative (i.e., the probate or letters of administration), I did not expect to find one, as I believed there was nobody entitled to obtain either ; his motto was " apres moi le deluge." But the certificate of death must surely be there, though I failed to find the entry in the indexes. Non-success has frequently been the result of my searches for persons known to have died in England, as can be seen from several entries in Mr. Boase's ' Modern English Bio- graphy,' as, for example, Edward Froggatt in vol. v.

However, for the purpose of this article I searched at the Probate Office, and there, to my great surprise, I found that letters of administration to the estate of Louis Xavier Alcide Donnadieu, who died on 8 Jan., 1861, were granted to his brother, P. L. P. Donna- dieu of 22, Rue de la Fontaine Molier [sic] Paris, and the property was sworn to be under 200Z. This was in 1866, five years after Donnadieu's death.

M. Donnadieu had a curious habit of washing his handkerchief always a coloured silk one every morning. This was the more remarkable as he neither took snuff nor did he smoke. In those days the snuff-taking mania was dying out, and has long since given way to the smoking mania of the present day, which, un- fortunately, increased during the reign of King Edward VII., who was an incessant smoker.

M. Donnadieu used to delight us with his military music. Though not much of a