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Letter from SOCIETY OF ARTS to JAMES BARRY, written 5 December 1805, at Adelphi, London

Source: MS James Barry Papers and Letters, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University. [img]

This printed invitation to a Committee meeting of the Society of Arts includes certain hand-written details; it is signed in the name of the Secretary Charles Taylor1 by another hand.

Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. Adelphi, the 5^th of Dec.^r 1805.

Sir,

I have the honour to inform you, that a
Committee of Miscellaneous Matters 2 is appointed for
Saturday 3 - next, at Seven o'Clock in the
Evening, precisely, to take into Consideration arrange -
ments for the next Distribution of Rewards
and other Matters4
at which Time the Favour of your Attendance is
requested.

I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,

Show/Hide other notes [why?]

1 ^
Charles Taylor] Charles Taylor (d.1816), a chemist from Manchester, succeeded as Secretary to the Society on the death of Samuel More in 1799; his portrait was printed facing the title-page of the Society's Transactions, 1817, vol. xxxv. [img]

2 ^
Miscellaneous Matters]

The phrase is inserted by hand.

The Society had six committees, reflecting the scope of its work: Polite Arts, Agriculture, Manufactures, Mechanics, Chemistry, Colonies and Trade; Polite Arts 'included painting, drawing, sculpture, die-sinking, designs for manufactures, and also, to a certain extent, literature' (Henry Trueman Wood, A History of the Royal Society of Arts (London, 1913), p.236). The Committee of Miscellaneous Matters met only occasionally to deal with administrative business.

3 ^
Saturday] Inserted by hand.

4 ^
other Matters]

The words 'arrangements for the next Distribution of Rewards and other Matters' are inserted by hand.

The Society made annual awards of money and medals in the several disciplines.