Lot 282: Pole (Thomas, 1753-1829). A commonplace book

Pole (Thomas, 1753-1829). A commonplace book containing miniature landscapes by Thomas Pole, and pencil drawings, watercolours, and manuscript writings by various hands, many of them Quakers, early-mid. 19th c., 363pp., numbered in pencil to upper corner, a few pages excised, preceded by 3pp. Index to Names, and a leaf with mounted initials 'L D' elaborately drawn in pencil with a landscape showing trees and buildings concealed within the body of the letters, captioned in ink 'Thos. Pole M.D.', plus two further mounted leaves of drawings by Thomas Pole (unsigned as usual), one with four tiny sepia watercolour architectural landscapes, each approx. 9 x 13mm, the other (facing) with two miniature monochrome architectural landscapes, each 40 x 50mm, both leaves captioned 'Thomas Pole M.D.', plus approx. thirteen pencil drawings and watercolours, mostly botanical and landscapes, incl. a pencil drawing of Eatington Meeting House by Sarah Lowe, and numerous ms. poetry and prose extracts in various hands, most of a religious nature and copied from Watts, Fenelon, Cowper, Coleridge, etc., some initalled L.D., and the majority by Quaker contributors, incl. Richard S. Harford, John Lewis, Martha Smith, Joseph Buckley, Christopher Healy, Maria Knight, Jeremiah H. Wiffen, Benjamin B. Wiffen, marbled endpapers, hinges split, untrimmed, orig. blindstamped black calf gilt, sometime rebacked, rubbed, 4to, together with Wedmore (Edmund Tolson), Thomas Pole, M.D., with notes by Norman Penney, Journal Supplement No.7 for the Friends' Historical Society, Headley Brothers, 1908, port. frontis. and thirty-five plts., folding genealogical chart, oval ink stamp on title-page, orig. printed wrappers bound in, untrimmed, near contemp. cloth, faded spine with leather label (rubbed), 8vo. Thomas Pole, physician and Quaker minister, was born in Philadelphia and brought up as a member of the Society of Friends. In 1775 he travelled to England to visit relatives and attend Quaker meetings, apparently travelling 6650 miles, mainly on horseback, in England and Wales over the course of two or three years. He qualified as a medical doctor in 1801, with a degree from St. Andrews University, whereupon he specialised in obstetrics and published his 'Anatomical Instructor', with drawings by himself. Throughout his life Pole devoted much time to ministerial work in the Society of Friends as well as philanthropic schemes. In 1812 he helped William Smith establish the first English schools for the adult poor. In addition to being a skilled medical illustrator Pole was a keen watercolourist and silhouettist, and his carefully detailed miniature landscapes are particularly sought after. (1)
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