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CHRISTIAN, John.
Original manuscript catalogue of Books in Mr Christian's Library , August 1780, Mr John Christian's Account from February to August 1772….
Cumberland, (Workington Hall?), 1780.
Tall folio; 405 x 160 mm., 20 pp. (eight of which are blank), manuscript in ink; sewn in old wrappers entitled "Catalogue Books Aug 1780 Many added since".
Original manuscript catalogue of the library of John Christian (later Christian Curwen), 1756-1828, elder cousin of Fletcher Christian. John Christian's library, which included about 550 volumes, is seen to have been dominated by works in the category of 'History, Lives, Novels etc.', with as yet few books on agriculture, in which Christian/Curwen, later founder of the Agricultural Society, was later to take such an interest.
The library inventory is enlightening for the perspective it provides of the family background of the famous Bounty mutineer. The Christian family were descended from the very prominent Christians of Milntown in the Isle of Man, but had been settled in Cumberland for three generations by the time John Christian was born. The family were certainly well-read and educated: Fletcher Christian's uncle Ewan Christian was a barrister, and his elder brother Edward was a prominent jurist and Downing professor of laws at Cambridge.
The catalogue is accompanied by a single leaf titled on the verso "Mr John Christian's Account from February to August 1772…", receipted at the foot by Humphry Christian, and an original photographic reproduction of the Christian family memorial plaque erected at Milntown in 1922, setting out the family lineage from 1380 to 1904. The account relates to John Christian's education and other costs, at the age of sixteen. They include some routine expenses (clothing, pocket money, hay for his horse), others less so ("Mourning Cloaths for Princess Dowager of Wales") - but of most interest are his purchases of books: four are named (including Smart's Horace), at least one of which appears in the 1780 catalogue.
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