STUKELEY (WILLIAM) - MANUSCRIPTS Autograph research material and ephemera compiled by antiquarian, natural philosopher and Fellow of the Royal Society William Stukeley (1687-1765), comprising various fragments and notes, in English and Latin, some fifteen items, including: Satirical drawing on the name "Cock", titled "The Genealogy, Arms, Crest, Supporters & Achievement of the most ancient, most numerous & most illustrious Family of the Cocks of Cockall by Cockhamwood, in the parish of Cockley Esqrs", docketed on verso "My Lord Winchilsea collected the within-written names, from people really so calld"; floor plan of the Antiquary Room at the Society of Antiquaries, dated "3 Aug. 1753"; note of expenses "for Eating last nite... for Coffey and Tea... for Corn and Hay...", verso with "the plan of Burrow hills camp"; drawing of a peacock in display; notes on the geometry of the human face; the development of linguistics ("... The A is the first lter in all alphabets generally all in like order, shows, they all sprint from one original..."); notes on foxgloves ("...I know that on this side Lichfield on the plain where the horseraces are kept, they grow in a greatest abundance... 19 June, my foxglove floured, 2 days before the solstice... much admir'd by the Druids for they used the plant on that days public sacrifice...") and a poem beginning "How sweet the pleasure contemplation brings; a pleasure commonly deny'd to kings!..."; fragmentary draft of the poem 'A months entertainment at Broughton', dated September 1748; part of an autograph pamphlet concerning a Roman coin ("...from the coyn itself, tis evident that it was struck by order of the senate..."); blank notebook with title page giving a list of subscribers to Thomas Richards' Dictionary of the Welsh language including the signatures of William Stukeley ("3 books"), Michael Lort, Charles Lyttleton and others, further notes on the alphabet reversed; calculations on a solar eclipse; partial notes on Grantham, etc., c.30 pages, dust-staining and marks, edges frayed, 320 x 200mm. and smaller, [c.1740's to 1760's] (15) 'MUCH ADMIRED BY DRUIDS... THEY USED THE PLANT ON THAT DAY'S PUBLIC SACRIFICE': Manuscript material from polymath William Stukeley rarely comes up at auction, and this varied collection demonstrates the wide range of his interests from antiquity to etymology, botany to medicine and, of course, archaeology. Amongst these papers is a floor plan for the Society of Antiquaries, dated 1753, the year the Society moved into the former Robin's Coffee House in Chancery Lane, it's first permanent rented premises. Stukeley had been a member since 1717 and was elected the Society's first Secretary the following year. Also in our collection is an amusing satire on the name Cock, inspired by his friend Heneage Finch, 5th Earl of Winchilsea, and a scrap of paper on which is written calculations on a solar eclipse dated 10 May 1724, possibly relating to the passage addressed 'To Dr Edmund Halley' on the subject in the Itinerarium Curiosum (pp.179-182).