CLARENDON (EDWARD HYDE, EARL OF)

The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in 1641, 3 vol., Oxford, at the Theatre, 1707[-1703-1704]; together with a manuscript indenture, with seal, signed and dated 10 December 1669 by Robert Culliford of Encombe, relating to dealings with Sir William Constantine of Morl, John Tregonwell of Anderson, and Thomas Baynard of Cliffe (4)

Footnotes

QUEEN ANNE BINDINGS MADE FOR A DISTINGUISHED DORSET FAMILY, CELEBRATING THEIR LINKS TO CLARENDON AND THE ROYAL CAUSE.

Provenance: William Culliford (c.1640-1723), gilt lettered "W. Culliford 1710" on sides, with large contemporary letterpress label inside each volume, "Part I. [-II-III]. All the parts of the Earl of Clarendon's History, bequeath'd by my will to my son John Culliford and his Heirs Male for ever, are to remain in this House of Encombe, in perpetual Memorial of the Unhappy Rebellion begun in 1641, and the sad and miserable effects is produced in this Kingdom.... Dated the 20th of September 1710. Will. Culliford". Loosely inserted is a 2-page letter written, circa 1760, by another William Culliford to an unidentified recipient relating to these books and several paintings, contesting a claim that the recipient had either been gifted them by Culliford's father, or purchased them at auction. He demands "that you will send me the Historys by the next... stage, and if you insist upon being paid for them... you shall be paid whatever a Bookseller in Southampton shall value them at...".

Culliford "was the younger son of Robert Culliford (1617–1698), of a Dorset gentry family, and his wife, Elizabeth Lawrence. His father, a somewhat tepid royalist in the civil war, was a cousin of Lord Chancellor Clarendon, though whether this was the cause of William's first appointment, as an excise surveyor in 1666, is not known. His promotion to a more responsible post as register of seizures in the customs took place after Clarendon's fall..." (ODNB). Amongst other notable positions Culliford represented the seat of Corfe Castle, Dorset in Parliament between 1690 and 1699. The books did remain at Encombe, as shortly after William's death the estate was sold to the Pitt family.