Exhibition: The Sampson Low Collection

The Sampson Low Collection

An overview of the Sampson Low Collection

The majority of the letters (approximately a third of the collection) were written in the 1860s and were addressed to Sampson Low, his son Sampson Low Junior or to their publishing company in general – i.e. "Dear Gentlemen". Some of the recipients aren’t named and are addressed e.g. "Dear Sir". These are likely to be one or more of the publishing partners at Sampson Low – i.e. Sampson Senior, Sampson Junior or Edward Marston. Unfortunately the collection does not contain any letters written to clients by Sampson Low himself or by one of his partners.

 

The oldest letters were written in the 1820s and the collection spans six decades in all – the earliest was written by children’s author Mary Martha Sherwood in 1828 and the most recent was penned in 1877 by the physician William Withy Gull.

 

Within the collection there are 202 letters or fragments written by 191 individuals. The overwhelming majority are British males with 151 letters written by men, 30 by women and 11 unknown. The figures for nationality are British – 143, American/Canadian – 21, European (including Irish) – 15, Syrian – 1 and unknown – 11. 

 

There are letters written by artists, scientists, the clergy, educators, the military, aristocrats, explorers, medics and mathematicians but unsurprisingly around half of the letters in the collection are penned by individuals who were predominantly writers, be that authors, poets, playwrights or novelists. Not all were clients of Sampson Low, some letters are from personal friends or acquaintances, some are replies to Low himself regarding topics unrelated to publishing, or enquiries on behalf of others. Sampson Low was well known and well respected among London’s literary circle.

 

Within the collection of letters there are common themes such as the discussion of a published or forthcoming work, the acknowledgement of a received book or cheque or a request to forward an item to a client of Sampson Low's. There are also personal letters and letters which refer to the charitable organisations that Sampson Low and his sons were involved with. 

 

Several of the oldest letters, written in the 1820s and the 1830s, refer to 'The Iris' which was an annual collection of religious writings co-edited by Reverend Thomas Dale (1797-1870). Its full title was 'The Iris: a Literary and Religious Offering' and it was published by Sampson Low, Hurst, Chance & Co. Some of the early letters are addressed to Rev. Thomas Dale and some to Louis Theodore Ventouillac (1796-1834), a Professor of French Literature who translated and edited various publications for Sampson Low including 'The Iris' which he co-edited with Rev. Dale. Writers including Jane Porter and Amelia Opie contributed to 'The Iris' and their letters to Professor Ventouillac are included in the collection.

 

Sixteen of the letters in the collection refer to the American author Harriet Beecher Stowe including those written by Lady Byron, Harriet Martineau and the Earl of Shaftesbury. The majority were written in the 1850s when Mrs Stowe was at the height of her popularity following the publication of 'Uncle Tom’s Cabin' in 1852. She embarked on a lecture tour of Britain and Europe in 1853 and returned in 1856, and several of the letters refer to these visits.  

 

On this page you can see photographs of the two bound volumes with the letters of Charles Dickens and Florence Nightingale displayed in the second image. There is also an audio clip in which Charles Dickens' letter to Sampson Low is discussed. The recording was made in 1992 when the collection was deposited with The Open University.

 

The Sampson Low exhibition showcases 60 letters from the collection written by individuals from a wide range of occupations and nationalities. For the purposes of this exhibition the correspondents have been categorised into one of seven themes based on their occupations. Several of them undertook a range of professions and interests during their lifetimes and may fall into more than one category, so their primary occupation or role has been selected in this case. The first letter displayed in the exhibition is written by the author R. D. Blackmore and may be viewed on the next page in the theme 'Novelists and Poets'.