Description
Proctor's autograph manuscript with some printed material (mainly extracts from the "Manchester Guardian") pasted in by him. 4to & 8vo, circa 200 leaves on different stocks, numerous revisions by the author, unbound, dusty & ink-stained, prefaced dated Easter 1873.
Footnote
Note: Richard Wright Proctor (1816-1881) came from Salford, Lancashire. Born to poor parents, Proctor worked as a barber's assistant before starting his own business. In 1845 he purchased a circulating library which he ran from his shop. With a great hunger for literature, he embarked on a literary career, writing miscellaneous journalism and several books about Manchester, including the present important "Memorials of Manchester Streets" (Manchester, T. Sutcliffe, 1874). Parts of the work first appeared in the "Manchester Guardian" in 1873. The manuscript has the author's revisions to that text, along with much new material. It has been marked up for printing and has the names of the compositors and the usual ink works. The manuscript begins with a 3 page list of the illustrations to the work (illustrations not present) followed by the first chapter, "Hunt's Bank" and ends with the chapter, "Earliest and Latest Epigraphs". At the end is a pencilled note: "Complete to Chapter XXIII & Appendix which were written at a later date". In between the text appears to be all present. The missing appendix was written by James Crossley ("On Chetham's Library") and James Croston ("Old Manchester and its Worthies").