PBA Galleries

26 vellum leaves, neatly penned on rectos and versos in black ink with initial letters in red throughout. 9.4x7.4 cm. (3¾x3"), period black velvet binding, front and back with the arms of the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury mounted at center enameled in tinctures within a strapwork frame of red and white champleve enamel, beneath and Earl's coronet in enamel of multiple colors; enameled gold corner pieces with matching crests of a talbot or a knotted serpent surrounded by floral devices, matching gold clasps.

Gilbert, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury (1552-1616) and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir William Cavendish and Elizabeth Hardwick (Bess of Hardwick), were wed at the ages of 15 & 12 respectively. Their wedding (as well as that of Mary's brother to Gilbert's sister) taking place at the same time as Gilbert's father, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, married Mary's mother. "During his father's lifetime Gilbert had been in league with his stepmother, the notorious ‘Bess,’ against the peace of the old earl; but no sooner was he dead than the most violent dissensions broke out as to the executorship and administration of the will. Not, however, with the dowager only, but with almost every member of this divided family, was the new earl at variance." (DNB) Mary converted to Catholicism and assisted in the financing of Arabella Stuart's marriage and flight in 1610-11; her actions landing her in the Tower of London for over a year. She returned to the Tower in 1618 for refusing to answer questions about Arabella's possible child, she was released in 1632. The name 'Dimsdale' is penned inside the front cover which also bears remnants of the morocco label of the noted collector Mortimer Schiff.