Guide to the Daniel Hayes subscription receipt , MSS 16665

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
P.O. Box 400110
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
URL: https://small.library.virginia.edu/

Rose Oliveira, Accessioning Archivist

Administrative Information

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16665, Daniel Hayes subscription receipt, Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was purchased from Christopher Edwards by the Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia on January 5, 2022.

Biographical / Historical

Daniel Hayes (1649-1732), was an African merchant and a figure in the city of London, was also a subscriber to Mathew Prior's Poems on several occasions (1718).

This collection contains a printed signed receipt for "two guineas" signed by Alexander Pope as, "being the first payment to the Subscription, for the Translation of Homer's Iliads; to be delivered in Quires, to the Bearer hereof, in the manner specify'd in the Proposals." The subscriber's name, Daniel Hayes, was filled in by Pope, who also signed the receipt slip on the bottom right.

The manuscript is an oblong 8vo slip (83 X 148 mm) with a burn stain on the lower left that has resulted in a loss of blank margin, but no loss of text, and is darkened on the lower right. At the top in small handwriting is the inscription, "a precious Relic," signed with the initials "W.U." This may be William Upcott (1779-1845), an autograph collector.