Manuscripts have the power to transport us to a moment in history. These handwritten notebooks, letters, papers, and journals all have a story to tell – not only in the words written on the page, but in the physicality of the material object, the ink, the paper, the blotches, the handwriting. Wordsworth Grasmere is home to over 90% of William Wordsworth’s original verse manuscripts and many more letters and journals written by his family and their circle of friends. In this online event Dr Hannah Britton, Lewis Roberts, Dr Alexis Wolf, and our Principal Curator Jeff Cowton will explore some of these special manuscripts close-up on screen.

Hannah will discuss William Wordsworth and Mary Hutchinson’s love letters, Lewis will focus on the drafts of what became Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Dejection: An Ode, and Alexis will examine Dorothy Wordsworth’s Recollections of a Tour in Scotland, 1803. Between them they will uncover the emotional, creative, and social stories that these manuscripts have to tell, exploring both their materiality and contexts. Our speakers will guide you through these manuscripts from where they are based across the UK, while Jeff will be handling the original manuscripts in the Jerwood Centre at Wordsworth Grasmere.

Tickets: https://wordsworth.org.uk/blog/events/close-up-with-manuscripts/