John Charles Brooke scrapbook of architectural prints, original drawings, and maps of Yorkshire, England

Collection of prints, printed sheets, manuscripts, original drawings, and maps, removed from a scrapbook (original boards present) compiled by John Charles Brooke and bequeathed to the College of Arms, London, whose bookplate and release stamp is present on one of the boards.

This collection is composed chiefly of engravings removed from books, including James Paine's Plans, Elevations, and Sections of Noblemen and Gentlemen's Houses, first published in 1767, and various volumes of Vitruvius Britannicus, or, The British Architect, published by Colen Campbell, John Woolfe and James Gandon between 1715 and 1771. There are also many views of cities in Yorkshire drawn by Leonard Knyff and engraved by Johannes Kip, probably for Kip's Britannia illustrata, or, Views of several of the Queen's palaces, first published in 1709. Several of the engravings were commissioned by the Society of Antiquaries, of which John Charles Brooke was a member. Engravers and artists represented in this collection also include Samuel Buck, John Feary, Thomas Badeslade, W.H. Toms, James Basire, John Harris, and Richard Godfrey.

Although the majority of engravings depict views, plans, and elevations of Yorkshire manors, castles, and churches, several feature Roman and Saxon antiquities discovered at various sites in Yorkshire. In his 1780 book British Topography, Richard Gough suggested that many of these prints were published in the Society of Antiquaries' Archaeologia, or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, John Burton's Monasticon Eboracense and the Ecclesiastical History of Yorkshire, or The Gentleman's Magazine, to which Brooke was a contributer. These prints include engravings of a Roman altar found at Doncaster, a Saxon ring discovered in 1774, and a Roman sepulcher found near York. Also included is map of Roman roads around Yorkshire.

This collection also contains several original drawings, which were probably executed by John Charles Brooke. These include ink and wash drawings of a Saxon inscription at Aldbrough Church and tomb figures at Stonegrave Minster. Brooke also made annotations on several of the prints, identifying their subjects. It appears that Brooke assigned a unique number to the versos of his prints, perhaps as a way to catalog them.

Most of the prints and drawings in this collection were created during the mid-to-late eighteenth century. However, there is also a handwritten contract from 1627 regarding the construction of tombs and two color renderings of the completed monuments. All of these items include the name "Max Coult," suggesting that the tomb was designed by Maximilian Colt. The tombs described and depicted were probably for Sir George Savile and Elizabeth Ayscough Savile, installed in St. Michael's Church, Thornhill, Yorkshire around 1627.

CCAHA performed perservation work on this scrapbook in 1994, at which time it was disassembled and housed in three boxes.