Stowe.- Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville (Richard, 2nd Duke of Buckingham) [Sale Catalogue] Catalogue of the Contents of Stowe House, near Buckingham, lithographed frontispiece and 2 plates, some prices and buyers' names supplied in manuscript, original printed blue wrappers, rubbed, frayed at edges, modern marbled slip-case, [Lugt 19122], Christie & Manson, 1848; [Sale Catalogue] Catalogue of the Library removed from Stowe House, Buckinghamshire, 1849 bound with The Stowe Granger. Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits, [Lugt 19255], 1849 and Catalogue of the remaining portion of Engraved British Portraits, [Lugt 19283], 1849, together 3 works in 1 vol. (the second bound last), a few prices and buyers' names in manuscript, modern half morocco, calf label, S.Leigh Sotheby & Co. § Forster (Henry Rumsey) The Stowe Catalogue Priced and Annotated, mezzotint frontispiece of Rembrandt's Unmerciful Servant' (foxed), title in red & black, lists of both subscribers & purchasers, plates, advertisements at end, contemporary blind-stamped cloth, rebacked in calf, 1848 § Thompson (E.Maunde) Catalogue of a selection from the Stowe Manuscripts...in the British Museum, plates, bookplate of Rev. C.H.Middelton Wake with A.L.s. from the author to him tipped in, original cloth-backed boards, 1883 § [Sale Catalogue] The Ducal Estate of Stowe, catalogue no.300, plates, folding colour plans, joints split, original cloth-backed boards, rubbed, spine torn, Jackson Stops, 1921; and another on Stowe, v.s. (6)

⁂ Group of sale catalogues of various portions of the great art collection and library at Stowe, following the bankruptcy in 1847 of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, who was rumoured to have left for the Continent with debts exceeding £1,000,000. The first sale of the contents totalled £75,562 4s 6d. It included the famous "Chandos Portrait" of Shakespeare which sold to the Earl of Ellesmere for £372 15s. and in 1856 became the first donation to the newly-created National Portrait Gallery. "A tragic sale this...It lasted thirty-five days and the prices were incredibly low. This was probably because such a vast accumulation of treasure by many generations of a single family was just more than the trade, collectors and local gentry between them could absorb at one go." The English as Collectors, p.435