1823 Barnard’s Inn Letter to Book Auctioneer J.W. Southgate – Mos. Saunders For Sale

Offered here is an original handwritten letter dated 17 July 1823, written from 13 Barnard’s Inn, London, and addressed to noted London book saleeer and publisher John Woodgate Southgate.

The letter is signed in period abbreviated form:

“Mos. Saunders”

and was sent from Barnard's Inn, one of London’s historic Inns of Chancery attached to Gray’s Inn.

Barnard’s Inn in the early 19th century functioned as:

• A legal training institution

• Residential chambers for attorneys and law students

• A professional society connected to Gray’s Inn

By 1823, J.W. Southgate was active in the competitive London sale world, specializing in books, manuscripts, and literary property. This letter accompanies the gift of Neale’s History of Westminster Abbey, a respected antiquarian architectural work popular among educated Regency collectors.

The reference to Southgate’s “most valuable Library” strongly reflects the culture of the London book trade during the Regency era.

13 Barnard’s Inn
17th July 1823

My dear Sir

Accept the accompanying copy
of Neale’s History of Westminster Abbey
as a small addition to your most
valuable Library & as a humble
testimonial of Regard & Obligation

from
Yours very sincerely

Mos. Saunders

J. W. Southgate Esq.

• Single folded letter sheet

• Dated July 17, 1823

• Clean Regency hand

• Signed

• Good legibility

• Typical age toning and fold lines

This is:

• Regency London legal manuscript material

• Connected to the early 19th-century book sale trade

• Written from an Inns of Chancery address

• Addressed to a documented literary saleeer and publisher

A strong piece of London literary and legal ephemera from the 1820s.