Matthew Boulton: John Hodges; Isaac Nelson; Johann Herman Ebbinghaus; John Hinckley...

The contents of this file were once contained in four separate files, three of which are mentioned in the Catalogue of Papers compiled by William D. Brown about 1791, under the following titles:

Nelson's (Isaac) Papers.
J. H. Ebbinghaus, Letters to and from.
J. H. Mitchel, Letters, 1790.

The omission of John Hodges' file from the Catalogue is puzzling, as it had evidently been opened at that date.

Later the contents of these four files were placed in one portfolio, entitled:
Jno. Hodges Isaac Nelson I. H. Ebbinghause. Jno. Mitchel 1764 to 1802
This is the title recorded in the Inventory compiled by the Assay Office in 1921, but unfortunately the portfolio was subsequently discarded. But two of Brown's original wrappers survive (85 and 110). Under M. R. Boulton's arrangement, the file was placed in Box K. II ("Special Correspondents-Partners and Agents"), though by 1921 it had been moved (inadvertently, it appears) to Box K. I.

The documents are now arranged in four chronological sequences, as follows:

John Hodges. (1-84)
Isaac Nelson. (85-90)
Johann Herman Ebbinghaus. (91-109)
John Hinckley Mitchell. (110-126)

At the very end (127) is a memorandum added to this file by the Assay Office, concerning an ormolu table made for Matthew Boulton; its origin is unknown. It is possible, too, that a few of the other items now in this file were transferred from elsewhere.

(A photograph of a letter from Mitchell to Boulton, 4 Aug. 1787, is among the Photographs. The provenance and present whereabouts of this letter are unknown.)

In the following List, the summaries printed in italics within square brackets are taken from the Assay Office Catalogue: these must be used with caution, since they are not to be relied on as word-for-word transcripts and they do not always give an adequate idea of the entire contents of the letters.