Matthew Boulton: James Lawson; John Southern; John Roberts. 1788-1799.

The contents of this file were presumably at one time in three separate files, though only one of these is mentioned in the Catalogue compiled by William D. Brown about 1791, viz.
John Roberts [Letters], 1788 a 1790
The contents of the three files were later placed together in one portfolio, entitled:
Jas. Lawson Jno. Southern Jno. Roberts from 1788 to 1799.
This is the title recorded in the Inventory compiled by the Assay Office in 1921, but unfortunately the portfolio was subsequently discarded.
The documents are arranged in four chronological sequences, as follows:
James Lawson. (1-57)
John Southern. (58-104)
John Roberts. (105-117)
Additions. (118-119)
Earlier letters from James Lawson will be found in the General Correspondence files for the years 1782, 1783, 1785, and 1786.
The two documents listed as Additions appear to have been transferred to this file by the Assay Office.
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.