Extracts from the Diary of Roger Payne

1928

Special Collections Z269.2 P39 PA78 1928

New York: Harbor Press

The Gentleman’s Magazine (1797) describes Roger Payne’s binding style as ‘uniting elegance with durability’ and his skills as a binder attracted such patrons as Anthony Morris Storer (1746-1799) a politician and collector, whose extensive book collection is now housed at Eton College; Earl Spencer (1758-1834) of Althorp (ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales) whose collection is now at John Rylands University Library, Manchester; and Thomas Grenville (1755-1846), politician and avid book-collector, whose assembled library of over 20,000 volumes is now housed in the British Library. Payne was renowned for his painstakingly meticulous and elaborately detailed bills and this ‘spoof’ diary echoes some of his detailed descriptions. Note the suggestion in Friday’s entry that Payne kept a pet monkey.