Ferryman, Robert

containing regular and detailed entries, with notes on places, people (including Edward Jenner and James Watt), industrial practices and innovations, including on extended visits to Dublin and the Isle of Man and an ill-fated expedition to Nova Scotia, with 48 pages of ink, watercolour, and pencil illustrations of rural and maritime scenes including a wigwam, and the Dublin and Manx coast, oblong 8vo, altogether c.232 pages, plus blanks, 10 March 1807 to 26 October 1808, contemporary calf with remains of clasp; one leaf torn with loss, binding worn

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Robert Ferryman (1752-1837) was a clergyman and naturalist; his friend Edward Jenner described him as having "a strange jumble of intellect" which led to a highly varied career and eccentric career. In the years immediately before those covered by this journal he had built the Temple of Vaccinia for Jenner, worked on the Earl of Egremont's private museum at Petworth, and written a pamphlet on his experiments with bread-making.

Money worries dominated Ferryman's actions during the period covered by this unpublished journal. He went from his friends in England to Dublin in the hope of finding preferment; when this failed he went back to England, then to the Isle of Man, alternating between work as a clergyman and attempts to find support for ore entrepreneurial activities. The journal attests to his extraordinary range of interests: he makes notes on subjects including linen manufacture, the technology of grinding mills, the process of growing and preparing flax, and the use of Gypsum as a fertiliser. The journal itself is prevented from being a dry affair by the liveliness of Ferryman's mind and the presence of numerous colourful vignettes - such as "an affray between a well dress'd man & his wife" on a Dublin street, whilst the numerous watercolours reveal his artistic competence and sympathy with the natural world.

On 2 September 1808 Ferryman began a trans-Atlantic crossing to take up a ministerial position in Nova Scotia. Arriving in Halifax on 3 October it took only weeks to discover that he had made a disastrous mistake. His new congregation was too poor to pay for him to preach, leaving him penniless on a foreign shore at the beginning of a harsh winter. The journal's final entries powerfully evoke his desperation:

"25 [October] Had a small squirrel given me, thought of preserving it; but hunger got the better I skin'd roast'd & eat it - it refreshed me; tho small, I was faint for lack of meat. The candle glimmers in the socket - it is out - But the moon shines bright - It shines too, on my native country on my friends ....
26 [October] Slept ill - watch'd the dawning of the day & thought upon England - How slow the day approaches! How little does the light increase!"