Item 1985/2 - Eight letters from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart

7 items, paper

Eight letters from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart:
(a) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 6 June 1985 (on British Academy letterhead where the BA address has been struck through), saying that "Stewart has gone to Earth again" and that he hasn't heard anything from him since he went to the USA at the end of April. He asks IS to give him a gentle prod. CEB continues his letter on 7 June, noting the arrival of IS's card and commenting in reply how nice it would be if IS can visit in late July and/or early August, as he will be bereft when his daughter Anne returns to the USA on 28 July. He adds that he has obtained another Offa at crippling cost.
(b) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 7 July 1985, inviting IS and his family to come to Ramsbury from about 27 July to 4 August. He also wonders whether he told IS that "all four Alvaldvs [?] are from different dies", in each case with a pellet-stop before DV(s), making it look like his name were Alwald and DVS were a title.
(c) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 20 July 1985, looking forward to the upcoming visit of IS and his family. He says that he has just received the Gutric text and plates of "the Ash/Hunt Scottish volume in SCBI" and is hoping to have some guidance from IS over the editing, noting that Mark [Blackburn?] "is fairly house-bound as their infant is due shortly", which means that he cannot depend on full consultation with him. He also comments on the arrival of the BM Ath[elstan]-Edgar proofs, which Marion [Archibald] is anxious about, so his own work on CTCE [=Coinage in Tenth-Century England] has had to suffer, though he is hoping to picking it up again as soon as the family vanishes for the USA. He again refers to all four of the surviving Alwalds being from different dies, and provides the obverse readings and references for all four, noting once more the position of the stop and the possible implications.
(d) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 7 July 1985, advising IS that a forthcoming number of Spink's Numismatic Circular will contain "a great rarity at (if the price is correct) a quite silly price". He describes it as "Eadred: CTCE 217 IR var. (d)", noting that the BM has one and he has another, the SNC specimen is the third.
(e) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 2 November 1985, conveying news received from Mark [Blackburn] about a new coin find from Yorkshire. He mentions a forthcoming to visit to London on Thursday the 14th and wonders whether IS will be available for dinner that evening.
(f) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 18 November 1985, expressing admiration of IS's table of mints but wonders whether he is depending on the Edgar BC coins (PCB 438) for the Thetford entry, asking if a question mark wouldn't be advisable, since he regards the attribution as doubtful. He points other entries that may also deserve similar qualification. He mentions two projects that gained acceptance as British Academy Publications and notes that he is worried about John Brand's pamphlet. While agreeing that it "seems to have some useful thoughts", he does not trust the treatment of the documentary material, and he remarks on the uneasiness of others over the matter,
(g) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 27 November 1985, referring to some coins that he was able to show IS and remarking specifically on a curious Edmund piece of which he has also told Stewart [Lyon], but also expressing doubts about the story of how they came to be found along the side of the Thames. He asks IS whether he knows of any other St Peter penny found so far south. In a postscript, he notes the "splendid material" received from Stewart [Lyon], "and more promised".
(h) letter from Christopher Blunt to Ian Stewart, manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated from Ramsbury on 5 December 1985, sending enlarged photographs of Hunter 675 taken when they were considering whether it was an altered Edgar, a question they later put to rest. He now takes into account Stewart [Lyon]'s suggestion that it may be an altered Athelstan, presenting the pros and cons, as he sees them, at some length. There is same closing discussion about some of the plates for CTCE [= Coinage in Tenth-Century England].