Sir Edward Dering, lst bart., of Surrenden Dering and his 'Booke of Expences' 1617-1628
Paper No. 020
Sir Edward Dering, lst bart., of Surrenden
Dering and his 'Booke of Expences'
1617-1628
Laetitia Yeandle
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A note on the manuscript and this transcription
Description of the volume
The Booke of Expences is a tall folio volume, measuring 444 by 185 mm., bound in
vellum, the top and bottom edges folded inward to a depth of 20 to 40 mms. The binding
was attached to the paper block with five thongs, one of which is now missing, and is
reinforced with tacking stitches along the spine. The volume was foliated in recent times
and numbers 95 leaves and three uncounted stubs between ff. 1 and 2, ff. 56 and 57, and
ff. 7l and 72, taken from two stocks of paper, a gathering of smaller size having been
inserted between ff. 50 and 62. The collation is: [1] [212] (-21 ) [3-416] (-41) [516] (57 +
([612] (-67)) [716] (-72) [810]. The first and last leaves seem to have served as pastedowns.
The predominant paper measures 446 by 175 mm., suggesting the vellum has
shrunk over the years, and has a watermark of a crowned shield resembling no. 264 in
W.A.Churchill’s Watermarks in Paper (Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger & Co., 1935).
Despite some damage around the edges and a few holes, some stains and smudges, a little
fading and bleed-through of the ink, the paper is in fairly good condition and the writing
for the most part legible. The worst damage occurs on f. 28 where several lines have been
so heavily scored through that it is now in two pieces. The inserted gathering, gathering
6, consists of twelve smaller leaves tipped in between 57 and 58 (ff. 50 and 62),
measuring 388 by 159 mm. The paper is thicker and has a watermark of what appears to
be a crowned eagle bearing some resemblance to no. 439 in Churchill. It is in good
condition. In addition, a loose unfoliated fragment of paper measuring 142 by 150 mm. is
now inserted between ff. 90v and 91r. It has a portion of a watermark showing the hind
legs of a quadruped, possibly a horse or a unicorn. It is a rough list of a few sweet meats,
only the last entry being in Dering’s hand. Ff. 2v, 3v, 26r, 45v, 56v, 85r to 91r, 93v to
94v, and 95v are blank. There is no obvious gap in the written record. Both the vellum
cover and the paper of the volume have a horizontal crease in the centre, most noticeable
at the front of the volume.
The pages are ruled into six columns in red ink: the first on the left is for the month and
day, the second for the entry; the four narrow ones on the right are respectively headed
‘li’’ or occasionally ‘Li’’, ‘s’, ‘d’ and, at the beginning of the volume, ‘ob’’. With a few
exceptions, Dering heads each page with the year and the number of the quarter or half
year. He usually leaves a sizeable blank space at the end of each full year.
Dering wrote a mixed hand, using both secretary and italic forms; he preferred the italic
hand for names.
Dering’s accounting methods
This volume of his expenses seems to be Dering’s fair copy. Once he refers to his other
book of expenses for more details (4v), once to the purchase of ‘3 bookes for expences,
whereof this is one’ for 7s. 6d. (6v). There are some deletions and corrections, especially
when he is adding up sums of money, but on the whole the volume gives the appearance
of being his most up-to-date copy. It incorporates the expenses his father, or brothers, or
servants incurred on his behalf. These are copied in in a block and bracketed together. He
starts by entering his various expenses on a quarterly basis in January 1618/19 (4r),
giving the total of each quarter’s expenses at the end of each quarter. In keeping with the
usage of the time Dering uses the Julian calendar: the first quarter begins on 25 March
(Lady Day), which he once refers to as ‘our Lady day of old’ (59v), the second quarter on
24 June (Midsummer’s Day), the third on 29 September (Michaelmas) and the fourth on
1 January (New Year’s Day). He does not start to include the month and day when
particular payments were made until December 1619 after his marriage (7r). On 25
March 1620 (8r) he switches to a half yearly basis to enter his accounts, the first half
beginning on 25 March and the second on 29 September. This is the pattern he follows
for the rest of the volume. He gives the total of the expenses entered on a page at the foot
of that page, the total spent in a half year at the end of each half year, and the total spent
in a full year at the end of each full year. Sometimes he gives the total cost of bracketed
items or of items comprised in making, for example, a coat. Near the beginning of the
volume (3r) he notes each year’s total from 1618 to 1626/27, but not that for 1627 to
1627/28 even though the Booke of Expences stops at the end of this year.
The entries are generally entered chronologically though one cannot assume that the date
of the entry is the date the item was purchased. The date given can be the date of the
reckoning as he clearly states in the entry for 28 November 1623: ‘supper yesternight and
dinner too day’ 3s. 4d. (34r), and as is evident when certain payments incurred in one half
year are paid in the next half year (see for example 62r).
One year Dering tried a different method of keeping his accounts. From March 1625 to
March 1626 he decided to divide his expenses into two categories, Household Expenses
(46r-50v, 62r) and Foreign Payments (51r-56r). The latter begin on the first leaf of the
inserted gathering. In this year, consequently, there are two sets of expenses, Household
Expenses for the first half year and the second half year being followed by Foreign
Payments for the first half year and the second half year. On the last two pages for this
year (56r and 57r, 56v is blank) Dering catches up on his book-keeping and enters
expenses from both categories, all apparently incurred earlier in that year. He gives the
total sum of each category at the end of the year as well as the total of both categories for
the whole year (56r).
Editorial conventions
The manuscript has been transcribed as literally as possible with certain exceptions.
Capital letters, spelling and punctuation, though not diphthongs, have been kept. This
includes the long ‘i’, which Dering very occasionally uses within a word and which has
been transcribed as a ‘j’, and the sign which looks to the modern eye like an equal sign,
‘=’, though this sign has been ignored when it is used in a word break that is not needed
in the transcription. Superior letters have been silently lowered except in the case of
sums of money denoting pounds, shillings and pence when superior ‘li’’, ‘s’ and ‘d’ have
been kept and, the few times they occur, in Latin ordinals as ‘1mo’ (57v). Common
abbreviations like ‘It’’ for ‘Item’, ‘mr’ for ‘master’, ‘yt’ for ‘yat’ (that), ‘pd’ for ‘paid’,
and ‘p’ with a horizontal line through the stem standing for ‘per’, have been silently
expanded. However, when Dering uses such a ‘p’ as a regular ‘p’ as he often does the
horizontal line through the stem has been ignored, as in ‘passe’ (9r) and in ‘supp’ (34r).
Abbreviations for Christian names, names of the months and days have also been silently
expanded. Less common abbreviations have had the missing letters added within square
brackets. Certain abbreviations for weights and various measures have been retained, an
apostrophe taking the place of the mark of abbreviation whatever the one used. Thus
‘ob’’ stands for obolus (halfpenny), ‘bb’’ or ‘bush’’ for ‘bushel’, ‘dim’’ for ‘dimidium’
(half), ‘yd’’ for ‘yard’, ‘qrter’’, or occasionally ‘qter’’, for ‘quarter’, and ‘qrts’’ or ‘qrtes’’
for ‘quartes’. In the case of ‘qr’’ it may denote ‘quadrans’ (farthing) or ‘quire’. When it
stands for ‘quire’ it has been expanded as ‘q[ui]r[e]’. In the case of two potentially
confusing measurements this means that ‘7 li’’ stands for 7 lb avoirdupois, and ‘7 li’’ for
£7 sterling, while ‘2 d’ when used to indicate the weight of a nail stands for 2
penny[weight], and ‘2d’ for 2 pence in money. ‘Viz.’, ‘&’, ‘&c’ and ‘dd’’ (here often
standing for ‘delivered’) have been kept.
No attempt has been made to distinguish between Dering’s mixed secretary and italic
hand, and his italic hand. It is not always easy to be sure about the actual spelling of a
word or about a mark of punctuation, nor whether a letter is a capital or not. In the case of
some initial double ‘f’s written in italic it is difficult to know whether he was writing ‘FF’
or ‘ff’. I have chosen the latter interpretation. ‘1’s and ‘2’s, ‘d’s and ‘e’s can also be
confusing.
Editorial emendations have been placed within square brackets. A question mark in
parentheses has been added after a doubtful reading. Broken brackets enclose deletions, a
question mark being added if the reading is uncertain. Hyphens indicate illegible letters,
words or numbers. Corrected letters have usually been ignored. A caret on either side of a
letter or word shows that the letter or word was inserted.
Marginal marks have been reproduced or approximated if possible but not most of the
pencil dashes in the first column that seem to have been added relatively recently, often
to draw attention to entries about books and plays; a few in pencil that may have been
added by Dering have been noted (e.g. 57v). The horizontal line drawn between the last
word of an entry and the corresponding sum of money has been ignored, except toward
the beginning of the manuscript where it is sometimes crossed and here indicated by a
plus sign. These seem to highlight expenses relating to his wife and to tips and ‘givens’.
Bracketed lines have been indicated by using a small bracket at the beginning and/or end
of each line bracketed. In several cases Dering uses pencil for his brackets as on ff. 51v
and 55r. Folio numbers and the few textual notes have been added in bold type within
square brackets.
Note of caution when using the search feature in this on-line edition
Spelling was not static in Dering’s day and consequently may appear erratic to the
modern eye. Anyone wishing, for example, to look up references to people, places and
objects in this literatim transcription, whose spelling may also incorporate Dering’s
corrections, must bear this in mind. Thus ‘diamond’ appears as ‘diamond’,
‘greyhound’ as ‘gre