The Letters

The letters digitised on this website have been titled according to the sender, recipient, and date, and are presented in chronological order below. Click on the letter title or image to view further details, including photographs and transcriptions.

Use the sub menu, left, to Search the Letters, or view on a Timeline. Use the Subject Index to explore the letters through themes and subjects.

Transcription Process

Transcriptions of the letters are presented as plain html text alongside the image files of the corresponding letter. For the sake of clarity, a semi-diplomatic transcription has been adopted, using the following conventions:

  • original spelling has been retained; where the original spelling is misleading has an alternative spelling or word has been placed in brackets, e.g.,: '...sorry [= sorrow]...'
  • lineation and indentation has been retained
  • New pages or sides are indicated by a slash or solidus
  • ampersands have been retained
  • Most contractions have been expanded by adding the missing letters using italics, for example, that which was omitted by them. Hellier uses archaic contractions which involve the ‘Þ’letter (by the eighteenth century, written more like a ‘y’) such as yt (Þt =that), tm (Þm =them); all but ye (Þe = the) for the definite article have been modernised (that, and them).
  • Symbols. The customary abbeviations for pounds, shillings and pence (£, S, D) have been retained in the context of a list or bill. When used within a sentence, shillings and pence are written in full and the £ sign retained.
  • Dashes and underlines. Hellier often uses a long dash (which might be described as an em-dash) in two ways: to indicate the end of a sentence (full stops are extremely rare), and to fill the space between the last word and the edge of the page/side.
  • Text that has been deleted by striking through is indicated using strikethrough text. Where the original is indiscernable, ‘[crossed out]’ is used.
  • Text inserted by the writer either between the lines, or in the margins is indicated: ┌ xxx ┐ 
  • Lost or illegible material, usually as a result of torn pages, is indicated: {...}.
  • Footnotes are placed after the word in question, not at the end of the sentance (because, sometimes sentances are very long).
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