William Upcott (1779-1845) was able to collect letters relating to the book trade both through his post as sub-librarian of the London Institution and his bookselling connections. Freely admitting to an `autograph mania', he gathered together a collection distinguished by its comprehensiveness, the coherence of its subject matter and the eminence of many of the 1200 correspondents who included James Boswell, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Maria Edgeworth, Oliver Goldsmith, Robert Southey and Horace Walpole.