Charles Sackville 1643-1706

Charles SACKVILLE, 6th Earl of Dorset 1643-1706

One of the bookplates of Charles Sackville (British Museum, Franks Collection *30)

One of the armorial stamps of Charles Sackville (British Armorial Bindings)

Biographical Note

Son of Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset, from whom he inherited the title and family estates in 1677. MP for East Grinstead 1661-75, when he entered the House of Lords as Earl of Middlesex. Noted as a rake and a hedonist in the 1660s, he developed a wide literary circle, writing verse himself; he was a friend or patron of Matthew Prior and Sir George Etherege. He was appointed Lord Chamberlain in 1689 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1699.

Books

Sackville used engraved armorial bookplates made ca.1700, Franks 25914-5/*30-31. A number of books using one of two armorial binding stamps used by him are recorded in the Armorials Database. The extent and disposition of his library is not known.

Sources

• British Armorial Bindings.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.
• Lee, B. N. British bookplates: a pictorial history. Newton Abbot, 1979 , 28.
• Love, Harold. "Sackville, Charles, sixth earl of Dorset and first earl of Middlesex (1643–1706), poet and politician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.