Ralph Sheldon 1623-1684

Ralph SHELDON 1623-84

Biographical Note

Born at Beoley, Worcestershire, the eldest son of William Sheldon (1589-1659) and Elizabeth (1592-1656) and member of a wealthy Roman Catholic gentry family. Travelled to France and Italy in 1642; married Lady Henrietta Maria shortly after his return to England in 1647. Sheldon devoted himself to studying genealogy, heraldy, and antiquities following the death of his wife in 1663 and created a library at Weston.

Books

Anthony Wood, who helped to catalogue and organise his library at Weston, noted its size and significance. Gave heraldic manuscripts to Jesus College, Oxford, and the College of Arms; books which remained in the family were largely dispersed by auction, 7.9.1781.

Characteristic Markings

Numerous books with his armorial stamps survive; he also used 3 bookplates.

Sources

• British Armorial Bindings.
• Broadway, Jan. "Sheldon, Ralph (1623–1684), antiquary." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Cliffe, J. The world of the country house in 17th-century England, 1999, p.163-4.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903, 26649-51.
• Lee, B. N. British bookplates: a pictorial history. Newton Abbot, 1979. 10.
• Maggs (catalogues of the London booksellers Maggs Bros): 1075 (1987)/44.
• Philip, I. G. Sheldon’s manuscripts in Jesus College Library, Bodleian Library Record 1 (1939) 119-23.