Charles Balguy 1708-1767

Charles BALGUY 1708-1767

Balguy's bookplate (British Museum Franks Collection 1316)

Biographical Note

Son of Henry Balguy of Newbold, Derbyshire. MB St John's College, Cambridge 1731, MD 1750. He practised as a physician in Peterborough, where he was also secretary to the local literary club. As well as writing medical tracts and essays, he also published (anonymously) a translation of Boccaccio's Decameron (1741).

Books

Balguy's memorial, in St John's Church, Peterborough, describes him as a man of "various and great learning". He used a bookpile bookplate, in which he is described as MB (Franks 1315), which exists in a variant form printed in green (Franks 1316). The extent and disposition of his library is not known.

Sources

• Addy, S. O., and Claire L. Nutt. "Balguy, Charles (1708–1767), physician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903-4.
• Lee, B. N., Bookpile bookplates, London, 1992, no.9.