A late 18th-century London original manuscript lease indenture, dated July 11, 1797. Measuring 44 x 28 cm per page and written in immaculate iron-gall ink on heavy watermarked laid paper, this official document details a 14-year property lease from the late Georgian era.
 
The Historical Story:
Drawn up by the legal firm Prendergast of Red Lion Square, this indenture captures a real estate transaction between Miss Mary Matthews (spinster of Hampstead) and Thomas Burbery (cabinet maker of Little Grosvenor Street). Burbery leases a messuage and tenement known as No. 4 North Row, near Park Lane in the County of Middlesex, starting from Michaelmas 1797 at an annual rent of twenty-five to twenty-six pounds.
 
Fascinating Document Details:
Strict Georgian Nuisance Clauses: The lease contains a marvelous, explicit list of prohibited trades that the tenant could not operate on the premises under threat of penalty and rent increases—including a slaughterhouse, tallow chandler, soap maker, tobacco pipe maker or burner of tobacco pipes, tanner, brauer, brewhouse, distiller, or pig-house.
 
Authenticity & Revenue Stamps: Features multiple embossed King George III embossed fiscal revenue duty stamps across the top margin and pristine handwritten endorsements on the reverse, complete with period witness signatures (M. Scott and John Wills) and the original seal.
 
An exceptional piece for collectors of London history, Georgian ephemera, or antique legal documents, ready for display or framing.