The Layton Collection

THE THOMAS LAYTON TRUST & LAYTON'S COLLECTION

A compleat collection of English proverbs

As Ray, Fellow of the Royal Society, tells the reader; little is to be said about the nature of this book save that it ‘conveys at once, entertainment and profit as the wise man deserves, like apples of gold in pictures of silver’. Hidden between its covers, from England and several other countries besides, are abundant lexical gems, ‘ornaments of speech, rules of instruction, arguments of wisdom, and maxims of undeniable truth.’

John Ray, 1737. Layton Collection 3989

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The Collection

Thomas Layton collected books, coins, and archaeological items (usually described as ‘antiquities’) for 70 years. In that time he had accumulated what has been described as “probably the largest collection of London antiquities ever amassed by a single individual”.

The vast majority of items are believed to have been bought at auctions. Some came to him from his men working on the river. His businesses provided opportunities for finds from dredging, building of bridges and embankments along the banks of the Thames, for which Layton paid good money. Even by the standards of the day Layton kept poor records of where items were found. Despite this, the collection is considered highly important particularly to archaeologists and pre-historians.