The Sir David Kirch Collection of Skit Notes

A note advertising Post Coaches & Diligences, departing from the Cross Keys Inn, Wood Street, Cheapside, ‘with a guard’, ND (c. early 1800s), signature of B.W. Mountain, in the style of a £100 Bank of England note, with an engraving of Crossed Keys at top left, with an impressive list of destinations including Edinburgh ‘in four easy days’, Carlisle, Penrith, Whitehaven, Dumfries, Glasgow and Leeds among others, printed on thin paper, very good to about fine and rare
Outing unlisted £150-£200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Sir David Kirch Collection of Skit Notes.

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The Cross Keys is where Charles Dickens arrived in London when he was a child, and it was used in several of his novels. B.W.Mountain refers to Butler William Mountain, born in 1759. His father William was an innkeeper and the pair appear to have had a stake in several inns in London at this time. He is named in records as a ‘coach hirer’ from at least 1807 until his death in 1818. Several of his children continued his business and were still at the Saracens head in at least 1829.
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