‘Like Her, Fair Book, be thou’
Chapter 3 examines six manuscript books which influential hostess Sarah Sophia Child-Villiers, fifth Countess of Jersey (1785–1867) kept in 1805–24. It argues that these manuscript compilations are overlooked technologies of power, influence, and creativity in elite Regency social and literary networks. The books reflect the shift towards collecting original poems during album-keeping’s transition to a popular practice, and show Jersey’s developing consciousness of the album as an expression and extension of her own identity. The albums document the range of reading, copying, and composing practices associated with guests’ visits to the Jerseys’ house at Middleton Park, from parlour games and flirtation, more formal and public tributes, and prestigious personalized poems in autograph by celebrated poets including George Crabbe, Lord Byron, and Thomas Moore, as well as overlooked society poets such as W. R. Spencer.