Handwritten note book

This book recounts the decline in health of King William IV from May 17 until his death at age 73 on 20 June 1837. It was written by John Ryle Wood, Chaplain to Queen Adelaide, after whom the city of Adelaide was named.

A dark brown, rectangular hardcover book with a linen-look surface. The book has a scroll pattern border around a central crown on the back and front covers. The end papers and fly leaves are coffee-coloured paper and the text papers are gold edged. The book has 41 pages of script and 4 pages of handwritten inscriptions and notes. A copy of a letter, handwritten in ink, has been pasted into the back of the book, as is a note at the front. The book is part of the Historical Relics collection.

The Historical Relics Collection is one of the most extensive collections of artefacts from the early years of the British colony of South Australia. It provides an invaluable record of early settlers, explorers and the colonial government. The collection is reported to have started in 1836 in connection to the formation of the South Australian Company in England. First archival documents and then ‘relics’ were donated to Mechanical Institutes and other organisations which then formed the South Australian Institute. The collection was retained by the Boards of the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery until 1940 when it was moved to the Art Gallery as it became a separate institution. It was at that time that a register was compiled and the collection was first referred to as the ‘Historical Relics’. The collection was transferred from the Art Gallery of South Australia in 1984 to the History Trust of South Australia.