Hidden within Thetford Library is a remarkable collection that offers a unique window into the history, people, and landscapes of Norfolk and Suffolk.
One hundred years after it was bequeathed to the library, the vast topographical print collection of Prince Frederick Duleep Singh is still revealing its secrets.
At the heart of the project to catalogue the collection is volunteer Keith Robinson, a former art history lecturer and archaeologist. For more than a decade, Keith has dedicated his time to documenting the thousands of items amassed by Prince Frederick, a task that is finally approaching completion.
The collection, which was left to Thetford Library following the Prince’s death in 1926, contains an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 prints and related materials. Among its treasures are engravings, postcards, photographs, cotton prints, and a substantial series of lithographs depicting Norfolk churches by artist Robert Ladbrooke, dating from the early 1820s.
“There doesn’t seem to be much documentation relating to Prince Freddie’s print purchases,” said Keith. “There is a theory that many of them were acquired in batches from dealers.”
Although some of the collection was bound and carefully interleaved, little information survives about how the Prince assembled it. Few details remain beyond the original catalogue records created for the Norfolk Library Service. What is clear, however, is the breadth of Prince Frederick’s interests, which extended well beyond Norfolk to include a significant number of prints relating to Suffolk.
For the past year, Keith has been joined every Monday by Paige, a student from Thomas Paine Sixth Form, who is helping to document the collection for future generations.
As the cataloguing project has progressed, some extraordinary items have come to light. Among the most significant is the only known copy of Portraits in Norfolk Houses, Volume III. Still in its original scrapbook form, the volume contains photographs that were never published, alongside annotations believed to have been made by Prince Frederick himself.
“The collection gives a picture of society at the time and shows how interested Prince Frederick was in people,” said Kaleigh Garrod, Thetford Library Manager.
Another standout volume is Charles John Palmer’s Perlustration of Great Yarmouth (1879). Written by a member of the Palmer department store family, it has been described as Great Yarmouth’s equivalent of Thomas Martin’s History of Thetford. Bound in leather and featuring striking marbled decoration, the volume provides detailed descriptions of the town’s historic rows.
The collection also includes a large number of engravings by the celebrated Norfolk artist John Sell Cotman, alongside copies of Excursions through Norfolk. Published around 1819, these small volumes contain exquisitely detailed engravings and reflect the growing public appetite for illustrated travel and antiquarian works during the early nineteenth century.
Prince Frederick was an active collector, not afraid to dismantle books to add individual etchings and engravings to his collection.
“There are lots of cut-out engravings from volumes of Norfolk Archaeology, giving an insight into his personal interests,” Keith explained. “It’s a very rich, eclectic collection of prints and related material. Some of it is unique, particularly certain individual prints.”
With the centenary of the collection’s bequest approaching this August, efforts are now focused on completing the catalogue and making the material more accessible to researchers and the public.
“I love that, 100 years on, we’re still exploring the collection and finding it as interesting as he did,” Kaleigh reflected.
Access to the original prints is available by appointment through the Norfolk Library Service.
