From 21 March to 4 October 2026, visitors can explore House of Stories: Tales from the Chatsworth Library, a new exhibition bringing together some of the most significant items from the Chatsworth Library and archive for the first time.
First editions, original manuscripts, letters, scrapbooks, and drawings connect literary and artistic lineages, and take visitors into tales surrounding great works of literature.
In this blog series, we explore some of the works on display.
We use platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo to display videos. These require the use of cookies, for which we need your consent. To watch this video, please click here to allow cookies.
‘Mourning book for Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire’, by Lady Caroline Lamb (1785–1828), date unknown
This volume was created by Lady Caroline Lamb to commemorate Duchess Georgiana after her death. Lady Caroline Lamb (nee Ponsonby) was the daughter of Georgiana's younger sister, Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough.
Lamb wrote poetry and fiction from an early age and created many 'gift books' filled with sketches, paintings and writings, all evidence of an early talent and distinctive style. However, she didn't publish her work until Glenarvon in May 1812, which was published anonymously and is a Gothic 'revenge novel' following her infamous affair with Lord Byron. This book, as with her other 'gift books' still in existence, is evidence that Lamb was an accomplished writer long before she met Byron.
The Mourning Book features a black outer with two clasps on the edges. Mounted in the cover is a gilt-edged glazed oval frame surmounted by a ducal coronet, containing a lock of Georgiana's hair entwined with gold thread and clasped with three pearls. An oval medallion of blue enamel edged with tiny pearls depicts Georgiana's 'GD' monogram made from even smaller pearls.
What is inside?
The book contains handwritten poems by or addressed to Georgiana, accompanied by watercolour illustrations and pencil sketches.
Many of the poems are focused on death, including one entitled 'Piangiamo Insieme' (which translates as 'Let us weep together' in Italian).
'...alone desponding with a breaking heart
I seek these walls of silence and dispair (sic)
And find their solitary gloom impart
Something like consolation to my care
Scenes of departed happiness I trace
Cherish the memory of each former tie
Dwell on the features of some once loved face
Or learn with thought of death myself to die
Oh transitory bliss of fading joys
What is we doat on but a dream
Where hopes bright colouring Times rude hand destroys
And leaves the (ship?) of Man an empty theme
Spring yet returns and wakes the newborn year
A spring too fresh and blooming as the last
Yet to my eyes its (blossoms?) sad appear
Compared with those that are forever past.'
This memorial poem was presumably written by Lady Caroline Lamb and uses imagery and phrasing typical of the Romantic period.
At least six of the watercolours are self-portraits of Lady Caroline, one of which is entitled 'Caroline Ponsonby 1800'. Lady Caroline married William Lamb in 1805.
One watercolour strongly resembles a portrait of Georgiana, painted by Thomas Gainsborough in 1783. The painting was originally in the collection of the Spencer family and probably hung at Althorp, their family seat, where Caroline may have seen it. It is now held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
Above: (left) Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Thomas Gainsborough,1783, oil on canvas courtesy of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, (right), illustration by Lamb.
Later in the book is a watercolour portrait of an unnamed man who bears a striking resemblance to a young William Lamb, Caroline's husband, as seen in this portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence from 1805.
Above: 1, Illustration of William Lamb in the mourning book,
2, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Sir Thomas Lawrence oil on canvas, circa 1805 (NPG 5185)
A new Gothic novel
The mourning book is also notable for containing what appears to be the unfinished draft of a novel by Lamb. It is quite Gothic in nature and features a troubled/Byronic-style hero called Lord Belfont (in Lamb's published novel 'Glenarvon' the name Belfont is used for a location in Ireland).
The draft novel breaks off abruptly after a striking Gothic scene in which two women discover a hidden chamber containing the likeness of Belfont’s abandoned, dead wife, who uncannily resembles Mary, the heroine who is drawn to him.
Glenarvon
A copy of Lady Caroline Lamb's published Gothic novel, 'Glenarvon' will also be on display in the exhibition.
About the exhibition
House of Stories: Tales from the Chatsworth Library runs from 21 March to 4 October 2026.
Artefacts, artworks, and furniture connected to the exhibition are on display throughout the house at various points on the visitor route.
Access to the exhibition is included with all house and garden tickets; you do not need a separate ticket.
House of Stories is supported by Sotheby’s, Chatsworth’s Arts and Exhibitions Partner.
All income from ticket sales and Gift Aid is reinvested in Chatsworth by the Chatsworth House Trust charity.
Other items on display...
A Handbook of Chatsworth and Hardwick, 6th Duke of Devonshire
Written by the 6th Duke, and later bound and illustrated by Lady Louisa Egerton, daughter of the 7th Duke, this is a valuable historical record of Chatsworth and the collection in the mid-19th century.
'To Myself...' an unpublished poem by Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
One of a collection of unpublished writings by Duchess Georgiana discovered in the archive, this poem reveals how she felt about 'fame', and the fickleness of society.
Man of Law's Tale, from The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
This handwritten extract of the Man of Law's Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is believed to have been written about 1425-50 and is one of only 84 surviving contemporary manuscripts.
Letter and sketch to the 6th Duke from William Thackeray
Delightful, and gossipy in tone, this letter from author William Thackeray to the 6th Duke provides a preview of how his novel, Vanity Fair, will end.
6th Duke's Guild of Literature and Art Scrapbook, relating to Charles Dickens
This scrapbook of invitations, letters, press clippings, and other materials was collated by the 6th Duke and marks the start of a friendship with the author, Charles Dickens.
