Exhibition Room
The Exhibition Room occupies what may have been the
bedroom used by the Coleridges.
It is now dominated by a splendid
three‑quarter length portrait of the poet, 1814, after an
original by Washington Allston. This copy was the treasured
possession of Tom Poole and hung at his house in St Mary
Street until his death in 1837.Below the portrait is
Coleridge's inkstand, made in about 1815 and intricately
decorated in ‘Boulle’ style.
Showcases along one wall contain a variety of books,
manuscripts and other objects associated with the poet, and
above the cases are modern drawings inspired by ‘The Rime
of the Ancient Mariner’ by artists including Sven Berlin
and David Myerscough‑Jones.
March 2003 update: See the
newly acquired unpublished
Coleridge
Letter
to an unnamed correspondent c. 1818