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Author, Title, Summary Subject Price
Alfred Austin (1835-1913), Poet Laureate

[Alfred Austin, Poet Laureate.] Autograph Signature with Autograph Note disavowing poems. On printed acknowledgement of ‘Kind Congratulations’ (at his appointment).

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Wilfred Scawen Blunt’s assessment was brutal: ‘It is strange his poetry should be such poor stuff, and stranger still that he should imagine it immortal.’ And it is ironic that Austin may not have even written the lines for which he is now principally remembered...

£50.00
Angela Burdett-Coutts [Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, Baroness Burdett-Coutts] (1814-1906), the richest woman in Victorian England [A. M. Broadley [Alexander Meyrick Broadley] (1847-1916)]

[The richest woman in Victorian England: Angela Burdett-Coutts, philanthropist.] Autograph Letter Signed to A. M. Broadley, regarding a concert by the pianist Linda Dutton Cook.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, from which the scandalous recipient, a high-society fixer, is unaccountably absent. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Fifty-seven lines of text, sloping upwards. Addressed to ‘Mr Broadley’ and signed ‘Burdett Coutts’. The...

£50.00
Cardinal Antonelli [Giacomo Antonelli, ‘The Italian Richelieu’ and ‘Red Pope’] (1806-1876) Roman Catholic prelate, Cardinal Secretary of State for the Holy See, central to the unification of Italy

[Cardinal Antonelli, ‘The Italian Richelieu’, who played a leading role in the unification of Italy.] Secretarial Letter in Italian, Signed by him, to the Brazilian ambassador to the Holy See.

See his entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of discoloration at edge, and traces of glue from mount on blank reverse. Two folds. Addressed to ‘Sigr. Ministro del Brasile presso la S. Sede’ and signed ‘G Card Antonelli’. The signature is in...

£80.00
Cardinal Vaughan [Herbert Alfred Henry Joseph Thomas Vaughan] (1832-1903), Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Westminster

[Cardinal Vaughan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Peacock’, regarding his note published in the Archaeological Journal.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, in trimmed windowpane mount, with a little light creasing and one fold. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Peacock’ and signed ‘Herbert Card Vaughan’. He is ‘greatly obliged’ to Peacock for his note which he has ‘read through with much interest...

£50.00
John M. Morton [John Maddison Morton] (1811-1891), English playwright specialising in one-act farces, the most famous of which was ‘Box and Cox’ [Benjamin Nottingham Webster, actor-manager]

[‘I’m afraid the veteran farce writer’s “little game” is nearly up!’: John Maddison Morton, playwright.] Autograph Letter Signed to the actor-manager Benjamin Nottingham Webster, negotiating terms and discussing his present penury.

The phrase ‘Box and Cox’ has entered the English language. See the OED, and the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, landscape 12mo. Neatly inserted in a trimmed windowpane mount. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Signed ‘John M Morton’. Begins: ‘Dear Webster. / As Mr Anson...

£50.00
Lord Alfred Paget [Lord Alfred Henry Paget] (1816-1888), Liberal politician, Chief Equerry and Clerk Marshal to Queen Victoria [Charles Manby (1804-84), Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers

[Lord Alfred Henry Paget, Chief Equerry and Clerk Marshal to Queen Victoria.] Autograph Letter Signed to Charles Manby, Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers, regarding a planned trip ‘to Barnaby’, with a reference to Thomas Brassey.

See his entry and Manby’s in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, folded, with thin strip of tape from mount adhering to reverse of second leaf. Addressed to ‘My dear Manby’ and signed ‘Alfred Paget’. He begins by saying that there seems...

£45.00
Louis Haghe (1806-1885), Dutch lithographer and watercolour painter in London, partner with William Day (1797-1845) in lithographic printers Day & Haghe [David Roberts, 'The Holy Land'; Charles Manby]

[Louis Haghe, Dutch lithographer of David Roberts’s ‘Holy Land’.] Autograph Letter Signed to Charles Manby, Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers, concerning the loan of a watercolour to a ‘conversatione’ (sic).

Haghe features prominently in William Day’s entry in the Oxford DNB, in which their firm’s publication of Robert’s ‘Holy Land’ (1842-49) is described as ‘the most ambitious lithographic work ever published’, for which ‘Haghe, praised by Roberts for the faithful and artistic interpretation of his...

£85.00
Sir Henry Halford (1766-1844), physician extraordinary to George III, George IV, William IV and the young Victoria, and President of the Royal College of Physicians

[Sir Henry Halford, President of the Royal College of Physicians and Physician Extraordinary to four monarchs.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding his ‘trifles’, a copy of which he is giving to the recipient.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. Lightly worn, with blank second leaf carrying traces of mount. The recipient is not named, and the letter is signed ‘Henry Halford’. The subject is probably Halford’s ‘Nugae Metricae’, privately printed in the same year....

£50.00
Sir Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967), conductor; Sir Michael Hordern (1911-1994), actor and the original voice of Paddington Bear; Alda Noni (1916-2011), soprano; Edinburgh International Festival, 1953

[Edinburgh Festival, 1953.] Festival Letterhead with autographs of Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir Michael Hordern, Alda Noni and two others.

2pp, 12mo. The five signatures in pencil on a single Festival letterhead. In good condition, slightly discoloured, with two unobtrusive dabs of glue from mount at head of reverse. The three signatures on the recto are headed by Noni’s large bold one: ‘Alda Noni / Edinburgh 1953’. Beneath this is...

£65.00
Sir Matthew John Tierney (1776-1845), Anglo-Irish surgeon [Sir Francis Freeling (1764-1836), Secretary of the General Post Office; Benjamin Critchett, Inspector of Letter Carriers]

[Postal history: Sir Matthew John Tierney, surgeon.] Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Francis Freeling, Secretary of the General Post Office, complaining of a misdirected letter, with annotation by Freeling and postal inspector Benjamin Critchett.

See the entries on Tierney (Physician-in-Ordinary to George IV and William IV) and Freeling (also a noted bibliophile) in the Oxford DNB. The letter is 3pp, 12mo, with underlinings in red pencil (probably by Freeling), and the reverse of the second leaf carrying the address and annotations by...

£120.00