[Book; Junius ] The Handwriting of Junius Professionally Investigated, With Preface and Collateral Evidence by the Hon. Edward Twisleton. With ten items, mainly letters relating to the Junius controversy.

300pp., 4to, brown boards, sp.gt, rubbed. spine a little damage, hinge strain, mainly good condition. A hefty volume. Inscribed "From the Editor", front endpaper. WITH: Ten items relating to the Junius controversy, including the original 'valuable Copper-Plate' of the facsimile of an anonymous note said to have been sent by Sir Philip Francis to Miss Giles of Bath, an important piece of evidence supporting Francis's authorship of the Junius letters (according to Francis's entry in the Oxford DNB 'The evidence of Miss Giles's letters at Bath [...] adds weight to an already powerful case'), together with four communications on the subject by Edward Twisleton (1809-1874) to Arthur Giles Puller (1833-1885), a descendant of Miss Giles and the owner of the plate. Also a transcript of an important letter on the subject by the Earl of Essex, and a detailed analysis of the handwriting by 'the Expert' Frederick George Netherclift.Items One and Two. Copperplate (23 x 19 cm), with covering autograph note (12mo, 1 p), explaining that it is 'a fac simile of a note sent in December 1771 to a young Lady at Bath inclosed with a copy of complimentary Verses in the common hand writing of the late Sir Philip Francis who was then also at Bath | The Note is in a disguised hand but there was at the time no doubt of its having also been written by him'. The copperplate was produced, according to the account of the Earl of Essex (see Item Eight below), after the appearance in 1812 of Woodfall's edition of Junius, and before Francis's death in 1818.Item Three. Impression pulled from the plate, giving the facsimile of the covering note to the anonymous verses to Miss Giles: 'The inclosed paper [^ of verses] was found this Morning by Accident. The person who found them, not knowing to whom they belong, is obliged to trust to his own Judgement, and takes for granted that they could only be meant for Miss'.Item Four. Manuscript copy (4to, 3 pp) of verses titled 'To a Beautiful Woman. | "A daughter of the gods: divinely tall, | And most divinely fair." Begins 'Surely, dame Nature made you in some dream | Of old-world women - Chriemhild, or bright | Aslanga, or Boadicea fierce and fair, [...]'. Presumably the anonymous poem sent to Miss Giles.[Items Five to Nine comprise three Autograph Letters Signed and one Autograph Note Signed by Twisleton (all 'Edward Twisleton') to Puller, all from 3 Rutland Gate, London S.W. (Puller only named as recipient in third letter), with Signed Autograph Declaration (signed 'E Twisleton') on back of transcription by him of a letter by the Earl of Essex.]Item Five. 11 March 1868. 12mo, 3 pp. On bifolium. He thanks Puller for entrusting him with 'the Copper-plate'. 'I am guarding the original Note and the original Verses with the greatest care; and am waiting to give Mr Netherclift, the Expert, an opportunity of seeing them.' Puller's uncle Henry Wollaston Blake (1815-1899) has told Twisleton 'to direct to you at Youngsbury'.Item Six. 13 March 1868. 12mo, 4 pp. On bifolium. He is returning Puller's 'very valuable Documents'. Netherclift, who saw them on the previous day, has given 'such a decided opinion on the Engraved Note. [...] When he saw yesterday the original of the engraved Note, he exclaimed, "I am as certain that was written by Junius as I am of my own existence!"' Gives the opinion of 'Mr Longman, the Engraver at the corner of Pall Mall and Waterloo Place' on 'how many copies could be struck off without doing any injury to the Plate'. States his intention 'to publish Impressions of the Note, with Mr Netherclifts Opinion, and a short Preface explaining the facts'. Communicates information from Woodfall the printer's son. Assures him that he will 'be careful to publish nothing without first shewing what I have written to you, and to your uncle, Mr W. J. Blake'. Asks for a copy of 'the Memorandum of Mr Giles, Mrs King's Brother'.Item Seven. 14 March 1868. 12mo, 1 p. On bifolium. Autograph Note. Sending 'the Opinion of Mr Netherclift, copied by himself'.Item Eight. 15 March 1868. Autograph Declaration, on the back of a copy, in his hand, of a memorandum 'signed by the late Earl of Essex' (12 November 1836, Belgrave Square). 12mo, 4 pp. On bifolium. The copy of Essex's letter covers the first three pages, with Twisleton's declaration on the fourth. Essex lays out the circumstances surrounding the 'anonymous Note inclosing a copy of Verses in a disguised hand [...] in consequence of her having danced with him at the Rooms in Bath several evenings [...] her brother Mr Giles, who, at my instigation, had a few copies of the above Facsimile [engraved] [...] Sir Philip Francis heard of this, and spoke very indignantly on the subject. [...] Mr King has now the plate of the Facsimile. Mr Giles shewed it [...] to one of the Judges, who declared it would convict any Man in a Court of Justice - and the same having been shewn to Mr Francis, Son of the late Sir Philip Francis, he at once said, "This was my Father's Hand-writing'. In a postscript to his declaration Twisleton notes that Essex's memorandum 'is bound up with an Anonymous Engraved Note in the 1st Volume of Woodfall's Junius at Cassiobury'.Item Nine. 31 March 1868. 12mo, 8 pp. On two bifoliums. Suggests a meeting. 'Until that day your valuable Copper-Plate shall be taken good care of here.' He has had 'a very urgent request' from 'Mr William James Smith, the Editor of the Grenville Correspondence, for permission to see the original of the Junius Documents'. Smith 'has a wonderful talent for copying; and he has actually copied, and has now in his possession nearly every scrap of writing in existence known to be by Junius'. Smith, who has pressed 'the claims of Lady Temple, as Amanuensis of Lord Temple, to the penmanship of the Junius Letters', 'at once recognised the Engraved Note as being in the handwriting of Junius; he had no wish to read the Opinion of Mr Netherclift, saying that he could see at once the points of identity or similarity: and he said to me frankly, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Franciscan".' Smith still has 'some lurking suspicion', and 'is very anxious to see the Original, saying that from his experience in editing the Grenville Correspondence, he knows well the Paper and Ink of Letters in the Junian Period. [...] He was evidently staggered when I told him that Miss Giles was married in 1772, and that this was consequently the very latest time when the Note could have been written'. 'When Mr Hayward [Abraham Hayward (1801-1884)] saw the Engraved Note, he pronounced it to be in the round hand of Francis. When I shewed him the Opinion of Mr Netherclift, he said "he did not care a snap for the Opinions of Experts; and he declined reading the Details of Mr Netherclift's Opinion, saying that you must judge in such matters from general characters -'. Postscript refers to an article on the subject by Hayward in Fraser's Magazine. Item Ten. Autograph Letter Signed from Frederick George Netherclift to Twisleton, giving his opinion of 'the handwriting exhibited in the facsimile of an anonymous communication'. 25 February 1868; Lithographic Office, 32 Brewer Street, Golden Square. Foolscap, 4 pp. Printed heading reads 'I, FREDERICK GEORGE NETHERCLIFT, Lithographer and Facsimilist to the British Museum, the Royal Society of Literature, and numerous other Scientific Associations, having had more than Twenty-five years' experience in the examination and comparison of handwritings, am considered from the nature of my employment qualified as an Expert, to give an opinion in all matters relating to Forged Documents, Disguised Handwritings, or in deciphering partially obliterated Wills, &c. &c., and I am very frequently engaged to give evidence thereon in the several Courts of Law throughout the Kingdom.' Giving, in great detail, the 'features of identity' which lead him to state: 'Fully alive to the extreme caution necessarily to be exercised in comparing the handwritings of certain periods, when a greater sameness of character and formation of letters prevailed than in the present age, I have yet no hesitation in expressing a most decided opinion that the anonymous communication before referred to, was written by "Junius."' Boasts that 'some facsimiles in lithography' which he himself executed for the publisher John Murray 'were pronounced at the time superior to any that had been done'. Postscript dated 14 March 1868 stating that the facsimile 'is more faithfully represented, than I had at first imagined'.