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Author, Title, Summary Subject Price
Theodore Hook [Theodore Edward Hook] (1788-1841), author, wit and hoaxer, accountant-general and treasurer of Mauritius, 1813-1817

[Theodore Hook, wit and hoaxer.] Autograph Letter Signed, to ‘Barker’, explaining the circumstances that free him to accept a dinner invitation.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, on an 11 x 14 cm piece of paper cut down from 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with minor traces of glue from mount adhering to the blank reverse. The letter reads: ‘My dear Barker / I shall be most happy to join your agreeable party - Croker...

£45.00
William Westall (1781-1850), ARA, artist and engraver, who in his youth travelled to Australia as artist on Matthew Flinders’ HMS Investigator [Clara Angela Macirone (1821-1895), pianist and composer]

[William Westall, artist and engraver.] Autograph Letter in the third person to ‘Miss Macirone’ [the composer Clara Angela Macirone], anticipating ‘the greatest pleasure’ in attending her morning concert.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice for postage. Begins: ‘Mr. Westall presents his compliments to Miss Macirone & begs to assure her how very much obliged to her he feels for the honor she has done him in sending him two tickets...

£50.00
C. B. Fry [Charles Burgess Fry] (1872-1956), one of the greatest of English cricketers, sportsman, scholar, journalist

[‘The Ultimate All-Rounder’: C. B. Fry, one of the greatest of English cricketers.] Autograph Signature from Typed Letter written as Honorary Director of the training ship Mercury..

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that he has ‘strong claims to be regarded as the greatest sporting all-rounder of his or any era since’. (Neville Cardus counted him ‘among the most fully developed and representative Englishmen of his period’.) It also seems that in 1920 he was...

£35.00 Fry
General Sir Edward Stanton (1827-1907), British Army officer who served in the Crimean War, and diplomat who was British Ambassador to Bavaria [Col. Edward Alexander Stanton]

[General Sir Edward Stanton, British Army officer and Ambassador to Bavaria.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Cochrane’, regarding ‘the Nile map’ and his son’s ‘explorations of the Bahr-el-zara’.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly worn. Folded once. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Cochrane’ and signed ‘Edwd. Stanton’. He thanks him for ‘sending me the Nile map, which is certainly more complete than any I had, though it does not give us much more information as to the rivers South of...

£70.00
Henry Williamson (1895-1977), English novelist best-remembered for his 'Tarka the Otter'

[Henry Williamson, English author best-remembered for his 'Tarka the Otter'.] 77 pages of typescript from ‘A Fox Under My Cloak’, the fifth novel in the sequence ‘A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight’, with extensive autograph emendations and deletions.

Asee image of[339]See Williamson’s entry by his daughter-in-law Anne Williamson in the Oxford DNB, together with her 1995 biography of him. The present tranche of material gives a marvellous insight into the working processes of a fine - perhaps even a great - English writer, in addition to...

Literature, Military and Naval History £950.00 Williamson
King George III (1738-1820) of Great Britain and of Ireland, the mad monarch who lost America

[King George III.] Seven examples of the king's signature on a page, six of them cut from parchment documents, the last two made while insane, with the last on a fragment of a warrant.

See image. It is hard to see how this collection could be bettered, the range of signatures from sanity to madness being of particular interest. All seven examples laid down on a folio leaf extracted from an album. The leaf is in poor condition, creased and with closed tears, but the parchment...

Royalty £1,250.00 George III
King Louis XVIII of France and Chateaubriand [François-René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand]

[King Louis XVIII of France and Chateaubriand.] Secretarial Letter Signed by ‘Louis’, and with the signature of ‘Chateaubriand’, addressed to ‘Mon Cousin’ and expressing cordial sentiments, with reference to ‘le sacré collège’.

See image. A nice item, linking two important figures in French history. 1p, foolscap 8vo, on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium of unwatermarked gilt-edged wove paper. Aged and lightly creased, with short closed tears and wear at the head. The ten lines of neatly written text are neatly...

French £450.00 Louis
Lord Braybrooke [Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke (1783-1858), born Richard Neville] of Audley End, Whig politician and first editor of the diary of Samuel Pepys, President of the Camden Society

[Lord Braybrooke, the first editor of the diary of Samuel Pepys.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding the ‘Memoir of Ambrose Barnes’, and Audley End.

See his entries in the Oxford DNB (where his edition of Pepys is described as ‘an amateurish travesty’ of the transcript) and the History of Parliament. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded twice. Good neat signature: ‘Braybrooke’. The recipient is not named, but the name of the...

£56.00
Lord Morpeth [George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle (1802-1864; styled Viscount Morpeth, 1825-1848)] [Sir Joseph Paxton (1803-1865), gardener and architect of Crystal Palace]

[Lord Morpeth to Sir Joseph Paxton, regarding ‘overflowings’ from the Duke of Devonshire’s garden.] Autograph Letter Signed to gardener and creator of Crystal Palace Sir Joseph Paxton, requesting cuttings on behalf of William Tighe Hamilton of Dublin

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr Paxton’ and signed ‘Morpeth’. Much of the letter comprises a twenty-three line quotation from a letter Morpeth has received ‘from a great friend of mine in...

£120.00
Marquess of Lansdowne [Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780-1863), known as Lord Henry Petty 1784 -1809], Whig Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and connoisseur

[The Marquis of Lansdowne, as Lord Henry Petty.] Autograph Note in the third person, arranging a meeting in Downing Street with ‘Mr Gray’. With the recipient’s note of what passed at the meeting.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with several creases on folding into packet, one of which has a short closed tear to the edge. Minor traces of mount on reverse. Reads: ‘Lord Henry Petty will be obliged to Mr Gray, if he can make it convenient to call in...

£45.00