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Author, Title, Summary Subject Price
Ferdinand de Lesseps [Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de Lesseps (1805–1894) French diplomat and later developer of the Suez Canal,

[ Ferdinand de Lesseps; Suez ] Autograph Note Signed "ferd. de Lesseps" to "Mr Hartley" [Sir Charles Augustus Hartley (1825–1915) eminent British civil engineer ), acknowledging congratulations to his 80th birthday

See image. One page, 12mo, crumpled and lined but text clear, but part nearly illegible, as follows: "Je vous envoie mes plus affectueux remerciements pour l'envoi de votre telegramme dont lequel vous m'adressez vos felicitations pour l'anniversaire. | subscription and signature followed by four...

Science, Medicine and Technology £180.00 De Lesseps
Robert Clarke, actor-manager, Theatre Royal, Liverpool [Charles Kean (1811-1868), actor-manager, son of Edmund Kean, husband of Ellen Tree (1805-1880); Benjamin Webster (1797-1882), actor, dramatist]

[Charles Kean and his wife Ellen Tree prepare to return from America.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Rt. Clarke.') from Robert Clarke to Benjamin Webster, asking on Kean's behalf for 'information respecting Theatres in England', discussing Kean and wife.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium, endorsed 'Clarke' on reverse of second leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded three times. The letter begins: 'My dear Webster, | Charles Kean has requested me to give him information respecting Theatres in England, in which it is probable he may form...

£80.00
Marshall Hall Higginbottom (1822-1895), Nottingham surgeon, nephew of Marshall Hall, eminent physician and neurophysiologist, vivisectionist and abolitionist [Rev. Samuel Walker; Joseph Toynbee]

[Marshall Hall Higginbottom, Nottingham surgeon, nephew of eminent neurophysiologist Marshall Hall.] Autograph Letter Signed [to Rev. Samuel Walker], recommending the ear-surgeon Joseph Toynbee.

A nice item, casting light on the practice of the provincial medical profession in Victorian England. See Higginbottom’s obituary in the British Medical Journal, 16 March 1895. There are a number of references to Higginbottom in the memoir of 1861 memoir of Marshall Hall (1790-1857) by his widow...

£45.00
[William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), Prime Minister during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars] Summers & Young, Printers, Sunderland

Handbill satirical spoof epitaph on William Pitt the Younger, printed in Sunderland, titled ''An Inscription for the Proposed Monument to the Rt. Hon. W. Pitt. Respectfully dedicated to the Subscribers to his Statue. De Mortuis nil nisi Verum.'

A savage and bitterly-sarcastic satirical spoof epitaph, the text of which, the Liverpool Mercury reported in 1822, had been 'repeatedly published before'. Some versions are said to have included a woodcut by George Cruikshank, but the only other publication found (with a few minor variations...

History £250.00
Rupert Hart-Davis [Sir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis] (1907-1999), publisher, editor and letter-writer [Percy Muir [Percy H. Muir] (1894-1979), leading bookseller with firm Elkin Mathews]

[Sir Rupert Hart-Davis, publisher.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Rupert') to antiquarian bookseller Percy Muir, praising his catalogues as his 'favourite reading', and ordering items while 'saving up' for his daughter's wedding.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with three punch holes to margin, and endorsement of number in a circle. The letter begins: 'My dear Percy | Your catalogues – especially the literary parts of them – are my favourite reading. You find such unusual books, and describe them with such...

£90.00
Ellen Terry [Dame Alice Ellen Terry] (1847-1928), leading English actress of the late-Victorian and Edwardian periods

[Dame Ellen Terry.] Autograph Note Signed (‘Ellen Terry:’), announcing that she has ‘found it!’

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, and in particular the section headed ‘A great actress’. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Very nice letterhead with engraving of the imposing hotel. In her large, bold hand, the note reads: ‘I have found it! / & am so glad - / Hoping...

£32.00
Ethel Snowden, Viscountess Snowden [née Ethel Annakin] (1881-1951), Fabian socialist, suffragist, temperance and peace campaigner, wife of first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Snowden

[Ethel Snowden, Fabian socialist and suffragist.] Seven Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed, to Rev. A. H. Sayers, regarding a talk by her to the League of Nations Union, Monmouth; with one after her husband’s death.

She her entry, and that of her husband, in the Oxford DNB. Throughout her life she inspired a range of responses. The ‘Labour Leader’ described her as a ‘second Annie Besant’, while Manny Shinwell dismissed her as ‘the would-be Sarah Bernhardt of the party’; to Lord Reith, during her time as a...

£280.00
Sir Frederic George Kenyon [Sir F. G. Kenyon] (1863-1952), palaeographer, biblical and classical scholar, Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum, President of the British Academy

[Sir Frederic George Kenyon, Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum.] Autograph Letter Signed ('F. G. Kenyon') to 'Mr Frewen', writing in wartime to thank him for offering 'duplicates to help in the restoration of destroyed libraries'

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. He is 'very much obliged' to Frewen for the offer 'of duplicates to help in the restoration of destroyed libraries', and notes that 'it is impossible to forecast the needs that will exist at the end of the war'. In the meantime he has '...

£56.00
T. E. B. Clarke [Thomas Ernest Bennett 'Tibby' Clarke] (1907-1989), screenwriter who won an Oscar for 'The Lavender Hill Mob', and crime writer [Ealing Comedies; Barbara Kaye, novelist]

[T. E. B. Clarke, Oscar-winning screenwriter and crime writer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Tibby') to the novelist Barbara Kaye, discussing common acquaintances after the episode of the TV programme 'This Is Your Life' devoted to him.

Other than 'The Lavender Hill Mob', for which he won an Oscar, Clarke's screenplays include 'The Blue Lamp' and 'The Titchfield Thunderbolt'. For the recipient Barbara Kaye [Barbara Kenrick Gowing] (1908-1998), writer, bookseller and wife of Percy Muir, see her obituary by Nicolas Barker in the...

£45.00
Thomas Anstey Guthrie ['F. Anstey'] (1856-1934), Punch humorist, novelist and journalist, author of 'Vice Versa' and 'The Tinted Venus' ['Arthur Chudleigh' [Arthur Lillies], actor-manager]

[Thomas Anstey Guthrie ['F. Anstey'], Punch humorist and novelist.] Autograph Letter Signed 'Anstey Guthrie' to the actor-manager Arthur Chudleigh, sending a present and commenting on the success of 'Pinero's brilliant play'.

1p, 12mo. Letterhead in green. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of glue from mount adhering to blank reverse. Addressed to 'My dear Chudleigh'. He asks him to accept 'the accompanying volume', which he ordered to be bound for him 'weeks ago but it has only turned up this...

£45.00