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Author, Title, Summary Subject Price
Andrea Maffei (1798-1885), Italian poet, librettist for Giuseppe Verdi

[Andrea Maffei, Italian poet and librettist for Verdi and Mascagni.] Autograph Manuscript of his poem ‘Il tramonto’ (put to music for voice and piano by Verdi), signed ‘Andrea Maffei.

Holograph of sixteen-line poem in four four-line stanzas, headed ‘Il tramonto’ and signed at bottom right ‘Andrea Maffei’. 1p, 16mo. Text entirely clear and complete, on discoloured laid paper with chipping and slight loss at right-hand margin. Begins: ‘Amo l’ova del girono che muore / Quando il...

Literature £280.00 Andrea Maffei
Andrew Ure [1778 – 1857), Scottish physician, chemist, scriptural geologist, and early business theorist

[Andrew Ure; Scottish chemist etc] Autograph Letter in the Third Person (Dr Ure presents [...]) to Dr.Royle [?John Forbes Royle (1798 – 1858), British botanist and teacher of materia medical] about caoutchouc (rubber).

This letter gives insight into the fervid activity of major scientists to assess the qualities of rubber/caoutchouc. Four pages, 16mo, bifolium, remains of glue on edge (sl. obscuring some words), mainly good. Text: Dr. Ure presents his compliments to Dr Royle, and begs to ask him if he has any...

£250.00
Christabel Rose Coleridge (1843-1921), novelist, journalist and editor of girl’s magazines, granddaughter of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge

[Christabel Rose Coleridge, novelist and editor of girl’s magazines, granddaughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr. Pearson', concerning the nature, her garden, her health and that of others.

She is noticed in her the entry for her father Derwent Coleridge in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium of grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed to ‘My dear Mr. Pearson’ and signed ‘Christabel R. Coleridge’. Her journey was comfortable...

£60.00
Croquet in the Raj [Matheran hill station; British India; Edward Lear (1812-1888)]

[Croquet in the Raj.] Anonymous nineteenth-century manuscript poem titled ‘Lines on a picture of “Croquet at Materan” [Matheran hill station] by a Cynic.’ With cartoon of bewhiskered man behind mask of comedy.

Although there is no clear connection, the present unpublished poem dates from around the same time as Edward Lear was drawing watercolours in the place referred to in it. Vidya Dehejia’s‘Impossible Picturesqueness / Edward Lear’s Indian Watercolours, 1873-1875’ (1989) describes how Lear visited...

Literature, Social history £180.00 Croquet in the Raj
Dean Stanley [Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-1881), Dean of Westminster, theologian [Sir William Smith (1813-1893), classical and biblical scholar and lexicographer, editor of the Quarterly Review]

[Dean Stanley’s ‘execrable handwriting’.] Autograph Letter Signed from Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster, to 'My dear Dictionary ' [i.e. Sir William Smith, editor of the Quarterly Review and lexicographer], about a friend of Duckworth's.

See the entries for Stanley and Smith in the Oxford DNB, the former drawing attention to Stanley’s ‘execrable handwriting’. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Nineteen lines of text. Addressed to ‘My dear “Dictionary” ’, and signed ‘A P Stanley’, but with much of what comes in between only deciperable with...

£45.00
E. G. A. Holmes [Edmond Gore Alexander Holmes] (1850-1936), educationalist and poet; Admiral Sir Reginald Neville Custance (1847-1935), Royal Navy officer; Lt-Col. John Glas Sandeman (d.1922)

[Edmond Holmes, educationalist and poet; and Admiral Sir Reginald Neville Custance.] Autograph Letters Signed from both men to Lt-Col. John Glas Sandeman, regarding Holmes’s pamphets on education.

See the entries for Custance and Holmes in the Oxford DNB. According to the latter: ‘On his retirement in November 1910, Holmes published What is and What Might Be (1911), a condemnation of the existing education system, which stressed competition rather than co-operation, emphasized visible...

£120.00
Edward Christian (1758-1823), Cambridge law professor, elder brother of Fletcher Christian of the Mutiny on the Bounty; Philip Mannington (d.1806), Governor of Prince of Wales' Island (Penang)

[Edward Christian, Cambridge law professor, and Philip Manington, Governor of Prince of Wales' Islad (Penang).] Parts of Signed Autograph Documents by the two men, regarding a case of 'combination and confederacy.

See Christian's entry in the Oxford DNB. (He was the newly-created Downing Professor of the Laws of England at Cambridge from 1788 to his death.) 1p, landscape 8vo. On one half of a 4to leaf that has been torn in two. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of tape at the right-hand...

Law £250.00 Christian
F. W. Fairholt [Frederick William Fairholt] (c.1813-1866), artist, wood-engraver and antiquary

[F. W. Fairholt [Frederick William Fairholt], artist and wood-engraver.] Autograph Receipt Signed for payment from 'Mr Clements' for 'a drawing in wood of a Candelabra'. With IOU to Fairfholt signed by 'C. Rimbault'.

See Fairholt’s entry in the Oxford DNB. ONE: Receipt by Fairholt. 1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, in windowpane mount. Good firm signature. Reads: 'Received of Mr Clements the sum of fifteen shillings for a drawing in wood of a Candelabra. / F. W. Fairholt / £- 15s . 0d'. TWO: IOU by...

Art and Architecture £120.00 Fairholt
F. W. Fairholt [Frederick William Fairholt] (c.1813-1866), artist, wood-engraver and antiquary [Edwin Keet]

[F. W. Fairholt [Frederick William Fairholt], artist and wood-engraver.] Autograph Letter Signed to fellow-antiquary Edwin Keet, postponing a meeting, on reverse of Autograph Letter Signed from Keet to ‘Dr. Bell F.R.S. F.S.A.’, postponing the meeting

See Fairholt’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The letters on either side of a 12mo leaf. In good condition, neatly placed in windowpane mount. On one side is the response: ‘Wednesday / Dear Mr Keet / I find I must not go out at night for a week to come. I ventured last night & am worse to day in...

£80.00
Frederick William Robertson (1816-1853), Anglican preacher and theologian, Oxford friend of Ruskin, admired by Dickens, patronized by Lord Shaftesbury and the Marquis of Lansdowne

[Frederick William Robertson, celebrated Victorian preacher and theologian, admired by Dickens.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Miss Smith’, playfully offering to assist her in her ‘atheistical’ and her sister in her’demonological investigations’.

An amusing and entertaining letter from a man destined for ‘une triste vie et une triste ministère’ (see his entry in the Oxford DNB). 3pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Thirty-seven lines of text, neatly and closely written. In fair condition, worn and grubby. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘Fred: W:...

£60.00