Autograph Letters

Five letters and a postcard, two letters 8vo (total 4pp.), three 4to (total 17 pages), fold marks, good condition. LETTER ONE (6pp., 4to,, 10 Feb.) He starts, "You've done it!!! | I told you that one of your ideas would bear fruit one of these days, and it was a mistaken statement, at least one I think is mistaken, that set me off on a new track which led to success.

One page, 16mo (trimmed unevenly), signs of removal from album, minor staining, some text faded, most hard to read (either written in haste or characterusticlally illegible - or both). "You are right in [premising?] that I have many irons in the fire [also &?] that I am not [?] to be [?] [general?] use as to the [Cambridge?] [?] if there are [?] [sales?] I shall be happy to lend a hand, so far as it may be in my power."

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Laid out in the usual fashion, with printed text completed in manuscript. Recording a payment of £60, on an annuity of £120, to 'Edwd Earl Winterton Assignee'. Signed at the foot, beside the signature of the witness '

Noble'.

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, aged and with particular wear to extremities. Laid out in the usual way, with printed text completed in manuscript. (The printed name of 'the Right Honourable James Earl Waldegrave, One of the Four Tellers of His Majesty's Receipt of Exchequer' has been amended in manuscript to 'Ld Henley', and the change initaled 'W. C.') Recording payment of £42 16s 0d on an annuity of £85. Signed at end, with the signature of the witness ''.

1p., 8vo. Bifolium. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, with seal in red wax, 'for Serieant Maynard | at his Chamber at ye Temple or elswhere'. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper, with outer cover somewhat discoloured. He states that, as Maynard is 'a party concernd in ye Petn of Capt Ed: Lister & Joan his wife', he is desired by the committee to 'meet them in ye Inner Court of Wards' on the following Friday, 'to ye end you may not be concluded unheard'.

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, aged and worn, with the second leaf laid down on part of a leaf cut from an autograph album. He is enclosing 'a Lecture Syllabus from Mr. Nicol, whom you may perhaps remember having seen meet me in the committee room on the day of my lecture'. Nicols wants Romanes to recommend him as a lecturer, but he only knows him 'from his book "Zoological Notes" which I reviewed in Nature.

A total of 50 items, all but the three earliest of Strong's letters held together with a brass stud. The collection in good overall condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Strong's 24 letters total 37pp., with the early letters signed 'L A G Strong' and the later ones 'Leonard', and occasional variant signatures in between ('Leonard Strong', 'LAGS'). The copies of Greenwood's 26 letters (two in autograph, the rest typed) total 32pp. An interesting correspondence, in which Strong responds with tact and patience to his inexperienced correspondent's proposals and actions.

All items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letters total 49pp, 16mo and 8vo.. All are complete except the last, which lacks the last part. They are liberally adorned with sketches. Mostly addressed to 'My dear Aunty' and signed in a variety of ways, from 'J. Bowyer B. Nichols' to 'BBN'. The first letter, dated 4 December 1871, sets the tone, showing Bowyer Nichols to be a precocious and spirited twelve-year-old. It begins: 'Will you send me, if you can find it, that poem about Sally Porter and Charlie Church?

On one side of 11 x 15 cm slip of paper. On aged paper, heavily worn at head and at one edge, with some loss of text. The damage has been skilfully repaired. Reads: 'Jan. 17. 1744/5 eived then of <...>ackin Nilliam <...>ynn Bannet the following MS viz. Dares Phrygius & Tyssillons History of the Britions in Welsh, Chronica Britonum in Welsh, & the chartulary of the Abbey de Bello in Latin | which I promise to restore on demand. Witness my hand | Tho: Carte'.

4pp., 8vo. 96 lines of text. On paper ruled for accounts. On lightly-aged paper, with loss to corners and at central edge, affecting a few lines of text. Accompanying the letter is a translation (2pp., 8vo) by Colin Jordan, with the assistance of Dr Loukas Christodloulos. The letter is of great interest, casting light on Leigh Fermor's activities in Crete in the period following the Second World War.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Arnold, whose conversion to Roman Catholicism hindered his academic dvancement in England, was grandfather of the writer Aldous Huxley, and taught James Joyce at Dublin. At the time of writing he was running a private tutoring establishment at Oxford. He begins the letter by explaining that it has hardly been possible to reply to Hutchinson 'during term time [...] I had so much work on my hands'.

Lord Hennessy has characterised the subject of these items, the Northcote-Trevelyan Report of 1854, as 'the greatest single governing gift of the nineteenth to the twentieth century: a politically disinterested and permanent Civil Service with core values of integrity, propriety, objectivity and appointment on merit, able to transfer its loyalty and expertise from one elected government to the next'.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly aged paper, tipped in onto part of a leaf from an album. The main body of the letter reads: 'I am sorry to say the portmanteau has not arrived - will you enquire about it - I hope you addressed it to the Kirkahm Station on the North Eastern railway.' In a postscript he gives the full address as 'Mr Hudson Kirkham Station on the North Eastern railway York', adding that he will pick it up 'in a few Days when we return'. The letter may result from a mix-up with Kirkham Station in Lancashire.

8pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. An interesting letter, written four months before the death of her husband. She begins: 'Dearest Sylvia - | I meant to write to you last month because I am one of those tiresome people who remember anniversaries & it was in August that you both came down to the Windermere to see us.

Both letters in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Both addressed to 'Dear Cyril!' Weingartner's grip of English is shaky. ONE (27 December 1908): 8pp., 8vo. He is working hard, making his own suppers, and reminisces about their time together in Paris. The girls in Rosswein are '(some of them) the finest I have ever seen. There is a lot of Balls here, every forth nighth dansing amusement all over. I was surprized to find that here, as well you find real cafe parisienne.' He describes his fellow-students: 'They come here from all parts of Germany.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He 'went this a.m. to hear Dr Campbell Morgan, there was a huge audience extending into the 2nd. gallery. He did not preach the sermon he had prepared, but said what came into his mind in connection with the death of the King'. He 'passed the Palace & saw the Royal Standard of England flyig at 1/2 mast'. He regrets the king's death, finding him 'such a good sort & such a power for good politically'.

1p., 8vo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'Westminster Feb. 18. 1711/12. | Sr | I desire you will buy and accept five Hundred Pounds Stock in the Capitall Stock of the Company of Merchants of Great Britain trading to the South Seas for my Account and in my name; which will oblige | Sr | Yor. Affect. Brother & Servt | Ofsp. Exon'. Annotated in a nineteenth-century hand at bottom-left: 'Dr Ofspring Blackall.' At the time of writing the South Sea Company had only just been created. It would collapse spectacularly in 1720.

2pp., 8vo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly-aged, with seal cut away from second leaf, which carries a postmark and the address: 'For the Rt. Honoble. Sr. Robert Rich, one of the Lords of the Admiralty. At his house near ye Admty. Office. | Westminster'. Thirty-two lines of text.

On 7 x 11 cm slip of paper, torn from the end of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged, with minor staining to one corner. Reads, with top line slightly cropped: 'I may have more leisure. | Yours sincerely, | J. Masefield.'

Surman had a brief and undistinguished military career. Having trained with the Connaught Rangers, on 30 October 1895 he received a commission in the 9th Royal Rifle Corps, which he resigned a year later, on 20 October 1896. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed from 'J. Gilbert Surman' to Grubbe, in fragment of envelope addressed by him to 'Captain E. A. Grubbe | The Depôt of the Connaught Rangers | Galway'. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He writes having 'now left the Connaught Rangers to join my own Regiment at the above place.

On 7.5 x 11 cm slip cut from the end of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged. On one side reads: 'Gentlemen | Your Obt. Servt. | Fred R Pickersgill | 36 Mornington Crescent | 24 May 1853.' and on the other '[...] at the ensuing half yearly distribution of the Funds of the Institution - | Mr. Varrall is not personally known to me but from the representation of Mr WIlliams ARA [...]'.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Dear Miss Elphick | I shall be happy to see you on Wednesday the 22nd. inst at 10.45 a.m. | With kind regards | yours truly | Alberto Randegger'.

In good condition, with slight crease to one corner. Informing him that he will be 'very glad to present your petition when the House re-opens'.

The subject is clearly the Karteria, the first steam-powered warship to see active service. The Karteria was built in 1825 for the Greek insurgentsd by Daniel Brent Shipwrights in the Greenland South Dockyard, Rotherhithe, London. It was financed mainly from the proceeds of the 2nd Greek Loan raised by the London Philhellenic Committee, but also from the private funds of Captain Frank Abney Hastings. Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: Robilliard to 'Thos Whitmore Esq | Secretary &c &c &c'. 1p., 4to. Headed 'Confidential'. Signed 'Nis Robilliard'.

18.5 x 8.5cm, sl. chipped and stained, but text clear. Signatures of Roberts, C.L. Eastlake and Henry Moseley, adding their addresses in holograph (Eastlake and Roberts both at 7 Fitzroy Square, and Moseley at 52 Upper Charlotte Street), probably clipped from an appeal to the Artists' Benevolent Fund.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Arthur C. Blunt, Esq', with salutation to 'My dear Cecil'. With regard to 'Mr. Wigram's letter' he writes that he 'would rather not dramatize a novel, and did I feel an inclination to do so I don't think I am at all a good man for the work'. He nevertheless asks the recipient to inform Wigram that he is 'complimented by his and Lord Desart's proposal'. The postscript is mildly amusing: 'P.S. I hope I am not liable to misconstruction in enquiring after your Housemaid's Knee'.

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper, with slight loss to two words from damage at margin. The first paragraph reads: 'I know enough of siness never to put off acknowledging receipt of money - I got your kind letter this morning with the enclosure - You are more considerate than many people, for which I send you my best thanks.' The second paragraph relates to 'Derby's Bill', which Hanbury has 'recycled', and concerning which Guthrie asks 'What next & next?' Guthrie's entry in the Oxford DNB describes him as 'one of the greatest of Free Church leaders'.

Lucas's letter is 1p., 4to. In fair condition, lightly spotted. He informs Wilber that when he arrives at the office the following morning, he will find that 'the two portrait tablets of the late Sir Algernon Methuen, the founder of our firm, have been unveiled'. He explains that the tablets are 'a gift to the firm from Lady Methuen, whose wish is that each member of the staff should possess a copy of the accompanying Memoir'. The booklet is 13pp., 4to. With three plates including collotype frontispiece portrait of tablet of author.

The note and memo are on a 12mo bifolium. In good condition, lightly-aged. The letter is signed 'A. J. Hall' and addressed to 'My dear Doctor'. He explains that he would gladly visit him, 'if at liberty', but that he is 'at Wolverhampton that night with Madame Albani'. The biographical note, presumably in Stewart's autograph, is on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium, beneath the following, in red ink: 'Memo. by Dr. James Stewart ("Sheamus Rua") Hon. Secy.

From the Jack Pulman papers. Pulman's distinguished career is well described on the British Film Institute's website, which descibes the background to this material, although its author us clearly unaware of the increasing tension between Pulman and Wouk revealed by material in the present collection: 'In early 1978 Paramount TV producer Stanley Kallis and author Herman Wouk approached Pulman to write a treatment (to be followed by a screenplay) for Wouk's sweeping World War Two novel 'The Winds of War'.