Autograph Letters

Autograph Letter Signed ('Caroline Lucy Scott') to a solicitor, regarding her will.

Author: 
Caroline Lucy Scott [née Douglas], Lady Scott (1784-1857), Scottish novelist
Caroline Lucy Scott, Scottish novelist
Publication details: 
24 January 1840; Petersham, Surrey.
£125.00
Caroline Lucy Scott, Scottish novelist

4to, 2 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and stained paper. Docketed by the recipient on the reverse of the second leaf. The recipient drew up her will in 1819, but 'the many changes from Deaths &c which have since taken place' mean that it 'no longer expresses my wishes in several particulars'. Asks a number of questions. States that she is 'aware that as a married woman I have no right to make a Will but as in the former distribution of my property Sir George Scott authorized my doing so (as you many remember) so he will now any alteration'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Grantley') to unnamed bookseller, requesting 'trout-fly books'.

Author: 
John Richard Brinsley Norton (1855-1943), 5th Baron Grantley [Lord Grantley], British peer and numismatist [trout fishing]
John Richard Brinsley Norton, Baron Grantley, Letter
Publication details: 
28 September 1886; on letterhead of Grantley Hall, Ripon, Yorkshire.
£65.00
John Richard Brinsley Norton, Baron Grantley, Letter

12mo, 1 p. Aged, grubby and creased, with slight loss to bottom left-hand corner, and closed tear to one margin. Requesting 'one or two choicest leather trout-fly books with plenty of pages, but not those with printed descriptions of flies'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Ashby-Sterry') to 'my dear Worth'.

Author: 
Joseph Ashby-Sterry (c.1835-1917), English novelist, poet and artist, contributor to 'The Graphic' under the name 'Bystander'
Joseph Ashby-Sterry, novelist, poet and artist, Letter
Publication details: 
18 July 1872; 3 Plowden Buildings, Temple.
£38.00
Joseph Ashby-Sterry, novelist, poet and artist, Letter

16mo, 1 p. Bifolium. Eight lines. Text clear and complete. On stained, aged paper. An uncommon autograph, written in a distinctive stylised hand in purple ink. Reluctantly announcing his inability to go on 'the Barge trip', which he had looked upon 'as the pleasantest excursion of the year, & alas & alas (not that a lass has any thing to do with my engagement) I shall be unable to be with you'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Richard Southwood') to 'Mr Ladkin'.

Author: 
Sir Richard Southwood (1931-2005), Professor of Zoology and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford
Sir Richard Southwood, Professor of Zoology, Letter
Publication details: 
10 October 1986; on letterhead of the National Radiological Protection Board.
£38.00
Sir Richard Southwood, Professor of Zoology, Letter

8vo, 1 p. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with a couple of punch holes to the left margin (one through a word of text). Thanking him for his 'kd letter of appreciation of my work as chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution'. He now has 'another public duty concerned with the same field'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Alfd Webb-Johnson') to Noon.

Author: 
Sir Alfred Webb-Johnson (1880-1958), President of the Royal Society of Medicine and surgeon to Queen Mary [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
15 March 1945; on Royal College of Surgeons letterhead.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight smudging in a couple of places. Thanking Noon for his 'generous gift to the Restoration Fund'. Describing the 'response' and urging Noon to 'interest patients & friends, particularly grateful medicos'.

Five Autograph Letters Signed and four Typed Letters Signed (all 'J Paterson Ross') to Noon.

Author: 
Sir James Paterson Ross (1895-1980), Professor of Surgery at St Bartholomew's Hospital London, and Surgeon to the Royal Household [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon, Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
Between 1951 and 1955; six on St Bartholomew's Hospital letterhead and three on that of Ross's Oakleigh Park address.
£225.00

Five of the nine items in 4to, and the rest 12mo. All texts clear and complete. Collection in good condition on lightly-aged paper. Occasional minor traces of brown-paper mounts, and most items with punch-holes to top left-hand corners. A cordial correspondence between two colleagues. Several letters relate to Noon's soon Charles, training under Ross to be a surgeon. On 26 June 1952 (12mo, 3 pp) Ross writes discussing the son's failure in an examination..

Typed Letter Signed ('Heneage Ogilvie') to Noon.

Author: 
Sir Heneage Ogilvie (1887-1971), British surgeon [Sir Hedley Atkins (1905-1983), Professor of Surgery at Guy's Hospital; Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
5 February 1952; on letterhead with the addresses of his London residence and consulting room.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. Seventeen lines of text, clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with small area lacking in top left-hand corner. Concerning Hedley Atkins, who, '[a]s a Guy's man', Ogilvie is keen to have replace him on the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, from which he is retiring after sixteen years. The condition with which Ogilvie is related, Ogilvie's Syndrome, was first reported by him in 1948.

Autograph Note Signed ('Horder') to Noon, on his father's death.

Author: 
Mervyn Horder (1910-1997), Lord Horder of Ashford, publisher and composer [Thomas Jeeves Horder (1871-1955), 1st Baron Horder, physician to the British royal family; Charles Noon (d.1957)]
Publication details: 
10 August [1955]; on letterhead of Ashford Chace, Petersfield, Hampshire.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. Twenty-one lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with punch-hole to the top left-hand corner. As a colleague of Horder's father (senior surgeon and the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital) Noon has offered a 'collection of aphorisms', which Horder feels will be 'of the greatest value, indeed it is exactly what I want'. He asks for Noon's memories of 'personal dealings': 'These are especially useful in the early days, when of course my own memory does not serve.' Concludes: 'We all thought he'd have another 10 years ahead, so it has been a sad shock.'

Typed Letter Signed ('Douglas Harmer') to Noon.

Author: 
William Douglas Harmer (1873-1962), surgeon, of St Bartholomew's Hospital, pioneer in radium treatment of throat cancer [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
19 November 1945; The Radium Institute (on his cancelled Harley Street letterhead).
£56.00

4to, 1 p. Nineteen lines. Text clear and complete. On aged paper with slight staining, and punch hole to top left-hand corner. Pressing the claims of his son Michael ('also a Bart's man') for a post at Noon's hospital. 'He has done very well at Bart's, is a Fellow of the College, missed M.Ch. (Cambridge) by a few marks just before the war, was Harold Wilson's Assistant for the first two years and has been Squadron Leader in the Air Force in charge of the surgical wards at a big hospital at Hoylake since.'

One Autograph Letter Signed ('D J Robertson') and one Typed Letter Signed ('Douglas Robertson') to Noon.

Author: 
Douglas James Robertson (1919-2005), consultant general surgeon at the Royal Hospital, Sheffield [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
Typed Letter: 1 July 1952. Autograph Letter: 10 January 1954. Both on St Bartholomew's Hospital letterheads.
£56.00

Typed Letter: 4to, 1 p. Good, on aged paper, with dog-eared and punch-holed top left-hand corner. He is pleased that 'Hill' got the post as Noon's house surgeon, and that they found 'another Barts. man for Mr. Britain, a student who I know very well, named Palmer'. Autograph Letter: 12mo, 2 pp. Good, on aged paper. Hoping that both Noon and his wife are in better health.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Norman Tanner') to Noon.

Author: 
Norman Tanner [Norman C. Tanner] (1906-1982), gastric surgeon to Charing Cross Hospital [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
6 February 1952; on his Streatham Park letterhead.
£38.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on aged paper, with two punch-holes to top left-hand corner. Describing the qualities of his former 'chief assistant Mr Colin Craig who has taken up your Lowestoft appointment', including the comment 'I would be quite happy for him to operate on myself or one of my family'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Harold. W. Wilson') to Noon.

Author: 
Harold W. Wilson [Harold William Wilson] (1880-1959), consulting surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
31 January 1946; on his Great Yarmouth lettehead.
£38.00

12mo, 2 pp. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with two punch-holes to the top left-hand corner. Noon 'won't regret' employing Michael Harmer. 'Please give me news of yourself; I hear nothing but vague, disturbing rumours'.

Typed Letter Signed to Noon.

Author: 
Herbert Williamson (d.1924), Physician Accoucheur to St Bartholomew's Hospital [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
6 September 1924; on his Queen Anne Street letterhead.
£38.00

4to, 1 p. Nine lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper, with punch hole to top left-hand corner. Explaining why it is impossible for him to accept the invitation of the Norwich Medico-Chirurgical Society.

Typed Note Signed ('Robert Woods') to Noon.

Author: 
Sir Robert Stanton Woods (1877-1954), first Director of the London Hospital Department of Physical Medicine [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
2 July 1942; with his Wimpole Street stamp.
£45.00

Landscape 12mo, 1 p. Fair, lightly-aged and with a punch-hole to the top left-hand corner. 'You will be grieved to learn that Walton excised my boy's sigmoid on June 19 and that he died of acute ileus on June 23.'

Two Autograph Letters Signed ('B Pollock.' and 'B P.') and one unsigned Autograph Letter, all written during his final illness.

Author: 
The Rt Rev Bertram Pollock (1863-1943), Bishop of Norwich [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
6 August, 12 October and undated; Norwich and London.
£45.00

The three items are good, on aged paper. Letter One: Undated. Signed 'B Pollock'. 4to, 1 p. In pencil. Headed 'please forgive stationery'. On reverse is a cancelled carbon page of autobiographical typescript. He is travelling to London and asks for the addresses of a couple of doctors. 'I have had very slight bleeding from the prostate, but this has become much greater in the last 24 hours. Pulse and temperature quite normal, some constipation, no pain. I dont know whether my walks should be reduced'. Letter Two: Dated 26 August 1943.

Autograph Note Signed ('Hawke') informing Barnes of his selection for England.

Author: 
Martin Bladen Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke [Lord Hawke] (1860-1938), Yorkshire and England Cricketer, and President of the MCC [S.F. Barnes Sydney Francis Barnes] (1873-1967), England cricketer]
Publication details: 
20 June [no year]; on letterhead of 107 Jermyn Street, S.W.
£450.00

12mo, 1 p. Bifolium. On aged and foxed grey paper. Reads 'June 20th | Dear Barnes | Selection Committee will be pleased if you will play for England v The Rest at Lords 29th. | Yours faithfull | [signed] Hawke'. Hawke was an England selector between 1899 and 1909, and Barnes, one of the finest bowlers in English history, made his international debut in 1901. I'm sure someone will tell me if this was Barnes's first game for England.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'A Keith') to 'Major Noon'.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Keith (1866-1955), Scottish palaeoanthropologist [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
17 and 19 March 1917; both on letterhead of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
£95.00

Both good, on aged paper. Letter One: 12mo, 1 p. With stamped envelope. Thanking Noon for the 'notes & very instructive X-ray of your case of syringomyelia', about which 'Shattock', who is 'pulling up the W. O. Collection', is 'very keen'. Letter Two: 12mo, 2 pp. Thanking him for 'two very welcome additions to the W. O. Collection': 'You have no idea of how much an X-ray enhances the value of a specimen - we get an opportunity of comparing the shaddow [sic] with the real thing'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Holden.

Author: 
Edward Stanley (1792-1862), FRS, English surgeon [Luther Holden (1815-1905), surgeon and anatomist]
Publication details: 
5 December [1855]; Brook Street, London.
£125.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium with mourning border. Fair, on aged paper, with one dog-eared corner. Is concerned that, considering the labour and cost of Holden's 'very handsome volume on the Bones' (presumably his 'Human Osteology', 1855), he should have 'deemed it necessary' to present him with a copy. He cherishes Holden's friendship, and hopes he will be 'richly rewarded for all you have bestowed on the work'.

Two Typed Letters Signed ('Moran') to Noon.

Author: 
Charles McMoran Wilson, 1st Baron Moran [Lord Moran] (1882-1977), Sir Winston Churchill's personal physician [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
1 March 1951 and 1 March 1955; both on his Harley Street letterhead.
£75.00

Both items good, on lightly-aged paper, each with a punch-hole to the top left-hand corner. Letter One: 12mo, 1 p. Concerning 'the Committee' and two surgeons. Letter Two: 4to, 1 p. Twenty-three typed lines and a four-line autograph postscript. Possibly relating to the Royal College of Physicians. Discussing his concerns 'about our means of getting C's in the Region'.

Autograph Note, in the third person, to Twining.

Author: 
Hugh Percy [Hugh Smithson] (1742-1817), 2nd Duke of Northumberland [Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea and coffee merchant]
Publication details: 
2 December 1799; Northumberland House, London.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. Good, aged paper, with traces of previous mount adhering to reverse. Reads 'The Duke of Northumberland presents his Compliments to Mr. Twining, & shall be glad to see him on Wednesday next at three o'clock. | Northd. House | Decr. 2d. 1799.' From the Twining family archive.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Samuel Hey') to Twining, giving details of an arson attack [on his church?].

Author: 
Samuel Hey (1739-1828), eccentric bibliophile vicar of Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire, known as 'The Hermit' [Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea and coffee merchant]
Publication details: 
17 January 1822; 'Steeple-Ashton near Trowbridge | Wiltshire'.
£85.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Forty-nine lines of text, clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In a neat, childish hand. Begins by asking for ten pounds to be paid to the bearer, Thomas Fairfax Carlile, on Hey's account. A 'hand bill' has been 'published on the occasion - but without effect', and fifteen of his 'near neighbours' have - 'without consulting me' - subscribed ten pounds each. 'A man was apprehended - but for want of sufficient evidence he was liberated to appear before the magistrate when called for, upon penalty of 40£.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Y. Smythies') to Twining, including two translations of 'Bishop Lowth's Maria's Elegy'.

Author: 
Rev. William Yorick Smythies (1816-1910), husband of the Victorian novelist Mrs Gordon Smythies [née Harriette Maria Gordon] (1813-1883) [Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea and coffee merchant]
Publication details: 
17 October 1838; Colchester.
£95.00

4to, 3pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with slight loss to second leaf caused by opening of red wax seal (part of which still adheres), and minor nicking to edges. Begins: 'The task you set me was a task indeed [...] my first attempt at translation'. He comments on some of the difficulties involved ('The Cara so often repeated in the original is beautiful in repetition while it's angliciz'd Dear is so degraded by vulgar use').

Ten Typed Letters Signed and eight Autograph Letters Signed (four 'Guy S Wellby' and the rest 'Guy') from Wellby to Franklin, with an inventory and valuation, schedule, accounts and correspondence relating to Rogers' collection of snuff boxes.

Author: 
Guy Wellby, Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths' Company, adviser to Ian Fleming [D. and J. Wellby Ltd, Jewellers and Silversmiths, Garrick Street, London; Franklyn Rogers; snuff boxes]
Publication details: 
Wellby's letters between 1948 and 1967; on letterheads of D. and J. Wellby Ltd.
£200.00

The collection, consisting of 31 items in a variety of formats, is in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with all texts clear and complete. Wellby's correspondence with Rogers (an affluent Kent businessman and farmer, collector and dabbler in the jewellery business) reflects a relationship at once businesslike and friendly, with items being offered by Wellby on behalf of his firm, and news of items consigned to the firm by Rogers. The personal element is apparent from the first.

Autograph Card Signed ('Lauder Brunton') to unnamed male recipient.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton (1844-1916), Scottish physician
Publication details: 
1 October 1906; on letterhead of 10 Stratford Place, Cavendish Square.
£28.00

On one side of a 9 x 11 cm card. Lightly-aged, with minor rust-marks at head and slight creasing to one corner. He has forwarded the letter as requested.

Autograph Signature ('Clarendon')

Author: 
Thomas Villiers (1709-1786), 1st Earl of Clarendon, British Whig politician and diplomat
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

On piece of laid paper, 1 x 3.5 cm. Fair, on aged paper, with traces of previous mount on reverse, which is docketed in a nineteenth-century hand '1776'.

Collection of correspondence from Elizabeth Arden Ltd to agents Franklyn and Doris Rogers, Messrs Titcumbs, Chatham, including an Autograph Letter Signed ('Elizabeth Arden') from Arden, and 40 Typed Letters Signed from director T. Gordon Yates.

Author: 
Elizabeth Arden [Florence Nightingale Graham (1878-1966)]
Publication details: 
Between 1942 and 1956; most items on the letterhead of the Elizabeth Arden Ltd British headquarters at 25 Old Bond Street, London.
£325.00

The collection of fifty-three Typed Letters Signed and six mimeographed circulars, in various formats, is in good condition on lightly-aged paper, with all texts clear and complete, and with a couple of items with closed tears. Providing an interesting sidelight into workings of the English branch of one of the twentieth-century's leading multinational corporations. Arden's letter (8vo, 1 p), dated 8 April 1955, is addressed to the Rogers' daughter 'Miss J. Rogers'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jos: Thackwell') to Hayter.

Author: 
Sir Joseph Thackwell (1781-1859), English army officer [Sir William Goodenough Hayter (1792-1878), Liberal politician]
Publication details: 
2 February 1855; 16 Montague Square, London [United Services Club].
£56.00

12mo, 1 p. Fair, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Written while Hayter was Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury under Palmerston. Thanking him for his letter, and informing him that he will be communicating Hayton's 'kindness' to William Ryan, who, he is sure, 'will gladly accept the appointment'.

Typed Letter Signed, in English, to R. W. C. Vail of the Roosevelt House Library and Museum, with typed invoice.

Author: 
Edouard Champion, Paris bookseller, publisher and autograph dealer, 'Seul Agent (France, Belgique, Suisse) du British Museum'
Publication details: 
Both items dated 11 July 1924, and both on his letterhead.
£125.00

Both items fair, on lightly-aged paper. Both with list of Champion's publications down the left-hand margin, and with the list continuing in the letter to the blank second page. Letter: 4to, 1 p. He is sending 'a few documents which I have so far collected' relating to the Marquis de Chamilly. 'It is a long time since I last heard from the ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION, and am always at your entire disposal.' Invoice: Landscape 8vo. 12mo, 1 p. Containing five Chamilly letters, totalling 268 francs.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Edw. Baines') to 'Robt. <Scarbrow?>'.

Author: 
Sir Edward Baines [Edward Baines junior] (1800-1890), nonconformist English newspaper editor and Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
3 Queen Sq | 1st. June <year?>.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. In bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Difficult hand. He has not considered the question carefully, but his impression is that 'the Monopoly of the printing of the Holy Scriptures in Scotland and Ireland might cease by the Kings Printers not only without injuring but with benefit to the public'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L M. Hawkins') to Richard Twining (tea merchant and East India Company) at Isleworth.

Author: 
Laetitia Matilda Hawkins [Laetitia-Matilda Hawkins] (1759-1835), English novelist from Twickenham; daughter of Sir John Hawkins, biographer of Dr Johnson [Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea merchant]
Publication details: 
11 December 1811; 'Riverside Twickenham | Friday morn'.
£150.00

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Good, on aged paper. Thirty-nine lines of text. Good impression of red wax seal depicting Alexander Pope. In breaking open letter a 7 cm closed tear made to second leaf, and a small part of leaf torn away, and now under seal, with loss to three words of valediction. Slight glue staining from mount at head of verso of second leaf, which carries address and Twining's docketing.

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