Autograph Letters

Autograph Letter Signed ('E. Cortambert'), in French, to 'Monsieur le Directeur de l’Athenæum français, Rue Mazarine, 9 | Paris'.

Author: 
Pierre-François Eugène Cortambert (1805-1881), French geographer, Conservator of the Geographic Section of the Bibliothèque Nationale
Publication details: 
21 August 1853; Paris postmark.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium, addressed, with circular postmark in black ink, on otherwise-blank second leaf of bifolium. Correcting 'une petite erreur' which he committed in 'le Comte rendu de la dernière Séance de la Société de Géographie', and which he wishes changed in the report which will be appearing in 'l’Athenæum français'.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('Le Vte. de La Rochefoucauld'), as 'Aide de Camp du Roi, chargé du Département des Beaux Arts', in French, to the editor in chief of the Parisian newspaper 'Le Pilote'.

Author: 
Frédéric Gaëtan, marquis de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt (1779-1863), French aristocrat and polititian [Charles X, Roi de France; 'Le Pilote']
Publication details: 
Paris le 21 Mai 1825', on letterhead of the Ministère de la Maison du Roi. Département des Beaux Arts.
£150.00

Foolscap (roughly 31.5 x 20 cm): 2 pp. Bifolium with blank second leaf. Thirty-one lines of text. On lightly aged and creased paper, with some discoloration and chipping in a thin strip at head (roughly 1.5 cm deep), affecting the date and letterhead but not the text. Text clear and entire. Casting interesting light on early nineteenth-century news management by the authorities in the continental Europe. The letter concerns the coronation of Charles X.

Five Autograph Letters Signed (all 'E. Contambert'), in French: three to Ange de Saint-Priest and one to 'Monsieur le Caissier' of 'L'Encyclopédie'.

Author: 
Pierre-François Eugène Cortambert (1805-1881), geographer, Conservator of the Geographic Section of the Bibliothèque Nationale [Ange de Saint-Priest, editor of 'L'Encyclopédie du Dix-Neuvième Siècle']
Publication details: 
1852, 1874 and two undated.
£125.00

All items in good condition, on lightly aged paper, with text clear and entire. Letter Two with a little light spotting to the recto of the first leaf. Written in a crabbed hand. Concerning contributions by Cortambert to 'L'Encyclopédie'. Letter One (12mo, 3 pp): To 'Monsieur et honorable directeur', 9 July 1852. Letter Two (12mo, 3 pp): To 'Monsieur et honorable directeur', 7 June 1874. Letter Three (12mo, 1 p): To 'Mr de St Priest', undated. Letter Four (8vo, 1 p): To 'Monsieur le Caissier de Encyclopédie du 19e Siècle', Paris, Rue de Saintonge, 64.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Jaubert') to 'monsieur le Baron Grenier, Procureur général de la Cour Imperiale, membre de la Légion d'honneur à Riom'.

Author: 
Comte François Jaubert (1758-1822), Conseiller d'Etat à Vie; Gouverneur de la Banque de France under the First Empire [Jean, Baron Grenier (1753-1841), Premier Président de la Cour Royale de Riom]
Publication details: 
Letter One: 'Paris, le 27 mai 1811', on letterhead of 'Le Comte de l'Empire, Conseiller d'Etat à Vie, [...]'. Letter Two: 'Paris ce 12 Janvier 1814'.
£150.00

Both items 4to,1 p. Both items good, on lightly aged and foxed paper. Both bifoliums, with the second item addressed, with broken wafer, on verso of second leaf. Both docketed in pencil in a nineteenth-century hand. Letter One (nineteen lines of text): He is grateful to Grenier for sending 'le procès verbal de l'installation de votre Cour'. Grenier was right to think that Jaubert would be interested in 'l'historique d'une cérémonie qui rend aux Cours la dignité convenable à la magistrature, et qui vous touche particulièrement'.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('Victor Meunier') to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Victor Meunier (1817-1903), French author and journalist; editor of 'Cosmos', the 'Revue Synthétique', and 'L’Ami des Sciences'
Publication details: 
Undated; on letterhead of the Revue Synthetique, Paris.
£25.00

12mo, 1 p. Five lines of text. Very good on lightly aged paper. Good firm signature. He is sending the first issue of the 'Revue Synthétique' and proposes an exchange of that magazine for the one that the recipient edits.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H Fournel'), in French, to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Henri Fournel [Henri-Jérôme-Marie Fournel (1799-1876), French civil engineer, geologist and disciple of Saint-Simon] (1799-1876)
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£150.00

4to: 3 pp. Bifolium. Good on lightly aged and creased paper. Text clear and entire. Eighty lines of text, beginning abruptly, without salutation, 'Vous m'avez demandé ma pensée sur le prospectus que vous avez proposé.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Cte Jaubert'), in French, to 'Messieurs Pichon & Didier, Libraires Commissionaires, quai des Augustins No. 47. Paris.'

Author: 
Comte François Jaubert (1758-1822), Conseiller d'Etat à Vie; Gouverneur de la Banque de France under the First Empire [Pichon et Didier, Paris printers]
jaubert
Publication details: 
Givry, près Fourchambault, par Nevers (Nièvre) 3 Juin 1827'.
£56.00
jaubert

12mo, 1 p. Eighteen lines of text. Good, on aged paper. Address, with broken wafer and two circular postmarks (one in red ink and the other in black) on verso of second leaf of bifolium. Making an order for a periodical publication, and giving instructions for delivery and payment.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('Conde de Funchal'), in French, to 'Mr. Falconet, Avocat Celebre a Paris'.

Author: 
Domingo Antonio de Souza-Coutinho, Conde de Funchal (fl 1803-1833), Portuguese diplomat, Ambassador to England, and botanist [Ambroise Falconet? Jacques Récamier?]
Publication details: 
1 March 1816; Florence, Italy. Carrying postmarks and seal in red wax with impression of family crest.
£85.00

8vo, 2 pp. Twenty-two lines of text. Bifolium. Address, postmark and seal on reverse of otherwise-blank second leaf of bifolium. On aged and lightly creased paper, chipped and foxed. Text clear and entire. Acting on Falconet's advice, the Count has sent 'une Procure en regle à Mr Recamier [husband of the celebrated Madame Récamier?] à fin qu'il puisse retirer l'argenterie des mains de Mr Delamarre à l'expiration des trois mois'. He is grateful for Falconet's assistance in terminating 'cette facheuse affaire'.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all three 'W. Elwin') to historian Alexander William Kinglake (1809-1891).

Author: 
Whitwell Elwin (1816-1900), English journalist, editor of the 'Quarterly Review'
Publication details: 
1875, 1883, 1887; all three from Booton Rectory, Norwich.
£250.00

All three letters 12mo, and closely written. All three with rusted pinholes at head. A valuable correspondence, in which one of Victorian England's leading critics describes his response to the work of one of the age's foremost historians. LETTER ONE (1 page, 26 lines, good): He thanks Kinglake for sending his 'new volume' [of 'The Invasion of the Crimea']. 'I am reading it with great delight. The work to me is unique both in military & literary history.

3 ALsS, 1 ANS and 1 ACS (all 'Robert Speaight') to Kyrle Fletcher.

Author: 
Robert Speaight [Robert William Speaight] (1904-1976), actor, author and Roman Catholic apologist [Ifan Kyrle Fletcher (1905-1969), bookseller and author]
Publication details: 
12 September to 16 December 1951; variously from the Garrick Club; Campion House, Benenden, Kent; and 44 Onslow Gardens, London.
£100.00

The collection is in good condition, with items on lightly aged and creased paper. Letter One (12 September 1951, Onslow Gardens; 12mo, 1 p, in envelope): As Kyrle Fletcher 'may have seen', Speaight is engaged in a biography of William Poel, and is 'anxious to trace the letters he received from Shaw & which were sold about 1930'. Kyrle Fletcher has docketed the envelope with a precis of his reply. Card (postmarked 14 September 1951): Thanking Kyrle Fletcher for his 'letter & most useful suggestions'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Walpole') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Horatio Walpole (1723-1809), 4th Baron Walpole, 2nd Baron Walpole of Wolterton, created Earl of Orford in 1806
Publication details: 
09/10/67
£105.00

4to: 3 pp. A bifolium, mounted onto a larger piece of paper by a strip along the inner margin of the verso of the second leaf. Separated horizontally into two parts by a central tear which has been neatly repaired with archival tape, but with the 39 lines of text clear and entire. A signficant letter regarding the political climate in the County of Norfolk in the period preceding the general parliamentary election of 1768.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jane Halliday') to an unnamed Lord of the Admiralty.

Author: 
Lady Jane Halliday [née Tollemache] (1750-1802), English society beauty painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds [Lord Hugh Seymour; the Royal Navy]
Publication details: 
Grove Cottage near Cowes'. Undated, but docketed '22 Sept: 1800'.
£120.00

4to, 1 p, 12 lines. Very good, on aged paper. Asking the recipient 'through this medium to recommend my son Lieut Halliday [Francis Halliday, born around 1776; fl. 1820] of the Thunderer, now at Jamaica, to the notice of Lord Hugh Seymour; Sir Hyde Parker has sent me an account of him, but to my great disappointment has not brought him Home - - - - - Francis has been six years in the East & West Indies & very attentive to his profession'. She feels sure that 'a line from yr. Lordship to Lord Hugh could not fail of being of great use to him'. Docketed on reverse 'Mem: Enquire abt.

One Typed Letter Signed, one Autograph Letter Signed, one Autograph Postcard initialled, all to Harry Paynter (one also to Paynter's wife), and a typescript annotated in Young's hand.

Author: 
Francis Brett Young, novelist.
Publication details: 
107 East 70th Street, 21 Nov. 1928, Esthwaite Lodge, Hawkshead, Nr. Ambleside, 31 March 1930, and (Postcard) Mamounia Hotel, Marrakesh, [1935?].
£220.00

Both letters, two pages, 8vo, stained and marked, but texts clear and complete. The Postcard is grubby (view of Marrakesh on front).

Seven Autograph Letters Signed and the unsigned first part of an eighth letter, all to his second son Charles John Manning (1799-1880); also a manuscript transcription of a memorial tablet to him.

Author: 
William Manning (1763-1835), Governor of the Bank of England, 1812-14; Deputy-Governor, 1810-12; Director, 1792-1831; West Indian merchant; father of Cardinal Henry Edward Manning [slavery]
Publication details: 
Five of the letters dated between 1827 and 1831.
£350.00

The collection is lightly aged and in good condition. Letter One (12mo, 3 pp), Oxford, 1 November 1827, signed 'W: M.': Begins by saying that he will be pleased to join Charles 'in the Lodging you propose or any other more to your mind - I had not fixed upon any plan, but thought once of being at Ellis's Hotel - (the Colonial Club House, St. James St.) Your proposal, however, I like much better.' He will 'much prefer being in the Regent Street on late Nights in the Ho. of Commons [Manning was also a Member of Parliament], as I found Wimpole St.

Autograph Note Signed to Thomas Hood, journalist, editor and poet.

Author: 
Cyrus Redding, journalist and editor (DNB)
Publication details: 
3 Hill Road, [St John's Wood], "Monday morning", undated [1846 or before?].
£100.00

One page, 8vo, corners frayed, one spot, text clear and complete. "I feared the objection you mentioned in your note, but I was willing to try 'The Spanish Page' [Velasco [or memoirs of a page, 3 vols, 1846?], as has been sometimes done, piecemeal, for it will be a long time before I shall be able to complete the three volumes. / I send you a small light article purely my own.

Autograph Letter Signed "W. Hone" to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
William Hone, Radical bookseller and publisher (DNB).
Publication details: 
5 Bolt Court, 18 June 1840.
£150.00

One page, minor staining not affecting text, laid down on grey coarse paper. "Here is the Cape Shipping List [perhaps including slavers?]. It's business-like details of murders by wholesale tell the cold blooded tales of horror more effectually than eloquent language. They [leave?] & lead the mind to imagine the terrible scenes enacted with poetical power which minute detail fails to [word excised "affect"] produce. I admire this brevity - it is inoffensively offensive. / I am grateful to you, my dear Sir, for your care of my daughter - your help to the helpless.

Autograph Letter Signed to John Childs of Bungay, Suffolk, printer, non-conformist, agitator, staunch nonconformist (DNB).

Author: 
J. Atkinson, [radical poet].
Publication details: 
London, 11 Jan. 1823.
£280.00

One page, folio, closely written, chipped with some loss of text, creases and small closed tears. Obviously close (he calls him "Jockie"), Atkinson touches on various radical matters and people in a relaxed, allusive and witty fashion. He initially discusses a poem he is putting togther which "Henry & David" wish to get printed under Childs auspices ("any idea or expression not harmonising with your taste & judgment tell me & I will amend it"). He will get the printer David Maurice (a friend; also see BBTI) to set it up.

Letter Signed "Sidmouth" to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Viscount Sidmouth, statesman (DNB), here "Home Secretary".
Publication details: 
Whitehall, 8 Dec. 1817.
£120.00

Two pages, 4to, copperplate text by secretary, fold marks, marks of sellotape (half inch square at most) at edge, small chip bottom corner,m text cleqar and complete. Sidmouth, who has received a letter in favour of the condemned John Vartie, forger, informs his correspondent that "the Case of this unfortunate Person had the most full and deliberate consideration, at the time when the Report was made to the Prince Regent in Council.

Autograph Note Signed ('Elisabeth') in English to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Elisabeth [Elizabeth] Ludovika of Bavaria (1801-1873), Princess of Bavaria and later Queen consort of Prussia as wife of King Frederick William IV of Prussia (1795-1861)
Publication details: 
Friday' [date not stated]; on letterhead of York House, Twickenham, S.W. [London].
£125.00

16mo (roughly 11 x 8 cm), 1 p. Creased and ruckled, and with slight discolouration from previous mounting, and with a piece of the mount adhering to the blank reverse. Reads 'My dear Sir | I thank you for your letter and the information it contained. I write to Paris to have PP' book as soon as it is out. | Yours truly | [signed] Elisabeth'. Signature stylized to the point of illegibility. Piece of mount docketed in contemporary hand 'Elizabeth late Queen of Prussia'.

Small archive of fourteen Typed Letters Signed and six Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Lawrence Chubb'), all addressed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Lawrence Wensley Chubb (1873-1948), pioneer Anglo-Australian environmental campaigner, first Secretary of the National Trust
Publication details: 
Between 4 June 1913 and 19 January 1917; three on letterhead of the Coal Smoke Abatement Society, the others on letterhead of the Commons & Footpaths Preservation Society.
£250.00

The collection is in good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. The fourteen typed letters are all 4to, 1 p; the autograph letters are all 12mo, three of them of two pages and three of one page. Largely concerned with a lecture given by Chubb to the R.S.A. in 1916 on 'the Preservation of Footpaths & Rights of Way', for which Chubb requests '1,000 or 1,250 cards of admission'. The subject, Chubb comments (21 July 1915), 'seems in itself sufficiently important and interesting to warrant special treatment, and in lecturing I mostly keep footpaths & commons quite separate.

[Billet Autographe Signée] Autograph Note Signed "F Barry" with a cover note by Eugene Philippe (on its verso) and a Letter Signed "[Etienne] Dujardin-Beaumetz" (1852-1913), sous secrétaire d'Etat aux Beaux-Arts, about Barry's works.

Author: 
François Barry, French artist
Publication details: 
No place for the former, but the docketing previously beneath the Note says 22 Aout 1805.
£300.00

{Note/Billet} One page, c.16 x 11cm, some marking but text clear and complete, but partly illegible as follows: "Il faudrait . . . fut . . . merci un . . . je te ferais alors un bien joli tableau / FBarry/" This note has been soake away from a larger piece of paper in poor condition. at the foot of which an unknown hand explained that "Ces quelques lignes sont les dernieres que Monsieur Barry aient ecrits. Elles datent de 22 Aout 1905.

[Thomas Tegg] Autograph Letter Signed to John Pitcairn, papermaker of Edinburgh (see SBTI).

Author: 
Thomas Tegg, publisher and bookseller (see DNB)
Publication details: 
London, 21 June 1822.
£180.00

Two pages, 4to,, creasing, minor damage and staining not affecting text. He sympathises with Pitcairn over a "loss" (his wife?) sympathising as "a husband and a father". The last time he was in Edinburgh he had little time at his disposal and didn't call on him. And "The moment my business is done I have no desire to stay." But he is visiting Edinburgh soon and will call, preferring that to writing. "In the meantime allow me to say that your charge for packing etc is a thing unheard of.

Autograph letter signed ('L'abbe Contrafatto'), in French, to Félix Barthe (1795-1863), French Minister of Justice.

Author: 
Joseph Contrafatto (b.1798) [l'abbé Contrafatto], Sicilian-born French priest; sentenced to hard labour for an 'affaire de mœurs'; imprisoned, 1827; released, 1845 [Félix Barthe; paedophilia]
Publication details: 
Brest le 15 Juin 1831' [Bagne de Brest].
£300.00

4to: 2 pp. Eighteen lines of text. Very good on aged paper. Docketed. Written while a convict at the Bagne de Brest. Titled by Contrafatto in top left-hand corner 'Direction des affaires Criminelles et des grâces.' Begins with a Latin quotation on the subject of crime and innocence, to which he adds the comment 'Quel est celui qui, plus que moi, ait le droit d'invoquer ce principe tutélaire?' In a six-line paragraph attempts to flatter Barthe ('[...] l'ornement du Barreau avant d'être appelé dans le conseil du Roi.

Autograph Note Signed "E. Scribe" to an unnamed friend and collaborator

Author: 
Eugene Scribe, playwright and librettist
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£200.00

One page, c.10 x 13cm, creased and dulled but text clear and complete. "Mon cher ami/ Voila tout ce wue j'ai et prenez garde d'egarer ce scenario du second acte - je n'en ai pas d'autre copie et s'il la perdait, je ne pourrai jamais me rappeler un seul mot du contiens.- / Mille [?] tendres amitiés et remerciements de votre aimable billet -"

Two Autograph Letters Signed "Augte Viquesnel" to an unnamed correspondent. In French [En Francais]

Author: 
[TURKEY] Auguste Viquesnel (1803-1867), author of "Voyage dans la Turquie d'Europe"
Publication details: 
Paris, 7 June 1847 and Seaux, 14 August [1854?].
£120.00

One page each, 8vo, minor stains and creasing, good condition. (1847) He describes a colleague, a "M. de La Roquette", for some years Secretary to the "Societe de geographie". whom he understands to be working on Turkey. "Je me [?] de lui indiquer un ouvrage Special sur Constantinople, son historie, ses monuments . . . " He wishes to avail himself of his correspondent's knowledge of "bibliographie" to help his colleague.

Autograph Letter Signed "Ch. Lemire" to Jules Gros, "Publiciste, Paris".

Author: 
Charles Lemire, Administrateur colonial, Explorateurauthority on Indo-China [Vietnam; Cambodia; Laos]
Publication details: 
Trelage pres Angers, 21 Octobre 1883. In French.
£225.00

Two pages, 8vo, good condition. He has sent Gros a brochure "sur l'Instruction publique en australie." Also, on the advice of his editor, Challamel, he has sent Gros his volumes on Indo-China, Caledonia and Australia further to a promise that he would cite them in his studies on "les mouvements geographiques.". He wants to be informed when they have arrived. He is also about to publish another book on Indo-China and one on Caledonia with maps and illustrations.

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Stéphane Flachat, Ingénieur, Engineer.
Publication details: 
No place, 12 Janvier 1830.
£280.00

One page, minor damage and staining marginally affecting text, which has lost one letter, as follows: "D'après l'autorisation que mon frère [Eugène Flachat, eminent engineer] m'a transmise de votre part, je prends la liberté de vous demander un rendez-vous, pour vour entretenir du Canal maritime, et vous soumettre notamment la partie des plans de cette entreprise qui interesse plus spécialement la ville de Paris.

Official Letter Signed "Ph. Loverat [?]", "[Printed] Le Maire de la Ville de Coni [in Italy], Baron de l'Empire, Membre de la Legion d'honneur TO "Monsieur Le Prefet du Dep. Comte de L'Empire".

Author: 
{Birthday Celebration of Napoléon François Joseph Charles, King of Rome, b.1811]
Publication details: 
Departement de la Stu Ra/ Ville de Coni Chef-Lieu/ Division/ Section./ .../ Objet Fête du Roi de Rome", 22 May 1811.
£150.00

One page, sm. folio, good condition. "Monsieur / J'ai L'honneur de vous adresser, M. Le Comte, copie conforme de l'acte de seance du conseil municipal en date 18 du courant, parle quel 3000 Francs ont été mis a ma disposition pour célebrer la fête de la naissance de S.M. Le Roy de Rome et je vous adresse dans la meme tem[p]s le programme dressé pour la dite fête. / Et daignez . . ."

Two Letters Signed "Ducros" (body of letters secretarial) to "Monsignor" and (presuambly the same party) Monsignor Pacca "maestro di Camera di Sua Santita".

Author: 
[J.] Ducros, ingénieur
Publication details: 
Hotel de la Minerva, Rome, 23 avril 1857 and 5 octobre 1857
£50.00

One page each, 4to, sl. chipped. (avril)He requests an audience with a Cardinal and concludes with a statement about himself: "Ingénieur en chef au Corps impérial des Ponts et Chausées; ingénieur en chef de la Compagnie du Chemin de fer de Rome à Ceprano." (octobre) requesting another (?0 audience (or is it the same one?)

Autograph Letter Signed ('h. f.') to 'Madame [Eliza] Thomas'.

Author: 
Henri-Jérôme-Marie Fournel (1799-1876), French civil engineer, geologist and disciple of Saint-Simon [Algeria]
Publication details: 
1 September 1842 ('4h du matin'); place not stated.
£200.00

8vo bifolium, 3 pp. 57 lines of text. Addressed on verso of second leaf of bifolium, with circular postmark in black ink, to 'Madame Thomas, chateau de marville, près et par St. Denis (Banlieue de Paris).' Good, on lightly creased and aged paper, with slight damage to second leaf from breaking of wafer. Text clear and entire, in a difficult, indiosyncratic hand. An interesting and significant letter, announcing Fournel's appointment to the post which would result in his greatest achievement.

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