Autograph Letters

Visiting card with autograph message.

Author: 
Duchesse d'Uzes
Publication details: 
Bonnelles, 10 October 1913.
£35.00

Card, 8 x 6 cm, black border. [Printed] "Duchesse d'Uzès / Douairière" with the autograph message on both sides of the card, "Laissez-moi rire d'abord et ensuite dites-moi ce que je dois lui répondre. Avec toutes mes amitiés."

Seven Autograph Letters Signed to "Monsieur Villenard, Directeur des Annales Politiques et Littéraires de Paris".

Author: 
Noel de la Morinière, L'Inspecteur des Pêches Maritimes, author of socientific books on Fish and Fishing.
Publication details: 
[Printed heading for three] Peches Maritimes de France. Inspection. L'Inspecteur des Peches marimtimes, 1817-1818.
£200.00

One page each, 4to, good condition.

Autograph Letter Signed "Desse d'Uzès"

Author: 
Duchesse d'Uzes [Adrienne Anne Marie Clementine de Rochechouart - Mortemart].
Publication details: 
(Headed, with insignia] 76 Avenue des Champs Elysees, no date. In French.
£56.00

Two pages, 8vo, good condition. Text as follows: "Non, Monsieur, je ne fonde pas, un journal, mais je sais qu'on m'a demande mon avis au sujet d'un journal qui va je crois se fonder, et j'ai repondre que j'approuvais absolument l'idee; mais la se bornent mes pouvoirs. C'est a Mr le Vicomte [Pinty?], 5 rue Malar (quai d'Orsay) qu'il faut vous adresser. Voyez Monsieur . .

Fragment of Autograph Statement or Letter Signed (last page).

Author: 
Alessandro Chiapelli, Italian philosopher
Publication details: 
No place or date on this page.
£85.00

One page, 8vo, text as follows (square brackets when I can't read the Italian): "mova, come le antiche che la [?] a maestro d' sapienza politica e d'arte luminosa, è e [infende?] d'essere [affermazinne?] d'cultura e d'intellectualita. Il chiedere a gran voce l'istituzione d'una universitata italiana d'una universita italiana a Trieste, è [?] [affermaginnne?] d'italianita & d'civita: e nessu no [?] contrastar quella, senza rinnegar questa."

Two Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed correspondent ("Mon cher maitre et excellent ami")

Author: 
Herve Mangon, French engineer.
Publication details: 
Ste Maries du mont, 31 July 1872 and 14 July 1876
£95.00

Total 5pp., 8vo, good condition. (1872) Family matters and the election to the Bureau des Longitudes. (1876) He is going to Caen for the "inauguration de la statue de Mr E. de Beaumont". He is unhappy about "le chain fait par l'academie, car il n'a rien de scientifique et il est blessant pour un homme bon et excellent entre tous, votre ami Mr Dancour."

[Autograph?] Letter signed "Le Carpentier" to the "Citoyen Ministre de l'interieur".

Author: 
Le Carpentier [L'Hospice des Vieillards, Paris].
Publication details: 
4 Quai Voltaire, Paris, le 6 Thermidor an4e [1797].
£56.00

One page, folio, foxed, clipped with some minor loss, but text clear. A request on behalf of "La Citoyenne Nicolle Guiot de St Amand" to be granted a place in L'Hospice des Vieilards ("fauxbourg St Martin"). "Elle a ete jusqu'a present a la charge de ses parens, que les circonstances presentes ne permettent plus de venir a son secours [signature] de St. Amand." This is follwo0ed by the appeal by Le Carpentier on her behalf since he can no longer help her. Notes in the margin in a different hand reveal that Citoyenne St Amand has "a peu pres 200ff[?] de rentes"

Autograph Note Signed to "Monsieur Lucas de Montigny, Chef de Division a la Prefecture, Rue de Petit-Vaugirard, no. 9.

Author: 
Stéphane Flachat, Ingénieur, Engineer.
Publication details: 
"Samedi matin", no place or date.
£95.00

One page, minor damage not affecting text, as follows: "D'apres a que vous avez bien voulu dire a mon frère [the eminent engineer Eugène Flachat], je viens vous demander a quelle heure, je poussais avoir l'honneur de vous voir demain dimanche; j'ai toute ma matinée a votre disposition, jusqu'à trois heures. / J'ai l'honneur . . ."

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Chief Jonathan M. Moshoesh [Moshesh, Moshoeshoe, Mshweshwe] , of modernday Lesotho [Basutoland]
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated (but between 1905 and 1913).
£100.00

Dimensions roughly 2.3 x 11.5 cms. On paper with three vertical rules. Reads 'chief Jonathan M. Moshoesh'. Neatly laid down on larger piece of grey paper (roughly 6 x 12 cms), docketed in a contemporary hand 'Basuto chief called Jonathan. He is the biggest chief in Basutoland after "Letsia", the Paramount Chief & next to the throne, being Uncle to "Letsia" who has no heir.' From the reference to childlessness 'Letsia' is clearly Parmount Chief Letsie II Lerotholi, who reigned between 1905 and 1913.

[Headed "The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society] Four Typed Letters Signed, to Sir Henry Trueman Wood (2), S. Digby (1) and G. K. Menzies (1), of the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir John H. Harris [SLAVERY]
Publication details: 
3 and 6 March 1917, and 31 January and 25 March 1918; all four on letterhead of the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society.
£85.00

Campaigner against slavery and colonial exploitation in Africa (1874-1940) and Liberal MP for North Hackney, 1923-24. All four items one page, quarto. All in good condition, though on somewhat discoloured paper. Two items docketed in pencil and two bearing the Society's stamp. ITEM ONE: He hopes to be present at Dr. Max Horn's lecture, and wants to know whether the Society is 'publishing the lecture by Mr. Wilson Fox on Imperial Resources'. He thinks he should join the Society, 'if not now soon after the war', and asks to be sent the conditions of membership.

Envelope front, franked “Clarence”.

Author: 
William IV
Publication details: 
No date.
£50.00

William IV (1765-1937).Envelope front, c.6 x 3.5", franked “Clarence”, to Herbert Taylor.

Four Autograph Letters Signed by Florrie Cockle (one signed 'Florrie Cockle (soon Iggulden)' and another 'Willie and Florrie'); one Autograph Letter Signed ('Birt') by Birt Cockle; all to their sisters Kate and Maggie.

Author: 
Florrie Cockle and Albert ('Birt') Cockle [Willie Iggulden; Boer War; South Africa]
Publication details: 
East London, South Africa; 1898 and 1899.
£150.00

Very good, on aged and lightly creased paper. Six long letters to family in England written during a turbulent period in South African history. Affectionate, chatty, and written from a lower-middle-class point of view (Florrie: 'we always have an h[ou]r., when I change my dress for the afternoon after dinner'). Mostly dealing with family matters. Letter One (from 'Florrie', 4 September 1898, 'P.O. East London, South Africa', 4to: 4 pp): tells an amusing story about Birt, a cart and a goat. Letter Two (from 'Florrie', 11 September 1898, address as Letter One, 4to: 2 pp).

Ten Autograph Letters Signed and a Signed secretarial Letter (eight signed 'Victor Meunier' and three 'V Meunier'), all in French, to individuals including Charles Nodier, Pierre-Simon Ballanche and (with Autograph Signed reply) Jean-Augustin Barral.

Author: 
Victor Meunier (1817-1903), French author and journalist; editor of 'Cosmos', the 'Revue Synthétique', and 'L’Ami des Sciences' [Charles Nodier; Pierre-Simon Ballanche; Jean-Augustin Barral]
Publication details: 
Five undated, the others between 1856 and 1876; from a number of addresses including the offices of 'L'ami des sciences', 'Cosmos' and the 'Revue Synthétique', Paris.
£350.00

The collection is in good condition, on lightly aged and slightly creased paper. Text of all items clear and entire. Letter One: to Jean-Augustin Barral (12 June 1862, from 33 Rue de Vaugirard, 8vo, 2 pp, 30 lines). He has received 'les premières feuilles de votre notice', and has been prevented from coming to London by 'un rhumatisme articulaire'. On the recto of the second leaf of the bifolium is Barrel's nine-line autograph reply, signed 'J. A. Barrel' and dated 'Londres 16 juin 1862'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jules Simon'), in French, to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Jules Simon [François-Jules Suisse; Jules François Simon (1814-1896)], French philosopher and politician, one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans; member of the Académie française
Publication details: 
dimanche' [no date]; on letterhead of the 'SÉNAT'.
£100.00

12mo: 1 p. Fourteen lines of text. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Simon is unwell. His correspondent may have noticed that he did not see him the day before or on the day of writing: and although he is feeling better it is unlikely that he will see him the following day. This irritates Simon greatly. 'Je desirais causer avec vous de ce ue vous savez. J'espère que je pourrai aller au journal et vous y rencontrer mardi.' Three lines of docketing in a contemporary hand at foot.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Colladon' | professeur à l Ecole Centrale') to 'Monsieur le Directeur Général des Douanes, Paris'.

Author: 
Jean-Daniel Colladon (1802-1893), Swiss physicist and engineer, Professor of Mechanics at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Paris [Eugène Flachat (1802-1873)] [steam engines; railway]
Publication details: 
27 January 1835; 'à Lyon chez Messieurs Pine Des Granges', on letterhead of the École.
£200.00

4to bifolium: 2 pp, with address on otherwise-blank second leaf. Very good on lightly aged paper. Slight wear to extremities. A significant document, casting light on the relative states of engineering in early nineteenth-century France and England, and the role of the scientist in France at that time.

Autograph Letter Signed, in French, to the Paris bookseller Paul Daffis.

Author: 
Eugène Flachat (1802-1873), French civil engineer who worked on the first French passenger railway (Paris-Le Pecq, 1837), on the Paris-Rouen line and the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, 1851 [steam engines]
Publication details: 
26/02/59
£85.00

12mo: 1 p. Fifteen lines of text. Good, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Minor foxing. Difficult hand. Begins 'Je voudrais avoir cette année la collection des Documents parlementaire qui seront distribué au corps legislatif. | Autrefois j'étais abonné pour une petite somme [...]'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Fevret e St. Mémin | Consr. du Musée de Dijon'), in French, to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770-1852). French engraver painter and Conservateur du Musée de Dijon [Fevret de St. Mésmin; Févret de St. Mesmin; Fevret de St Mesmin; St. Mémin]
Publication details: 
Dijon le 1r. octobre 1842.'
£125.00

4to: 2 pp. 26 lines. He is totally flattered by the obliging comments of the recipient in sending the first three issues of 'l'Artiste'. Discusses the merits of this 'intéressant ouvrage'. Describes the limited 'coopération' he will be able to provide. 'J'espere ainsi que vous voudrez bien vous contenter de l'envoi que j'ai l'honneur de vous faire de la notice, dernièrement publiée, du musée que je dirige, dont la 1re et la 4e.

Secretarial note in French, signed by Flachat.

Author: 
Eugène Flachat (1802-1873), French civil engineer who worked on the first French passenger railway (Paris-Le Pecq, 1837), on the Paris-Rouen line and the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, 1851 [steam engines]
Publication details: 
23 February 1856; Paris.
£56.00

12mo: 1 p. Good, on lightly creased paper. Reads 'Je remets à Mr Pulin, porteur de la présente, la lettre de Mr Savoye pour l'aider à retirer les exemplaires des médailles et les diplômes donnés à MM les Membres du Jury.' Presumably relating to the awarding of prizes at an industrial exhibition.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Edouard Lockroy | député | 21 Rue de Clichy'), in French, to an unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Édouard Lockroy (1838-1913), French left-wing politician; secretary to Ernest Renan; fought with Garibaldi; signed the proclamation for the election of the Paris Commune
Publication details: 
21 March 1878; on letterhead of the Chambre des Députés, Paris.
£65.00

12mo: 1 p. Fifteen lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Docketed in a contemporary hand at head. Headed 'Madame'. Asking whether she would be willing to lend her 'admirable talent à une oeuvre d'instruction populaire', a matinée by 'Les membres de la bibliothèque du 17: arrondissement'.

Carte de Visite with autograph note in French.

Author: 
Le Père Ollivier des Frères-Prêcheurs [Marie-Joseph Ollivier (1835-1910)], French cleric and author [la Vicomtesse de Sousberghé]
Publication details: 
Kain: 31 décember 1909'.
£28.00

Dimensions 5 x 9 cm. Good, with traces of glue from previous mounting on blank reverse. Dated in autograph in top right-hand corner. Printed on the card in copperplate is 'Le Père Ollivier | des Frères-Prêcheurs'. Beneath this, in a neat close hand, are four lines in autograph. Despite the fact that he is weighed down by rheumatism, which has paralyzed his right hand, he is writing 'à grand' peine' to wish Madame la Vicomtesse de Sousberghé and family best wishes for a happy new year. 'Ils sont offerte de grand cœur.'

Note with Signature ('E Lockroy'), in French, to an unnamed male correspondent, probably written by a secretary.

Author: 
Édouard Lockroy (1838-1913), French left-wing politician; secretary to Ernest Renan; fought with Garibaldi; signed the proclamation for the election of the Paris Commune
Publication details: 
2 January 1882; on letterhead of the Chambre des Députés, Paris.
£28.00

12mo: 1 p. Text clear and entire, on aged and lightly-stained paper. Reads 'Cher ami. | Je vous envois une demande d'admission dans notre société, avec pièces à l'appui que je recommendre à tous vos soins. | Votre bien devoue. | [signed] E Lockroy'. Although attributed to Lockroy in a contemporary hand in pencil at the head of the letter, this document appears to be by a secretary, as the handwriting differs from his (see #6997).

Autograph Note Signed (illegibly as usual) to "Mr Tuckwell" (prob. Rev. Tuckwell, see new DNB).

Author: 
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt.
Publication details: 
[Place illegible]6 Jan.1888.
£120.00

Traveller, poet, diarist, etc. Two pages, 8vo, good condition. "I fear I cannot allow you to reprint the story of Mr Balfour's conversation on any authority of mine. I trust the [worst?] by coercion is pretty well over now in Ireland, and as all here are in excellent heatr I feel far more hopeful than I have been for some time."

Typed Letter Signed ('Violet Astor') to 'Miss Morland', as 'Chairman, Middlesex Hospital Rose Day Committee'.

Author: 
Violet Astor, Lady Astor of Hever [née Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound] (1889-1965), wife of John Jacob Astor
Publication details: 
14 June 1932; on letterhead of The Middlesex Hospital, W.1.
£35.00

4to: 1 p. On grubby, aged paper, with crease to one corner. Laid down on a leaf removed from an autograph album. Thanking the recipient for 'selling Roses in the Middlesex Hospital Area' on 'Alexandra Rose Day'. 'The total sum collected in our Area amounted to £680. 10s. 6d. which is most satisfactory, and I do hope you will feel rewarded for your trouble and fatigue by this very gratifying result.' Docketed at foot 'Viscount Astor'.

Autograph Letter, in the third person, to 'Mr. Lee [sic]', giving commission bids on eight lots in a forthcoming sale.

Author: 
Mr Howell of Craven Street, the Strand, London [Leigh and Sotheby; Sotheby's; book auctions; auctioneering; auction catalogues]
Publication details: 
Feb. 2d. 1815. Craven Street.'
£56.00

12mo bifolium: 1 p, on recto of first leaf, with address on verso of second leaf. Grubby, and with spike hole and tear to outer edge through both leaves, that on the first neatly repaired on the reverse with archival tape. Text complete and entirely legible. 'Mr. Howell will be obliged to Mr. Lee if in addition to the Douglass case Lot 708, He will purchase Lot 213 'Discovery Witches' [...]'. A further seven bids follow. The note ends 'Mr Howell will thank Mr Lee will [sic] bear in mind, that these purchases will be upon condition of the books being in good order and perfect'.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Lieutenant J. Longshaw, of His Majesty's Brig Tyrian [Ireland; Irish; textile; textiles; weaving]
Publication details: 
Tyrian July 3d. 1813 Spithead.'
£56.00

8vo: 1 p. Sixteen lines of text. The Tyrian arrived in Spithead the previous night 'with a Convoy', and the postal delay prevented him 'from fulfilling Mrs. P's Commission'. They 'remained three days in Ireland' and 'had a good passage there and Back': 'but as we may frequently have the trip, I shall keep it in Memory, I have bought over Two pieces. Enclosed are Patterns of Eight Yards each We call them Poplins, but these are Manufactured only at Dublin and by the Natives called '. States what he paid and sends respects. Docketed on reverse in a contemporary hand.

Calling card (printed) with autograph message.

Author: 
Princesse Sarah Karageorgevitch
Publication details: 
No place or date
£25.00

Card, c.3 x 2 inches, good condition. The name and address are printed, and a message is added in the hand of the Princess: Docteur Votre livre m'a beaucoup interesse et je vous remercie encore une fois".

Autograph Letter Signed ('Alaric Watts') [to Mr Limbird?].

Author: 
Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts] (1797-1864), English journalist and poet [keepsakes; The Literary Souvenir]
Publication details: 
28 November 1828; 58 Torrington Square, London.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. On aged, creased apper, but with text clear and entire. A small piece of paper from a bottom corner has been torn away in opening the letter, and is still present on the reverse, under a red wax seal bearing a clear impression of a lyre and the words 'Addolcire ed Maturare'. Brief communication apologising for the fact that the Literary Souvenir has not reached him sooner. 'The omission is the sin of my booksellers and not mine'. He is sending a copy with the letter, and asks him to accept his thanks, 'for your courtesy'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Herman C. Merivale') to the London publisher Samuel French. With a printed subscription form, filled in by Merivale.

Author: 
Herman Charles Merivale (1839-1906), English playwright and novelist [victorian publisher Samuel French, of 89 The Strand, London; James Robinson Planché]
Publication details: 
Letter: 25 April 1879; on embossed letterhead of the Union Club, Brighton. Subscription form: undated.
£56.00

Letter: 12mo, 1 p. Grubby and stained. He 'did not mention the Planché-affair' in his letter of the day before. Asks for his name to be put down 'for a copy of the book' [French's edition of Planché's 'Extravaganzas']. The subscription form (12mo, 1 p), heavily worn and with loss to the extremities, is laid down on the reverse of the letter. On it Merivale gives his address as 'Barton Lodge, Kingston on Thames'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J A Hammerton') to 'My Dear Shorter' [Clement King Shorter (1857-1926)].

Author: 
Sir John Alexander Hammerton (1871-1949), author and editor of reference works
Publication details: 
6 November 1925; on letterhead of 54 Shepherd's Hill, Highgate, London.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp, and 8vo, 1 p. A little grubby and creased, but with text clear and entire. He is sorry that Shorter was not able to visit the Chateaux of the Loire, but hopes that 'the sea air of Dieppe' has done him good. The year before Shorter's death, Hammerton writes: 'But you must really cease this brink-of-the-grave touch! Ten years hence, from an inglenook at Knockmoroon [where Shorter would die], you will wonder why you were anticipating the "closing down" of C.K.S.

Autograph Note Signed.

Author: 
Beryl Bainbridge (b.1932), English novelist
Beryl Bainbridge.
Publication details: 
After 1975.
£28.00
Beryl Bainbridge.

On one side of a piece of paper, dimensions 19.5 x 21 cm. Lightly creased. Presumably in response to a request for an autograph. Reads 'Is there a life before Death? | (slogan chalked on wall in Northern Ireland, 1975) | Yours sincerely | [signed] Beryl Bainbridge.' Firm sprawling signature.

Autograph Letter Signed ('B Wyon') to 'J. Salland Esq.'.

Author: 
Benjamin Wyon (1802-1858), English die-engraver [Salford; Manchester; Lancashire; numismatics; coins; medals]
Publication details: 
19 December 1844; 287 Regent Street, London.
£45.00

12mo, 1 p, 7 lines. Good, on light aged paper, with 1 cm closed tear to top corner (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). Reads 'I regret having to inform you that the Salford Mayoralty Seal has broken all to pieces in the process of hardening and that I am afraid that I am obliged to engrave another which I am proceeding with as expeditiously as possible'.

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