Autograph Letters

Autograph Letter Signed ('L. Lalanne') to 'Monsieur Sisson' ('Mon cher capitaine').

Author: 
Léon Lalanne [Léon Louis Chrétien Lalanne] (1811-1892), French engineer and mathematician [or, I'm told, his brother!]
Publication details: 
9 February [no year]; no place.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp, 11 lines. Concerns the 'porteur de ce billet', a 'M. Laudet', who has been the victim of 'un affreux malentendu'. 'Le malheureux perdait sa femme au moment où il manquait une garde'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. I Lockhart) to 'Isaac Espinasse Esq one of the Benchers of the H. S. of Grays Inn &c. &c &c -'.

Author: 
John Ingram Lockhart [John Wastie from 1832] (c.1765-1835), Radical Member of Parliament for the City of Oxford [Isaac Espinasse (1758-1834)] [Robert Nares (1753-1829)?]
Publication details: 
Tubney Lodge, Abingdon'. Undated [on paper watermarked 'BUTTANSHAW | 1809'].
£45.00

4to, 1 p. Good, though lightly aged and creased. He apologises for the liberty he takes in addressing Espinasse 'as one of the Benchers of Grays Inn', and hopes it is not 'wholly improper' for him 'to say a word in favor of Mr Nares, and [sic] old fellow Colegian [sic] of mine [Lockhart was educated at University College, Oxford], who is a candidate for the Chaplaincy of your Society'. Describes Nares as 'an honorable & learned man, a good divine, exceedingly well connected'. Considers that he 'will prove [...] an acquisition to the Society'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Legentil') to 'Monsieur Tessier, Secretaire de la Société des Inventeurs 16 Rue N/Dame des Victoires'.

Author: 
Charles Legentil, Parisian industrialist (Chambre de Commerce, 1831-1855; Régent de la Banque de France,1844-1855)
Publication details: 
12 September 1846; Paris.
£50.00

4to, 1 p, 18 lines. Addressed on verso of second leaf of bifolium. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper with a few closed tears along folds. Written in French. He regrets that he cannot respond to the appeal that Tessier has made on behalf of the Société des Inventeurs. When he retired from business he thought he would have 'des moments de loisir', but the experience of each day teaches him the contrary, and his time has never been so occupied.

Part of an Autograph Letter Signed "Pelham F. Warner" to an unknown correspondent.

Author: 
Pelham Warner, cricketer and writer on cricket.
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£28.00

Piece cut from letter, c.3.5 x 2",, good condition. Surviving text as follows: "into something entirely to what he had lead [sic] me to expect, to take up which I would certainly not have left my land .......[excised] ....[overleaf] worrying you./ I am/ yrs tly/ Pelham F. Warner."

One Autograph Letter and one Autograph Note both Signed "P. Hoare.Signed

Author: 
Prince Hoare, artist and playwright.
Publication details: 
Buckingham Street, 11 Oct. 1812 and Beckenham, 26 Aug. 1810.
£120.00

Total 3pp., 4to, creasesedges dulled, odd spot, mainly good condition. (1810) He humorously asks for an enclosed letter (not present) be forwarded to a Mrs Nooth (named on address panel). (1812) He gives a gracious and witty apology, outlining the circumstances. According to an information sheetprfepared by the firm of H.P. Kraus these items are from the Library of Sir Thomas Phillipps. Two items,

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Walter de la Mare, writer
Publication details: 
The old Park, Penn, Bucks, 15 Jan. 1941.
£100.00

Two pages, c. 7 x 5", good condition. He discusses his correspondent's request (via his publishers, Constable) to include five of his poems in an anthology. "One of these, 'Tartary', is taken from a collection entitled 'Songs of Childhood, which is published by Messrs Longman Green & Co." He asks him to write to them directly, and for the name of the publishers of the anthology. His fee is usually £3 gns. "Perhaps you will let me know what the published price of your anthology will be".

Autograph Postcard Signed "Cecil" to Kenneth Bredon, Brighton bookseller.

Author: 
Cecil Day-Lewis, writer
Publication details: 
[Mrs C. Day-Lewis's headed card - "Mrs" excised]
£35.00

Good condition. "Dear Kenneth / Many thanks for your congratulations - greatly appreciated. I hope all goes well with you & send best wishes for 1968." Day-Lewis had recently been appointed Poet Laureate.

Typed Note Signed "C Day -Lewis" to John Crosby, R.D.I., Waipukurai, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand..

Author: 
Cecil Day-Lewis, writer
Publication details: 
[Chatto and Windus Ltd, publishers, headed notepaper], London, 8 Feb. 1968.
£30.00

One page, 8vo, good condition. "I have pleasure in sending you my autograph."

Autograph Letter Signed to Richard Byham, Secretary to the Board of Ordnance, Pall Mall.

Author: 
James Hammond of the Ordnance Office, Jersey [Revolutions of 1848; French Royal Family; Louis XVIII; Board of Ordnance; Ordnance Office, Pall Mall]
Publication details: 
2 March 1848; Jersey.
£150.00

12mo, 3 pp. Ruckled and stained, with the verso of the second leaf of the bifolium (carrying the address) laid down on a leaf detached from an autograph album. The 'Royal Family of France' are causing 'a very deep interest' and 'a portion of them have found their way to this Island'. He reports that the 'Duchesse d'Orleans and her two Sons, and the Duc de Montpensier have arrived here from Granville - they were brought over by a Jersey Boat the Master of which has been most liberally rewarded'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Leslie Rundle') to 'My dear General'.

Author: 
Leslie Rundle [Sir Henry Macleod Leslie Rundle] (1856-1934), British army officer
Publication details: 
31 July 1904; on letterhead of Government House, York.
£56.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good on lightly-aged paper. He has 'written to the necessary authorities' about his correspondent's son. 'Of course it will largely depend on which Slade [Lt-Gen. Frederick George Slade (b.1851), C.B.] says about him, as I do not know your son personally - though his record reads an exceptionally good one.' He is sorry to hear about his correspondent's brother's death: 'he was always very kind' to Rundle.

Letter in a secretarial hand, Signed by Méline ('J. Méline') as 'Président du Conseil' and 'Ministre de l'Agriculture', to 'Monsieur le Général Tournier | Secrétaire Général de la Présidence de la République'.

Author: 
Félix Jules Méline [Felix Jules Meline] (1838-1925), French Prime Minister, 1896-1898 [Tournier]
Publication details: 
13 February 1897; Paris, on letterhead of 'République Française | Présidence du Conseil | Cabinet du Président'.
£120.00

8vo, 1 p, 13 lines. Very good on lightly aged and creased paper. Docketed in red pencil in another hand. Lists the names of three couples, 'appartenant au cercle de mes relations', who would dearly like to receive 'invitations pour les fétes données au Palais de l'Elysee'. Méline would be 'vivement heureux' if Tournier could give 'satisfaction' to this desire. A good firm signature on a document written during Méline's term as French President.

Typed Note Signed to "E. Thomson".

Author: 
John Drinkwater, writer
Publication details: 
[Printed headed notepaper] 4 Ashburn Gardens, London, SW7, 26 Aug. 1922.
£35.00

One page, c.7 x 5", good condition. "Thank you for your letter. As to trhe hymn, I daresay it may have been a chance shot of mine although I have a notion that I did confirm it at the time. Herrick I assumed to have his poems circulating in manuscript for some time before the publication of 'Hesperides'."

Autograph Note Signed ('E. de Jonquieres'), on visiting card, to 'Monsieur Lalanne, Conservateur de la Bibliothèque de l'Institut'.

Author: 
Ernest de Jonquières (1820-1901), French naval officer and mathematician [Léon Lalanne [Léon Louis Chrétien Lalanne] (1811-1892), French engineer and mathematician]
Publication details: 
9 July 1886; Paris.
£56.00

Written on both sides of the card, dimensions 5.5 x 9 cm. Good, with a little light scuffing on the front. Communication between two leading lights of French nineteenth-century mathematics. Printed text reads 'VICE-AMIRAL DE JONQUIERES | MEMBRE DE L'INSTITUT | AVENUE BUGEAUD, 2'. Asks Lalanne to 'inscrire Monsieur Bonnaffé, lauréat de l'Institut, parmi les lecteurs'.

Autograph Letter Signed "A Bennett Smith / Annie S. Swan" to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Annie S. Swan, novelist
Publication details: 
Cecil House, Hertford, 17 June [no year given].
£75.00

Two pages, 8vo, punch-holes (with loss of one or two letters), closed tear and a small hole in the corner (with some rust marks), but text clear and complete. "In my opinion it is impossible to over estimate the value and importance of the work being done for the troops at home and abroad by the YMCA. I speak from first hand knowledge when I say that the soldiers themselves are ever ready to acknowledge the sympathy, spiritual help and material kindness which the Association bes[ow] upon them in the camps."

Autograph Letter Signed ('Rennell Rodd | priv: sec:') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
James Rennell Rodd (1858-1941), 1st Baron Rennell, English diplomat and classical scholar
Publication details: 
13 September 1888; on official letterhead from the British Embassy, Berlin.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp, 10 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, with scrap of brown paper mount adhering in top right-hand corner on the reverse (not affecting text). Concerns a volume which 'has been duly forwarded to Count Seckendorff, Comptroller of the Household of Her Majesty the Emperess Frederick'. The Ambassador Sir Edward Malet has asked Rodd to express to the correspondent 'his personal thanks for the second copy you were good enough to forward to him'.

Autograph Signature ('H. Martineau') on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), English writer and journalist
Publication details: 
26 December [no year]; Ambleside.
£45.00

Irregularly-shaped (like an 'L') piece of paper, cut from the head of a letter with a mourning border. Dimensions (very roughly) 4 and 3 cm high and 7 cm wide. Good, with minor traces of two tissue mounts adhering to reverse. The following written vertically across three lines of writing: 'to all your family, & I am, dear Sir, truly yours | [signed] H. Martineau'. The remains of the three lines acoss which the above is written read: '<...> dear Sir | <...> I am | <....> ur sister <...>'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed ('M Asquith' and 'Margot Asquith'), both to the Editor of the London Daily Graphic Harold Edward Lawton.

Author: 
Margot Asquith [Emma Alice Margaret Asquith] (1864-1945), Countess of Oxford and Asquith
Publication details: 
3 and 8 December 1920; the first on letterhead of 44 Bedford Square, London W.C.1, and the second on letterhead of The Wharf, Sutton Courtney, Berkshire.
£100.00

Both items written in pencil and good, on lightly aged paper, with their stamped and postmarked envelopes addressed by Asquith. Both envelopes with traces of brown paper mount adhering to reverse, and both docketed by the Graphic's editor 'To me Harold Lawton'. Letter One (12mo, 4 pp, headed 'Private'): Amusingly outraged letter regarding a visit by 'two gentlemen' of whom Asquith 'had no sort of knowledge'. Graphic journalists, they assured Asquith 'that nothing wd. be written about me without my seeing it first [last five words underlined in red]'.

2 Autograph Letters Signed by Close (both 'C. F. Close') to Dawkins; and one Typed Letter Signed ('H. R. Douglas') from Douglas to Close.

Author: 
Sir Charles Close [Sir Charles Frederick Arden-Close] (1865-1952), surveyor and geographer; Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Percy Douglas (1876-1939) [Sir Wiliam Boyd Dawkins (1837-1929), geologist]
Publication details: 
Close's letters: 17 and 24 April 1926, both on letterhead of Coytbury, St. Giles's Hill, Winchester; Douglas's letter: 23 April 1926, on letterhead of the Hydrographic Department, Admiralty, Whitehall, London, S.W.1.
£100.00

All three letters good, on lightly aged paper. Close's first letter (12mo, 2 pp): He is pleased to hear 'that Professor O. T. Jones is convalescent and back at work'. Close will write to him to ask if he will take part in the 'Commission' on the 'Terrasses littorales'. Having none 'handy', he is writing to the Admiralty Hydrographer for a 'list of Admiralty Charts'. The Closes have 'settled to take a house in Jersey for the children's holidays', so there is 'little chance of our being at Oxford for the British Association meeting'.

Autograph Letter to 'Monsieur Delacroix'.

Author: 
Michel Alcan (1811-1877), 'ingénieur-professeur au Conservatoire des arts et métiers' [Ernest Stamm; Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)?]
Publication details: 
13 February 1860; Paris.
£28.00

4to, 1 p, 8 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper. Small indentation from paperclip in margin. Reads 'Monsieur Alcan prie Monsieur Delacroix de remettre au porteur le Testament (tissé) de Louis XVI, dont il a besoin pour le cours de ce soir au conservatoire des Arts et metier. | le preparateur du cours | Ernest Stamm | Paris le 13 fevrier 1860'. Loosely inserted in blue paper wraps with slip of an entry for the letter from a French autograph catalogue, misattributing it to Stamm.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Costaz') to 'Monsieur Dupont' and his son.

Author: 
Baron Louis Costaz (1767-1842), French mathematician and engineer
Publication details: 
19 October 1841; Mousseau.
£75.00

12mo, 1 p, 12 lines. Inviting 'M.M. Dupont, père et fils' to help him eat 'le civet d'un lievre qui a eu la Bêtise de se laisser tuer par une femme du hameau du Mousseau'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. de Freycinet') to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet (1828-1923), 43rd Prime Minister of France, 1879-1880
Publication details: 
7 July 1860; Bordeaux.
£85.00

12mo, 1 p, 20 lines. On grey paper, good, with a line of light offsetting from another document on the blank reverse. He wanted to read the work he has been sent before writing to acknowledge its receipt. 'Je suis trop peu de chose pour qu'un compliment de moi vous soit sensible'. He awaits the reprint with impatience, and regrets not having received a copy sooner. As for the introduction, he does not see how it could be changed. 'Ce que vous y dites sera toujours vrai et est aussi nouveau qu'il y a 19 ans'. The form is what one would expect 'd'un littérateur'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John W Burgon') to 'D[ear] L.'

Author: 
John William Burgon (1813–1888), Dean of Chichester and biblical scholar
Publication details: 
Wed[nesda]y [no date]; on letterhead of the Lower House of Convocation, Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster, S.W.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good on lightly aged paper. Folded twice. Traces of previous mount adhering to reverse of blank second leaf of bifolium. The recipient 'cannot be more conservative' than Burgon himself. 'But remember - it is the interpretation of the Rubric in question which is causing us all this difficulty.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George Stephen') to 'My dear Valentine'.

Author: 
Sir George Stephen (1794-1879), English abolitionist, lawyer and author
Publication details: 
22 August 1844; 17 Kings Arms Yard [London].
£85.00

Landscape 8vo (roughly 12 x 20 cm), 1 p, 8 lines. On creased and lightly aged paper. Text clear and entire. Stephen is afraid that Valentine's 'poor protegée will not [...] get much out of her claim!' Stephen cannot help her 'because litigation in a colony can only be conducted by a solicitor resident within it, and bad as we are reputed to be at home, they are far worse in the Colonies!' However he has 'written a strong professional letter for her that may perchance obtain an answer'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Sédillot, professeur d'histoire, Secrètaire du Collège de France') in French to 'Monsieur Le Maire' [of the XIe arrondissement of Paris].

Author: 
Louis Pierre Eugène Amélie Sédillot (1808-1875), French orientalist
Publication details: 
12 January 1849; on letterhead of the Collège de France.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. Good, on aged paper worn at extremities. Text clear and entire. Gives details of his placement in 1837 in the 'cadre de reforme de la Garde Nationale', and of the registration of the decision by the Mayor. 'Cette décision [...] m'est réclamée par le nouveau Sergent major de la compagnie, M. Alger, et je viens vous prier de m'en faire délivrer une copie dûment légalisée.'

Autograph Note in the third person to 'the Lord Mayor elect and the Sheriffs' of the City of London.

Author: 
George Tierney (1761-1830), Anglo-Irish Whig politician [Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832) of Kyllachy]
Publication details: 
Monday 9th. Inst. [no date]'.
£56.00

On piece of paper roughly 5.5 x 12 cm. Neatly laid down on a quarto leaf removed from an autograph album. Autograph and mount both damp-stained. Reads 'Mr Tierney presents his Compts to the Lord Mayor elect and the Sheriffs. will have the honor of waiting upon them Monday 9th Inst.' The leaf on which the autograph is mounted carries thirteen lines of biographical information in a nineteenth-century hand. Laid down on the reverse of the mount is an oval engraved portrait (not stated, but by William Ridley, published by Vernor & Hood, after John Opie), c.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Peter Clare, Secretary.') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Peter Clare, Secretary, The Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester [John Dalton; John James Tayler; Eaton Hodgkinson; John Eddowes Bowman]
Publication details: 
18 September 1839; 'Society's Rooms George Street Manchester'.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p, 10 lines. Forwarding a copy of a resolution passed by a meeting of the Society's Council on 17 September. The five line transcription of the resolution reads: 'Resolved That the following Gentlemen form the Printing Committee for the present year. Dr. Dalton [John Dalton (1766-1844), chemist], Rev. John James Tayler, Peter Clare, Eaton Hodgkinson [(1789-1861), engineer], John Davies & John Eddowes Bowman [botanist].'

Autograph Letter Signed ('henri Fournel') to the Parisian publisher and bookseller Duprat.

Author: 
Henri-Jérôme-Marie Fournel (1799-1876), French civil engineer, geologist and disciple of Saint-Simon [Algeria]
Publication details: 
4 August 1861; 'rue de la Chaussée d’Antin 58 bis', Paris.
£56.00

16mo (13 x 10.5 cm), 1 p, 8 lines of text. Good. Ordering a geographical work and referring (obscurely) to words with an arab flavour (hard to read).

Autograph Letter Signed 'Wm Fermor' to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
William Fermor (c.1738-1806) of Tusmore, Oxfordshire
Publication details: 
3 February 1803; Tusmore.
£38.00

4to, 2 pp, 14 lines of text. On aged and creased paper, with traces of cream paper mount adhering at foot of reverse. Showing the grammatical indifference of the English eighteenth-century upper classes. '[...] nothing but indisposition shall prevent my attendance at the meeting you was to good as to inform me that is to take place on Monday next of all the Catholicks of great Britain'. He is 'ill with a violent Cold sore Throat and fever' and doubts whether he will be 'well enough to undertake the journey to Town so soon'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Matt H Bloxam') to Reginald H Pope, Standlake Rectory, Witney, Oxfordshire.

Author: 
Matthew Holbeche Bloxam (1805-1888), architectural historian [Rugby School]
Publication details: 
17 May 1887; Rugby.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. Very good. Several of the letters of congratulation he received on his birthday were from 'old Rugbeians', and Pope's was 'one of the first'. He has been 'invited by the President and Council of the Royal Archaeological Institute to be President of one of the Sections at their meeting this year at Salisbury but age and infirmity have obliged me to decline'. Although 'not under the Doctor's hands' he feels he is 'going down hill apace'. The previous Tuesday 10 boys from Rugby 'came in to partake of Cake Gingerbreads and fruit 9 of whom were from your old boarding house now Mr.

Autograph Letter Signed to Canon Knowles

Author: 
Henry Hayman (1823-1904) [Canon Edward Hadarezer Knowles (c.1823-1899); Rugby School; Matthew Holbeche Bloxam]
Publication details: 
3 December 1875; on printed letterhead of the Rectory, Aldingham, Ulverston.
£85.00

12mo, 1 p, 8 lines. With mourning border. Good, on aged paper, with small closed tear at head neatly repaired on reverse with archival tape. Blank second leaf of bifolium stained from previous mounting. Printed as part of the letterhead at top of page are two lines giving Hayman's terms as a private tutor. (Begins 'The Rev. H. HAYMAN, D.D., ex-Head Master of Rugby, prepares Pupils for the Universities, &c.') Hayman writes to say that he has mislaid the letter from the 'Secry Archl Socy [Matthew Holbeche Bloxam (1805-1888), Secretary of the Oxford Architectural Society]'.

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