Autograph Letters

Pye was an active figure in nineteenth-century British art. According to his entry in the Oxford DNB he was the engravers’ ‘best spokesman’, hoping ‘to raise the fortunes, status, and public profile of engravers by means of professional association and co-operation’. He was the author of a number of works, including 'Patronage of British Art' (1845). His collection of prints after Turner was acquired by the British Museum in 1869, and the proofs of Turner's ‘Liber Studiorum’ followed in 1870. His notebooks are in British Library.

See Belloc’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is Colonel Frederick Hugh Langston Oldham (1876-1965), D.S.O., D.L., of Overley Hall near Wellington. The three items are in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: ALS, 5 October 1922. 1p, 4to. With mourning border. Folded twice. Giving details of the train from Paddington he is proposing to take to Wellington for ‘[t]he lecture’ on 13 October. ‘It is most kind of you to have asked me to stay with you & I am much looking forward to it.’ TWO: TL, 11 October 1922. 1p, 8vo. Folded twice. The signature ‘H.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On rectangular slip of paper, roughly 11 x 3 cm, cut from the end of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged, slightly spotted and laid down along one edge on thicker piece of paper. In an elegant calligraphic hand he writes: ‘Believe me / Yours truly / Geo du Maurier / Apr. 26, 83’. The ‘eo’ of the ‘Geo’ of the signature is presented as a stylish squiggle, looking a little like a ‘W’. See image.

See their entries in the Oxford DNB. Two Autograph Signatures, on an 11 x 5 cm slip cut from a leaf of an album. In good condition, lightly aged. On one side: ‘Novar / G. G. Australia 1914 - 20. / Stirling 14. 10. 22.’ (The date ‘1914’ is slightly smudged. On the other side ‘Katharine Atholl - Jan. [...]’; and above it, in another hand ‘Duchess of Atholl - Under Secretary for Edu’. See image.

Pritchett’s ‘The Gentle Barbarian: The Life and Work of Turgenev’ appeared in 1977; the present letter is clearly addressed to his editor at the book’s publishers Chatto & Windus. Pritchett’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes his handwriting as ‘legendarily ugly and difficult to decipher’, but the present example is no worse than an average hand. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Two fold lines. He is sending his ‘Turgenev’, and explains: ‘As you will see I have marked passages from the book in purple crayon, and my own summary bridges in green.

1p, 4to. Salutation and valediction in the princess’s autograph. Stylized signature with Roman lettering. Addressed to ‘The Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley’ at her estate in Maidstone, Kent. They are all ‘delighted’ with the ‘Comfrey roots’ which she sent as promised, and ‘look forward to seeing the results on the horses’. ‘My niece, Her Royal Highness Princess Alia was also pleased to receive her share for the Royal Stables’. The letter ends with the usual courtesies. See image.

Harper was the first Anglican Bishop of Christchurch and the first Primate of New Zealand, and he oversaw the building of the ill-fated cathedral at Christchurch. See his entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. The signature appears to read ‘Hë [for ‘Henricus’?] Christchurch’, and the letter is addressed to ‘Rev. T. Scudamore Cunningham / Lymm Cheshire’. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. Fifty-seven lines of closely and neatly written text.

In fair condition, on lightly aged paper. Folded once. Signed ‘G Card d’Hohenhohe’, and with his embossed monogram. He is enclosing ‘il libro per la Signora Costanza’, together with the three letters of recommendation, which she may read before sealing. He ends with good wishes for the voyage. See image.

Six pages, total, tipped onto a folio album leaf detached from album, numbered 235, with following description: "Correspondence relating to various articles belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte. Original Documents [NOT PRESENT] with translations. | vide 305 [another album page presumably] for Napoleon's razor | vide 237 for Napoleon's shirt. | vide 39 for the Abdication medal."  A. Autograph Letter Signed "J Thompson", one page, 4to, minor losses of text.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 9.5 x 11.5 cm leaf of blue paper, with rounded outer corners, torn from an autograph album. In good condition, lightly aged, with spotting on reverse. Reads: ‘Best Wishes / Tom Walls.’ Good bold writing, with stylistic flourish linking the cross-stroke of the T in ‘Tom’ with the S of ‘wishes’, and two small vertical strokes at the centre of the underlining of the signature. See image

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight creasing to one corner. Folded once. In addition to the signature ‘Stanley Rous’, the salutation ‘Dear Max’ is written in Rous’s autograph. (Robertson’s full Wandsworth address is typed out at the head.) The note reads: ‘The enclosed translation of an article which appeared in a Continental newspaper has just been handed to me. I sent it on at once, in case it is of help to you.’ See image

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The front panel of an envelope, 12 x 7 cm. In good condition, lightly aged, neatly backed by part of leaf from autograph album. Red frank stamp (with slight cropping to crown: ‘FREE / 7 JU 7 / 1820’. Headed ‘Private’ and otherwise set out in the conventional fashion. Reads: ‘London June seven 1820 / The Rev. The Vice Chancellor / &c &c &c / Oxford’, with underlined signature at bottom left: ‘Robert Peel’. See image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight spotting to margin. Folded three times. Good signature: ‘Peter Scott.’ Addressing himself to ‘Dear Squirrel’, he writes: ‘Yes, of course I will try to advise you on the right type of field glasses. I have used Ross 12 by 50 Stepsun for many years and have found it a very good glass for ornithological and also general use. I would strongly recommend it.

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. On 11 x 6 cm slip of paper, laid down on thicker paper cut from album. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ‘9th Dececmr. 1715 / Receit in full / Edw Northey’. See image.

Orloff left Russia in 1921, and toured the world as a leading interpreter of Chopin. He settled in Grantown-on-Spey in 1948, becoming a British citizen four years later. ONE: 6.5 x 14 cm bifoliate Christmas card, with blue and black illustration ‘Designed by Kris’. Dated at head by Orloff ‘1963/64’. Beneath the printed message he writes a large signature on two lines: ‘Nicolas Orloff’. Recipient’s name written at foot, in another hand: ‘Alan Lockhart’. The verso of the second leaf of this card is laid down on the verso of the following item.

1p, landscape 8vo. In fair condition; a little creased. Folded twice. Nicholson’s signature is a stylized squiggle, and there are a few minor autograph corrections to the typescript. The letter begins: ‘Dear Eric / I think the correspondent is probably right and that it is Windermere and not Coniston Water which can be seen from near Stickle Tarn.’ Nicholson cannot speak from experience, ‘as the tarn is metres above the level my legs would take me, but the map does seem to confirm what the two correspondents say’.

An uncommon signature. During the 1794 invasion of Corsica, D’Aubant took over as Lord Hood’s second-in-command after Hood forced Major-General David Dundas to resign, but proved even more cautious, to the frustration of Nelson and others. 1p, landscape 8vo. Laid down on part of leaf from autograph album, captioned in Victorian hand, ‘General D’Aubant’. On discoloured paper, with deeper discoloration from glue from mount. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Genl D’Aubant presents his compliments to Mr Brown, and will call upon him at 12. next Thursday 8th July / Devonshe. place.’ See image.

The present item gives an indication of the high spirits, though hardly the ‘brilliant wit’, which, according to Quin’s entry in the Oxford DNB, afforded him a welcome to high society. 3pp, 16mo. Bifolium, with second leaf slightly damaged at foot by removal from mount. The body of the letter reads: ‘Dear Jesse / Don’t you or your fair friends forget Supper at Vun Undred and Vunety Vun Mount Street tomorrow Saturday night at 11 oclock or as soon after it as you can come. / N.B.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is the publisher Henry Blackett (1825-1871) of the leading London firm Hurst & Blackett, and the meeting was evidently to discuss terms, possibly for Wiseman’s ‘Recollections of the Last Four Popes’, which the firm published in 1859. 1p, 8vo. Laid down on another leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged, on thin paper, and with discoloration from the glue used in laying the item down. Small red armorial letterhead.

Adams was the author of more than one hundred books. He was criticised by Louisa May Alcott for his use of slang and depiction of ‘low’ characters such as bootblacks, elements which make him sound like a proto-Mark Twain, and should attract renewed attention today. Without date or place. On 4.5 x 9.5 cm slip of wove paper. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to blank reverse.

Considered by his friend Noël Coward as ‘a phenomenon that would never recur’. See his entry by Osbert Sitwell in the Oxford DNB and the biography by Damian Collins, ‘Charmed Life: The Phenomenal World of Philip Sassoon’ (2016). Clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. The signature is on a plain 9 x 6 cm card, and reads simply ‘Philip Sassoon.’ The card is laid down at the foot of a 12mo letterhead, on which is written by Sassoon, above a flourish: ‘With Sir Philip Sassoon’s Compliments’. Both items in good condition, lightly aged.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Even towards the end of his life Bernard Shaw could remark that ‘he can still leave the next best tenor in England an immeasurable distance behind’. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of mount to inner margin. Folded once. Very nice embossed letterhead, printed in gold, brown, green and red, with bird perched on top of a treble clef, entwined with foliage and a twisted branch in the shape of the ‘R’ of ‘Reeves’. Reads: ‘Sir / This autograph with pleasure, according to your request / Yours faithfully / June 1872 / J. Sims Reeves’.

Toole’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes how ‘Toole was desolate, and his health broke’, after the Tooles’ twenty-two year-old daughter Florence died from typhoid fever on in November 1888, contracted a week before when visiting her parents who were performing at Cork. Her mother, Toole’s wife Susan, died three and a half months later, in February 1889. Both letter and card are in good condition. They are enclosed in a grubby envelop, with stamp and postmarks, addressed to ‘David Cunningham Esq / Belmont / Antrim / Ireland’. Letter and envelope have thick mourning border. ONE: ALS.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper, with patches of lighter and darker discolouration from varying exposure to sunlight. Good firm signature, enclosed in circular flourish: ‘Dr Arnost Kraus’. See image.

Information regarding this major figure in British history is not far to seek. On 11.5 x 5.5 cm panel cut from front of envelope. In fair condition, with a few traces of glue at centre and short closed tear to right-hand edge; none of this anywhere near the signature. The letter is addressed in another hand: ‘The Solicitor General / Hackwood Park / Basingstoke’, with last word deleted. Signed in the customary manner at bottom left: ‘W E Gladstone’. Basingstoke postmark in blue, and cropped frank in red. See image.

For information about this brave and gallant man, who offered himself to be hanged in place of his fellow officers during the Nore Mutiny, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The presence of these four items together may indicate a Victorian autograph dealer as the source, or perhaps a family member wishing to distribute keepsakes. Some with tantalizing fragments of surviving text. All four in good condition, some with fold lines. ONE: 14.5 x 6.5 cm. On one side: ‘[...] Ever your truly obliged and / Affectionate Friend / Edward O’Bryen’.

For Diaghilev Slobodskaya starred in the 1922 Paris premiere of Stravinsky's opera Mavra, and she toured Europe as principal soprano with Chaliapin’s company. For her serious operatic work she retained her real name, but she used the stage name ‘Odali Careno’ when performing in vaudeville and light entertainment. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Dated in another hand at foot: ‘24-6-30’ (the period of her appearance in a London Palladium production).

Postal Envelope Front, 11.5 x 9.5, black-bordered, postmark partially obscured by minor damage, good condition. See image

See Ashton’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, with evidence of mount to blank reverse of photograph. ONE: TLS. 17 January 1922. 1p, 12mo. Folded once. Signed ‘Clemence Dane’. Addressed to G. Railton Barnard, 6 The Crescent, York. She thanks him for his ‘interesting letter’: ‘If the same question had not already crept up once or twice, I should not have thought it possible for anyone so to misunderstand Legend, but I know people do, clear as I thought I had made it.’ Barnard is ‘absolutely right’: ‘Madala Grey is head over ears in love with her husband.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged, with paper from mount on reverse. Folded once. On 6 x 10 cm piece of paper, cut from conclusion of letter. Good firm signature. Reads: ‘[...] European troops / [...] quartered them. / Yours sincerely / Elphinstone’. See image.