OF

Poemata, quae de praemio Oxoniensibus posito Annis 1806, 1807, et 1808, infeliciter contenderunt; non in publicum edita, amicis tantum privatim deferenda.

Author: 
[Abraham John Valpy (1787-1854); Pembroke College, Oxford; Trafalgar]
Publication details: 
[London] Londini: In Aedibus Valpianis, Pridie Idus Octobres, 1809. [A. J. Valpy]
£120.00

Octavo: [ii] + [41] + [1] pp. A little dogeared, on lightly aged paper, and with slight damp staining to one corner at rear. In worn and stained original grey wraps, repaired with strip of brown paper at spine. Three Latin poems by Valpy: 'Trafalgar', 'Plata Fluvius' and 'Delphi'. COPAC lists only three copies: at the British Library, the Bodleian and Durham.

The Art of Fiction. A Lecture delivered at the Royal Institution on Friday evening, April 25, 1884 (With Notes and Additions).

Author: 
Walter Besant
Publication details: 
London: Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly. 1884. [Billing and Sons, Printers, Guildford.]
£28.00

Octavo: 39 pp. Stitched. In original orange wraps, with grey printed paper boards. On spotted, aged paper, with insect holes to a couple of leaves. Wraps stained and worn. First English printing of an essay noted for its coupling with Henry James's piece of the same name (not present here) in an American edition of 1885.

A Representation of the Tables in the Body of Guildhall, and the Old Court of King's Bench, with the arrangement for the members of the Court of Common Council and their ladies. Lord Mayor's Day, 1838.

Author: 
[Samuel Wilson, Lord Mayor of London; Lord Mayor's Banquet, 1838; Guildhall; City of London Livery Companies]
Publication details: 
Taylor, Printer, Coleman Street. [1838.]
£28.00

Printed on one side of a piece of paper 43 x 33 cms. Good, on lightly creased and spotted aged paper. A printed plan, with two diagrams, designed to show the members of the various livery companies where to sit at the banquet for Samuel Wilson, Lord Mayor of London. The name 'R. Taylor' (of the Ward of Farringdon Without) is filled in in manuscript: 'The Situation for Mr. [R. Taylor] is marked in Red; And for his Lady ........Blue.'

Six Typed Letters Signed to D. K. Craig of Arthurs Press Ltd.

Author: 
Hubert Foster [The P.E.N.; Poets, Essayists and Novelists]
Publication details: 
15 October 1945 to 10 December 1946; all six on letterhead of 'THE P.E.N. | A World Association of Writers | LONDON CENTRE'.
£80.00

Association founded in England in 1921 to promote the interests of writers worldwide. First item, two pages, 12mo; next four, one page, 12mo; last item, one page, octavo. All good, though lightly creased and on discoloured paper. All have two punch holes. Item one with staple marks in top left-hand corner. The collection consists of instructions to the printer of the association's journal 'P.E.N. News'.

Printed Receipt Signed, with Manuscript Additions in another hand, for money lent to Queen Anne.

Author: 
Sir David Colyear, 1st Earl of Portmore
Publication details: 
[London]; 19 May 1707.
£150.00

General (c.1656-1730) and Governor of Gibraltar, married to Catherine Sedley, mistress of James II (see item# ). One leaf, dimensions roughly seven inches by ten and a half. Printed text with manuscript additions on recto; docketed on verso. Good, but grubby, and with slight repair to head. Receipt 'of the Honourable [Lord ffitzharding]' (corrected from 'James Vernon Esq'); One of the Four Tellers of the Receipt of Her Majesty's Exchequer', of eighty pounds for twenty-four months interest on £500 lent by Portmore and 'My Ld Kent' on 14 August 1704. Signed 'Portmore'.

Printed Receipt Signed, with Autograph Signature and manuscript additions in another hand, for three months' governent annuities.

Author: 
Spencer Cowper [Sir William Cowper]
Publication details: 
7 November 1720; [London].
£180.00

Judge (1669-1728), and Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales on the accession of George I. Grandfather of the poet William Cowper, and brother of William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper (1665-1723), Lord Chancellor of England. One of the defendants, in 1699, in the celebrated trial for the murder of Sarah Stout. Dimensions of paper roughly six and a half inches by six inches. On discoloured, spotted paper, with slight wear and loss to one corner (not affecting text). Right edge slightly trimmed, with partial loss to one word'.

Printed Receipt Signed, with Manuscript Additions in another hand, for money lent to Queen Anne.

Author: 
Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester
Publication details: 
[London]; 7 March 1706.
£200.00

Wit (1657-1717), mistress of James II. One leaf, dimensions roughly seven inches by ten and a half. Printed text with manuscript additions on recto with calculations in a contemporary hand on the reverse. Good, but grubby. Receipt 'of the Right Honourable James Vernon Esq; One of the Four Tellers of the Receipt of Her Majesty's Exchequer', of sixty pounds for three months interest on £4000 lent by the Duchess and Sir Henry Furnesse on 19 January 1706. Signed 'Dorchester'.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent (John Tyndall?).

Author: 
Alexander Strahan
Publication details: 
21 January 1874; on letterhead '12, Paternoster Row, London'.
£65.00

Two pages, octavo. Good, apart from damage and loss to one edge caused by removal from mount. Would appear to relate to the controversy between the surgeon Sir Henry Thompson (1820-1904) and John Tyndall (1820-1893), held in the pages of Strahan's 'Contemporary Review'. Reads 'I herewith send you the proof of your reply to Sir Henry Thompson | Please revise and return it tomorrow.

Printed Exchequer Receipt, with Manuscript Additions, and Autograph Signature, for 'the Sum of Ten Pounds being 24 Months Interest of 100£'.

Author: 
Mary Russell, Countess of Orford
Publication details: 
24 July 1701; [London].
£105.00

One page, quarto. Aged, and trimmed along one margin, with minimal loss of text. Interest on moneys 'Lent unto Their Majesties upon the Credit of an Act of Parliament, (Intituled, An Act for Granting to His Majesty An Aid of 4 Shillings in the Pound for One Year'. Witnessed, with Autograph Signature, by George Cheret. Signed 'M Orford'.

Scenes from an unfinished drama, entitled Phrontisterion, or, Oxford in the 19th century.

Author: 
[Henry Longueville Mansel, Dean of St Pauls; University of Oxford; J. Vincent, publisher]
Publication details: 
Oxford: Printed and published by J. Vincent, and G. Bell, Fleet Street, London. Fourth edition, 1852.
£100.00

English philosopher (1820-71). 24 pages, 12mo. Very good, neatly bound in brown cloth binding. Bound in are the original grey printed wraps, affected with foxing, and with very slight damage from glue to front wrap. The rear wrap carries an advertisement of 'BOOKS LATELY PUBLISHED | BY J. VINCENT OXFORD.', including 'NINEVEH: the Best Newdigate for Years; therefore not recited in the Theatre, Oxford, July 3, 1851. 12mo. 1s.' A brilliant satire on academic reformers and German philosphers. Copac only lists copies of the third, fourth and fifth editions.

List of the members of the club of "Nobody's Friends".

Author: 
The club of 'Nobody's Friends' [VICTORIAN CLUBS AND SOCIETIES]
Publication details: 
[s. l. et a.] 'As existing on 1st January, 1878.'
£76.00

See 'The club of 'Nobody's Friends' 1800-2000: a memoir on its two-hundredth anniversary' by Geoffrey Rowell (2000). Four-page bifolium. Good, on grubby, discoloured paper, with some creasing and wear at foot. Gives details of the election between 1820 and 1877 of fifty-nine Actual Members, and of eighteen Honorary Members. Includes the Rev. Charles Burney, the artist George Richmond and the publisher John Murray.

Collection of around twenty-seven Typed Letters Signed and seventeen Autograph Letters Signed, to K. W. Luckhurst, Secretary, and other officers of the Royal Society of Arts, together with some drafts and copies of responses.

Author: 
Oswald Partridge Milne (1881-1968), English architect [The Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
1936-65; Wigmore Street and Hampstead, London.
£250.00

The collection is in good condition, with very occasional minor creasing, staining and loss. Majority of items quarto. Milne was a leading Fellow of the Society, a Chairman of Council in 1959-61 and Vice-President. The collection provides a valuable insight into the day-to-day workings of the Society, from the first letter discussing the R.I.B.A., and whether the Society might set up 'a somewhat similar organisation with similar prestige could be built up for industrial artists', to the last letter commending G. C. H.

Autograph Letter Signed "W. Sidney Smith" to the Prime Minister, the Earl of Liverpool.

Author: 
Admiral Sir [William] Sidney Smith, hero of Acre.
Publication details: 
Paris, 6 Aug. 1818.
£180.00

Four pages, 4to, fair condition. Smith has put a cross through the first page, suggesting a draft - with no loss or obscuring. He believes he has had proof of Liverpool's goodwill towards him and is emboldened to ask that a protege "be included in the next list of Post Captains".

Thirteen Typed Letters Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, with one Autograph Note Signed to Menzies, and a printed prospectus for Adams-Acton's 'Domestic Architecture and Old Furniture'.

Author: 
Murray Adams-Acton (1886-1971), English historian of art and architecture
Publication details: 
5 October 1927 to 14 August 1933; most on letterhead of Acton Surgey Ltd., 'London, Paris & Crews Hill'.
£180.00

Sizes range from quarto (nine items) to 12mo (two items). Very good. Subjects include a request for 'a photograph of the winning design for the petrol filling station', the award of a Hyde Travelling Scholarship ('Mr. Mitchell appears to have so greatly distinguished himself'), 'Mr. Bossom's suggestions for the wording and particulars for the Proscenium opening for Cinema', the drafting of a reply to Morley Horder's comments ('he errs when he declares the screen is not of the period as I think only a small section of it was added by Mr.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent [William <Lecardale?>]

Author: 
John Carrick Moore [THE ROYAL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY]
Publication details: 
2 November 1848; 4 Hyde Park Gate, Kensington.
£80.00

Scottish geologist (1805-98), Fellow of the Royal Society. Written in capacity as Secretary of the Geological Society. Four pages, 12mo. On grubby, stained paper discoloured with age. Second leaf of bifoliate attached to two fragments of draft replies in similar condition. 'Your very elaborate Paper on the L[ower]. Greensand Corals came before the Council yesterday for consideration: and the unanimous wish was to print it in the Journal with the fullest illustrations.

Autograph Note Signed ('Tho. Graham') to 'Mr. Schultze | Poland Street', printer.

Author: 
Thomas Graham (1805-1869), Scottish chemist and Master of the Mint
Publication details: 
4 Gordon Square [London]; 9 June 1851.
£56.00

One page, octavo. Carefully laid down on neatly-docketed larger piece of paper, but with the glue employed badly aged and causing staining. Closed tear across letter caused by removal from spike. Signature clear and unmarked. Reads 'Dear Sir, | I believe it will be better to set up the enclosed proofs, in sheets in the usual manner. The remainder of the Report will be sent immediately.'

Four Autograph Letters Signed (two in full and two as 'L. H.') to the biblical scholar and Quaker theologian Herbert George Wood (1879-1963), first Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham.

Author: 
Lawrence Hyde (b.1894, fl. 1954), English journalist and spiritual philospher [Herbert George Wood; Quaker; Society of Friends; Selly Oak College; Fircroft; Woodbrooke]
Publication details: 
Between 1930 and 1931; all four on letterhead Rosedean Cottage, Shipley, Sussex.
£250.00

All items very good, on lightly aged paper. Four closely written and interesting communications on his writings and philosophy. LETTER ONE (16 June 1930, 2 pages, 12mo): On the question of 'that misunderstanding regarding our last visit', the rest of the month is 'booked up', but 'perhaps the postponement - I hope it is no more than that! - of our coming may not be a bad thing'. Since their last meeting he has been 'passing through a phase of extensive internal adjustment, the physical aspect of which has taken the form of very bad health'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. E. Cockburn') to Thomas Cruttwell, solicitor, of Bath; together with Signed photograph of Cockburn, from the studio of Henry Dixon, Regent's Park, London.

Author: 
Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn (1802-1880), 12th Baronet, Lord Chief Justice of England.
Publication details: 
Letter dated 5 April 1846; Castle Taunton. Photograph undated.
£180.00

Letter: four pages, folio. Good, with a little aging and staining to verso of second leaf of bifolium. In Cruttwell's absence Cockburn has taken it upon himself 'to settle Richardson & . Taylor has communicated the result of his interview with Hellings the previous evening. 'He informed me that he had seen certain letters written by the D[e]f[endan]ts to Mrs. Richardson, in which he solicited her to leave her husband, and to bring away with her money and goods belonging to the husband'. Taylor recommends that Hellings' offer of £50 be accepted.

Autograph Letter Signed ['J. Arthur Thomson'] to an unnamed firm of publishers.

Author: 
Sir John Arthur Thomson (1861-1933), Professor of Natural History at the University of Aberdeen, 1899-1930
Publication details: 
10 August 1914; his letterhead from the Natural History Department, Marischal College, The University, Aberdeen.
£100.00

One page, octavo. On aged paper, with slight chipping to corners, but text clear and entire. He is afraid that he 'did not answer your second letter in regard to a book on Sex.' 'After careful consideration', Thomas and 'Prof. Geddes' [Sir Patrick Geddes, 1854-1932] have come to the conclusion that 'if we wrote another book on that subject it should be published either by "Walter Scott" (who has 'The Evolution of Sex') or by Williams and Norgate (who have 'Sex')' [both books, 1889 and 1914 respectively, also by Geddes and Thomson].

Stead's Wonders of Science Series. The Story of Flying Machines. The Conquest of the Air. With eleven specially selected illustrations.

Author: 
T. W. Scott [William Thomas Stead's Publishing House; Wonders of Science Series; aircraft; aeroplanes; aeronautics; ballooning]
Publication details: 
London: Stead's Publishing House, Bank Buildings, Kingsway, W.C.2. Printed by W. & J. Mackay & Co., Ltd., Chatham.
£76.00

Octavo, 48 pages. Stapled. In faded original orange printed wraps. Nine pages of illustrations, including three on wraps. Good, on aged high-acidity paper. Wraps a little stained. Unobtrusive ownership inscription at head of front wrap. Illustrations include two full-page balloons and 'A modern sea-plane: the Burgess-Dunne type'. Twelfth illustration (diving English biplane) on front wrap. Scarce: no copy on Copac.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Herbert Samuel') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Herbert Louis Samuel (1870-1963), 1st Viscount Samuel [GOLF; GOLFING]
Publication details: 
15 July 1898; High Cliff, Felixstowe [on cancelled letterhead 49 Palace Court. W.].
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo. On aged and somewhat grubby paper, with a few closed tears to extremities. Text clear and entire. The recipients 'account for clubs' supplied to Samuel in June 1896 'has not been presented between that date and now'. Samuel thinks he paid the amount at the time'. '[O]n my return to town I will look through my receipts and communicate with you further.'

Autograph Letter Signed to Joseph Procter.

Author: 
John Clayton, junior (1780-1865), Minister of Poultry Chapel, London
Publication details: 
29 December 1826; Devonshire Square.
£56.00

Four pages, 12mo. Very good, with strip of brown paper adhering at the head. Text clear and entire. A long letter, casting light on the effects on the English middle classes of the financial crisis of 1825. Clayton begins by thanking Procter for the 'card case'. He 'will gladly do any thing that may fall within [his] power, to assist the Associate Fund', but does not think that he can 'do much'. 'The times are such, that Cases of <?> distress so multiply in our different communities, as to swallow up a large proportion of our pecuniary means'.

Part of an Autograph Letter, missing signature page, to "Wellesley", prob. a Richard Wellesley.

Author: 
Stratford Canning. The Treaty of Vienna.
Publication details: 
Vienna, 21 February 1815.
£850.00

Four pages, 4to, incomplete, fold marks, some tears on folds, complete and legible, as follows: "It is perfectly true. I am indeed, my dear Wellesley, the most faithless of correspondents. And towards you too! You, who deserved so different a treatment at my hands. . . . My time has passed away for the last four months in such an odd sort of bustling, hurrying, half occupied, half dissipated way . . . Will you believe that till yesterday I had not written a syllable to Gally Knight [see DNB] for the last four months?

Autograph Note Signed ('T Redwood') to unnamed recipient.

Author: 
Theophilus Redwood (1806-1892), Welsh analytical chemist, Professor of Pharmacy at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Publication details: 
19 Montague Street, Russell Square [London]; 26 March 1889.
£36.00

One page, 12mo. Blind stamped monogram at head. Text clear and entire, but on heavily damp-stained paper. Reads 'The enclosed is to be inserted in the Journal of the Chemical Society among the Proceedings.'

The Constitutional Convention. The Constitution of New Hampshire as amended by the Constitutional Convention held at Concord on the first Wednesday of December, A. D. 1876: with the Several Questions involving the amendments proposed [...].

Author: 
T. J. Smith, Secretary to the Convention, et al. [New Hampshire]
Publication details: 
Concord: Edward A. Jenks, State Printer. 1877.
£50.00

Octavo: 31 pp. Stitched and unbound, with front of the original printed wraps, which bears the title-page, still present. Text clear and entire, on aged paper with some dogearing and chipping to top outer corner. Front wrap creased and lightly stained, with a little chipping, but with text clear and entire. Pencil ownership inscription in contemporary hand at head of title. Reproduces the proposed amended constitution and various resolutions regarding a referendum on the subject.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Walter L. Clay') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Walter Lowe Clay, of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Victorian social scientist
Publication details: 
1 November 1866; on letterhead of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, 1 Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C. [London].
£45.00

Two pages, small octavo. Good, on lightly aged paper and ruckled paper, with some staining to the verso of the blank second leaf of the bifolium. His correspondent's 'paper on the high death rate in Liverpool' was not returned to Clay after being read at Manchester, 'nor can the Secretary of the Department (Captain ) obtain any intelligence of it from the reporters'. One of the reporters has sent the Captain an abstract prepared by the author. Clay asks whether he has the manuscript in his possession, and if so, whether he will send it to him.

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed clergyman, on the back of a printed handbill.

Author: 
Sir Oswald Mosley (1848-1915), 4th Baronet [Victorian Temperance Movement; John Garrett, D.D.; Robert Whitworth]
Publication details: 
Letter: Rolleston Hall; 15 December 1866. Handbill: '43, Market Street, Manchester, December 12th, 1866.'
£45.00

On a leaf roughly 17 x 12 cms. A small strip is missing from the foot, but this does not appear to affect the texts. Aged and ruckled, with a little staining from previous mount at head and foot of printed side. In the Letter Moseley opines that 'the closing of Public Houses during the whole of Sundays would be attended with great inconvenience to the public, and I cannot therefore agree to the object of Promoters of that scheme'. Docketed in the top left-hand corner 'Mark name on list as unfavourable'. The handbill, signed in type by John Garrett, D.D.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos. Wright') to a female 'Christian friend'.

Author: 
Thomas Wright [Macdermid], Manchester prison philanthropist
Publication details: 
Sidney Street, C on M, Manchester; 25 June 1863.
£38.00

Three pages, 12mo. A tad aged, with some discoloration and a little glue from previous mounting to the blank verso of the second leaf of the bifolium. He was 'from home' when the note arrived, only returning on Tuesday. 'It will give me great pleasure to be with you on the day when the Foundation Stone will be your School. Sends 'every blessing' to the recipient and her 'Xcellent husband'. A life of Wright was published in 1873, with a preface by the Earl of Shaftesbury.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. L. Eastlake') to Miss [?] Rogers.

Author: 
Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865), English painter and President of the Royal Academy
Publication details: 
15 May [year not stated]; 13 Upper Fitzroy Street [London].
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo. On gray paper. Good, though lightly ruckled and aged. He thanks her for the 'information about the silk', and accepts her invitation. He haad intended to call on her the day before, but was prevented by the weather.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. Mursell') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Rev. Arthur Mursell (1831-1913), English preacher, voluminous author and explorer of 'Darkest England'.
Publication details: 
York Place; 13 June 1863.
£25.00

One page, 12mo. Black border. Good, on aged and ruckled paper, with small glue stain at head (not affecting text). Asks to be released from 'coming to Oldham Road' on 4 July, as 'Saturday is an evening wich I usually make a rule of keeping to myself for the purposes of preparation for the Sunday'. Docketed at head in contemporary hand, 'Revd Arthur Mursell, Manchester'. Mursell's most interesting work would appear to be 'Bright Beads on a Dark Thread; or visits to the haunts of vice, etc.' (London, 1873).

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