agent

[Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Wars] Autograph Letter Signed from Richard Truscott, purser of HMS Ocean, to James Sykes, London navy agent, discussing anomalies in the ‘Accounts for the Ocean’ and his recent travels.

Author: 
[Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Wars] Richard Truscott, purser of HMS Ocean [James Sykes, London navy agent; Admiral William Truscott?]
Publication details: 
‘Ocean Hyeres Bay 18th. April 1814’.
£220.00

Providing an interesting view of the administrative aspect of the Georgian navy. Closely and neatly written on 2pp, foolscap 8vo, on first leaf of a bifolium. 64 lines of text. The letter is signed ‘R Truscott’, but the docketing identifies the writer as ‘Richd. Truscott’. Adressed on reverse of second leaf, with red wax seal and two Plymouth postmarks, to ‘James Sykes Esqr. / Navy Agent / Arundel Street / London’. Around this address are the docketing and some calculations. The seal has a good impression of the crest of ‘RT’, with motto ‘PEACE AND PLENTY’.

[Thomas Cook, travel agent.] Autograph Note Signed to lithographic illustration of his ?Leicester Temperance Hall and Hotel / Designed by J. Medland Esq., Gloucester?.

Author: 
Thomas Cook (1808-1892), travel agent; Leicester Temperance Hall and Hotel, designed by James Medland (1808-1894), County Surveyor for Gloucestershire
Cook
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but docketed in another hand on the reverse, including years 1866 and 1867.
£50.00
Cook

See Cook?s entry in the Oxford DNB. His temperance hall and hotel illustrated here, were built in 1853. The hall was demolished in the 1960s, to be replaced by a building typical of those that blight Leicester in 2011; the council gave permission for the hotel to be demolished to make way for another monstrosity. Sepia lithograph printed in landscape on 20 x 13 cm leaf of laid paper, extracted from a book or pamphlet. Attractive illustration of an imposing structure, with those that flank it, and people and coaches in the foreground.

[Guido Orlando, Italian-American press agent.] Copy of Typed Article on Orlando by W. Macqueen-Pope titled ‘“Enfant Terrible” of Public Relations’, with TLS to MP from Sidney Gordon of ‘Everybody’s’ magazine, rejecting the article as too scandalous.

Author: 
[Guido Orlando (1906-1988), Italian-American press agent.] Walter James Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian and journalist; Sidney Gordon, journalist with ‘Everybody’s’ magazine
Publication details: 
Gordon’s letter to Macqueen-Pope is dated 28 December 1950; on letterhead of ‘Everybody’s’, 114 Fleet Street, London, EC4. Macqueen-Pope’s article without date or place, but contemporaneous.
£125.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) The subject of MP’s article is the press agent and publicist Guido Orlando who came to the United States from Italy with his family in 1917. (MP may have come into contact with Orlando in his own position as press agent for Drury Lane and other theatres.) He was most active in Hollywood from the 1930s to 1960s. His papers are in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library.

['Shady deals' re Aylesford Priory.] Two Typed Letters Signed from Carmelite friar and prior Malachy Lynch to Major G. Wynne-Rushton, with two letters written for him (by ‘J. Cleeves’ and ‘J. R.’), on ‘Soulsby’s shady deals’ over a pilgrimage to Rome

Author: 
Malachy Lynch (1899-1972), Irish Carmelite friar who restored Aylesford Priory, Kent, and was its Prior [Major Gerald Wynne-Rushton (b;1894), Roman Catholic author]
Publication details: 
Lynch's two letters: 21 January [1950] and 4 February 1950. Letter by 'J. Cleeves': 9 February [1950]. Letter by 'J. R.': 24 March [1950]. All four on letterhead of The Friars, Aylesford, Kent.
£120.00

The context appears to be that Wynne-Rushton is supplying Aylesford with ‘inside information’ regarding the ‘shady deals’ of one Soulsby, proprietor of the Westminster Association, a travel agent’s being employed by Aylesford with regard to a pilgrimage to Rome. Lynch’s two letters and that of J. Cleeve’s all in good condition, lightly aged and each folded three times. Letter by ‘J. R.’ in fair condition, on aged paper. Lynch’s letters are both signed ‘Malachy Lynch O. Carm.’ ONE: By Lynch, 21 January [1950]. He explains: ‘I understood that the Agency had made provision already for 1,000.

[Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart, diplomat, author, secret agent.] Autograph Letter Signed ('R. H. Bruce Lockhart.') to Lloyd Humberstone, describing his book 'Your England' as a tribute to the 'broad-minded, tolerant, and humane' English.

Author: 
R. H. Bruce Lockhart [Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart] (1887-1970), diplomat, author and secret agent [Thomas Lloyd Humberstone, Secretary, University of London]
Publication details: 
16 August 1935. On letterhead of 30 Douglas Crescent, Edinburgh, 12.
£45.00

1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He thanks him for his letter containing 'kind words about my book, Your England'. He did not expect anyone to agree with all he wrote in it. His aim in writing was 'to pay a tribute to the English who are the most broad-minded, tolerant, and humane of all the numerous peoples among whom I have lived.'

[Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart, diplomat, author, secret agent.] Autograph Letter Signed ('R. H. Bruce Lockhart.') to Lloyd Humberstone, describing his book 'Your England' as a tribute to the 'broad-minded, tolerant, and humane' English.

Author: 
R. H. Bruce Lockhart [Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart] (1887-1970), diplomat, author and secret agent [Thomas Lloyd Humberstone, Secretary, University of London]
Publication details: 
16 August 1935. On letterhead of 30 Douglas Crescent, Edinburgh, 12.
£45.00

1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He thanks him for his letter containing 'kind words about my book, Your England'. He did not expect anyone to agree with all he wrote in it. His aim in writing was 'to pay a tribute to the English who are the most broad-minded, tolerant, and humane of all the numerous peoples among whom I have lived.'

[ Lady Margaret Sackville, poet and children's author, mistress of Ramsay MacDonald. ] Nine Autograph Letters Signed and two Autograph Card Signed (all 'Margaret Sackville') to her agent C. F. Cazenove, regarding manuscripts of fairy tales and poems.

Author: 
Lady Margaret Sackville (1881-1963), poet and children’s author, daughter of Earl De La Warr, second-cousin of Vita Sackville-West, mistress of Ramsay MacDonald [ C. F. Cazenove, literary agent ]
Publication details: 
One from Lupton, Churston, Devon. The other ten on letterheads: Inchmery, Exbury, Southampton (6); 2 Magdala Place, Edinburgh (2); Old Lodge, Ashdown Forest, Nutley, Sussex; Copthorne, Fawley, Southampton. Between 1905 and 1907.
£500.00

Written (perhaps appropriately) in a somewhat childish hand.

[ Financial Agent; Victorian money-lender ] Autograph Letter Signed "E. Francis" to an unknown woman ("Madam"), offering a loan.

Author: 
Edgar Francis [alias Edgar Francis Rutter], Financial Agent
Publication details: 
[Headed Notepaper} 2 Marlborough Mansions, Victoria Street, London, S.W., 27 Jan.1894
£65.00

Two pages, 12mo, sl. soiled, mainly good condition. "If you ever require an immediate loan from a genuine private service will you favor me with a call or letter? | The capital can remain as long as interest at £5 per cent per an[nu]m is paid. Temporary advances in a few hours - No preliminary fees or charges of any sort." Note: The names "Edgar Francis" and "Edgar Francis Rutter" are both listed (in separate directories published 1893) at the above address.

[ Philip Carteret Webb, antiquary. ] Autograph Signature to part of Exchequer receipt.

Author: 
Philip Carteret Webb (1702-1770), antiquary and barrister, Crown Agent in the North Briton (John Wilkes) scandal, 1763
Publication details: 
His Majesty's Receipt of Exchequer, London. 27 January 1756.
£120.00

Good firm signature ('Philip Carteret Webb') on damaged leaf of paper with heavy wear to corners and edges, carrying a printed Exchequer receipt for £45, made out to Webb.

[ Winifred Gordon, W. J. Barwick of Truslove and Hanson, and C. F. Cazenove. ] Autograph Letter Signed by Gordon, two Autograph Letters Signed and Autograph Note Signed by Barwick, and three copies by Cazenove, on her book on Romania.

Author: 
Winifred Gordon [ Winifred Monckton Campbell Gordon ] (d.1957), author; W. J. Barwick, director, Truslove and Hanson, London publishers; Charles Francis Cazenove (1870-1915), London literary agent
Publication details: 
Gordon's letter on letterhead of the Hotel d'Angleterre, Copenhagen. 24 June 1912. Barwick's three items on letterheads of Truslove and Hanson, 6a Sloane Street, London. June and July 1912.
£280.00

Gordon is described in The Times, 20 August 1958, as a 'traveller, lecturer, and author', and a resident of Lausanne at the time of her death. All seven items in fair condition, on aged paper, with some rust spotting from a paperclip. The book referred to is 'Roumania, Yesterday and Today' (1918), which has an introduction and two chapters by the Queen of Romania. ONE: Gordon's letter to Barwick. 24 June 1912. 3pp., 8vo. She writes that she has already tried to place 'the little book' with 'Geo. Bell - Jacks - & Gay & Hancock. As to yr.

[ Richard Cobden-Sanderson, publisher. ] Typed Letter Signed ('R. Cobden Sanderson') to literary agents J. B. Pinker & Son, declining to publish three titles they have submitted.

Author: 
R. Cobden-Sanderson [ Richard Cobden-Sanderson ] (1884-1964), publisher, son of printer T. J. Cobden-Sanderson of the Doves Press, Hammersmith [ J. B. Pinker & Son, London literary agents ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 'R. Cobden-Sanderson: Publisher | 17 Thavies Inn, Holborn, E.C.1' [ London ]. 9 February 1925.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly-aged. He has 'given consideration to the following MSS.': 'THE WEB OF FATE by M. Garahan | ANTONY IN LOVE [by] C. E. Rose | THE NIGHT MOTH [by] Amy Miller'. As he cannot make any offer for their publication he is returning the manuscripts forthwith.

[ Printed advertising pamphlet. ] The Authors' Agency for the Criticism, Revision, and Disposal of Manuscript, And all Work Involved Between Author and Publisher.

Author: 
William A. Dresser [ William Adams Dresser (b.1851) ], Manager, The Authors' Agency, Boston, Massachusetts, est. 1893 [ Mrs Julia Ward Howe; William Dean Howells; Thomas Nelson Page; Noah Brooks ]
Publication details: 
The Authors' Agency. William A. Dresser, Manager. P.O. Box 1193, Boston, Mass. Undated.
£65.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly-aged. Beneath the drop-head title: 'The Agency is authorized to refer to the following well-known writers: | Noah Brooks. | Hezekiah Butterworth. | Mrs. Margaret Deland. | William Elliot Griffis, D.D. | B. O. Flower, [Ed. Arena.] | Mrs. Burton Harrision. | Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. | William Dean Howells. | Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton. | Philip S. Moxom, D.D. | Thomas Nelson Page. | A. D. F. Randolph, Publisher. | Charles Dudley Warner. | Mary E. Wilkins. | William Hayes Ward, D.D., [Ed. Independent.] | J. A. Wheelock, [Ed.

[J. G. Ueberfeld, Principal Agent, Frankfort Ready Money Lottery.] Secretarial Letter, signed by 'J. G. Ueberfeld | Principal Agent', explaining in detail why Alexander Blair, Treasurer of the Bank of Scotland should become interested in the scheme.

Author: 
J. G. Ueberfeld, Principal Agent, Frankfort Ready Money Lottery [Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Alexander Blair, Treasurer, Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh]
Publication details: 
'Frankfort a/m' [Frankfurt am Main, Germany] 10 November 1842.
£130.00

2pp., 4to. 59 neatly and closely written lines. In good condition, on lightly aged paper. Addressed to Blair at the head. From the start the tone of the letter must have rung alarm bells: 'Encouraged by one of my Dublin Correspondents, who has just very lately won a rather considerable prize in my office as General Agent to the Board of Management for the Frankfort Ready Money Lottery, I beg hereby to take the liberty of tendering you my services in the purchase or sale of public securities, recovery of Debts, &c &c.

Autograph Signature of the Scottish critic and translator William Archer, on a receipt from the Authors' Syndicate.

Author: 
William Archer (1856-1924), Scottish critic and translator of Henrik Ibsen [William Morris Colles (1865-1926), literary agent, founder in 1890 of the Authors' Syndicate]
Publication details: 
[The Authors' Syndicate, Ltd., 3-7 Southampton Street, Strand, London.] 6 December 1906.
£28.00

1p., landscape 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and dusty paper. The receipt, for £19 5s 4d, is printed, and completed in manuscript in another hand. Archer has signed over a red tax stamp: 'William Archer | 7/12/06'. Stamped, and numbered '2801' in blue pencil. In top right-hand corner, in the same hand as the receipt: 'C. B. 215'.

Copy of Two Typed Letters from the London publisher Martin Secker to the Scots-Canadian author Frederick Niven, the first asking for 'one more chance' to publish his work. With typed copies of two of Niven's replies, the first extremely critical.

Author: 
Frederick Niven [Frederick John Niven] (1878-1944), Scots-Canadian writer [Martin Secker [Percy Martin Secker Klingender] (1882-1978), London publisher; J. B. Pinker, literary agent]
Publication details: 
Secker: both from Number Five, John Street, Adelphi; 26 and 28 February 1913. Niven: both from Holmleigh, Church Hill, Loughton, Essex; 27 February and 2 March 1913.
£280.00

Sent by Niven to his literary agent J. B. Pinker, whose date stamp is on the first of Secker's letters. All four items in fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Secker's first letter: 1p., 4to. He begins by praising 'Denny's display' [a window display of Niven's work in Denny's bookshop in the Strand]: 'I am wondering whether you managed to get the photograph into any of the papers. Shall I send it to the Bookman?' He continues: 'The sales [of Niven's novel The Porcelain Lady] up to date amount to 434 in England.

Manuscript 'Inventory of The Household Furniture and Effects at Stodham Park Liss Hants belonging to Capt B J. Marden December 16th 1920. Made for the Purpose of Fire Insurance.' [by G. Knight & Son, Auctioneers, Midhurst, Sussex]

Author: 
G. Knight & Son, auctioneers, Midhurst, Sussex [Captain Basil Jock Newton Marden (1893-1928) of Stodham Park, Liss, Hampshire]
Inventory of The Household Furniture and Effects at Stodham Park Liss Hants
Publication details: 
16 December 1920.
£350.00
Inventory of The Household Furniture and Effects at Stodham Park Liss Hants

236 pp, 8vo. In sturdily-bound landscape account book by Drake, Driver & Leaver of London, with black leather half-binding, green cloth boards, and marbled endpapers. Stamped in gilt on front board: 'INVENTORY. | G. KNIGHT & SON. | AUCTIONEER & VALUERS | HOUSE & ESTATE AGENTS | MIDHURST.' Good, on aged paper, in lightly-worn binding. Lined lengthwise across each two pages (like an oversized reporter's or policeman's notebook), each opening carrying a stamped number, and with the text on openings 1 to 119 of the 251 in the account book.

Printed pamphlet (with 'P.T.O.' in large letters on cover) and handbill notice, with autograph covering letter to an unnamed clergyman [Rev. Charles William Shepherd], in which he describes himself as 'the "Doyen" of Ecclesiastical Agents'.

Author: 
Edward Broughton-Rouse, Sheffield solicitor, 'Ecclesiastical Agent' (agent for the purchase and sale of advowsons)
Publication details: 
None of the items dated. Pamphlet from circa 1897.
£120.00

The three items indicate a brashness approaching hucksterism on the part of a Victorian professional, in addition to marketing techniques advanced for the period. Letter: 12mo, 2 pp. Stamped at head: 'Edw. Broughton Rouse, M.A., LL.D. | 436, GLOSSOP ROAD, | SHEFFIELD.' Twenty-five lines of text. Clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Many hundreds of this letter must have been copied out and sent to clergymen throughout England.

Autograph Letter Signed to John Baker.

Author: 
Philip Kent, Domestic Agent, British and Foreign Bible Society [John Baker; Miss Marshall of Axminster]
Publication details: 
8 April 1845; 2 West Square, St George's Road, London.
£28.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Very good on lightly-aged paper. Giving his 'testimony in contradiction of the Statement made in the document which you read to me in reference to the late Miss Marshall of Axminster being kept by you as her professional adviser with little money at her disposal'. States that 'The general impression in the Town was directly opposed to this statement and that impression was sufficiently sustained by the success attendant upon applications to Miss Marshall for and to benevolent purposes'. Gives examples showing 'she was never in want of money'.

Four Typed Letters Signed (three 'Peggy Ramsay' and one 'Peggy R.') to Goodman, giving her characteristically forthright opinion of his plays.

Author: 
Peggy Ramsay [Margaret Ramsay] [Margaret Francesca Ramsay, née Venniker] (1908-1991), English theatrical agent [Jonathan Goodman (1931-2008)]
Publication details: 
29 May 1955, and 5 and 12 March and 19 April 1956. All on letterheads of Margaret Ramsay Ltd, Play Agent.
£200.00

All four items good, on lightly aged paper. Two of the five leaves have small dog-ears to corners. Goodman has done his accounts on the blank reverse of one leaf. An important collection, in which the most important British post-war play agent reveals, in entertaining and increasingly-brusque terms, the criteria by which she judges scripts. Goodman was hailed by Jacques Barzun as 'the greatest living master of true-crime literature', but his first love was, as his obituary in the Daily Telegraph (16 January 2008) states, the theatre.

Alphabetical and Descriptive Catalogues of the Publications of the Presbyterian Board of Publication.

Author: 
The Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia [Joseph P. Engles, Publishing Agent; trade catalogues]
Publication details: 
Undated [circa 1860]. Philadelphia: Joseph P. Engles, Publishing Agent, No. 821 Chestnut Street.
£200.00

12mo: xxvi + 64 + [i] pp. Unbound. Stitched as issued. Last leaf blank. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, with heavy wear to outer leaves, and staining to first and last half-dozen leaves. Ownership inscription of Charles Ira Gordon Skeen of Covington, Virginia, along outer margin of title. Two vignettes: the first on the title (three boys entering an library and being handed books by an adult) and the second at the head of the Descriptive Catalogue (family at the dining table). The main body of volume (pp.1-61) consists of the Descriptive Catalogue, in small type, of 553 items.

Four Autograph Letters Signed to [?] Macphail; copy, with MS corrections and additions, of proposed report on Bill by committee of the Faculty of Advocates; 'COPY LETTER, Mr P. W. Campbell, P.C.S., to Sir William S. Haldane, Crown Agent'; Bill.

Author: 
Charles Scott Dickson [Parliamentary Bill: Clerks of Session (Scotland) Regulation Acts, 1889 and 1912]
Publication details: 
The four letters, December 1812 to 1813; the Advocates' report, 14 January 1913, Advocates Library; Campbell's letter, 23 December 1912, Edinburgh; Bill, 9 December 1912.
£180.00

Dickson (born 1850) was Tory M.P. for Glasgow, Lord Advocate and Lord Justice Clerk. The four letters, all 12mo and all on House of Commons Library notepaper, are dusty and creased. Three are dated (30 and 31 December and 2 January) and signed; the other letter is undated and initialed. LETTER ONE: 'I spoke to the Lord Advocate to-day & he then definitely informed me that the Lord President entirely approved of the Bill.' LETTER TWO: 'I have spoken to the Advocate about the date of the committee stage & we will I believe have some weeks yet.

Detailed Signed Autograph Manuscript Account, entitled 'Valuation of Smithies Bridge Estate belonging to Major A. H. Baldwin'.

Author: 
William S. Airey, Land Agent, Whalley [Smithies Bridge Estate belonging to Major A. H. Baldwin, Ribble Valley, Lancashire; Whalley; Grindleton; Clitheroe]
Publication details: 
15 April 1904; Whalley [Lancashire]. [Waterlow & Sons, Limited, Wholesale & Export Stationers, Great Winchester Street, London Wall, and Parliament Street, London.]
£56.00

8vo: 12 pp. Very good, in original blue cloth account book of twelve leaves, with title on label on front board. Label of Waterlow & Sons inside front cover. The entries spread across six sets of two facing pages, all ruled with red printed lines and in boxes and with the following seven categories printed at the head: 'No. on Plan'; 'DESCRIPTION.'; 'State of Cul[ivatio]n.'; 'Value per Acre'; 'Statute | A. R. P. [i.e. acreage]'; 'Value. | £ s.

Autograph Letter Signed to I[saac]. Wilkinson[, Manager and Secretary of the Brighton Aquarium].

Author: 
Dudley Smith (born c.1852), English and Foreign Musical and Dramatic Agent [The Brighton Aquarium; Victorian Circus]
Publication details: 
22 March 1883; on ornate letterhead in blue and gold carrying address at 449 Strand, London (as well as addresses in Paris and New York).
£56.00

One page, quarto. Very good, though slightly aged and creased, and with minor damp staining at foot, affecting bottom three lines including signature. Wilkinson has written to say that he 'has not the space' Smith has 'named'. '[Y]ou express an opinion that Circus business would pay, & I, from my personal knowledge of Brighton & experience therein, feel sure a really good Circus would prove an immense attraction & a paying one, & would stand some time by introducing fresh novelties'.

For sale by order of the trustees of the will. Hampstead Heath. The well-known Freehold Estate of the late Sir Spencer Wells, Bart., a perfect Country Seat within five miles of Charing Cross. [...] known as Golder's Hill.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Spencer Wells [Hampstead Heath; Golder's Hill House; London topography]
Publication details: 
For Sale by Auction by Messrs. Debenham, Tewson, Farmer and Bridgewater | At the Mart, Tokenhouse Yard, near the Bank of England, in the City of London. On Tuesday, the 28th day of June, 1898.
£100.00

Two unbound bifoliums stapled together. Eight pages, on four leaves each roughly seventeen inches by eleven wide. A corrected proof, stamped at head of first page 'PROOF NO.' A frail survival of a significant document in London topographical history. Aged and worn, with several closed tears. A few manuscript emendations, notes and additions in different hands. For example, concerning a right of way, 'Messrs. Debenham can ascertain this from Mr. Pinder Simpson 20 Old Burlington St. W. the Collector'.

Typed letter signed "Lionel Britton" to Joan Jefferson Farjeon, scene designed daughter of J. Jefferson Farjeon, detective novelist and playwright. WITH: related correspondence.

Author: 
Lionel Britton.
Publication details: 
Park House, 66 Tufnell Park Road, London, N7, 1956 - 1959
£450.00

Novelist and playwright, author of the "flawed masterpiece" "Hunger and Love". Two pages, 8vo, fold marks but good condition, one ms. correction. A substantial letter dated 30 Oct. 1956, in which he reports on a letter from "Miss Black of Curtis Brown Ltd" (literary agents) in which she reports that Miss Farjeon does not want to sign a second agreement for "The Impossible Guest" (novel by Joseph Jefferson Farjeon published in 1949 which Britton presumably adapted for the stage).

Autograph letter signed, Mary-Cecile Loge, translator, to A.P. Watt, Literary Agent

Author: 
[ Jack London ] A French Translator
Publication details: 
13/05/08
£250.00

Four pages, 8vo. She declines to translate "White Fang" because the similarity of its "most important scenes" to those in "The Call of the Wild" ("leading" Paris editors agree with her) would jeopardise sales, suggesting that compression into one third of the original length would be necessary. She remits eight guineas to be forwarded to Jack London, and makes a play for the rights to translate a new Robert Hichens novel. WITH: typed note signed, 8vo, in German, from the publishers, Ferdinand Schoningh, to A.P. Watt, 20 Nov.

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