AUCTIONEER

[‘Gray’s Desk on which he wrote the Elegy’: Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, London auctioneers.] Letters and accounts from Sotheby’s to Mrs Sarah Turpin, relating to the 1915 sale of ‘Letters and Relics’ by Thomas Gray, including priced catalogue entries

Author: 
Thomas Gray (1716-1771), poet, author of 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard' [Mary Antrobus; Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, London auctioneers; Sarah Turpin, wife of organist Edmund Hart Turpin]
Publication details: 
Eleven items dating from 1914 and 1915. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, Auctioneers, 13 Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C.
£450.00

A nice collection of ephemera, relating not only to one of England’s best-loved poets, but also to Sotheby’s auction practice during the Great War. The provenance of the Gray letters put up for auction by Mrs Turpin is given in a New York Times article of 27 June 1915 (‘To sell relics of Thomas Gray; many letters by the poet will also be put up at auction at Sotheby's’), which stated in a report on the forthcoming sale that the letters ‘were transmitted to the present owner, Mrs.

[Thomas Davies, bookseller; Boswell & Johnson; Thomas Cadell] Autograph Letter Signed Thos Davies to Unnamed correspondent (Thomas Cadell, publisher? see below), unwilling to participate in an auction including books in quires.

Author: 
Thomas Davies, bookseller (1713-1785}
Publication details: 
[1784?]
£450.00

One page, 12mo, laid down on l. larger stiff paper, some staining but text clear and complete. I would willingly be of service to Mrs Evans & attend the sale; but I wish not to buy books in quires - I am besides so very deaf that it is a pain to me to be in company - | Mrs Evans & you may depend upon my doing what little service is in my power when y[ou]r bound stock is sold [...] | P.S. I am delighted greatly with y[ou]r Travels ['Voyages' excised] of Mr. Coxe - He is a most accomplished Gentleman & I am sure has a most excellent heart..

[Benjamin Bartrum, auctioneer.] Autograph household 'Inventory & Valuation' of 'the property of Thomas Harward Gardiner Esq' ('Common Brewer'), signed 'Benjn. Bartrum | Bath', containing furniture, plate, books, wearing apparel, jewels, wines.

Author: 
Benjamin Bartrum [Benjamin Thomas Bartrum] (1783-1846), Bath auctioneer [Thomas Harward Gardiner (d. 1841), 'Common Brewer' of Bath; Thomas Gainsborough; Margaret Burr Gainsborough]
Publication details: 
Bath: 'taken and made' on 26 and 27 March 1841.
£320.00

11pp, folio. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice into the conventional packet. Ten-page inventory, followed by full page valuation, neatly written out on six leaves, which are stitched together, with the reverse of the last leaf carrying the title written lengthwise in conventional style for the outside of the packet: 'Inventory & Valuation of the several effects of the late Thos. Harward Gardiner Esq deceased at No. 14 Brock Street Bath | Amount £574. 8. 6', along with the word 'Copy' in red. Also on this page, in pencil in an early twentieth century hand: '?

[Lady Louisa Hardy, wife of Sir Thomas Hardy, Captain of HMS Victory at Battle of Trafalgar.] Autograph Letter in the third person to 'Mr Lahee' (the auctioneer Samuel Lahee), concerning Hardy's consent to requirements in a new house

Author: 
Lady Louisa Emily Anna Hardy (1788-1877), wife of Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy (1769-1839)], Royal Navy officer, Captain of HMS Victory at Battle of Trafalgar [Samuel Lahee]
Publication details: 
9 Queen Street, Mayfair [London]. 15 October [no year].
£250.00

Hardy is immortalised in Nelson's dying request 'Kiss me, Hardy.' Lady Hardy was the daughter of Admiral Sir George Cranfield Berkeley (1753-1818). 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with parts of red wax seal and traces of glue from mount on reverse of second leaf, which is addressed 'To | Mr Lahee | 65. New Bond Street'. Folded once.

Manuscript volume titled 'The Life and Adventures of Walter Venning Southgate, by his Father [the London auctioneer Henry Southgate].' Containing original manuscript letters, drawings, engravings and other material.

Author: 
Henry Southgate (1818-1888), London auctioneer with premises in the Strand, and anthologist; his son Walter Venning Southgate (b. 1844, fl. 1884)
Publication details: 
Manuscript title date 'London. MDCCCXLIV [1844]', but containing material from between 1844 and 1883.
£450.00

Folio, 110 pp, comprising [i] + 68 + [ii] + 39 pp. Handsome volume in slipcase, tight and internally in very good condition, on lightly-aged thick Whatman paper. Well bound in black leather morocco, all edges gilt. Binding blind-tooled and with 'Early Days' and 'W. V. S.' in gilt on spine and motto on front board: 'Nourish the sentiments thy principles approve and put thy trust and confidence in God.' Binding worn and rebacked, in worn black cloth slipcase.

[Frank Marcham.] Two typewritten drafts of an annotated list of nearly 500 'Auction Sales made by Robert Harding Evans'; with autograph notes on Evans and on his own collection, with typescript titled 'Literary History and local topography'.

Author: 
Frank Marcham (c.1887-1944), English bookseller [Robert Harding Evans (1778-1857), auctioneer and bookseller]
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated. [London. Begun in the 1920s?]
£1,000.00

Robert Harding Evans has been described as 'the greatest of all auctioneers of literary property'. In a career spanning three decades he oversaw the dispersal of many of the finest libraries ever assembled, from the great Roxburghe sale of 1812 to that of the Duke of Sussex in 1845, as well as those of the books of Lord Byron and the manuscripts and copyrights of Sir Walter Scott. In an undated letter to Bodley's Librarian (copy in Item Four below) Marcham states that he is 'working on Evans the auctioneer and the list will be published.

[ Henry Southgate, auctioneer and anthologist. ] Autograph Letter Signed to E. D. Girdlestone

Author: 
Henry Southgate (1818-1888), London auctioneer [ Southgate & Barrett, 22 Fleet Street ] and anthologist [ E. D. Girdlestone [ Edward Deacon Girdlestone ] (1829-1892) ]
Publication details: 
Woodbine, Sidmouth, Devon. 11 May 1878.
£56.00

4pp., 12mo. Two pages on bifolium with two-page postscript on loose leaf. In good condition, lightly aged. He thanks him for his 'kind note and opinion respecting my "Many Thoughts" [ anthology of 1857 ] of which nearly 267 - tons have been sold, an odd way of putting it you will say, but such is the fact.' He is working on a 'curious and suggestive book now on Aphoristic Wisdom'. He thinks he may 'gather something' from Girdlestone's 'Collection', which he undertakes will be 'most carefully and thankfully returned'.

Nayler & Co.[Dutch book catalogue, 1842] Catalogue van Kopiyen, Aanbiedingen, enz [Full title page give below]

Author: 
[Dutch bookseller's/auctioneer's catalogue 1842] Nayler and Co., booksellers, Amsterdam
Dutch Bookseller's Catalogue
Publication details: 
Gedruky bij M. & F.C. Westerman, O.Z. Achterburgwal te Amsterdam. 1842 (in roman numerals).
£250.00
Dutch Bookseller's Catalogue

Total 48pp, 8vo, including alternate blanks for notes,with handwritten information about prices, etc. (seller's marked copy presumably), marbled wraps, worn, contents sl. worn at edges but complete, with ill-defined stamps at beginning and end (one has phrase Noord Holland). REST Of title-page: "Op Zaturday den XVIII Junij 1842, | zullen Nayler & Co. met hunne | Ongebonden- Verkooping | een aanvang maken, | in het Logement DE ZON, op Nieuwen-Dijk, No. 234, | te Amsterdam [...] Uren van Verkoop: | 9 tot 12 - 1 tot 4 - 6 tot 10 - met Klokstage.

[George Robins, auctioneer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo Robins') to the editor of the Morning Chronicle James Black, pushing for an article to be inserted in the paper, to tie in with his sale of the contents of Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill.

Author: 
George Robins [George Henry Robins] (1777-1847), celebrated London auctioneer [James Black (1783-1855), editor of the Morning Chronicle [Horace Walpole; Strawberry Hill]
Publication details: 
'Covent Garden [London] | Friday [1842]'.
£2,500.00

2pp., 12mo, bifolium. Very good, on lightly aged paper. The letter reads: 'Strawberry Hill is to the classic world much more important than the turmoil of everlasting Politics. It will be a little refreshing as a contrast to your readers to hear of Horace Walpole - the Inclosed is from Gallignani's Journal[.] in Paris they give a better attention to the Arts as well as the nuisance of everlasting Politics'. Postscript reads: 'Would you like to have a card to see'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Danl Terry') from the actor and playwright Daniel Terry to the Liverpool auctioneer Thomas Winstanley, attempting a reconciliation in their friendship, and referring to the London auctioneer Samuel Oxenham.

Author: 
Daniel Terry (1789-1829), actor and playwright [Thomas Winstanley (1768-1845), Liverpool auctioneer, art dealer and connoisseur; Samuel Oxenham, auctioneer of Oxford Street, London]
Publication details: 
Undated [on paper watermarked 1820].
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. 22 lines. Watermark: 'J GREEN | 1820'. Bifolium, with the reverse of the second leaf addressed by Terry to 'T Winstanley Esq'. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper, with closed tear to top half of fold. The letter begins: 'For God's sake - for the sake of auld lang syne - dine with me to-morrow.' He asks Winstanley to overlook his 'long silence & apparent neglect', it having been 'busy world [sic]' with them both since they last communicated. He assures him that he is 'the same as ever in affection & respect'.

Auction Catalogue of the sale of a textile collection, a Mercer's Stock.

Author: 
[Mary Hawkes]
Publication details: 
[Ringwood], 1834
£450.00

Items relating to Mary Hawkes (d.1834) of East Close House, Christchurch, Hampshire, including an auction catalogue of the sale of the textile stock of a member of the Levett family of mercers, a poster for the same auction, and a copy of Mrs Hawkes's willAn interesting collection of material. Catalogues of textiles auctions are extremely uncommon for this period, and a significant one, priced in manuscript like Item Two, with associated material placing it in context, must be all but unique.

Kirby, Essex. Catalogue of Live and Dead Farming Stock and Household Furniture, to be sold by auction. By Mr. E. Blyth, on Tuesday, September 19, 1843, At Eleven o'clock, By Order of the Proprietor, Mr. Wm. Wilson, who is retiring from Business.

Author: 
Edward Blyth, auctioneer, of Rose Cottage, Thorpe-le-Soken [Colchester, Essex; povincial printing; agriculture; auction catalogues]
Publication details: 
1843. Colchester: Printed by G. Dennis, 40, High Street.
£95.00

12mo: 8 pp (a 43 x 27 cm leaf, printed on both sides and folded twice to make four unopened leaves). Pamphlet. Text clear and complete on lightly-aged and spotted paper. 'Conditions of Sale' on reverse of title. 170 lots, with lots 48 to 68 priced and named by the auctioneer, who gives the total as £4 9s 6d, with 'Commission & Exps.' of £0 8s 6d. Interesting manuscript note at head of title: 'Lot 65 not sold - is the Drawers & Dresser in the Storeroom in the Parlour which were not a part of the Tenants Fittings and belong to the Landlord - and were not taken by Mr.

7-inch extended play 45 rpm vinyl record entitled 'Tobacco Chant - Part 1 | The Song of the Auctioneer' ['Tobacco Chant - Part 2' on the b-side].

Author: 
Bob Cage [Produced by G. J. Ashton; Recorded by C. U. Krieger; Tobacco Auctions Ltd, Southern Rhodesia; Halifax, Virginia]
Publication details: 
Tobacco Auctions Limited, Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia.
£100.00

Undated. Dusty, but veryy good, on black vinyl with yellow label and triangular insert. In lightly worn, creased and grubby original sleeve printed in green and yellow, carrying a lengthy note by G. J. Ashton, beginning 'On this record you can hear parts of an actual sale of tobacco held on the floor of Tobacco Auctions Ltd., Salisbury, introduced by BOB CAGE. Mr. Cage, a native of Halifax, Virginia, has been auctioneering tobacco for over fifteen years in the United States and Rhodesia.

Signed Manuscript Catalogue of the 'Sale by Auction of the Stock in Trade of Ironmongers materials, Casting Apparatus, Steam Engine & other Effects of Mr. J. Sagar Sold under Bill of Sale to Mr. Stubbs, Botchergate, Carlisle.'

Author: 
William Browne, Auctioneer; John Sagar, Ironmonger, Botchergate, Carlisle, Cumberland [Stubbs; Nineteenth Century Sale Catalogue]
Publication details: 
23 January 1856. [Hudson Scott, Stationer and Account Book Manufacturer, Carlisle.]
£250.00

Landscape 8vo: 10 pp. On the first six leaves of a twenty leaf stitched account book, on blue ruled blue paper, in original buff wraps. Printed label on front cover reading 'SALE BOOK. | Sold by HUDSON SCOTT, | Stationer and Account Book Manufacturer, Carlisle.' Manuscript title on front cover reads 'Sale a/c of J. Sagar under Bill of Sale to Mr. Stubbs 1856.' and 'Effects of John Sagar, Ironmonger Botchergate under Bill of Sale to Mr. Stubbs. - Jany. 23. 1856.-' Internally clean, in grubby wraps. Description of sale, on first page, signed 'William Browne | Auctioneer'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Freeman'), with envelope, to Hodgson at 20 Bromley Common, Bromley, Kent.

Author: 
John Freeman [John Frederick Freeman] (1880-1929), English Georgian poet [Sidney Hodgson, book auctioneer of Hodgson's, Chancery Lane, London]
Publication details: 
7 April [no year]; on embossed letterhead of 29 Weighton Road, Anerley, [London,] S.E.
£56.00

8vo: 1 p. 7 lines. Good, but with some foxing, and with a corner of the blank reverse tipped in onto a card mount on which the envelope is laid down. He thanks him 'for the catalogue containing the Moore item'. Would be 'very glad' if Hodgson 'could call here on Thursday next & join us in a meal at 7 o'clock [...] I suggest Thursday because then we shall not be alone, nor dull'. Hodgson was the author, in 1927, of 'Brief notes on the history of the hamlet of Penge with Anerley'.

Mortgage Indenture (No. 13992), printed, manuscript, typewritten, and signed, between Smith, his wife Millicent Smith and the Burnley Building Society.

Author: 
William Russell Smith, Oldham 'Book Manufacturer and Auctioneer'
Publication details: 
9 October 1922. Printed by 'George Anderson (Burnley) Limited.'
£35.00

Eight pages, quarto. Unbound and stitched on six leaves. Good, with recto of first leaf and verso of last somewhat more aged. With company and tax stamps. 'Mortgage, [a leasehold plot of land and messuage Numbered 26 in Barker Street Oldham in the County of Lancaster to secure £450 and interest.' Typewritten acknowledgment of payment, 25 February 1929, signed by company secretary W. Harvey and director J. Brown.

Autograph Letter Signed ('S. Leigh Sotheby') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Samuel Leigh Sotheby (1805-61), British auctioneer and antiquary
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£200.00

Three pages, 12mo. On aged paper, with a few closed tears and rust marking to blank verso of second leaf of bifolium. He thanks him for sending the books for examination. 'Mrs. Sotheby will take a photograph of the phiz of Peter Schoeffer, But as to the woodcut being of that I do not at present believe it - | The letters & papers are not of the time.' He asks him to translate a passage, comments further on Schoeffer, and asks if his correspondent has 'any new of Paper Factory for me.' Concludes 'Write me the full particulars of what Dutch Collection in the library of Sir Ths.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of document.

Author: 
William Behnes; George Robins
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

Behnes (died 1864) was a sculptor, and Robins (1778-1847) a flamboyant auctioneer. Very good, on piece of paper roughly two inches by three and a half. From a collection of Autograph Signatures cut from petitions to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund. Blank reverse.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of petition.

Author: 
George Clint, Clarkson Stanfield, Dominic Paul Colnaghi, William Brockedon, George Henry Robins
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but on paper watermarked 1831.
£43.00

Three noted British painters of the first half of the nineteenth century: Clint (1770-1854), Stanfield (1793-1867), Brockedon (1787-1854), together with the printseller Colnaghi (1790-1879) and the auctioneer Robins (1778-1847). Paper dimensions roughly five inches by four inches. Good, but lightly creased and a touch grubby. From a collection of material relating to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund.

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