AUSTEN

[Sir Austen Henry Layard, archaeologist at Nimrud and Nineveh.] Autograph Letter Signed [to Lady Theresa Lewis]

Author: 
Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894), archaeologist who excavated Nimrud and Nineveh, discoverer of library of Assyrian king Ashurbanipal [Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), author]
Publication details: 
'9 Little Ryder Street [London] / July 1/ 53 [1853]'. With his gilded crest as letterhead.
£35.00

See his entry and Lady Theresa Lewis's in the Oxford DNB. Addressed to 'My dear Madam' and signed 'A. H. Layard.' The recipient is not named, but the item is from the papers of Lady [Maria] Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), who lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge with her second husband Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Bart, Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, her first husband having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). 2pp, 16mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, folded three times.

[Sir Austen Henry Layard, archaeologist at Nimrud and Nineveh.] Autograph Letter Signed [to Lady Theresa Lewis]

Author: 
Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894), archaeologist who excavated Nimrud and Nineveh, discoverer of library of Assyrian king Ashurbanipal [Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), author]
Publication details: 
'9 Little Ryder Street [London] / July 1/ 53 [1853]'. With his gilded crest as letterhead.
£35.00

See his entry and Lady Theresa Lewis's in the Oxford DNB. Addressed to 'My dear Madam' and signed 'A. H. Layard.' The recipient is not named, but the item is from the papers of Lady [Maria] Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), who lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge with her second husband Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Bart, Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, her first husband having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). 2pp, 16mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, folded three times.

[Sir Austen Henry Layard, archaeologist at Nimrud and Nineveh.] Autograph Letter Signed to Foreign Office civil servant Sir Thomas Villiers Lister, giving advice and information for a stay in Venice.

Author: 
Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894), archaeologist who excavated Nimrud and Nineveh, discoverer of library of Assyrian king Ashurbanipal [Sir Thomas Villiers Lister (1832-1902) of the Foreign Office]
Publication details: 
24 February 1886. On letterhead of 1 Queen Anne Street, W. [London]
£100.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Fifty-six lines of neatly- and closely-written text. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and folded once for postage. Signed ‘A. H. Layard’ and addressed to ‘My dear Lister.’ He is sorry that Lister will be in Venice when he is absent, as he is not returning until May. ‘The Hotel de la Grande Bretagne is, I think, now the best in Venice - and very well situated.’ If Lister mentions his name he is sure the landlord ‘will do his best for you. The Grand Hotel is also good. I should not recommend Danieli’s.

[‘The greatest force in British politics between the decline of Gladstone and the rise of Lloyd George’: Sir Joseph Chamberlain, father of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.] Autograph Note Signed to Leopold Maxse, regarding a ‘seat’.

Author: 
Sir Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914), British politician, by turns Radical, Liberal Unionist and Conservative; father of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain [Leopold Maxse (1864-1932), editor of the Nati
Publication details: 
25 January 1881. On letterhead of 72 Prince’s Gate, S.W. [London]
£50.00

According to A. J. P. Taylor, Chamberlain was ‘the greatest force in British politics between the decline of Gladstone and the rise of Lloyd George. See his lengthy entry, and that of Maxse, in the Oxford DNB’. 1p, 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged. With one central vertical fold from postage. Reads: ‘My dear Maxse / I have been away but will try & get a seat for Thursday & write to you again / Yours sincerely / J. Chamberlain’. Postscript at head of page: ‘Can you dine with me here on Friday at 8 p.m?’

[Lady Charlotte Bury, Regency novelist of the ‘Silver Fork’ school.] Autograph Letter in the third person, requesting that Sir William Hamilton subscribes to a forthcoming work by her.

Author: 
Lady Charlotte Bury [Lady Charlotte Susan Maria Bury, née Campbell] (1775-1861), Regency ‘Silver Fork’ novellist and diarist, lady in waiting to George IV’s wife Queen Caroline
Bury
Publication details: 
26 August 1831. 3 Park Square, London.
£50.00
Bury

The daughter of the fifth Duke of Argyll, Lady Charlotte bore eleven children to her two husbands, and was forced to write novels by her first husband’s death and second husband’s profligacy. See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Neatly attached by a paper hinge to part of a leaf from an album. Begins: ‘Lady Charlotte Bury presents her Compts to Sir William Hamilton, & takes the liberty of soliciting for the honor & favor of his name, as a subscriber to a work by Lady Charlotte of which the enclosed Prospectus gives every particular.

[St James’s Theatre, London: 1936 centenary production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, designed by Rex Whistler, and starring Celia Johnson and Hugh Williams.] Manuscript ‘Treasury Sheets’ of itemized accounts for 9 weeks of performances.

Author: 
St James’s Theatre, London: 1936 centenary production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, designed by Rex Whistler (1905-1944) and starring Celia Johnson (1908-1982) and Hugh Williams (1904-1969) [Jane Austen]
Publication details: 
On nine weekly sheets, each with eight performances. Weeks ending 12 September 1936, and 26 September to 14 November 1936. St James's Theatre, London.
£650.00

The Gilbert Miller production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, designed by Rex Whistler, and starring Celia Johnson as Elizabeth Bennet and Hugh Williams as Mr Darcy, was a great success. It opened at the St James's Theatre, London, on 27 February 1936, and closed on 21 November 1936; with a Christmas revival between 26 December 1936 and 16 January 1937. There was a royal performance before Queen Mary on 15 February 1937, and the production went on tour for the rest of the year.

[Augustus Austen Leigh, Provost of King’s College, Cambridge.] Autograph Signature and valediction cut from letter, with fragment of testimonial to unnamed individual.

Author: 
Augustus Austen Leigh (1840-1905), Provost of King’s College, Cambridge, and President of Cambridge University Cricket Club
Publication details: 
Without date [but 1889 or after] or place [Cambridge?]
£25.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is a valediction cut from a letter, clearly provided for an autograph hunter. On small rectangle of paper. Neatly written and in good condition. Reads: ‘A Austen Leigh / Provost of King’s / College, Cambridge / July 13, 1890’. Text on reverse (part of testimonial) reads: ‘[...] degree in 1889, being placed in the first division of the Second class of the Classical Tripos. He has always borne a high character; and his abilities, morals & manners [...]’.

[ Jane Austen; aunt ; printed] "A Lady's Letters from Ilchester Gaol" in Notes & Queries for Somerset and Dorset, Vol. 18 (1924–5), 1–8, 58–61, 79–81, 99–105, 135–8

Author: 
Mabel C. Hammond [Notes & Queries for Somerset and Dorset]
Publication details: 
Sherborne, March 1924-June 1925
£180.00

Series of articles complete. Periodical issued quarterly, individual issues, vol. xviii, March, September, Dec. [1924], March, June 1925. Issues containing the series of articles/letters in Good + condition. Presumably found bound up with other issues of the journal, and an edition was published by the Toucan Press (1985) which is scarce (represented in four US and one British library only). See also "Grand Larceny, Being the Trial of Jane Leigh Perrot: Aunt of Jane Austen" and "A Memoir of Jane Austen: and Other Family Recollections".

[Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Austen Chamberlain.') to his neighbour 'Mr Kynnersley', declining to part with 'a piece of the meadow', suggesting that his tenant acquire an allotment instead.

Author: 
Austen Chamberlain [Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain] (1863-1937), Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer [Thomas Clement Sneyd Kynnersley (1803-1892) of Moor Green, Moseley, Birmingham]
Publication details: 
6 November 1889. On letterhead of Highbury, Moor Green, Birmingham.
£56.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. The letter, which deals with domestic matters, but has some interest considering the writer's father's views on land reform, is written a year after Chamberlain's return from his studies in Germany, where he had been alarmed by the rise in Prussian militarism, and with him on the verge of his entry into politics in the footsteps of his father Joseph Chamberlain. (He was also the older half-brother of the future Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.) It begins: 'Dear Mr.

[Sir Austen Henry Layard, archaeologist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('A. H. Layard') to the orientalist W. B. Barker, sending a 'specimen' of his 'detestable handwriting', and calling him 'a fortunate man' for being satisfied with his position.

Author: 
Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894), archaeologist who excavated Nimrud and Nineveh, discoverer of library of Assyrian king Ashurbanipal [William Burckhardt Barker] (c.1810-1856), orientalist]
Publication details: 
10 July 1837. Athenaeum Club [London], on club letterhead.
£125.00

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount unobtrusively adhering at head of reverse. Folded twice. The salutation is to 'My dear Barker', and the name of the recipient is given at the foot of the first page as 'W. B. Barker Esqe'. He thanks him for his 'kind, but too complimentary note'. He is afraid that Barker's friend, who has clearly requested Layard's autograph, 'sets too much value upon a specimen of such detestable handwriting', but in this matter, 'as in anything else', he will be happy to oblige Barker.

[ R.W. Chapman, scholar ] Autograph Note Signed to "Harmsworth" [Cecil Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth, a Johnsonian], about Mrs Piozzi's Love Letters.

Author: 
R.W. Chapman, scholar, book collector and editor of the works of Samuel Johnson and Jane Austen
Publication details: 
[Printed heading] 9 Park Town, Oxford, 31 Jan. 1930.
£35.00

One page, 12mo, sl rumpled, mainly good, written in haste. "I find I have a second copy of [Percival] Merritt's Piozzi Love Letters which you may care to have. See p.42. My accidental discovery of 'Exalt thy love - dejected heart in Parnell's poem clinched the matter."

[ Austen Chamberlain; Birmingham University ] Autograph Letter Signed ""Austen Chamberlain" to "Mr. [Cecil] Harmsworth", [Cecil Bisshopp Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth (1869 –1948), businessman and Liberal politician. With note by Harmsworth.

Author: 
Austen Chamberlain [ Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain, KG (1863–1937), statesman].
Publication details: 
[Headed notepaper] 9 Egerton Place, S.W., 25 Feb. 1909.
£220.00

4 pages, 8vo, bifolium, black-bordered, very good condition. With original envelope. "Some years ago when the B'ham University was founded I undertook to canvass the Members for Midland constituencies, served by the University, for support & received promises of sums ranging from £2000 to £100. | The University is now making a fresh appeal & I have undertaken the same task. I venture to ask you [...] if you will kindly help as your predecessor did. | " He is sending a copy of the printed appeal so that he can assess what has been done and "what remains to do".

[ Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain, Conservative politician. ] Autograph Signature ('Austen Chamberlain') on duplicated 'Agenda' of a meeting of the Coalition Liberal Organisation meeting.

Author: 
Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (1863-1937), Conservative politician, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
Publication details: 
With stamp of the Conservative Liberal Organisation, Headquarters Western Group, 28 Baldwin Street, Bristol. Undated, but dated to December 1920 in manuscript.
£65.00

1p., folio. On aged and creased paper. With Coalition Liberal Organisation stamp at bottom right, and manuscript date 'Decr 1920' at head. The agenda is in four numbered parts, including an 'Address by the Right Honourable J. Austen Chamberlain, M.P. (Chancellor of the Exchequer)', and the proposing by T. W. H. Inskip, M.P., of F. A. Wilshire, 'Prospective Coalition Candidate Thornbury Division', with Sir George Davies in support.

[ Sir Austen Henry Layard, English archaeologist, excavator of Nimrud and Nineveh. ] Autograph Signature ('A. H. Layard').

Author: 
Sir Austen Henry Layard [ Sir A. H. Layard ] (1817-1894), English archaeologist, excavator of Nimrud and Nineveh, and discoverer of the library of Ashurbanipal
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£23.00

On 5 x 9.5 cm. piece of paper, cut from the end of a letter. In fair condition, slightly smudged, with traces of glue from mount on reverse. Reads: 'Lateran. We shall be there to meet you. | Yours very truly | A. H. Layard'.

[ Austen Leigh; ALS; pamphlet ] Eton under Barnard 1754-1765

Author: 
R.A. Austen Leigh, editor
Publication details: 
Eton: At the College Press, 1904.
£100.00

Blue printed paper wraps, 39pp., 12mo, sl. worn. edges sunned, minor foxing, covers sl. away from staples, comprising Preface by Austen Leigh, an introduction and an Alphabetical List (of pupils in that period. A signature of a descendant, "E.A.B. Barnard is on front cover, while the clipped signature of R.A. Austen Leigh is glued to the titlepage. An Autograph Letter Signed "R.A. Austen Leigh" is tipped on the inside of the front wrap. dated 17 Jan. 1945,addressed to "Venn", 1.5 pages.

[ Len Harvey, British boxer, world light-heavyweight champion. ] Autograph Inscription with signature ('Len. Harvey.').

Author: 
Len Harvey [ Leonard Austen Harvey ] (1907-1976), English boxer, British champion at three weights, and world light-heavyweight champion, 1939-1942
Publication details: 
No place. January 1934.
£45.00

On one side of 9 x 11 cm piece of paper. In good condition, on lightly-spotted paper. Reads: 'I shall keep your clever little ode. Congratulations and good wishes. | Len. Harvey. | Cruiser & Heavyweight Champion | Jan. 1934.'

[ Jane Austen's 'Northanger Abbey'. ] Typed Rehearsal Script of Maggie Wadey's 1987 BBC television adaptation. (directed by Giles Foster and produced by Louis Marks)

Author: 
Maggie Wadey, scriptwriter and wife of actor John Castle; Louis Marks (1928-2010) BBC producer and scriptwriter; Giles Foster, television director; Jane Austen [ British Broadcasting Corporation]
Publication details: 
[ British Broadcasting Corporation, London. ] At head of covering page: '3rd Draft - Typed 3rd June 1986'.
£120.00

[2] + 170pp., 8vo. On 172 leaves, held together by a steel stud. In good condition, lightly aged, with discoloring to first leaf and the last seven leaves dogeared. The names of the crew are given on the first covering page, and the cast of characters (but not the names of the actors playing them) on the second. An interesting artefact, indicative of the continuing reassessment and reinterpretation of the works of one of Britain's great writers.

[Jane Austen's family: library section of printed auction catalogue, annotated by London booksellers Maggs Brothers.] A Catalogue of the Contents of the Masion, Capel Manor, Horsmonden, Kent.

Author: 
'By Order of the Trustees of John Francis Austen, Decd.' [ John-Francis Austen (1817-1893); Maggs Brothers, London booksellers]
Publication details: 
To be sold by Auction by Messrs. Knight, Frank & Rutley [...] in conjunction with Messrs. Richardson & Pierce, Ltd. on the premises [...] 17 August 1931 and three following days.
£180.00

J. F. Austen was the son of John Austen VII. For his relation to the novelist see 'Jane Austen's Letters', ed. Le Faye (OUP, 2011). The present item is excessively scarce, with no copies traced on either COPAC or OCLC WorldCat. 4to, 18pp. on ten leaves, paginated [1-2], 17-24, 57-63, 79. In original brown printed wraps. Aged and worn, with rusted staples.

[R. A. Austen-Leigh.] ALS and TLS to P. C. Vellacott, Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, regarding historical queries; TLS from Austen-Leigh to C. H. K. Marten, Vice-Provost of Eton, with Marten's ALS reply on reverse. With draft of Vellacott letter

Author: 
R. A. Austen-Leigh [Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh] (1872-1961), Jane Austen scholar and relative [P. C. Vellacott, Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge; Sir Henry Marten (1872-1948), Provost of Eton College]
Publication details: 
One (ALS to Vellacott): As from D2 Albany, Piccadilly W1. 3 May 1942. Two (TLS to Vellacott): on letterhead of 1 New-street Square, London, EC4. 10 June 1942. Three (TLS to Marten): same as Two. Four (Marten to Austen-Leigh): Eton. 11 August 1942.
£120.00

Austen-Leigh's three letters are all signed 'R A Austen Leigh'. ONE: ALS to Vellacott. 3 May 1942; 'as from | D2 Albany | Piccadilly W.1'. 2pp., 12mo. He asks if Vellacott can 'enlighten me on the following point - I am editing some letters of Dr. Goodall, who was Provost of Eton 1809 to 1840. There follows a sixteen-line transcript of a letter written in May 1838 from Goodall to his brother, regarding which he writes: 'Who would Mr.

[Chandos Leigh, 1st Baron Leigh.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Leigh') to 'Mr. Brodie', regarding a 'rather singular letter' he has received from one of his parishoners, offering his services as a shoemaker at a prison.

Author: 
Chandos Leigh (1791-1850), 1st Baron Leigh, of Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire, minor poet, cousin of Jane Austen and friend of Byron and Leigh Hunt
Publication details: 
57 Portman Square, London. 14 July 1849.
£150.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. The recipient presumably held a living near Leigh's Warwickshire mansion Stoneleigh Abbey (said to be the model for Sotherton Court in his cousin Jane Austen's 'Mansfield Park'). Leigh apologises troubling Brodie 'with the enclosed rather singular letter which I have received from one of your Parishioners'.

Autograph Journal of Johanna Maria Barrow, daughter of Sir John Barrow of Ulverston, describing her courtship by the soldier and artist Captain Robert Batty.

Author: 
Johanna Maria Batty (1800-1886), wife of the English army officer and artist Lieut-Col. Robert Batty (1789-1848), and daughter of Sir John Barrow (1764-1848)
Publication details: 
[Darley Dale and Dovedale, Derbyshire.] 31 July to 1821 and succeeding days.
£400.00

9pp., 12mo. In makeshift unbound pamphlet, made up of six bifoliums pinned together. In good condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. While short, the account is vivid, its first-person account of a whirlwind Regency romance evoking the inevitable comparison with Jane Austen. Written with the long s, the journal begins: 'On Monday July 31st.

Address. Delivered at St. Clement Danes on 13th December, 1926 [Samuel Johnson Anniversary]

Author: 
R. W. Chapman [Cecil Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth; Samuel Johnson; Johnsoniana]
Publication details: 
London. 1927.
£56.00

4to bifolium. The text, in small print, covers the final three pages. On aged and foxed paper. Inscribed, at the head of the title, 'from R. W. C.' The recipient was Cecil Harmsworth, who has written in pencil, beneath the inscription: 'C H | 26/ii/ 1927'. (Harmsworth was the proprietor of the Johnson house, which he had bought in 1911.) Scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at Oxford.

Signed Typescript ('Austen Chamberlain'), an address of thanks for his re-election as Rector of the University of Glasgow.

Author: 
Sir Austen Chamberlain [Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain] (1863-1937), English politician, Rector of the University of Glasgow
Publication details: 
Geneva, Sept. 14. 1926.'
£75.00

On one side of a foolscap (32.5 x 20 cm) page. Eighteen lines. On aged and foxed paper with chipping at head and foot. Chamberlain was Rector between 1925 and 1928.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R. Brimley Johnson') [to Swan Sonnenschein], proposing a work for publication, and outlining his literary achievements.

Author: 
R. Brimley Johnson [Reginald Brimley Johnson] (1867-1932), English author and editor [Swan Sonnenschein, London publishers]
Publication details: 
19 February 1893; on embossed letterhead of Llandaff House, Cambridge.
£65.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He was introduced to the recipient 'by Mr. Philip Malleson of Croydon, when I wanted to send an Essay to The Albemarle'. Asks if he 'might be disposed to let me write a volume on Jane Austen or Leigh Hunt for your Dilettante Library', Austen being 'specially before the public just now'. He has edited Austen's novels and two 'well received' volumes of selections from Hunt for 'Mr. Dent's Temple Library'. 'If you do not care to arrange for either of these authors I would suggest Miss Burney[,] Hazlitt or T. L. Peacock.

Invoice, account of Colonel Bosville with "T. Egerton AND Autograph receipt signed to P.I. Thelluson (Peter Isaac).

Author: 
Thomas Egerton.
Publication details: 
March-May 1791 AND 14 May 1796.
£250.00

Egerton published first Austen novel. The invoice, 8 x 6.5", lists histories, a basic law book, and military books. Colonel [William] Bosville was a celebrated bon vivant, friend of Horne Tooke, Cobbett, etc (see DNB). The recipient of teh receipt, Thelluson, was a merchant (1737-97)(DNB). One page, c.7.5 x 3", embossed receipt, damage at right edge with loss of three letters only: "Received 14 May 1796 of P.I. Thellus[on] Esq. Fifty five Pounds six Shillings for Books bill delivered/ £55.6-0 Thos Egerton". No other Egerton signature found in BL MSS, HMC or NUCMC.

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