AUTOGRAPH

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, aged and ruckled. A somewhat florid letter of thanks, addressed to 'My dear Lord', and with the valediction 'Your affectionate Friend, | Sidmouth'. The letter begins: 'Your kind Solicitude on Account of my two Daughters is just what I should have expected from your long experienc'd Friendship.' The girls have had 'a merciful Deliverance from a great & imminent Danger, in Comparision with which the Degree in which They have suffer'd, tho' not inconsiderable in itself, is a Subject of heartfelt Thankfulness from me & all my Family'.

Written in blue ink on one side of a card (not a post card, and with the reverse blank). Written a year after his retirement the card reads: 'Dear old friend - any time - love to see you here. I go to London for the middle of the week: but if you whispered a date convenient to you I would precipitate myself down here. | All love | Hardy'.

In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to 'Eric Dingwall Esq | 19 Grange Court | Grange Rd | Cambridge'. Written in a neat close hand. She gives details of a 1744 Italian translation of Richardson's Pamela she has found of a Parisian catalogue of 1774: 'Translator's name not given'. She adds: 'Pamela was v. popular in Italy in the second half of the 18th. century. It inspired two of Goldoni's comedies Pamela Fanciulla and Pamela Maritata'. In a postscript she explains that she brought the present postcard 'into the U[niversity]. L[ibrary].

2pp., 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Addressed to 'Dear Mr Green-Armytage', corrected from 'Armitage'. The letter begins: 'You may have heard that a Committee, of which Walter De la Mare is chairman, is considering the question of putting up some sort of memorial to Edward Thomas. At the same time I am beginning work on a Life and Letters of Edward Thomas, which has Mrs Thomas' approval, and is intended to be something in the nature of a memorial edition.' He will 'shortly be issuing an appeal in the press for the loan of letters etc in the possession of E.

Written on both sides of a card (not a postcard), and with twenty-one lines of closely written text amounting to the equivalent of an average-sized letter. In fair condition, lightly-aged, with signature slightly smudged. An excellent letter concerning her 'Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia' (1941), described by Larry McMurtry as one of the 'few great travel books'.

Pinned to the second leaf is a printed card of admittance to a 'General Meeting' of the Society for Psychical Research, Council Chamber, Westminster Town Hall, 16 July 1900, at which 'The following Paper will be read: - | “On Trance-Utterance and other Phenomena observed with Mrs. Thompson.” | By the President.' The letter is 3pp., 16mo. Bifolium. Both letter and card in good condition, lightly aged. The subject of the letter is clearly the speech mentioned on the card, given by Myers.

1p., 8vo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with closed tear along fold line of second leaf, which is blank other than the manuscript docketing: 'William Griffith Esq. | Captain | in the Association of the Town of Pwlhelly and it's [sic] neighbourhood'. The actual document, on the recto of the first leaf is a printed form completed in manuscript. The king's bold signature 'George R.' is at the top left, while the Duke's ('Portland') is appended 'By His Majesty's Command' at the end.

4pp., 4to. In red ink on bifolium of printed music paper. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper, with a few minor smudges. The song is andante, and the lyrics begin: 'Pierrot, lovesick And out of tune, Took his guitar and sang to the moon. Sang all night With mouth awry, Whilst light clouds drifted across the sky.' Also included is a Post Office Telegram from 'Aunt Margery' to 'Lady Catherine Sackville Fishers gate Withyham', 29 July 1946: 'Terribly disappointed held up missed train by one minute best love'..From the Sackville papers.

Five documents. The two telegrams are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn; the other items are in good condition. A photocopy of a typed page from Brooks's diary explains the context in entertaining fashion: '”Staggerer number one,” whispered Dick Swiveller over my shoulder this morning when on my office desk I found a letter from Ronald Staples giving me a twelve month's statutory notice of dismissal from the editorship of Truth.' He explains that the magazine is losing money, and criticises Staples's plans. 'However – here's a how-de-do!

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed 'Cyril Joad'. Written in the same month as Britain and France had declared war, the letter begins: 'I don't know whether you are still running the Sunday Dispatch, but if you are, how about an article on the philosophy which underlies the Nazi rule in Germany?

19pp, foolscap 8vo. On five bifoliums. Neatly and closely written. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Tower's letter begins: 'My dear Dick | I enclose a chart [not present] which will show you at a glance my yachting cruises during the past season'.

1p., 12mo. Mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. 'Dartmouth' neatly written in another hand at head. With reference to a forthcoming subscription appeal for a book by the recipient the letter reads: 'Revd. Sir, | With reference to your note of the 30th. April, I must beg to stipulate that you neither print mine, to which it refers, nor insert my name in any list of subscribers that you may circulate, my subscription may be entered, if you please, as that of a friend fo the Revd J. Hermby'.

1p., 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Dear Sir | There is no need to notice the enclosed, beyond sending the writer a copy of the Report, as soon as it is out.'

Stefansson was involved in two disasters: the loss of the Karluk during the Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913–1916 to explore the regions west of Parry Archipelago for the Government of Canada, which he led; and the Wrangel Island fiasco, 1921. 1p., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. He writes to Bax 'c/o Hill & Peters'. The letter begins: 'Just as I am starting on a lecture tour, a letter comes from Marjorie Humphreys saying you are about to arrive and asking that I do something for you.

The present item was written at the end of a period of great tribulation for Macready. As W. T. Price explains in his biography: 'Macready suffered repeated sorrows in his retirement. His wife died in 1852, and his two sons died in their youth, Walter Francis Sheil, aged 13, in 1853, Henry Frederick Bulwer, aged 19, in 1857.

4pp., 16mo. Bifolium with mourning border, on paper embossed with the Macready crest. In fair condition, lightly aged, with torn hole to one corner of the first leaf (not affecting text), presumably caused by removal from mount. The recipient is clearly a member of the Hawtrey family (and presumably a relation of Edward Craven Hawtrey of Eton), as the letter concludes with the Macready family's best wishes 'to Mrs. Hawtrey'. It must date from before Macready's departure for Cheltenham in 1860.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two punch-holes in margin. He has been reading Brooks's book ('Devil's Decade: Portraits of the Nineteen-Thirties') 'during a few days' holiday in Norfolk', and finds it 'excellent': Brooks has 'drawn a very accurate picture of Rothermere'. He proposes a time for them to 'meet again and have lunch'. He wonders whether Brooks 'ever came across that photograph of Northcliffe with Cecil Rhodes which I remember you mentioned you thought you had somewhere or other', asks for a sight of it.

1p., 4to. On aged paper with wear and one short closed tear to extremities. Dean writes from a P.O. Box in Maidenhead, Berkshire. Edwards is returning Dean's 'cardboards suitably autographed', but regrets that he has 'no photographs of myself, either modern or old, to send you'.

The context of the present letter is explained by Caine's biographer Vivien Allen.

On a piece of paper, folded three times into a packet. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The plan covers the whole of one side, with the names of around 150 invitees (including George Augustus Sala, Henry Trueman Wood, A. M. Broadley, Prince Iskandar Ali of Moorshedabad and the Mayor of Colchester) printed in black ink on a seating diagram in brownish-red. Dead centre at the top table is the Lord Mayor of London, flanked by the French ambassador and 'M. Georges Berger (Director-General of the Paris Exhibition). To the right of the ambassador are Sir Lyon Playfair and Sir Lothian Bell.

Mary Endicott Carnegie was the daughter of William Crowninshield Endicott (1826-1900), Secretary of War in Grover Cleveland's first administration. She married the British politician Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) in 1888 and moved to England. After Chamberlain's death she married William Hartley Carnegie (1859-1936), Sub-Dean of Westminster Abbey and Chaplain to the House of Commons. She was painted by Sir J. E. Millais and John Singer Sargent.

According to the Daily Telegraph, 2 November 2006 (see the end of this description), Lady Margaret Sackville was 'a poet who mixed with writers such as W B Yeats and Wilfred Scawen Blunt, was a friend of Lady Ottoline Morrell, a leading member of the Bloomsbury Set'. 167pp., 4to. Each page on the recto of a separate leaf, the whole bound with green thread through punch holes in margins. The first page worn and with label (of literary agent?) removed from head, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged and worn.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. She was glat to receive his letter and will send 'details of my birth as soon as I can get a moment to myself'. She hopes he will 'come and see "Judith" and then come round to my room afterwards and tell me what you think about it all'. Accompanied by a leaf of paper carrying a calligraphic manuscript biography, written during McCarthy's lifetime.

.1p., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged, with staple mark to one corner. He has just finished reading Brooks's book, which he has greatly enjoyed. 'To look back on that period, as you present it, gives one a sense of proportion and enables one to see it as a whole, in a way that was impossible while living through it'. He was particularly impressed by the concluding chapters, 'especially the one about Bernard Shaw and Noel Coward, and the two dealing with representative actors and novelists of the period', both of which are 'brilliant essays'.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. Writing with regard to the Mahdist War, she has been asked by the Princess of Wales to 'start a Sub-Committee to H. R. H's. Branch of the National Aid Society (Soudan & Egypt)', and is 'anxious to know' whether the recipient can help her 'by allowing your name to be placed on the General Committee the object of which is to collect funds to secure some further provisions for the health & comfort of the British Troops, more especially the Sick & Wounded, in that trying climate'.

An interesting exchange, casting light on manegerial practices in late-Victorian theatre. ONE: Typed Letter Signed by 'W. Lestocq'. 2pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. A long letter, single-spaced. He has 'talked over the whole matter of the prospects of “The Christian” tour with Mr Frohman for next season, and he does not desire to send out a company on tour himself. Now I could of course let it on Mr Frohman's behalf or perhaps sell his rights and the production outright.' He gives details of his first choice if the latter course were pursued.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The lower half of the reverse laid down on a piece of card from an album. A charming letter apparently written to a young girl, suffused with late Victorian charm. He writes: 'My dear Miss Alice | The little orchid you sent to me last evening was a very sweet one. It belongs to the group “Maxillaria”, all of which are sweetly scented. I miss my old pets very much, but we cannot have everything in this world!; He concludes, after reporting on the state of his 'Lilies', in the hope that the recipient and her sister are in good health.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged with wear at foot of leaf. A formal note in the third person (outdated by around twenty years, and perhaps suggesting a joke?). Reads: 'Mr James Strachey much regrets that he is unable to accept Mr Clifford Bax's kind invitation for January 9th. owing to absence from London.'

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with closed tear at foot of fold line. The recipient is not named. Hale begins by stating that he has both of the recipient's telegrams, and thanking him for his 'promptness and readiness to forward my wishes'. In the meantime he had 'determined that the simplest solution to my troubles was to give up my Topeka appointment, as I was at liberty to do.

The 21 items are in good condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: ALS from HC's London publisher William Heinemann. 1 January 1890. 4pp., 12mo. Regarding the 'draft of agreement', the printing of HC's book ('I shall of course announce it in the Athenaeum before & do all I can to “work the oracle” & to create a rush at Mudie's when the book is out.'), a visit he has paid to 'Mr Mudie'. TWO: TLS from R. Golding Bright, 'London Representative' of New York dramatic agent Miss Elisabeth Marbury. 4 July 1904. 2pp., 4to. With envelope addressed to HC at the Hotel Caspar Badrett, St Moritz.