AUTOGRAPH

[John Buckworth, Charles Duncombe, James Hoare; Royal Mint; counterfeit coins] Coppye Letter Signed by Buckworth, Duncombe and Hoare, as Commissioners for the Mint, to Lords of the Treasury[?], about a report of counterfeit gineys.

Author: 
J. Buckworth, Ch. Duncombe, Ja. Hoare, Commissioners for the [Royal] Mint
Guineas
Publication details: 
[Royal Mint], 19 Nov. [16]81.
£580.00
Guineas

One page, sm. folio, bifolium, closed tears repaired, fold marks, aging, and sl. foxing, BUT text clear and complete, if obscure at times, and semi-literate. SEE IMAGE. Text: May it please yr Lo[rdshi]ps | In obedience To your Lordships [referr...?] of ye 7th Instant, Re [?] to the offer of Mr Rog[e]r Haws[k]head.

[Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, or his son Admiral Peregrine Osborne, 2nd Duke of Leeds, as Marquis of Carmarthen.] Drawn note (cheque), signed ‘Carmarthen P:’, directing his banker Sir Francis Child to pay £100 to William Vernon.

Author: 
Thomas Osborne (1632-1712), 1st Duke of Leeds, or his son Admiral Peregrine Osborne (1659-1729), 2nd Duke of Leeds [Viscount Osborne, Earl of Danby, Marquis of Carmarthen] [Sir Francis Child the elder
Publication details: 
'Febry. ye 9th. 1693/4'.
£600.00

See the entries on the two Dukes in the Oxford DNB, as well as that of Sir Francis Child the elder. Both Dukes are significant; the first was a leading Tory politician and one of the ‘immortal seven’ who invited William of Orange to England, and the second was a naval adviser to Peter the Great of Russia. The present item is signed ‘Carmarthan P:’, which would seem to suggest it is the signature of the 2nd Duke, Peregrine Osborne, but the Oxford DNB states that he became Marquis of Carmarthen a few months after the present item, on his father being made Duke of Leeds on 4 May 1694.

[William Somerville, poet; The Chace; Hunting] Autograph Ownership inscription E Libris Gul. Somerville.

Author: 
William Somerville, poet who wrote in many genres and is especially remembered for The Chace.
Publication details: 
No place or date (Life: 1675-1742)
£180.00

Strip from an endpaper(?), 12.5 x 1.5, laid down on sl. larger paper, aged but clear. A scarce autograph! See Image. Note: Of his best-known poems, especially The Chace (1735). That poem, written in Miltonic blank verse, traces the history of hunting up to the Norman Conquest of England (1066) and gives incidental information on kennel design, hare hunting, stag hunting, otter hunting, the breeding and training of dogs, and dog diseases… [Britannica]

[Cecil Aldin, artist and illustrator] Two Autograph Letters Signed Cecil Aldin to Hawes about puppies.

Author: 
Cecil Aldin [Cecil Charles Windsor Aldin] (1870-1935), artist and illustrator of animals, hunting scenes and rural life
Publication details: 
Peppard Common | Oxon, neither dated, so possibly discussed in the wrong order.
£100.00

Letter A. Two pages, 12mo, bifolium, good condition. Some time ago you very kindly offered to walk a puppy [for?] me. I have a nice litter now ready to go out. Can I send you one over [...]; Letter B. Three pages, 12mo, bifolium good condition. Come over on Sunday by all means if you can manage it & I will show you what we propose doing at the kennels. I am sending Joe round with some puppies but I'll leave it until aafter Sunday & then you can choose which one you would like. I'll tell Uthwaite about the otters on the Pang [river].

[Charles de Gaulle, army officer and statesman] Flamboyant Autograph Signature C. de Gaulle on an Oxford College headed notepaper, with the signatures of William Walton and Malcolm Sergant on reverse. WITH; Programme of former's Memorial Servic.

Author: 
Charles de Gaulle, army officer and statesman [William Walton, composer; Malcolm Sargent, conductor].
Publication details: 
[Headed notepaper] The Provost's Lodgings | Oriel Collegeg | Oxford. No date
£400.00

One page of letterheard, 12mo, minor foxing not affecting text. WITH: Printed Programme for the Memorial Service for Charles de Gaulle former President of the French Republic 1890 1970, in St Paul's Cathedral, pamphlet, 10 pp.4to, fold mark down middle. See Images.

[R.H. Tawney, economist etc] Autograph Letter Signed R.H. Tawney to Bruce [perhaps G.L. Bruce?? of Toynbee Hall] responding to an offer and a request.

Author: 
R. H. Tawney [Richard Henry Tawney] (1880-1962), English Christian socialist, economist and historian.
Publication details: 
[Embossed address] 28 | Parliament Hill Mansions | Highgate Road, N.W., 25 June 1919.
£580.00

Two pages, 12mo, very good condition. He apologises for a late response. I have thought carefully over what you say. It is kind of you o think of me again for Toynbee. But I feel that my work lies on other lines. | My knowledge of [Murray? Perhaps Gilbert?] is very slight. I only met him once ten years ago. But I believe from what people say that he is a good man. | Have you thought of C.R. Atlee [sic] as a possible Warden? | I wish I could help with further sughgestions. But I have racked my brains in vain [...] ! [Nrwich?] knows Atlee [sic] well.

[Arnold Bennett, novelist (propaganda in France 1918)Typed Note Signed Arnold Bennett to Archibald Hurd Esq. | The Offices of the War Cabinet | 2 Whitehall Gardens, S.W.

Author: 
Arnold Bennett, novelist (propaganda in France 1918)
Publication details: 
[Headed] Ministry of Information, Norfolk Street, Strand, London, W.C.2, June 19th, 1918.
£150.00

One page, 12mo, fold mark, minor smudging, text clear and complete, good condition. In further reference to your letter of the 17th, and in particular to the last paragraph of it, the general notion seems to be that the French are not inclined to read whole books on the subject though they will read articles. I shall certainly keep the subject before the French public as much as possible. I discussed the subject with Masterman yesterday. See Image. Note: a. When Lord Beaverbrook became Minister of Information in February 1918 he appointed Bennett to take charge of propaganda in France.

[Victor de Cottens, French dramatist and director, associated with the Folies Bergère in Paris.] Two Autograph Letters Signed and an Autograph Note Signed, in French, one from London to ‘Monsieur Clarkson’, and the other two to the same recipient.

Author: 
Victor de Cottens (1862-1956), French dramatist, librettist and director, associated with the Folies Bergère, Olympia music hall and Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris
Publication details: 
ONE (ANS to 'Monsieur Clarkson): 14 May [no year]. On illustrated letterhead of the Queen's Hotel, Leicester Square, London. TWO: ALS, 26 [March? 1910?]; on letterhead of the Olympia, 8 Rue Caumartin, Paris. THREE: ALS, 22 Mai [no year or place].
£50.00

The material is in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Items Two and Three are addressed to ‘Cher ami’. De Cottens’ handwriting is somewhat opaque. ONE: ANS, 14 May [no year]. The letterhead includes an engraved illustration of the Queen’s Hotel in Leicester Square. 1p, 12mo. ‘Cher Monsieur Clarkson / tous mes bien vifs remerciements pour votre aimable envoi de tickets. / Bien votre / Victor de Cottens.’ TWO: ALS, 26 [March? 1910?]. 1p, 12mo. He wonders whether the recipient might put his ‘experience à la disposition’ of a named colleague from Brussels. THREE: ALS, 1p, 16mo.

[Commodore George Johnstone, first Governor of West Florida.] Two Manuscript Letters to him from his bank Sir Robert Herries & Co., the first providing an 'account current' and the second reporting the delivery of a 'Chest of plate' to 'Mr. Maxwell'.

Author: 
Sir Robert Herries (c.1731-1815), Scottish merchant and founder of a London banking house [Commodore George Johnstone (1730-1787), Royal Navy officer and first Governor of West Florida. 1763-67]
Publication details: 
ONE: 19 February 1781. TWO: 1 October 1782. Both from St James’s Street, London.
£250.00

Two Manuscript Letters from the London banking house Robert Herries & Co. to the former Governor of West Florida George Johnstone, the first ‘with Account Current’ and the second regarding delivery of ‘the plate to Mr Maxwell. Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: 2pp, 8vo. On the inner sides of a bifolium, with the reverse of the second leaf bearing the address (with postmark) ‘Commodore Johnstone / M. P. / Portsmouth’, and endorsement ‘Sir Robert Harries [sic] & Co. / 19th Feby. 1781. / with Account Current. / Balance due the Governor / £697 .. 18/3’.

[Napoleonic Wars: the arming of six British merchant ships, c.1807.] Manuscript ‘Account of Sundry Stores received from the Pilot Boates [sic]’, ‘Respecting Arming Pilot Boates / Account of Stores’.

Author: 
Napoleonic Wars: the arming of six British merchant ships, c.1807 [Brittania, Stephen Brown; Sloop Neptune, John Hurry; Syren, William Jackson; Fox, Thomas Lundie; Rover, Robert Jackson]
Publication details: 
Entries dated between May 1805 and June 1809. On paper watermarked ‘J WHATMAN / 1807’.
£280.00

None of the boats and captains named in the present item are present in contemporary Navy Lists, so they would appear to be merchant ships. 2pp, foolscap 8vo. Aged and worn, with slight loss along edges and faded to a small portion of text. Folded four times into a packet, named (on the reverse): ‘Respecting Arming Pilot Boates / Account of Stores’. The whole of the recto is filled with text, divided into six rectangles in two columns of three rectangles each, under the heading ‘Account of Sundry Stores received from the Pilot Boates’.

[Prince Matila Ghyka, Romanian mathematician.] Correspondence to him in French from Karl Häuptli, Swiss architect (TLS and three Autograph Studies, with diagrams, on ‘le nombre d’or’) and A. Andre of Marseilles (TLS and enclosures on the I Ching).

Author: 
Prince Matila Ghyka [Matila Costiescu Ghyka] (1881-1965), Romanian aristocrat, mathematician and polymath; Karl Häuptli (b.1894), Swiss architect associated with Theodor Fischer; A. Andre]
Publication details: 
ONE (Häuptli): 11 April 1953; on his letterhead as ‘Diplomierter Architekt / Fachlehrer am Kantonalen / Technikum in Biel [Switzerland].’ TWO (Andre): 17 March 1965; ‘17 av. des Coccinelles / Les Caillols / Marseille (XIIe) [France]’.
£850.00

Ghyka, who was grew up and was educated in France, settled in London after the Second World War, and is considered one of the most significant members of the Romanian diaspora. His main preoccupation was with geometry and mathematical aesthetics, and his publications on the subject were influential: the ‘first epiphany’ of theatre director Peter Brook ‘came while reading a book by the Romanian prince Matila Ghika while staying with Salvador Dalí in Spain’ (Guardian, 17 January 2010).

[Regency London: maritime history.] Bill of Sale of the ship Maria (Deptford) by Richard Gardner for £830 to merchant John Ladd and mariner Gabriel Ford, printed on parchment paper, and completed in manuscript with signatures.

Author: 
Regency London: maritime history; Richard Gardner, ship owner; the Maria of Deptford; John Ladd, merchant; Gabriel Ford, mariner
Publication details: 
Dated 17 August 1816 and March 1817. Printed at top right: ‘Sold by W. G. & W. H. Witherby, Stationers, No. 9, Birchin-Lane, London.’
£180.00

An interesting artefact of maritime London in the Regency period. The bill is printed on one side of 34 x 47 cm piece of mock-parchment paper, and has been completed in manuscript, with signatures. Folded three times into a packet, with ‘Bill of Sale / Gardner to Ladd & Ford’ written on the blank reverse. Aged and discoloured, with 8.5 cm closed tear from one edge and nicking to others.

[Royal Navy, 1838.] Manuscript ‘Return of Treasure conveyed’ by HMS Dublin (Captain Robert Tait), flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Hamond, Commander-in-Chief of the South American station. Signed by Ralph Barton, Senior Lieutenant.

Author: 
Royal Navy, 1838 [HMS Dublin (Captain Robert Tait), flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Hamond, Commander-in-Chief of the South American station; Ralph Barton, Senior Lieutenant]
Publication details: 
Compiled to 31 March 1838. No place.
£180.00

The 1812 HMS Dublin was the third Royal Navy ship of that name. At the time of this document she was a 40-gunner, and the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief of the South American station Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Hamond (1779-1862). See the entries on Barton, Hamond and Tait in O’Byrne’s ‘Naval Biographical Dictionary’ (1849), and Hamond’s in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape foolscap 8vo. Aged and creased. Docketed on reverse: ‘Dublin / Treasure conveyed. / 31. March 1838. / E1/1 / Entd 2d. April. / W Let’.

[Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, 1796.] Appointment of John McKenzie ‘to Command His Majesty’s Gun Boat the Morwelham’, signed by Sir Philip Stephens, James Gambier, Sir William Young, and Secretary to the Board Evan Nepean.

Author: 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, 1796 [signed by Sir Philip Stephens, James Gambier, Sir William Young, and by Evan Nepean, Secretary to the Board of Admiralty; John McKenzie of the Morwelham]
Publication details: 
16 September 1796. [The Admiralty, Whitehall, London.]
£280.00

1p, foolscap 8vo. On piece of wove paper with Britannia watermark. Lightly aged and in fair condition, but with some creasing and nicking at the head. Folded three times into a packet. A printed document, completed in manuscript.

[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, British naval hero.] Collection of contemporaneous material relating to him, including a range of related illustrations and magazine accounts, as well as manuscript poems and other matter.

Author: 
Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson; Admiral Lord Nelson], British naval hero whose victories include the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805, in which he died
Nelson
Publication details: 
Earliest item from 1799; several items from 1805. Mostly printed in London.
£850.00
Nelson

A nice collection, which both by its content and arrangement indicates the huge esteem in which Nelson was held. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, most items laid down on leaves of gilt-edged paper extracted from an album. Mostly 12mo. This description is arranged under fifteen numbered entries. The manuscript material is at No. 14. ONE: Engraving. ‘Plan of a MANSION HOUSE, proposed for Lord NELSON.’ ‘Gent[leman’s]. Mag[azine]. Feb. 1799. Pt. I. p.97’. Engraved by Longmate from Arthur Brown.

[The Earl of Rosebery, Liberal Prime Minister.] Letter in a Secretarial Hand, signed by him, regarding appointment to a post at the Treasury, with a dinner invitation to Sturgis and his wife (George Meredith’s daughter).

Author: 
The Earl of Rosebery, Liberal Prime Minister [Archibald Philip Primrose (1847-1929), 5th Earl of Rosebery; Henry Parkman Sturgis (1847-1929), American-born banker and Liberal politician]
Publication details: 
27 April 1895; on letterhead of The Durdans, Epsom.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. With mourning border. On first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, folded once for postage. All in a secretarial hand, except the signature ‘Rosebery’. Addressed to ‘My dear Sturgis’ - the item is from the autograph album of Sturgis’s wife, George Meredith’s daughter Marie Eveleen (‘Mariette’; 1871-1933). He regrets that he has ‘disposed of the vacancy of the secretaryship at the Treasury’. Had he not, he ‘would gladly have considered the claims of your candidate’. Ends: ‘I wonder if you and Mrs Sturgis would come and dine here some evening.’

[‘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.

[' there are 5 french frigates at sea escaped from Toulon': Captain Sir Peter Parker and HMS Menelaus (Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Wars).] Autograph Letter Signed from midshipman Robert Kennedy Thomson, describing his exploits to his mother.

Author: 
Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Wars; Captain Sir Peter Parker and the Menelaus] Lieutenant Robert Kennedy Thomson (fl. 1849) of Dalgarrock, Ayrshire, Scotland
Publication details: 
26 December [1812]. ‘H M. Ship Menelaus’. With ‘Ship Lre’ postmark from Portsmouth Dock’.
£220.00

Real Hornblower stuff: a breathless letter full of interesting content. The Oxford DNB entry for Sir Peter Parker the younger (1745-1814) gives the background: ‘in January 1812 he joined Sir Edward Pellew at Port Mahon, where he remained for the greater part of the year, attached to the in-shore squadron before Toulon. There he had more than one opportunity of distinguishing himself in a brilliant skirmish with the enemy's advanced ships.

[Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, leading late-Victorian and Edwardian playwright.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Arthur W. Pinero') to the daughter of the writer George Meredith, regretting that he cannot visit her and her father at Box Hill.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934), leading English late-Victorian and Edwardian playwright, after beginning as an actor in Sir Henry Irving’s company at the Lyceum Theatre, London [George Meredith]
Publication details: 
25 June 1891; on copperplate letterhead of 64 St John's Wood Road, London N.W.
£56.00

See his appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, concluding with praise of his ‘undeniable’ achievements.2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition; folded once for postage, and with the blank reverse of the first leaf laid down on part of a leaf from the autograph album of the novelist George Meredith's daughter Marie Eveleen (‘Mariette’; 1871-1933), wife of Henry Parkman Sturgis (1847-1929), American-born banker and Liberal politician. Addressed to 'Miss Marie E. Meredith' and signed 'Arthur W. Pinero'. Begins: 'It is with a heavy heart that I tell you I am pledged, wit h Mrs.

`[HMS Beacon, HMS Britannia and HMS St Vincent.] Three separate returns of armaments for three Royal Navy ships, each in manuscript, two on printed forms.

Author: 
HMS Beacon, HMS Britannia, HMS St Vincent [Royal Navy ships in the nineteenth century; the Admiralty, Whitehall]
Publication details: 
Return for HMS St Vincent dated 31 July 1833; the other two from the 1830s. [to the Admiralty, Whitehall]
£280.00

HMS Beacon (launched in 1820 as HMS Meteor and renamed in 1832) was a survey ship (having been under her previous name a Hecla-class bomb vessel), sold in 1846. HMS Britannia, the third of the name, was launched in 1820. She took part in the Siege of Sebastopol, and later in 1854 was driven ashore on the Russian coast, thereafter serving as a training ship until being sold for breaking in 1869.

[John Cooke of Hendon, English cartographer.] Engraved map of Cairo, Egypt, titled 'Plan du Kaire et des Environs', including plan of the 'Chateau du Kaire' and key to 'Ghize'.

Author: 
John Cooke of Hendon (c.1765-1845), English cartographer, successively of Mill Hill, Hendon, Middlesex, and (from 1799) Howland Street, London [Cairo ('Kaire'), Egypt; Pierre Didot, Paris publisher]
Publication details: 
[Paris: Pierre Didot, 1802.] Engraved at bottom right: 'John Cooke, sc. 50 Howland St' (London).
£220.00

Thirty-six works by Cooke are listed between 1790 and 1843. The present item, along with its companion piece ‘Carte de la basse Egypte: dressée d'après les observations astronomiques de C. Nouet, et les reconnaissances des ingénieurs et officiers employés à l'Armée d'Orient’, appeared in ‘Planches du Voyage dans la Basse et la haute Egypte, par Vivant Denon’, published in Paris by P. Didot in 1802. Both have the engraved signature ‘John Cooke, sc, 50 Howland St.’ The dimensions of the map are approximately 31.5 x 23.5 cm.

[Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson], British naval hero.] Collection of contemporaneous material relating to him, including a range of related illustrations and magazine accounts, as well as manuscript poems and other matter.

Author: 
Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson; Admiral Lord Nelson], British naval hero whose victories include the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805, in which he died
Nelson
Publication details: 
Earliest item from 1799; several items from 1805. Mostly printed in London.
£850.00
Nelson

A nice collection, which both by its content and arrangement indicates the huge esteem in which Nelson was held. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, most items laid down on leaves of gilt-edged paper extracted from an album. Mostly 12mo. This description is arranged under fifteen numbered entries. The manuscript material is at No. 14. ONE: Engraving. ‘Plan of a MANSION HOUSE, proposed for Lord NELSON.’ ‘Gent[leman’s]. Mag[azine]. Feb. 1799. Pt. I. p.97’. Engraved by Longmate from Arthur Brown.

[‘Mirbel the naturalist’: Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel, French botanist.] Autograph Signature (‘Mirbel’) over printed device of the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle au Jardin du Roi.

Author: 
Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel (1776-1854), French botanist, a founder of cytology, plant histology and plant physiology in France, on the staff of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris
Mirbel
Publication details: 
No date. [Museum d’Histoire Naturelle au Jardin du Roi.]
£90.00
Mirbel

See his entry in the Encylopaedia Britannica. The signature ‘Mirbel’ is written on a clear area of a circular printed device of 4.5 cm diameter, in grey tone, within decorative border. The text reads: ‘MUSEUM / D’HISTOIRE NATURELLE / AU JARDIN DU ROI / Entrée aux Jours et Heures / consacrés à l’Etude. / Prof. Admin.’ Laid down on a 7 x 7.5 cm piece of paper, on which is written, in a neat early nineteenth-century hand, ‘Mirbel the naturalist’. See image.

[Deborah Kerr, Hollywood film star from Scotland, six-time Oscar nominee.] Autograph Inscription Signed, beneath pencil sketch portrait of her by Kenneth Sephton, with a second portrait overleaf.

Author: 
Deborah Kerr, stage name of Deborah Jane Trimmer (1921-2007), Hollywood film star from Scotland, nominated six times for the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Actress [Kenneth Sephton]
Kerr
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£100.00
Kerr

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The inscription, firmly-written in pencil, reads, ‘With best wishes / Deborah Kerr.’, and is written beneath a pencil portrait of a smiling Kerr’s face and shoulders, competently-executed in typical fifties style. On recto of 10 x 12.5 cm leaf of a tracing paper bifolium, the verso of the second leaf carrying, upside-down, an outline sketch of Kerr. The paper is somewhat creased and worn.

[Evelyn Laye, English actress and singer, star of stage and screen.] Autograph Signature added at foot of pencil sketch of her by Kenneth Sephton.

Author: 
Evelyn Laye [née Elsie Evelyn Lay] (1900-1996), English actress and singer, star of stage and screen, associated with Noel Coward [Kenneth Sephton]
Laye
Publication details: 
No date or place. [1950s]
£90.00
Laye

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. After a stint as one of George Edwardes’ Gaiety Girls, she made her name in a number of revues, her performance in the lead role of the 1929 Broadway production of ‘Bitter Sweet’ prompting Coward to praise her grace and charm and assurance, which he said provoked one of the most prolonged outbursts of cheering I have ever heard in the theatre. She was less successful in Hollywood, starring in the Romberg/Hammerstein musical ‘One Heavenly Night’ (1931), a failure for Samuel Goldwyn.

George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans; Mrs Lewes] Autograph Letter Signed MALewes to [George] Meredith, fellow novelist and poet., thanking Meredith for a photograph (shadow) of his son

Author: 
George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans; Mrs Lewes], novelist, poet, journalist, translator.
Publication details: 
Embossed address crossed out] The Priory | North Bank | Regents Park. Address in MS Shotter Mill | Petersfield | 6 May [1871].
£1,250.00

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium, fold marks, good condition, second leaf laid down on sl. larger part of an album leaf. See Image of second page.Text: Dear Mr. Meredith | Your boy is grand. Thanks for sending me his shadow. We are in retreat - have fled from the world for some months, while our house is being turned inside out. I imagine that you too enjoy a family solitude, & are sometimes well pleased to be secure against visitors. | That fine boy presupposes, I fancy, a fine mother. I hope that she retains health & strength to delight in her noble offshoot. | Always | Yours sincerely | MALewes.

[Giacomo Meyerbeer, German operatic composer.] Secretarial Letter (because of injury to his right arm) in French, Signed 'Meyerbeer', to instrument maker Raoul Allary, recommending the opera singer Louise Gned to a post.

Author: 
Giacomo Meyerbeer [born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer] (1791-1864), German opera composer of Jewish extraction based in Paris [Raoul Allary, instrument maker; Louise Gned (b.1810), Austrian opera singer]
Publication details: 
'Paris, 15 Décembre 1853.' On his embossed armorial letterhead, with initals 'G M'.
£250.00

Meyerbeer’s diary records (25 May 1853) a visit ‘from Raoul Allary, who makes wind instruments. He is an opponent of Sax, and came to me because he had heard that I had spoken to the emperor on Sax’s behalf’ (1999 English translation of volume for 1850-1856). A pencil note at the head of the present letter identifies the subject as ‘Louise Gned / 4 Rue [de] Bellefond [Paris]’. Gned (b.1810) was an Austrian soprano from a musical/theatrical family, who faded into obscurity.

[Baron de Barante [Amable Guillaume Prosper Brugière], French liberal politician and historian.] Autograph Letter Signed, in French, asking for assistance in getting a letter to the daughter of Madame Bouvier, who is with Princess Sapieha’.

Author: 
Baron de Barante [Amable Guillaume Prosper Brugière] (1782-1866), French liberal politician and historian
Publication details: 
18 July 1847. No place.
£50.00

1p, 16mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with three creased from folding into envelope. Neatly written out in Barante’s distinctive neat and tiny hand. Addressed to ‘Monsieur’ and signed ‘Barante’. He is writing on behalf of Madame Bouvier, who wishes to find out where the Princess Sapieha is residing at present, as her daughter is ‘attachée à la princesse’, and she would like the enclosed letter (not present) to reach her. He would be most obliged if the recpient could help Madame Bouvier’s letter reach its destination.

[C. Dudley Langford, chemist and mathematician whose discussion of ‘Langford pairing’ (Langford sequence) is of importance in computing.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to ‘Sir Richard [Dundas Hamilton]’, one about his health, the other about a theorem

Author: 
C. Dudley Langford [Charles Dudley Langford] (1905-1969), chemist and mathematician [Sir Richard Dundas Harington (1900-1981), 13th baronet]
Publication details: 
27 March and 2 October 1945; both from 16 Henrietta Street, Girvan, Ayrshire [Scotland].
£120.00

Langford trained as an industrial chemist and was a member of Royal Chemical Society. In later life he turned to mathematics, and published thirty articles in the Mathematical Gazette. One of these (‘Problem’) appeared in 1958 and concerned what came to be known as the Langford Sequence. Its significance is discussed by Martin Gardner, in his ‘Mathematical Magic Show’ (1978). Both items aged and creased, with closed tears, but with text complete and legible. Both are addressed to ‘Dear Sir Richard’ and signed ‘C Dudley Langford’. ONE: 3pp, 12mo. On two leaves.

[Alphonse Daudet, distinguished French author.] Affectionate Autograph Letter Signed (‘Alph Daudet’), in French, to ‘notre cher Mérédith’ [George Meredith], ‘grand romancier Anglais’, after visiting him at Box Hill.

Author: 
Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897), distinguished French author, noted for ‘Le Petit Chose’ and ‘Lettres de mon Moulin’ [Georges Meredith, Victorian novelist and poet]
Publication details: 
[1896.] ‘31 Rue de Bellechasse à Paris’.
£220.00

An excellent letter, linking leading nineteenth-century writers of the French and English nations. See Daudet's entry in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Meredith’s in the Oxford DNB. Daudet’s association with Meredith during his ‘first and only visit to England’ is described on pp.122-124 of the 1911 edition of J. A. Hammerton’s ‘George Meredith, his Life and Art’, which also quotes extensively from Madame Daudet’s account of the Englishman, referred to in the letter. 2pp, 16mo. Twenty-one lines of closely- and neatly-written text. On the rectos of the leaves of a bifolium.

Syndicate content