BLAIR

[Sir Charles Adam, Admiral of the Royal Navy and Lord of the Admiralty.] Manuscripts (presumably both Autograph) giving itemised lists of fees incurred in 'two appeals' by ‘Captn. Chas. Adams - Royal Navy’ and ‘William Adam Esr.’

Author: 
Sir Charles Adam (1780-1853), Admiral of the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Wars, Lord of the Admiralty and Member of Parliament, son of William Adam (1751-1839) of Blair Adam, Kinross
Publication details: 
Items in Captain Charles Adam’s list dating from November 1805 and March 1807. Items in William Adam’s list dating from July 1805, January and December 1806 adn July 1808. [Kinross, Scotland?]
£50.00

Sir Charles Adam was great-grandson of the architect William Adam, and his father (also William Adam) was a friend of Sir Walter Scott. See the entries for Charles Adam and his father in the Oxford DNB. William Adam had a son - Charles’s brother - named William George Adam (1781-1839), but the reference to ‘Wm. Adam Esqr. Senior and Junior’ appears to suggest the father. Each of the two items is 1p, 4to. They are on different paper stock. Both in good condition, lightly aged. Both endorsed with modern note in pencil: ‘enclosed in Spottiswoode to W. A. - 23 July 08’. ONE: ‘Captn. Chas.

[Agnes Macdonell, English author, pioneering woman journalist and suffragist.] Autograph Letter Signed, asking Mrs Harrison Blair to cast her vote as subscriber to the Government Benevolent Institution in favour of a lady resident of Hampstead.

Author: 
Agnes Macdonell [née Harrison] (c.1840-1925), English author, pioneering woman journalist and suffragist [Government Benevolent Institution]
Publication details: 
11 July [no year]; on letterhead of 24 Stanley Gardens, Hampstead NW [London].
£45.00

3pp, 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Rough pencil floorplan on verso of second leaf. Twenty-eight lines of neatly-written text. Signed ‘Agnes Macdonell.’ She has seen Mrs Blair’s name ‘in the list of subscribers to the Government Benevolent Institution’, and writes a line ‘to beg, if you have not already given your vote and kindly interest to any Candidate - to do this in favour of the poor lady whose card I enclose’ (not present).

[Camilla Parker-Bowles, now Duchess of Cornwall: personal reminiscences of John Phillips.] Privately-printed pamphlet: 'Camilla Story', with facsimiles of five letters from her, and accounts of two meetings, with her negative view of Cherie Blair..

Author: 
John Phillips (1926-2017), flâneur and executor of Violet Trefusis (1894-1972; née Keppel), English socialite and author, lover of Vita Sackville-West [Camilla Parker-Bowles, now Duchess of Cornwall]
Publication details: 
[Phuket, Thailand.] 2013.
£500.00

After a twelve-year 'amitié amoureuse' with Phillips, Violet Trefusis (a relation of Camilla Parker-Bowles, both being members of the Keppel family) died in 1972, appointing him her literary executor and leaving him her last home, La Tour de Saint Loup. The present item – no other copy of which has been traced – is from a collection of Phillips's papers amassed by his friend Barbara Reed, containing pamphlets privately printed by him between 2009 and 2014.

[Printed pamphlet.] Report on the Census of Young Employees, between 14 and 18 years of age, in the County of London, on June 30th, 1920.

Author: 
R. Blair, Education Officer, London County Council, Education Committee
Publication details: 
[London County Council, Education Committee; I.C.C. Education Offices, Victoria Embankment, W.C. 19 November 1920.] Printed on '18-3-21 [i.e. 18 March 1921]'.
£85.00

16pp., foolscap 8vo. With four plates, each carrying a map of the County of London (two of them preceding the title) and 2pp of tables on a fold-out leaf. In poor condition, on aged and worn paper, with closed tears, and lacking orange wraps (which presumably carry the full title-page), traces of which are still present. Stamp and shelfmark of the Board of Education Library, London. No copy traced on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.

[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.

[James Smith.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Ja Smith'), the first headed 'Note for Alexr. Blair Esqr. Treasurer of the Bank of Scotland', and docketted 'Report on City [of Edinburgh] Improvements'.

Author: 
James Smith [Alexander Blair, Treasurer, Bank of Scotland; George Smith (1793-1877), architect to the Edinburgh Improvement Commissioners]
Publication details: 
First Letter: No place. 25 July 1837. Second Letter: Edinburgh. 31 July 1837.
£250.00

Both 1p., foolscap 8vo, and disbound. Both in good condition, on aged paper, with loss at edge from disbinding, causing slight loss of text in second letter. Letter One: Docketed on reverse of second leaf 'James Smith | July 25 1837 | Report on City Improvements.' The document begins: 'Having carefully examined the state No. IV. made up by the Improvement Commissioners, and submitted to the Bank of Scotland &c, and also, inspected the works with Mr Geo. Smith Architect for the Commissioners, I take leave to submit the following observations thereon'.

Autograph Note in the third person from Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, to 'Mr Blair', regarding a pass to the 'House of Peers' [House of Lords] and a 'Pamphlet on the Corn Laws'.

Author: 
Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville (1797-1861), 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
Publication details: 
17 May [without year, but on paper watermarked 1839].
£38.00

1p., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with a creased corner. The note reads: 'The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos incloses [sic] an order for Mr Blair to the House of Peers for to-day, & begs to acknowledge the receipt of the Pamphlet on the Corn Laws. | 17th May'. The paper is watermarked '<...>YNSON | 1839'.

Speech delivered by Mr. G. A. L. Wilson, M.L.A., in the Legislative Assembly on Closer Settlement: Purchase of Bald Blair Estate. [From "Parliamentary Debates," 20th July, 1938.]

Author: 
G. A. L. Wilson [Bald Blair Estate, New South Wales, Australia]
Publication details: 
Sydney: David Harold Paisley, Government Printer - 1938.
£85.00

8vo: 6 pp. Stapled pamphlet. Text clear and complete. On aged and creased paper. For Wilson 'the most important aspect of the question' is 'the conversion of unsound country to sound country [...] It is a recent discovery, and, while ten or fifteen years ago one would have wiped the proposal before the House right off the slate, on the ground that the land is unsuitable for closer settlement, one to-day welcomes it.' Red-ink 1 cm accession stamp of the Webster Collection on reverse of blank final leaf, numbered 4188. No copy in the British Library, on COPAC, or on WorldCat.

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