BOOK

[Sir Emery Walker, distinguished engraver and typographer; Coutts Bank.] Typed Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Wright', regarding 'proofs of the plan from Coutts' bank'.

Author: 
Sir Emery Walker (1851-1933), engraver and typographer
Publication details: 
7 December 1927; on letterhead of Emery Walker Limited, 16 Clifford’s Inn, Fleet Street, London, EC4.
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition. The letterhead describes the firm (‘formerly Walker and Cockerell’) as being ‘Process and General Engravers, Draughtsmen, Map Constructors Copper-plate Printers Collotypers and Photographers of Works of Art’. Signed ‘Emery Walker’. He is sending Wright ‘proofs of the plan from Coutts’ Bank’, and is sending a duplicate to ‘Mr. Fayle’, asking him ‘to let me have the lettering, that is, if he wishes on seeing the plan to vary it’. He is having ‘proofs of the title page from Messrs.

[Mary Russell Mitford, author of 'Our Village'.] Autograph Letter in the third person to the bookseller William Baynes, expressing pleasure at sending contributions for his 'intended publication'. With reference to her publisher G. B. Whittaker.

Author: 
Mary Russell Mitford (1787-1855), author and playwright, best known for her collection of sketches, ‘Our Village’ [William Baynes & Son; George Byrom Whittaker (1793-1847), London publisher]
Publication details: 
'Three Mile Cross, near Reading / June 10th. 1825.'
£95.00

See her entry, and that of Whittaker, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 12mo. A corner of the letter carrying a few words of text has been torn away on opening; it is still attached, beneath a red wax seal, so that the entire document is present in two parts. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed by Mitford 'To / Messrs. Baynes & Son / 23 Paternoster Row'. Begins: 'Miss Mitford presents her Compts. to Mr.

[John Masefield, Poet Laureate and children's writer.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Miss McConnell’ and Signed inscription to ‘Jeannie McConnell’.

Author: 
John Masefield (1878-1967), Poet Laureate and children's writer
Publication details: 
Neither item with date or place.
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items are somewhat sunned, but in good overall condition. ONE: ALS. 1p, 4to. Folded three times for postage. Signed ‘John Masefield’.

[Religious Tract Society.] Two uncommon printed pamphlets: ‘The Blind Schoolmistress of Devonshire. A True and Interesting Story.’ and ‘Scotch Betty: A True Story of a Poor Woman, who was run over by a Waggon’.

Author: 
Religious Tract Society, London; W. Clowes and A. Applegarth, publishers
Publication details: 
'Scotch Betty': c.1818. London: A. Applegarth for the Religious Tract Society. 'The Blind Schoolmistress'. c. 1830. London: W. Clowes for the RTS.
£50.00

Two nice ephemeral items. Both now quite scarce: the first (four copies on COPAC) more than the second. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Disbound and stabbed as issued. ONE: ‘No. 592. / The Blind Schoolmistress of Devonshire. / A True and Interesting Story.’ 8pp, 12mo. Slug at foot of p.8 (beneath the RTS’s dove-and-olive-branch device): ‘London: Printed by W. Clowes, Stamford-street, for The Religious Tract Society; and sold at their Depository, 56, Paternoster-row; also by J. and C.

[Countess of Blessington] Autograph Letter Signed M. Blessington to [F. Mansell Reynolds, novelist and editor of The Keepsake(?)]. See description below.

Author: 
Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (n?e Power; 1789?1849), Irish novelist, journalist, and literary hostess
Publication details: 
Monday Ev[enin]g [4 March 1833]. See description below.
£350.00

Three pages, 12mo, bifolium, good condition, in her sprawling hand, 1/4in. strip of glue from previous laying down on blank page 4. My dear Sir | Pray do not think me forgetful towards you in not answering your note received many days ago, but I am so occupied and fatigued with writing that I have not a [moment?] to myself, and after all I fear it will be impossible for me to fulfill [sic] my engagement with [publisher] Mr Bentley - | Excuse the brevity of this, I thank you for the [?], and I expect your book is universally read and as universally praised - | Always sincerely yours | M.

[Jacob Schwartz, American-born proprietor of the Ulysses Bookshop in London, dealer in James Joyce and the Modernists.] Autograph Letter Signed

Author: 
Jacob Schwartz [Jake Schwartz] (b. 1899, fl. 1960), New York dentist who turned to bookselling and founded the Ulysses bookshop in London, dealing largely in James Joyce and the Modernists
Publication details: 
23 October [no year]. On letterhead of the Ulysses Bookshop, 20 Bury Street, London WC1.
£80.00

Several James Joyce scholars have turned their attention to Schwartz, an early dealer in his books and manuscripts, as well as publisher of a couple of pirated editions. See William S. Brockman, 'Jacob Schwartz - The Fly in the Honey' in Joyce Studies Annual, Summer 1998. 1p, 4to. On the Ulysses Bookshop letterhead, printed on green paper. Addressed to 'Dear Sir:' and with valediction 'Au Revoir / Dr J Schwartz / prop / Ulysses Books'.

[Bibliomania: ‘The Spendthrift Duke’, George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough, owner as Marquess of Blandford of the celebrated White Knights Library..] Autograph Letter Signed to London booksellers Smith & Elder. With frank.

Author: 
[Bibliomania, ‘The Spendthrift Duke of Marlborough’: George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough (1766-1840), styled Marquess of Blandford until 1817, extravagant book collector at White Knights
Publication details: 
24 November 1833; ‘Blenheim. Sunday.’ With frank and two postmarks.
£80.00

The purchase in 1821 by the 5th Duke of Marlborough, as Marquis of Blandford, of the Duke of Roxburghe’s copy of Valdarfer Boccaccio for £2260 caused a sensation, and was a high point of the bibliomania celebrated by Thomas Frognall Dibdin. His library at White Knights, also including the Bedford Missal, was legendary until its dispersal as a result of his extravagances. See the account of the duke in his father’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo.

[Adam Black, Scottish bookseller, publisher and Whig politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Maurice’, i.e. his brother-in-law Maurice Lothian, regarding a document, 'proprietors', 'Mr Bruce' and 'Dymock'.

Author: 
Adam Black (1784-1824), Scottish bookseller, publisher and Whig politician, partner with his nephew Charles in the Edinburgh firm A. & C. Black
Publication details: 
‘Monday’ (no date or place).
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and ruckled. Addressed to ‘Dear Maurice’ and signed ‘A Black’. For Lothian see ‘Memoirs of Adam Black’ (1885). He asks him to ‘glance at the inclosed’: ‘The description appears to me abundantly broad. And I hope to get the legion of proprietors in a trim to sign.’ He concludes by stating that he will ‘send for it’ that evening, ‘as Mr Bruce wishes to have it to send to Dymock tomorrow morning’. ‘Mr Bruce’ may be the future Sir James Knight Bruce (1791-1866); ‘Dymock’ is William Dymock, the Edinburgh advocate.

[Bertram Dobell, London bookseller, poet and literary scholar.] Signature and five-line postscript cut from Autograph Letter Signed, deprecating his poetry booklet 'Rosemary and Pansies'.

Author: 
Bertram Dobell (1842-1914), London bookseller, poet and literary scholar
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [1901.]
£45.00

See his entry by his grandson Anthony Rota in the Oxford DNB. On one side of a piece of paper cut from the end of a letter. Refers to the first privately-printed collection of Dobell's poetry, 'Rosemary and Pansies' (1901). Reads: ‘Yours faithfully / Bertram Dobell. / I have printed only 75 copies of my booklet, so that it may have at least the recommendation of being scarce - the only one, I am afraid, that it can claim.’

[John Murray IV, London publisher.] Autograph Letter Signed from 'John Murray junr.' to Colonel Fellows, regarding the difficult rebinding of his leather volumes.

Author: 
John Murray IV (1851-1928), notable London publisher
Publication details: 
2 April 1910. Letterhead of 50 Albemarles Street, W. [London]
£80.00

See the entry on the Murray family in the Oxford DNB. In fair condition lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage, with short closed tears to the edges of central horizontal fold. Small biographical slip laid down at top left. Addressed to ‘Dear Colonel Fellows’ and signed ‘John Murray junr.’ Reads: ‘Our binders have done the best they can with your Volumes, short of rebinding, but as you know patching up leather bindings in a really satisfactory way is not easy. / However, I hope that you will be satisfied with the volumes which I am sending on to you today.’

[Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, diplomat and brother of novelist Lord Lytton.] Autograph Letter Signed to assistant of New Bond Street bookseller John Andrews, disputing the account and describing another mistake.

Author: 
Sir Henry Bulwer [William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer] (1801-1872), Liberal politician, British Ambassador to United States and other countries [John Andrews, bookseller]
Publication details: 
No date or place, but certainly after February 1839, and from the smudged postmark apparently 1842. From France?
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. (BBTI has John Andrews with bookshop and circulating library at 167 New Bond Street from before 1831 to 1857.) 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Extracted from an album, and with the gutter strengthened with archival tape. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. As a piece of business correspondence has a spike hole through the centre of both leaves, unfortunately also through the ?H? of the signature ?H L Bulmer?, which is little more than a scrawl, with corkscrew paraphe.

[Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts], poet and journalist, editor of the ‘Literary Souvenir’.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Wauchope', assistant to the Bond Street bookseller John Andrews

Author: 
Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts] (1797-1864), poet and journalist, editor of the ‘Literary Souvenir’
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. (BBTI has John Andrews with bookshop and circulating library at 167 New Bond Street from before 1831 to 1857.) 1p, 12mo. Addressed on reverse of second leaf for delivery by hand ('wait') to 'Mr Wauchope / at Mr Andrews' / 167. New Bond St.'. In good condition, lightly aged, with unobtrusive central spike hole (for business correspondence) through both leaves. Reads: 'Dear Sir / Be so good as send me the vouchers of the Scrivener for 1827 agreeably with your promise, is there particular occasion for them today'.

[Victorian fraud: Philip Bliss, Registrar of the University of Oxford; William Okill, agent for Thomas Hudson, claimant to the Dukedom of Devonshire.] Unsigned Autograph notes by Bliss, on Autograph Letter Signed to him by Okill.

Author: 
Philip Bliss (1787-1857), Registrar of the University of Oxford and Principal of St Mary Hall, antiquary; William Okill of Liverpool, agent for Thomas Hudson, claimant to the Dukedom of Devonshire
Philip Bliss
Publication details: 
ONE (Okill's ALS): '2 Duke Street / Liverpool 30th. June 1848'. TWO (Bliss's Unsigned Autograph notes): Without date or place.
£200.00
Philip Bliss

This forgotten case of identity fraud predates the celebrated Titchborne case by more than a decade.

[Tom Chetwynd, author on spirituality.] Typescript (of the second part of his dystopian first novel ‘The Copper Cow’?) titled ‘The GHOSTLY and the BEASTLY. Part II.’

Author: 
Tom Chetwynd [Tom Wentworth Guy Chetwynd] (1938-2012), author of many works on spirituality [dystopian science fiction]
Chetwynd
Chetwynd
Publication details: 
No date (circa 1962?). On title-page: ‘Tom Chetwynd, / 12 Mornington Terrace, / N.W.1. / 387-7709.’
£250.00
Chetwynd
Chetwynd

Apparently an earlier version of the concluding part of Chetwynd’s dystopian first book, ‘The Copper Cow’, published in London by Anthony Blond in 1962 which gives a surrealistic description of a Britain of the near future. Duplicated typescript, double-spaced and printed on rectos of leaves only, all attached with metal stud. Paginated 115-210, preceded by title page and section title. In good condition, lightly aged. With deletions and manuscript corrections duplicated, but no actual manuscript emendations.

[Thomas Binney, Congregational minister known as the ‘Archbishop of Nonconformity’.] The first part only of an Autograph Letter, discussing his writing a preface for a work by ‘the blind eloquent American’ [William Henry Milburn].

Author: 
Thomas Binney [Thomas Benney] (1798-1874), Congregational minister known as the ‘Archbishop of Nonconformity’ [William Henry Milburn (1823-1903), ‘the blind preacher’]
Publication details: 
‘Walworth [London] / Octr 31. 1856’.
£40.00

See Binney’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. The present item is only the first part of the letter, and hence unsigned, but the author is undoubtedly Binney (the text ends with a reference to ‘my preface to Dr Cheever’s “Incidents & Memories of the Christian Life,” published by Collins of Glasgow’). In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. The recipient is not named, but the subject of the letter is a proposal for Binney to prepare for English publication a work by ‘the blind eloquent American’ (i.e. William Henry Milburn).

[Walter Crane, book illustrator, designer and painter associated with the Arts and Crafts movement and the Art-Workers' Guild.] Autograph Signature and valediction of a letter.

Author: 
Walter Crane (1845-1915), book illustrator, designer and painter, associated with the Arts and Crafts movement and the Art-Workers' Guild
Walter Crane
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£35.00
Walter Crane

from the end of a letter. A good example of Crane's stylized and distinctive signature. Reads: 'Believe me, / Very truly yours, / Walter Crane'. The top part of a cropped 'P S' is present at bottom left. See Image.

[Thomas Phillipps, Collector; Middle Hill] Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Thomas Phillipps, collector
Publication details: 
M.H. [Middle Hill], 13 N[ovember?] 1854
£250.00

Three pages, 8vo, creased and slightly stained, but clear and complete. He's been sent a copy of Seymour's lectures on Convents (pub. 1852), pays for it with stamps, makes one or two points for the next edition, refers to Wiseman (who published a response in 1853) as the Cardinal of Impudentiana, and gives references to other works on nunneries (evidences against). He promotes a campaign to petition for the repeal of the Emancipation Act, and concludes with further suggestions for a new edition (typography etc).

[Thomas Thorp, bookseller of Guildford and London; Bookplates.] Printed item: ‘A Catalogue of Books and Bookplates’ [1943 items and a further fifty-one pages of bookplates.]

Author: 
Thomas Thorp, bookseller of Guildford and London, established in 1883, closed 2003 [bookplates]
Publication details: 
Catalogue Number 406 [1930s]. ‘On Sale by - / Thomas Thorp / Strathfieldsaye, Guildown Road / Guildford, England / (Also of 93 St. Martin’s Lane, London, W.C.2)’. Printed by Robert Stockwell, Baden Place, Borough, London, S.E.1.
£80.00

See Sheila Markham’s interview with Thorp’s grandson Jim in ‘The Bookdealer’, April 1995, and the report ‘Now it’s the end of the Thomas Thorp story’, Surrey Live, 17 January 2003. 132pp, 8vo. Stapled. Pagination includes grey printed wraps, with title and first and last entries. On cheap discoloured paper, with slight wear to bottom corner of first few leaves; spine worn and chipped, covers detached. Undated, but with no item found dated later than 1929. Fifty-one pages (33-83) of bookplates in small print.

[Birket Foster, artist, and Edmund Evans, engraver.] Proofs of three engravings by Evans from drawings by Birket Foster, which appeared in Maria Webb, ‘The Fells of Swarthmoor Hall’.

Author: 
Birket Foster [Myles Birket Foster] (1825-1899), Northumberland painter and illustrator; Edmund Evans (1826-1905), engraver
Birket Foster
Publication details: 
From book published in 1865 in London by Alfred W. Bennet, 5 Bishopsgate Without.
£250.00
Birket Foster

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. Webb’s book contained four engravings from drawings by Birket Foster, the last (‘The Tomb of Thomas Lawson’) of which is absent. The first has ‘E. EVANS Sc.’ engraved into the plate; the other two, evidently the work of the same hand, are unattributed. Three proof engravings, on wove paper roughly 20.5 x 13.5. All in good condition, very lightly spotted and worn, and certainly suitable for display. ONE (the frontispiece): Captioned, ‘SWARTHMOOR HALL.

[John Leech, Victorian artist and caricaturist who illustrated the ‘Christmas Carol’ of Charles Dickens.] Conclusion of Autograph Letter to the poet Martin Farquhar Tupper, with Signature.

Author: 
John Leech (1817-1864), Victorian artist and caricaturist who illustrated the ‘Christmas Carol’ of Charles Dickens [Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889), popular and much-lampooned Victorian poet]
John Leech (
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£56.00
John Leech (

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. The present item, is on one side of an 11 x 6.5 cm slip of paper, cut from a letter and laid down on a 12.5 x 8 cm piece of card. In good condition, lightly aged. Very slightly smudged by Leech. Reads: ‘[...] very low. until I see / you Believe me / Yours Ever Faithfully / John Leech. / Martin . F. Tupper Esq / &c. &c. &c.’ See Image. Leech illustrated at least one book by Tupper (The Crock of Gold).

Hodder & Stoughton ephemera: Christmas List [1910] with Dulac’s ‘Sleeping Beauty on cover; prospectus for Rackham’s ‘6/- net edition’ of 'Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens'; Christmas List [1911] with F. D. Bedford’s ‘Peter and Wendy’ on cover..

Author: 
Edmund Dulac; Arthur Rackham; F. D. Bedford; Peter Pan; Hodder & Stoughton, London publishers; J. M. Barrie; Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
Edmund Dulac
Publication details: 
All three items by Hodder & Stoughton, Warwick Square, London, E.C. All undated. Dulac 'Christmas List' from 1910; and ‘new 6/- net edition’ of ‘Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens’ dating from the same year. Bedford 'Christmas List' from 1911.
£220.00
Edmund Dulac

Three pieces of ephemera from a golden period of English children’s book illustration. All three items printed on shiny paper, and all worn and discoloured. ONE: ‘Hodder & Stoughton’s Christmas List’, with advertisement for Edmund Dulac’s edition of A. T. Quiller-Couch’s ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ on cover. 20pp, folio. With rusting staples. Folded once. Undated, but containing items published in 1910, apart from the cover item, which appears to have been published in 1912.

[ John Brumfit, nineteenth-century City of London cigar merchant. ] Autograph account books ('Journal' and 'Cash') from the firm's foundation in 1864, with explanatory letter from the founder's grandson K. F. Brumfit, and trade letterhead.

Author: 
John B. Brumfit, nineteenth-century City of London cigar merchant [ subsequently John Brumfit Ltd
Publication details: 
London [ John B. Brumfit, Cigar Merchant, 86, King William Street, City. ].Journal: 1864-1870. Cash Book, 1864-1872.
£1,500.00

For more than a century the firm of John Brumfit Ltd of the City of London was one of Britain's leading cigar and tobacco merchants, its reputation international. The firm was founded in 1864 by John B. Brumfit, son of Charles Brumfit of No. 1 Pall Mall West. The items offered here are the journal and cash book written out by the founder at the firm's inception, together with two related items (Items Three and Four below).

Samuell's Guide: How to know Sydney. Illustrated. Maps of Sydney, the harbour, the suburbs. Fishing resorts, masonic, shooting information, carriage drives, telegraphic code, &c. &c.

Author: 
H. J. Samuell's Guide to Sydney, 1897.
Publication details: 
Printed by McCarron, Stewart & Co., for the Samuell Publishing Company, Sydney, N.S.W. [New South Wales], 1897.
£225.00

16mo (13.5 x 10.5 cm), 288 pp. In original black and red printed wraps, illustrated on front with illustrations relating to the city. Fold-out 'Map of Sydney' (26 x 38 cm) in black and grey, with advertisements on reverse. Lacking the fold-out map which should be present on a stub between pp 124 and 125. Good, a little aged with slight staining at foot of first leaf. In worn and stained wraps, becoming detached from book at front. Ownership inscription of 'U Reynell 1895' in pencil on front wrap. Advertisements throughout. Numerous photographic illustrations.

[W. & G. Foyle (Foyles), Charing Cross Road booksellers.] Printed prospectus for ‘The Centenary Life of Lewis Carroll ' by Langford Reed, published by the firm as a ‘Trefoile Publication’.

Author: 
Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], author of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ [Langford Reed; W. & G. Foyle, booksellers (Foyles), Charing Cross Road, London; Trefoile Publications]
Carroll
Publication details: 
[1932.] ‘A Trefoile Publication from the House of - W. & G. FOYLE, Ltd., 119-125, Charing Cross Road, London, W.C.1’.
£120.00
Carroll

This prospectus is a scarce item: no other copy has been traced. A 4to bifolium, with four unnumbered pages printed in red. Somewhat aged and worn, with a horizontal strip of light discoloration at the head of the cover, which has the title and author’s name surrounded by a border made up of Tenniel’s illustrations, beneath this is a quotation from Dodgson’s poetry and the price of ‘7/6 net’. Across the middle two pages is the heading ‘The Centenary “Life of Lewis Carroll”’. The text begins by explaining that Reed has made use of Dodgson’s letters to Ellen Terry.

[Francis Newbery & Sons, London medicine proprietors.] Manuscript Letter to the Dean of Carlisle [Francis Close), providing a translation of a letter on the best way of taking a medicine.

Author: 
Francis Newbery & Sons, the medical arm of the London publishers founded at St Paul’s Churchyard by John Newbery [Francis Close (1797-1882), Dean of Carlisle]
Publication details: 
1 February 1876. On letterhead of ‘37, Newgate Street, / (Established 125 Years in St. Paul’s Church Yard,) / London’.
£220.00

The history of the business is convoluted. See the entries in the Oxford DNB of the founder of the firm John Newbery (c.1713-1767) of St Paul’s Churchyard, his son Francis Newbery (1743-1818), and Elizabeth Newbery, née Bryant (c.1746-1821, widow of Francis Newbery (c.1740-1780), cousin of the aforementioned Francis, who, according to Oxford DNB, ‘had studied chemistry and medicine but on the death of his father in 1767 he was urged by Samuel Johnson and Robert James to continue the business of publishing and selling patent medicines which he had inherited as the only surviving son. ...

[?Bazaar of Nations?, Ealing Town Hall, London, 1920.] Printed ?Book of the Bazaar?, ?Complete Guide to Bazaar, containing a Detailed Account of the Stalls, Entertainments, Side Shows, also Names of Stall Holders, Helpers, &c.?

Author: 
?Bazaar of Nations?, Ealing Town Hall, London, 1920
Ealing
Publication details: 
Town Hall Ealing, 8, 9 and 10 June 1920. Francis A. Percy, Printer, West Ealing.
£90.00
Ealing

A nice piece of Ealing ephemera, and scarce: no other copy traced, either on WorldCat or JISC. 48pp, 12mo. Stapled into grey wraps, with heavily-inked cover illustration by Joan Murrell, depicting six figures from various nations (Japanese geisha in the middle), beneath bunting of five flags with Union Flag in centre, and with 'BAZAAR OF NATIONS' at head. Title page reads: ?Book of the Bazaar / held at the / Ealing Town Hall, / Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, / June 8th, 9th, 10th / 1920.

[‘Tradesmen or gentlemen’? The Victorian man of letters.] Autograph Letter Signed from Andrew Wynter, author and physician, to Edward Walford, editor of the Gentleman’s Magazine, criticizing the ‘vexatious and illiberal’ publishers Bradbury and Evans

Author: 
Andrew Wynter [born Andrew Winter, pseudonym ‘Werdna Retnyw’] (1819-1876), physician and author [Edward Walford (1823-1897), editor of the Gentleman’s Magazine; Bradbury and Evans; Cassell and Co.]
Publication details: 
London: ‘4 Ladbroke Gardens, W. / March 3rd 1867’.
£180.00

See the entries for Wynter and Walford in the Oxford DNB. The present letter provides a valuable insight into the position of ‘the man of letters’ in Victorian periodical publication: according to the ODNB, Walford ‘edited the Gentleman's Magazine in 1866 and strongly objected to the proprietor Joseph Hatton's decision to change the character of that magazine.

[Kate Greenaway, artist] Substantial Autograph Letter Signed Katie to My dearest Joanie [Joan Ponsonby?] . She is writing as if to a child.

Author: 
Kate Greenaway [Catherine Greenaway (1846 – 1901), Victorian artist and writer.]
Greenaway
Publication details: 
[Embossed address] 39, Frognal, Hampstead, N.W., 5 June 1897. Note above address from Kate Greenaway.
£850.00
Greenaway

Three pages, 12mo, bifolium, good condition. Second leaf laid down on part of a album page. See Image of pp.2 & 3. Text: You write to me and I dont [sic] answer. but I know you hear of me From [sic] his letters - which I just manage to send though I fear . [sic] they most often be very dull. | Are you coming up For the Jubilee - its all Jubilee - I hope it is going to be Fine [sic] it would bve such a great disappointment if it was not. | I have been awayFor [sic] the last three Sundays but it seems to take a lot of time somehow . We are of course a long way off the station here.

[Henry Beveridge, Scottish historian and translator.] Autograph Letter Signed to Joseph L. Williams, responding to suggested corrections, and mentioning Dr Walter Graham Blackie of his publishers Blackie & Son, Glasgow.

Author: 
Henry Beveridge (1799-1863), Scottish historian, author of ‘A Comprehensive History of India’ (1858-1863) and translator with the Calvin Translation Society, Edinburgh [Blackie and Son, Glasgow]
Publication details: 
‘8 Roxburgh Terrace Haverstock Hill [London] / 29 June 1858’.
£80.00

The recipient is clearly not the American politician Joseph Lanier Williams (1810-1865), but rather an editor of Beveridge’s history of India at Blackie’s. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, but with diagonal crease at bottom right going through Beveridge’s signature. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Joseph L. Williams Esqr’ and signed ‘Henry Beveridge’. He begins by undertaking to ‘attend to the matters’ mentioned in Williams’s note.

[Philip Dosse, proprietor of Hansom Books, publishers of a stable of arts magazines.] Six items, including corrected typescript (by Dosse himself) endorsing ‘Books and Bookmen’, and corrected draft of a press release on its merger with Argosy.

Author: 
Philip Dosse (1925-1980), proprietor of Hansom Books, publishers of a stable of seven arts magazines including ‘Books and Bookmen’ and ‘Films and Filming’ [The Argosy, London; IPC Magazines Ltd]
Publication details: 
Two items on merger with Argosy dating from 1974, both from IPC Magazines Ltd, London. The other material also from the 1970s.
£450.00

An elusive figure, Dosse is certainly a candidate for a full-length study. The novelist Sally Emerson gives an excellent account of her time as editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ in its last days in an article titled ‘Death of a Bookman’ (Standpoint magazine, October 2018). These six items are in good condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: 2pp, foolscap 8vo, second page numbered. Complete rough draft of typed letter, with manuscript corrections, endorsing ‘Books and Bookmen’.

Syndicate content