BRITAIN

[Dame Margaret Lloyd George, wife of Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George.] Autograph Letter Signed, asking George Robey (comedian, singer and actor) for his assistance with a Downing Street concert for the Electrical Industries Association.

Author: 
Dame Margaret Lloyd George [née Owen] (1864-1941) wife of Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George [George Robey [Sir George Edward Wade] (1869-1954), music hall comedian]
Publication details: 
25 May 1919. On embossed notepaper of the Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London.
£65.00

See her entry, and those of Robey and her husband, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. With two folds. Addressed to ‘Geo Robey. Esq. C.B.E.’ and signed ‘Margaret Lloyd George.’ She gives details of a concert she is having at Downing Street the following month, ‘in aid of the Electrical Industries Association’, and has been asked by its committee to ‘invite your kindly assistance’.

[Dame Ruth Railton, musical director and conductor.] Autograph Card Signed to Philip Dosse of Hansom Books, regarding matters including his mother’s cancer treatment and a book by her husband Cecil Harmsworth King.

Author: 
Dame Ruth Railton (1915-2001), conductor, founder of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, wife of press baron Cecil Harmsworth King [Philip Dosse (1925-1980)]
Publication details: 
Irish postmark of 2 April 1975; on letterhead of The Pavilion, Greenfield Park, Dublin.
£56.00

See her entry, and her husband’s, in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including ‘Books and Bookmen’ and ‘Plays and Players’. Postcard of 14 x 9 cm, with letterhead and no illustration. Monogram signature ‘RK’. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight smudging to a couple of words in one corner. Addressed to ‘Mr Philip Dossé. [sic] / Hansom Books. / Artillery Mansions. / 75, Victoria Street. / LONDON.

[The man responsible for the British bobby: Sir Robert Peel, two-time Prime Minister.] Autograph Signature cut from letter.

Author: 
Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Tory, Conservative, Peelite), founder of the Metropolitan Police (who were nicknamed 'bobbies' and 'peelers' after him)
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£20.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Loose flowing signature, reading 'R Peel'. On a rectangle of paper, roughly 4.5 x 2.5 cm. Lightly discoloured and creased, with traces of glue on blank reverse from mount. See Image.

[Battle of Britain, 1940; printed.] Offprint from The Times of ‘An airman to his mother / The fight with evil / “My earthly mission is fulfilled”’.

Author: 
Battle of Britain, 1940 [Royal Air Force; Second World War; The Times]
Publication details: 
Printing House Square, London: ‘Reprinted from The Times, June 18, 1940’.
£80.00

A nice piece of WW2 RAF ephemera, written on the eve of the Battle of Britain. Scarce: the only copies on JISC at the National Library of Scotland and Bishopsgate Institute in London. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The ‘Text of the Letter’ is printed across the centrefold, with an introduction on the first page, reading: ‘Among the personal belongings of a young R.A.F. pilot in a Bomber Squadron who was recently reported “Missing, believed killed,” was a letter to his mother - to be sent to her if he were killed.

[William IV, King of the United Kingdom.] Autograph Signature (as Duke of Clarence) on frank addressed by him to Dr Carmichael Smith.

Author: 
William IV (1765-1837), King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1830-1837 (previously Duke of Clarence)
Publication details: 
4 December [no year]; London.
£45.00

See the entry for the ‘Sailor King’ in the Oxford DNB. On 12 x 7 cm piece of paper, cut from the cover of a frank. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight smudging and a small patch of light discoloration at centre (away from signature). Set out in customary fashion, and addressed by the future king (with the year cropped): ‘London. December fourth [...] / Dr: Carmichael Smith / M. D. / Upper [?] / Near Staines / Middlesex’. Firm signature at bottom left, with slight smudging to loops of the initial ‘C’: ‘Clarence’. See Image.

[Eleanor Roosevelt: the wife of the President's wartime visit to Britain.] Post Office Telegram from Mrs Roosevelt, thanking Vice-Chancellor Sir David Ross for hospitality of Oxford University.

Author: 
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), wife of 32nd President of United States of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt [Sir David Ross (1877-1971), Provost of Oriel, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University]
Roosevelt
Publication details: 
Post Office Telegram sent from Manchester. With Oxford office stamp, 9 November 1942.
£120.00
Roosevelt

Towards the end of 1942, with America having been at war with the Axis powers for a year to Britain’s three, Eleanor Roosevelt accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth to travel to Britain in order to ‘study the British home front effort and visit US troops stationed there. [...] she spent almost a month inspecting factories, shipyards, hospitals, schools, bomb shelters, distribution centers, Red Cross clubs, evacuee centers and military installations in England, Scotland and Ireland’ (Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, Columbian College).

[Randolph Churchill [Major Randolph Spencer-Churchill], only son of Winston Churchill.] Typed Letter Signed to V. H. Collins, invoking his father’s name in support of his use of the word ‘EGALITARIAN’.

Author: 
Randolph Churchill, only son of Winston Churchill [Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer-Churchill] (1911-1968), writer, soldier, and Conservative Member of Parliament [Vere Henry Collins, author]
Publication details: 
7 July 1953. Oving House, Oving, Nr. Aylesbury, Bucks, on cancelled letterhead of 12 Catherine Place, London SW1.
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘Randoph S. Churchill. The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler. After apologising for the delayed response he administers an effective put-down: ‘I do not pretend to be an expert in these mattes, but I have never heard the word EQUALITARIAN used in ordinary talk. EGALITARIAN, on the other hand, I have heard used by a wide variety of people who speak good English, including Sir Winston Churchill.

[Lawrence P. Bachmann, American film producer, head of Paramount British Productions Ltd.] Typed Letter Signed to ‘Miss Cond’, regarding two German films in the pipeline, 'The Phoenix' and 'The Lorelei', and her restaurant.

Author: 
Lawrence P. Bachmann [Lawrence Paul Bachmann], American film producer who settled in Britain as head of Paramount British Productions Ltd and then MGM British [Eileen M. Cond, autograph collector]
Publication details: 
2 December 1957. On letterhead of Paramount British Productions Ltd, Plaza Theatre Offices, Jermyn Street, London, S.W.1.
£120.00

1p, 4to. Addressed to 'Dear Miss Cond' and signed 'G P Bachmann'. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice for postage. He apologises for the late reply to her ‘nice note and the book-plate’. He gives details of two films he has been ‘terribly busy making’, ‘neither of them stories I wrote’: ‘The Phoenix is to start in Berlin this winter as a very big film with three big stars.

[Joseph Stalin, communist dictator of the Soviet Union.] Printed propaganda: handbill in English, translating text by ‘J. STALIN’ exhorting his followers to do ‘as Lenin taught us’.

Author: 
Joseph Stalin, communist dictator of the Soviet Union [Lenin; Rabochaya Gazeta, Moscow; Communist Party of Great Britain; propaganda]
Stalin
Publication details: 
No date or place. [English, 1920s?] Translated from letter sent by Stalin in 1925 to the Rabochaya Gazeta (Worker’s Newspaper), Moscow.
£120.00
Stalin

The parallel which Bertrand Russell showed between Marxism and Christianity is apparent in this piece of quasi-religious propaganda, which presumably emanates from the Communist Party of Great Britain. It is printed in red on one side of a 20 x 29 cm piece of shiny paper, scarcely thicker than tracing paper. Lightly aged, and with creasing and wear to extremities. The text, which translates part of a letter sent by Stalin to the Rabochaya Gazeta on the first anniversary of Stalin’s death, reads as follows: ‘Remember, love and study Lenin, our teacher and leader.

[Bernard Braden, Canadian actor and broadcaster, married to Barbara Kelly.] Typed Letter Signed to Ken Sephton, with reminiscences inspired by his autobiography.

Author: 
Bernard Braden [Bernard Chastey Braden] (1916-1993), Canadian actor and broadcaster, married to Barbara Kelly (1924-2007)
Publication details: 
21 November 1990. On his letterhead, 5 Kidderpore Avenue, London, N.W.3.
£80.00

Braden features prominently in his wife?s entry in the Oxford DNB, where it is stated that he ?deserves recognition not only for his extreme versatility, but for his major contribution to broadcasting by pioneering consumer television?. The letter concerns Braden?s autobiography ?The Kindness of Strangers? (1990). 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Twenty-five lines of text. Addressed to ?Dear Ken Sephton? and with good firm signature. ?Your letter made me feel very humble.

[Ernst Philipp Graf von Brunnow, longtime Russian Ambassador to the Court of St James [Great Britain].] Autograph Signature and valediction of letter in English.

Author: 
Ernst Philipp Graf von Brunnow (1797-1875), Baltic German diplomat who served in the Russian Empire, for thirty years (1840-1854, 1858-1874) Russian Ambassador to the Court of St James [Great Britain]
Brunnow
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£56.00
Brunnow

A close, controlled hand, on a slip of paper 10 x 1 cm. See Image. In good condition, lightly aged with a little light red spotting. Reads: ?Believe me / faithfully yours / Brunnow?.

[National Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, London.] Printed pamphlet by NCADP Secretary Frank Dawtry: ‘Bulletin No. 26 / Public Opinion and the Death Penalty’.

Author: 
National Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, London; Frank Dawtry [Frank Dalmeny Dawtry] (1902-1968), General Secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers
Publication details: 
March 1948. National Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, 14 Victoria Street, London, SW1. ‘Printed for Edgar G. Dunstan & Co., Draycot House, Gordon Street, W.C.1, by The Hereford Times Ltd., London and Hereford.
£80.00

See Dawtry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is scarce: no copies traced on JISC or WorldCat. 4pp, 4to. Bifolium printed in small type. In fair condition, lightly aged, with creasing and nicking to both leaves at bottom outer edge.

[Walter Rosenhain, distinguished metallurgist of German-Jewish extraction, grew up in Australia, lived in England.] Six Typed Letters Signed, Two Autograph Letters Signed, and one Typed Note Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Walter Rosenhain (1875-1934), distinguished metallurgist born in Germany of Jewish extraction, who grew up in Australia and moved to England in 1897 [Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
1915, 1924 (3), 1925 (3) and 1926 (2). The nine items on letterheads of the metallurgy department of the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex.
£250.00

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and Australian Dictionary of Biography. The recipient George Kenneth Menzies (1869-1954) was Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts between 1917 and 1935. The nine items are in good condition, lightly aged, and are folded for postage. Each bears the stamp of the RSA, some with manuscript docketting. Letters of 4 April and 18 September 1925 are in autograph, the rest typed; all nine are signed ‘Walter Rosesnhain’.

[Sir Alfred Charles Glyn Egerton, distinguished Welsh chemist.] Two printed offprints of lectures from the Proceedings of the Royal Institution: ‘Engine Knock and Related Problems’ (1928) and ‘Warmth and Comfort Indoors’ (1943).

Author: 
Sir Alfred Charles Glyn Egerton (1886-1959), Welsh chemist who pioneered the use of liquid methane as fuel [Royal Institution of Great Britain, London]
Publication details: 
Royal Institution of Great Britain, London. 1928 and 1943. The first printed by William Clowes and Sons, London.
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both of these items are scarce as separate printings: no trace of either crops up on JISC or WorldCat. Both are in good condition, with light wear. ONE: ‘Engine Knock and Related Problems.’ 15pp, 12mo. Stapled. Headed: ‘Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly evening meeting. / Friday, May 25, 1928. / Sir Robert Robertson, K.B.E. M.A. F.R.S., / Honorary Secretary and Vice-President, in the Chair. / Alfred C. Egerton, M.A. F.R.S. M.R.I., / Reader in Thermodynamics, University of Oxford.’ TWO: ‘Warmth and Comfort Indoors’. 22pp, 12mo. Stapled.

[Sir Lyon Playfair, chemist and Liberal politician.] Printed offprint of synopsis of Royal Institution talk: ‘On the Food of Man in relation to his Useful Work.’

Author: 
Sir Lyon Playfair [Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair; Lord Playfair] (1818-1898), chemist and Liberal politician, born in India of Scottish extraction [Royal Institution of Great Britain]
Publication details: 
'Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, April 28, 1865.' [London.]
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The full lecture, fifty-four pages in length, was published for Playfair in Edinburgh by Edmonston & Douglas in 1865, with the subtitle ‘Lecture delivered at the Royal Society, Edinburgh, 3d April 1865, and Royal Institution, London, 28th April 1865.’ Although reset, the text of the present three-page synopsis does not appear to differ from the version printed on pp.431-433 of the ‘Notices of the Proceedings’, vol.4 (1862-1866). No other copy of this offprint has been traced. In very good condition, lightly aged.

[Sir James Philip Lacaita [Giacomo Filippo Lacaita], Anglo-Italian politician and scholar.] Printed offprint of synopsis of Royal Institution talk: ‘On Dante and the “Divina Commedia.”’

Author: 
Sir James Philip Lacaita [Giacomo Filippo Lacaita] (1813-1895), Anglo-Italian politician and scholar [Royal Institution of Great Britain]
Publication details: 
‘Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, May 18, 1855.’ [London.]
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Although reset, the text of the present five-page synopsis does not appear to differ from that printed on pp.118-433 of the ‘Notices of the Proceedings’, vol.2 (1854-1858). No other copy of this offprint has been traced. In very good condition, lightly aged. Drophead title: ‘Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, May 18, 1855. / Rev.. John Barlow, M.A. F.R.S. Vice-President and Secretary, in the Chair. / James Philip Lacaita, Esq. LL.D. / On Dante and the “Divina Commedia.”’ 5pp, 16mo, bifolium, paginated [1]-5.

[Claud Cockburn, well-connected communist journalist.] Two Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, publisher of ?Books and Bookmen?, one giving plans for reviewing Jessica Mitford's 'damn good book' 'Fine Old Conflict'.

Author: 
Claud Cockburn [Francis Claud Cockburn] (1904-1981), well-connected communist journalist, founder and editor of ?The Week? [Philip Dosse (1926-1980), publisher ?Books and Bookmen?; Jessica Mitford]
Publication details: 
Years not stated (but one from 1977); all three items on his letterhead, Brook Lodge, Youghal, Co. Cork, Ireland.
£180.00

An interesting correspondence, with one editor showing his experience in discussing the reviews he is writing for another. See Cockburn's entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ?Death of a Bookman? by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ?Books and Bookmen? at the time of Dosse?s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The three items are ruckled and stained from water damage, with smudging of the signature (?Claud Cockburn?

[The Brooks-Bryce Foundation for the Furtherance of Friendly Relations between Great Britain and the United States.] Printed outline of 'Lectures, 1930-31' on American history by Harold Temperley, Professor of Modern History at Cambridge.

Author: 
Harold Temperley, Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge; Brooks-Bright Foundation [formerly the Brooks-Bryce Foundation], 1921-1937, founded by Florence Brooks Aten (1875-1960)
Publication details: 
Circa 1931 [lectures advertised for 1930-1931]. Brooks-Bright Foundation (English Branch).
£220.00

For Harold Temperley (1879-1939, not to be confused with his son) see the Oxford DNB. No other copy of the present item has been traced, and the organization it was produced for, the Brooks-Bryce Foundation for the Furtherance of Friendly Relations between Great Britain and the United States, is now no more than a passing shadow. It was founded in 1921 by the Manhattan socialite Florence [Cornelia Ellwanger] Brooks Aten, and disappeared with her immense fortune following the Great Crash of 1937.

[King George III.] Seven examples of the king's signature on a page, six of them cut from parchment documents, the last two made while insane, with the last on a fragment of a warrant.

Author: 
King George III (1738-1820) of Great Britain and of Ireland, the mad monarch who lost America
George III
Publication details: 
One with annotated with date 28 March 1792, the others undated. None with place.
£1,250.00
George III

See image. It is hard to see how this collection could be bettered, the range of signatures from sanity to madness being of particular interest. All seven examples laid down on a folio leaf extracted from an album. The leaf is in poor condition, creased and with closed tears, but the parchment and paper bearing the signatures themselves in good condition, the six parchment items having the usual discoloration, but the example on paper in excellent condition.

[Royal Festival Hall.] Printed brochure: ‘London County Council / Laying of the Foundation Stone of the Concert Hall, Ceremony to be performed by The Right Hon. C. R. Atlee, C.H., M.P., Prime Minister’. [With press release and manuscript notes.]

Author: 
[Royal Festival Hall; Festival of Britain, 1949; London County Council; Clement Atlee, Labour Prime Minister; Howard Roberts, Clerk of the Council; Felix Aprahamian]
Publication details: 
[Ceremony performed on 12 October 1949. Building commissioned by the London County Council.]
£150.00

The present item is rare, and its interest is heightened by the fact that it is accompanied by a press release and has the covers covered in what are clearly notes on how to film the ceremony by a press cameraman. Only three copies on COPAC: at the British Library, Sheffield Hallam and the Bishopsgate Institute. An 8vo stitched pamphlet of twenty unpaginated pages in printed card wraps. Internally very good.

[Roman Catholicism and Victorian Britain.] Printed House of Commons paper: ‘Correspondence respecting the Duke of Norfolk’s Special Mission to the Pope.’

Author: 
[Roman Catholicism and Victorian Britain.] United Kingdom House of Commons; Duke of Norfolk; Pope Leo XIII
Publication details: 
Presented to the House of Commons by Command of Her Majesty, in pursuance of their Address dated August 11, 1890. [London: Printed for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office by Harrison and Sons, St. Martin’s Lane, Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty.]
£30.00

10 + [1]pp, foolscap 8vo. Customary title printed at right angles on back cover, for folding into a packet. Disbound. Text complete, but printed on aged high-acidity paper, with chipping to extremities. Front page headed 'Miscellaneous. No. 2 (1890).' No physical copy on COPAC or WorldCat, only online reproductions.

[Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League: Frances J. Balfour, Hon. Sec. of Sheffield & District Branch.] Autograph Letter Signed (possible spoof) to ‘Mr. Sayers’ [A. H. Sayers], requesting contribution so branch can become ‘influential & successful’.

Author: 
Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League; Frances J. Balfour, Hon. Sec. of the Sheffield & District Branch [Rev. A. H. Sayers of Monmouth]
Publication details: 
Dated ‘Sheffield & District Branch / Arcadia / March 31st. 09’. On letterhead of Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League, Caxton House, Tothill Street, Westminster, London, S.W.
£120.00

1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Considering the tone of the letter, the similarity between the signatories name and that of the prominent suffragist Lady Frances Balfour (1858-1931), and the fact that there is no record of a Sheffield branch of the WNASL, nor of a place in Warrington called ‘Arcadia’, nor of any Balfours living there, one must strongly suspect that this letter is a spoof, perhaps written by in some such scenario as a pro-suffrage child of a member of the WNASL, having got hold of one of the organisations blank letterheads. Or perhaps not.

[Charles Vandeleur Creagh, Governor of North Borneo and botanist.] Autograph Note Signed, requesting a price list for ‘Teacher’s Patent Lantern Microscope’ from Manchester maker of optical instruments W. J. Chadwick.

Author: 
Charles Vandeleur Creagh (1842-1917), Governor of North Borneo and botanist who donated his collection of Borneo plants to Kew Gardens, London [W. J. Chadwick, Manchester maker of optical instruments]
Publication details: 
25 December 1890; on letterhead of Government House, Sandakan [North Borneo].
£80.00

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. In order to mark the request as dealt with, the recipient has written a thin ink line across the page. Reads: ‘W J Chadwick Esqre / Sir / Please send me price list of your Teacher’s Patent Lantern Microscope / Yours truly / C. V. Creagh / Governor of North Borneo / Address / Sandakan / North Borneo / via Singapore’.

[‘The rudest man in Britain’ reduced to tears: Gilbert Harding, radio and television personality.] Producer Hugh Burnett's corrected proof of typescript of Harding’s celebrated interview with John Freeman in the BBC TV series 'Face to Face'.

Author: 
Gilbert Harding [Gilbert Charles Harding] (1907-1960), irascible British radio and television personality [John Freeman, interviewer on BBC programme ‘Face to Face’; Hugh Burnett]
Publication details: 
Undated, but BBC interview broadcast on 18 September 1960, and this item prepared for publication in 1964.
£75.00

The present item is producer Hugh Burnett's own copy, from his papers, of the transcript of John Freeman's interview with Harding, broadcast in the groundbreaking BBC television series 'Face to Face' on 18 September 1960, a few weeks before Harding’s death on 16 November 1960. Harding’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that, ‘in radio programmes such as The Brains Trust and Twenty Questions, and on television in What's my Line?, Harding became a great popular figure, especially of television in which he was probably the best-known performer in the country.

[Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Labour politician and campaigner for women’s suffrage, husband of Emmeline Pethick.] Autograph Note Signed (‘F W Pethick-Lawrence’) thanking Thomas Lloyd Humberstone for his ‘booklet on the Public Schools’.

Author: 
Lord Pethwick-Lawrence [Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence, born Frederick William Lawrence] (1871-1961), Labour politician and campaigner for women's suffrage, husband of Emmeline Pethick
Publication details: 
13 October 1944; on letterhead of 11 Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn, W.C.2. [London]
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Thomas Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957) was an educationalist and prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. The booklet referred to is his ‘The Public School Question’, which he printed himself in 1943. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads. ‘Dear Humberstone / Thanks for your booklet on the Public Schools which I have read with interest / Yours truly / F W Pethick Lawrence’.

[Olga Novikoff, White Russian writer and journalist in Britain.] Autograph Signature and valediction from letter.

Author: 
Olga Novikoff [Olga Alekseevna Novikoff] (c.1842-1925), White Russian writer and journalist in Britain, author of ‘The M.P. for Russia’
Novikoff
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£30.00
Novikoff

On 11 x 6 cm piece of paper cut from letter. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ‘Yours faithfully / Olga Novikoff.’

[E. V. Knox, editor of Punch.] Autograph Text of Prize-giving speech for speech day at Brookfield Secondary School for Girls, Highgate, with two versions of programme, and covering note.

Author: 
E. V. Knox [Edmund George Valpy Knox] (1881-1971, 'Evoe'), editor of Punch, 1932-1949, essayist, poet and humorist [Brookfield Secondary School for Girls, Highgate, London]
Publication details: 
Speech dated by Knox 19 July 1951. The two programmes for Brookfield Secondary School for Girls [Highgate, London], Speech Day, 1951. Knox's covering note on his letterhead, 110 Frognal, NW3.
£220.00

See Knox's entry in the Oxford DNB, along with those of his father and three brothers. The school was in existence in various places and under various names between 1914 and 1965. Four items, in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Autograph Speech by Knox, headed 'BROOKFIELD SCHOOL'. Dated 19 July 1951. 3pp, 12mo. On three leaves held together with brass stud, with directions to the school on reverse of last leaf. Written in capital letters. Knox begins by noting the prizes: 'Difficult to think of anything else when one sees this table loaded with gifts.

[Squadron Leader Nigel Rose, Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Nigel') to Martin Corden, expressing amazement at the 'cult' of the Spitfire, and discussing the sale of Bentley Priory.

Author: 
Squadron Leader Nigel Rose (1918-2017), Spitfire Pilot with No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Royal Air Force Squadron during the Second World War Battle of Britain [Bentley Priory, Stanmore]
Publication details: 
22 October 2007. With label carrying his Essex address.
£250.00

2pp, folio. In envelope with stamp and postmark, addressed to Corden's Mill Hill address. Letter folded twice, and letter and envelope in good condition. He begins by thanking him for sending 'the inscribed copy of Ken Delve's Story of the Spitfire - a truly excellent book just jam-packed with detail, - he must have done a prodigious amount of research to put it all together'. He is 'bowled over by the extent of [Corden's] munificence'.

[Thomas Frankland and Others; Stirling and Dumbarton Castles] Manuscript [Document[ Signed by Members of Parliament in command of the Ordnance, "Tho[mas] Frankland", Thomas Erle (also distinguished soldier), Thomas Wheate and Edward Ashe

Author: 
Thomas Erle, Thomas Frankland and Others [Stirling and Dumbarton Castles]
Ordnance
Publication details: 
[Office of his Majesty's Ordnance], 25 Feb. 1717/18
£1,250.00
Ordnance

A fragile survival. One page, 20 x 22cm, small closed tears, foxing, minimal loss of two or three letters, text fully legible as follows: "Whereas it is requisite and necessary that [an?] Advance of Money should be made for paying for the Repairs at Sterling [sic] & Dumbarton Castles in North Brittain. We have therefore pursuant to an Ord[e]r this day of the Board Imprested unto James Luly the sum of Twenty pounds And we desire the Honble Harry Mordaunt Esq.

[William IV and his asthma.] Autograph Manuscript Signed by 'W. J. Griffinhoofe', royal apothecary, titled 'An Outline of the general treatment of His Royal Highness The Duke of Clarence during his periodical annual attack of Asthma'.

Author: 
William IV (1765-1837), King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1830-1837; W. J. Griffinhoofe, royal apothecary [Sir Andrew Halliday (1782-1839)]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [c.1810?].
£1,200.00

William IV ceased to be styled the Duke of Clarence on his accession to the throne in 1830. For 'the family of Griffinhoofe, Saffron Walden', see Charles K. Probert's piece in Notes and Queries, 14 November 1874, which states that 'The first of the family who came to this country was a Mr. Griffinhoofe, who, as Court Apothecary, accompanied George I. from Hanover.' The family clearly continued their connection with royalty, as the author of this document W. J.

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