CASE

[‘The Tichborne Claimant’: the soi-disant Sir Roger Charles Doughty-Tichborne, held to be an imposter named Arthur Orton.] Signed Autograph inscription as ‘R. C. D. Tichborne’, with Signed Autograph inscription by Major-General Arthur Phelps.

Author: 
‘The Tichborne Claimant’ (d.1898): the soi-disant Sir Roger Charles Doughty-Tichborne (b.1829), held to be an imposter named Arthur Orton (b.1834); Major-General Arthur Phelps (1837-1920), Indian Army
‘The Tichborne Claimant’
Publication details: 
Inscription by the Tichborne Claimant dated 6 March 1893. Inscription by Phelps dated 9 December 1890.
£160.00
‘The Tichborne Claimant’

The Tichborne Case was very possibly the greatest scandal of Victorian England. See the entry for ‘Tichborne claimant’, with subheading for ‘Arthur Orton’ in the Oxford DNB. Trained as a civil engineer, Major-General Arthur Phelps (1837-1920), civil engineer, was a prominent homeopath, anti-vaccinationist, and anti-vivisectionist, who promoted his views as proprietor and editor of the Citizen newspaper. Each inscription is on one side of a single 11.5 x 18.5 cm piece of gilt-edged wove paper, presumably extracted from an autograph album.

[Edgar Jacob, Bishop of St Albans; Colenso.] Autograph Letter Signed to Rev. R. Wilkins appealing for English Church Union subscribers to ?help towards undoing the mischief? caused by Bishop Colenso?s ?defection? in Natal.

Author: 
Edgar Jacob (1844-1920), Bishop of St Albans [John William Colenso (1814-1883), controversial Anglican Bishop of Natal; English Church Union]
Publication details: 
No date [circa 1865].
£56.00

See Jacob?s entry, and Colenso?s, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Addressed to ?The / Revd. R. Wilkins?.

[The Colenso Case: the richest woman in Victorian England gives her view: Angela Burdett-Coutts, philanthropist.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘A B Coutts’), setting out her position on ‘this unhappy Cape and Natal Bishoprick controversy’.

Author: 
Angela Burdett-Coutts [Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, Baroness Burdett-Coutts] (1814-1906), the richest woman in Victorian England, philanthropist [John William Colenso (1814-1883),Bishop of Natal]
Publication details: 
1 May 1866; Stratton Street [London].
£180.00

The significance of the present item with regard to the Colenso Case - a turning point in the history of Victorian theology and ideas - is explained by the Baroness’s entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘Angela Burdett-Coutts's deep religious beliefs informed her early interest in colonial expansion. In 1847 she endowed the bishoprics of Cape Town, South Africa, and Adelaide, South Australia, both of which were strictly modelled on the English diocesan system. [...] She intended that her colonial bishoprics should remain dependent on the Anglican church in England.

[‘The Pentateuch [...] is throughout a mere fiction’. John William Colenso, Bishop of Natal, puts the case that will result in excommunication.] Long and substantial Autograph Letter Signed (‘J. W. Natal.’) to ‘Scudamore’, explaining his position.

Author: 
John William Colenso (1814-1883), controversial Bishop of Natal, subject of ‘The Colenso Case’, excommunicated from the Church of England [Rev. H. C. Scudamore; Robert Gray, Bishop of Cape Town]
Publication details: 
19 August 1862; Fowey, Cornwall.
£380.00

Colenso’s enormous significance in the history of Victorian theology and ideas is reflected by a long entry by Peter Hinchcliff in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

[Horace Bushnell of North Church, Hartford, Connecticut, Congregational minister, religous writer.] Printed pamphlet: 'Prosperity Our Duty. | A Discourse delivered at the North Church, Hartford, Sabbath Evening, January 31, 1847. By Horace Bushnell.

Author: 
Horace Bushnell (1802-1876) of North Church, Hartford, Connecticut, Congregational minister and religious writer [Case, Tiffany & Burnham, Hartford printers]
Publication details: 
'Published by request.' Hartford: Printed by Case, Tiffany & Burnham, 1847.
£120.00

24pp, 8vo. Saddle-stitched pamphlet in pink wraps the the title-page reprinted on the cover, this time within a decorative border. In fair condition, aged, worn and creased, with slight loss to outer corner of front cover. Bushnell takes as his text 2 Chronicles XXXII.30, and begins his 'Discourse': 'Any community or city will prosper that will do its duty.

[ 'The Hudson Case'. ] Manuscripts of Elliot's defence of Russell and Sir Henry Elliot in controversy over Italian ambassador Sir James Hudson, including 'unpublished part', letters by Countess Russell and Sir Henry Elliot, annotated pamphlet.

Author: 
Hon. George Elliot [ George Francis Stewart Elliot ] (1822-1901) [ John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792-1878), Prime Minister; Sir James Hudson (1810-1885); Sir Henry Elliot (1817-1907) ]
Publication details: 
[ London. ] 1881, 1885 and 1886.
£1,800.00

A son of the Earl of Minto, Elliot (hereafter GSE) was Russell's brother-in-law and one of his two executors. The events described in the present collection occurred while GSE was living with Russell, who was then Home Secretary, as his private secretary; and the controversy is over the claim that the replacement of Sir James Hudson as Italian ambassador by GSE's brother, the future Sir Henry Elliot (1817-1907), was an 'act of nepotism' on the part of Russell.

[Embargo Act of 1807?;] Substantial copy letter, John Holmes, lawyer & politician in Maine/Massachusetts, to William Sabatier, merchant, about land in Maine/MA. Annotated & Copied by Sabatier,and forwarded to Thomas Hutchinson, Jr (see notes below)

Author: 
William Sabatier, "office holder, merchant, jp, and lobbyist (Canadian DNB) [John Holmes, US Senator, etc. (Wikipedia)]
Publication details: 
[Holmes letter] Alfred, Mass., 24 March 1809; [Wm Sabatier note], 5 May 1809.
£280.00

Four-pages bifolium, fold marks, good condition. Holmes letter copied by Sabatier to Hutchinson, and with substantial added material also by Sabatier, 2pp., folio; Sabatier added the note to Hutchinson, p.3, "A cross grained business has happened in the appointment which will occasion a temporary delay; Hutchinson's address appears on page four with a note (presumably in Hutchinson's hand), "Willm Sabatier Esq.

[Thomas Case, President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.] Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed recipient, an 'official announcement' that he has been 'elected a Scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, after an examination in Natural Science'.

Author: 
Thomas Case (1844-1925), President of Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford; Waynflete Professor of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy; Fellow of Magdalen College
Publication details: 
'Address during July c/o Mr Trim | 9 Royal Terrace | Weymouth', on cancelled letterhead of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 25 June 1919.
£100.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Largely concerned with examinations from which the candidate appears to consider himself exempt, but which are in fact obligatory. With reference to 'Mr A. E. Jolliffe'.

[Tighe Hopkins, novelist.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr. Case', presenting a copy of his 'Iron Mask'.

Author: 
Tighe Hopkins (1856-1919), novelist, journalist and authority on prison life and penal reform
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Frayn, Herne Bay [Kent]. 7 August 1902.
£45.00

2pp., 8vo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He asks him to accept a copy of the Tauchnitz edition of his 'Iron Mask', 'the only one I happen to have by me'. He continues: 'As you are kind enough to express an interest in work of mine, I may say that I expect to be in the West of Ireland next month in the interests of the Daily Chronicle - if you ever happen to see that paper - for which I am to write a special series of letters describing the present condition of that district.' For more on Hopkins see his obituary in The Times, 17 February 1919.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Tho Wilde') from the Solicitor General Sir Thomas Wilde to an unnamed individual, on 'The Lithgon Case'.

Author: 
Thomas Wilde, first Baron Truro (1782-1855), Lord Chancellor
Publication details: 
Dover Street; 9 January [1841].
£120.00

3pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged and worn paper. Wilde explains that he had previously written regarding the case, but 'by some accident the Letter has been mislaid (I believe) among my mass of papers, and I therefore fear it may not have reached you as I cannot learn who among the Servants dispatched it'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the chemist Frederick Early Tozer ('Fred. E. Tozer') to his former employer Alfred Clay Abraham, of Clay and Abraham, Liverpool pharmacists, comparing New York and Ohio in 1889 with England.

Author: 
Frederick Early Tozer (d.1940) [Alfred Clay Abraham (1853-1942), Liverpool pharmacist]
Publication details: 
15 December 1889. 'c/o H. Waterman, Esq. Ravenna - Ohio'.
£225.00

140 lines of text, written out on both sides of a strip of ruled paper, with one side forming two outside 12mo pages (each 13 x 10 cm) by the folding the strip horizontally halfway down, and the reverse carrying one continuous column over a 13 x 20 cm single page. Text clear and complete. Good, on aged paper. Tozer had shone in his training as a pharmacist, with the British Medical Journal reporting his winning in 1881 of a medal in practical pharmacy and dispensing, and a certificate in botany. By 1889 he was working in Castle Street, Liverpool, for A. C. Abraham's firm of Clay & Abraham.

[Printed] The Whigs and the Press. Report of the Trial of the Proprietors and Printer of the True Sun, ... [continued below]

Author: 
Anon.
Report of the Trial of the Proprietors and Printer of the True Sun
Publication details: 
London: Published at the True Sun Office, 366, Strand, 1834.
£165.00
Report of the Trial of the Proprietors and Printer of the True Sun

[title continued] ...For Recommending Non-payment of theAssessed Taxes; upon an Ex-officio Information, filed by His Majesty's Attorney-General. Before M.Justice Patteson and a Special Jury. 14pp., 8vo, disbound, foxed, final leaf detached, better than poor and worse than fair. Note: Charles Dickens wrote Parliamentary Reports for the True Sun in his early days. Scarce. COPAC lists copies at the V & A and London, WordCat lists five US copies and one European.

Typed Letter Signed by Nicolas Bentley to the actor C. Kenneth Benda, concerning the rights to his book 'Trent's Last Case', and a proposal by Benda for a stage adaptation.

Author: 
Nicolas Bentley [Nicolas Clerihew Bentley (1907-1978)], British author and illustrator [C. Kenneth Benda (1902-1978), British actor]
Typed Letter Signed by Nicolas Bentley
Publication details: 
10 June 1966; on Bentley's letterhead, 7 Hobury Street, Chelsea.
£75.00
Typed Letter Signed by Nicolas Bentley

4to, 1 p. 19 lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and lightly creased paper, with strip of sunning to left-hand margin. Neat signature: 'Nicolas Bentley'. The film and television rights to the book were all 'bought some years ago by Herbert Wilcox, who, as I understand it, still owns them'. Bentley has reports the opinion of 'Messrs A. P. Watt, my late father's agent', on the question of the radio rights. 'I control the stage rights', Bentley states, giving the conditions on which he would agree to a stage adaptation.

Typed Letter Signed by Bruce Long, concerning the William Desmond Taylor murder case, together with the first issue of Long's pamphlet 'Taylorology'.

Author: 
Bruce Long [William Desmond Taylor (1872-1922); Taylorology]
Bruce Long [William Desmond Taylor (1872-1922); Taylorology]
Publication details: 
Letter: 10 January 1986; Mesa, Arizona. Pamphlet: Number 1, Fall 1985.
£350.00
Bruce Long [William Desmond Taylor (1872-1922); Taylorology]

Letter: 4to, 1 p. Twenty-six lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and worn paper, with a couple of holes, light staining and indentations. Addressed to 'Jon', whose book, with a 'chapter pertaining to the Taylor case' Long 'would like very much to see'. Long encloses the copy of 'Taylorology', of which he writes, 'Despite my intentions, there was only one issue due to very poor response -- only a dozen subscribers.' He boasts that his 'collected material on this case', 'primarily newspaper clippings', 'weighs over 30 lbs., with more information coming in every week'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. Gourlie Jr.') to 'Mr. Ward'.

Author: 
William Gourlie (1815-1856), Glasgow calico printer and botanist [Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791-1868); William Keddie (1809-1877), Editor of the 'Scottish Guardian'; Scotland; Scottish textiles]
Publication details: 
18 June 1849; on letterhead of South Frederick Street, Glasgow.
£45.00

4to, 1 p. Sixteen lines of text. Clear and complete. Neatly written in copperplate. On lightly-aged and creased paper, with one 4 cm vertical closed tear (through one word) along fold. He will be 'in town [i.e. London] for a few days next week and will be accompanied by Mr. Keddie, Editor of the "Scottish Guardian", an ardent lover of Botany & Botanists'. Asks if Ward can 'chalk out an excursion' for them, '& perhaps accompany us, to some place like Cobham [regularly visited by Ward], where we would see English Scenery, and gather good English plants'.

Five Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Charles Herbert Armstrong
Publication details: 
1927-30; Elmhyrst, Guildford.
£120.00

British railway magnate and industrialist in India (1862-1949). The collection is very good. The five autograph letters are 12mo, and printed on letterheads. All items signed 'C H Armstrong'. Several items docketed and bearing the Society's stamp. Mainly concerned with Society committee matters, but two letters of interest. The first (autograph, 15 February 1928, 2 pages, 12mo): 'You will no doubt have seen the remarks of the Lord Chief Justice in the Mitchell Hedges case - Times of 14 inst page 5 column 2 - on "learned societies . . . .

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