CENTURY

The present item is on a 12mo bifolium of light gray paper, with Kate Crowe’s letter on the two outer pages, and Tom Taylor’s unrelated pencil notes on the two inner pages. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. There is an engraved portrait of ‘Miss Kate Bateman’, with a long biographical footnote, on pp.160-161 of ‘The Reminiscences of J. L. Toole’, ed. Hatton (1889). That footnote states, with regard to the subject of this letter: ‘Miss Bateman appeared on the first night of the reopening of Sadler’s Wells under the management of [her mother] Mrs.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On worn and aged paper, with L-shaped closed tear at left-hand edge. Folded for postage. Addressed to her at Bebington in the Wirral. Loose, smudged signature ‘St John Ervine’. He thanks her for her ‘letter and its enclosure, which I return. If I were to rebuke every cub reporter who wrote so stupidly as the young man to whom you refer, I should fill The Observer with my reproofs, apart altogether from the fact, that I should be giving the young man an exaggerated sense of his importance.

An unusually forthright communication for the period. See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing, Fitzgerald was President of the Board of Control under Sir Robert Peel. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and ruckled. Signed ‘Vane Londonderry’. Begins: ‘My Dear Ftizgerald / I had not an opportunity to thank you as I would in the H of Lords for all your kind attention to my wishes.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Addressed to ‘W. S. Dallas Esq’ and signed ‘P. Cunliffe Owen’ [sic, no hyphen]. Begins: ‘There will be no Ladies on the 13th. Inst & the card I will send you will be personal. I am sorry, that this rule exists, but it affects my own family as well as all the Gentler Sex.’ He concludes with brief details of the plans for the evening. In a postscript which he has initalled he asks Dallas to ‘do some more translation from German’.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. For the context, see the 1863 pamphlet ‘Clare versus the Queen’, in the slug to which John Clare (1820-1885) is described as ‘THE KING OF METAL SHIP BUILDERS’. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with folds. Docketed ‘Fitzhardinge / Lord -’. Signed ‘Fitzhardinge’ (sic). In a difficult hand.

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.’

In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, laid down on part of page from album. Folded for postage. Neatly written. Reads: ‘6 Oct 1867 / Mr Pauer begs to inform Mrs Paget that the Austrian Piano maker will attend to her Piano tomorrow or Wednesday / In haste.’

A biography of Pearson (‘a notable figure within the church’) is appended to that of his father in the Oxford DNB. Each of these letters is 2pp, 12mo (the second with cross writing at the head of a further two pages), and both are on bifoliums. In fair condition, lightly aged. The two have been extracted from an autograph album, and are lightly attached along the inner edge, with further light traces of the brown paper mount on the reverse of the last leaf of the second letter.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of the playwright Tom Taylor, who was editor of Punch at the time these letters were written. Both 16mo bifoliums, on uniform grey paper. Both addressed to ‘Dear friend’ and signed ‘John Bellows’. Both in good condition, lightly aged, and each folded once for postage. The second with a spatter of ink at one corner (not affecting the text). From the papers of Tom Taylor, who was editor of Punch at the time. ONE (‘6mo. 13. 1877’): 1p, 16mo. He is ‘much obliged’ to the recipient’s daughter for ‘noting my omission of sursis.

A good informative letter. See Abse's entry in the Oxford DNB, along with that of Gaston Berlemont, proprietor of the French House (the nickname of the York Minster), Soho. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded one for postage. On a leaf of light-grey paper, in matching stamped envelope with postmark, addressed to Furness in Battersea. One of a number of letters from British poets in response to enquiries from Furness with regard to their pub memories.

See his entry, and that of Collier, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on worn and spotted paper. Folded twice for postage. The recipient is not named. Addressed to ‘Dear Sir’ and signed ‘C. M. Ingleby’. He offers ten pounds for ‘yr. copy of the Encycl: Metropolitana’, and will pay the carriage if he sends it. ‘I don’t actually want it: but its a good book, & I’ll give that as an investment.’ He will send a cheque, once he receives ‘a Post Card: with “yes” on it’. Ends: ‘Other matters in yr. excellent Catalogue I postpone.’

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Addressed ‘Revd. F. Damstini Cremer / The Rectory / Keighley / England’. Signed ‘A. B. Bruce’. He begins by confirming that Cremer has has not mistaken his meaning ‘on p. 32 “The Kingdom of God”’, reaffirming over a paragraph what it is he was saying regarding the temptation of Christ. ‘It seems a considerable liberty, but then the Scripture writers do take liberties in their quotations & use of Holy Writ’.

A scarce and fragile item: the only copy traced on WorldCat and Jisc is held by the Society Friends (Quakers). Lancaster’s entry in the Oxford DNB, which sums up his achievements: ‘his name was to survive in English educational history as one of the foremost pioneers of mass schooling and effective teacher training in the early industrial era’. The handbill is printed on one side of a 15 x 19.5 cm leaf of thin wove paper. A fragile survival: lightly aged and worn, with a small hole and closed tear, but text clear and entire.

The two items are in good condition, lightly aged, and both folded for postage. Both 1p, 12mo. ONE (evidently to Grant Reid, editor of the Northern Figaro, Aberdeen): Signed ‘E. W. Nye’. Recipient not named. ‘My dear Sir / Your favor of the 9- asking for a photograph to be used in your admirable publication is just received.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and spotted paper. Folded for postage. The recipient is not named. Signed ?Bute and Dumfries.? ?I should with pleasure have renewed to you a general permission to shoot upon my lands in Galloway, but having this year restricted other gentlemen in the neighbourhood on account of the condition of my muirs, [sic] I feel myself under the necessity of confining my permission to you within those which [match?] immediately with Mr Adair?s.?

See his father?s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. The recipient?s full name is not give. Signed ?Walter H Pollock?. The ?Ajax business? referred to in the letter is the performance of the first of the Cambridge Greek plays, organised by the archaeologist Sir Charles Walston [formerly Waldstein] (1856-1927).

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Reads: ?Dear Yonge / Will you bring your rod & try the river this morning / Yours always / Thomas Fairbairn / Saturday?.

A significant figure, unaccountably unrepresented in the Oxford DNB. An interesting item, casting light on the way business was conducted in the world of nineteenth-century newspaper proprietorship. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. The recipient, evidently a fellow newspaper proprietor, is not named, and the letter is signed ?William Ingram?.

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.

For information regarding Sir Leslie Stephen, consult Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, though somewhat aged and worn, with strip of brown paper stub adhering to one edge. Folded for postage. Reads: ?Madam, / I am obliged by your offer of an article, but, though I agree with you that it has some merit, I regret that my engagements make it quite impossible for me to accept it. / Your truly / The Editor of the Cornhill? (?Cornhill? little more than a series of scratches). See Image.

See the Oxford DNB entry of the recipient James Payn (1830-1898), at the time of this letter the editor of the Cornhill Magazine. More significantly, Payn had since 1874 been a reader for Smith, Elder, and the present letter stems from the firm?s interest in Forrest?s ?tale of the Indian Mutiny? which they would publish in 1891 under the title ?Eight Days?. 2pp, 16mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with short closed tear at edge of postage fold. Addressed to ?James Payn Esqr.? and signed ?R. E. Forrest?.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Gridley was the Secretary of the Carlyle Society. He had visited Walt Whitman in America earlier in the year. 2pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed to ?C. Oscar Gridley, Esq.? and signed ?R H Shepherd?. ?Weather permitting (which is likely)?, he proposes to call on Gridley on the following day, ?for a stroll on the heath, &c.? He is ?quite well and on my legs again, since last Wednesday?. He ends by stating that he is enclosing a cutting which will interest him.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The four items in good condition, lightly aged and worn, and all folded for postage. The last item with pin hole to one corner. The first three addressed to 'Dear Sir' and the last to 'Dear Fisher'. All four signed 'A C Lyall', both with and without periods after the initials. ONE (9 October 1888): 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium.

See the entries on Collier and Dilke in the Oxford DNB. The eight volumes of Collier?s edition of Shakespeare?s works were first published between 1842 and 1844, with the sonnets and other poems in the last volume. The Athenaeum carried a long review of vols.2 and 3 of Collier?s edition on 9 July 1842, and another dealing with the biographical element of the entire work on 2 March 1844. From this letter it is clear that Chasles intended to review the eighth and last volume containing the sonnets (and may well have done so). The present item is 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with thin strip of mount adhering to one edge. Folded for postage.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Recipient not named (addressed to 'Dear Sir'). Signed 'Joseph Knight' and neatly written. He is sending the 'cheque as promised', and asks whether a book was 'a very nice copy', since he was 'disposed to order it'. One of his purchases is 'a disappointing work. Its title presumes what is not found. If you can get any thing extra for it out of your customers you can have it back.'

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium with thin mourning border. In poor condition, aged, worn and discoloured, with chipping and closed tears, but text clear and complete. The recipient (‘My dear Friend’) is not named. The letter’s valediction reads: ‘Your’s my dear Brother / most affy. / Hugh McNeile’. (Whether or not McNeile’s actual brother is unclear.) He explains that the bearer of the letter, ‘Monsr. Rossellot’, is ‘the Pastor of a Protestant Church in Orleans’, and that there is ‘at Orleans a female Orphan Asylum, on behalf of which he is going to England’.

See Mitford's entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 32mo. On first leaf of bifolium. Text complete on somewhat grubby and worn paper. The recipient (‘My dear Sir’) is not named, and the letter is signed ‘JMitford’. Closely written, with the result that a few word are difficult to decipher, unfortunately including the name of the subject. It reads: ‘My dear Sir / I can see no objection to you printing the lines that I return, as I presume they are but little known. / I think [Lang?] was a very good sort of Man, as well as a very [clear?] [shrewd?] one . .

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Edw Walford Esq M.A’ and signed ‘George Smith’. The handwriting is somewhat opaque, rendering the following transcription tentative. He begins by thanking him for sending a cutting ‘from the “Gossip of the Clubs” ’, before continuing: ‘In consequence of the opposition there is still against me in the Brick & tile trade, the amount of time & Correspondence [it takes?] is [?] with the [?] of the act, I find it anything but [?] to get along.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Addressed to 'Alfred Miles Esqre.' and with good bold signature 'Gerald Massey'. Begins: 'Dear Sir / You are quite at liberty to quote from my poems - but I shd. like to have a hand in the selection. / In a collection so large as you contemplate there ought to be nothing but one's best.' If he were to edit such a work he would 'make all living authors so choose their own poems. Sir Richard Grenville is the only one of those you mention that I shd.