CENTURY

[Richard Cobden, Radical Liberal politician and Anti-Corn Law League leader.] Autograph List of petitions to the House of Commons, headed ‘Pet[itio]ns Mr Cobden’ [for James Johnstone or Robert Knox?].

Author: 
Richard Cobden (1804-1865), Radical Liberal politician and leading figure in the Anti-Corn Law League [James Johnstone (1815-1878), newspaper proprietor; Robert Knox, editor of the Morning Herald]
Publication details: 
No date, but with newspaper cutting from the Morning Herald, London, 18 February 1854.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item was enclosed in a letter from Serjeant Shee (the future Sir William Shee), offered separately, sent from the House of Commons on 17 February 1854, in which he writes: ‘I enclose Mr. Cobdens own handwriting to send to the Papers -’. Attached to a corner at the head of the first page of the present item is a cutting from the Morning Herald newspaper, 18 February 1854, reproducing the details in the manuscript.

[Irish Land Question, 1854.] Autograph Letter Signed from Serjeant Shee [later Sir William Shee] [to James Johnstone or Robert Knox?], regarding the parliamentary response to his speech bringing in the ‘amended Tenants’ Compensation (Ireland) Bill’.

Author: 
[Irish Land Question, 1854.] Sir William Shee [Serjeant Shee] (1804-1868), English-born Irish Liberal politician and judge [Richard Cobden (1804-1865), Radical politician; James Johnstone (1815-1878)]
Publication details: 
'House of Commons / Feby 17 1854'.
£150.00

According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, Shee entered the House of Commons as Member for County Kilkenny in 1852, and promptly took charge of the Irish Tenant Right Bill. ‘On 16 February 1854 Shee brought in a bill which, with the exception of three clauses, was the exact counterpart of Sharman Crawford's bill of the previous session, but it met with little encouragement.’ Shee’s speech is reproduced in his ‘Papers, Letters, and Speeches in the House of Commons, on the Irish Land Question’ (London, 1863).

[Sir Henry Newbolt, poet and writer, author of the anthology-piece 'Drake's Drum'.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs. Lord' describing how he deals with correspondence.

Author: 
Sir Henry Newbolt [ Sir Henry John Newbolt ] (1862-1938), poet, novelist and historian, author of the patriotic anthology-piece 'Drake's Drum'
Publication details: 
27 September 1912. On letterhead of Netherhampton House, Salisbury.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Lightly aged and worn. With central horizontal and vertical crease for postage, each quarter with double pinholes at the centre (from attachment of an enclosure?). Signature unaffected (it starts close to vertical crease). Reads: 'Dear Mrs. Lord / With the greatest pleasure - and with ten thousand apologies. I thought I had answered long ago. But letters lie in heaps in my tray & on my table - everywhere! and I carry them about in bags labelled carefully Unanswered until I dare no longer look inside.

[The man Brunel called the largest railway contractor in the world: Sir Samuel Morton Peto, civil engineer, railway contractor and MP.] Autograph Letter in the third person to Lady Hooker, regarding ‘the next Election of the Idiot Asylum'.

Author: 
Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809-1889), civil engineer, railway contractor and Radical Liberal Member of Parliament, George Borrow’s ‘Mr Flamson’
Publication details: 
22 November 1861. On letterhead of 9 Great George Street, Westminster S.W. [London]
£75.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘In the 1840s Peto had thirty-three railway contracts worth £20 million, the largest number held in the kingdom; according to Brunel he was the largest contractor in the world.’ 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Begins: ‘Sir Morton Peto presents his Compliments to Lady Hooker and begs to acknowledge the receipt of her not of the 9th. Inst. on his return from the Continent’. He regrets that ‘it will not be in his power to assist the Case of Dr.

[‘The Poet Laureate of Rowing’: R. C. Lehmann [Rudolph Chambers Lehmann], longtime contributor to ‘Punch’, founding editor of ‘Granta’, oarsman and Liberal Party MP.] Autograph Letter Signed to publishers Henry & Co, about his ‘In Cambridge Courts'.

Author: 
R. C. Lehmann [Rudolph Chambers Lehmann] (1856-1929), longtime contributor to ‘Punch’, founding editor of ‘Granta’, oarsman, Liberal MP, father of writers Rosamond and John Lehmann
Publication details: 
‘Bourne End / Maidenhead / Oct 25 1891’.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, and those of his children the writers John Lehmann and Rosamond Lehmann. 1p, 12mo, with mourning border. In fair condition, on aged paper. Folded once, and with biographical information in small type at head. Addressed to ‘Messrs. Henry & Co’, publishers of his recently published book: ‘Dear Sirs / I am obliged for the two Copies of “In Cambridge Courts” which you sent me. Will you kindly send my further Copies to me at / 15 Berkeley Square / London W. / May I take this opportunity of congratulating you on the get up of the book. It is charming.’

[Gordon Jacob [Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob], English composer.] Four Autograph Letters Signed about musical matters to the violinist Marion Margaret Scott, one, written during wartime, attacking Benjamin Britten and ‘young men who shelter abroad’.

Author: 
Gordon Jacob [Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob] (1895-1984), composer, for forty years professor at the Royal College of Music [Marion Margaret Scott (1877-1953), violinist with her own string quartet]
Publication details: 
Three of the four on letterhead of Mayfield, West Street, Ewell, Surrey: 1 April, 5 May and 13 August 1928. The other dated 14 August 1941; 75 West Street, Ewell Surrey.
£120.00

See his entry, together with that of Benjamin Britten, in the Oxford DNB, the latter explaining the context of the last letter, which is an attack on Britten and Peter Pears for not returning from the United States to wartime England. From the Scott papers. Each letter 2pp, 12mo, on a single leaf (a total of 8pp, 12mo). In good condition, lightly aged. Each letter folded for postage. All four letters addressed to ‘Miss Scott’, and each signed ‘Gordon Jacob’. ONE (1 April 1929): He will be ‘most delighted’ to give her ‘any information you may require about my work’.

[Charles Reade, popular Victorian novelist and playwright.] Autograph Letter in the third person to 'Alderman Spiers', regretting that he 'cannot dine out of College', but stating that he will 'look in'.

Author: 
Charles Reade (1814-1884), popular Victorian novelist and playwright [Magdalen College, Oxford]
Publication details: 
'Magd Coll [Magdalen College, Oxford] / Sunday. Feb 14 [1862].'
£50.00

Reade was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1836 to his death. According to his entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘in the years of his fame, and particularly in the early 1860s, he did much of his writing in his rooms at Magdalen, using them as a retreat. His tenure of the fellowship was contingent on his remaining unmarried, a stipulation he complained of bitterly but continued to put up with, even when he was earning thousands a year as a writer’. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly discoloured, on thin wove paper. Folded once.

[Sydney Smirke, RA, architect of the British Museum Reading Room.] Autograph Letter Signed to fellow Royal Academician Edward William Cooke, regarding a photograph by Vernon Heath.

Author: 
Sydney Smirke (1797-1877), RA, architect of the British Museum Reading Room [E. W. Cooke [Edward William Cooke] (1811-80), RA, marine painter; Vernon Heath (c.1819-95), photographer]
Publication details: 
'The Hollies / Tunbridge Wells / Aug: 7 [no year]'.
£50.00

See Smirke’s entry, and those of Cooke and Heath, in the Oxford DNB. His most celebrated design is the Reading Room of the British Museum. 2pp, 12mo. With monogram and mourning border. On first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Begins: ‘My dear Sir, / Vernon Heath, of Piccadilly, has made me a photograph of our new front, which is I think fairly satisfactory.’ He has told Heath to deliver a copy ‘addressed to you at the R. Academy’. As it is ‘rather large’, he did not like to send it ‘by post or Parcel’, as it ‘might get crushed on its way to you.

[The Great Duke of Wellington, conqueror of Napoleon at Waterloo, and two-time Tory Prime Minister.] Manuscript Letter in the third person, apparently written by a secretary.

Author: 
The Duke of Wellington [Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington] (1769-1852), conqueror of the French in the Peninsular War, and of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo; two-time Tory Prime Minister
Publication details: 
'London March 7 1842.'
£80.00

One of the great figures in world history. See his entries in Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Oxford DNB. On one side of piece of laid paper rougly 11 cm squarer, with partial watermark ‘J G’. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with traces of mount on blank reverse. Folded twice. Reads: ‘London March 7 1842 / F M The Duke of Wellington presents his Compliments to Miss Busby / Not being resident at Oxford he has no Controul [sic] over any matter relating to the Bodleian Library. / Miss Busby should apply to the Vice Chancellor.

[Sir Henry Newbolt, poet and writer, author of the anthology-piece 'Drake's Drum'.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs. Lord' describing how he deals with correspondence.

Author: 
Sir Henry Newbolt [ Sir Henry John Newbolt ] (1862-1938), poet, novelist and historian, author of the patriotic anthology-piece 'Drake's Drum'
Publication details: 
27 September 1912. On letterhead of Netherhampton House, Salisbury.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Lightly aged and worn. With central horizontal and vertical crease for postage, each quarter with double pinholes at the centre (from attachment of an enclosure?). Signature unaffected (it starts close to vertical crease). Reads: 'Dear Mrs. Lord / With the greatest pleasure - and with ten thousand apologies. I thought I had answered long ago. But letters lie in heaps in my tray & on my table - everywhere! and I carry them about in bags labelled carefully Unanswered until I dare no longer look inside.

[The man Brunel called the largest railway contractor in the world: Sir Samuel Morton Peto, civil engineer, railway contractor and MP.] Autograph Letter in the third person to Lady Hooker, regarding ‘the next Election of the Idiot Asylum'.

Author: 
Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809-1889), civil engineer, railway contractor and Radical Liberal Member of Parliament, George Borrow’s ‘Mr Flamson’
Publication details: 
22 November 1861. On letterhead of 9 Great George Street, Westminster S.W. [London]
£75.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘In the 1840s Peto had thirty-three railway contracts worth £20 million, the largest number held in the kingdom; according to Brunel he was the largest contractor in the world.’ 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Begins: ‘Sir Morton Peto presents his Compliments to Lady Hooker and begs to acknowledge the receipt of her not of the 9th. Inst. on his return from the Continent’. He regrets that ‘it will not be in his power to assist the Case of Dr.

[Richard Cobden, Radical Liberal politician who led the fight to abolish the Corn Laws.] Autograph Note Signed to 'Jas Thomson Esq', with biographical note about the recipient in a contemporary hand.

Author: 
Richard Cobden (1804-1865), English Radical Liberal politician and author, a leading figure in the fight to abolish the Corn Laws
Publication details: 
8 February 1848; London.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight loss to two of the corners, and a trace of paper from the mount adhering on the reverse. Addressed to 'Jas Thomson Esq'. Reads: 'Dear Sir / I have forwarded your list of names to the Land Tax Office / & remain Dear Sir / faithfully Yours / Richd Cobden'. Pencil note, in a contemporary hand, at the foot of the letter: 'The Great Anti Corn Law man. / Mr. Thompson [sic] to whom it was written was proposed by Cobden & seconded by Bright, of the Free Trade Club. A Club in St. James Square, London, of 400 or 500 members.

[Hugh Walpole [Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole], popular English novelist and author, born in New Zealand.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Hunt', regarding a proof he is sending, and explaining the source of a quotation.

Author: 
Hugh Walpole [Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole] (1884-1941), popular English novelist, born in New Zealand
Publication details: 
10 July 1935. On letterhead of Brackenburn, Manesty Park, Keswick.
£50.00

Of his activities around this time the Oxford DNB writes: 'he 'wrote film scripts in Hollywood in 1934–5 for classics such as David Copperfield (MGM, 1935), in which he played a bit part, and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)'. The subject of the letter may be his novel 'The Inquisitor', published by Macmillan in 1935. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. Reads: ‘Dear Mr. Hunt / Here is a proof. The quotations are from the [?] Version. to me the only [last word underlined] version. / Yours sincerely / Hugh Walpole’.

[Lyme Regis, Dorset.] Autograph Letter Signed from ‘Wm Curtis’ [William Curtis] to ‘Mr Wh[encon?] / Town Clerk / Lym’, regarding legal action with ‘Mr Preston’ (‘Mr Recorder’) who ‘Threatens to play the very Devil’ with him.

Author: 
Lyme Regis, Dorset: William Curtis of Lym [Richard Preston ('Mr Recorder') of Marino; Lowton of the Temple]
Publication details: 
‘Lym July 1 / 1795’. [Lyme Regis, Dorset.]
£50.00

Neither Curtis nor the 'Mr Recorder' named Preston mentioned in the letter feature in G. Roberts’s ‘History of Lyme Regis’ (Sherborne, 1823). Preston may be ‘Richard Preston Esq.’ of ‘Marino’ named as living near Barnstaple in Cary’s New Itinerary, 6th ed, 1815. The recipient’s name is not decipherable. Six years previously a parliamentary committee had examined ‘Mr. Follett, the town clerk of Lyme. He said, he had held that office fifty years.’ (Luders, Reports, 1789) 2pp, 4to. On first leaf of bifolium, the reverse of the second leaf being addressed to ‘Mr Wh[encon?] / Town Clerk / Lym’.

[Erminia Rudersdorff [Hermine Küchenmeister-Rudersdorf], German soprano and teacher.] Autograph Letter Signed, in English, to ‘Mrs. Sprague’.

Author: 
Erminia Rudersdorff [Hermine Küchenmeister-Rudersdorf] (1822-1882), German soprano and teacher, born in the Ukraine, who perrformed in England and settled in America [Sir William MItchell (1811-1878)]
Publication details: 
No date or place. [London, 1868.]
£80.00

See her entry in Grove. The letter can be dated by the reference to Sir William Mitchell (see Oxford DNB) and the operetta 'The Rival Beauties', which he produced in London and then Plymouth. The letter is on one side of the paper, has been cut down to 11 x 9 cm, and laid down on a piece of card. Aged and worn, with slight loss at top right, affecting one word of text. Thirteen lines of close and neatly-written text, addressed to ‘Dearest Mrs. Sprague’ and signed ‘Yours affectionately, / Erminia Rudersdorff’, with a little of the flourish beneath the signature cut away.

[Gordon Jacob [Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob], English composer.] Four Autograph Letters Signed about musical matters to the violinist Marion Margaret Scott, one, written during wartime, attacking Benjamin Britten and ‘young men who shelter abroad’.

Author: 
Gordon Jacob [Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob] (1895-1984), composer, for forty years professor at the Royal College of Music [Marion Margaret Scott (1877-1953), violinist with her own string quartet]
Publication details: 
Three of the four on letterhead of Mayfield, West Street, Ewell, Surrey: 1 April, 5 May and 13 August 1928. The other dated 14 August 1941; 75 West Street, Ewell Surrey.
£120.00

See his entry, together with that of Benjamin Britten, in the Oxford DNB, the latter explaining the context of the last letter, which is an attack on Britten and Peter Pears for not returning from the United States to wartime England. From the Scott papers. Each letter 2pp, 12mo, on a single leaf (a total of 8pp, 12mo). In good condition, lightly aged. Each letter folded for postage. All four letters addressed to ‘Miss Scott’, and each signed ‘Gordon Jacob’. ONE (1 April 1929): He will be ‘most delighted’ to give her ‘any information you may require about my work’.

[Hugh Walpole [Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole], popular English novelist and author, born in New Zealand.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Miss Jennings’, complaining that there was ‘no half crown in the envelope’.

Author: 
Hugh Walpole [Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole] (1884-1941), popular English novelist and author, born in New Zealand
Publication details: 
27 December 1937. On letterhead of 188 St. John’s Road, Corstorphine, Edinburgh 12 [Scotland].
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Reads: ‘Dear Miss Jennings / Thank you for your letter. There was however no half crown in the envelope. I searched carefully. / Yours sincerely / Hugh Walpole’.

['An utterly unreadable book': Edward Bouverie Pusey, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford and a leading figure of the Oxford Movement.] Autograph Letter Signed to a peer, discussing his pamphlet and book on 'Marriage with a Deceased Wife’s Sister'.

Author: 
Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800-1882), Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford, a leading figure in the Oxford Movement
Publication details: 
30 June 1880. No place.
£150.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Sixty-one lines of text in Pusey’s distinctive minuscule (and not always easily decipherable) hand. Aged and worn. The item has been repaired after damp damage, with the second leaf laid down on a piece of thick paper. Loss of a few words of text. Pusey begins by stating that his pamphlet ‘God’s Prohibition of the Marriage with a Deceased Wife’s Sister’ (1860), which he believes is out of print, is ‘more readable than the longer book’ (‘Marriage with a Deceased Wife’s Sister’, 1849), of whose ‘very heavy form’ he gives a description.

[Printed satirical political novel, in original cloth.] Pantalas and what they did with him.

Author: 
Edward Jenkins [John Edward Jenkins (1838-1910), Liberal Member of Parliament; Richard Bentley and Son, London publishers]
Publication details: 
London: Richard Bentley and Son, Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. 1897. [Billing and Sons, Printers, Guildford. | G., C. & Co.]
£220.00

[7] + 243pp., 8vo. On aged paper, with slight damage at top edge of first few leaves; in heavily-worn binding with blind-stamped decoration; corner torn away from front free endpaper, and glue spots to front pastedown. Described in an advertisement by the publisher in The Times, 16 July 1897, as 'A SOCIAL SATIRE.' Six copies on COPAC, but now a scarce item. Note: In Pantalas Mr. Jenkins is at his best.

Irish troubles; Col. Albert Brassey, British Army Officer, rower, and Conservative Member of Parliament.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘B. Hobbie Esq’, regarding ‘the agricultural distress’, with reference to ‘the Irish troubles’.

Author: 
Col. Albert Brassey (1844-1918), British Army officer, rower, and Conservative Member of Parliament for Banbury 1895-1906, brother of Earl Brassey and Lord Apethorpe
Publication details: 
17 May 1887; on letterhead of Heythrop [Hall], Chipping Norton.
£65.00

See his brothers’ entries in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Folded once. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight rust spotting at head of last page. Erroneous attribution to Earl Brassey in small type at the head of the first page. Addressed to ‘B. Hobbie Esq’ and signed ‘Albert Brassey’. He doubts whether you will be able to attend the public meeting at Oxford on 28 May.

[David Masson [David Mather Masson], Scottish biographer of Milton and editor of Macmillan’s Magazine.] Autograph Signature taken from letter, with photographic portrait from magazine.

Author: 
David Masson [David Mather Masson] (1822-1907), Scottish biographer of Milton and editor of Macmillan’s Magazine
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£20.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 6 x 3.5 cm slip of paper, cut from letter. Reads ‘Yours very truly, / David Masson.’ Laid down on piece of 16mo paper, beneath oval photographic portrait of Masson cut from magazine. Biographical details typed at head of page. In good condition, lightly aged. Seee Image

[Alfred Waterhouse, RA, Victorian Gothic Revival architect who designed Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum, London.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Horsley’ [John Callcott Horsley?], responding to an appeal and requesting no 'mystery'..

Author: 
Alfred Waterhouse (1830-1905), RA, Victorian Gothic Revival architect who designed Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum, London [John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903), painter]
Publication details: 
8 August 1878; on letterhead of 20 New Cavendish Street, Portland Place, W. [London]
£50.00

See his entry, and that of his fellow Academician Horsley, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘A Waterhouse’. Reads: ‘Dear Horsley. / You are quite right. No “mystery” between us if you please. / I say “yes” to your query to the extent of 2 guineas. / I hope you will soon gain the sum you desire without any great trouble to yourself’.

[Alfred Waterhouse, RA, Victorian Gothic Revival architect who designed Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum, London.] Autograph Letter Signed to Thomas Haigh, regarding designs for a house in Keston.

Author: 
Alfred Waterhouse (1830-1905), RA, Victorian Gothic Revival architect who designed Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum, London
Publication details: 
'Manchester / 2 : Aug : 1856'.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘In 1848 he was articled to the staunchly Quaker P. B. Alley, then in partnership with Richard Lane, the leading neo-classical architect of Manchester. In 1853 his education was completed with a ten-month tour of France, Italy, and Germany, after which he set up in practice as an architect in Manchester.’ (Waterhouse’s first success would come with his winning design for the Manchester assize courts in 1859.) 1p, 12mo. On the first leaf of a grey-paper bifolium. In good condition. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Thomas Haigh Esq:’ and signed ‘A Waterhouse’.

[Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts], poet and journalist, editor of the ‘Literary Souvenir’.] Autograph Letter Signed, requesting the Hon. Spencer Ponsonby to place a letter to Lord Clarendon, applying for a post at the London Library.

Author: 
Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts] (1797-1864), poet and journalist, editor of the ‘Literary Souvenir’
Publication details: 
'12 Bridge Road | St. John's Wood / March 11th. 1857'.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, with slight wear at top left-hand corner of second leaf (not affecting text). Biographical details added in small type at head of first page. Addressed to ‘The Honbl Spencer Ponsonby’ and signed ‘Alaric A. Watts.’ Begins: ‘Dear Sir / May I trespass so far upon your kindness as to ask you to place the enclosed letter [not present] to Lord Clarendon. It is on the subject of the London Library of which his Lordship is the President’.

[Lord Balfour [A. J. Balfour; Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl Balfour], Conservative Prime Minister.] Autograph Signature ‘Arthur James Balfour’ for collector.

Author: 
Lord Balfour [A. J. Balfour; Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl Balfour] (1848-1930), Conservative politician, Prime Minister 1902-1905; Foreign Secretary who issued the 1917 Balfour Declaration
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£25.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On piece of paper, roughly 12 x 7.5 cm, laid down on 14 x 9 cm plain postcard, with contemporary printed heading on reverse (‘A half penny stamp to be placed here.’, and so on). In good condition, lightly aged. Good firm signature at head of paper, with ‘Autograph’ in a contemporary hand at the foot, with wide space between.

[Dumas fils: Alexandre Dumas the younger, French novelist and playwright.] Autograph Letter Signed [to a prospective agent?] with regard to the sale of paintings in his Paris house.

Author: 
Dumas fils: Alexandre Dumas the younger (1824-1895), French novelist and playwright, author of ‘La Dame aux Camélias’, on which Giuseppe Verdi based his opera ‘La traviata’
Publication details: 
[1883.] On letterhead of Salneuve par Montcresson (Loiret).
£250.00

An interesting item occupying the zone in which French connoisseurship and literature overlap. In 1880 - three years before the present item - Maurice Mauris (Marchese di Calenzano) described a visit to Dumas fils’s Paris house in Rue de Villers. ‘The walls above the library are enriched with a priceless collection of paintings, modern and antique. Diaz, Fortuny, Marchal, Vernet, Delacroix are there seen at their best. Dumas generally presents himself with a new painting after he has presented a new book to the public.

[William Jay, Congregational divine and noted preacher at the Argyle Chapel in Bath.] Autograph Note Signed to 'Mr Godwin' [Bath bookseller Henry Godwin], regarding the binding of his books. With order for the books, presumably in Godwin's hand.

Author: 
William Jay (1769-1853), Congregational divine, religious writer and preacher at the Argyle Chapel in Bath, praised by Sheridan for his oratorical skills [Henry Godwin, Bath bookseller]
Publication details: 
No date or place. [Bath.]
£25.00

ay is said to have preached nearly a thousand sermons before the age of twenty-one. On 11 x 8.5 cm piece of paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, but with patches of sunning. At the head of the page is the order for the books, presumably in Godwin's hand: 'A Volume of Crabbe's Works - to bind / 2 Vols to match it'. Beneath this is Jay's heavily-inked response: 'Will Mr Godwin leave the ordering of the binding till I see him? / Wm Jay'. Scan on application.

[William Morley Punshon, Wesleyan methodist minister and public lecturer.] Autograph Signature and part of letter.

Author: 
William Morley Punshon (1824-1881), Wesleyan Methodist minister and public lecturer
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£20.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 12 x 5 cm piece of paper, cut from letter for an autograph hunter. In good condition, lightly aged. On one side: ‘With much esteem, / Believe me, my dear Sir / Yours ever Sincerely / W Morley Punshon’. On the other side: ‘[...] desire, of every part of the service but the Sermon & while we would not on [...]’ Annotated in pencil: ‘An eminent Wesleyan minister not long dead’. Scan on application.

[W. W. Jacobs, writer noted for his ghost stories and tales of the sea.] Autograph Signature.

Author: 
W. W. Jacobs [William Wymark Jacobs] (1863-1943), English short-story writer, noted for his tales of the sea and ghost stories
Publication details: 
No date. On letterhead of 'Beechcroft, / Berkhamstead.'
£20.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 10 x 7 cm piece of paper, cut down from letterhead. In good condition, lightly aged, with pin holes at top left. Clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'Yours very truly / W. W. Jacobs'. See scan

[The Wesleyan Missions.] Three printed pamphlets in the series 'Papers relative to the Wesleyan Missions, and the State of Heathen Countries.' All illustrated, two with illustrations hand-coloured.

Author: 
The Wesleyan Missions; James Nichols, printer, 46 Hoxton Square, London [Fiji; Captain Dillon; Charles F. Allison, Wesleyan Academy, Mount-Allison, New Brunswick]
The Wesleyan Mission
Publication details: 
ONE: No. LXXII, June 1838. TWO: No. CXV, March 1849. THREE: No. CXXXVII, September 1854. All three printed by James Nichols, 46 Hoxton Square, London.
£100.00
The Wesleyan Mission

See W. Moister, ‘A History of Wesleyan Missions in all Parts of the World’ (1871). Each item 4pp, 12mo bifolium. All three with engraved illustration on first page, which has a drophead title. The three are worn and discoloured, with loss of text in caption in Item One (see below), and the first two items with cover illustrations crudely hand-coloured. ONE: No. LXXII, June 1838. Mostly consisting of ‘An appeal to the sympathy of the Christian public, on behalf of the cannibal Fejeeans’.

Syndicate content