CENTURY

The first sixteen volumes of 'The Autograph Collectors' Journal', retitled, from vol.5 no.4 (Summer 1953), 'Manuscripts'.

Author: 
National Society of Autograph Collectors; The Manuscript Society
Publication details: 
Vol.1, no.1 (Chicago: The Norman Press, 'Published by The National Society of Autograph Collectors', October 1948) to vol.16 no.4 (Chicago: 'Published Quarterly by the Manuscript Society', Fall 1964).
£450.00

Sixteen vols, the first seven quarto and last nine octavo. Index to vols.1-11 loosely inserted. Good (apart from issue for Summer 1957 which has slight damp damage), crudely bound in eight volumes of blue cloth, with titles in neat manuscript on white label on spine (one of the bindings stained and two in a lighter shade of blue with titles stamped in gilt). Well produced and profusely illustrated, with informative and scholarly articles, advertisements, and sections on 'the auction market' and 'manuscripts in the news'.

Viking with a Loose Shelailleigh. Tales from Irish America. [playscript]

Author: 
Peter Dee [Peter Rogers Dee] (1939-1999), New York playwright and poet
Publication details: 
[Unpublished typescript.] [Circa 1992.]
£100.00

Photocopy of word processor typed print-out. 8vo, [ii] + 53 pp. Good. In plastic binder. Title carries Dee's address. Second page lists the twelve sections of the play. Loosely inserted is a photocopy of a long review, with photograph, from the East Hampton Star, 26 March 1992, of 'a dramatic reading' of the play at Canio's Books, Sag Harbor. The play was not published, and there are no copies of this item on WorldCat or COPAC.

The Carrionflower Writ [complete run of ten issues, from 1 to 9/10 and including 2a].

Author: 
Javant Biarujia, editor [Nosukumo, Melbourne; Ian Birks; Jurate Sasnaitis, Philip Siss; Kris Hemensley; Chris Mann; Raimondo Cortese; Adrian Rawlins; Australian literature]
Publication details: 
Melbourne ('at Labassa'): Nosukumo. 1985 to 1990.
£350.00

Each issue a single broadsheet, folded twice to make eight pages. On different light shades of paper. In good condition. An energetic collection of Australian 'poetry on the margins', with unconvential typography and striking illustration. Described, on cover of issue 3, as 'An art and literary broadsheet issued on an irregular basis'. Poets include Ian Birks, Jurate Sasnaitis, Philip Sipp, Kris Hemensley, Chris Mann, Raimondo Cortese, and Adrian Rawlins. Excessively scarce: no copies of any issues in the British Library, or recorded on COPAC, let alone a complete run.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C Fane') to G. Joy, discussing the reform of the Court of Chancery.

Author: 
Robert George Cecil Fane (1796-1864), English Judge, as Commissioner of the Court of Bankruptcy [Court of Chancery]
Publication details: 
19 August 1844; Court of Bankruptcy.
£300.00

12mo, 3 pp. Thirty-three lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of mount on reverse of second leaf, which is docketed 'C. Fane to G. Joy | 19 Augt. 1844'. A significant and interesting letter, on a topic later tackled by Dickens in 'Bleak House', by a judge who was an active member of the Law Amendment Society, and whose decisions, according to his entry in the Oxford DNB, 'were frequently the subject of comment', although 'very few of his judgments were reversed on appeal'.

Small collection of material relating to 'Music Today', comprising two advertisements, the programme for the inaugural concert, and a Typed Letter Signed from Hamilton to V. W. A. Conn, with the autograph draft of Conn's letter to Hamilton.

Author: 
Iain Hamilton (1922-2000), Scottish composer, chairman of the 'Music Today' contemporary music programmes, held in the Royal Festival Hall Recital Room [Samuel Beckett]
Publication details: 
All items dating from 1960.
£165.00

For more information relating to this influential series of concerts, see 'Pursuit: The Uncensored Memoirs of John Calder' (2001). Seven items, including two duplicates. Text of all items clear and complete. In fair condition, but with one side of a duplicate advertisement heavily sunned (see below). ONE: Typed Letter Signed ('Ian Hamilton') from Hamilton to Conn (husband of the poet Jeanne Conn), 12 February 1960. 4to, 1 p. Eighteen lines. Responding to Conn's criticisms, explaining reasons for cutting short discussion and cancelling part of the programme, and giving future plans.

The Entermores. A Play by John Cowper Powys.

Author: 
John Cowper Powys [Paul Roberts]
Publication details: 
Written by Powys circa 1905. Roberts' transcript 'for a public reading of the play at the Powys Society's Annual Conference', 28 August 1994.
£150.00

8vo, [iii] + 66 pp. Computer printout in plastic binder. Text clear and complete. Creasing to first four leaves, otherwise in very good condition. On title-page: 'ACTING COPY ONLY'. Note by 'C. W.' on next page: 'This version of the script is taken from Paul Roberts' unedited first draft transcription for a public reading of the play at the Powys Society's Annual Conference, at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, at 7.30pm on Sunday, 28th August, 1994. | Where words have still not been deciphered in the transcript, temporary ones have been inserted.

Autograph Signature ('P. B. Du Chaillu').

Author: 
Paul Du Chaillu [Paul Belloni Du Chaillu] (1835-1903), French-American traveller and anthropologist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£28.00

In pencil, on strip of paper roughly 2.5 x 13 cm. Laid down on piece of card. On lightly-aged and creased paper, with small tear close to the right of the signature.

Printed handbill, addressed 'To the Members of the Wesleyan-Methodist Societies', headed 'Worn-out Ministers' and Ministers' Widows' Auxiliary Fund'.

Author: 
James Wood and John Scott, Treasurers, and Thomas Eastwood, Secretary, Wesleyan-Methodist Societies [Worn-out Ministers' and Ministers' Widows' Auxiliary Fund]
Publication details: 
[London?] 20 August 1848.
£23.00

12mo, 2 pp. On single leaf. Text clear and complete. On aged paper with stitch marks along one margin. No copy on COPAC.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. M. Bucknall') to MacLehose

Author: 
W. M. Bucknall [William Miles Bucknall], Librarian to the Board of Trade [James MacLehose (1811-1885), Glasgow bookseller and publisher]
Publication details: 
10 January 1861; on Board of Trade letterhead.
£35.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Discussing 'Mr Sterling's Pamphlet on Banks', which MacLehose has sent him ('a work so difficult to obtain elsewhere'). While not recognising 'the existence of any really national Banking System', he considers Sterling's 'remarks most judicious'. Mentions the Banking Act of 1844, before concluding with a reflection on credit. Bucknall published his 'Catalogue of the Library of the Board of Trade' in 1866.

Autograph Letter Signed to his former pupil Richard Twining, with a transcription in Twining's hand.

Author: 
Samuel Parr (1747-1825), schoolmaster and classical scholar [Richard Twining (1772-1857), tea merchant]
Publication details: 
11 February 1824; Hatton.
£95.00

8vo, 2 pp. Leaf dimensions 21 x 16.5 cm. On good wove paper. 29 lines. Text clear and complete. On the first leaf of the bifolium, with the transcription, presumably by Twining, on the recto of the second. Addressed by Parr to Twining at Devereux Court in the Strand, on the reverse of the second leaf, which carries Parr's broken seal in red wax, and a postmark. In good condition, though a little grubby. Parr's handwriting is legendarily bad (he received a flogging at Harrow because of it, and never reformed), and although the transcriber has made a game effort, there are a few lacunae.

Autograph Letter Signed ('G : A Galignani'), in Italian, to Twining. With signed receipt by Galignani, in Italian, for '18 Lezioni'.

Author: 
Giovanni Antonio Galignani (1757-1821), Paris bookseller and publisher of English works [Richard Twining (1772-1857), tea merchant]
Publication details: 
Letter: 'Venerdi mattina' (docketed with date 8 November 1796). Receipt dated 21 January 1797.
£800.00

Letter: 12mo, 1 p. On bifolium. Text clear and complete. On aged and ruckled paper. Slight damage to second leaf caused by breaking open of wafer. Addressed to 'Illustrissimo Signore'. Having 'un affare di qualche importanza alle nove', he would like to give Twining his lesson (presumably in Italian) the following morning at 8 o'clock. He hopes that coming half an hour early does not cause any inconvence. Receipt: on one side of a slip of paper, 7 x 19.5 cm. Headed 'Memorandum del Signor Twining'. For '18 Lezioni la prima delle quali fa data li 15 Novembee', and signed 'Galignani'.

Itemised financial accounts, in Shepherd's hand and initialled by him ('C. Wm. S.'), for the expedition described by him in his book 'The North-West Peninsula of Iceland'.

Author: 
Rev. Charles William Shepherd, of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Alpine Club [G. G. Fowler; H. M. Upcher; Iceland]
Publication details: 
Dated from 14 June to 7 July [1862].
£350.00

4to, 5 pp, on five loose and uniform leaves. Very good, on lightly aged paper. The first leaf is headed 'C. W. S. Acc' and is initialled at the foot 'Rt C. Wm. S.' The second is headed 'Sheet (2)', with the rest numbered 3 to 5. It is clear from sheets 2 to 5 that one leaf - what should have been 'Sheet (1)' - is lacking.

Indicaciones Sumarias para el Immigrante á Bolivia

Author: 
Luis S. Crespo, Sub-Director de Estadistica y Estudios Geográficos del Ministerio [Ministerio de Colonización y Agricultura, Sección de Immigración, Bolivia]
Publication details: 
[Ministerio de Colonización y Agricultura, Sección de Immigracion] La Paz: Taller Tipo - Litográfico - J. M. Gamarra. 1907.
£95.00

8vo, viii + 160 pp. Fold-out map at rear, and five maps (one of them fold-out) as five of the seven plates, with the other two plates photographic portraits of Doctor Ismael Montes and of Manuel V. Ballivián. In original printed wraps, with title on front. In poor condition, on brittle, aged high-acidity paper, with chipping and loss to margins, and the wraps discoloured and with loss at rear. Ownership inscription of Pedro Suarez of London.

Two manuscript menus, in the hand of Richard Twining the elder, and annotated by him, the first for 'the Dinner at Mr Gogle's at Frankfort in 1781'; and the second for 'Dinner [Desert] at Monsr. Roquette's Augt 1: 88'. With autograph note by his son.

Author: 
Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea and coffee merchant; his son Richard Twining (1772-1857) [eighteenth-century gastronomy; culinary; menus]
Publication details: 
Menus: 1781 and 1788. Note by Richard Twining the younger, 1850s.
£180.00

Unusual items, providing a first-hand glimpse into eighteenth-century European gastronomy, by one whose business was intimately connected with it. Texts of both items clear and complete. Both on aged, creased and worn paper. Item One: On one side of a piece of laid paper, 17 x 21 cm. Central vertical fold to make two sections, each with a square drawn in the centre, surrounded by names of foods.

Autograph Note Signed ('Geo W McCrary') to Evarts.

Author: 
George Washington McCrary (1835-1890), United States Secretary of War, Iowa Republican Congressman and judge [William Maxwell Evarts (1818-1901), US Secretary of State]
Publication details: 
16 December 1878. On letterhead of the War Department, Washington.
£48.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on ruled paper. A note of introduction for the bearer, Miss Ward [Genevieve Ward, actress]..

Autograph Letter Signed ('G Denman') to his cousin Elphinstone, giving details of family history.

Author: 
George Denman (1819-1896), judge and politician [Sir Howard Craufurd Elphinstone (1829-1890), army officer]
Publication details: 
Undated. On letterhead of Stony Middleton, Sheffield.
£45.00

4to, 4 pp. Text clear and complete. On aged and grubby paper. Begins 'Our Uncle i.e. my uncle & yr gt uncle Thomas Elphinstone was born at Higher Efford, 3 miles from Plymouth he died on the 13th. of March 1821 at the age of 57'. Includes information told him by Milly Holloway. Describes a couple of the 'pranks' of 'Uncle Tom'. The connection between the two individuals and their families is not noted in their entries in the Oxford DNB.

Printed handbill, with illustration, headed 'Mississippi River Convention', advertising a meeting 'to consider the condition of this passage in the Mississippi.

Author: 
James Handly, Secretary; Charles E. Cox; James M. Bishop; Thomas Austin; W. B. Bull; Chauncey H. Castle [Mississippi River Convention, 1887]
Publication details: 
[...] to be held in the Assembly Rooms of the Young Men's Business Association, in Quincy, on Thursday, October 13th, 1887'.
£95.00

4to, 1 p. Twenty-six lines of text. Clear and complete. Very good, on aged paper. Minor traces of mount adhering to reverse. Vignette of riverboat beneath heading. Signed by Handly and five others, ending with 'Chauncey H. Castle, Of the Comstock-Castle Stove Co.' Begins 'The division of the Mississippi river between the mouths of the Des Moines and Illinois rivers having been in a notoriously unfavorable condition for the purpose of navigation for the past two years, it has been deemed advisable to call a River Convention'.

Autograph Signature ('Edward Bradley') on portion of letter to Lady Huntly.

Author: 
Edward Bradley [pseudonym 'Cuthbert Bede' ('Cuthbert M. Bede, B.A.')] (1827-1889), English novelist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£28.00

Text on both sides of a piece of paper 6 x 11 cm. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with a couple of glue marks from previous mounting on reverse. The bottom part of the letter, cut away for the signature. Side with signature reads '<...> yet heard from the Bp. of Petebro on that point. I have to write hastily for our 3.45 post. | Believe me dear Lady Huntly yours very sincerely obliged | [signed] Edward Bradley'. Reverse reads '<...> of the Dining room and Study - & some of the bedrooms - and also paint the whole of the outside of the house.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. H. Barnes'), to the leaseholder of the Prince of Wales Theatre, concerning his desire to become a tenant.

Author: 
J. H. Barnes [John H. Barnes] (1850-1925), English actor [The Prince of Wales Theatre, London]
Publication details: 
24 November 1899; on letterhead of 25 Finchley Road, London, N.W.
£56.00

4to, 2 pp. Text clear and complete. On aged and lightly-creased paper. 'The nature of my business is a desire to become a tenant of the Prince of Wales Theatre, for a long or short time, and entirely subject to existing arrangements in order to produce a play which good judges (as well as myself) regard as one (if not the) play of the present generation'. The name of the play is not given. Barnes states that 'if Mr Harvey is your permanent tenant it would quite suit me to do the play at any time <?> another provincial Town'. He offers 'a short or long lease [...] with unimpeachable security'.

Handbill headed 'Funeral Reform Conference. July 23, 1884. The Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G., Presiding.', reporting Haden's views on 'the desirablilty of greater simplicity in the conduct of funerals'.

Author: 
Funeral Reform Conference, 1884 [London Necropolis Company; Seymour Haden]
Publication details: 
1884. Printer not stated.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with one dog-eared corner. Quoting Haden's views, which appear distinctly progressive. He finds the 'retention in a dwelling-house for as long as possible of a body, which ought to be committed to the earth as soon as possible', and the need for a 'strong coffin' great evils.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Eustace G Cecil') to 'Mr. Chittenden'.

Author: 
Lord Eustace Cecil [Lord Eustace Brownlow Henry Gascoyne-Cecil] (1834-1921), British Conservative politician
Publication details: 
10 October [no year]; on letterhead of Knowsley, Prescot.
£28.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Recomending shares in three companies of which he is chairman, before discussing personal matters. 'Evelyn is prospering as much as an expectant & comparatively briefless barrister can [...] Arthur Balfour is doing very well - & is holding his own - & more than his own - spite of misrepresentation - downright falsehood - & the tricks which politicians in these days seem so proud'. Laments the 'standard of morality', and apologises for the 'long sermon'.

The Annual Address of the Conference to the Methodist Societies in Great Britain, in the Connexion established by the Late Rev. John Wesley, A.M. August, 1852.

Author: 
John Scott, President; John Farrar, Secretary, Conference to the Methodist Societies in Great Britain, Sheffield, 1852.
Publication details: 
London: Published by John Mason, 14, City-Road; sold at 66, Paternoster Row. 1852. [Thoms, Printer, 12, Warwick Square.]
£125.00

12mo, 12 pp. Unbound. Stitched as issued. Text clear and complete. On aged and worn paper. Ownership signature at head of title: 'Mr. Whittaker'. Ends: 'Signed on behalf and by order of the Conference, | John Scott, President, | John Farrar, Secretary. | Sheffield, August, 17th, 1852.' Scarce: no copy in the British Library, and none on COPAC.

The Duties and Encouragements of the Poor. [With wood-engraving.]

Author: 
[Religious Tract Society]
Publication details: 
[Religious Tract Society.] No. 22. [1820?] 'Printed and sold by R. TILLING, 68, Circus-street, Liverpool.'
£56.00

16mo, 8 pp. Unbound as issued. Following slug: 'Price 2s. 8d. per 100. | Great Allowance to Shopkeepers and Booksellers.' Text clear and complete. On aged and grubby paper. Vignette, beneath title, of priest exhorting poor family in their humble home. Separate sections on duties and encouragements, each with numbered sub-sections of 'inspired passages'. Scarce: the only copies on COPAC at the British Library, Lambeth Palace, Manchester and the V&A.

An Address on Temperance Societies.

Author: 
A FRIEND.' [Joseph Livesey, printer, Church-street, Preston, Lancashire; provincial printing; temperance societies]
Publication details: 
Undated [1850?]. Printed and Sold by J. Livesey, Church-street, Preston.
£65.00

12mo, 4 pp. Disbound bifolium. Text clear and complete. On aged and foxed paper, with some wear and chipping. 'The distillers, merchants, and dealers; the landlords, the brewers, and the owners of licensed houses - not to say the government itself - actuated by interested motives, have all done honour at the shrine of Bacchus; and when it is understood that about a million of persons are enriched or supported by this nefarious traffic, no wonder that the happy soil of England should be deluged with this liquid fire.' Following slug: '(1s. 4d.

The Chelsea Herald. Progressive Conservatism, Local Interests and Social Reforms. Circulating throughout the Borough, in Chelsea, Kensington, Hammersmith and Fulham.

Author: 
The Chelsea Herald, newspaper [Horsley Woods, proprietor; progressive Conservatism]
Publication details: 
No. 1. Vol. 1. 16 February 1884. 'Printed and Published by the Proprietor, Horsley Woods, at his Steam Printing Works, 207, King's-road, and Manresa-road, Chelsea.'
£85.00

Tabloid, 16 pp. Unopened. Text clear and complete. On aged and foxed paper, with chipping to edges. Editorial, headed 'The Work Before Us', lays out the position of the new paper: 'It will be the duty and ambition of the "CHELSEA HERALD," while neglecting no local interest, while carefully protecting local enterprise from ignorant and intolerant dictation, to do all in its power to strengthen the hands of the True Popular Party of England in the National Legislature of the land.' Reports include 'Alleged Starvation of a child' and 'Jobbery in Fulham'.

Autograph 'Proposal for an Alteration in the Introductory Rule of the Unitarian Association', in a letter to Watson.

Author: 
William Alexander (1763-1857) of Great Yarmouth, Unitarian minister, schoolmaster and bookseller [John Watson of Holborn Hill; Unitarianism]
Publication details: 
18 May 1832; Great Yarmouth.
£200.00

Small folio, 1 p. Twenty-seven lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper, with thin strip from previous mounting adhering at head of reverse, which, with two small red wax seals and two postmarks, is addressed to 'John Watson Esqr. | No. 55 & 56 | Near St. Andrew's Ch. | Holborn Hill | London'. The text is entirely devoted to the subject under the heading. In a neat exposition of his position, Alexander proposes and defends three changes. The substitution of 'promulgation' for 'promotion' would, 'as our worthy friend Dr.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Dav. Davison') to the Committee, Unitarian Association, Walbrook Buildings.

Author: 
Rev. David Davison (1795-1859), minister of the Old Jewry Chapel, Jewin Street, London [Unitarianism]
Publication details: 
6 October 1831; Islington.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. In bifolium. Twenty-two lines of text, clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with thin strip from mount adhering to reverse of second leaf, which carries the address, a red wax seal, and docketing. On behalf of 'Mr Palmer of Carmarthen (late of Liverpool)', he is applying for 'a grant of Tracts for distribution in that town'. He concurs with Palmer that the tracts 'may be circulated there with great facility & made materially to serve the cause of Unitarianism'.

Autograph Note in the third person, with signature ('Wrothsley') on frank.

Author: 
Sir John Wrothsley [Wrottesley; James Ridgeway, bookseller, Piccadilly, London]
Publication details: 
9 September 1835 [Doncaster].
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with thin strip of stub adhering to the reverse of the second leaf. Reads 'Sir John Wrothsley requests Mr. Ridgway will direct his Newspapers [corrected from 'Letters'] Post Office Scarborough. The frank reads 'Doncaster September ten 1835 | Mr. Ridgway | Piccadilly | London | [signed] Wrothsley'. Divided circular Doncaster postmark in black, and frank ('FREE | 11SEP11| 1835') in red.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Fisher') to the Rev. E. Taggart, Addison Rd, Kennington, regarding the distribution of Unitarian material in France and Spain.

Author: 
John Fisher (d. 1850), author and member of the Committee of the Unitarian Association
Publication details: 
8 July 1843; 4 Highbury Park.
£65.00

4to, 1 p. In bifolium. Fifteen lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with thin strip of archival paper from mount adhering to the second leaf. Addressed and docketed, with postmarks, on the reverse of the second leaf. Begins by discussing a translation, then discusses a 'grant of Books': 'probably a series or two of the Repository may relieve the shelves of the society to some advantage'.

The Democrat. A Weekly Journal for Men and Women. [first issue]

Author: 
William Saunders (1823-1895), newspaper publisher and editor and British Liberal politician [William George; Hackney]
Publication details: 
No. 1. Saturday, November 15, 1884. [Printed and Published for the Proprietors by J. C. DURANT, Clement's House, Clements Inn Passage, London, W.C.
£165.00

Broadsheet, 8 pp. A single sheet, folded twice and unopened. No stapling. Text clear and complete, on aged and spotted paper (not high-acidity newsprint), with wear and chipping to extremities. Articles include 'The American Elections' by Henry George; ''The Crofter Revolt', and 'The "Pall Mall Gazette" Panic'. Also 'Metropolitan Constituencies No. I. - Hackney'. Scarce: no copy at the British Library (Colindale) and the only run on COPAC at the University of London.

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