CENTURY

One page, 12mo. Very good. Docketed in pencil at head. 'I have no knowledge of Mr Tupper [presumably the poetaster Martin Farquhar Tupper, 1810-89] or of his address. I was in hopes that the madness of collecting autographs had subsided - but I am sorry to perceive, from your letter, that this is not yet the Case.'

One page, octavo. Very good, on lightly aged paper, with embossed blue ink monogram at head. 'Dear Sir | My Sister Isabella, just arrived, tells me you desire my autograph, I have great pleasure in complying with your flattering request. [...]' The blank second leaf of the bifolium is carefully attached to a larger piece of neatly-docketed paper, and has the two newspaper cuttings partially laid down on it. The short Times obituary, dated 17 March 1908, states that 'She must surely have been the last person alive to whom Charles Lamb addressed a poem'.

Two pages, 12mo. Very good, on lightly creased paper. He is sending five autographs to add to her collection and is 'sorry not to have those of distinguished men of later dates but I am quite out of the service now'. Wonders if she knows his 'very dear friend General Nicholson who is living now at St. Andrews. He and his wife are among our dearest friends.' He 'saw the Godfreys last week - both well.'

The collection is in good condition. Three of the communications bear the stamp of the Royal Society of Arts, of which the recipient Wood was the Secretary.

The letter: one page, 12mo. Good, but with removal from mount having thinned the paper in places, and with traces of brown paper mount still adhering. He is sending the autographs of 'Henry Seton Merriman (Hugh Scott); Gertrude Atherton; Miss Fowler; and Douglas Sladen. Also a photo from Ted (not a good one, but the only one I have left).' He enjoyed himself 'so much' at Langford. 'It was a week of real enjoyment to me.' The fragment: one page, four inches by four and a half wide.

All three items very good, and the first bearing the Society's stamp. Item One (15 June 1928, foolscap, 1 p, 12 lines): He has received a notice of a meeting by 'the Dominions and Colonies Section Committee' and asks Perry to 'please explain the position to me'. 'I am not quite clear why I am being asked as I cannot remember ever having been put on this Committee. True, Sir Humphrey Leggett suggested over a year ago that I should join the Society again as he thought I might be of some use to your Committee.

12mo: 4 pp. On grey paper. Very good, with a small strip of discolouration over the Royal Artillery crest. Bearing the Society's stamp. He is glad that his 'article on the Red Cross' interested Wood: 'in other circumstances it would have given me much pleasure to follow up the article with an address to your Society on the subject', but 'the work of the Cadet school, which I entered a couple of months ago, takes up my entire time'.

All items very good. The typed letters are both 4to, 1 p, and the autograph letters both 12mo, 1 p. Three items bear the Society's stamp. Letter One (typed, 24 September 1915, 10 lines): He will have 'great pleasure in addressing the Society of Arts', but there is 'one point which must be settled carefully beforehand'.

All items good. Two bearing the Society's stamp. Item One (typed note, 15 October 1931, 4to, 1 p): He is sending 'short summaries of the two lectures, in a form which I prefer to mere headings'. Item Two (autograph letter, 17 January 1932, 8vo, 1 p): He is sending 'summaries of the two lectures'. 'As you seemed in a hurry I have not waited to have them typed. I think that they are legible, but I will look at a proof if you like.' He has left it to Menzies 'to add any preliminaries or conclusions that may be necessary'.

12mo: 2 pp. Eleven lines of text. Very good. Having just received it from London, Rodd is sending Crawford the book he could not get in Rome which he wanted to send him as a birthday present. 'It is written by a great friend of mine who knows better than any one the history of the first voyages to America and the discovery of the Great Southern Sea. I think you will like it.' In an envelope, on aged paper, with postmarks and Italian postage stamp. Addressed to 'Harold Crawford, Villa Crawford, St Agnello di Sorrento'.

12mo: 2 pp. Very good on lightly aged paper. 29 lines of text. He will not fail to make use of his correspondent's comments in a new edition. Discusses the section he is working on at present and proposes to send his correspondent an off print. He has ordered other off prints to be sent, in return for his correspondent's useful remarks. For a couple of months he will be at Blainville, 'sur le bord de la mer, ou je puis mieux travailler qu'a Paris, tout en prenant un peu de repos'. Docketed at foot of reverse, 'Theologian, Sulpicien'.

12mo: 3 pp. 26 lines of text. Good, on lightly creased and aged paper. Chatty, apologetic letter. She thanks her for her invitation for the following day but she is already engaged. Unclear reference to 'Sir Boyle Roche's bird'. She would like to see her again, but 'I dare not make any engagements now, The weather is now my jailer'. She has to go to Malvern one day the following week. Suggests other possibilities. She may have to 'take my chance of finding you at home'. She was 'sorry to miss you when you were away & I called'.

On a piece of paper roughly 3.5 x 9 cm, with embossed details of stationers. Good, with tiny crease to one corner. A clear signature, in pencil.

On piece of cream paper, roughly 8.5 x 12 cm, removed from an autograph album. Good, on paper with a few light marks. Bold, firm signatures in pencil, one on each side of the leaf. Two signatures,

On piece of pink paper roughly 8.5 x 11 cm. Laid down on slightly larger leaf from an autograph album. Good with a little paper and glue staining to the mount. Good bold signature, diagonally across the page.

12mo: 2 pp. On first leaf of bifolium. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with dogeared corners. Nine lines of text. The 'man for your purpose' is 'Mr G. Gray, the Diocesan Registry Peterboro''. 'He is intelligent & will do the work well I doubt not on receiving your instructions.' Loosely inserted is a leaf carrying biographical information in a contemporary hand.

Dimensions of card roughly 8 x 12 cm. Very good though lightly aged. Asking her correspondent to dinner in the following week. Note, addressed to 'Cher tres Cher Coq', on one side of 8vo grey paper. Very good, though lightly creased. She will be 'enchante de vous voir chez moi' on Wednesday [6 July] at 1 o'clock. Both items written before the Asquiths 1919 move from Cavendish Square to 44 Bedford Square. Two items,

On leaf of light blue paper, 8.5 x 12 cm, removed from an autograph album. Very good.

On piece of light green paper, 8 x 11 cm. Laid down on leaf of slightly larger paper, taken from an autograph album. A little grubby and ruckled. Written in green ink.

On a leaf of cream paper, 8.5 x 12 cm, part of a bifolium taken from an autograph album. Very good. All three signatures are bold and clear. The signatures of Lawrence and St Helier are on one side of the leaf, and that of Carey is on the other. Lawrence's signature is in ink, and the other two in pencil. Three signatures,

On piece of paper roughly 2.5 x 5 cm. Laid down on leaf of cream paper, 8.5 x 12 cm, from an autograph album. In slightly faded blue ink, and with a crease to the bottom left-hand corner, affecting the lower loop of the 'J'.

8vo: 1 p. Good, on lightly creased and aged paper. Good firm hand. Five lines of text and large, bold signature. Reads 'Enclosed please find the note of the General | With compliments to Madam and to Miss Chapman I remain | Very truly yours | [signed] John Bigelow'.

12mo: 1 p. Good, on lightly creased paper, and with traces of previous mount adhering to reverse, and small central spike hole. In a variant hand, but certainly by Quilter. Twelve lines of text, for insertion in a journal or newspaper. Announces the unsuccessful 1886 candidacy by 'Mr. Harry Quilter M.A. Trin. Coll. Camb.' for the Cambridge Slade Professorship, 'recently vacant by the resignation of Professor Colvin'. Quilter 'will be known to our readers as the recent art-critic of the "Times," and the gentleman who has for many years past written upon art subjects in the "Spectator".

4to bifolium: 2 pp. Good, with slight loss to second leaf from breaking of red wax seal, traces of which still adhere. Twenty lines of text. Docketed in pencil and ink on second leaf. Asks them to furnish him with 'all the particulars relative to the Farne Islands [...] who the Lessee? - their estimated quantiy or extent? - Rent? length of lease? - [...] whether Birds, feathers, down, Eggs, Rabbits - Kelp, or Seaware, fish &c? all which I should hope you would be able to obtain from some of your Bamburgh friends? - or from Blackett, at N. Sunderland? - how they are protected?

On one side of a piece of laid paper, with pot watermark, 26 x 20 cm. On sound, crisp paper, heavily foxed, and with slight wear to extremities, and remains of previous mounting at corners of reverse. Two small oval stains beneath text, and small clipping from autograph dealer's catalogue laid down in bottom left-hand corner. Firm signature. Fifteen lines of text beneath two-line date in Latin.

4to: 1 p. Good, though lightly stained and ruckled, and with seal removed from bottom right-hand corner. 18 lines of text. The document describes part of a previous agreement by 'Edward Wenyefe of Brottenham' to buy the Manor of Harleston Hall from 'Richard Muskett of Walpoole in the County of Suffc', and states a new agreement by Muskett that 'the sd Edward Wenyefe shall from the day & day hereof take the wholl proffitt of the sd Tenement [...]'. Signed 'Richard Muskett' and witnessed by 'Richard Walker', 'Tho: Sparrow' and Ed: '. J. J.

Foolscap bifolium: 1 p. Worn, and on discoloured paper, but with text clear and entire. Thirteen lines of text.

12mo: 2 pp. Thick mourning border. Good. The recipient has provided a partial interlinear transcription of what the New DNB describes as 'Stanley's execrable handwriting'. Stanley is 'much obliged for having [his] attention called to anything in the Abbey Services which requires rectification', and will 'make inquiry into the cause of [his correspondent's] complaint'. The 'inattention [...] will be remedied, so far as the nature of the case admits'.

On one side of a piece of laid paper, dimensions 11.5 x 17.5 cm. Good, lightly creased with one small spot at head and a light thumbprint (Warren's?) in top right-hand corner. Clearly responding to a request for an autograph. Reads 'The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the Firmament sheweth His handy work. Ps. XX, I. | [signed] Samuel Warren | 16 Manchester Square | W. | 23d January 1866.'

12mo: 1 p. Very good. Reads 'January 1866 | [signed] Jules Benedict'.