CENTURY

Good, in felt-tip pen on piece of blue paper, roughly 8 x 13 cms, with the slightest discoloration at extremities.

8vo: [iv] + 90 + [ii] pp. In original grey printed wraps. The answer to the question in the title is an emphatic 'No!', with the author's argument summed up in the conclusion: 'The publication of these remarks has been elicited by a feeling of indignation and surprise, on learning, that, in any part of the world, and especially of France, the man, whom a former generation cursed, should now be deemed worthy of being canonised.' The author puts his case forcefully and well, marshalling a number of quotations from classical and modern sources.

4to: 1 p. Good. Folded three times. A neatly-written letter of introduction for 'Major William Henry Grote [1795-1844], of the 33d. Regiment, now at Malta, Brother of Mr. Grote MP. for London, who is about to visit Egypt': 'I beg leave to introduce him to your acquaintance, and to recommend him to your Protection and good Offices.'

8vo: 11 pp. Unbound and stapled. In original beige printed wraps. Grubby and dogeared, with rusted staples. Signed (L. Conrad Hartley') presentation, dated 31 May 1915. No copy of the offprint off this short story on COPAC.

8.5 x 11 cms. Grubby and lightly spotted. Reads 'My dear Mr Sonnenschein | Kindly send draft as I can collect here - | Merrily Yours | Marshall P. Wilder'. Presumably refers to the English printing of his 'The people I've smiled with: recollections of a merry little life' (1889).

8vo: 4 pp. Good. Difficult handwriting. He wants him to keep the cheque, which he considers 'only a compromise between our different expectations'. 'I know that you deserve the larger sum that you spoke of - but it is a tight squeeze to make the & expenses for the year of the New Englander come out even, and I do the best I can.' With seven-line postscript.

4to: 3 pp. Text clear and entire on creased, chipped airmail paper. A chatty, vivacious and entertaining letter, casting light on the state of mind of an English colonial wife. Thanks her for her 'kind remarks about my stories.

12mo: 1 p. Good. Since he 'liked the last little thing' she sent for his magazine, she ventures to think that he may approve of the piece she encloses (not present).

12mo: 1 p. Lacking strip (two inches by four) at foot, bearing text. Otherwise good. A formal letter in the third person. Asks Colburn to 'send him an answer to his last [underlined] Communication'. He has 'completed the Manuscript of the Work [presumably 'Narrative of the war in Germany and France, in 1813 and 1814', 1830], except the winding up in a few Pages <...>'.

8vo: 8 pp. Stapled and unbound. In original grey printed wraps with rusted staples. Grubby and dogeared. Signed ('L. Conrad Hartley') presentation inscription dated 31 May 1915. No copy of the offprint of this short story on COPAC.

Octavo: 16 pp. Stitched and unbound. Grubby and a tad creased. Items, in alphabetical order from H (beginning with the Earl of Hardwick) to J (ending with Dorothy Jordan), with a few miscellaneous items on the last page, numbered 3002 to 3837. Interesting for the information it provides about minor English celebrities ('3651 JACKSON, Joseph, letter founder, nat. Old-street, 1733, res. Cock-lane and Dorset-street, London, ob.

Octavo: 18 pp. Unbound: stabbed and unstitched. First leaf and leaves with pp. 15/16 and 17/18 loose. Leaves with pp.3/4 and 15/16 half-separated. Paper discoloured and chipping at edges. Extends to 918 lots. The odd number of leaves implies the loss of a final leaf, possibly bearing text. Stamp of the Public Library Ford Collection. Docketing in pencil notes a duplicate at the New York Public Library. No other copy traced.

12mo: 2 pp. Good, on lightly browned paper. Writes 'in good haste to save the post', asking for advice. 'Mr. J. Rowsell of the West Strand, Bookseller, has been here all the morning, at the request of Mr. Smith of North St.' Rowsell has 'gone through the books carefully', and offers £140 for them, not including Lady Juliana Berner's manuscript and Lord Wellesley's book. 'He says, I should not get so much if Sotheby & Wilkinson sold them.' Jesse has never heard of Rowsell, 'and his coming was quite a surprise'.

Octavo: 39 pp. Stitched. In original orange wraps, with grey printed paper boards. On spotted, aged paper, with insect holes to a couple of leaves. Wraps stained and worn. First English printing of an essay noted for its coupling with Henry James's piece of the same name (not present here) in an American edition of 1885.

Printed on one side of a piece of paper 43 x 33 cms. Good, on lightly creased and spotted aged paper. A printed plan, with two diagrams, designed to show the members of the various livery companies where to sit at the banquet for Samuel Wilson, Lord Mayor of London. The name 'R. Taylor' (of the Ward of Farringdon Without) is filled in in manuscript: 'The Situation for Mr. [R. Taylor] is marked in Red; And for his Lady ........Blue.'

Octavo: 8 pp. Unbound, stapled pamphlet of six leaves. Dogeared, with rusted staples and with horizontal band of discoloration and two vertical closed tears (2 cm and 1 cm) at head.

The collection is in good condition, with very occasional minor creasing, staining and loss. Majority of items quarto. Milne was a leading Fellow of the Society, a Chairman of Council in 1959-61 and Vice-President. The collection provides a valuable insight into the day-to-day workings of the Society, from the first letter discussing the R.I.B.A., and whether the Society might set up 'a somewhat similar organisation with similar prestige could be built up for industrial artists', to the last letter commending G. C. H.

Two pages, quarto. On aged paper, with several closed tears and loss at foot and remains of stub in margin, but with text clear and entire.

Sizes range from quarto (nine items) to 12mo (two items). Very good. Subjects include a request for 'a photograph of the winning design for the petrol filling station', the award of a Hyde Travelling Scholarship ('Mr. Mitchell appears to have so greatly distinguished himself'), 'Mr. Bossom's suggestions for the wording and particulars for the Proscenium opening for Cinema', the drafting of a reply to Morley Horder's comments ('he errs when he declares the screen is not of the period as I think only a small section of it was added by Mr.

One page, quarto. Aged, and trimmed along one margin, with minimal loss of text. Interest on moneys 'Lent unto Their Majesties upon the Credit of an Act of Parliament, (Intituled, An Act for Granting to His Majesty An Aid of 4 Shillings in the Pound for One Year'. Witnessed, with Autograph Signature, by George Cheret. Signed 'M Orford'.

Dimensions roughly three and a half inches by three. One page, blank reverse. On aged paper, with some staining along one edge and crude ink marking, including 'Bookes bound', in a contemporary hand. Twenty-seven lines, beginning 'ROBERT AKENHEAD [...] sells the Goods followsng, [sic] viz. | BIBLES, Common-Prayers, and all other Sorts of Books of Divinity, History, Physick, Mathematicks.

One page, quarto. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with strip from mount adhering to right-hand margin. He is pleased to be of assistance to General Ponsonby and his officers, and is happy to agree to the authorisation for Banso, as far as it concerns him. His English rights have been purchased by Curtis & Brown of London, to whom application must be made. He does not think they will ask for any remuneration. Asks the recipient to pass on his respects to the general, and in a postscript wonders whether he can tell him a good story concerning a lion hunt.

Three pages, 12mo. On aged paper, with some foxing, a few closed tears and wear to extremities. Glue and strip of mount adhering to blank verso of second leaf of bifolium. Text clear and entire. He is in 'a maelstrom of work and worry' and asks Ross 'a question which you are almost certain not to be able to answer!' Asks if he has 'seen Tom Smith's crackers', and if so, whether he observed 'anything specially and eminently notable'.

Three pages, 12mo. Good, on aged paper, but with the verso of the second leaf of the bifolium covered by previous brown-paper mount. 'Mr Cecil' has passed on Procter's letter. 'The object of your Society is highly commendable, & I wish it much success.' He is 'promoting the same end, by giving what [he] can spare, to Ministers in the neighbourhood'. Praises 'Gentlemen in London' for their 'liberality in assisting poor Ministers at a distance'. '[I]n the country we have as many in our neighbourhood as we are able to relieve'.

All five items good, on lightly aged paper. All five bifoliums, bearing traces of previous grey paper mount on the verso of the second leaf. LETTER ONE (one page, 12mo, 30 May 1865): He is 'very poorly', with a 'bad bilious attack which has threatened to turn into jaundice'. 'Yesterday I met Mr Herbert in Regent Street. We talked for a few minutes at cross purposes, my thoughts running on his journalistic prospects and projects, while he was thinking and speaking about his election at the Savage Club.

One page, octavo. Carefully laid down on neatly-docketed larger piece of paper, but with the glue employed badly aged and causing staining. Closed tear across letter caused by removal from spike. Signature clear and unmarked. Reads 'Dear Sir, | I believe it will be better to set up the enclosed proofs, in sheets in the usual manner. The remainder of the Report will be sent immediately.'

On irregular piece of lightly creased and aged paper (roughly seven and a half by four and a half inches), with some chipping to extremities. Headed 'Punch Photographs'. 'Mr Mark Lemon [1809-1870, Punch editor] wishes me to come up to you & be photographed. I propose being with you at one tomorrow Saturday, if I am not unavoidably detained in Westminster on a trial.'

Two pages, quarto. Very good, on lightly aged and creased paper. He is sorry that he has not been able to 'become personally acquainted with' Watts since coming to town, but will 'very soon make another attempt', hoping to find him at home.

Three pages, 12mo. Very good. The blank verso of the second leaf of the bifolium laid down on remains of leaf detached from autograph album. Begins 'At length by certain Proofs 'tis plain (to quote a hymn familiar to my childhood but forgotten now all but that first line) that the readers of Macmillan will know all that is to be known about the mistletoe, thanks to your labours, before Christmas.' He hopes she has received the proofs, and says that 'Grove, the Editor, writes to me that they are in type & he is forwarding them to Ickleton'.

Letter: four pages, folio. Good, with a little aging and staining to verso of second leaf of bifolium. In Cruttwell's absence Cockburn has taken it upon himself 'to settle Richardson & . Taylor has communicated the result of his interview with Hellings the previous evening. 'He informed me that he had seen certain letters written by the D[e]f[endan]ts to Mrs. Richardson, in which he solicited her to leave her husband, and to bring away with her money and goods belonging to the husband'. Taylor recommends that Hellings' offer of £50 be accepted.