CENTURY

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On strip of paper, roughly 10 x 3.5 cm, cut into an irregular rectangular shape. On one side is the valediction: ‘Yours very sincerely / Harry Plunket Greene’. On the other a fragment of three lines of the letter: ‘[...] I hope no [...] / started that things [...] / go on well. I am part[...]’. See image.

On one side of a 12.5 x 8.5 cm piece of thin white card. Clearly given in response to a request for an autograph. Written in a large somewhat old-fashioned hand, with ‘Edith Pargeter.’ centred towards the head of the page, and ‘‘Ellis Peters’.’ at bottom right. See image.

Printed in two columns in black and red on one side of a piece of paper seventeen and a half inches by eleven and a quarter wide. Foxed and with a few very small closed tears at points along crease lines. Thirty-six rules, listed under sections headed 'THE EXECUTIVE', 'GENERAL MEETINGS', 'MOTIONS', 'ELECTION OF MEMBERS', 'PAYMENT OF SUBSCRIPTIONS, &C.', 'HONORARY MEMBERS', 'ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE', 'DUTIES OF THE PRESIDENT', 'DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY', 'DUTIES OF THE AUDITOR', 'BOOKS, NEWSPAPERS, &C.', 'MISCELLANEOUS' and 'CLUB DINNER'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 11 x 5.5 cm rectangle cut from the foot of a letter. In fair condition, aged and lightly creased, with traces of glue from mount adhering to the blank reverse. Folded once. Reads: ‘Yours in great haste, / most cordially / Thomas Moore’. See image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, tall 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged; folded twice. In the following transcription the manuscript parts are in square brackets: ‘By Command of the Commissioners for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, &c.

See the entries on the two men in the Oxford DNB. The document to which Stirling Maxwell refers in this letter can be read as ‘Dissent (No. III.)’ on pp.xiii to xxii of the parliamentary ‘Report of the Oaths Commission. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty.’ (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1867). There were five dissenters to the report: alongside Stirling Maxwell and Milman were Robert Lowe, Lord Lyveden, and Edward Pleydell Bouverie. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mounting to blank reverse of second leaf.

4pp, 12mo. Fifty lines of neatly-written text, addressed to ‘My Dear Dale’. On bifolium. In good condition, with creases from being folded into a packet. Minuted by recipient at head of first page. He is sorry that his ‘continued absence abroad’ will prevent him from attending the formal opening of ‘the Committee of the Darlington Junior Liberal Club’. He describes the ‘several reasons to look forward to the opening day as a very auspicious one’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The recipient’s name is uncertain (‘Knight Sladen’?) He is sorry that he is prevented from ‘coming to the Mansion House on Wedy’ by ‘the demands of practice’. The subject has his sympathy, ‘and, else, 2 Guineas if there is a subscription list & if small amounts be accepted’. He wonders whether his ticket might be used ‘by a patriotic sister & a friend!’ He asks him to simply send a post card ‘to say I may substitute their names for mine’.

See Mercer’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 20 lines on both sides of a 12mo landscape letterhead. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Mercer has the proverbial handwriting of a doctor, rendering the present item somewhat difficult to read. He begins by thanking Goodwin for the ‘lovely surprise’ of ‘a packet of the War Effort Canadian stamps in mint condition’, which (illegible name) ‘didn’t get the length of Edinburgh as he has been called to the Pacific’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, but a little brittle and discoloured (unobtrusive repair to one corner with archival tape). The recipient is not named. Reads: ‘Dear Sirs / I shall be pleased to see your Ramblers June the 6th. Let me know details of them & numbers a week before. / Yours truly / Hubert Herkomer’.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. Lurid claims of three-in-a-bed adulteries put a paid to Dilke’s political ambitions (he had been touted as a future prime minister), and rendered him the butt of musical hall jokes. 16mo, 2pp. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and folded once. ‘Dear Bourke / If you are in the House at 2 o’clock to-day I propose to ask you when the Greek Papers which were promised yesterday in the House of Lords are likely to be distributed to members of the House of Commons / Yrs. very truly, / Charles W.

See Dilke’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Lurid claims of three-in-a-bed adulteries put a paid to his political ambitions (he had been touted as a future prime minister), and rendered him the butt of musical hall jokes. The recipient is not named. On one side of a plain 11.5 x 9 cm postcard. In fair condition, lightly aged, with the two right-hand corners creased.

See Dilke’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Lurid claims of three-in-a-bed adulteries put a paid to Dilke’s political ambitions (he had been touted as a future prime minister), and rendered him the butt of musical hall jokes. ANS: 1p, 12mo. In good condition. Reads: ‘My dear Cavendish, / I’ve told them to send you the Revenue & Expenditure estimate of Cyprus for the current year. | Sincerely Yrs. / Charles W. Dilke’. GALLEY PROOFS: 104 lines of text, in the customary block, on one side of a 17 x 38 cm piece of good laid paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Headed ‘The Rt. Hon.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Lurid claims of three-in-a-bed adulteries put a paid to Dilke’s political ambitions (he had been touted as a future prime minister), and rendered him the butt of musical hall jokes. The recipient is not named. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. The letter begins: ‘Dear Sir, / I suppose a pamphlet is meant - called I think “Parliamentary Reform” - (but I’m not quite sure), written about 1878 & sold at Smith’s bookstall.

1p, 8vo. On grey laid paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Madam / Permettez-moi de joindre à cette lettre l’annonce du bazar de charité que va avoir lieu dans notre maison et que j’espère sera visité par Votre Altesse Royale. / Designez agréer, Princesse, mes plus respectueux hommages. / Marie Radziwill’.

See Webb's entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, aged and worn with traces of glue from mount at head. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Rev. A. R. F. Hyslop, M.A. / Warden, / Glenalmond College, PERTHSHIRE.’ Following on from previous correspondence, Webb is ‘desired to explain’ that ‘the Board feels strongly the advantage of a training in freehand drawing as a preliminary to architectural training’, and that they do not consider ‘the geometrical drawing of architecture more particularly from plates’ ‘generally helpful’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 16 x 10 cm rectangle cut from leaf of an autograph album. In good condition, on wove paper, lightly aged and creased. Nothing on the leaf apart from the signature ‘John Herman Merivale’, with the helpful addition ‘(Dead)’ in a near-contemporary hand beside it.

Colenso’s enormous significance in the history of Victorian theology and ideas is reflected by a long entry by Peter Hinchcliff in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

See the entries for writer and recipient in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, folded once. In envelope (with Oxford crest on flap), with stamp and two postmarks, addressed by Magrath to ‘Henry Jenner Esq / British Museum / London E.C.’ From ‘a communication I have received from Madan’ (Falconer Madan, Bodley’s Librarian) he gathers that Jenner ‘would be interested to know the results of the kind assistance you gave a Committee of the Hebdomadal Council in May in the matter of the extension of the Bodleian Library’.

See Tony Lopez's obituary in the Guardian, 11 April 2021.The letter was sent, with Items One and Two at least, while Guest was Lecturer in English at Yokohama National University, 1966-1972. All four items are neatly written in black ink in a close hand. The first three items are in good condition; Item Four is in fair condition, on aged paper and with wear to the outer edges. The parallel drafts of ‘Climbing a Volcano’ in Item One present an excellent example of the working process of a poet in the pre-digital age. ONE: Autograph Manuscript (2pp, folio) on one leaf.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of mount to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded twice. Le Jeune’s handwriting is strangely childlike. The recipient is not named. He begins: ‘Dear Sir / Your little picture of “The Bather” has been finished some time, & I should be glad to shew it you at your earliest convenience.’ He briefly suggests arrangements for a showing.

Painfully appropriate words (‘The old friends leave us soon or late’), set to music within days of the composer’s death. Among Weatherly’s many lyrics are ‘Danny Boy’ and ‘Roses of Picardy’. See his obituary in the Oxford DNB, and Löhr’s three-page obituary, with portrait, in the Musical Herald, London, February 1889. Löhr was the father of the composer Hermann Löhr (1871-1943). 2pp, 4to, on the facing pages of a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with a couple of closed tears unobtrusively repaired with archival tape. At head of first (left-hand) page: ‘Friends.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, where she is described as a ‘philanthropist’. 2pp, 12mo. With mourning border. A 4cm triangle of paper has torn away from the bottom of the letter, far below Mrs Gladstone’s slightly-smudged signature, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged and folded twice. Reads: ‘Downing St. / Saturday / Dear Sir. / You have often encourage me to appeal to you upon matters of charity. it will be very kind if you will give the enclosed [a] place in your Paper. / Yours truly / Cath Gladstone’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. In a loose, untidy hand. He is ‘much obliged for the note of the 4th.’, and as she wishes has sent instructions to ‘Davy’, to whom he asks her to ‘send all communications’. He is ‘very sorry indeed’ to ‘loose [sic]’ her as a tenant.

2pp., 12mo. On leaf with mourning border. In good condition, lightly-aged, with neat repair to a short closed tear. He is returning a memorandum, 'which is quite correct & may be acted on', and has made a payment of £380 to his account with Drummonds Bank.

See the entries for Jones and Chantry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. An interesting letter of 39 lines with text intact, in poor condition, aged and with closed tears, and discoloration from tape used in repair, and ink blot to first page. The surname of the recipient is not given, but the close friendship between the two men (Jones published a memoir of Chantrey in 1849) puts Chantrey’s identity beyond doubt.

An excellent letter, in which a serving Victorian ambassador discusses the nature of diplomacy, and gives a vivid assessment of his former superior Sir Hamilton Seymour, whom he jokingly characterizes ‘the great Elchee’. See both men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 7pp, 4to. On two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged and with creases from folding into a packet. Minuted on reverse of last leaf. Addressed to ‘The Honble. George Elliot’ (he received his KCB in 1862) and headed ‘Private’.

See Napier’s entry, and that of his sister Maria’s husband John Gellibrand Hubbard (1805-1889), 1st Baron Addington, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and discoloured, with small closed tear to a crease. Part of letter torn away on opening, and now under small black wax seal (good impression of crest with letter N). Folded four times. Addressed, with three postmarks, on reverse of second leaf, to ‘The Rt Honble | The Lady Napier | Kew Green’. Minuted by Lady Napier: 'Cambridge Novr. 1838’. 64 lines of neatly-written text.

See the entries for writer and recipient in the Oxford DNB. The three items in good condition, lightly aged, with the last carrying minor rusting from paperclip. ONE: 3pp, 8vo. She got his office number from ?Mrs. Popie?, ?but the line has been busy all the time?. She asks for ?a pass for darling Ivor?s [i.e. Ivor Novello?s] memorial service?. The previous week she was ?playing at the Regent Theatre, Hayes, & on the Monday night I was weighed down by a dreadful foreboding of disaster?.

For more information on writer (one of West End theatre?s ?most dominant and successful landlords?) and recipient (the foremost British theatre historian of the twentieth century), see their entries in the Oxford DNB. The five items (the TNS is Item Three, the others are ALsS) are in good condition, lightly aged; Item Five with slight paperclip damage to a margin. Each folded once. All five signed ?Prince Littler? and addressed to ?Popie?, two at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, one at 9 Oakdale, London N14, and one at Coventry House, Coventry St, W1.