CERAMICS

[Robert Lockhart Hobson, Keeper of the Department of Ceramics and Ethnography at the British Museum.] Autograph Letter Signed to Wilfred Seymour De Winton, describing the process of reopening the Museum in the wake of the Great War.

Author: 
R. L. Hobson [Robert Lockhart Hobson], ceramicist and cataloguer, Keeper of the Department of Ceramics and Ethnography at the British Museum and President of the Oriental Ceramic Society [De Winton of
Publication details: 
24 December 1918; on letterhead of the British Museum, London.
£45.00

See his obituaries in The Times, Burlington Magazine and elsewhere. Casting light on the process of reopening the British Museum in the wake of the Great War. From the papers of the recipient, Wilfred Seymour De Winton of Haverfordwest and Cardiff. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly worn and creased. Signed ‘R. L. Hobson’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr. de Winton’. He has been ‘back at the Museum about 3 weeks & most of that has been spent in helping to get ready for the public some of the more accessible galleries’.

[Antique china, furniture and silverware.] Notebook containing a mixture of illustrations on silk and card, with printed and manuscript descriptions.

Author: 
[Antique china, furniture and silverware; antiques; Victorian and Edwardian collecting]
Publication details: 
[English: late Victorian or Edwardian.] In album with label on front pastedown of Hatton & Son, Law and General Stationers, Booksellers & Binders, 81 Chancery Lane, London, W.C.
£150.00

70pp, on thirty-six leaves of a worn 16.5 x 10.5 late-Victorian album, bound in black cloth. An additional seven pages at the end of the volume carry an index, divided into 'China', 'Furniture' and 'Silver Pages'. In fair condition, aged and worn. The compiler is unidentified. The first nineteen pages of the volume carry a total of thirty-six 5.5 x 3.5 cm silk labels, each with a coloured illustration of an item of porcelain (from 'Astbury' to 'Zurich'), with the manufacturer's name and marks beneath, each accompanied by a strip of paper carrying a caption printed in blue.

[ Charles Schreiber, connoisseur and Conservative Party politician. ] Autograph Letter Signed

Author: 
Charles Schreiber (1826-1884), academic, connoisseur and Conservative Party politician, husband of Lady Charlotte Guest
Publication details: 
On his monogrammed letterhead. From the Queen's Hotel, Ventnor, Isle of Wight. 12 October 1883.
£35.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. He wishes to explain the '2. things' he forgot in closing his letter of the day before: '1st. to mention that I enclosed a Cheque for £10 . 10s . 0d. in aid of yr. Fund for sending Poole Fishermen to see the Fisheries' Exhibition in London - & next that at the above Address I shd. be glad to receive the acknowledgment of my Cheque.' Pencil note in a contemporary hand at foot of last page: '2nd. Husband of Sir John Guests widow. (Sir J. G.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Reg: F. Wells') from the English sculptor and potter Reginald F. Wells to 'Miss Bellis', regarding her purchase of two bronzes, and the art dealer E. J. Van Wisselingh.

Author: 
Reginald Fairfax Wells [Reginald F. Wells] (1877-1951), English sculptor and potter [Miss Bellis; Elbert Jan Van Wisselingh, Dutch art dealer with premises in London]
Publication details: 
Both from Trosley, West Malling, Kent. 22 and 25 December 1902.
£90.00

Both items in excellent condition, on lightly-aged paper. Letter One (22 December 1902): Addressed to 'Dear Sir'. He has asked Van Wisselingh 'to send the bronzes as I have none here', and he is waiting for a reply: 'if the bronzes have not arrived please wire and you shall have them before Xmas.' Letter Two (25 December 1902): He hopes that his mistake in addressing her as 'Sir' has 'amused and not annoyed you'. He has just had a reply from Van Wisselingh: 'as the notice was so short I could not get new bronzes cast by Xmas; so I sent your letter at once to Mr. V.

Two Autograph Letters Signed Bernard Rackham, ceramics expert, to Roderick D. Mackenzie.

Author: 
Bernard Rackham, sometime Keeper of the Dept of Ceramics at the Victoria and Albert Museum i
Two Autograph Letters Signed  Bernard Rackham
Publication details: 
[Headed notepaper] Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London, SW7, 22 & 29 December 1920
£56.00
Two Autograph Letters Signed  Bernard Rackham

Total 5pp., 12mo, minimal marking, good condition. [Letter One, 22nd] He discusses his correspondent's offer of a gift through the [National Art Collection] Fund three Chinese ridge-tiles of the Ming Dynasty. He says that they would like to examine the tiles before formal acceptance and would send a packer from Marlow. He suggests a time. [Letter Two, 29] He apologises for not having understood the nature of the tiles (blaming the Secretary of the Fund), and anticipates their being brought in as suggested. Two items.

Three different bookplates.

Author: 
Josiah Clement Wedgwood (1872-1943), 1st Baron Wedgwood, British Liberal and Labour politician
Publication details: 
[1890s to 1930s.]
£80.00

Arranging the three in what appears to be chronological order, the first (good, roughly four inches by two and three-quarters wide) has 'Josiah C. Wedgwood' in copperplate beneath a straightforward Victorian armorial design, with shield, coronet and motto 'OBSTANTIA DISCINDO'. The second (three and a half inches by three wide) dates from after Wedgwood's election as a Member of Parliament in 1906, having 'EX-LIBRIS JOSIAH C. WEDGWOOD, M.P.' on a scroll beneath a more modern armorial design, with helmet and leaves. It has slight damage to the bottom right-hand corner.

Ten Typed Letters/Notes Signed and One Autograph Letter Signed to G. K. Menzies, [Secretary,] Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Frank H Wedgwood [ Francis Hamilton Wedgwood; Josiah Wedgwood ]
Publication details: 
1918-26; all but one item (from 'Barlaston Lea, | Stoke-on-Trent') on Wedgwood letterhead.
£250.00

Chairman of the famous pottery firm Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, Ltd (1867-1930), and High Sheriff of Staffordshire. All items are very good, if somewhat grubby. The typed letters are one page, quarto and the autograph, one page, octavo. All are signed 'Frank H Wedgwood', and most are stamped and docketed. One letter from 1918, two from 1919, one from 1924, five from 1925 and two from 1926. Mostly brief.

Two Autograph Letters Signed and four Typed Letters Signed, two to W. Perry, three to the Secretary and one to the Vice President of the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Honourable Josiah Wedgwood
Publication details: 
First three (all typed): 14 November, 16 and 18 December 1935, all on Wedgwood letterhead; fourth and fifth (both autograph), 13 and 18 February 1936, on letterhead 'STOKE GRANGE.STONE.STAFFS'; the sixth (typed), 1 May 1836, on Wedgwood letterhead.
£250.00

Managing Director of the famous pottery business ('saviour of the firm') and the fifth in the family to bear the name (1899-1968), Member of Parliament. All six items in good condition, though grubby, and with the first three bearing pin holes in one corner (not affecting text), the hole in the first letter being decidedly marked. All but one item docketed and stamped. Letters one, two, three and six are one page, quarto; letter four, two pages, 12mo; letter five, one page, 12mo; letter six, one page, quarto. All but the third item, which is signed 'Wedgwood', are signed 'Josiah Wedgwood'.

Autograph Note Signed to "Mills".

Author: 
R.L. Hobson.
Publication details: 
Brit. Mus., No date.
£35.00

British Museum ceramics expert. One page, 8vo, good. He passes comment on a blue and a yellow pot, dating them, and giving the countries of origin of the yellow pot.

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