CIVIL

[The man Brunel called the largest railway contractor in the world: Sir Samuel Morton Peto, civil engineer, railway contractor and MP.] Autograph Letter Signed

Author: 
Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809-1889), civil engineer, railway contractor and Radical Liberal Member of Parliament, George Borrow’s ‘Mr Flamson’
Publication details: 
3 January 1851; 47 Russell Square [London].
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Strip of glue from mount adhering to one edge of the blank reverse. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘J M Hare Esqr’. Reads: ‘Dear Sir / I have to acknowledge the receipt of the Patent you have kindly sent me, pray accept my thanks for your attention / I am dear Sir / Yrs faithfully / S. Morton Peto’. In Victorian hand at foot: ‘M P. Norwich 1851’.

[Northern Ireland: Special Powers Acts.] Two printed items: ‘Report of a Commission of Inquiry appointed to examine the Purpose and Effect of the Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Acts (Northern Ireland) 1922 & 1933.’ and handbill with reviews.

Author: 
Northern Ireland, Special Powers Acts of 1922 and 1933; The National Council for Civil Liberties, London [Robert Lynd; H. G. Wells]
Publication details: 
Report: London, 1936. Published by The National Council for Civil Liberties, 99a Charing Cross Road, WC2.
£120.00

Two items from the Robert and Sylvia Lynd papers. The first item is well represented in academic libraries, no copy of the second has been found. Item Two below asserts that ‘Under these Acts the Home Minister of Northern Ireland is furnished with what are practically dictatorship powers’, which are ‘now a permanent part of Northern Irish law’. (Robert Lynd’s interest in the matter was no doubt heightened by the fact that he was himself an Ulsterman.) ONE: Printed pamphlet.

[The man Brunel called the largest railway contractor in the world: Sir Samuel Morton Peto, civil engineer, railway contractor and MP.] Autograph Letter in the third person to Lady Hooker, regarding ‘the next Election of the Idiot Asylum'.

Author: 
Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809-1889), civil engineer, railway contractor and Radical Liberal Member of Parliament, George Borrow’s ‘Mr Flamson’
Publication details: 
22 November 1861. On letterhead of 9 Great George Street, Westminster S.W. [London]
£75.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘In the 1840s Peto had thirty-three railway contracts worth £20 million, the largest number held in the kingdom; according to Brunel he was the largest contractor in the world.’ 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Begins: ‘Sir Morton Peto presents his Compliments to Lady Hooker and begs to acknowledge the receipt of her not of the 9th. Inst. on his return from the Continent’. He regrets that ‘it will not be in his power to assist the Case of Dr.

[The man Brunel called the largest railway contractor in the world: Sir Samuel Morton Peto, civil engineer, railway contractor and MP.] Autograph Letter in the third person to Lady Hooker, regarding ‘the next Election of the Idiot Asylum'.

Author: 
Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809-1889), civil engineer, railway contractor and Radical Liberal Member of Parliament, George Borrow’s ‘Mr Flamson’
Publication details: 
22 November 1861. On letterhead of 9 Great George Street, Westminster S.W. [London]
£75.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘In the 1840s Peto had thirty-three railway contracts worth £20 million, the largest number held in the kingdom; according to Brunel he was the largest contractor in the world.’ 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Begins: ‘Sir Morton Peto presents his Compliments to Lady Hooker and begs to acknowledge the receipt of her not of the 9th. Inst. on his return from the Continent’. He regrets that ‘it will not be in his power to assist the Case of Dr.

[Paul Robeson, black American singer and actor of international repute, prominent in the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement.] Autograph Signature from album.

Author: 
Paul Robeson [Paul Leroy Robeson] (1898-1976), black American baritone singer and actor of international repute, prominent in the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£25.00

On piece of pink paper roughly 13.5 x 9.5 cm. Reads: ‘Every good wish / Paul Robeson.’ No other writing, and the good firm signature with plenty of space around it. In good condition lightly aged, with thin strip of discoloration running through the ‘E’ of ‘Every’. Scan on application.

[‘She is not so really great as we hoped’: Charles Manby, civil engineer, involved in managing Adelphi and Haymarket theatres, London.] Copy Letter to Frederick Hodgson, criticising Fanny Kemble and discussing arrangement with Frederick Henry Yates.

Author: 
Charles Manby (1804-84), civil engineer [Fanny Kemble (1809-93), actress; Frederick Henry Yates (1797-1842), actor; Frederick Hodgson (1795-1854), politician; Adelphi and Haymarket theatres, London]
Publication details: 
Great George Street [London]. 8 November 1841.
£45.00

Manby’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that ‘His interests ranged beyond the engineering world, and for many years he was involved in the management of the Adelphi and Haymarket theatres.’ Manuscript copy letter. 2pp, 4to. Thirty-three lines of neat text. Addressed to ‘Frederick Hodgson Esqre. M.P.’ Ends: ‘I am Dear Sir / Your very faithfully / Charles Manby’.On first leaf of bifolium. Reverse of second leaf docketted: ‘Copy C Manby to F Hodgson Esqr / Scarbro - Novr 8. 1841’ (the letter does not contain any reference to Scarborough). In fair condition, creased and lightly aged. Folded once.

[Liverpool concerts for ‘Spain Relief’, 1939: John Goss, Communist baritone.] Two Typed Letters Signed to ‘Mr. Cameron’ and one Typed Card Signed to ‘Miss Cameron’, on behalf of the Musician’s Group of the Left Book Club.

Author: 
John Goss (1894-1953), Communist baritone associated with Peter Warlock and Frederick Delius [Spanish Civil War; Left Book Club; Liverpool]
Publication details: 
The letters to ‘Mr. Cameron’ dated 21 December 1938 and 9 January 1939; both from 35a Woburn Square, WC1 [London]. The card undated [early 1939], with London postmark.
£120.00

See his entry in Grove’s. Each with his firm signature 'John Goss'. The two letters in fair condition, on aged and creased paper, folded for postage, the first of the two with a short closed tear to one edge. The card in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: TLS to ‘Mr. Cameron’, 21 December 1938. 1p, 4to. Cameron’s letter ‘to the convener of the Musician’s Group of the Left Book Club’ has been passed to him.

[Sir A. C. Lyall, Governor of the North-Western Provinces in India.] Four Autograph Letters Signed, the last addressed to 'Fisher', mainly concerned with preparations for lectures, the last declining to send a reference.

Author: 
Sir A. C. Lyall [Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall] (1835-1911), leading civil servant in British India, Governor of the North-Western Provinces
Publication details: 
ONE: 9 October 1888; The Precincts, Canterbury. TWO: 17 December 1888; embossed letterhead of the Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall [London]. THREE: 17 November 1895; 18 Queen?s Gate, S.W. [London] FOUR: 23 April 1907; as three.
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The four items in good condition, lightly aged and worn, and all folded for postage. The last item with pin hole to one corner. The first three addressed to 'Dear Sir' and the last to 'Dear Fisher'. All four signed 'A C Lyall', both with and without periods after the initials. ONE (9 October 1888): 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium.

[Sir Frederick Joseph Bramwell, mechanical engineer.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr Lanyon’

Author: 
Sir Frederick Joseph Bramwell (1818-1903), mechanical engineer, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, associated with the Stockton and Darlington Railway
Publication details: 
8 April 1888. On letterhead of 1A Hyde Park Gate, S.W. [London]
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with small strip of discoloration at head of first page and traces of previous mount on discoloured blank reverse of second leaf. He thanks Lanyon for his ‘renewed kindness’ durimg his ‘recent visit to Belfast’, and extends an invitation to ‘a party of a few friends we are about to have on the 5th of May’. With respect to Lanyon’s visit, ‘and to the earlier call I hope you will make on my wife (who is generally not in from her drive till 5.0)’, he makes him a street plan (on lower part of second page).

[Burma Frontier Service;Evelyn Waugh's batman] 105 items: confidential correspondence, memoranda, reports, printed docs, telegrams, cuttings) relating to R.E.S. Tanner's BFS application and training, including a Civil Affairs Staff Centre course.

Author: 
Burma Frontier Service; Civil Affairs Staff Centre, Wimbledon; Ralph Esmond Selby Tanner (1921-2017), Social Anthropologist, East African colonial administrator, Evelyn Waugh's batman
Publication details: 
Burma and London (including Whitehall and the Civil Affairs Staff Centre, Southlands House, Wimbledon Common). Between 1946 and 1948.
£850.00

For biographical details of Dr R. E. S. Tanner, see the end of this description. Brown card folder (by The Parker File Co. Ltd, Rangoon), housing 105 items (confidential correspondence, memoranda, applications, advisory and information documents, reports, telegrams, newspaper cuttings) relating to Tanner's application and training for a Civil Affairs post in Burma, including material from the training course he undertook at the Civil Affairs Staff Centre, Wimbledon. The folder and its contents are in fair condition, lightly-aged and worn.

[Sir Robert Howard, playwright and politician.] Two Autograph Signatures (both ‘Ro: Howard’) among extensive manuscript endorsements of Exchequer document regarding ‘Sr Thomas Player in repaymt. of Loane.’

Author: 
Sir Robert Howard (1626-1698) of the Receipt Office, royalist politician, playwright, poet and friend of John Dryden [Sir Thomas Player (d.1686) of Hackney]
Sir Robert Howard
Publication details: 
[Exchequer Office, Whitehall.] 20 May 1679.
£120.00
Sir Robert Howard

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. Howard was Auditor of Receipt from 1673 to his death. The document is damaged, with the lower part torn away, leaving an area 23cm high and the same wide, but with part of one lower corner torn away. The paper is aged, and there are chipping and closed tears to edges. Howard’s two signatures (both ‘Ro: Howard’) are both undamaged, and the item is of some interest. On the front is the printed form, completed in manuscript, with ‘Sr. Thomas Player in repaymt. of Loane./’ in manuscript in right-hand margin.

[Badly beaten on the Senate floor: Charles Sumner, abolitionist, United States Senator for Massachusetts.]

Author: 
Charles Sumner (1811-1874), American abolitionist, United States Senator for Massachusetts, badly beaten on the Senate floor in 1856 by fellow-senator Preston Brooks
Sumner
Publication details: 
Dated by another on reverse: ‘M.S.S. 22d. Apl 1853 / Massachusetts’.
£120.00
Sumner

On 13 x 7.5 piece of paper, cut down from the label of a packet containing a manuscript (see the annotation on the reverse). On discoloured paper, with glue staining from mount on reverse. Sumner's signature 'C. Sumner' is at top left, with the top of the S slightly cropped. The address, by Sumner, reads 'W. S. Law Magazine / New York / N. Y.' Annotated in pencil on reverse: 'Charles Sumner / M.S.S. 22d Apl 1853 / Massachusetts / Lawyer'. See Image

[James Smith, humorist, co-author with his brother Horace Smith of the celebrated ‘Rejected Addresses’ (1812).] Autograph Letter Signed to John Wilson Croker, regarding his post as Assistant Solicitor to the Board of Ordnance.

Author: 
James Smith (1775-1839), humorist, co-author with his brother Horace Smith [Horatio Smith] (1779-1849) of the ‘Rejected Addresses’ (1812) [John Wilson Croker (1780-1857), politician and diarist]
Publication details: 
‘18 Austin Friars [London] / 26 June 1826’.
£120.00

See his entry, and those of his brother and the recipient, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 4to. Bifolium. The letter had been torn in half, with loss of a strip of paper from the second leaf, resulting in damage to a couple of words from the valediction; it has been carefully repaired with archival tape, and is otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged, with slight fading of the ink on the first page. The large signature ‘James Smith’ is clear and undamaged. Addressed to ‘J. W. Croker Esq’. An interesting letter, casting light on the workings of the Georgian civil service.

[H. W. Nevinson, campaigning journalist.] Circular Typed Letter, with facsimile signature, appealing for support for the National Council for Civil Liberties.

Author: 
H. W. Nevinson [Henry Woodd Nevinson] (1856-1941), campaigning journalist who reported on slavery in Africa, suffragist, war correspondent [National Council for Civil Liberties, London]
Publication details: 
23 November 1939. On letterhead of the National Council for Civil Liberties, London.
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. A very good facsimile of a typed letter, with the main text in black, some in red and the facsimile signature 'Henry W. Nevinson' in light blue. Names of Nevinson as President, E. M. Forster as Past-President, and dozens of Vice-Presidents in left-hand margin, including Aldous Huxley, A. A. Milne, J. B. Priestley, H. G. Wells and Rebecca West. Addressed to 'Dear Sir', the letter sets out the history of the organization, appealing for 'support for its activities'.

[CSS Alabama, Confederate sloop-of-war raider, Captain Raphael Semmes, sunk in 1864 by USS Kearsarge.] Steel engraving by Henry Bryan Hall of depicting seven of the ship's officers.

Author: 
[CSS Alabama, Confederate sloop-of-war, Captain Raphael Semmes, sunk in 1864 by USS Kearsarge] Henry Bryan Hall (1808-84), Anglo-American engraver; Kelly, Piet & Co., Baltimore publishers
CSS
Publication details: 
[1869.] Kelly, Piet & Co., Baltimore.
£220.00
CSS

A painting by Manet of the celebrated engagement between the Alabama and the Kearsarge was finished and exhibited before the end of 1864. It now hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art. The present item is a steel engraving, dating from five years later, on a small 8vo piece of thickish wove paper. In good condition, on lightly aged paper, with slight discoloration and creasing to the blank edges. At the foot of the engraving is the name of the publishers, ‘Kelly, Piet & Co. Baltimore’ (it appeared in their 1869 book, ‘Memoirs of Service Afloat, during the War between the States.

[British India; Edwardian Raj; Indian finances; Edward Broome, civil engineer; Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff; William Martin Wood, editor of Times of India, founder and editor of Bombay Review.] Five galley proofs of articles by Wood, on Indian topics.

Author: 
[British India; the Edwardian Raj; Indian finances; Edward Broome; Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff; William Martin Wood (1828-1907), editor of Times of India, founder and editor of Bombay Review]
Publication details: 
One item from ‘Allen’s Indian Mail’, [28 March 1887]. Three items marked as from the periodical ‘India’, [1902], 1903 and 1906. Another ‘Reprinted from “INDIA,” August 16, 1901.’
£320.00

Five galley-proofs of articles written during the high-point of the Raj by leading Victorian journalist in India W. Martin Wood (editor of the Times of India, founder and editor of the Bombay Review). Ephemeral items, creased and worn, but with text clear and entire. ONE: Headed ‘ALLEN’S INDIAN MAIL / THE LATE MR. EDWARD BROOME, C.E. / Mr. M. Martin Wood writes to us as follows: -’. Sixty-two lines in small print follow, beginning: ‘Some little time back your “Domestic Occurrences” contained the name of Mr.

[British India; Edwardian Raj; Indian finances; Edward Broome, civil engineer; William Martin Wood, editor of Times of India, founder and editor of Bombay Review.] Five galley proofs of articles by Wood, on Indian topics.

Author: 
[British India; the Edwardian Raj; Indian finances; Edward Broome; William Martin Wood (1828-1907), editor of Times of India, founder and editor of Bombay Review]
Publication details: 
One item from ‘Allen’s Indian Mail’, [28 March 1887]. The other ‘Reprinted from “INDIA,” August 16, 1901.’
£320.00

Two galley-proofs of articles by leading Victorian journalist in India W. Martin Wood (editor of the Times of India, founder and editor of the Bombay Review). Ephemeral items, creased and worn, but with text clear and entire. ONE: Headed ‘ALLEN’S INDIAN MAIL / THE LATE MR. EDWARD BROOME, C.E. / Mr. M. Martin Wood writes to us as follows: -’. Sixty-two lines in small print follow, beginning: ‘Some little time back your “Domestic Occurrences” contained the name of Mr. Edward Broome, Civil Engineer, as having died at Southport, something under 60 years of age.

[A. V. Dicey (Albert Venn Dicey), distinguished jurist, Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford.] Autograph Signature to Secretarial Letter to Archibald A. Prankerd, regarding a dissertation and Henry Goudy, Regius Professor of Civil Law.

Author: 
A. V. Dicey [Albert Venn Dicey (1835-1922)], distinguished jurist and Liberal Unionist, Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford [Arthur Archibald Prankerd; Henry Goudy]
Publication details: 
19 February 1896. All Souls College, University of Oxford.
£45.00

See Richard A. Cosgrove’s laudatory entry on him in the Oxford DNB, as well as that on Henry Goudy (1848-1921), Regius Professor of Civil Law (like Dicey, of All Souls). The recipient, Archibald Arthur Prankerd (1851-1926), of Worcester College, was also in the law faculty at Oxford. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded once for postage. Signed and underlined at foot in pencil ‘A V Dicey’. The letter, in a secretarial hand, reads: ‘Dear Prankerd, / This Dissertation will I think suffice. Please look it through & send it back to Goudy.

[J. L. Motley, American historian of the ‘Dutch Republic’.] Autograph Letter Signed to the editor of the Times of London, J. T. Delane, discussing his failing health and hope for a review of his latest (and perhaps last) work.

Author: 
J. L. Motley [John Lothrop Motley] (1814-1877), American historian of the ‘Dutch Republic’, and diplomat in Europe under Lincoln who helped prevent European intervention in the American Civil War
Publication details: 
‘Villa Meissonnier / Cannes / 3 Jany ’74’.
£90.00

A poignant letter. See Delane’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, with neat thin strip from Victorian windowpane mount adhering to edges of second leaf. Folded for postage. 32 lines, closely written. Presumably with reference to his ‘Life and Death of John of Barneveld’, Motley begins: ‘My dear Delane / Just before leaving England ten days ago in search of health (a fugitive very hard to catch) I begged Murray to send you a copy of a work which was to come out almost immediately.

[Oxford University Labour Club: appeasers, trades unions and the Spanish Civil War, 1938.] Eight numbers of 'Oxford Forward', with articles by Raymond Postgate, Naomi Mitchison; John Strachey, Derek Tasker, Christopher Thornycroft, Philip Toynbee.

Author: 
'Oxford Forward', journal of Oxford University Labour Club [Naomi Mitchison; Raymond Postgate; Michael Sheldon; Nigel Harvey; John Strachey; Derek Tasker; Christopher Thornycroft; Philip Toynbee]
Publication details: 
New Series 1-8. 'Published by The Editorial Board of Oxford Forward, St. Michael's Hall, Oxford, and printed by The Alden Press (Oxford) Ltd., Oxford.' Eight issues. 23 April 1938 to 11 June 1938. New Series, Nos. 1, 2, 21, 4, 22, 6, 7, 8.
£400.00

'Oxford Forward' was the journal of the Labour Club in Oxford, which had 730 members in 1937. Eight sequential issues, with nos. 21 and 22 misnumbered for 3 and 5. [12 + 8 + 16 + 8 + 12 + 8 + 8 + 8 =] totalling 80pp., 4to. With illustrations and cartoons. In good condition, lightly aged, in green cloth binding lightly spotted with paint. Each number with the masthead in red, three issues also including the words 'Edition of University' in small print in the title. The front page of number 21 (7 May 1938) has 'ARMS FOR SPAIN' in large red letters at the foot.

[Oxford University Labour Club: appeasers, trades unions and the Spanish Civil War, 1938.] Eight numbers of 'Oxford Forward', with articles by Raymond Postgate, Naomi Mitchison; John Strachey, Derek Tasker, Christopher Thornycroft, Philip Toynbee.

Author: 
'Oxford Forward', journal of Oxford University Labour Club [Naomi Mitchison; Raymond Postgate; Michael Sheldon; Nigel Harvey; John Strachey; Derek Tasker; Christopher Thornycroft; Philip Toynbee]
Publication details: 
New Series 1-8. 'Published by The Editorial Board of Oxford Forward, St. Michael's Hall, Oxford, and printed by The Alden Press (Oxford) Ltd., Oxford.' Eight issues. 23 April 1938 to 11 June 1938. New Series, Nos. 1, 2, 21, 4, 22, 6, 7, 8.
£400.00

'Oxford Forward' was the journal of the Labour Club in Oxford, which had 730 members in 1937. Eight sequential issues, with nos. 21 and 22 misnumbered for 3 and 5. [12 + 8 + 16 + 8 + 12 + 8 + 8 + 8 =] totalling 80pp., 4to. With illustrations and cartoons. In good condition, lightly aged, in green cloth binding lightly spotted with paint. Each number with the masthead in red, three issues also including the words 'Edition of University' in small print in the title. The front page of number 21 (7 May 1938) has 'ARMS FOR SPAIN' in large red letters at the foot.

[Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Liberal Minister of War who kept Britain out of the American Civil War.] Autograph Letter Signed to Peter Jackson of the Caxton Press, about a petition opposing ‘the opening of the General Post Office on the Lord’s Day'.

Author: 
Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Liberal politician who as Minister of War in 1861 kept Britain out of the American Civil War [Peter Jackson of the Caxton Press]
Publication details: 
13 October 1849; Whitehall.
£80.00

Lewis’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes how, as Minister of War in 1861, successfully led the British cabinet to reject Lord John Russell and Gladstone’s calls for Britain to intervene on behalf of the Confederacy in the American Civil War. 1p, foolscap 8vo. Folded twice. In fair condition, on lightly aged laid paper, with slight chipping at the head. With J. Green & Son 1848 Britannica watermark. Signed ‘G. Cornewall Lewis’, and addressed to ‘Mr. Peter Jackson / The Caxton Press / Angel Street / St. Martin’s-le-Grand’.

[Albert D. Shaw, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic.] Autograph Letter Signed to J. Rawlinson, regarding ‘the Resolution passed by the Board of Congregational Ministers of Manchester’, on the death of President Garfield.

Author: 
Albert D. Shaw [Albert Duane Shaw] (1841-1901), American government official and New York Republican Congressman, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic [Manchester, England]
Publication details: 
5 October 1881; on letterhead of the United States Consulate, Manchester [England].
£150.00

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border (for President Garfield). 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, a little worn and creased. Folded once. Signed ‘Albert D Shaw / U.S. Consul’, and addressed to ‘J. Rawlinson Esq. / Hon. Sec. / Old Trafford.’ He is in receipt of ‘the Resolution passed by the Board of Congregational Ministers of Manchester and neighbourhood, expressing their heartfelt sympathy, and that of the Churches they represent with the American people in the Calamity which has befallen them in he death of President Garfield’.

[Lord Hankey [Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey], Secretary of Lloyd George’s War Cabinet.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Hankey’) to T. Lloyd Humberstone, regarding a book he is working on, and pressure to ‘cut out all reference to my diary’.

Author: 
Lord Hankey [Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey] (1877-1963), British civil servant, Secretary of Lloyd George’s War Cabinet [T. Lloyd Humberstone]
Publication details: 
11 June 1954. On letterhead of Highstead, Limpsfield, Surrey.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Thomas Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957) was a prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. The work referred to in this letter is probably Hankey's 'The Supreme Command', the two volumes of which would be published in 1961. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. He is returning his letter and ‘its interesting enclosure’. Not having had any experience of the Central Office of Information, he is left with the impression ‘that they are not very well informed on questions of Military Organisation’.

[Benjamin Stoddert Ewell, sixteenth president of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.] Autograph Note Signed (‘Benj. S. Ewell’) to ‘Mr. Walter G. Webster’, in response to a request for an autograph.

Author: 
Benjamin S. Ewell [Benjamin Stoddert Ewell] (1810-1894), Confederate army officer, civil engineer, and sixteenth president of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia
Publication details: 
7 June 1872; on letterhead of the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.
£150.00

William and Mary owes its survival to Ewell: he rebuilt it from ruins after the American Civil War, and every morning during several years of closure he is said to have rung the assembly bell to keep the memory of the college fresh. The present item is 1p, landscape 8vo. It is in poor condition, on brittle high-acidity paper, with significant chipping to all the edges except the bottom one, which has resulted in the loss of a few letters of text, and to the engraved illustration of the college in the letterhead. The letter reads: ‘Mr. Walter G.

[William Govett Romain, as Second Secretary to the Admiralty.] Autograph Signature (‘W. G. Romaine’) with accompanying text filling in printed 'communication' appointing William Mullice ‘Gunner, 2d Class, Additional’ on board HMS Cumberland.

Author: 
W. G. Romaine [William Govett Romaine] (1815-1893), English barrister, civil servant and colonial administrator [William Mullice]
Publication details: 
11 April 1861; on board ‘H.M.S. “Excellent” / WW Portsmouth.’
£80.00

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.

[Paul Robeson, celebrated black stage and screen actor prominent in the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement.] Autograph Signature ('Paul Robeson') written on photograph.

Author: 
Paul Robeson [ Paul Leroy Robeson ] (1898-1976), black American baritone singer and actor prominent in the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£25.00

On 11 x 17.5 piece of shiny art paper, cut from a programme. The signature ?Paul Robeson? is written across Robeson?s front, beneath his smiling face in a black and white photograph. Beneath the photograph is the caption: ? ?A voice like his is worth waiting ten years to hear, and an art like his comes once in a generation.? / THE TORONTO EVENING TELEGRAM?. On the reverse are part of the lyrics from two songs, the second being ?Short?nin? bread?.

[Sir Robert Long, Royalist politician and exchequer official, associate of Samuel Pepys and rival of the Earl of Clarendon.] Autograph Signature ('Rob Long') on exchequer document..

Author: 
Sir Robert Long (c.1602-1673) of Worcester Park, Royalist MP, Auditor of the Lower Exchequer and Receiver-General of the Queen's Revenues, associate of Samuel Pepys and rival of the Earl of Clarendon
Publication details: 
July 1667. Place not stated.
£30.00

See Long's entry in the Oxford DNB. On 7 x 17 cm piece of paper, laid down on slightly larger piece of thick paper cut from an album. In good condition, lightly aged. Three lines of text by Long in clerk's hand, reading 'Registred accordinge to Ex Art within [mentioned?] ye [?] day of July 1667[.] And to be paid in coarse [?] after 397338 16 1'. A good example of Long's neat signature, larger and underlined with a tight flourish, beneath the text and towards the right.

[Sir Norton Knatchbull, parliamentarian and biblical scholar.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Norton Knatchbull') [to Sir Anthony St Leger?], repeating financial undertakings made regarding 'a covenant for securing of the land from Sr William Parkhurst'.

Author: 
Sir Norton Knatchbull (1602-1685) of Mersham Hatch, Kent, parliamentarian, Hebraist and biblical scholar [Sir William Parkhurst (d.1667), Warden of the Royal Mint; Sir Anthony St Leger (c.1605-1680)]
Publication details: 
'Munday night | Dec. 12. 1659'.
£220.00

This item appears to relate to the efforts of Sir William Parkhurst to raise money in order to pay fines and other demands made on him as a royalist by the Commonwealth. Parkhurst had served as Warden of the Royal Mint from 1623 until its seizure by Parliament in 1642, being deprived of his post the following year. By the time of the present letter his circumstances become so straitened that he was obliged to sell his family’s Kent estates, to which he had retired after the fall of Oxford in 1646.

[Sir Henry Taylor, poet, dramatist and civil servant.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Henry Taylor') to 'Mr Scott' [E. A. Scott] of Rugby School, regarding 'the predicament' of the lack of educational progress of his son [Henry Ashworth Taylor].

Author: 
Sir Henry Taylor (1800-1886), poet, dramatist and civil servant [his son Henry Ashworth Taylor (1854-1907); E. A. Scott of Rugby School]
Publication details: 
1 January 1872. East Sheen, [London] S.W.
£250.00

4pp, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded four times. Encouraged by Scott's response to his wife's letter, Taylor is 'encouraged to ask for yr. advice in the predicament in which we stand at present. My boy has made hardly any progress in the last term & stands only four fm. the bottom of the upper Fifth.' He explains that on a former occasion he was in favour of 'a change of house & of companions', but that 'the boy was exceedingly averse & I was induced by assurances of doing better to let him go back to Mr Arnold's'.

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