CORNEWALL

['We might have paid a visit to the Pyramids': Samuel Rogers, 'The Banker Poet', member of Holland House circle, and acquaintance of Byron, Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs Lister' [Lady Theresa Lewis], a flight of fancy

Author: 
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), 'The Banker Poet', art connoisseur, member of the Holland House circle, and acquaintance of Wordsworth, Byron, Sir Walter Scott [Lady Theresa Lewis]
Publication details: 
'Friday' [no date or place, but before 1844].
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), whose first husband was the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). The present letter is written before her marriage to her second husband the Liberal politician Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863). 2pp, 32mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of stub from mount adhering to one edge. Folded once for postage. A charming missive. Reads: ‘My dear Mrs Lister / I shall be delighted to come to you, if I can make my escape from where I shall be, in any decent time.

[J. G. Cochrane [John George Cochrane], Scottish editor and first librarian of the London Library.] Autograph Letter Signed to Sir George Cornewall Lewis, providing information regarding the reburial of Louis XVI.

Author: 
J. G. Cochrane [John George Cochrane] (1781-1852), Scottish editor and bibliographer, first librarian of the London Library [Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Liberal politician]
Publication details: 
‘London Library / October 3d/1851’.
£65.00

See his entry, and that of Lewis, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Eighteen lines of closely-written text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. He was absent when Lewis’s letter came, but is now able to answer his query by reference to the ‘Biographie Universelle’. Addressed to ‘G. C. Lewis Esq. / Grove Mill / Watford’ and signed ‘J. G. Cochrane’. He reproduces over seven lines a statement which ‘seems distinct enough’, regarding the reburial of the body of Louis XVI. Should he come across a ‘more particular account’ he will let him know.

[J. G. Cochrane [John George Cochrane], Scottish editor and first librarian of the London Library.] Autograph Note Signed to the Earl of Clarendon, with list of books not returned to the Library by the Earl's brother-in-law Thomas Henry Lister.

Author: 
J. G. Cochrane [John George Cochrane] (1781-1852), Scottish editor, bibliographer, first librarian of the London Library [George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon; Thomas Henry Lister]
J. G. Cochrane
Publication details: 
‘London Library / June 21st.' [1842]
£100.00
J. G. Cochrane

See his entry, and those of Clarendon and Lister, in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of the Earl’s sister Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), who was married to Lister. (See their entries in the Oxford DNB.) 1p, 12mo. Cochrane’s note is on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, with the list of books on the recto of the second. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to ‘Rt Hon The Earl of Clarendon’. Adopting a diplomatic approach, Cochrane writes: ‘My Lord, / Annexed is a list of the books had from the Library by Mr Lister, which have not been returned.

['one of the Two Best Read Men in England': Abraham Hayward, author and translator.] Autograph Letter Signed to Sir George Cornewall Lewis, regarding a memorandum to be published in The Times regarding a legal action with W. B. Ferrand.

Author: 
Abraham Hayward (1801-1884), Victorian man of letters and lawyer, whose translation of Goethe’s Faust was praised by Carlyle [Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863); William Busfeild Ferrand]
Publication details: 
‘Temple May 26’ [no year].
£120.00

The interesting context of the present item is explained in a quotation from Antony Chessell’s 2009 biography of Hayward (subtitled ‘one of the Two Best Read Men in England’ - the other was Macaulay) subjoined to this entry. See also the entries for Hayward and Lewis in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Sixty lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘My dear Lewis’ and signed ‘A. Hayward’. He begins by expressing regret that ‘any misapprehension has arisen from the introduction of Sir J Graham’s name in the Memorandum.

[Samuel Rogers, 'The Banker Poet', member of Holland House circle, and acquaintance of Byron, Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott.]

Author: 
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), 'The Banker Poet', art connoisseur, member of the Holland House circle, and acquaintance of Wordsworth, Byron, Sir Walter Scott [Lady Theresa Lewis]
Samuel Rogers
Publication details: 
No place or date [on paper with 1837 Whatman watermark].
£150.00
Samuel Rogers

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is not named, but the item is from the papers of the author Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), successively wife of the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842) and the Liberal politician Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), all with entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Reads: ‘Many, many thanks for thinking of me! When I came to myself in the morning, I remembered something of a kind proposition you had made to me & resolved to call & learn more about it. / Monday the 9th.

[Henry Hart Milman, historian, Dean of St Paul’s and Professor of Poetry at Oxford.] Autograph Letter Signed to Sir George Cornewall Lewis, regarding his desire to build a church.

Author: 
Henry Hart Milman (1791-1868), historian, Dean of St Paul’s and Professor of Poetry at Oxford [Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Chancellor of the Exchequer]
Publication details: 
‘Cloisters West[minste]r. Abbey / March 20th’ [no year].
£45.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. 2pp, 12mo. Signed ‘H H Milman’ and addressed to ‘G. C. Lewis Esq’. Written in a crabbed hand. Begins: ‘My dear Lewis / I think that I mentioned to you my great wish to build a Church for the [?] of St Margarets.

[J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane, distinguished editor of The Times.] Autograph Note in the third person to Lady Theresa Lewis, declining a dinner engagement.

Author: 
J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane (1817-1879)], editor of The Times, 1841-1877 [Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), author]
Publication details: 
‘18 Serjeants Inn / December 8th.’ [no year, but between 1844 and 1863]
£45.00

See his entry, and hers, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Addressed to ‘The Lady Theresa Lewis’. Reads: ‘Mr Delane regrets sincerely that a previous engagement will prevent him from having the honour of waiting upon Sir G. Cornewall and Lady Theresa Lewis on Thursday the 13th. In 1844 Lady Theresa married her second husband, the future Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), her first having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister. (1800-1842)

[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’.

[ Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Whig Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. ] Autograph Signature ('G. Cornewall Lewis') to document authorising admittance to the House of Commons.

Author: 
Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Whig politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary, who successfully argued against British intervention in the American Civil War
Publication details: 
Place illegible. 1 February 1850.
£30.00

A good firm signature, appended to a document in another hand, simply reading: 'Admit the Bearer to the House of Commons'. The illegible address and date are in the same hand. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount on blank reverse.

[ Lord John Manners on the 'Cornwall Lewis - Ferrand affair'. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('John Manners.') [ to the editor Henry Reeve ] discussing the proposed publication in the Greville Memoirs of a reference to 'the forgotten scandal'.

Author: 
Lord John Manners [ from 1888 John James Robert Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland ] (1818-1906), Conservative politician and poet [ Henry Reeve (1813-1895), editor of the Greville Memoirs ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Belvoir Castle, Grantham. 17 January 1886.
£50.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Docketed in pencil at top right of first page: '17 Janry. 1886. Ld J. Manners re Ferrand corres'. He gives the volume and page number of 'the sole reference to the Cornwall Lewis – Ferrand affair in the Greville Memoirs'. He does not consider that this 'necessitates the publication of the correspondence relating to the settlement which Mr. Heyward & I afterward accomplished'.

[ Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Liberal politician. ] Commencement of Autograph Letter to Lady Monteagle, expressing his distress and that of his wife [ over a death in her family ].

Author: 
[ Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Liberal politician and Chancellor of the Exchequer. ] [ Marianne, Lady Monteagle, wife of Thomas Spring Rice (1790-1866), 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon ]
Publication details: 
Grove Mill, Watford, Hertfordshire. No date.
£60.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. Ends abruptly at the end of the fourth page, and without signature. For the period an unusually frank expression of distress, apparently over the death of his wife's elder daughter He thanks her for calling on him with books - 'when you so kindly came to that House though I had intended so very much to see you I felt all my courage fail - & that I s[houl]d. only distress you & do myself harm if I saw you'.

[ Lady Maria Theresa Lewis, author. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('M Theresa Lewis') to Sir George Scharf.

Author: 
Lady Maria Theresa Lewis [née Villiers] (1803-1865), author, wife of Thomas Henry Lister and George Cornewall Lewis [ Sir George Scharf (1820-1895), Director, National Portrait Gallery ]
Publication details: 
Lathom House [Lancashire]. 22 November 1861.
£65.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly-aged. She is out of town, and Scharf's letter has followed her to Cheshire and Lancashire, and she is sending a letter of introduction to Lord Essex, whom she hopes will 'afford you every facility in your interesting pursuits'. She is flattered 'at the manner in which you always speak of my Grove Catalogue - it was a great pleasure to me & I much regret that other duties & occupations have prevented me for a time from continuing my Biographies'. She concludes by wishing him 'every success in your Blenheim Catalogue'.

[ Lewis Mansergh, Secretary, Public Works Commission, Cape of Good Hope. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Lewis Mansergh') to 'Mr. Anthony', regarding the Irrigation Act.

Author: 
Lewis Mansergh [ Cornewall Lewis Warwickshire Mansergh ], Secretary of the Public Works Commission, and of the Provincial Council, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa [The Irrigation Act, 1906.]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Office of the Commissioner of Public Works, Cape of Good Hope. 24 September 1906.
£56.00

2pp., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He is sending, under separate cover, a copy of 'the Irrigation Act as it finally passed the House', but feels there is 'no use loading you up with particulars of the many intervening phases - and they were many. As you have it now it is the law!' He continues with reference to Gordon and Paterson, the former of whom 'will be finally leaving at the end of the year, and the Govt: has suggested another Indian man', whom Gordon recommends.

Autograph Letter Signed to S[amuel]. Redgrave.

Author: 
Sir George Cornewall Lewis, 2nd Baronet
Publication details: 
Kent House | 4 April' [no year].
£56.00

Author and politician (1806-63). The recipient (1802-76) was author of a dictionary of English artists, and successively private secretary to several English statesman. Two pages, 12mo. An odd request. 'I have been asked by a friend to ascertain for him whether any person has ever been tried in England for suffocating a human being supposed to be affected by hydrophobia. If you shd. be in possession of any information which throws light upon the subject, would you have the kindness to enable me to answer the question'. signed 'G C Lewis'.

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