COUNTRY

[St Thomas Lunatic Asylum near Exeter, founded in 1795.] Printed bill, filled out in manuscript, for sum due by ‘Mr. Penny’ for ‘Board and Maintenance’, with Signed Autograph Note of receipt by treasurer John Mackintosh, and note on annual accounts.

Author: 
St Thomas Lunatic Asylum, near Exeter, founded in 1795 [John Mackintosh, Treasurer; James Penny, Exeter bookseller; William Seacombe]
Asylum
Publication details: 
‘Lunatic Asylum, near Exeter.’ Made out for the period between 6 May and 1 July 1811. Slug: ‘Trewmans, Printers, Exeter.’
£80.00
Asylum

An interesting piece of Exeter ephemera. See ‘Besley’s Exeter Directory for 1835’: ‘LUNATIC ASYLUM, St. Thomas. Founded in 1795. The expenses are defrayed by the board of patients whose friends can afford to pay for their maintenance, and by benefactions, legacies, &c.’ (In the entry ‘John Mackintosh’ is still listed as treasurer.) 1p, landscape 12mo. Addressed by Mackintosh on reverse to ‘Mr. James Penny / Bookseller / Fore St. / Exeter’. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper, with slight staining and damage from breaking open wafer.

[‘Nothing but death or the gout’: Lord Haldane [Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane], Lord Chancellor.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to ‘Mrs Sturgis’ [George Meredith’s daughter], about plans for visits, one preceding dinner with the king.

Author: 
Lord Haldane [Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane] (1856-1928), Scottish Liberal and Labour politician, philosopher, and Lord Chancellor
Publication details: 
ONE: 27 January [1901?]; 3 Whitehall Court [London]. TWO: 16 February [1904?]; on letterhead of 10 Old Square, Lincolns Inn, W.C. [London]
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both letters are in good condition, lightly aged, and both folded once. Both addressed to ‘Mrs Sturgis’, and both signed ‘R B Haldane’. The year in both cases is in the first decade of the twentieth century, but the last digit is hard to decipher. ONE: 27 January [1901?]. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. He fears that he will not reach Leatherhead (where the Sturgis had a country house) before ‘the late train after dinner on Sat. the 21st.’ He plans to ‘send down a servant ahead’, and himself ‘come at bedtime’.

[W. H. K. Wright: Victorian armorial bookplates.] Two Original Illustrations of Designs for Armorial Bookplates, one ‘Presented to Mr Edward Morrall Quay House Bridgenorth’.

Author: 
W. H. K. Wright [William Henry Kearley Wright], (1844-1915), poet, editor of the Western Antiquary [Victorian armorial bookplates; Edward Morrall of Quay House, Bridgnorth; M. J. Morrall]
Wright
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but late Victorian.
£120.00
Wright

Each of the two items attributed to Wright in pencil note on reverse. Both in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: On 11 x 17.5 cm piece of paper. At head: ‘Book Plate of Morrall A[?] vox stellarum vox Dei’. At foot: ‘M. J. Morrall’. (Unlikely to be the Brooklyn architect of this name active at this time.) Up left-hand margin: ‘Mr. Edward Morrall / Mayor 1885-6’. Down right-hand margin: ‘Presented to Mr Edward Morrall Quay House Bridgnorth’. Full achievement, from crest to motto, with colours indicated. TWO: On back of 9 x 11 cm printed ‘at Home’ card.

['Harry Lester and his Hayseeds', variety performers.] McGlennon's Hill Billy Song Book [lyrics of 63 songs, with photograph of Lester's band on cover and feature on him inside].

Author: 
Harry Lester and his Hayseeds [Harold Worth Lester (1895-1993), American variety performer resident in England [Felix McGlennon, music publisher; hillbilly music]
Publication details: 
Felix McGlennon Ltd, Printers and Publishers, 9 City Garden Row, City Road, London, N.1.
£220.00

For information on Lester see his obituary in the Independent, 4 July 1993, which states that with his band he 'cheered up England during the blacked-out Forties'. 12pp., 4to. Stapled. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Cover text printed in red, with black and white 14.5 x 19 cm photograph of 'Harry Lester and his Hayseeds'. P.3 carries an article on 'Harry Lester', with photograph.

[a] Angling in All Its Branches, reduced to a Complete Science: Being the Result of more than Forty Years Real Practice and Strict Observations throughout the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland.

Author: 
Samuel Taylor, Gent. [ Samuel Taylor (1749-1811) of Shropshire, angler and stenographer ]
Publication details: 
London: Printed by A. Strahan, Printers Street, for T. N. Longman and O. Rees, Paternoster-row. 1800.
£350.00

xv + 298pp., 12mo. Ownership signature at head of p.vii. Internally in good condition, a tight copy on lightly-aged paper, in heavily-worn contemporary tree-calf binding, damaged at head of spine, and lacking label.

[ Hugh Foss, Bletchley Park codebreaker ] Draft Autograph Letter UNSIGNED with substantial corrections, all in Foss's hand, to a "Miss Kaye" thanking her fopr a "pleasant evening's dancing".

Author: 
Hugh Foss [ Hugh Rose Foss ] (1902-1971), British cryptanalyst, a Bletchley Park codebreaker [Japanese; Chelsea Reel Club (for Scottish country dancing); German Enigma Code; Japanese Naval Codes ]
Publication details: 
No place or date. Written on notepaper with printed heading "Hon. Secretary, London Fencing Club."
£90.00

Foss was a distinguished cryptanalyst, and his career is described in his entry in the Oxford DNB. At Bletchley Park during the Second World War he was the first person to decode a day's worth of the German Enigma Code (in 1940); and heading the Japanese Naval Section in Hut 7 (between 1942 and 1943). His wife Alison (née Graham, 1908-1979) inspired his interest in Scottish country dancing in the early 1930s. He was Vice-President of the Chelsea Reel Club on its formation in 1935; and became Chairman in 1938.

[ Hugh Foss, Bletchley Park codebreaker. ] Draft of Autograph Letter Signed ('Hugh Foss') as Vice Chairman, Chelsea Reel Club: a circular regarding 'the first meeting of the new season', including the meeting's 'Agenda' in six numbered parts.

Author: 
Hugh Foss [ Hugh Rose Foss ] (1902-1971), British cryptanalyst, a Bletchley Park codebreaker [Japanese; Chelsea Reel Club (for Scottish country dancing); German Enigma Code; Japanese Naval Codes ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 37 Robyns Way, Sevenoaks, Kent. Undated. [ Shortly before 'the Ball at Chelsea Town Hall on Friday, 29th October, 1937'. ]
£220.00

Foss was a distinguished cryptanalyst, and his career is described in his entry in the Oxford DNB. At Bletchley Park during the Second World War he was the first person to decode a day's worth of the German Enigma Code (in 1940); and heading the Japanese Naval Section in Hut 7 (between 1942 and 1943). His wife Alison (née Graham, 1908-1979) inspired his interest in Scottish country dancing in the early 1930s. He was Vice-President of the Chelsea Reel Club on its formation in 1935; and became Chairman in 1938. While at Bletchley he taught a regular class on the subject.

[ Beatrice Magraw, author. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('(Mrs.) Beatrice I. Magraw') to the first British woman cabinet minister Margaret Bondfield, Minister of Labour, putting forward her views on bettering rural housing.

Author: 
Beatrice Irene Magraw (c.1888-1970), author, wife of Charles Magraw (1884-1973), Anglican clergyman [ Margaret Bondfield (1873-1953), Labour politician]
Publication details: 
Slindon Rectory, Arundel, Sussex. 29 March 1930.
£45.00

7pp., 12mo. On two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged. She feels she has 'two reasons for approaching' Bondfield, at the time Minister of Labour: 'I believe you are a Somerset woman, & know that you are interested in the question of housing.' She hopes that 'in any plans for bettering housing conditions that this government may make, the state of rural workers' homes may not be overlooked. You are probably as familiar as I am with the horrors of the “Country Slum”.

[ Victorian house sale in Herefordshire. ] Poster doubling as auction catalogue: 'The Rectory, Stoke Lacy | Catalogue of Valuable and Modern Household Furniture [...] By Order of the Adminstratrix of the late Rev. Charles Harrington.

Author: 
Oakley & Son, auctioneers, and Henry E. Oakley, printer, both of Bromyard, Herefordshire [ Rev. Charles Harington (1837-1868), Rector of Stoke Lacy ]
Publication details: 
'On 24 September 1868. [ Henry E. Oakley, Printer, Market-Square, Bromyard. ]
£180.00

Rev. Charles Harington [sic] was grandson of Sir John Edward Harington (1760-1831) of Ridlington, 8th Baronet, and the item is from the Harington papers. The full title reads: 'The Rectory, Stoke Lacy | Catalogue of the Valuable and Modern Furniture | Including Iron Bedsteads, Blankets and Quilts, Chests of Drawers, Mahogany and Painted Wardrobes, Dairy & Kitchen Requisites, Bacon, Whitechapel Trap, Saddles, Casks, Hurdles, & numerous Effects,| To be sold by Auction, by Oakley & Son | On Thursday, 24th.

[ Devon County Cricket Club and Dorset County Cricket Club. ] Autograph Signatures of the twenty-two cricketers taking part in the match 'Dorset v. Devon. Aug. 22 & 23 - 1924'.

Author: 
Devon County Cricket Club, founded 1899; Dorset County Cricket Club, founded 1896
Publication details: 
[ Dorset v. Devon cricket match. ] 22 and 23 August 1924
£45.00

On one side of a 16 x 20 cm leaf torn from an album. In fair condition, lightly aged. The signatures of the eleven Devon players in column along the left-hand edge, and those of the Dorset players in a column along the right-hand edge. Details of the match and players are hard to find. Here is a tentative reading of the Devon signatures: 'F H Canok | A R Strephardy | W F Light | S Blakeney | K G E<?> | E. G. Trench | J R Carter | C R Russell | <?> | G H H Sherlock | E A S<?>'. And a similarly-tentative reading of the Dorset signatures: 'E. C. Walby | W Harrison | W. J. Knight | M. B.

[ Sir William Carew, Bart, of Antony, near Saltash, Cornwall. ] Autograph Signature ('W Carew') on Exchequer receipt.

Author: 
Sir William Carew (1690-1744), 5th Baronet, of Antony, near Saltash, Cornwall, Tory Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
[ Receipt of His Majesty's Exchequer, London. ] 5 June 1739.
£50.00

On 19.5 x 19 cm. piece of paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Laid out in the usual way, with printed text completed in manuscript. Records payment of £9 11s 8d on an annuity. With signature of witness 'E Clark'. For more information on Carew, see his two entries in the History of Parliament.

[ Vera Stacey Wainwright, West Country painter and poet. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Vera (Wainwright)') to Ida Forbes-Robertson ('Dear Idzie'), with reference to Gaugin's drawing of her father Eric Forbes-Robertson.

Author: 
Vera Wainwright [ Vera Stacey Wainwright ] (1893-1967), West Country painter and poet, friend of Austin Osman Spare [ Ida Forbes-Robertson, daughter Eric Forbes-Robertson (1865-1935), artist ]
Publication details: 
Crows Nest, Darite, Liskeard, Cornwall. 18 September 1947.
£56.00

2pp., landscape 8vo. In envelope, with stamp and postmark, addressed to 'Miss I. Forbes-Robertson | 30a. Collingham Place | Earls Court | S.W.5.' In good condition, lightly aged. The first part of the letter concerns a lost or stolen letter and cheque. 'Of course I shall pay you - but it is s. sweet of you to suggest the present'. She repeats information she gave in the letter about which artists' materials she would like: 'Paper for water-colour is becoming scarce too but I have some at the moment'.

Conservative High Society in late Victorian Britain: The album of Miss Evelyn Peel, daughter of Sir Robert Peel, 1896-1899

Author: 
[Emily Peel, daughter of Sir Robert Peel III; Alice Keppel and her like]
Publication details: 
1896-1899
£1,200.00

Evelyn Emily Peel (c.1869-1960), second daughter of Sir Robert Peel, 3rd Bart (1822-1895), and Lady Emily Hay, daughter of the Marquess of Tweeddale, married the diplomat Sir (James William) Ronald Macleay (1870-1943) in 1901. Compiled in the years preceding her marriage, the album reflects Evelyn Peel's energetic and playful personality, and her position as a member of late-Victorian Conservative high society.

[ Arundel Estate of the Duke of Norfolk. ] Printed 'List of Toasts' at a dinner for the Arundel Estate, amended in manuscript with names of proposers and responders.

Author: 
[ Arundel Estate, Sussex; Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk (1847-1917), Roman Catholic nobleman, Unionist politician and philanthropist
Publication details: 
[ Arundel, Sussex? Between 1861 and 1868. ]
£100.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Watermark reads: 'T & F H | 1861'. (The document must date from between this year and the end of the Duke's minority in 1868; and Arundel is not named on it, its connection with this place is confirmed by the presence of land agent Captain E. H. Mostyn..) Neatly printed in two columns within a border. Thirteen toasts, from 'The Queen' to 'The Law Agents and the Stewards of Manors'. The toast to the Queen followed by 'God Save the Queen', each of the other twelve toasts followed by a 'Glee'.

[ Pamphlet. ] The Position of the Agricultural Labourer in the Past and in the Future. By an Agricultural Labourer.

Author: 
'An Agricultural Labourer' [ also 'A. W.' ]
Publication details: 
London: William Reeves, 185, Fleet Street, E.C. Publisher of Works on Land, Labour, Capital, &c
£80.00

63pp., 12mo. Disbound without covers. In fair condition, on aged paper. Signed in type at end 'A. W.' First page of text headed: 'The state of the Farm Labourers and Labourers generally, and their wants, adn theh neeed there is of an alteration in the present Land System.'

[ Edward Mason Wrench, MVO, FRCS. ] Cyclostyled pamphlet describing a holiday 'Trip to Cornwall | Oct. 1890', intended for family members. In facsimile of Wrench's handwriting and signature ('Ed. M. Wrench'), with numerous illustrations by him.

Author: 
Edward Mason Wrench (1833-1912), of Baslow, Assistant Surgeon, 34th Regiment of Foot [ Cornwall, 1890 ]
Publication details: 
No place [ tour of 'Oxford, Swindon, Exeter, Torquay, Plymouth, Truro & Falmouth']. 5 to 22 October 1890.
£100.00

20pp., 12mo. On ten 26.5 x 21 cm numbered leaves, nine of them printed on one side only and the seventh with the text duplicated in error by being printed on both sides. Each leaf folded once, and the ten leaves stitched up to make a 21 x 13.25 cm booklet. The text written around a total of 20 illustrations by the author (including 'a covered market cart' in Oxford; 'Uncle Mervyn's Pajamas'; 'a Performing Elephant'; 'Rougemont', 'The Logan Stone', 'The Armed Knights & Enys Dodnan Rocks at The Lands End', the Clifton Suspension Bridge). In good condition, lightly aged and worn.

[Richard Bentley, publisher.] Two copies (one proof) of his pamphlet 'Death of the Broad Gauge', describing a Great Western Railway journey during the switch to Narrow Gauge, in a series of letters to his father George Bentley. With printed envelope.

Author: 
Richard Bentley the younger (1854-1936), member of celebrated firm of London publishers, son of George Bentley (1828-1895) and grandson of Richard Bentley (1794-1871) [Great Western Railway]
Publication details: 
[Privately printed for Richard Bentley the younger, of Richard Bentley & Son, New Burlington Street, London. 1892 and 1893.]
£320.00

All three items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: Untitled proof, with 'Proof 6.12.92 [i.e. 6 December 1992]' in manuscript at foot of first page. 20pp., 8vo. Unbound and unstitched. Two manuscript corrections, and two indications of where maps are to be placed. The first letter is written from 'Dawlish, S. Devon, | May 20, 1892', and the last from 'Clifton, | May 31, 1892'. A passage, on pp.5-8, is under the heading 'The End of the Broad Gauge', the first paragraph reading: 'On Thursday the men arrived from all parts of the G.W.

[Printed map by J. Banfield, "Arrival List" Office, Ilfracombe.] A Plan of the Town of Ilfracombe, together with a Map of the North Coast of Devon.

Author: 
John Banfield, printer and publisher ('Arrival List' Office), Ilfracombe, Devon
Publication details: 
J. Banfield, "Arrival List" Office, Ilfracombe. No date.
£100.00

25.5 x 31 cm, folded three times to make 12..5 x 8.5 cm packet, with title and publisher's details on the outside. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Tipped-in onto a leaf removed from an album. Light pencil notes on back of map. At head: 'A Map of the North Coast of Devon' (7.5 x 25 cm). At foot: 'A Plan of the Town of Ilfracombe, published by J. Banfield, Library, Ilfracombe' (12 x 25 cm). In right hand margin: 'Reference to the Plan', with 42 entries from 'Tunnels' to 'Montpelier Road'.

[Frank Curzon, The Yorkshire Union of Mechanics Institutes.] Autograph Letter, with a caricature of himself acting as the signature, to John Warren of Royston, thanking him in playful and punning style for arranging a rail trip.

Author: 
Frank Curzon (1819-1907), poet of Exeter, Devon [The Yorkshire Union of Mechanics Institutes; John Warren, Royston, Hertfordshire]
Publication details: 
The Yorkshire Union of Mechanics Institutes, Victoria Chambers, Leeds. 9 November 1878.
£80.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. Consisting of a series of appalling puns, the letter reads: 'Dear Sir | Thanks for the Time Table it was a "rail" service and for your offer of a meal which will suit me to a "T" and for your selection of a bed, as I prefer Bedford to Bedlam, and for your instructions to change my train. It is easier to miss a train than to train a miss. | I feel now that I shall get to Royston with only the Hitchen that is necessary, and I am itching to get there when I feel that I am Warren-ted safe. | I remain My dear Sir | Yours truly'.

[Albion Iron Works, West Bromwich.] Autograph Letter Signed from the proprietor Walter Williams to London bankers Messrs Thomson Hankey & Co, regarding the purchase of 'nails & chains' for casks.

Author: 
Walter Williams of Rose Inn, proprietor of Albion Iron Works, West Bromwich [Messrs Thomson Hankey & Co, London merchant bankers]
Publication details: 
Albion Iron Works, Westbromwich [West Bromwich]. 21 June 1844. With 'WEST BROMWICH' postmark.
£60.00

1p., 4to. Bifolium, addressed on the reverse of the second leaf to 'Messrs. Thomson Hankey <& Co> | Merchants | 7 Mincing Lane | London'. The second leaf is also docketed, and carries two circular postmarks, one from 'WEST BROMWICH'. Williams writes that he has returned to find 'an enquiry about the nails & chains'. He gives a price below which he cannot go, adding: 'I must be paid for the Casks: but if a quantity of nails had been wanted I would have given my trouble on the other things, as I should have made a profit on the nails'.

[John Pascoe of Veryan, Cornish poet.] Two autograph volumes of transcriptions of original poems, made on the eve of his death for Mrs Ball of the City Hotel, Truro, with extensive biographical notes for her, and a letter of presentation.

Author: 
John Pascoe (1820-1889) of Veryan (and latterly Castle Rise, Claremont, Truro), Cornish poet and Wesleyan minister
Publication details: 
The poems in both volumes transcribed in 1889, those in the first volume having been composed between 1844 and 1884, and in the second between 1881 and 1889. Letter from Castle Rise, Claremont, Truro [Cornwall], 26 August 1889.
£1,600.00

The two volumes contain transcriptions of a total of 65 original autograph poems, most of them unpublished, with extensive explanatory and biographical notes (sometimes running to several pages) composed especially for the recipient of the volumes, Mrs Ball of the City Hotel, Truro. In two uniform 4to notebooks with waxed black cloth bindings. The first volume is in fair condition, on aged and worn paper, in worn binding with loss of spine. The second volume has damp affecting the first 60pp., causing slight loss to text, and damage to the binding. ONE: On front free endpaper: 'Vol I.

[Eden Philpotts] Two Autograph Postcards signed "E.P." to Lewis Wynne, Welsh poet.

Author: 
Eden Philpotts (1862-1960), English novelist, author of many works about Dartmoor and his native Devon [Helen Allingham]
Publication details: 
Torquay, 9 and 19 Feb. 1929.
£60.00

Postcards, c.11 x 9cm, some smudging but mainly good condition, text clear and complete. Postcard One: "Dear Mr Wynne, | Very best thanks for your valued gift: a fine & distinguished poem."; Postcard 2: "[...] | The books can be got separately & there are cheap editions of those two books any bookseller can secure for you for 2/- & 2/6 each. | I'm afraid London has had enough of my plays. My daughter's paly is not about [?] folk." Two items,

[Eden Philpotts] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Wilfrid C. Mosley', regarding Mosley's poor choice of a piece of his prose for an anthology. [not traced]

Author: 
Eden Philpotts (1862-1960), English novelist, author of many works about Dartmoor and his native Devon [Helen Allingham]
Publication details: 
Torquay | 14 March 1913.
£45.00

4to, 1 p. Ten lines, edges a little damaged but text clear and complete, on flimsy paper. "You are welcome to the quotation from my school-boy story - if it is worth while. I could have wished, however, that in an anthology of serious prose you had given me credit as a serious writer & chosen something more interesting. With compliments [...]"

[Alexander Williamson, Laird of Balgray.] Fourteen Autograph Letters Signed to him from his French daughter-in-law, mainly regarding the renovation of her house, Dollar Mains, Clackmannanshire; four written jointly with his grand-daughter Ann.

Author: 
Alexander Williamson, Laird of Balgray (fl. 1802) [Mrs Williamson of Dollar Mains, Clackmannanshire, Scotland.]
Publication details: 
Six of the fourteen from Dollar Mains, Clackmannanshire, Scotland; one from 'Mrs. Fisher's Drummond Street', Edinburgh. Dating from 1799 (3), 1802 (5), 1803 (5), 1804.
£280.00

Totalling: 32pp., 4to; 3pp., foolscap 8vo; 3pp., 12mo. Each letter a bifolium, addressed on the reverse of the second leaf, with various postmarks, wafers and seals, and each docketted by the Williamson. The collection in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The fourteen letters addressed by 'E. Williamson' to 'Alexr.

[William Maynard, 2nd Baron Maynard.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Maynard') to Sir Richard Bulstrode, expressing puzzlement that his grandson should have visited Brussels without calling upon him, and asking him to show the boy favour.

Author: 
William Maynard, 2nd Baron Maynard (c.1623-1689) [Sir Richard Bulstrode (1617-1711), British ambassador at Brussels]
Publication details: 
'Windzor' [i.e. the Royal Court at Windsor]. 25 June 1686.
£180.00

2pp., 12mo. 49 lines of text. Bifolium. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf (which also carries his seal): 'For Sr Richard Bulstrode | Envoy from his Matie of greate Brittaine Att ye Court | Att Bruxells | these'.

Album containing 53 original photographs, with captions, by William Nichols, Farm Bailiff at Felix Hall, the country house of Sir Thomas Burch Western.

Author: 
William Nichols, photographer and Farm Bailiff at Felix Hall, Essex, the country house of Sir Thomas Burch Western
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [Felix Hall, Essex; 1860s.]
£2,500.00

An evocative collection of photographs, in which, unusually, a Victorian servant has been allowed to make a record of his masters, their country house, and household. The 53 photographs are laid down on 17 leaves of a contemporary stitched 4to album. In fair condition, lightly-aged, and with the brown marbled wraps of the album detached and separated from one another. Three of the photographs are lacking from the album.

Manuscript account [by Rev. Richard Lyne?] headed 'Humphry May an old Man of Back in Egloshayle parish brought a parcel to Little Petherick, and the following are some of his 'xpressions [expressions]', giving a transcript in West Country dialect.

Author: 
[Rev. Richard Lyne, Rector of Little Petherick, Cornwall?; Humphry May of Back in Egloshayle Parish]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [Little Petherick, Cornwall; 1830s?]
£120.00

2pp., 4to. 50 lines of text. On a single leaf of wove paper. Good: lightly worn on aged paper with slight damage to two words. A delightful exchange, with May's reply to the offer of a glass of rum beginning: 'Thanky Maister tis a nice dram. Ive agot the rousy cum stoundrums in my ears with the could. I pute a man to smoke perbacky in mun, and I rousted a Tryan and squeery cum squaten in till I sweat again with the hett and pain'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the herald painter for the College of Arms Gerald Cobb to the architectural historian Peter Reid, regarding a staircase in Bishopswood and his new book.

Author: 
Gerald Cobb (1899-1986), Queen Elizabeth II's herald painter for the College of Arms at the time of her coronation, and authority on ecclesiastical architecture [Peter Reid, architectural historian]
Publication details: 
College of Arms, London EC4. 7 June 1979.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. Seventeen lines of neatly-written text. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He apologises for the delay in replying to Reid's letter, and knows 'nothing about the staircase you mention as coming from a house in Holborn, & now in a house in Bishopswood.' He 'looked it up in R[oyal]. C[ommision]. H[istorical]. M[onumments]., (Vol. II) Hertfordshire (par. of Walford-on-Wye) but Bishopswood is only mentioned re some romann remains.' He hopes Reid is 'enjoying the Herefordshire countryside', and is himself finding life 'rather hectic'.

Manuscript 'Inventory of The Household Furniture and Effects at Stodham Park Liss Hants belonging to Capt B J. Marden December 16th 1920. Made for the Purpose of Fire Insurance.' [by G. Knight & Son, Auctioneers, Midhurst, Sussex]

Author: 
G. Knight & Son, auctioneers, Midhurst, Sussex [Captain Basil Jock Newton Marden (1893-1928) of Stodham Park, Liss, Hampshire]
Inventory of The Household Furniture and Effects at Stodham Park Liss Hants
Publication details: 
16 December 1920.
£350.00
Inventory of The Household Furniture and Effects at Stodham Park Liss Hants

236 pp, 8vo. In sturdily-bound landscape account book by Drake, Driver & Leaver of London, with black leather half-binding, green cloth boards, and marbled endpapers. Stamped in gilt on front board: 'INVENTORY. | G. KNIGHT & SON. | AUCTIONEER & VALUERS | HOUSE & ESTATE AGENTS | MIDHURST.' Good, on aged paper, in lightly-worn binding. Lined lengthwise across each two pages (like an oversized reporter's or policeman's notebook), each opening carrying a stamped number, and with the text on openings 1 to 119 of the 251 in the account book.

Typed Letter Signed ('Salisbury') to 'Miss Niggeman', responding to her comments on 'the Showing of the House at Hatfield'.

Author: 
Robert Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil (1893-1972), 5th Marquess of Salisbury [Hatfield House; Elvira Niggeman, secretary to Sir Harold Nicolson]
Publication details: 
5 April 1948; on embossed House of Lords letterhead.
£35.00

4to, 3 pp. 42 lines of text. Good, on aged paper. He is sorry not to have known about Niggeman's bank holiday visit to Hatfield House: 'it would have been an immense pleasure to us all to see you. Do come down and pay us a private call some other time.' The 'points' she makes 'are just the kind of thing we want to know'. Salisbury did not 'go round the Hosue with the visitors, for I did not wish to embarrass the guides; but clearly there is a good deal more organisation needed before our machinery works smoothly'.

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