critic

[Friedrich Spielhagen, German novelist and literary critic.] Autograph Signature for collector on otherwise blank-piece of paper.

Author: 
Friedrich Spielhagen (1829-1911), German novelist and literary critic
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£25.00

See his entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica. Elegant signature, with final flourish curving backwards above the signature. Clearly in response to a request for an autograph, on 14 x 10 cm piece of cream paper. In good condition, lightly aged.

[Sir Leslie Stephen, first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, father of Virginia Woolf.] Autograph Letter, Signed as ?The Editor of the Cornhill?, to an unnamed lady, declining the offer of an article.

Author: 
Sir Leslie Stephen (1832-1904), first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, author and literary critic, father of Virginia Woolf
Publication details: 
24 December 1874; on letterhead of the Cornhill Magazine, Smith, Elder & Co [London].
£180.00

For information regarding Sir Leslie Stephen, consult Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, though somewhat aged and worn, with strip of brown paper stub adhering to one edge. Folded for postage. Reads: ?Madam, / I am obliged by your offer of an article, but, though I agree with you that it has some merit, I regret that my engagements make it quite impossible for me to accept it. / Your truly / The Editor of the Cornhill? (?Cornhill? little more than a series of scratches). See Image.

[Philar?te Euphemon Chasles, French critic.] Autograph Letter Signed, in French, [to Charles Wentworth Dilke, editor of the Athenaeum,] criticising John Payne Collier?s scholarship.

Author: 
Philar?te Euphemon Chasles (1798-1873), French man of letters [John Payne Collier (1789-1883), Shakespearean critic and forger; Charles Wentworth Dilke (1789-1864), editor of the Athenaeum]
Publication details: 
No date or place. [Circa 1842.]
£100.00

See the entries on Collier and Dilke in the Oxford DNB. The eight volumes of Collier?s edition of Shakespeare?s works were first published between 1842 and 1844, with the sonnets and other poems in the last volume. The Athenaeum carried a long review of vols.2 and 3 of Collier?s edition on 9 July 1842, and another dealing with the biographical element of the entire work on 2 March 1844. From this letter it is clear that Chasles intended to review the eighth and last volume containing the sonnets (and may well have done so). The present item is 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium.

[Henry Reeve, editor of the Edinburgh Review for four decades.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the publisher Alexander Macmillan] regarding books he intends to review by Lady Godon Duff and J. R. Seeley.

Author: 
Henry Reeve (1813-1895), editor of the Edinburgh Review from 1855 to his death, Registrar of the Privy Council, 1843-1887 [Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896), publisher]
Publication details: 
11 May 1866. On embossed letterhead of the Privy Council Office [Whitehall].
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The recipient (‘Dear Sir’) is not named, but is presumably Alexander Macmillan (see Oxford DNB), the publisher of the two books referred to in the letter, which he seems to have sent for review. The letter is signed ‘H Reeve’. Folded for postage. He begins by thanking him for sending copies of ‘Lady Duff Gordon’s Letters [from Egypt]’ and ‘Ecce Homo’ [‘a survey of the life and work of Jesus Christ’ by J. R. Seeley], which he has ‘already read with great interest’.

[Clement Scott [Clement William Scott], theatre critic of the Daily Telegraph.] Autograph Letter Signed concerning London's Gaiety Theatre, burlesque and music.

Author: 
Clement Scott [Clement William Scott] (1841-1904), highly influential theatre critic, mainly working for the Daily Telegraph, who feuded with Shaw [Gaiety Theatre, London]
Publication details: 
'Sunday' [no date or place].
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Twenty-two lines of text. In good condition, lightly discoloured and worn. Folded for postatge. The addressee’s name is unclear. Signed ‘Clement Scott’.

'[Robin Humphrey Legge (pen-name ‘Musicus’), chief music critic of the Daily Telegraph.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Richards’, declaring a desire to meet Hornung (author of the ‘Raffles’ books), discussing his brother’s ‘cruel death’.

Author: 
Robin Humphrey Legge (pen-name ‘Musicus’) (1862-1933), chief music critic of Daily Telegraph, early champion of Elgar and Puccini [Ernest William Hornung (1866-1921), author of the 'Raffles' books]
Publication details: 
5 January or 1 May 1901.
£45.00

See his obituary in The Times, 7 April 1933, and Hornung's entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. With mourning border. In fair condition on discoloured paper. Folded for postage. Begins: ‘My dear Richards, / Greetings! / I should like very much to meet Hornung - practically any day would suit me. I admire his book immensely, not only for the excellence of its workmanship but the remarkable manner of the characterization. It struck me as being intensely sincere.’ He hopes that the Richards clan are well (‘all of you’): ‘We are molto moderato so to speak - My brother’s cruel death in S.

[J. A. Fuller Maitland [John Alexander Fuller Maitland], music critic and musicologist.] Autograph Letter Signed, regarding a lecture the recipient is about to give on 'a subject which is especially dear' to him.

Author: 
J. A. Fuller Maitland [John Alexander Fuller Maitland] (1856-1936), influential music critic and musicologist, who championed the work of Purcell, Stanford and Parry
Publication details: 
21 November [1899]. On letterhead of 39 Phillimore Gardens, Kensington, W. [London]
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, landscape 12mo. On bifolium of grey paper. The letter is complete, on what appears to be the upper half of a 4to bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with stamp, postmark and remains of autograph address on reverse of second leaf, with traces of mount. Signed ‘J A Fuller Maitland’. Begins: ‘Dear Sir / Very many thanks for your book, the second copy of which has just come. I shall hope to be able to come & hear your lecture on a subject which is especially dear to me.

[Ebenezer Prout, composer, musicologist, music critic of the Athenaeum.] Autograph Letter Signed explaining his inability to get the piece 'Christophorus' performed.

Author: 
Ebenezer Prout (1835-1909), composer, musicologist, music critic of the Athenaeum, London
Publication details: 
‘12 Greenwood Road, / Dalston. E. [London] / 4 Sept. 1885.’
£100.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Forty-nine lines. Bifolium. On aged and worn paper, with the reverse of the second leaf laid down on cut-down remains of leaf of autograph album, with a number of autographs on slips laid down on the reverse, including that of Charles Hallé, cut from a letter. Prout’s letter is signed ‘Ebenezer Prout’, but the recipient is not named.

[Logan Pearsall Smith, American-born British essayist and literary critic associated with the Bloomsbury Group.] Autograph Letter in the third person regarding the dinner of the Royal Literary Fund.

Author: 
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946), American-born British essayist and literary critic associated with the Bloomsbury Group
Publication details: 
14 June 1921. On letterhead of 11 St Leonard’s Terrace, Chelsea [London].
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Written in the year in which Smith made his one return to America after becoming a British citizen in 1913. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. On grey paper. Reads: ‘Mr. L. Pearsall Smith regrets that he will be away from London on July 6th & will not be able to attend the Dinner of the Royal Literary Fund on that date.’

[Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey, Scottish judge and literary critic, editor of the Edinburgh Review.] Autograph Letter Signed to Lady Theresa Lewis, making arrangement's for a visit, and reporting on the health of his wife 'Charly'.

Author: 
Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850), Lord Jeffrey, Scottish judge and literary critic, editor of the Edinburgh Review [Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), author]
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, with that of the recipient Lady [Maria] Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), who lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge with her second husband Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart, her first husband having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). 32mo, 2pp. On the two sides of a piece of gilt-edged paper. In good condition, folded once for postage. Signed ‘F Jeffrey’. A difficult hand.

[Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey, Scottish judge and literary critic, editor of the Edinburgh Review.] Autograph Signature on envelope sealed in red wax, and Autograph address to James Gibson Craig.

Author: 
Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850), Lord Jeffrey, Scottish judge and literary critic, editor of the Edinburgh Review [Sir James Gibson Craig (1765-1850), lawyer and politician]
Jeffrey
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£35.00
Jeffrey

See his entry, and Craig’s, in the Oxford DNB. 13 x 9 cm envelope, with seal (no impression of any kind) in red wax over the broken flap. In good condition, lightly aged. On the front of the envelope, in Jeffrey’s hand, ‘To / James Gibson Craig Esqre / 7. North St Andrew Street’. Beneath this, at bottom left and between the customary lines is the signature ‘F. Jeffrey’.

[Douglas Cooper, English art critic, friend of Picasso and champion of cubism.] Typed Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, publisher of ‘Art and Artists’, covering a number of subjects, personal and political.

Author: 
Douglas Cooper (1911-1984), English art critic, friend of Picasso, lover of Sir John Richardson, with whom he created a gallery of cubist art at the Chateau de Castille [Philip Dosse (1925-1980)]
Publication details: 
12 June [1979]. On letterhead of the Chateau de Castille, 30 Argilliers, T 10 Vers (par Nimes).
£180.00

See the entries for Cooper (born Arthur William Douglas Cooper) and Richardson in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of the recipient, Philip Dosse, who was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Art and Artists and Books and Bookmen. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. 2pp, 8vo, on a single leaf of air mail paper. Forty-six lines of text. Somewhat worn and creased, but in fair condition overall.

[John Ruskin, prominent art critic, etc.] Autograph Note Signed J Ruskin to My dear Con (presumably one of his circle called Constance) wishing her (conversationally) a happy Christmas and anicipoating a visit.

Author: 
John Ruskin (1819-1900), prominent Victorian art critic, author, artist and thinker
Ruskin
Publication details: 
Xmas day 63
£650.00
Ruskin

One page, 12mo, good condition, laid down on part of an album page (see note below). Text: My dear Con, | Many and many a Happy Christmas to you- & to all who love you - that's a wide wish I know. | Now - when & how do you & mama want me to come to yoy. I will be at your [underlined] orders, (provided they are peremptory-) any day after New Years day. | Thank mama for her kind note. | Ever affectionately Your | J Ruskin. Note: Item detached from Meredith family album containing letters from distinguished contemporaries such as Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Clemenceau, etc etc.

[John Ruskin.] Carte de visite by Elliott & Fry, London, with facsimile signature.

Author: 
John Ruskin, pre-eminent Victorian art critic; Elliott & Fry, nineteenth-century London photographers noted for their cartes de visite
Ruskin
Publication details: 
1867 or 1869. Elliott & Fry, 55, Baker Street, Portman Square, London, W.
£150.00
Ruskin

Rather long for a carte de visite: 6 x 9 cm albumen print laid down on 6.5 x 10.5 cm card. In fair condition, lightly discoloured and worn. On the card beneath the photograph is a facsimile of Ruskin’s signature (‘John Ruskin’) and ‘ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55. BAKER ST.’ Printed on the reverse is the royal crest and the firm’s address. A copy of the present item was offered by Sotheby’s in 2021, dated to 1867, with the claim that it was ‘signed on the mount’. That claim is erroneous: the signature to that copy is identical with the present lithographed one.

[John Wilson, the 'Christopher North' of Blackwood's.] Autograph Note Signed requesting a copy (for review) of Madame Cottin's romance about Saladin'.

Author: 
‘Christopher North’ [John Wilson (1785-1854)], Scottish literary critic and essayist with Blackwood’s magazine, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh [Madame Cottin [Marie Cottin (1770-1807]]
Publication details: 
No date or place [1805. Edinburgh?].
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. Addressed on reverse of second leaf: ‘123456 / [T. W. Naellz?] Esqr / Ambleside’. Aged and worn, with closed tears along folds, and damage to second leaf from breaking of seal. Reads: ‘Dear Sir / If you can send me Madame Cottin’s romance about Saladin you will much oblige me. / Yours truly / John Wilson’. Good large signature. The first edition of ‘The Saracen; Or, Matilda and Melek Adhel: A Crusade Romance, From the French of Madame Cottin, with an Historical Introduction, by J.

[Edmund Blunden, English poet and critic, Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford, nominated six times for the Nobel Prize in Literature.] Autograph Note Signed [to Eileen Cond], appending ‘the autograph which you requested’.

Author: 
Edmund Blunden (1896-1974), poet and critic, Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford, nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature six times [Eileen Cond (1911-1984), autograph collector]
Blunden
Publication details: 
1 April 1936; 9 Woodstock Close, Oxford.
£45.00
Blunden

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is not named, but the item is from the papers of Eileen Cond, an enthusiastic collector of autographs. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. In Blunden’s stylish hand the note simply reads: ‘[9 Woodstock Close / Oxford] / 1 April 1936 / Dear Madam / I append the autograph which you requested. / yours faithfully / Edmund Blunden.’

[Clement Scott [Clement William Scott], theatre critic of the Daily Telegraph.] Two copies of studio portrait postcard of Scott, both signed and inscribed by him, with a similarly inscribed postcard of his second wife.

Author: 
Clement Scott [Clement William Scott] (1841-1904), highly influential theatre critic, mainly working for the Daily Telegraph, who feuded with Shaw; his second wife, née Constance Margarite Brandon
Publication details: 
One of Scott's cards dated by him to 1902, the other with postmark of Ingatestone, Essex, dated 1904; his wife's dated 1906. Place not stated.
£90.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The postcards are bromide prints, and 9 x 14 cm. The two identical images of Scott, dressed for the theatre, with curled moustache and flower in his buttonhole, are both inscribed. In the bottom margin of one he has written ‘late of the D. T.’; in the same position on the other, and rather poignantly considering his later history, ‘Remember me / Clement Scott / 1902’. The former card is addressed by Scott on the reverse, with Ingatestone postmark dated 27 February 1904, to ‘Mr S. Le Sage / Maisonette / Ingatestone / Essex’.

[Sir Robert Witt, art historian and collector, co-founder of the Courtauld Institute in London.] Typed Card Signed (‘R. W.’) ordering item from catalogue of bookseller J. A. Neuhuys.

Author: 
Sir Robert Witt [Sir Robert Clermont Witt], art historian and collector, co-founder of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and National Art Collections Funds, Trustee of the National Gallery
Publication details: 
31 December 1923. On his letterhead, 32 Portman Square, W1 [London].
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In fair condition, lightly aged and with slight wear at base. Typed address to ‘Mr. J. A. Neuhuys, / 37, Dean Road, / Willesden Green, / N. W. 2’. Reads: ‘Will you please send me on approval No. 582a, from your catalogue No. 29. / R. W.’ Recipt marked with red date stamp of 1 January 1924, and message lightly crossed out in pencil.

[‘Reeking of the dungheap’: Sir Claude Phillips, first Keeper of the Wallace Collection.] Anonymous original manuscript poem in Latin, with English translation in same hand, attacking him as a ‘lustful’ user of ‘language planted with dirty refuse'.

Author: 
Sir Claude Phillips (1846-1924), first Keeper of the Wallace Collection, art critic of the Daily Telegraph [Albert Curtis Clark (1859-1937), Corpus Christi Professor of Latin at Oxford?]
Publication details: 
No date [circa 1920?] or place, but circa 1920? On paper watermarked ‘The Club Note | Thomas & Sons | London’.
£100.00

The circumstances surrounding this extraordinary original composition in Latin verse are obscure. See Phillips’s entry in the Oxford DNB, which notes that there was ‘an air of Proust’ about him, and quotes Oliver Brown’s description of him as ‘a stout man, immaculately dressed and heavily scented, who talked continuously while he looked at the pictures'. It may be that Phillips and the author of the poem had been educated together, or that they were members of the same club (the Athenaeum for example).

[Saint-Marc Girardin of the Académie Française, French Orléanist politician, professor, and anti-Romantic literary critic.] Autograph Letter Signed, in French, asking ‘Monsieur le Marechal’ for an audience.

Author: 
Saint-Marc Girardin (1801-1873) of the Académie Française, French Orléanist politician, professor, and anti-Romantic literary critic with the Journal des débats and the Revue des deux mondes
Publication details: 
No date. Rue de l’Odean 27 [Paris].
£56.00

1p, 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Removed from an album, and with stub still adhering to inner edge. Folded twice. He asks to be accorded ‘un quart d’heure d’audiénce’, as he is leaving on a journey and needs a passport and letters of recommendation. The recipient is not named, but he has written ‘Samedi à midi’ at top left.

[Kenneth Hopkins, poet, critic and crime writer.] ‘Three Sonnets’ by Kenneth Hopkins in ‘The Grasshopper Broadsheets’ series of publications, with Signed Autograph Inscription to London bookseller Andrew Block.

Author: 
Kenneth Hopkins [Hector Kenneth Hopkins] (1914-1988), poet, critic and crime writer [Andrew Block, London bookseller]
Publication details: 
‘Number Three. Third Series. March, 1944.’ ‘Printed by Bacon & Hudson, Ltd., Derby, and published by Kenneth Hopkins, 670, Osmaston Road, Derby.’
£56.00

See Hopkins’s entry in the Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. His papers are in the Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas. The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. Printed on one side of a foolscap 8vo leaf. A tasteful piece of provincial printing. Worn, creased and dog-eared, with closed tears at head. Inscribed at bottom-right: ‘for Andrew Block / Kenneth Hopkins’. Titled ‘THREE SONNETS’ and signed in type ‘KENNETH HOPKINS’.

[John Oxenford, playwright, translator and theatre critic of The Times.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the editor of the Athenaeum], expressing thanks for a ‘very handsome and prominent notice’ of the ‘German Tales’ he has written with C. A. Feiling.

Author: 
John Oxenford (1812-1877), playwright, translator and theatre critic of The Times, promoter of Schopenhauer and Richard Wagner [the Athenaeum, London; C. A. Feiling]
Publication details: 
10 December 1844. 12 Birchin Lane [London].
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On brittle, discoloured paper, cropped at foot. Signed (‘J. Oxenford’). The recipient is not named, but is clearly the editor of the Athenaeum. Reads: ‘Sir/- / In the name of Mr. C. A. Feiling and myself, I beg leave to thank you for the very handsome and prominent notice of our “German Tales” which appeared in the Athenaeum of the 30th. ult. - You will confer a further obligation by letting the gentleman who wrote the article [know] how much we feel indebted to his kindness.’

[‘The last production of the late Mr. Dutton Cook’.] Corrected Autograph Manuscript of Edward Dutton Cook’s last story ‘ “Columbines all of a Row” ’, completed within days of his death and published in 'Hood's Comic Annual'. Signed: ‘Dutton Cook’.

Author: 
Dutton Cook [Edward Dutton Cook] (1829-1883), author, journalist, artist, engraver, drama critic of the Pall Mall Gazette [Hood's Comic Annual]
Dutton Cook
Publication details: 
Undated, but written in 1883. Addressed in autograph at head: ‘Dutton Cook / 69 Gloucester Crescent. N.W’.
£250.00
Dutton Cook

For information on Cook see his biography in the Oxford DNB, which points out that the subtlety of his later fiction was lost on his contemporaries, being written in a style that ‘was not sufficiently sensational’ for the period. The present item is the complete text of the last thing Cook ever wrote: a story which appeared in the weeks following his death, in Hood’s Comic Annual for 1884 (London, 1883).

[Sainte Beuve] Autograph Note Signed Sainte Beuve. No addressee.

Author: 
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804 – 1869), French literary critic.
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£100.00

Paper, 9.5 x 10cm, laid down on larger piece of paper, part of album page, good condition. Vous sentez bien que votre approbation m'est precieuse. Elle l'est par ille-meme & par ce qu'ille suppose - Je suis d'ailleurs toujours un invalide, & ma sante, depuis trois mois et demi, [?] restee avc un grave [accrue?]. | A vous [...]

[L. A. G. Strong, novelist and critic.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Leonard.') to 'Terence' [BBC Producer Terence Dudley?], discussing a proposed broadcast lecture.

Author: 
L. A. G. Strong [Leonard Alfred George Strong] (1896-1958), novelist, critic, and poet, a director of the publishers Methuen Ltd [Terence Dudley, BBC producer]
Publication details: 
10 May 1958. On letterhead of Dromore, Old Frensham Road, Farnham, Surrey.
£50.00

2pp, 12mo. On aged and creased paper, with two torn spike holes resulting in loss of a few letters of text. Date stamp on reverse. The recipient is not named, but is presumably the BBC producer Terence Dudley (1919-1988). Writing three months before his death, Strong begins the letter: 'My dear Terence, | How very kind of you! I [d]on't have any dignity in such matters! and I'd love to have a go, whether live or recorded.

[Christopher Fry annotates a book about his work, inscribed to him by the author.] Christopher Fry | By Glenda Leeming.

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century English verse drama; Glenda Leeming
Publication details: 
Twayne Publishers, A Division of G. K. Hall & Co., Boston. 1990.
£450.00

xv + 179pp, 8vo. Good tight copy in brown cloth, in worn printed dustwrapper. Frontispiece portrait of Fry. Inscribed on front free endpaper: 'To Christopher Fry | from | Glenda Leeming | with love'. In her preface Leeming notes Fry's 'patience and tolerance, as well as his helpful explanations of his plays, his intentions, and their realization'. The volume contains pencil annotations between pp.43 and 73, mostly relating to 'The Lady's not for Burning'. All are marginal indications of passages with vertical lines, apart from two annotations suggesting a degree of impatience with the text.

[George Henry Lewes, editor of the Fortnightly Review, 'husband' of the novelist 'George Eliot' (Mary Ann Evans).] Autograph Letter Signed ('G H Lewes'), to Reginald Stuart Poole, regarding his article on 'Pagan and Muslim Arabs'.

Author: 
G. H. Lewes [George Henry Lewes] (1817-1878), critic and philosopher, editor of the Fortnightly Review, 'husband' of the novelist 'George Eliot' (Mary Ann Evans) [Reginald Stuart Poole (1832-1895)]
Publication details: 
'Friday' (no date, but in 1865); on letterhead of The Fortnightly Review, Office, 193 Piccadilly [London].
£380.00

2pp, 12mo. Twenty-seven lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. A nice item, giving an indication of Lewes's editorial principles at the Fortnightly Review (he held the position from 1865 to the following year). Addressed to 'R. S. Poole'. He begins by explaining that he only returned to England the previous night, '& found your notes & m.s awaiting me'.

[Alphonse Karr, French critic, novelist and editor of Le Figaro.] Autograph Note Signed ('Alphonse Karr'), renewing a request for a meeting with 'Monsieur le ministre de la marine'.

Author: 
Alphonse Karr [Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr] (1808-1890), French critic, journalist, novelist and floriculturalist, editor of Le Figaro
Publication details: 
No date. Rue de Clichy 5 [Paris].
£50.00

On one side of an irregular piece of thin paper, roughly 12.5 x 13.5 cm. From the celebrated autograph collection of Richard Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton), and neatly mounted on a leaf extracted from an album. He writes that a few days previously he wrote to ask 'Monsieur le ministre de la marine' for 'une audience de q[uel]ques instants'. He fears that the letter did not reach him, and so renews his request. Signed 'salut et paternité | Alphonse Karr'.

[Charles Harold Herford, literary scholar, editor of Ben Jonson, professor in Wales and in Manchester.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'C H Herford') to 'Armstrong', regarding an 'indiscretion' and 'more timid & more cruel' proposals.

Author: 
C. H. Herford [Charles Harold Herford] (1853-1931), Manchester-born literary scholar, editor of Ben Jonson with Percy and Evelyn Simpson, professor in Wales and Manchester
Publication details: 
25 and 26 September 1914. Each on letterhead of 5 Parkfield Road, Didsbury, Manchester.
£35.00

Both in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: 2pp, 12mo. He 'must bear the entire blame' for 'an indiscretion', and is 'exceedingly sorry'. 'Nothing was said between us in regard to the giving or withholding of addresses, & I had not at that time considered the point.

[Herbert van Thal and J. C. Trewin discuss the possibility of a book on the murderer Eugene Aram.] Typed Letter Signed from van Thal, with copy of Typed Letter from Trewin, on theatrical matters, with two-age treatment of Trewin's proposed book.

Author: 
J. C. Trewin [John Courtenay Trewin] (1908-1990), author and journalist; Herbert van Thal [Bertie Maurice van Thal] (1904-1983), author, publisher, agent and anthologist; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London
Publication details: 
Both letters from London, March 1978. Van Thal's letter on letterhead of the publishers Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
£56.00

ONE: Typed Letter Signed from 'Bertie' (i.e. Herbert van Thal) to 'John' (i.e. J. C. Trewin). 15 March 1978. On letterhead of the London publishers Weidenfeld & Nicolson. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The letter reads: 'My dear John, Alas, they do not think that they would be able to sell this Eugene Aram idea here, without the backing of a television programme or a film to back it up. But Orbis recently asked me if I had any ideas, and I have sent it on to them. Will let you know what they have to say.

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