CURTIS

[Robert C. Winthrop, American Whig politician, representative for Massachusetts.] Autograph Letter Signed to the English economist Nassau Senior, recommending to his attention the lawyer Charles Pelham Curtis, with reference to Daniel Webster.

Author: 
Robert C. Winthrop [Robert Charles Winthrop] (1809-1894), American Whig politician from Massachusetts [Nassau William Senior (1790-1864), economist; Charles Pelham Curtis (1792-1864); Daniel Webster]
Robert C. Winthrop
Publication details: 
‘Boston. 28th. April, / 1853.’
£220.00
Robert C. Winthrop

Written following the premature end of his political career in 1852. See Senior’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Addressed to ‘N. W. Senior Esqe.’ and signed ‘Robt. C. Winthrop.’ In good condition, lightly aged, and folded for postage. Begins: ‘My Dear Sir, / You may, perhaps, remember that I owed the pleasure of your acquaintance in 1847, to a letter of introduction from our late distinguished Statesman, Mr. Webster. [i.e. the celebrated Daniel Webster (1782-1852)] - Were Mr. W.

[‘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).

[ Vice-Admiral Sir Roger Curtis, British naval hero. ] Autograph Signature ('Roger Curtis') cut from letter.

Author: 
Vice-Admiral Sir Roger Curtis (1746-1816), officer of the Royal Navy, during the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary Wars, who distinguished himself at the Great Siege of Gibraltar
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£25.00

On a 1.75 x 4.25 cm rectangle of laid paper cut from letter. In fair condition, lightly aged, with paper from mount on reverse. A neat, firm signature, reading 'Roger Curtis'.

[ William Curtis, Tory politician and banker who coined the phrase 'the three Rs'. ] Autograph Letter in the third person to 'his friends Mess Nichols & Son' [ i.e. John Nichols and John Bowyer Nichols ], conveying directions for bookbinding.

Author: 
Sir William Curtis (1752-1829), banker and Tory politician, who coined the phrase 'the three Rs' [ John Nichols (1745-1826), printer and editor of the Gentleman's Magazine; John Bowyer Nichols ]
Publication details: 
Lombard Street [ London ]. 9 April 1823.
£120.00

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn. Frank on reverse of damaged second leaf to 'Mess Nichols & Son | Parliament Street | Printers | W Curtis'. Seventeen lines of directions to ' his friends Mess Nichols & Son', regarding the binding of legislative works, beginning with 'two Statute books of Geo the Fourth'. Regarding 'an odd, abridgment of some of Geo 3d' he writes: 'it is probable there may be more, if so begs Mess N & Son would get them & bind them, if not it will hardly be worth the expense of binding the one'.

[ Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Lucius Curtis') to an unnamed 'Dear Sir & Brother' (freemason?), regarding 'the Election of Poor Brother Moss' Son'.

Author: 
Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis (1786-1869), Royal Navy officer [ Freemasonry? ]
Publication details: 
Cosham [ near Portsmouth ]. 9 December 1862.
£90.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper. Newspaper cutting of obituary laid-down at foot. He asks to be sent 'some Printed cards, for the Election of Poor Brother Moss' Son'. These are wanted 'to send to a friend in Warwickshire, as also to one in Surrey - for them to Distribute.'

[Inscribed first edition.] Poems by A. Romney Green.

Author: 
A. Romney Green [Arthur Romney Green (d.1945); C. Curtis; The Astolat Press Guildford; R. Brimley Johnson [Reginald Brimley Johnson] (1867-1932), journalist and editor]
Publication details: 
A. C. Curtis | The Astolat Press Guildford | Brimley Johnson | London Office | MDCCCCI' [1901].
£150.00

vii + 96pp., 8vo. In grey cloth binding, with title printed on cover and spine. Internally good, on lightly-aged paper (with minor discoloration in three openings from pressed flowers), in worn and discoloured binding. Title-leaf printed in red and black (including publisher's device on title-page). On reverse of title: 'Seven copies of this edition on Japanese vellum and 500 on handmade only for sale printed by hand at the Astolat Press Guildford and there published November nineteen hundred & one.' Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: 'E. M. H. | from A. R. G. | 14 Dec.

Autograph Letter Signed from the poet and patron of the arts John Kenyon to 'Mr. Curtis' [George William Curtis of the New York Tribune], inviting him and his brother to dine with 'our genial friend Felton'. With portrait.

Author: 
John Kenyon (1784-1856), poet and patron [George William Curtis (1824-1892), American traveller; James Burrill Curtis (1822-1898); Cornelius Conway Felton (1807-1862), President of Harvard College]
Publication details: 
39 Devonshire Place [London]; 19 May [1847?].
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. Very good. Neatly presented, With the blank second leaf of the bifolium tipped in onto a large leaf of cream paper, with the engraved portrait of Kenyon (7 x 8 cm), extracted from a contemporary magazine, laid down above it, both items surrounded by a ruled border. Kenyon begins the letter: 'I have a male party to dine with me on Saturday next - consisting of persons whom you would I think like to meet - our genial friend Felton among them.

A Letter from an Old Unitarian, to a Young Calvinist. [Identified in manuscript as 'Mr. James Curtis' to 'John Curtis, his nephew'.]

Author: 
[James Curtis, unitarian; John Curtis, Calvinist; John Evan, printer, Bristol]
A Letter from an Old Unitarian, to a Young Calvinist
Publication details: 
Bristol: Printed by John Evans & Co. Sold by R. Hunter (successor to Mr. Johnson) St. Paul's Church-yard, London; and J. Fry, St. John-street, Bristol. 1816. [John Evans & Co. Printers, Bristol.]
£75.00
A Letter from an Old Unitarian, to a Young Calvinist

12mo, 24 pp. Disbound. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, with the last leaf loose. Two-page preface dated 'Bristol, Dec. 1815.' This copy is significant in that the author and recipient are identified in a contemporary hand on the title-page. The only copy listed on COPAC, at the British Library, is unattributed.

Original Typescript of an anonymous poem entitled 'The Ludlow Hunt Alphabet. An Adaptation.' ['The Ludlow Alphabet. An Adaptation.']

Author: 
[The Ludlow Hunt; fox-hunting; field sports; Sir William Michael Curtis (1859-1916)]
The Ludlow Hunt Alphabet. An Adaptation
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated. [Before 1906.]
£165.00
The Ludlow Hunt Alphabet. An Adaptation

4to, 6 pp, with a seventh leaf carrying the title 'The Ludlow Hunt Alphabet. An Adaptation.' (The title at the head of the poem itself is 'The Ludlow Alphabet. An Adaptation.') A genuine typescript, and not a reproduction. A poem of 128 lines, divided into 32 4-line stanzas. Fair, on aged paper, with the last leaf laid down on a leaf of an autograph album, with traces of a newspaper cutting on the reverse. Consisting of playful references to members of the Hunt, arranged alphabetically. First stanza: 'A's for Allcroft, on chestnut | With frontlet of blue.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Alfred Savoir'), in French, to 'Monsieur le Major'.

Author: 
'Alfred Savoir' (1883-1934, pen name of Alfred Poznanski), French dramatist and editor of Polish/jewish extraction
Publication details: 
Paris, 37 rue Bassano; date not stated.
£75.00

One page, quarto. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with strip from mount adhering to right-hand margin. He is pleased to be of assistance to General Ponsonby and his officers, and is happy to agree to the authorisation for Banso, as far as it concerns him. His English rights have been purchased by Curtis & Brown of London, to whom application must be made. He does not think they will ask for any remuneration. Asks the recipient to pass on his respects to the general, and in a postscript wonders whether he can tell him a good story concerning a lion hunt.

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