DECADENCE

[ Félicien Rops, Belgian Symbolist engraver. ] Aquatint engraving of a fashionable couple chatting while serenaded by a lutanist, with a Spanish ball behind them around a plinth on which a sphinx sits while being kissed by the winged head Hypnos.

Author: 
[ Félicien Rops (1833-1898), Belgian Symbolist engraver ]
Publication details: 
[ Without place. ] 1876.
£250.00

Printed in black ink on one side of a piece of 26.5 x 19 cm paper wove paper. Unsigned and without caption or text, but unmistakably the work of Rops, and with his name written in light pencil in the margin. Apparently a proof. Dimensions of plate 16 x 9 cm, and of the illustration itself 11 x 6.5 cm. Aged and creased, with spotting at head.

[ Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet. ] Envelope, addressed in autograph to 'The Hon. J. Leicester Warren'.

Author: 
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909), English poet
Publication details: 
With two London postmarks dated 24 July 1875.
£45.00

The envelope is 7 x 12 cm, with penny stamp printed on. In fair condition, lightly-aged, with back flap intact (i.e ungummed rather than cut open). The address - certainly in Swinburne's hand - simply reads: 'The Hon. J. Leicester Warren | 67 Onslow Square | S.W.'

Manuscript Letter, written by an amanuensis for the blind poet 'P. B. Marston' [Philip Bourke Marston], to John T. Baron of Blackburn, referring to two of his books, and to a photograph taken six years before, which 'does not please' his friends.

Author: 
Philip Bourke Marston (1850-1887), blind English poet, protégé of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and friend of James Thomson ('B. V.') [John T. Baron of Blackburn autograph hunter]
Publication details: 
191 Euston Road, London. 11 October 1882.
£56.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In stamped and postmarked envelope, addressed in the same hand to 'J. Y. [sic] Baron Esq. | 48, Griffin Street, | Tritton | Blackburn'. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in slightly discoloured envelope. It is not known who acted as Marston's amanuensis after the death of his sister Cicely in 1878: the present letter is written in a neat and somewhat childish hand. It dates from what had been an extremely trying year for Marston, with Rossetti dying the previous April, and the dying James Thomson being carried from Marston's rooms two months later.

Two Autograph Letters Signed from the Oxford Professor of Fine Arts, Selwyn Image, to 'My dear Barnard' [Rev. P. M. Barnard?], regarding funghi and moths.

Author: 
Selwyn Image (1849-1930), Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University [Rev. Percy Mordaunt Barnard (1868-1941) of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, antiquarian bookseller]
Publication details: 
Both from 20 Fitzroy Street, W.; 12 and 17 August 1908.
£175.00

Both items good, on aged paper. Written in Image's distinctive calligraphic hand. Letter One (12 August 1908): 1 p, 12mo. The 'Galatheas' arrived the previous evening 'quite safe'. 'Fancy your being at The Warren as well as at Deal! The Warren [Folkestone] is famous for being stocked with good things. You are indeed in the very heart of the richest entomological country in England.' Letter Two (17 August 1908): 2 pp, 12mo. He is delighted with 'these beautiful ochroleuca, which arrived this afternoon quite safely'.

Autograph Signature, in roman script ('A. N. Roussoff').

Author: 
Alexandre Nicolaievich Roussoff [Alexandre Nicolaïevitch Roussoff or Volkoff-Muromsoff] (1844-1928), Russian artist and rival of Whistler
Publication details: 
Dated 'Cairo 1892'. On letterhead of the Cairo Continental Hotel.
£56.00

On piece of watermarked laid paper 12.5 x 13.5 cm. In fair condition: lightly-aged and creased. Clearly in response to a request for an autograph. Firmly written, with the signature 5.5 cm long. Reads 'A. N. Roussoff | Cairo 1892'. Roussoff famously wagered that he could produce a dozen pastels indistinguishable from those of Whistler. He lost the bet, and was 'obliged to take a course of mud baths after his defeat'.

A London Comedy and Other Vanities. With seven reproductions of pictures by Maurice Greiffenhagen.

Author: 
Egan Mew [Maurice Greiffenhagen; Elkin Mathews]
Publication details: 
London: George Redway. Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Limited, Stamford Street and Charing Cross. 1897.
£175.00

AUTHOR'S COPY, WITH HIS MANUSCRIPT REVISIONS FOR THE SECOND EDITION. Octavo: 96 pages. Seven plates (of eight). Original olive cloth gilt, with pierrot on front board. Numbered copy twelve in the edition. One leaf (pages 49-50) removed. Aged, and in heavily worn boards. Carrying manuscript changes on twenty-two pages, as well as on a plate and the front board. Cutting loosely inserted, regarding a couplet by 'E. V. L.' of Brighton (clearly E. V. Lucas) addressed to Mew regarding the word 'hyperbole'. Six of Greiffenhagen's seven illustrations are present.

Autograph Note Signed to [?] Locker [Arthur Locker or Frederick Locker-Lampson]

Author: 
Charles Hamilton Aidé [Aide, Aïdé]
Publication details: 
Without date; on letterhead 'Aston Clinton, | Tring.'
£25.00

Author and musician (1826-1906), described by Louise Jopling as 'a rich bachelor' and 'a noted figure in the seventies'. 1 page, 16mo. In good condition despite slight creasing and discoloration. Letterhead in green and black ink. Reads 'My dear Locker, | Many thanks - I will meet you at the Athenaeum at 3 o'Ck. on Tuesday - I have done, & shall do nothing till then. | Every yrs. | Hamilton Aïdé'.

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