DICTIONARY

[Eric Blom [Eric Walter Blom], music critic, editor of the fifth edition of ‘Grove’s Dictionary’.] Typed Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Hyman’ [Leonard Hyman], regarding 'the Burney volumes' and 'Miss Kingdon-Ward'.

Author: 
Eric Blom [Eric Walter Blom] (1888-1959), Swiss-born music critic who settled in England, editor of the fifth edition of ‘Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians’ (1954) [Leonard Hyman, bookseller]
Publication details: 
26 January 1946; on letterhead of ‘Music & Letters’ (‘Founded January 1920, by A. H. Fox Strangways / Edited by Eric Blom’), Birmingham.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of music bookseller Leonard Hyman. 1p, 12mo. On creased and discoloured paper. Folded for postage. Signed ‘Eric Blom’. He thanks Hyman for letting him know about ‘the Burney volumes’. He is ‘almost ashamed at having decided not to have them for the moment. They are really only “stock”, as far as I am concerned, and as I don’t particularly want to spend all that at moment, [sic] I think I will let them go.’ Changing the subject, he reports that he ‘got into touch with Miss Kingdon-Ward and found her a very interesting girl.

[Samuel Cooper, surgeon and medical author.] Autograph Letter in the third person to 'the Board of Curators', asking for a library ticket for Michael Foster of Holywell.

Author: 
Samuel Cooper (1780-1848), surgeon and medical author whose ?Surgical Dictionary? was a standard textbook [Michael Foster (1810-1880), surgeon]
Publication details: 
?June 14 1833. / 7, Woburn Place? [London].
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ?Mr S Cooper?s compts to the Board of Curators and will be obliged if they will favour him with a ticket for the Library for his friend Mr M. Foster for 6 months / For Mr Michael Foster / of Holywell Bedfordshire / June 14 1833. / 7, Woburn Place?. A pencil note in a contemporary hand at the head of the page gives a list of works by ?Prof. Samuel Cooper F.R.S.?

[Joseph Bosworth, Old English scholar; Anglo-Saxon] Autograph Letter Signed to the antiquary T. J. Pettigrew, discussing Pettigrew's autobiography and the reception of his own ?Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language'.

Author: 
Joseph Bosworth (1788-1876), Old English scholar, author of ?Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language [Thomas Joseph Pettigrew (1791-1865), surgeon and antiquary, Librarian to the Duke of Sussex]
Publication details: 
?Rotterdam March 23d. 1840?.
£220.00

See the two men?s entries in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper with slight discolouration to top corners of second leaf, with a panel along the bottom of the second leaf cut away. Folded for postage. Addressed in the customary manner on reverse of second leaf, to ?T. J. Pettigrew Esqr. Dr. Phil. F.R.S. &c / Saville [sic] Row / London?, and signed ?Josh Bosworth.? With two postmarks (one of ?Dockhead / 1D. PAID?), and seal with small impression in red wax. He is happy to have received Pettigrew?s ?interesting Autobiography?: ?I sat down & cd.

[Arthur Young, lexicographer and adjuster of averages, Dundee.] Autograph Letter Signed, as ‘one of the proprietors’ of the London Institution, regarding forthcoming lectures by ‘Mr. J. Z Bell’ (the artist and fellow-Dundonian John Zephaniah Bell).

Author: 
Arthur Young, compiler of the 1846 ‘Nautical Dictionary’; Adjuster of Averages, Dundee; a proprietor of the London Institution [John Zephaniah Bell (1794-1883), Scottish artist]
Publication details: 
'43 Arundel Square (N) / 18 May 1863'.
£56.00

Young was the author of a well-received nautical dictionary (1846; second ed. 1863). His authorship of the present letter is established from the ‘List of Presents / Received for the General Library’, in the Journal of the London Institution, November 1872: ‘MARITIME LAW. Reports of Maritime Law Cases, 1868. 8vo. From Arthur Young, Esq., Prop., Lond. Inst.’ (The work was compiled by Young himself.) Like the subject of this letter J. Z. Bell, Young hailed from Dundee, and since Bell's mother's maiden name was Anna Young, it may be that Young and Bell were kinsmen, perhaps cousins. 1p, 12mo.

[Marghanita Laski, novelist, journalist and radio personality.] Autograph Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’, explaining her reasons for postponing future reviewing.

Author: 
Marghanita Laski [née Esther Pearl Laski] (1915-1988), novelist, journalist and radio personality [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’]
Publication details: 
15 December 1973; on letterhead of Capo di Monte, Windmill Hill, London NW3 (with upside-down letterhead of Les Forges de Montgaillard, 11 Mouthoumet).
£56.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. 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. The present item is 1p, small 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded.. Signed ‘Marghanita Laski’. She had no fears about the cheque for £50 he has sent: ‘I knew it would turn up.’ She thanks him for offering her ‘some reviewing.

[Book & ALSs] Frederick James Furnivall. A Volume of Personal Record. WITH: TWO Autograph Letters Signed F.J.F.

Author: 
John Munro and others (G.B. Shaw, May Morrris, Alfred Pollard, etc. etc.)
Publication details: 
Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, London, 1911.
£165.00

Short Biography by John Munro.Frederick James Furnivall A Volume of Personal Record with List of SubscribersRebound, hf-lea, rubbed, endpapers sl.

[ W. Gurney Benham; Playing Cards ] Substantial Autograph Letter Signed "W. Gurney Benham" to a "Mr Leftwich" [presumably B.R. Leftwich, author of "Customs and Excise History", etc], answering a question about duty on playing cards at length.

Author: 
Sir William Gurney Benham (1859–1944) was a newspaper editor, published author and three times Mayor of Colchester.
Publication details: 
[Printed heading] Essex County Standard Office, Colchester, 22 Nov. 1941.
£280.00

Two pages, 8vo, tipped on top slightly larger backing page, information about author typed under the letter, good condition. He thinks an author is wrong in a statement, saying "The duty levied under Charles I (fixed in 1628) was 36 pence [underlined] per gross on all playing cards, not 36 shillings [underlined]. Actually the duty was 2s. pergross but there was a further 1s. pergross payable to the Officer appointed as Receiver of the Duty.

[ Henry Gardiner Adams ('Nemo'), juvenile author. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('H G Adams') to 'Mr J S Lamb' [ regarding contributions to his 'Cyclopaedia of Poetical Quotations' ].

Author: 
H. G. Adams [ Henry Gardiner Adams ] (c.1811-1881) of Kent, druggist and author, writer of juvenile literature under the pseudonym 'Nemo'
Publication details: 
Rochester [ Kent ]. 29 September 1852.
£45.00

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium of grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. The letter would appear to be addressed to a contributor to Adams's 'Cyclopaedia of Poetical Quotations' (1853). It begins: 'Sir | I have much pleasure in acknowledging the receipt your obliging communications, and in thanking you therefore: the extract on Love I shall endeavour to find room for'. As it is 'a subject on which so many beautiful things have been said', he cannot include everything.

[ Sir George Grove, music administrator and writer. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('G. Grove') thanking 'Mrs. Bartholomew' for correcting a score.

Author: 
Sir George Grove (1820-1900), writer on music, founding editor of 'Grove's Dictionary', first director of Royal College of Music, organiser of Crystal Palace concerts
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Lower Sydenham, S.E. [ London ] 2 September [ 1878 ].
£120.00

2pp., 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. The year has been added in another hand in pencil. Reads: 'Most grateful to you dear Mrs Bartholomew for all your kind care & thought. I have yet to go finally through the sheets and correct all it [sic] stopping &c. so that your corrections will be of great use – I am just off to America for a good long holiday. | Good bye | Yours very truly | & obliged | G. Grove'.

[ Fitzedward Hall, American orientalist and contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary. ] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr. Harrison', regarding the stock of the London bookseller Edward Lumley.

Author: 
Fitzedward Hall (11825-901), American Orientalist, and philologist, Sanskrit scholar and a principal contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary
Publication details: 
Marlesford, Wickham Market [ Suffolk ]. 8 March 1878.
£220.00

3pp., 8vo. Bifolium on grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Harrison had previously procured, 'for the Library', a copy of 'Romantic Fiction', 'published by Edward Lumley, 40, Gower Street': 'At the end of the volume there is a catalogue of various books published by the same person. | Wishing to procure several of these, I wrote to my bookseller, Trübner, to get them for me.

[ Sir William Smith, lexicographer. ]

Author: 
Sir William Smith (1813-1893), lexicographer and editor of the Quarterly Review
Publication details: 
On his 'Biblical Dictionary' letterhead, 31 Regent's Villas, Avenue Road, N.W.. [ London]. 21 January 1858.
£90.00

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. He asks to be informed if the recipient has 'commenced any of your articles in C', as he 'may be able to restore some of the articles to you which have gone astray'. Clearly referring to an entry in the Dictionary, he offers to 'take Canticles off your hands'.

[ Printed volume. ] An Universal Etymological English Dictionary; comprehending The Derivations of the Generality of Words in the English Tongue, [...] To which is added, A Collection of our most common Proverbs, [...].

Author: 
'N. Bailey, [Philologos]' [ Nathan Bailey (d.1742), philologist and lexicographer ]
Publication details: 
'The Three and Twentieth Edition, with considerable Improvements'. London: Printed for J. Buckland, J. Beecroft, W. Strahan, J. Hinton, J. and F. Rivington, [and 29 others in London] 1773.
£45.00

A bulky 8vo volume, unpaginated. In fair condition, on aged paper, with damp staining to the last few leaves. In worn contemporary brown-leather binding, with spine in six compartments, and red label with title in gilt. Six copies of this edition on COPAC.

[ Printed item, inscribed by the author ('G Vapereau'). ] L'Année Littéraire et Dramatique.

Author: 
G. Vapereau, Auteur du Dictionnaire universel des Contemporains [ Louis Gustave Vapereau (1819-1906), French critic and lexicographer ]
Publication details: 
Première Année (1858). Paris: Librairie de L. Hachette et Cie, Rue Pierre-Sarrazin, No 14. 1859.
£180.00

viii + 491 + [1]pp., 8vo. Aged and slightly damp-stained along the fore-edge. In worn calf quarter-binding, marbled endpapers. Inscribed on half-title 'A M. J de Vasconcellos | Hommage de l'auteur | G Vapereau'.

[Compiler of Dictionary] Autograph Note, third person, to "Mr Cowper", re. autograph collecting.

Author: 
L.B. Phillips [Lawrence B. Phillips], compiler of "The Dictionary of Biographical Reference" (1871).
Publication details: 
[Printed heading] 12 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, 27 May 1871.
£35.00

One page, 12mo, minor staining, complete and clear. "L>B> Phillips persents his Compts. to Mr. Cowper and desires to inform him that not being a collector of Autographs her cannot assist in the exchange proposed. Mr P. has a large assortment of Fac-Similes".

[ Samuel Lewis, topographer. ] Printed prospectus, questionnaire and list of 'Subscribers in London': 'Preparing for publication, | By S. Lewis, | A Topographical Dictionary of England, | From a Personal Survey through every Parish in the Kingdom'.

Author: 
Samuel Lewis (c.1782-1865), topographer and publisher
Publication details: 
12, Devereaux-court, Temple, London. [Late 1820s.]
£200.00

4pp., folio. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper and creased paper, with slight damage to margins at foot of both leaves. Beneath the heading on the first page is a list of around 75 princes, dukes and lords, headed by 'His Most Gracious Majesty the King', under whose 'immediate patronage' the work is to be commenced. Beneath this, in small type is the prospectus, stressing the 'immense Labour and Expense' attending the work (Lewis later claimed had taken six years to compile it, at an outlay of £48,000), which is to be 'published in Four Volumes Quarto - Price 30s.

[ John Braddick of Boughton Mount ] Long manuscript responses to a questionnaire in a prospectus titled 'Preparing for publication, | By S. Lewis, | A Topographical Dictionary of England, | From a Personal Survey through every Parish in the Kingdom'

Author: 
John Braddick of Boughton Mount, Monchelsea, Kent, slave trader; Samuel Lewis (c.1782-1865), topographer and publisher
Publication details: 
Prospectus published from 12, Devereaux-court, Temple, London. [Late 1820s.]
£400.00

The prospectus is 4pp., folio. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper and creased paper, with slight damage to margins at foot of both leaves. Beneath the heading on the first page is a list of around 75 princes, dukes and lords, headed by 'His Most Gracious Majesty the King', under whose 'immediate patronage' the work is to be commenced.

[Printed advertising pamphlet.] What some famous Men say about "The Century".

Author: 
[The Century Dictionary, The Century Company, New York] [Augustine Birrell; Leslie Stephen; Clement Shorter; Sir Walter Besant; Edward Dowden; Dean Farrar; Sir Michael Hicks Beach; W. E. H. Lecky]
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated. [The Century Company, New York, circa 1901.]
£80.00

Printed on the rectos only of 27 16mo (17 x 10.5 cm) leaves, attached to one another by a metal stud in the top left-hand corner. On aged and creased high-acidity paper, with the first three leaves detached. Each leaf carries a transcript of a letter of endorsement from a different individual or group, each with a facsimile signature. The writers are 'The Editor and Proprietors of the "Sheffield Telegraph"'; Sir Michael Hicks Beach, MP; W. E. H. Lecky, MP; Lord Goschen; Viscount Wolseley; Dean Farrar; Sir James Crichton Browne; Sir J.

[Simplified Spelling Board, New York.] Twenty-five printed circulars, numbered 1-21, 23-25 (including two versions of 16), promoting English spelling reform.

Author: 
Simplified Spelling Board, New York [Thomas R. Lounsbury; Mark Twain; Calvin Thomas; Brander Matthews; Henry Holt; Burt G. Wilder; William Hayes Ward, Editor of The Independent; William H. Maxwell]
Publication details: 
The twenty-five items printed by the Simplified Spelling Board, 1 Madison Avenue, New York, between 30 April 1907 and 30 September 1911.
£950.00

The Simplified Spelling Board was founded in 1906, funded by Andrew Carnegie, and counted Mark Twain and President Theodore Roosevelt, and the English lexicographers James A. H. Murray, Walter W. Skeat and Joseph Wright among its members. The present collection of the Board's Circulars consists of 25 uniform items, all unbound and stapled. The collection is in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with occasional wear. Stamps, shelfmarks and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library, London.

Autograph Note Signed ('E Cobham Brewer. -') from Rev. Dr Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, compiler of 'Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable', thanking an unnamed correspondent for taking an interest in his work.

Author: 
Rev. Dr Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-1897), compiler of 'Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'
Publication details: 
Ruddington, Nottingham. 25 January 1881.
£45.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'Dear Sir | I have to thank you for the courtesy of your letter received by post this morning. It is always gratifying to an author when another takes an interest in what he has written'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. S. Henry') from Caleb Sprague Henry. editor of the New York Review, to William Whitwell Greenough, accepting an article, but complaining of Greenough's handwriting, and of 'a difficulty in getting Saxon type'.

Author: 
Caleb Sprague Henry (1804-1884), Episcopal clergyman and author, editor of the New York Review, Professor of History and Philosophy in New York University [William Whitwell Greenough (1818-1899]
Publication details: 
New York; 26 April 1838.
£350.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. 57 lines. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, to 'William W. Greenough | Andover | Massachusetts', with circular postmark in red ink and remains of red wax seal. Regarding 'the article on Bosworth's Anglo-Sax. Dict.', Henry writes: 'From the few first pages that I have read & the glance that I have given at the rest, I am satisfied that I shall be glad to print your article.

Engraved copperplate Certificate, completed in manuscript and signed by E. Gilbert Highton, with a long 'Private note' by him, notifying Williamson of his election to Fellowship in the Royal Society of Literature.

Author: 
Edward Gilbert Highton, Fellow and Secretary, Royal Society of Literature [George Charles Williamson (1858-1942), writer on art and historian of Guildford; George Bell & Sons]
Publication details: 
3 January 1890, on letterhead of the Royal Society of Literature.
£28.00

4to bifolium (leaf dimensions 26 x 20.5 cm). The notification certificate is on the recto of the first leaf, and Highton's letter is on the recto of the second. Versos of both leaves blank. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with 5 cm closed tear to margin of second leaf caused by removal of letter from stub, traces of which still adhere to the verso of the second leaf. The certificate is tastefully printed in black, with the Society's crest in red in the top left-hand corner.

DICTIONARIES and GRAMMARS Catalogue 891 [500 Books on Linguistics and the Diversity of Tongues].

Author: 
[DICTIONARIES AND GRAMMARS, LEXICOGRAPHY] Maggs Brothers booksellers' catalogue
Publication details: 
April 1964; London: Maggs Bros. Ltd. 50 Berkeley Square, London, W.1.
£45.00

8vo. Pages: [2 +] 142. Frontispiece and fourteen full-page plates on art paper at rear. In good condition, in original green printed wraps, worn and torn and with closed tear at head of spine. A few marks in soft pencil. An invaluable scholarly production.

Manuscript and Typescript sections of an apparently unpublished work on 'British music and its present state'; 2 Typed Letters Signed, 3 Autograph Cards Signed, 1 Typed Card Signed to Mary Eversley, Covent Garden Opera, with copies of two replies.

Author: 
Scott Goddard (c.1895-1965), British musicologist
Publication details: 
1931-1932.
£400.00

The collection as a whole is in good condition on aged paper. ITEM ONE: 90-page typescript headed 'II | ANTECEDENT', beginnning 'It has become a commonplace of musicology, at least in this country, that the first two decades of the Twentieth Century show an immense increase of creative activity in the composition of works of music by an astonishingly rich group of their [sic] young composers.

Autograph Letter Signed ""Coblence" to John Bellows, Printer and publisher (of a pocket French Dictionary), Gloucester.

Author: 
Victor Coblence
Publication details: 
Paris, 19 Rue des Missions, le 11 Juin 1877. En francais.
£195.00

Printer ("electrotype"). Four pages, 8vo, a few letters masked by a strip of brown paper on the last page, mainly good condition. A stamp (timbre) is stuck top left of page 1, with the image of an electrotype machine surrounded by the name "Victor Coblence" and the word "electrotypie". The contents of the letter indicate a close business relationship and contain many technical (printing) terms. In the first paragraph he discusses Sutton & Co and "la caisse renfermant la forme [a?] la cliche".

Autograph Letter Signed to [Osbert Guy Stanhope] Crawford.

Author: 
John Reginald Homer Weaver [DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY]
Publication details: 
7 September 1955; on letterhead of the Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall.
£35.00

One of the editors of the Dictionary of National Biography (born 1882). The recipient (1886-1957) was a noted archaeologist. Two pages, 12mo. In poor condition: creased, grubby, worn, stained and repaired. Weaver has just been reading Crawford's 'extremely interesting autobiography with its most original title' ('Said and done.

autograph fragment signed to unnamed correspondent,

Author: 
Marion Terry
Publication details: 
no date or place.
£15.00

English actress (1852-1930), sister of Ellen Terry and member of celebrated theatrical dynasty. Fragment of letter, one page, 16mo, of irregular shape. "[...] but I did & do wish you every success dear child & thank you so much for your sweet thoughts of me = / Yours with love / Marion Terry". Remains of mount to the blank reverse.

autograph note signed to unnamed correspondent,

Author: 
Marion Terry
Publication details: 
no date or place.
£12.00

English actress (1852-1930), sister of Ellen Terry and member of celebrated theatrical dynasty. One page, 12mo. Evidently in reply to a request for an autograph. "Yours truly / Marion Terry".

16mo fragment of ALS to unnamed correspondent

Author: 
Sir Sidney Lee (DNB), editor of the Dictionary of National Biography and Shakespeare scholar
Publication details: 
no date or place
£20.00

"I will carefully consider the suggestion and if the need arise will communicate with you again. | Yours faithfully | Sidney Lee"

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