ELDER

[Printed pamphlet.] Shakespeare’s Handwriting / Facsimiles of the Five Authentic Autograph Sigatures of the Poet / Extracted from Sidney Lee’s ‘Life of William Shakespeare’. With cutting from 'The Academy' regarding the play 'Sir Thomas More'.

Author: 
[Sir Sidney Lee; William Shakespeare]
Shakespeare
Publication details: 
London / Smith, Elder & Co., 15 Waterloo Place / 1899. [Magazine cutting from 'The Academy', London, 1899.]
£80.00
Shakespeare

Now scarce. Among the six copies listed on JISC, only three (BL, Cambridge, NLW) are in the deposit libraries. Unpaginated 12mo pamphlet, w Iith page of contents, four pages of ‘Explanatory Note’ and three pages of facsimiles, on six leaves of shiny art paper, stitched into grey printed wraps with title on cover and two pages of advertisements at rear. In fair condition, lightly aged, in grubby wraps with tiny nick lost from bottom corner of front wrap.

[John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, general who commanded the Walcheren Campaign of 1809.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Chatham') to Rev. Dr H. Adams, sending an autograph of his brother William Pitt the Younger [not present].

Author: 
John Pitt (1756-1835), 2nd Earl of Chatham, British general who commanded the disastrous Walcheren Campaign of 1809; elder brother of William Pitt the Youngerq
Publication details: 
13 April 1829. Charles Street [London].
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to blank second leaf of bifolium. Folded twice. He returned 'but very late from Brighton, and was afterwards very unwell, which added to a great deal of business', prevented him from finding for Adams 'an Autograph of my Brothers, which I promised you some time back'. He is now enclosing the autograph, but apologises that he has 'none of my Father's [i.e. William Pitt the elder] to send you, for among his letters, there are no copies preserved in his own hand writing.'

[Andrew Duncan the elder, Scottish physician, Professor at Edinburgh University.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Andrew Duncan Sen') to an unnamed member of the British Cabinet, recommending Patrick Neill as Professor of Horticulture at Edinburgh.

Author: 
Andrew Duncan the elder (1744-1828), Scottish physician, Professor at Edinburgh University, joint founder of Royal Society of Edinburgh [Patrick Neill (1776-1851); Caledonian Horticultural Society]
Publication details: 
4 June 1827; Edinburgh.
£150.00

According to Duncan's entry in the Oxford DNB, 'In 1809 he founded the Caledonian Horticultural Society, and in later years he was actively occupied in promoting the establishment of a public experimental garden.' 2pp, 4to. In good condition, on aged paper, creased. The recipient is not named, and the letter begins: 'Although I have already often interrupted important business of State, yet I trust you will once more, forgive an Octogenarian, when he can plead, that his principal temptation, to transgression, is an earnest desire to promote the publick good -'.

[Andrew Duncan, the elder, Scottish physician and Professor at Edinburgh University.] Autograph Letter Signed ('A Duncan Sen.') to 'Samuel Parks', i.e. the chemist Samuel Parkes, regarding the discourse he delivered at an award to Parkes.

Author: 
Andrew Duncan, the elder (1744-1828), Scottish physician and Professor at Edinburgh University, joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh [Samuel Parkes (1761-1825), eminent chemist]
Publication details: 
Adams Square [Edinburgh]; 29 August 1825.
£180.00

For the recipient Samuel Parks, internationally-renowned chemist and member of twenty-one learned societies, see his entry in the Oxford DNB, which explains his presence in Edinburgh at the time of the letter by explaining that it was during a visit to the city in June 1825 that Parkes 'was attacked by a painful disorder, which proved fatal'. 1p, 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to reverse of second leaf, which is addressed by Duncan to 'Samuel Parks [sic] Esqr | 59 Lothian Street'.

[Donald Monro, Physician General to the Army.] Autograph Letter Signed ('D. Monro. | Physician to the Army.') [to Thomas Cadell the elder, London bookseller], proposing terms for a revised edition of his 'Account of the Diseases'.

Author: 
Donald Monro (1727-1802), Physician General to the Army, and medical author [Thomas Cadell the elder (1742-1802), London bookseller, successor to Andrew Millar (1705-1768)in the Strand]
Publication details: 
'Cox-Heath [Coxheath military camp near Maidstone, Kent] | Septr 21st – 1779.'
£450.00

The recipient is not named, but as the letter makes clear it is Thomas Cadell the elder (1742-1802), successor to the celebrated bookseller Andrew Millar (1705-1768) in the Strand. Millar was one of the booksellers concerned in the first edition of Monro's 'Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British Military Hospitals in Germany' ('London: Printed for A. Millar, D. Wilson, and T. Durham, in the Strand; and T. Payne, at the Mews-Gate.') The letter casts light on the relationship between author and publisher in the eighteenth-century London book trade. 2pp, 4to.

[Alexander Davidson, Messenger at Arms.] Signed 'Copy for Mr. Falconer' of a summons on behalf of Archibald Colquhoun and George Buchan to six 'Procurators in the Sheriff and Baillie Courts of Glasgow, regarding the payment of stamp duties.

Author: 
Alexander Davidson, Messenger at Arms [Archibald Colquhoun; George Buchan; John Douglas; William Duncan; John Ewing; James Elder; Thomas Falconer; John Fleming; Stamp Duties, Glasgow; Scotland]
Publication details: 
Glasgow, Scotland: Copy of 28 May 1810 from an original 'dated & signeted [sic] 18. May 1810.'
£80.00

4pp., foolscap 8vo. Bifolium. The document consists of a long printed text, with blank sections completed in manuscript. It is docketted 'M.5 | Copy for Mr. Falconer | to appear 19/26 June 1810.' In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Signed 'Alex Davidson' and dated 28 May 1810, before the witnesses 'John Anderson and John Robertson both Indwellers in Glasgow'. The document begins: 'GEORGE, &c.

Engraved portrait by Vertue captioned 'RICHARDUS GRAVES | de Michleton in Com[itatis] Gloucestriae Armiger | Obiit: 1731, A[nn]o. Aetat[is]: 51.'

Author: 
Richard Graves the elder ('the antiquary', 1677-1729), of Mickleton Manor, Gloucestershire [George Vertue]
Publication details: 
Extracted from Nash's 'History of Worcestershire' (London, 1781-2).
£55.00

On good-quality thick wove paper, roughly fifteen inches by eleven wide. Dimensions of plate roughly eleven inches by six and a half wide. Good, clean impression, with blank borders a tad grubby. Attractive portrait of a handsomely dressed Graves, a bookcase behind him, leaning between two tables, on one of which is a manuscript and on the other another manuscript, coins and books. Graves's dates are corrected in the Dictionary of National Biography.

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