ELECTION

[Lord Robson [William Snowden Robson, Baron Robson], English judge and Liberal MP, Solicitor General and Attorney General.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to 'B Piffard Esq', regarding his possible candidacy in the coming general election.

Author: 
Lord Robson [William Snowden Robson, Baron Robson] (1852-1918), English judge, Liberal MP, Solicitor General and Attorney General [Bernard Piffard (1833-1916), microscopist and entomologist]
Publication details: 
ONE: 26 May 1885. On letterhead of 45, Curzon Street, Mayfair. W. [London] TWO: 15 June 1885. On letterhead of 3, Plowden Buildings, Temple. E.C. [London]
£60.00

Interesting items, casting light on the nitty-gritty of Victorian constituency politics. Both are signed 'W. S. Robson' and addressed to 'B. Piffard Esq'. Both in good condition, lightly aged, with the second a little spotted. Each on a bifolium. ONE (26 May 1885): 3pp, 12mo. He has been informed 'that it is now the wish of the Watford (or Divisional) Association that I should visit the Division & address meetings there.

[‘A deliberate attempt was made to overthrow the Government’: Lloyd George’s Chief Whip lays into a Liberal on the eve of the ‘Coupon Election’ following the end of the Great War.] Long Typed Letter Signed from Frederick Guest to W. H. Dickinson.

Author: 
Frederick Edward Guest [Freddie Guest] (1875-1937), politician, sportsman and promoter of aviation, Chief Whip in Lloyd George's Coalition Liberal Party [Sir Willoughby Hyett Dickinson (1859-1943)]
Publication details: 
26 November 1918. On embossed letterhead of 12 Downing Street, S.W.1. [London.]
£150.00

An extraordinary letter, rubbing the nose of a pro-Asquith Liberal in the muck on the eve of his leader Lloyd George’s landslide Coalition victory in the 1918 ‘Coupon Election’. Guest, who was Winston Churchill’s cousin, is described in his entry in the Oxford DNB as a ‘highly controversial’ figure who ‘knew where all the bodies were buried’, a useful attribute for someone who served as the Coalition Chief Whip from 1917 to 1921. The recipient Willoughby Hyett Dickinson (1859-1943), later an influential proponent of the League of Nations, began his career a Liberal MP.

[Dorset Election 1831; Hon. W.F.S. Ponsonby, brother of Lady Caroline Lamb; Earl of Shaftesbury] MS. The Expenses of The Committee for the Election of the Honble W.F.S. Ponsonby | To Thomas Phippard with covering letter from Tho. Phippard..

Author: 
[Dorset Election 1831; Hon. W.F.S. Ponsonby; Earl of Shaftesbury]
Dorset
Publication details: 
Bill dated 14 September 1831; covering letter Wareham, Nov. 1831.
£350.00
Dorset

Two pages, folio, fold marks, a little grubby, some damage (by stamp vandal?) marginally affecting text, ow fair.. A. The covering letter by Tho. Phippard, sending the Bill in the Election, asking the recipient, E.Nicoletts, Bridport, to fill in the blanks with the average sums charged per diem by the other agents. I have not included many days [absent?] in the business. My bill will be higher than some agents as I was directed to proceed in canvassing my Division earlier in consequence of the proceedings of Ashleys [ie Later Lord Shaftesbury].

[Isaac Foot; India] Typed Letter Signed Isaac Foot boldly to the Rev. A.H. Sayers who was particularly involved in the League of Nations Union.

Author: 
Isaac Foot [(1880 – 1960), Liberal politician and solicitor; bibliophile].
Publication details: 
Pencrebar, Callington, Cornwall, 19 August 1935.
£45.00

One page, 4to, fold marks, good condition. Judging by other correspondence accompanying this letter, Foot has probably been invited to address the Monmouth Town Branch of the League of Nations Union. Foot is sorry [he] cannot give a promise for November although I would very much like to come and be associated with your work. The imminence of an election has now to be taken into consideration.

[ Election Expenses; Independence for Norfolk, c. 1805 ] Manuscript Subscription List for Contributions to a fund for Colonel [John] Wodehouse, Member of Parliament, efforts "in support of the Independence of the County" {election expenses).

Author: 
[ Independence for Norfolk, c. 1805 ]
Publication details: 
Watermark 1805
£350.00

Three pages, folio, fold marks, dusted, mainly good condition. See "historyofparliamentonline" for the background (one might say shenanigans) to this Subscription. It mentions the "two Tory matrons of Norwich, Mrs Berney and Mrs Charlotte Atkyns" who "who rode through the streets of Norwich holding a pole bearing the colours of Colonel Wodehouse" and who head this list of subscribers.

[General Election of 1835: the Duke of Wellington's brother Lord Charles Wellesley defeated at Rochester by one vote.] Manuscript documents from legal team of victorious candidate T. T. Hodges, at House of Commons 'Controverted Election' committee.

Author: 
Lord Charles Wellesley; Thomas Twisden Hodges; General Election, 1835; Rochester Kent; Controverted Elections; House of Commons Committee of Privileges and Elections; Duke of Wellington
Publication details: 
House of Commons, Houses of Parliament, Westminster (London). [Rochester, Kent.] 1836 and 1837.
£500.00

Between 1604 and 1868 the House of Commons exercised jurisdiction over controverted (disputed) elections, which were usually referred to its Committee of Privileges and Elections. The Parliamentary Archives hold the Controverted Elections Court Evidence minute books for the period between 1829 and 1906. The minute books contain transcripts of the evidence laid before the committee.

[ William Roupell, forger and fraudster. ] Two Autograph Signed documents, the first a draft [ for his election agent ] of a circular to electors on his standing as Member of Parliament for Lambeth; the second another election letter (draft?)

Author: 
William Roupell (1831-1909), forger and fraudster, Member of Parliament for Lambeth, 1857-1862, ruined in the Roupell Case
Publication details: 
Both from Roupell Park, Brixton. March 1857 and 25 April 1859.
£80.00

The first letter has the damaged signature 'William: Roupe', the second is signed 'W: Roupell'. ONE (March 1857): 1p., 8vo. Signed autograph draft of a circular Roupell made for his election agent at the time of his first parliamentary contest. On the reverse of a letterhead of 4 Wolsingham Place, Lambeth, which was the office of solicitor R. C. Barton, who was Roupell's election agent (see George Hill, 'Electoral History of the Borough of Lambeth', 1879). In poor condition, heavily worn, with loss to the outer edges and text, including the end of Roupell's signature.

[ Sir John Mowbray, Member of Parliament for Oxford University. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('J R Mowbray') to Lady Hunter, giving reasons why her friend 'Mr Wiles' should vote for Lord Chandos and the Conservatives in the forthcoming General Election.

Author: 
Sir John Robert Mowbray [formerly Cornish], 1st Baronet (1815-1899), Conservative politician, Member of Parliament for Oxford University for over thirty years
Publication details: 
Warennes Wood [ Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire ]. 28 June 1859.
£35.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He asks her to say, 'in answer to the enquiries of Mr. Wiles that Lord Chandos comes forward as a Member of the Conservative party & a supporter of Lord Derby in opposition to the heterogenous combination found under Lord Palmerston'.

[ Sir Edward Marshall Hall, distinguished barrister. ] His own red silk rosette, with blue centre, for electioneering in Liverpool East Toxteth.

Author: 
Sir Edward Marshall Hall (1858-1927), distinguished barrister and Conservative Member of Parliament for Southport, 1900-1906, and Liverpool East Toxteth, 1910-1916
Publication details: 
[ Liverpool. 1910 or 1916. ]
£80.00

From the papers of Sir Edward Marshall Hall. The rosette, diameter 13cm., has a ruffled border of two layers of red silk, and a Conservative blue interior, diameter 7cm., with two 13 x 5.5cm. ribbons of red silk hanging down. Embroidered on the rosette in thick gold thread: 'EAST TOXTETH | M H'. Safety pin on reverse. In good condition, still bright, lightly aged and worn. Such items would have been produced by London military tailors like Gieves and Hawkes.

[Offprint of article attacking 'the ubiquitous apostles of revolutionary and Socialistic doctrines'.] The Ethics of Politics. II. (Reprinted from "The Liberty Review.")

Author: 
The Liberty Review; Watts & Co., London publishers [ United Kingdom General Election, 1892 ]
Publication details: 
London: Watts & Co., 17, Johnson's Court, Fleet St. Undated [ late nineteenth century ].
£50.00

8pp., 12mo. Stitched pamphlet. Aged, and with central vertical fold. A call for 'political instructors who shall [...] impress the first principles of political morality on the minds of the newly-enfranchised masses'.

[ R. Palme Dutt. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Raji') to 'Jimmy' [ James Shields ], thanking him for the 'masterly' fashion in which he has 'handled the press job' during Dutt's campaign in the 1945 general election.

Author: 
R. Palme Dutt [ Rajani Palme Dutt ] (1896-1974), chief theoretician of the Communist Party of Great Britain [ Jimmy Shields (1900-1949), Scottish communist, twice editor of the Daily Worker ]
Publication details: 
On his letterhead as 'Communist Candidate for Sparkbrook'. 6 July 1945.
£65.00

1p., 4to. On aged and worn paper. The letterhead features a photographic portrait of Dutt. Written the day after the General Election, in which Dutt came third in the Sparkbrook constituency, with fewer than two thousand votes. As Shields is leaving in the morning, he feels compelled to write to him 'to express what we all feel about the wonderful way you have handled the press job. It has been masterly, and every other constituency might well be jealous of us.' He ends with 'Millions of thanks, cheers and congratulations'. From the Jimmy Shields papers.

[ Robert Lynd, Irish Nationalist journalist. ] Copy of Typed Letter 'To the Editor of the "Irish Times.", regarding the state of 'the campaign against partition' following 'the Northern Ireland election'

Author: 
Robert Lynd [ Robert Wilson Lynd ] (1879-1949), journalist, essayist and Irish Nationalist
Publication details: 
5 Keats Grove, Hampstead, N.W.3. [ London ] Undated [ 1945 or 1949 ].
£250.00

6pp., 4to. In fair condition, on aged paper with worn edges. It is not known whether the letter was sent or published. The Lynds settled at their celebrated London address of 5 Keats Grove (where James Joyce had his wedding reception) in 1924, but the letter was clearly written after the Second World War: 'Now that the Northern Ireland election is over, it may be worth considering whether the campaign against partition, if continued on its present lines, is likely to be effective in achieving its end.

[ Francis Ingram-Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Hertford') to Sir Robert Bateson Harvey, requesting his political support.

Author: 
Francis Ingram-Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquis of Hertford [ previously Viscount Beauchamp ] (1743-1822), British peer and politician
Publication details: 
Suffolk, 29 October [ 1806 ].
£80.00

1p., 4to. On bifolium. In good condtion, lightly aged. Addressed, with part of red wax seal, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Sir Robert Bateson Harvey Bt | Langley Park'. He is 'perfectly aware' of his 'having not the smallest pretention to apply' to Harvey, but is encouraged 'by the friendly support which you gave to Mr Macnaughten at the general election in the county of Antrim to beg a continuance of your support and assistance on the present occasion'. Previously represented Lisburn and Antrim in the 1770s. See Wikipedia for details of his political career (not revealing about 1806 though).

Series of ten printed handbills by Mrs. Humphry Ward, on behalf of the Unionist Party in the General Election of 1910, under the title 'The Coming Election | Letters to My Neighbours | by | Mrs. Humphry Ward'.

Author: 
Mrs. Humphry Ward [ Mary A. Ward (1851-1920), novelist ] [ Jerome K. Jerome ]
Publication details: 
Addressed from 'Stocks, Aldbury, Tring.', and dating from between 10 and 17 January 1910. Published by Smith, Elder, & Co, London, and printed by Spottiswoode & Co. Ltd, London.
£220.00

A total of 41pp., 4to. Complete run of ten issues (a second edition, expanded to 63pp., appeared in the same year). In black cloth binding, with manuscript note on front pastedown: 'George H M Ricketts - | Lent to Mr Blackman with a hope that he will read it & circulate it amongst his friends.' Eight of the ten numbers are of 4pp.; one (no.4) is of 6pp; and another (no.10) of 3pp. Uniform in design and all printed in blue ink.

Irish Orange Order political handbill poem, ostensibly by 'Robert Todd, Comber', ridiculing Liberal candidate in North Down John Shaw Brown on his defeat in the General Election of 1885, titled 'The Burial of the Radical Cause in the Glassmoss'.

Author: 
'Robert Todd, Comber' and 'M'Cullough's Mule, Coroner, Glassmoss' [John Shaw Brown of Edenderry and Tordeevra, linen manufacturer; County Down, Northern Ireland]
Publication details: 
[Glassmoss, County Down, Ireland. 1885.]
£250.00

1p., 12mo. Cheaply printed in small print. A frail survival: aged and worn. In the 1885 General Election Brown was soundly defeated in the North Down constituency by the Conservative candidate Thomas Waring. The present item is headed 'The Burial of the Radical Cause in the Glassmoss. (By Robert Todd, Comber.)' The poem is 32 lines long, divided into eight four-line stanzas.

[tem of Eton College printed ephemera.] Paper, giving passages in English for translation into 'Latin Verse' and 'Latin Prose', under the heading 'Eton College. Election, 1859.'

Author: 
[Eton College printed ephemera, 1859; Charles Old Goodford (1812-1884), headmaster]
Publication details: 
[Eton College, Berkshire.] 1859.
£25.00

1p., 8vo. Very good, on lightly aged and worn paper. Passages 'For Latin Verse' (beginning 'Alas! what a varying and changeable (thing) is our life!') and 'For Latin Prose' (beginning 'He ordered them to go away.'), under the heading 'Eton College. | Election, 1859. | (E)'.

[Three items of Eton College printed ephemera.] Handbill, with names, of the 'Election of King's Scholars, Eton, August 1st, 1860'; and Eton College Election papers for 1859 and 1860, both with English texts for translation into Latin verse and prose

Author: 
[Eton College printed ephemera, 1859 and 1860; Charles Old Goodford (1812-1884); Rev. Edward Henry Rogers; C. Waterfield]
Publication details: 
[Eton College, Berkshire.] 1859 and 1860.
£120.00

All three items in fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. ONE: Handbill. 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. First page headed 'The Electors and Examiners', listing the names of six individuals, including the schools headmaster Dr Goodford, and 'The Rev. Edward Henry Rogers, M.A., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge; | C. Waterfield, Esq., M.A., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge'. Second page listing the names of twenty pupils from 'Maude' to 'Wace', under heading 'Election of King's Scholars, Eton, | August 1st, 1860'.

[Hester Catherine Browne, Dowager Lady Sligo.] Autograph Letter in the third person soliciting the votes of 'Mr. Shewell [...] for Henry Jennings at the Election for the Idiot Asylum in April, 1854'.

Author: 
Hester Catherine Browne [nee de Burgh] (1800-1878), Marchioness of Sligo [Lady Sligo], wife of Howe Peter Browne (1788-1845), 2nd Marquess of Sligo [Shewell; Idiot Asylum]
Publication details: 
Portumna Castle, County Galway, Ireland. 12 December 1853.
£80.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on aged paper. The letter reads: 'The Dowr. Lady Sligo presents her Compliments to Mr. Shewell, & begs earnestly to solicit his Votes for Henry Jennings at the Election for the Idiot Asylum in April, 1854 - | Lady Sligo can recommend Henry Jennings as a member of a very poor & industrious family -'.

[James Ewing of Strathleven House, Dumbartonshire.] Autograph Letter Signed ('J Ewing') to his sister Mrs Elizabeth Hyde of Bath, expressing relief on his removal from Parliament. On printed address 'To the Electors of Glasgow', after losing election

Author: 
James Ewing (1784-1853) of Strathleven House, Dumbartonshire, Member of Parliament for Wareham, 1830-1831, and Glasgow, 1832-1835
Publication details: 
Letter dated 'Glasgow February 9, 1835'. Address by 'BELL AND BAIN, PRINTERS [Glasgow]', and dated 'QUEEN-STREET, January 15th, 1835.'
£240.00

Letter and address are on a foolscap 8vo bifolium, with the address covering the first three pages, and the letter the reverse of the second leaf, which also carries the address ('Mrs Hyde | 31, Henrietta Street, | Bath', forwarded to Kew and then 10 New Street, Margate) with ten postmarks and a red wax seal. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with a few nicks and short closed tears along folds. LETTER: 1p., foolscap 8vo. Addressed to 'My dear Elizabeth'.

[Robert Jocelyn, Viscount Jocelyn.] Autograph Address 'To the Independent Electors of the Borough of King's Lynn', signed 'Jocelyn'.

Author: 
Robert Jocelyn, Viscount Jocelyn (1816-1854), English soldier and Conservative Member of Parliament for King's Lynn, Norfolk,1842-1854
Publication details: 
King's Lynn, Norfolk. 18 July 1847.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Headed 'To the Independent Electors of the Borough of King's Lynn' and beginning: 'Gentlemen, | I have canvassed the constituency of your Town as an Independent candidate who as your representative supported in the last Parliament the measures of Sir Robert Peel's administration.' He thanks 'the Electors at large' for 'the courtesy with which I have been invariably received' and also 'that overwhelming majority of their body who have honored me with promises of support'.

'A Picture Book for Country Voters. Being No. 5 of a Special General Election Issue of Picture Politics.' [Satirical supplement to the Westminster Gazette, with numerous cartoons by F. Carruthers Gould.]

Author: 
F. Carruthers Gould [Francis Carruthers Gould] (1844-1925), English caricaturist and political cartoonist [Picture Politics, supplement to the Westminster Gazette]
Publication details: 
No. 21. '15/7/95 [15 July 1895] Printed and Published for the Proprietor by John Marshall, at the Offices of The Westminster Gazette, Tudor-street, Whitefriars, London, E.C.'
£120.00

16pp., folio. In fair condition, on aged and worn newsprint with short closed tear at spine. Spoof articles ('The Secrecy of the Ballot', 'What the Villagers might make of the Parish Councils. By A Villager', 'What the Bishops tried to make of the Parish Councils', 'The Great Liberal Budget and the Wail of the Landlords', and others), with caricatures by Gould featuring Rosebery, Gladstone, Salisbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury and others. Also two full-page cartoons by Gould, titled 'The Tory Village.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Philip Fothergill') from the Yorkshire textile magnate Charles Philip Fothergill to Mark Bonham Carter, discussing the 'sudden crisis' that may follow the defeat of the Liberal Party at the next general electi

Author: 
Charles Philip Fothergill (1906-1959), Yorkshire textile magnate and Liberal Party politician [Mark Bonham Carter (1922-94), Baron Bonham-Carter, publisher and Liberal politician]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Eastburn House, Park Road, Dewsbury. 11 July 1948.
£120.00

4pp., 4to. 75 lines of neatly-written text. On creased aged paper, with a few closed tears (one of them 11cm long). He begins by praising Bonham-Carters 'objective & informed comments on American opinion' ('I hope you will feel encouraged to publish more of your findings'). 'But gratitude & a thirst for information & about American politics are not my only reason [sic] for writing. I wish you were in England, for I would very much enjoy an exchange of views with you about the position of the Party.

Copy of typed speech by the Labour politician and jurist Lord Chorley, intended to have been delivered in the House of Lords but not used, giving 'reasons why Mr. W. S. Morrison should not have been nominated for Speaker of the House of Commons'.

Author: 
Robert Samuel Theodore Chorley (1895-1978), 1st Baron Chorley, legal scholar and Labour politician [William Shepherd Morrison (1893-1961), 1st Viscount Dunrossil, Conservative politician]
Publication details: 
Dated 'House of Lords | 1st November, 1951'.
£120.00

Following the 1951 General Election, Morrision was proposed as Speaker by the victorious Conservative Party, against convention. An election among MPs followed, with Morrision winning against the Labour candidate Major James Milner. 2pp., 4to. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper. At the head of the first page Chorley has written the words 'not used'. The first paragraph reads: 'There are a number of reasons why Mr. W. S.

Four Autograph Drafts by George Sholto Douglas, 17th Earl of Morton, of letters by him soliciting the votes of his fellow Scottish peers in elections of Scottish Representative Peers in the House of Lords in 1828, 1841 and 1852. Two signed 'Morton'.

Author: 
George Sholto Douglas (1789-1858), 17th Earl of Morton [Representative Peers of Scotland in the House of Lords, Westminster]
Publication details: 
All three from Dalmahoy House, near Edinburgh. Dated 3 March 1828, June 1841 and June 1852.
£320.00

1828: 2pp., 4to. 'Dalmahoy nr Edinburgh | March 3d 1828'. Signed 'Morton'. In fair condition, lightly-aged and with a short closed tear along one fold.

Contemporary manuscript transcription (on paper watermarked 1818) of a satirical political poster from Brighton by 'Edward Thunder', produced for the Sussex election held at Chichester in 1820.

Author: 
'Edward Thunder' [satirical political poster for the Sussex election, held at Chichester, 12 March 1820; national debt]
Satirical political poster for the Sussex election
Publication details: 
[Watermark 1818; Circa 1820.] The original printed by 'Fleet, Printer, Brighton'.
£125.00
Satirical political poster for the Sussex election

Folio, 1 p. On paper watermarked 'J WHATMAN | 1818'.

Five Typed Letters Signed and two Typed Notes Signed from Herbert Morrison to F. W. Pethick-Lawrence (one dealing with Churchill's 'outburst on the word Empire ' and another of his failure in the Labour leadership contest).

Author: 
Herbert Morrison [Herbert Stanley Morrison] (1888-1965), British Labour politician [Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence (1871-1961), 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence, Financial Secretary to the Treasury]
Publication details: 
The nine letters dating from between 1936 and 1957; all sent from London.
£220.00

All texts clear and complete, and good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Several annotated in pencil, one extensively. Letter One: 27 January 1936; on letterhead of County Hall, London. 4to, 1 p. '[...] if it be the case that under a given government the finances are really getting into difficulty but that the Chancellor will not be frank with his colleagues and insist upon action, the civil servants concerned are put in somewhat of a difficulty.' Letter Two: 21 May 1943; on letterhead of the Home Secretary, Whitehall. 4to, 2 pp.

[Printed Address] To the Electors of the Borough of Stoke-upon-Trent

Author: 
[Mary Brougham, Printer, Burslem, Stoke-upon-Trent] John Wood
Mary Brougham, Printer, Burslem,
Publication details: 
[Burslem, 1835]
£95.00
Mary Brougham, Printer, Burslem,

Broadsheet, c.24 x 40cm, fold marks, light foxing, mainly good condition. He sets out his principles in the usual high-flown manner, not identifying with any party.

Striking original large coloured Conservative Party anti-Free Trade election poster, captioned 'Watchman, What Of The Night?', showing Uncle Sam, a Chinaman and a Russian removing 'British Capital' from a factory while the watchman John Bull sleeps.

Author: 
[Conservative Party; Liberal Party; Free Trade; British General Election, 1910; political caricature]
Coloured Conservative Party anti-Free Trade election poster
Publication details: 
[1910?] Numbered 109. 'Published by The National Union of Conservative & Constitutional Associations, St. Stephens Chambers, Westminster, S.W. & Printed by David Allen & Sons Ld. 180 Fleet St. E.C.'
£350.00
Coloured Conservative Party anti-Free Trade election poster

Lithograph. Landscape, 51 x 76 cm. In fair condition and worthy of framing, although aged and with a few small holes. John Bull, in a watchman's hut with a flag on his knees, dozes before the fire of Free Trade, while Uncle Sam and a jolly Chinaman remove a stretcher bearing a heavy load of 'BRITISH CAPITAL' from the factory gates of 'BRITISH INDUSTRIES', closely followed by a Soviet with a swag bag. Presumably produced in the build-up to the British General Election of 1910.

Printed Voting Paper on behalf of the parliamentary candidate Alexander Beresford Hope, in the 'Cambridge University Election, 1868'. Complete with the perforated stub.

Author: 
[Cambridge University, General Election, 1868; Sir Alexander James Beresford Beresford Hope (1820-1887)]
Publication details: 
[Cambridge, 1868.]
£45.00

Printed on one side of a piece of green paper, 28 x 21.5 cm, with vertical perforated line 6.5 cm in from the left-hand margin, dividing the paper into stub (28 x 6.5 cm) and paper (28 x 15 cm). Clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged and creased paper, with slight wear to extremities. Part of blank reverse laid down on leaf removed from album. From the collection of William Done Bushell (1838-1917), who received his B.A. from St John's in 1861 (later assistant master and honorary chaplain at Harrow School).

Autograph Letter Signed ('Verney') to Rev. Charles William Tonyn (d.1805) of Radnage, Bucks.

Author: 
Ralph Verney (1714-1791), 2nd Earl Verney, politician
Publication details: 
12 April 1784; Curzon Street, London.
£200.00

8vo: 1 p. 7 lines of text. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with the address on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium, to which Verney's red wax seal adheres. A graceful letter of thanks. 'It gives me no small satisfaction to think that my general Conduct has hitherto merited your approbation.' Informs Tonyn of the date of the general election. Verney would lose his seat, and with it his immunity from prosecution for debt, forcing him to flee to France.

Syndicate content