FEMALE

[Female suffrage; printed pamphlet.] On the Forfeiture of Property by Married Women. [Reprinted, by kind permission, from the FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW, for the Committee in support of MR. RUSSELL GURNEY'S MARRIED WOMEN'S PROPERTY BILL.] With an Appendix.

Author: 
Arthur Hobhouse, Q.C. [Alexander Ireland, Manchester printer; Rt Hon. Russell Gurney, QC, MP] [women's suffrage; Victorian feminism]
Publication details: 
Manchester: A. Ireland & Co., Printers, Pall Mall. 1870.
£80.00

16pp., 8vo. In good condition, lightly-aged, no wraps, disbound. Several copies on COPAC, none of this edition on market currently.

[Elizabeth Charles] Autograph note signed, to her publisher

Author: 
Elizabeth Charles
Publication details: 
12 Jan. [1871]
£100.00

Author of The Schonberg-Cotta, etc. Note by publishers on reverse (1871/ Mrs Charles/ Jan 13). Dear Sir,/ I have received the Cheque for £30 & enclose the Contract signed. I am glad Baron Tauchnitz is not responsible for the former proposition. Presumably she has agreed to Tauchnitz publishing one of her novels (presumably The Victory of the Vanquished (1871), Todd 1130, or another). I have yet to find out her publisher - not given by the major reference works I have tried.

[Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, English physician and suffragist.] Autograph Initials (‘E. G. A.’) and address to envelope addressed by her to ‘Mrs. J. J. Stevenson / The Red House / 3 Bayswater Hill / W’.

Author: 
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917), English physician and suffragist, co-founder of the first hospital staffed by women and first female mayor in Britain
Garrett Anderson
Publication details: 
Purple one penny stamp affixed, with postmark dated from London, 2 May 1883.
£45.00
Garrett Anderson

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient of the letter that this envelope contained was born Jane Omond (1839-1932). She was the wife of the architect John James Stevenson (1831-1908), whose first wife was Elisa Anderson, the cousin of Skelton Anderson, husband of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. A 13.5 x 7.5 cm envelope, with the flap torn open at the back. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed by Anderson to ‘Mrs. J. J. Stevenson / The Red House / 3 Bayswater Hill / W’, and with her initials ‘E. G. A.’ at bottom right.Mrs. Garret [sic] Anderson’.

[BBC: 1920s female broadcasters discuss their work.] Typed articles by seven women, including 'Wireless Aunties' or 'Organisers of Children's Hour' from BBC stations at Aberdeen ('Auntie Win'), Plymouth, Birmingham, Liverpool.

Author: 
[BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), 1920s female broadcasters] Emma Dorothea Barcroft; Cecil E. M. Dixon; M. M. Hummerston; Muriel A. Levy; Winifred M. Manners; L. D. Rhodes
Publication details: 
Undated, but from the 1920s. [BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation).] From BBC stations at Aberdeen, Birmingham, Liverpool, Plymouth.
£450.00

A fascinating collection of articles - with added relevance at a time when the position of women in the BBC is much-debated - in which 1920s women broadcasters with at BBC provincial stations (including Aberdeen, BIrmingham, Liverpool, Plymouth) discuss their careers. One Seven original typescripts, totalling 20pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, with occasional chipping to edges. The writing is thoughtful and often enlightening.

[Henry Legge, E. Bouverie, and another, of the Navy Office; Mary Ross, Woman Shipbuilder] Secretarial Letter Signed by Henry Legge, E. Bouverie and another of the Navy Office about a plan sent to Mary Ross for fitting an orlop to ships in her Yard.

Author: 
Henry Legge, E. Bouverie, and another (name not construed) of the Navy Office.
Publication details: 
Navy Office, 30 May 1809.
£220.00

One page, folio, bifolium, edges marked, fold marks, some staining, small hole (seal removed), text clear and complete. Addressed to Mrs Ross | Rochester, On HM Service. Text: We sent you last evening, by the Coach, a plan for fitting the orlop of a 74 Gunship, to which We desire you will conform in fitting His Majesty's Ships Vigo and Stirling Castle, acknowledging the receipt of it. | We are | Your affectionate Friends | [SIGNED] [undeciphered name], H. Legge | E Bouverie. Note: Mary Ross (Wikipedia): Mary Ross [...] was an English shipbuilder.

[Henry Legge, E. Bouverie, and another, of the Navy Office; Mary Ross, Woman Shipbuilder] Secretarial Letter Signed by Henry Legge, E. Bouverie and another of the Navy Office about a plan sent to Mary Ross for fitting an orlop to ships in her Yard.

Author: 
Henry Legge, E. Bouverie, and another (name not construed) of the Navy Office.
Publication details: 
Navy Office, 30 May 1809.
£220.00

One page, folio, bifolium, edges marked, fold marks, some staining, small hole (seal removed), text clear and complete. Addressed to Mrs Ross | Rochester, On HM Service. Text: We sent you last evening, by the Coach, a plan for fitting the orlop of a 74 Gunship, to which We desire you will conform in fitting His Majesty's Ships Vigo and Stirling Castle, acknowledging the receipt of it. | We are | Your affectionate Friends | [SIGNED] [undeciphered name], H. Legge | E Bouverie. Note: Mary Ross (Wikipedia): Mary Ross (18th-century – 1847) was an English shipbuilder.

[General Andrew F. Barnard; Waterloo] Substantial Autograph Letter Signed A F Barnard to Wilson

Author: 
A.F. Barnard [General Sir Andrew Francis Barnard (1773 – 1855) Irish British Army officer.]
Publication details: 
Sudbury, 6 January 1841
£220.00

Four pages, 12mo, bifolium, fold marks, some minor blotching, mainly good condition. Text: Many thanks [...] | I think one or possibly two Eagles [Standards] were found in the Coira by the Peasantry some time after the affair of Foz de Arouce but Lord J Somerset can give you accurate information on the subject.

Autograph Letter Signed, Camilla Toulmin, to Samuel Rogers, poet, expressing her admiration and discussing her writings.

Author: 
Camilla Toulmin, author [Samuel Rogers, poet].
Publication details: 
Ferdinand Cottage, Hampstead Road, 20 April1846.
£80.00

Four pages, 12mo, small closed tear, darkened edges, text clear and complete. She apologises for bothering him with the accompanying little volume [Poems published this year, 1846] , explaining that Rogers was a friend of her dear & lamented father's youth.

[‘No-one under 80 probably likes my books & they will all die out’.] Autograph Letter Signed by novelist Winifred Peck, sister of E. V. Knox and Ronald Knox, sending Adam Dickson an autograph.

Author: 
Winifred Peck [née Knox] (1882-1962), prolific novelist and biographer, sister of E. V. Knox and Ronald Knox
Publication details: 
8 March [1950]; on embossed letterhead of 19 George Square, Edinburgh 8.
£56.00

See the entries of members of her extraordinary family in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage, and accompanied by envelope with stamps and 1950 Edinburgh postmark, addressed by her to ‘Adam Dickson Esq. Junior / 28 Comely Bank Grove | Edinburgh’. Signed ‘Winifred Peck’. Responding to an autograph hunter, she writes: ‘Dear Sir, / How kind of you to like to [sic] my books & to say so.

[Agnes Strickland (1796-1874), Victorian historian.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Agnes Strickland / Historian of the Queens of England and Queens of Scotland’), stating her requirements for lodgings in Warwick during the ‘Archaeological Meeting’.

Author: 
Agnes Strickland (1796-1874), Victorian historian and poet, whose best-known work is 'The Queens of England'
Publication details: 
20 July 1864; [Ipswich].
£90.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium In fair condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering to the inner margin of the recto, and obscuring a few words of text. The male recipient is not named: the letter is signed ‘Agnes Strickland / Historian of the Queens of England and Queens of Scotland’. By the advice of the publisher, Daldy, she is enquiring after ‘quiet comfortable lodgings at Warwick next Monday 25th till Tuesday August 2nd during the Archaeological Meeting in your antient historical town at which I have promised to be sent’.

[Jane Elizabeth Hornblower, poet and novelist, daughter of Liverpool abolitionist William Roscoe.] Holograph Manuscript of ‘Sonnet / written in a young lady’s album’, signed ‘J E R.’

Author: 
Jane Elizabeth Hornblower [née Jane Elizabeth Roscoe] (1797-1853), poet and novelist, daughter of Liverpool connoisseur and abolitionist William Roscoe (1753-1831)
hornblower
Publication details: 
No date or place, but before her 1838 marriage to Rev. Francis Hornblower.
£100.00
hornblower

1p, 12mo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium of pink patterned paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The sonnet, which does not appear to have been published, begins: ‘Midst the young eyes that on this book shall shine / Kindling with genius or with feeling bright, / Lit up with all youth’s visions of delight, / There yet shall gage no dearer ones than thine!’ Signed at end ‘J E R.’ See image.

[Ethel Smyth, composer and suffragist on holiday] Autograph Postcard Signed [Dame?] Ethel Smyth to Maurington Sayers.

Author: 
Ethel Smyth [Dame Ethel Mary Smyth DBE (1858–1944), composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement]
Publication details: 
Taormina [Sicily], 27 Feb. 1920.
£150.00

Italian Postcard, stamped 26.2.20, addressed to 'Maurington Sayers Esq. | Northgate | Totnes | S Devon | Inghilterra', good condition. Dear Sir | Please accept my best thanks for y[ou]r charming collection of stories & still more generous appreciation of my book [presumably Impressions That Remained: Memoirs in Two Volumes]. As you see I am travelling & leave [this?] tomorrow so pray forgive a very brief expression of these thanks.

[Mary Scharlieb, pioneer female physician] Typed Note Signed boldly Mary Scharlieb to Louis B. Frewer, autograph-hunter and Superintendant of the Rhodes House Library in Oxford.

Author: 
Mary Scharlieb [Dame Mary Ann Dacomb Scharlieb, (n?e Bird; 1845 ? 1930), pioneer British female physician and gynaecologist ]
Scharlieb
Publication details: 
[Headed] 19 York Terrace, | Regent's Park, [London] N.W.1, 3rd June 1930 [N.B. died in November 1930]
£80.00
Scharlieb

One page, obl. 12mo.Dear Sir, | I am sorry not to comply with your request but I do not like blank [underlined] signatures. See Image.

[Anna Maria Winter, Irish Author; Printed] The Ideal Confidant. A Poem.

Author: 
Anna Maria Winter, Irish Author
Publication details: 
Dublin. Printed by John Chambers, 4 Abbey-Street, 1836
£450.00

172pp., 8vo, rebound in modern grey boards and eps, substantially unopened, small closed tear on original endpaper, long tears pp.9-10 and 103-4 repaired (page obviously turned too vigorously not taking unopenedness into account), p.172 (the last) and adjacent ep sl. marked, text ow clear and good. Very scarce. Copies apparently held by the BL, National Trust Libraries, and four world libraries incl. University College, Dublin. The author also published Thoughts on the Moral Order of Nature and The fairies, and other poems, and others.

[Dolf Wyllarde; author] Autograph Letter Signed Dolf Wyllarde to a Miss Southby, encouraging her to visit a Mr Ellis in Jamaica.

Author: 
Dolf Wyllarde [Dorothy Margarette Selby Lowndes, writing as Dolf Wyllarde (1871-1950), journalist and a writer of verse and fiction.]
Publication details: 
c/o The Hon. Evelyn Ellis, Shettlewood, Montpelier, St James, 10 March 1907.
£38.00

Four pages, 12mo, fold mark, good condition. She encourages her to visit Mr Ellis, giving her a chance to see this part of the Island, and it would be more cheerful here than at the Hotel just now, as the earthquake has scared away the usual amount of visitors. Ellis is around for limited hours (invalid) but they could wine and dine and play with the [cameras?] and you will have the inestimable benefit of my society!!! She has sent off for photographic accessories. There is no dark room here now, so I must change plates at night. I have used those you put in.

[Eliza Conder, poet and abolitionist] Holograph Poem with quotation from St Mark's Gospel.

Author: 
Eliza Conder, poet and abolitionist, wife of Josiah Conder, editor, abolitionist, well-connected to Romantic authors of his day
Conder
Publication details: 
Watermark 1827.
£180.00
Conder

One page, folio, signs of extraction from album (left margin has residue of separation), good condition, in her calligraphic writing, good condition. She begins by quoting St Mark's Gospel, Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of, for a memorial fo her.

[Rosita Forbes] Bold Signature only: Rosita Forbes.

Author: 
Rosita Forbes [(1890 – 1967), travel writer, novelist and explorer].
Rosita
Publication details: 
No place or date
£30.00
Rosita

Piece of paper, 6.5 x 2.5cm, very good condition. Signature only, with no evidence of being a part of a letter. See image.

[Naomi Jacob] Typescripts of her plays THE ACE (A Play in One Act) AND THE DAWN (A Play in One Act)

Author: 
Naomi Jacob [Naomi Eleanor Clare Ellington Jacob (1884 – 1964), writer, actress and broadcaster.]
Publication details: 
No date
£250.00

A. The Ace: 29 pages, sm. fol., in red paper covers, bindin a little battered but contents very good, address of agent handwritten on title (Elsa Daniels, 179 Manchester Road, Bury, Lancs). The play centres on Mary, Queen of Scots; B. The Dawn: 23 pages, sm. fol., in sl.stained folder, contents very good. Both plays apparently unpublished with minimal references on Google. A mysterious traveller turns up and discusses the present and future of Scotland, eventually revealing himself as The Young Pretender. Two items,

[Margaret L. Woods, author] Autograph Note Signed M.L. Woods to Mr [Douglas?] Sladen asking for information.

Author: 
M. L. Woods [Margaret Louisa Woods, née Bradley (1855 – 1945), writer, known for novels and poetry. ]
Publication details: 
95 St George's Square, SW1, 3 Nov. [1916 added in pencil, probably another hand].
£35.00

One page, 8vo, prominent fold mark but ow good. Would you mind giving me some details about Captain Christmas' work. I think it would be better for me to be able to speak of it with more knowledge than I have at present, when I mention it to my niece. I was so glad to see you again & to meet your son, covered with glory! - How nice for you! Note: Presumably referring to the Danish author : Walter Christmas (born Walter Christmas-Dirckinck-Holmfeld) [...] Danish author who is best known for his children's books.

[ Sarah Grand, Irish Novelist; New Woman ] Autograph Letter Signed Sarah Grand to Miss Carpenter about a forthcomiong concert and her inability to attend it.

Author: 
Sarah Grand [Sarah Grand (1854–1943), Irish feminist writer active from 1873 to 1922. Her work revolved around the New Woman ideal.]
Publication details: 
[Headed] The Royal Hotel, Weston-super-Mare, 9 June 1934.
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo, corner chipped with loss, evidence of its being tipped onto something, not affecting the text, mainly good condition. Text: Many thanks for letting me know of the forthcoming concert. Being here I should probably not otherwise have heard of it. I do hope your lovely music will be properly appreciated and the concert altogether a great success.. I cannot - alas! attend it myself. I am here on the Sick List more or less, and not yet [...?] to anything much in the way of exertion[...]

[ Violet Fane ] Autograph Signatures Only Mary Montgomery Currie | (Violet Fane) | Sept. 1899

Author: 
Violet Fane, pseudonym of Lady Mary Montgomerie Currie (née Lamb,1843–1905), poet, a writer, and later an ambassadress.
Publication details: 
[Printed Heading] Hawley, Blackwater, Hants.
£45.00

One page, 12mo, good condition.

[Mary Somerville, Scottish scientist after whom Somerville College, Oxford, is named.] Autograph Signature ('Yours truly | Mary Somerville') cut from letter.

Author: 
Mary Somerville [née Fairfax, sometime Greig] (1780-1872), Scottish scientist and author after whom Somerville College, Oxford, is named
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£35.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. Since 2017 she has been depicted on the Scottish ten pound note. On 2.5 x 8.5 cm slip of paper, cut from letter. In good condition, lightly aged. Laid down on 4 x 9.5 cm piece of paper. Reads 'Yours truly | Mary Somerville'.

[Anna Eliza Bray, historical novelist.] Autograph Letter Signed to her nephew John Arrow Kempe, explaining that she wishes him to act as her literary executor, and discussing the 'revised copies' of her works.

Author: 
Anna Eliza Bray [born Kempe, sometime Stothard] (1790-1883), historical novelist [her nephew, John Arrow Kempe (1846-1928) Knight Comptroller and Auditor General]
Publication details: 
18 August 1871; 40 Brompton Crescent, S.W. [London]
£550.00

4pp, 18mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. With envelope addressed 'To | John Arrow Kempe Esqre. | St James's Rectory | Piccadilly | W'.A long letter, with the words 'To be carefully kept' at the head of the first page. The letter begins with a light-hearted reference to her novel 'De Foix': 'My dear Godson/ | Accept the enclosed trifle - It may help you to make an excursion to the Casle of De Foix - and (vanity of authorship!) to tell me what it is like -'. After this she turns to the real theme, her will.

[Winifred Brown [Winifred Sawley Brown, later Adams], aviatrix, the first woman to win the King's Cup Air Race.] Autograph Signature ('Winifred Brown.') with short inscription.

Author: 
Winifred Brown [Winifred Sawley Brown, later Adams] (1899-1984), aviatrix, explorer, sportswoman, yachtswoman, in 1930 the first woman to win the King's Cup Air Race
Publication details: 
21 October 1931. No place.
£23.00

On one side of 8.5 x 11 cm piece of grey card, with rounded corners. In good condition, lightly aged. Neatly and simply written out (in response to a request for an autograph), reading: 'Best Wishes | Sincerely | Winifred Brown.' Date by Brown at bottom left. Endorsed in pencil at head: 'First woman to win King's Cup Air Race | 1930'.

[Maltman's Green, Gerrards Cross, girls school.]

Author: 
Maltman's Green, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire girls school, founded in 1918 [Miss Beatrice Elizabeth Chambers, head mistress]
Publication details: 
Maltman's Green, Gerrards Cross. No date [1920s?].
£25.00

Advertising booklet for the school, printed in black on three sides of a 20.5 x 23 cm bifolium of cream wove paper. In fair condition, on lightly aged and spotted paper, with one fold and slight nicking to edges. The item is undated, but must date before Chambers' retirement in 1944. The cover has a distinct modernist feel, with an 8.5 x 20 cm stylised illustration of a village green with old-fashioned houses, presumably including the school buildings, and at bottom right the words 'MALTMAN'S GREEN | GERRARD'S CROSS' in large sans serif capitals.

[The Ranyard Mission: district nursing in London.] Printed pamphlet: 'The District Nurses of the Biblewomen & Nurses Mission. 2, Adelphi Terrace, Strand, W.C. Report, 1894.' [With 'Notes' of eight medical cases.]

Author: 
Ranyard Mission [Biblewomen & Nurses Mission, founded by Ellen Henrietta Ranyard as London Bible and Domestic Female Mission]; her neice Emily Selfe Leonard; Mercers Company; London district nursing
Publication details: 
[The Biblewomen & Nurses Mission [Ranyard Mission], 2 Adelphi Terrace, Strand, W.C., London. 1894.] Printed by Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.
£80.00

The Biblewomen & Nurses Mission was founded as the London Bible and Domestic Female Mission in 1857, with the aim of bringing religious education to the poor. See the account of the founder Ellen Henrietta Ranyard (1810-1879) in the Oxford DNB. In 1868, Ranyard expanded the organisation to include the nursing of the sick poor in their own homes, in response to what the 'Biblewomen' saw of the sick, and three years later the Mission began to receive support from the Mercers Company. After Ranyard's death she was succeeded as Hon.

[Florence Montgomery, Victorian novelist and children's author.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Florence Montgomery') to her cousin Lilian Levi (née Yorke), regarding the death and funeral of their relative 'Coutie' [Ormond?].

Author: 
Florence Montgomery (1843-1923), novelist and children's author
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Cadogan Place, SW [London] 4 January [1921].
£35.00

Florence Montgomery's 1869 novel 'Misunderstood' was admired by Henry James, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and George Du Maurier, and was childhood reading of Vladimir Nabokov. It has been adapted for cinema twice (in Italy in 1966, in Hollywood in 1984). The present item is 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In envelope addressed to 'Mrs. William Levi | Woughton Hall | Bletchley'. (The recipient Lilian Maud Levi was the granddaughter of Sir Henry Cunningham Montgomery, and the daughter of the Dean of Worcester Grantham Munton Yorke.) The postmark gives the year as 1921.

[ Helen O'Hara, Irish artist ] Autograph Letter Signed "Helen O'Hara" to an unnamed gentleman (organiser of an Art Exhibition)

Author: 
Helen O'Hara [ Helen Sophia O'Hara (1846 - 1920), Irish watercolour artist
Publication details: 
Portstewart, Co, Derry, 22 Oct. [no year]
£120.00

Two pages, 12mo, lightish foxing, fold marks, text clear and complete. "Thank you for your note which has been forwarded to me from Lismore- I hope to have the pleasure of seeing your Exhibition when I go to Belfast next month. It is the best watercolour Exhibition I know in Ireland, & I am greatly pleased that you have thought my pictures worthy of a place on the [line?]"

[Eliza Lynn Linton, novelist, pioneering woman journalist and anti-feminist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('E: Lynn Linton') to 'Mr. Tinsley' (William Tinsley, proprietor of Tinsley's Magazine), asking for the return of her rejected article 'We Women'.

Author: 
Eliza Lynn Linton (1822-1898), novelist, pioneering woman journalist and anti-feminist [William Tinsley (1831-1902), publisher]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 6 Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy Square, W. [London] 12 June 1868.
£100.00

2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper with central spike hole. Folded twice. Begins: 'My dear Mr. Tinsley, | I see that you are not going to use my article “We Women,” & I want it so much, to form the basis of a set of articles! - & I have no copy.' She notes that it is 'generally the case with regular workers, that the Editors return the rejected MS' and explains that she has 'destroyed the first rough draft', exclaiming: 'I do hope it is not lost!' She asks him to either tell her if it is lost, so that she may 'know the worst', or if it is not lost, '& is not to be used'.

[Joan Hammond, Australian operatic soprano and champion golfer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Joan') to 'Derek', regarding her heart attack, recuperation and retirement.

Author: 
Joan Hammond [Dame Joan Hilda Hood Hammond] (1912-1996), Australian operatic soprano and champion golfer
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The Old Cottage, Egypt, Farnham Common, Bucks. 15 October 1965.
£120.00

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with lightly-rusted indentation from a paperclip. She thanks him for the 'lovely form of intrusion your letter proved to be - as though you could ever intrude!' She wonders whether, if she had been 'a more patient patient' the 'second attack' might not have happened' (a heart attack had forced her to retire from the stage), 'but I was never one for sitting and doing nothing'. She is 'trying very hard now as I have learnt my lesson'. She has 'so many interests that retirement is beginning to become a pleasure, thank heavens'.

Syndicate content