FISHING

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient would appear to have been an impudent autograph collector. Addressed to ‘Grant Reid / Esq’ and signed ‘Herbert Maxwell’. Begins: ‘Dear Sir / I have directed a copy of Post Meridiana to be sent to you according to your desire.’ He cannot however comply with Reid’s other request. ‘I have no time to give to drawing now, and my family have possessed themselves of all my old drawings.’

From the first Smith has been considered as the model of the ‘Sir Joseph Porter’ of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘HMS Pinafore’, and Disraeli himself is said to have referred to him as ‘Pinafore Smith’. See Smith’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is signed ‘W. H. Smith’, addressed to ‘Mr Townsend Warner’, and headed ‘Private’. The recipient is the historian and Harrow housemaster George Townsend Warner (1865-1916), father of the novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once.

A nice slice of London ephemera. The three items are in good condition, lightly aged. They were clearly all sent together. ONE: ALS from Westley (‘W. Westley | Hon. Sec.’) to unnamed recipient. 2pp, 12mo. In answer to an application he is sending ‘one New Programme showing Waters &c’, pointing out that not all are ‘Trout Waters’, and that ‘about 30% of the Members only take part in competitions’. He explains that they have had good (he mistakenly writes ‘few’) membership over the previous two years, ‘but at the present time there are a few members’. TWO: Printed ‘C.L.P.S.

Leaflet, 4pp., folio, bifolium, with occasional MS correction, elision and addition. Proposals listed as 1. To extend the Annual and Weekly Close Time; 2. To remodel District Fishery Boards.; 3. To give power to the Secretary of State to combine or divide Fishery Districts, to vary or [elided and added in MS] extend the statutor Close Time, and to alter or amend Bye-laws fixing the Estuary of any river; 4. To restrict the use on the sea-coast of the fixed engines presently employed for taking salmon, and to abolish these engines near the mouths and estuaries of rivers.

2pp., 12mo. Hastings's letter, in the third person, is on the recto, and Baldwin's reply on the reverse. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. One wonders what the fishwife made of Baldwin's handwriting, which is somewhat opaque. He 'requests Mrs Baldwin to send a Dish of Fish for Friday & Saturday's Dinner for 9 or 10 Persons & 2 <?> of Cod <?> & a Bill of what <?> the Last, as he will send the amount by the bearer'.

xv + 298pp., 12mo. Ownership signature at head of p.vii. Internally in good condition, a tight copy on lightly-aged paper, in heavily-worn contemporary tree-calf binding, damaged at head of spine, and lacking label.

23 items relating to the Severn Fishery Board. The collection is generally in good condition, but with a few items (One below for example) damaged and discoloured. The material derives from Sir Richard Harington (1835-1911) of Whitbourne Court, Worcestershire, an ex-officio member of the Severn Fishery Board. It mainly concerns his opposition to a 'Provisional Order asked for by the Worcestershire County Council, to deal with the Severn Fisheries and all Rivers & Waters within the area' (quoted from Four below). The following description is in fourteen parts.

All but three of the silhouettes are laid down on 23 pages of an album of 32 leaves (leaf dimensions 31 x 25 cm) bound in worn brown buckram, with attractive metallic cobweb endpapers. In very good condition. The three silhouettes not in the album are laid down on a loose piece of blue paper (22 x 27 cm) and consist of three full length portraits of infant girls. One of these is the largest silhouette in the collection at 14.5 x 7 cm. The smallest, less than a centimeter high by half a centimeter wide, is of a golfer taking a swing. A delightful collection, including portraits of 'J.

The first two items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The third in fair condition, aged and worn. ONE: Typed Letter Signed (over a penny tax stamp) by 'W Senior' and 'R B Marston', announcing their resignation as trustees, to be replaced by Walter Durfee Coggeshall, William Milner Ratcliff, and John Assheton Rennie'. 1p., 4to. Manuscript postscript. With a 'certified copy of the resolution of the General Meeting of Members by which the above appointments were made'. 1p., 4to. Signed by Major-General Desmond O'Callaghan and the secretary.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. The note reads: 'My dear Sir | You and your Brother are quite welcome to come and fish here, on any day that you like; and I only hope that you may find any sport. | Believe me| Very faithfully Your's [sic] | Churchill'.

4to, 2 pp. On bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Text clear and complete. The letter, of 39 lines, requests Herbert's opinion of 'the feasibility of a plan for the domestication of the Primated Grouse of the western prairies in this section of the country'. He writes because 'some few passages in your own writings have led me to know that one who has the heart of, and a desire to be a true sportsman, would not, if requesting a favor at your hand be overlooked'. Signed 'Titrao Cupido | Box 841 O.O. | Cleveland Ohio'. This has been lightly crossed-out in pencil, with the signature 'Jno.

13 x 7.5 card. Fair, on aged paper, with minor creasing to one corner. Stamped and addressed on one side to 'Mr. J. Charles Davis | Proctor's Theatre | New York'. The unsigned card (with the words 'and United States' deleted from the heading) has partly printed text. Mather completes it in pencil, acknowledging the 'inquiry about Frank Forester' and stating that 'as a boy I knew him and shot with him but my recollections would be of no value'. He ends by saying that he will 'try to brush them up' on his 'return from the west'.

12mo, 1 p. On bifolium. Thirteen lines of text. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged and creased paper, with slight rust marking from hooks. Semi-literate, and redolent of the area and period. He asks Devon (not Captain Thomas Barker Devon, RN, who had died in 1846) to 'pardon the Liberty I have taken in writen [sic]' to him. He knows 'the Great difficulty that Gentlemen have in Getting good made peal [sic] Flys and firm Tied ones', and is enclosing 'a few of my Own Making & you will Greatly Oblidge me by your Trying of them'.

4to, 2 pp. Bifolium. Addressed ('H. Davidson Esqr | | No 3 North Charlotte St | Edinb') and docketed ('Offer | The Clyde Salmon Fishing Company. | For Menzies Fishings in Holy Lock'), with two postmarks, on the reverse of the second leaf. Twenty three lines of text (including four-line initialled postscript), clear and complete. Good, on aged paper, with hole in second leaf from breaking of wafer. Discussing proposed terms, ending 'Or in place of a sent will give the net proceeds of every tenth fish after marketing -'.

Both volumes 4to, and uniform in dark-green leather bindings. A total of 195 manuscript pages. The journals reveal the author to be a man of leisure and means, fully able to induldge his taste for freshwater fishing, at camps with 'canoemen', cook, and canoes. The English sections indicate that he was a clubman, that he worked in the City (with possible business interests in Liverpool), and lived in West London with (sister?) 'Lola' and his mother. 'Alick', presumably a brother, is occasionally mentioned. (It may be that he was the Walter A.

12mo, 1 p. Aged, grubby and creased, with slight loss to bottom left-hand corner, and closed tear to one margin. Requesting 'one or two choicest leather trout-fly books with plenty of pages, but not those with printed descriptions of flies'.

Hf.lea, worn, raised bands, red lea., gt spine, title as above, some foxing and damage in parts, mainly good. Contents (listed on front endpaper in Abel Heywood's hand): "Four Days in Iceland"*, "A mountain walk in Norway"*, Scandanavian Stories about Huldre"*, " Notes on Japan and the Japanese"*, "Sveningdael"*, "Trout-fishing in Norway", "Fish out of Water", "A Night at the Lochinvar", "One Way to the Tweed", "A Fishing Adventure in Japan" [not listed in Contents], "The Vision of Fishes", "Fishes Ee-Seet", "Norway Re-visited".

4to bifolium. Very good on aged paper. The letter covers the whole of the recto of the second leaf, the reverse of which carries the address and docketing: '6th. April 1805 | John Trotter - with List of payments to Sir Wm. Forbes & Co. on acct. of the whale fishing Cy.' Trotter quotes at length from a 'paragraph' in a letter he has received from William Forbes & Co, explaining why a credit 'does not appear in the annexed statement, as the receipt has not been delivered up to us'.

8vo. 94 pages. 2 pages facsimile of an electoral handbill. One fold-out plate. In poor condition. Damp stained, and in remains of repaired grey printed wraps. Paper browning. 'Printed by J. Rochford O'Driscoll, Printer, Dagmar House, Lowestoft.' The case for the plaintiff, Harry Seymour Foster, was led by the celebrated F. E. Smith (Later Earl of Birkenhead). The defendant was Edward (later Sir Edward) Beauchamp. The main cause of what the judge in summing-up described as 'a political action' was a letter by 'FISHERMAN' (i.e.

16mo bifolium (leaf dimensions 11 x 9 cm): 2 pp. 17 lines of text. Very good on lightly aged paper. Wonders whether Lockyer would like to spend his Easter holidays at Altnaharra, for a fortnight from 14 April. (The Altnaharra Hotel was used by anglers visiting the nearby lochs.) 'It is an expensive journey; but the sport is good - at least it has been good this last fortnight, but now we are sadly in want of rain. The weather is like June, only more so.' Forty salmon have been killed 'in these two weeks, averaging 11 lbs each'. Black's publisher was Alexander Macmillan.

All items with text clear and entire. Item One: offprint, on one side of a piece of wove paper 25 x 18.5 cm. Good, on lightly-aged paper with some wear to extremities. Headed 'AQUAECULTURE, And the Artificial Propogation [sic] of the Danube Salmon in Bavaria, BY DR. WIMMER. | Re-printed from the Macclesfield Courier June 27, 1857.' The letter, dated 'Landshut, 11th June, 1857', is addressed to 'Thomas Ashworth, Esq.' and covers two columns of small print. Item Two: four-page offprint, on all sides of a grey-paper bifolium, leaf dimensions 20 x 12 cm. Very good. Headed 'ON PISICULTURE.

Total four pages, 8vo, dusted but text clear and complete. (Sept.) He is sorry to have missed him and has to go to Dumfries the following day "on Territorial Force business". He looks forward to luncheon during the subsequent week. "If you care to put a fly over Loch Elrig, pray do so, and tell Hannan you require the boat. There are good trout up to 3lb in the loch. | I hope you are not going to allow the Wye to be polutted. That would indeed be an inhuman outrage." (Oct.) He appreciates the three photograpsh Hutton has sent of the "House of Elrig.

On both sides of a folio leaf (dimensions 42 x 26.5 cm). On aged and lightly creased and spotted paper. Proposing to raise 'CAPITAL, £50,000, in 5,000 SHARES of £10 each.' Details of Directors; Bankers; Auditors; Brokers; Solicitors; Secretary, (pro tem.); and Offices left blank.

One page each, 4to, good condition.

12mo bifolium: 4 pp. Printed on grey paper. Very good. Small print.

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, 25 x 18.5 cm. Good, on lightly creased paper. Giving detailed information in two columns of small print. Addressed 'To Thomas Ashworth, Esq.' and signed in type, 'Dr. Anthony Wimmer, Professor. Landshut, 11th June, 1857.' Scarce: no copy in the British Library or on COPAC.

Both items with text clear and entire. Item One: offprint, on one side of a piece of wove paper 25 x 18.5 cm. Good, on lightly-aged paper with some wear to extremities. Headed 'AQUAECULTURE, And the Artificial Propogation [sic] of the Danube Salmon in Bavaria, BY DR. WIMMER. | Re-printed from the Macclesfield Courier June 27, 1857.' The letter, dated 'Landshut, 11th June, 1857', is addressed to 'Thomas Ashworth, Esq.' and covers two columns of small print. Item Two: offprint, on one side of a piece of watermarked wove paper 33.5 x 20.5 cm.

12mo, 2 pp. Text complete and legible, on grubby and creased paper. Trace of grey paper mount adhering to blank verso of second leaf of bifolium. Crude caricature of a man's face in top left-hand corner of first page. Draper 'bolted from the Club last night' - Webber can 'guess the cause' - 'thereby depriving the committee of the unit necessary to form a quorum'. Had he not done so 'Marks would have shown you the drawing which he had brought down, finished, for your inspection.' Webber will 'bring it with me to the Circle to-morrow.

Letter One (12mo, 2 pp; good, with glue from previous mounting to reverse of blank second leaf of bifolium): Jesse hears 'that there has been a violent attack made on my lectures to the Brighton Fishermen in "the Field" of last Saturday'. He 'published these lectures in the hopes that they might be useful to many people'. He 'gave the Copyright to Mr. Booth the publisher & never recovered one farthing profit for them'. 'They were written for an ignorant club of men without any pretension'.

Dimensions: 5 inches by 7 inches. Somewhat grubby and with ink stain at foot. Headed 'THE MASTERS OF FOX HOUNDS ASSOCIATION, | TATTERSALLS, ALBERT GATE, LONDON.' Standing order to Dalkeith's bank, Coutts & Co of 59 Strand, to make an annual payment on 1 May to the Herries Farquhar branch of Lloyds one pound, as his subscription to the association. Signed 'Dalkeith'. Docketed by the bank and pinned to a 'Tattersalls' letterhead, roughly 5 inches by 7 inches, carrying a note which reads 'With the Secretary of the M. F. H. A's compliments.