FRENCH

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering to one edge. Folded twice. From the celebrated Monckton Milnes collection of autographs. The letter concerns the arrangements regarding 'nos mois de vacances à la Chambre Criminelle'. Requesting a month's extra vacation, he explains that he has passed one of his two allotted months in great discomfort: 'mais d'une part, j'ai passé le mois de juin au lit dans les douleurs d'une longue et cruelle maladie: et, d'un autre côté, il m'est resté de mes souffrances un tel agonisement'.

In January 1897 an insurrection by the Greeks in Crete led to the Ottoman Empire, of which it was still part, declaring war on Greece. The following month, as Turkish rule over the island crumbled, six 'Great Powers', including Britain, France, Russia and the Germans, despatched an 'International Squadron' of their ships to Cretan waters.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. On aged paper, with punch hole through both leaves at head, small closed cut along bottom edge of first leaf, and with paper and part of another letter (from an album) glued onto the reverse of the second leaf. Folded once. The signature 'M. Massenet' is explained in Massenet's obituary in the Musical Times, 1 September 1912, which speaks of 'the composer's known antipathy to the name Jules […] He preferred to be called “M. Massenet” simply'. The recipient of this enthusiastic letter is not named.

2pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. At the time of writing Arnaud was delighting audiences at the Lyric in her first leading role, that of 'Suzanne' in the musical 'The Girl in the Taxi'. Good firm signature. She writes: 'Cher Monsieur | Thanks [sic] you very much for your nice letter. Certainly I will go to Mess. Foulsham and Banfield for a picture, perhaps next week, and then, when they will be ready I give you one with great pleasure. | Mes bien sincères salutations.

The letter is 1p, 12mo, and is accompanied by the covering 8vo leaf, addressed to 'John Atkins Esqre | Duke Street | Westminster', with a second signature for franking. The covering leaf is endorsed: 'Admiralty August 21 1806 | Adml. Markham concerning Miles Burn that it would be impossible to get him reinstated'. Both letter and covering leaf in good condition, lightly aged and worn, with fold lines. Markham could hardly be more decisive.

A savage and bitterly-sarcastic satirical spoof epitaph, the text of which, the Liverpool Mercury reported in 1822, had been 'repeatedly published before'. Some versions are said to have included a woodcut by George Cruikshank, but the only other publication found (with a few minor variations from the present version) is in the Irish Magazine, June 1809, pp.286-287, where the author is named as 'WILKS INR.', i.e. '[John] Wilkes [sic] Junior'. Printed on one side of a 26.5 x 10 cm piece of unwatermarked wove paper.

A rare and unusual item, distributed as news of the execution broke, no other copy of which has been traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC. Printed on one side of a 59 x 48.5 cm piece of watermarked laid paper. In four columns of small print, surrounded by a thick-thin ruled border. Engraving (13.5 x 14.5 cm) of the moment of execution by guillotine at head of the central two columns. Aged and worn, with small drops of ink spattering, but with the text entirely legible and the engraving practically unmarked. Folded four times.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to 'B. Nicholson, Esq., | Brooks's, | St. James's Street, S.W.1.' (Nicholson was the son of Harold Nicholson and Vita Sackville-West.) She begins by thanking him for his 'kind letter and charming gift of your drawings of St. Nectaire', adding: 'as an author my vanity is flattered by your appreciation of “Romanesque France”'. She is glad she has helped 'a certain number of people in getting to know some of the beauties of France', but feels 'something of a fraud about the book as without the help of my friend Mr.

8pp, 12mo. On two attached bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight damage to margin of first leaf. Folded once. A long letter, closely and neatly written in English, responding to 'objections' to his 'Épilogue 1. Les impérialistes au pouvoir: 1895-1914' (1926), giving his evaluation of 'the Edwardian years' in English history, and contrasting his 'spirit' in the study Victorian England with that of Lytton Strachey.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Begins: 'My very dear Friend, | I lack words to express my real gratitude for your heartfelt kindness to so young a fellow as your devoted comrade, here writing'. He hopes for an opportunity to show proof of his 'profound and hearty friendship'. He ends with renewed thanks, and 'sincere loves [sic] to your good Wife and dear self'.

Both items are 2pp, 12mo, and bifoliums. Both in good condition, lightly aged, and each folded once. The second has rust marks to margin from a paperclip. Given the sunbject-matter, the recipient may be a relation of the actress Mrs William Barry (1739-1771), whose maiden name was Osborne. ONE: 17 August 1769; on Park Road letterhead. Signed 'Ch. Fechter.' He begins by announcing: 'I have, by no means, altered my mind; but have been – and am still – strolling about the country'.

After a twelve-year 'amitié amoureuse' with Phillips, Violet Trefusis died in 1972, appointing him her literary executor and leaving him her last home, La Tour de Saint Loup. The present item – no other copy of which has been traced – is from a collection of Phillips's papers amassed by his friend Barbara Reed, containing pamphlets privately printed by him between 2009 and 2014.

The Vogts made a series of discoveries over six decades. It was to Oskar Vogt that the Soviets entrusted Lenin's brain. 2pp, 8vo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, somewhat grubby on blank reverse of second leaf. Folded once. The recipient ('Monsieur') is not named. She begins by commenting on the enclosed photographs of a brain: 'Comme vous le voyez, le foyer n'a pas touché la 3e frontale, il s'étend à la partie inférieure de la frontale ascendante'. She asks him to send his observations, 'si vous avez pu prendre suffisament de notes sur le cas'.

On both sides of a 37 x 24 cm piece of paper (i.e. half a 'pinched post' folio leaf), with 1806 fleur-de-lys watermark. Folded twice, to make eight 24 x 9 cm panels (four on each side), in seven of which Perceval has written his notes in a close and neat hand. The eighth panel forms the outside of the folded paper, and on this Perceval has written 'Parliamentary | Miscellaneous'. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn.

One page, folio, top corner lost with apparently little loss of text, fold marks, small closed tear, faint foxing, mainly good condition. "The undermentioned Arms &c being [expec?]ted to complete the 4th/or King's Own Regiment of Foot: I have the Honour to request that your Grace will receive and transmit His Majesty's commends to the Master General and Board of Ordnance, that the said Arms &c. may be delivbered out of His Majesty's Stores, for the use of the said Regiment, and the Expense thereof charged to the Estimate of Ordnance for Parliament".

At the age of 22 Sulkowski entered the Napoleonic army, taking part in the Peninsular War and the Invasion of Russia. After the death of Józef Poniatowski, he briefly took command of the Polish Corps. He returned to Rydzyna in 1815. 1p, 12mo. Laid down on part of leaf from album. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight staining and a closed tear at foot. Biographical note in German at foot in nineteenth-century hand.

On both sides of a 17.5 x 20.5 cm piece of wove paper cut from the first leaf of a letter, with 14 lines of text on the recto, and 20 lines of text on the verso. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two small labels used as mounts still adhering. Annotated at the head of the first page, in a small light hand, dating the letter by reference to Arnold's 'Memoirs', and explaining that the letter is written 'To Mrs. Arnold who gave me this | [?] from Her dear hand | Autumn 1860'. For the context of the letter see the Memoirs, 'Appendix C. | VIII. Tour in the South of France'.

On one side of a 38 x 24 cm piece of wove paper with watermarked date 1828. In fair condition, lightly worn and creased. The engraving is roughly 21 cm square, and shows three figures gathered around a table, their arms tangled as they reach forward to sign a document.

2.5 x 11.5 cm slip of paper, laid down on part of leaf from album, with d'Albret's autograph dating ('i67i') on 1.5 x 6 cm slip laid down below it. In good condition, lightly aged. The valediction of a letter, written in an undisciplined hand.

A nice piece of Second World War ephemera, of which no other copy has been traced. 1 British Corps formed part of the B.E.F., travelling to France in September 1939, and withdrawing from Dunkirk at the 'Darkest Hour' in May 1940. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Lithographed in black on the four sides of a 9.5 x 15 cm bifolium. Two parallel diagonal red lines printed at top left of front cover, which also carries the Spearhead badge of 1 British Corps at centre, above 'B.E.F.' in a scroll, with 'Christmas – 1939' at bottom left.

Vertès won two Oscars for his work on John Huston's 1952 biography of Toulouse-Lautrec, 'Moulin Rouge': Best Art Direction (with Paul Sheriff) and Best Costume Design. The second of the present two items is an article Ede had invited Vertès to write on his role in the film; the first is the covering letter with which it was sent. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed to 'Cher M. Ede'. 4 January 1954. 2pp., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. He is enclosing 'le petit texte', which he hopes will be to Ede's taste.

On 6 x 11.5 cm piece of paper, cut from the end of a document. In good condition, on aged paper, laid down on piece of grey paper cut from an album, with the words 'Marquis Seignelay.' in a nineteenth-century hand at the foot of the mount. Seignelay's signature is large and bold, above the following words in a neat secretarial hand: 'Vostre tres humble & tres aff.ne Seruiteur.'

Card with stamp and postmark. Of the two addresses in her letterhead, she has deleted the London one (105 Hallam Street, W1). In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed to 'Secretary to | E. V. Knot [sic] Eq. | Offices of “Punch”'. The card reads: 'Miss de Casalis hopes to broadcast Mr. Knot's “Reparation” at the end of her turn on Friday 27th 9.35 to 10.15 (Forces programme) & again on Sunday to Forces abroad.'

The author of the text of the present volume, J. B. Payne, was manager of the book's publisher Moxon, and ruined the firm with his sumptuous editions, including one of Tennyson's 'Idylls of the King' with illustrations by Gustav Doré, which determined Tennyson to forbid future illustrated editions of his work. The market for the present volume would have been limited, and the cost of producing it so high, that it is hard to see how it can have covered its costs. [3] + 53pp., 4to. Each of the 56 pages is lithographed in black against a light-brown background, on thick art paper.

On a 1.75 x 4.25 cm rectangle of laid paper cut from letter. In fair condition, lightly aged, with paper from mount on reverse. A neat, firm signature, reading 'Roger Curtis'.

60pp., 12mo. Disbound and without wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Businesslike alphabetical catalogue of unnumbered priced general items, in double column. Short notes at the beginning and end, the former boasting that books will be sold 'aux prix de Paris', the latter offering for sale a 'nouvelle et très-belle édition' of Plato by Firmin Didot. The author was presumably Jacques-Christophe Frère, father of Édouard Frère (1797-1874), archivist, biographer, and historian specialized in the Normandy area. No copy in the Bibliotheque Nationale, nor on OCLC WorldCat or COPAC.

4pp., 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. With two tax stamps. Laid out in double column, with the Dutch text on the right, and a French translation on the left. Begins with official announcements ('Administration. | Renovation.' and 'Contribution Fonciere sur les Proprietes Baties'), followed by 'Nouvelles - Politique' ('Baviere', 'Angleterre' and 'Empire-Francais') and ending with 'Varietes'.

1p., 12mo. Aged and grubby. A convincing facsimile, sent with 'a copy of the title page, the authors preface, a few explanatory remarks and a list of chief subscribers', in the hope that the recipient 'may be induced to become a subscriber' and mention the work 'to any one likely to take an interest in the subject'. No other copy traced.

[32]pp., 16mo. Not paginated. Stapled in brown wraps, with text on front and back covers in gold and dark brown, with closed tear at foot of spine. Contains one full-page engraving: 'Testimonial Presentation to Mme. Camilla Urso in the Town Hall, Melbourne.' Cheaply printed on browned high-acidity paper, in aged and worn wraps. The wraps are attractively designed, with the violinist's name printed in large decorative type diagonally across the centre of the front cover. The back cover gives details of Urso's 'Transcontinental Tour.

8pp., 8vo. Disbound and without wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged. Manuscript emendation on p.6. A law bookseller's careful and businesslike priced catalogue of unnumbered entries, several of which are accompanied by long descriptions by the author in small type. No copy in the Bibliotheque Nationale, nor on OCLC WorldCat or COPAC.