GEORGIAN

National Portrait Gallery no: NPG D913 (only acquired in 1966). Dimensions of paper roughly nineteen and a half inches by fourteen wide. Dimensions of print roughly seventeen and a half inches by thirteen and three-quarters wide. Backed by a piece of cream card. Heavily aged and spotted, and with one small worm hole. Slight loss to lower right-hand corner, not affecting print. Closed tears to mount. Apparently printed before the name, and very likely a proof.

A bifolium, with the text printed landscape on the recto of the two leaves, each of which are 21 x 33.5 cm. On laid Britannia paper watermarked 'G. PIKE | 1809'. The first two words in gothic script, nine-line marginal note in italic, and the rest in roman. Thirty-three lines of text, with spaces for manuscript insertions. Neither of the two parts (presumably one for the master and the other for the apprentice's family) has been filled in. Prepared for completion in the 1810s ('in the Year of our Lord 181[gap]').

8vo, 1 p. Addressed by Combe on the reverse, to which his monogram seal in red wax (with his motto 'RES NON VERBA QUAESO') still adheres. In poor condition, on discoloured paper, with damage to a few words of text above the signature caused by clumsy removal from the mount, a part of which still adheres to the reverse. Repaired with archival tape. The letter presumably concerns 'Additional testimonials on behalf of George Combe, as a candidate for the chair of logic in the University of Edinburgh' (1836). It reads 'Gentlemen | Be so good as correct these proofs, make them up in 8vo.

12mo, 1 p. Fair, on aged paper. Reads 'The Duke of Portland presents his Compliments to Dr. Taylor, and has the honor to acquaint him that he will be very proud of the honor of being elected a member of the Society of Arts -'.

4to: 48 + [3] pp of letterpress, with additional leaf after title of 'Errata of Letter Press' and 'Errata in Plates'. Twenty numbered plates (the first two transposed), including one fold-out, and a final seventeen full-page unnumbered plates ('Examples'). Apparently complete. In original brown quarter binding, with cloth spine and paper boards. Ownership inscription of 'Lady Rolle' (1796-1885, born Louisa Barbara Trefusis) on front board. Text clear and complete. On aged and lightly-spotted paper, with wear to extremities and wraps, and cloth spine torn and worn.

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, dimensions 22 x 14 cm. Text clear and complete, on aged and lightly-spotted paper, with minor wear to extremities. Headed 'Under the Patronage of the Nobility and Gentry.' 48 lines of text, including positive quotations from the Observer, Christian Advocate, Sunday Times and Albion and Star. Describes ten aspects of the exhibition, lettered A to K, including the conveyance of the ore 'to the surface by a --- (G) --- POWERFUL HYDRAULIC MACHINE, first in kibbles, through a perpendicular shaft, and lastly in waggons drawn upon an inclined plane'.

A bibliographical landmark: the first issue of the first volume in Pickering's series of 'Diamond Classics' 32mo: [ii] + 185 + [i] + [i]. Engraved frontispiece portrait of 'Horace' by R. Grave, facing engraved titlepage, which precedes the letterpress titlepage. On the reverse of the leaf with p.185 on its recto is a portrait of Sir Francis Bacon, captioned 'Advancement of Learning.' On the page facing this are the 'Corrigenda.' Tight copy, on aged paper, with a few dogeared pages, in contemporary black russia binding with boards and spine ornamented in gilt and title 'HORATIUS'.

2 vols, 12mo. Vol.1: viii + 264 pp. Vol.2: viii + 336 pp. Complete, with all the engravings of sheet music listed in the contents (vol.1: five two-page plates and one four-page plate, with one more piece of music 'printed with the letterpress'; vol.2: one two-page plate). Both volumes good and tight, on lightly-aged and spotted paper. In worn contemporary half-calf binding, marbled boards, with the first volume rebacked. Each volume with bookplate of Frederic Perkins, Chipstead Place, Kent.

One page, on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium (leaf dimensions 32 x 20 cm). 14 lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and somewhat grubby laid paper with Britannia and 'GATER | 1811' watermarks). Chipping and wear at head and extremities. Printed at head: 'By Sir RICHARD BICKERTON, Bart. Admiral of the White, Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels at Spithead, and in Portsmouth Harbour, and on the Guernsey Station.' Written in a secretarial hand and signed by Bickerton and, 'By Command of the Admiral', by Hulbert.

On a piece of good wove paper, roughly 415 x 260 mm. Dimensions of engraving 180 x 220 mm. On aged paper and with the margins of the leaf trimmed. Laid down along the right hand margin runs a strip of blue paper, 30 x 410 mm, which it may be possible for a professional restorer to remove. This edges the border of the print (which is clear and entire) and overlaps a few letters of the text. Neatly coloured in sombre tones.

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium with address on second leaf. Twenty-five lines. Text clear and complete. On aged, spotted and repaired paper. A significant letter, confirming Bowles's hitherto-tentative authorship of the 'Letters of the Ghost of Alfred', which was printed by Wright in 1798. Bowles informs Wright that he will 'receive some Copies of ye. Ghost of Alfred' the following morning. 'The price [I conceive] should be only 2/6 in boards there being but about 130 pages including thhe advertisements'.

On one side of a piece of paper roughly 8 x 12.5 cm. Good, lightly aged. Reads ' Henry Colburn | 13 Gt Marlborough Street | Martin Arthur Shee | Peter North 22 Soho Square | Dominic Colnaghi'. Fragment of docketed manuscript record of the case on the reverse: '<...> 830 | <...>nes O'Connor | <...>ent Case | <...>y 12th. 1841'.

The work of a cultured and witty man, but not by the author of 'Sandford and Merton', who died in 1789. While possible authors include the 'Mr. Thomas Day, solicitor, Woburn, Bedfordshire', whose death at the age of 47 on 18 February 1824 was reported in The Times (5 March 1824), and the Thomas Day who lived around this time at Montague Street, Russell Square, the most likely candidate, considering the references to 'Romney' and 'Wyatt' is the Thomas of 'DAY William, and Thomas Day, of No. 95, Gracechurch-street, in the city of London, oilmen', who went bankrupt in 1841.

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Thanking them for the cheque, and returning the 'form of permission to reprint the four poems, signed' (not present).

Sitwell and Renishaw collaborated on the play 'Gentle Caesar' (published in 1942), and the last two letters would appear to concern a possible film adaptation. All three items very good on lightly aged paper. Letter One ('Friday Renishaw'): 12mo, 2 pp. 18 lines of text. Apparently written around the time of the play's composition. Sitwell is 'delighted' that Minney is 'already immersed in Pares's book. I have just read the Czar and Empress Marie's Letters.' He has 'marked (in the preface mostly) what I thought helpful for atmosphere, or amusing'.

Paper dimensions 25.5 x 19 cm. Plate dimensions 22 x 16 cm. The head-and-shoulders portrait itself is oval, 7 cm high and 5.5 cm wide, contained in a square 11 x 9.5 cm, and with the caption beneath it. Printed on aged paper, with the image itself and the caption are clean and crisp, but the paper carries a crease to the margin, and there is light staining intruding into the surrounding square. Dibdin gives an account of Miller, whose son was the noted bookseller William Miller of Albemarle Street, in his 'Bibliomania' (1811 ed., pp.630-31).

On one side of a piece of wove paper 19 x 14.5 cm, and with the image extending almost to the edges. Lightly aged and creased, but good overall. An usual design, with the coat of arms within a fleece held up by two figures of Hercules, both on pedestals, the one of the left marked 'HUMUS' and that on the right 'SUMUS'. The fleece folds over the left-hand Hercules's right shoulder and reads 'LE CULTE EN' with 'DIFFICULTE' over the left-hand Hercules's left shoulder. Topping the whole design, above a coronet, is a harpy, and at the foot of the paper is 'Hereson de Brecksel'.

8vo: xvi + 400 + [xxiv] pp. (Part I ends at p.142 and Part II begins, after a half title, at p.127.) The last twenty-four pages consist of an index and three pages of 'BOOKS Lately Published'. Frontispiece portrait of Butler by J. Van der Gucht. Hogarth's seven illustrations (including three that fold out) face pp. 1, 75 (fold out), 88 (f. o.), 100, 122, 130 (f. o.), 131 and 182 (f. o.). Internally tight on spotted and aged paper. Good impressions of illustrations, with a little light foxing.

On one side of a piece of wove paper, dimensions roughly 365 x 255 mm. Laid down on a larger leaf. Lightly creased and a little spotted, but good overall, and with the text entirely legible. The upper part of the item consists of the quotation from Pettis's manuscript book, consisting of nineteen lines in single column and twenty-six lines in double column. It begins 'The day was usher'd in with Ringing, Music, and Versing from door to door. At Eleven o'Clock a Cavalcade was formed in the Court Yard, West of the Church, which made a gallant appearance, in manner and form following'.

BM 13489. Landscape. On a piece of wove paper, roughly 215 x 305 mm. Good, on heavily-aged paper and with strip of blue paper mount adhering to the blank reverse. The title 'BERNADOTTE' is at the head, and the publication details and caption at the foot. Shows Bernadotte in martial pose and uniform, riding his white horse over a fearsome serpent. He wears a sash on which are written the words 'Leipsic' and 'Victory'.

Four paginated pages of small type in a quarto (25 x 20 cm) bifolium. Attractively printed on paper watermarked 'T EDMONDS | 1834'. Unbound. Good: lightly aged and creased. On the first page the author announces the publication of the second part, 'with great regret for the delay which has unavoidably intervened in the publication, from causes impossible for him to have forseen'. The succeeding three pages consist of the double-column list of subscribers, headed by 'Patron.

On a piece of paper cut from a letter, roughly 3.5 x 9.5 cm. On lightly aged and slightly grubby paper. Good firm signature, beneath which, in a contemporary hand, 'I knew his daughter Stepny'. Gulston's wife Bridgetta (1749/50–1780) was the second daughter of Sir Thomas Stepney.

12mo: iv + 164 pp. In original green cloth, with the title in gilt on the front cover. All edges gilt. Slightly foxed. Good and tight, in lightly worn cloth. A curious collection, with the index of first lines containing such entries as 'Sweet Edgbaston bells' [this poem dated 1844], 'Dear Varinka', ' 'Twas a boy in a cut-off jacket' and 'They call me little Trottie'. All three series are excessively scarce. The only copy of this third series on COPAC is in the British Library, and the only copy on WorldCat in California.

Both issues 8vo (roughly 30.5 x 19.5 cm), 6 pp (each a loose leaf in a bifolium). Both printed on brittle watermarked laid paper. Both unbound, and stabbed as issued, and both on aged and chipped paper, but with the text clear and entire. Each issue with the title in an expansive calligraphic design. The full slug, at the bottom of the last page of both issues, reads: 'Printed and Published by ETHERINGTON, at No 25, opposite the South Door of St. Paul's (where Letters, post-paid, to the LITERARY FLY will be received).

4to, 8 pp. Unbound and unstitched. Grubby, worn and stained, but with text clear and entire, except for words on a couple of lines of the heavily-stained final leaf. The reverse of the title reproduces 'The Church-Wardens Oaths. On Coming into Office.' and 'In Delivering Presentments.' Mainly consisting of two sections (both clear and entire): 'Concerning Churches and Chapels; the Fabrick, Furniture, and Ornaments thereunto belonging.' (pp.3-4) and 'Concerning the Church-Yard, and the Houses, Glebe, Tithes, and other Dues belonging to the Church.' (pp.4-6).

On one side of a leaf (roughly 11 x 16 mm), removed from an autograph album. Good, on lightly aged paper, with some show-through from amusing drawing on reverse by L. E. H. Phipson. Bold signature reads 'Yours Sincerely | Marie Novello'. Drawing on reverse depicts a monocled old fogey protesting his love to a pretty young thing regarding herself in a handmirror. Captioned 'I'd rather be a young man's slave!' Signed by the illustrator 'L. E. H. Phipson | 6/12/1917'. Docketed in pencil.

8vo: 8 pp. Unbound. Stabbed as issued. Very good, on rough-edged wove paper. The seven-page advertisement, signed in type by Cobbett, is succeeded by a page headed 'New Books, published by COBBETT and MORGAN'. (Eight titles are listed.) The advertisement is a personal address from Cobbett, the second paragraph casting valuable light on his motives and intentions: 'When I first undertook the Register, I was fully persuaded, that the plan, which, indeed, I had long thought of, was well calculated to ensure a wide circulation, and to produce an extensive as well as a lasting effect.

BM 12195. Landscape. On a piece of wove paper. Originally a rectangle roughly 240 x 340 mm, but with an arc cut away beginning in the top left-hand corner and ending at bottom right. This loss has no effect on the text, and only the merest effect on the image, only trimming the outer edge of some very lightly-painted clouds. Apart from this good, on lightly spotted paper, with a thin strip from blue paper mount adhering to the blank reverse.

Originally on a piece of paper roughly 405 x 315 mm, with the dimensions of the print roughly 295 x 250 mm. In poor condition: torn and stained and laid down on a piece of thin card, and with the extremities of the margins chipped. Loss to top-left and bottom-right corners. The loss to the top corner includes a corner of the print (roughly 40 x 20 mm), but this only features the sky. A scarce item, with the caption continuing 'The Balloon ascended at 3 O clock in the afternoon and descended safe near Tilbury Fort in Essex at 20 Minutes past four'.

305 mm high and 225 mm wide. The print has been trimmed, with the top corners cut away to give the print the appearance of an arched window. A strip, 35 mm high, at the foot contains the caption, with the bottom right-hand corner damaged (not affecting print) by removal from backing. A good crisp impression, on lightly-aged paper, the only faults being loss to the sky above the Emperor as a result of the trimming of the top corners, and a couple of spots of glue to the sky.