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'There are three rules for writing plays', Oscar Wilde is said to have declared. ‘The first rule is not to write like Henry Arthur Jones; the second and third rules are the same.’ See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, slightly trimmed at the edges, and in a windowpane mount. With two folds for postage. Addressed to ‘J E Woodrow Esqre / London Library’, and signed ‘Henry A Jones’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On a 17.5 x 12 cm piece of ruled paper, laid down on a piece of card. The high-acidity paper is browned, otherwise in good condition, with small nick to one edge. The signature ‘W. H. Hudson / June 27. ’20’ is beneath two lines written in a foreign language, a tentative reading of which is ‘Te semiron mulei moy / To dariau tis viden’. See Image.

Two items from the Robert and Sylvia Lynd papers. The first item is well represented in academic libraries, no copy of the second has been found. Item Two below asserts that ‘Under these Acts the Home Minister of Northern Ireland is furnished with what are practically dictatorship powers’, which are ‘now a permanent part of Northern Irish law’. (Robert Lynd’s interest in the matter was no doubt heightened by the fact that he was himself an Ulsterman.) ONE: Printed pamphlet.

From the papers of Sylvia and Robert Lynd. Four copies traced: National Library of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, the British Library and Oxford University. BL identifies the author as ‘Thomas T. Shaw’; another source states ‘Thomas J. Shaw’. 47pp, 8vo. In green printed wraps. Stapled. Lightly aged, in worn wraps, and with slight blooming at head of first few leaves. The author goes about the ‘self-imposed task’ of his ‘little brochure’ with copious statistical evidence, including an eight-page appendix of tables.

A scarce item: no copies on WorldCat or JISC, nor at the Caird Library, National Martime Museum (though the latter does have a signed print of one of the illustrations). Twenty-six broadsheet pages, on news stock paper, in shiny paper covers printed in red, blue and brown. Filled with illustrations and topical advertisements for everything from corsetry to bicycles, from a full-page one on the inside front cover for ‘Brickwoods Jubilee Brew / 4d. per Small Bottle in Public Bars’, to one on the back cover reading ‘On Review / United Ales & Stout Are Supreme’.

Two good substantial letters, filled with personal and professional content. See the entries for Thorp and Wrench in the Oxford DNB. Both letters in brown ink in Thorps calligraphic hand. ONE (to Sir Evelyn Wrench): 2pp, 8vo. On cream paper with brown italic letterhead. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Signed ‘Peter’. Begins: ‘My dear Evelyn / We are going to make a great change in our way of life. For a long time I have felt that both physically & financially this house is beyond our strength.

See his father?s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. The recipient?s full name is not give. Signed ?Walter H Pollock?. The ?Ajax business? referred to in the letter is the performance of the first of the Cambridge Greek plays, organised by the archaeologist Sir Charles Walston [formerly Waldstein] (1856-1927).

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of mount adhering to inner margin. Folded once for postage. Reads 'My dear Miss Stuart / I don't think Mr. Bridges brings us much forrider with Keats. Many thanks for the article but I am a little disappointed that his criticism seems so flat. I return your paper with many thanks - / Every yours very truly / Robert H Hutton'.

See his obituary in The Times, 7 April 1933, and Hornung's entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. With mourning border. In fair condition on discoloured paper. Folded for postage. Begins: ‘My dear Richards, / Greetings! / I should like very much to meet Hornung - practically any day would suit me. I admire his book immensely, not only for the excellence of its workmanship but the remarkable manner of the characterization. It struck me as being intensely sincere.’ He hopes that the Richards clan are well (‘all of you’): ‘We are molto moderato so to speak - My brother’s cruel death in S.

Written during Prescott’s 1850 visit to England, where he was greatly feted and lionized. Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Both folded for postage. Both to ‘Dear Lady Theresa’ and signed ‘Wm. H. Prescott’. See the Oxford DNB entry for the recipient Lady (Maria) Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), whose family home was the Grove, Watford, but who lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge with her second husband Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart, her first husband having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). ONE ‘Trentham / Sep. 2d.’ 1p, 12mo.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. 2pp, 12mo. Signed ‘H H Milman’ and addressed to ‘G. C. Lewis Esq’. Written in a crabbed hand. Begins: ‘My dear Lewis / I think that I mentioned to you my great wish to build a Church for the [?] of St Margarets.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. 2pp, 16mo. Signed ‘H H Milman’ and addressed to ‘My dear Mr Lister’ (the item is from the papers of Lister’s wife Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865; ODNB). He begins by congratulating Lister on the birth of his daughter ‘and the safety of Lady Theresa’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The ‘settlement’ movement was the result of growing unease among the educated classes regarding the condition of the poor. The two most celebrated settlements, both still active, are Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel and Oxford House in Bethnal Green. From the papers of Sir William David Ross (1877-1971), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford. The present printed circular is 1p, 12mo. Printed on wove watermarked paper. In good condition, lightly aged and folded once. Asquith’s signature is genuine. Reads: ‘October, 1911.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged and creased cartridge paper. Folded three times. The letterhead is quite an impressive affair, with an engraving of ‘Unity House’ and lettering in a variety of styles. The letter is addressed to ‘W. D. Ross, Esq., / Oriel College, / Oxford.’ The ink on the ribbon appears to have been running out, as the latter part of the note is faded.

16mo (13.5 x 10.5 cm), 288 pp. In original black and red printed wraps, illustrated on front with illustrations relating to the city. Fold-out 'Map of Sydney' (26 x 38 cm) in black and grey, with advertisements on reverse. Lacking the fold-out map which should be present on a stub between pp 124 and 125. Good, a little aged with slight staining at foot of first leaf. In worn and stained wraps, becoming detached from book at front. Ownership inscription of 'U Reynell 1895' in pencil on front wrap. Advertisements throughout. Numerous photographic illustrations.

1p, 4to. On discoloured and somewhat grubby paper, folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘S. Hodgson Esq.’ and signed ‘H M. Hake’. Hodgson has sent Hake ‘a manuscript fragment’, which does not seem to indicate either of ‘the portraits in the Gallery’. He has ‘looked up the record of portraits offered in the past but there is no mention of Mrs. Cruikshank or her executors.’ He asks a related question before turning to the subject of the physician Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson (1828-1896), who was in Hake’s opinion ‘more of a professional worthy than a national one’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The six items - written in the semi-retirement that followed Escott's breakdown in 1885 (Joseph Chamberlain and Lord Randolph Churchill took up a subscription for him) - are in good condition, on lightly aged paper. A total of 12pp, 12mo. Closely written in a well-nigh illegible hand. All six letters are addressed to ‘My dear Sir’ and signed ‘T H S Escott’. Considering the execrable nature of the handwriting, it is ironic that the main topic would appear to be the supplying by Escott of autographs for the recipient’s collection.

See Hutton's entry in the Oxford DNB, together with that of the recipient Sir Lovelace Tomlinson Stamer (1829-1908), Anglican Bishop of Shrewsbury. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper, with slight smudging on the first page. With two folds for postage. Addressed to ‘The Revd Sir Lovelace T Stamer Bart’ and signed ‘R H Hutton’. Twenty-five lines of text in a hand that must surely have proved as much of a challenge to Hutton’s compositors as to present-day readers.

An interesting and well-written poem, unpublished, casting light on the life of a midshipman in the Royal Navy in the year after Trafalgar. The author of this poem is frustratingly elusive (he was perhaps a member of the family of the antiquary Francis Grose, 1731-1791), but the 1787 Captain was a 74-gun third rater of some renown, having been captained by Nelson at the 1797 Battle of St Vincent. In the year following this poem she would act as one of the escorts for the expedition that left Falmouth and eventually attacked Buenos Aires.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightl aged. Folded once for postage. The recipient is not named, but the letter has at its head the date stamp of the Royal Society of Arts, London, and is docketed by Wood. Signed ?H. Brereton Baker?. He agrees to give ?the three Cantor lectures as you suggest, provided they can begin after the 3rd. week in February?. He gives the subject as ?Catalysis in its scientific and industrial aspects?. A pencil note at the foot gives dates for the lectures as ?Mch 16, 23, 30?.

Two nice pieces of Potteries ephemera. No other copies have been traced. ONE: Booklet. In fair condition, on aged paper, in lightly worn and creased wraps. 36pp, 12mo, stitched into red wraps with title repeated on cover in black. Slips with printed emendations have been laid down over text on pp.8, 9 and 32 (the last slip, carrying rule 84, ‘Hours for Consumption’, is amended in manuscript). Eighty-four rules on the first 32pp, with fifteen bye-laws on pp.33-34. TWO: ‘MEMBERS TICKET, 1929.’ A nice item on card, roughly 7 x 9 cm, with central horizontal crease folding it down to 4 1/2 x 7 cm.

See his entry in the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, and Conder’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. On the first leaf of a bifolium, the second addressed on the reverse, with postmark, to ‘Mr. Josh. Conder, / Bookseller, / Bucklersbury, / London.’ In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, spiked, folded for postage, and with damage and slight loss to the second leaf from the breaking of the wafer. Begins: ‘Learning lately from my friend Mr. Williams of Shrewsbury, [the future Sir John Bickerton Williams (1792-1855)] that you had engaged with him for his MS.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. A very good facsimile of a typed letter, with the main text in black, some in red and the facsimile signature 'Henry W. Nevinson' in light blue. Names of Nevinson as President, E. M. Forster as Past-President, and dozens of Vice-Presidents in left-hand margin, including Aldous Huxley, A. A. Milne, J. B. Priestley, H. G. Wells and Rebecca West. Addressed to 'Dear Sir', the letter sets out the history of the organization, appealing for 'support for its activities'.

See his entry, and that of his wife, in the Oxford DNB. Plain postcard addressed by Haweis to ‘John Bacon Esqr / 48 Griffin St / Wilton / Blackburn’. In fair condition, discoloured and worn. Reads: ‘Dear Sir. / My next work will be duly advertised. My photographs can be got from Fry & Co. 68 East St. Brighton (& my wife’s also). Thanks for all kind words. / H R Haweis. / Amber House July 11’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. At his death in 1917, H. T. Beresford-Hope was Third Secretary at the British Legation at Athens; and he left the enormous sum of £67,167. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘My dear Beresford-Hope’ and signed ‘H. Fisher’. Twenty-eight lines of text. He begins a gently teasing letter by stating that he is delighted to hear of Beresford-Hope’s ‘triumph in the Diplomatic Service examination’, his wife joining him in sending congratulations.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The present item is 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, and folded once for postage. Thirty-one lines of text. Signed ‘H.

1p, 4to. Rather aged, with some wear and discoloration at head and foot, and minor traces of mount on reverse. Four folds. Signed ‘Walter H. Page’ and addressed to ‘C. Reginald Grundy, Esq., / 1, Duke Street, / S. W. 1.’ The note reads: ‘Dear Sir: / I wish it had been possible for me to attend the meeting at the Mansion House to-day to further the establishment of local war museums, but I regret to say that it was impossible. / Yours very truly, / Walter H. Page’.

A. H. Evans was born in the village of Aber Clydach, near Talybont on Usk, Breconshire. He gives biographical information in his ‘English Historians and Welsh History’ (1975). See also Needham's entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is excessively scarce: no other copy found on OCLC WorldCat, JISC, ViaLibri or the National Library of Wales.

Five copies listed on JISC. Now scarce. 8pp, 16mo. Stitched pamphlet, on good wove paper. In fair condition, lightly aged, with small closed tear at head of first leaf. First two leaves with light crease. Enfolded in ‘wallet’ of the same paper, repeating the title on the front (differently positioned), and also giving the price as sixpence. The poem, covering pp.2-7, is in small print, and the first stanza reads: ‘I bind upon myself to-day / The Strength of the Holy Trinity: / That mighty Breastplate be my Stay! / I here invoke . . . I here confess . . .

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. Sixty lines of text. Aged and worn, but entirely legible. Signed ‘H. F. Maltby’ and addressed to ‘My dear Pope’. Most of the letter concerns the tomb of ‘Maggoty’ Johnson: ‘I first met that interesting old gentleman over forty years ago, when I was playing at the Theatre Royal Macclesfield with the late Mrs Bandman-Palmer. It was my landlady who advised me to visit the tomb as one of the objects of interest in the place.