HANOVERIAN

[Sir Charles Craufurd [Sir Charles Gregan Craufurd], gallant British soldier.] Autograph itemised financial statement: 'Major Craufurd's Account', with signed receipt, for costs including the Duke of York's 'Pellice' and 'Post Horses'.

Author: 
Sir Charles Craufurd [Sir Charles Gregan Craufurd] (1761-1821), gallant British soldier, equerry to the Duke of York, and later a Tory Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
16 January 1794. No place [on active duty in the Netherlands].
£150.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In 1787 he had been appointed equerry to the Duke of York, and he accompanied him to the Netherlands as Aide-de-Camp. The present item was written a three months before the Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies, at which Craufurd, at the head of two squadrons, is said to have captured three guns and a thousand men. 1p, 12mo. On watermarked laid paper. In good condition, lightly aged, with creases from having been folded into a packet. Docketed on reverse. Reads: ‘Major Craufurd’s Account. / Paid to the Russian Minister at Brussels for a Pellice for the Duke ..

[British Army during the Seven Years’ War.] Manuscript ‘Return of the Men of the Royl. Regiment of Artillery Horses & Drivers under the Command of Lieutent. Davd. Scott’, signed by Scott.

Author: 
Lieutenant David Scott, Royal Artillery [British Army during the Seven Years’ War]
Publication details: 
‘at the Camp near Winchester - June 28th 1762’.
£150.00

1p, foolscap 8vo. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium of laid watermarked paper. Docketted on reverse of second leaf. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. Neatly written out by a secretary, and signed by Scott (‘Dad. Scott Lieut. / Artillery.’). Headed ‘Return of the Men of the Royl. Regiment of Artillery Horses & Drivers under the Command of Lieutent. Davd. Scott at the Camp near Winchester - June 28th 1762.’ Begins with numbers of ‘Mattross’s’, ‘Drivers the Conductor included’, ‘Horses’.

[Lyme Regis, Dorset.] Autograph Letter Signed from ‘Wm Curtis’ [William Curtis] to ‘Mr Wh[encon?] / Town Clerk / Lym’, regarding legal action with ‘Mr Preston’ (‘Mr Recorder’) who ‘Threatens to play the very Devil’ with him.

Author: 
Lyme Regis, Dorset: William Curtis of Lym [Richard Preston ('Mr Recorder') of Marino; Lowton of the Temple]
Publication details: 
‘Lym July 1 / 1795’. [Lyme Regis, Dorset.]
£50.00

Neither Curtis nor the 'Mr Recorder' named Preston mentioned in the letter feature in G. Roberts’s ‘History of Lyme Regis’ (Sherborne, 1823). Preston may be ‘Richard Preston Esq.’ of ‘Marino’ named as living near Barnstaple in Cary’s New Itinerary, 6th ed, 1815. The recipient’s name is not decipherable. Six years previously a parliamentary committee had examined ‘Mr. Follett, the town clerk of Lyme. He said, he had held that office fifty years.’ (Luders, Reports, 1789) 2pp, 4to. On first leaf of bifolium, the reverse of the second leaf being addressed to ‘Mr Wh[encon?] / Town Clerk / Lym’.

[The Navy Office, London.] Manuscript document, addressed to ‘Mr: Turnpenny’ from the Navy Office, in the matter of ‘the Hire of the Pulteney Advice Boat’, regarding a request to delay payment of a bill, signed by six Commissioners of the Navy.

Author: 
The Navy Office, Seething Lane, City of London [Commissioners of the Navy; Navy Board; Royal Navy; Admiralty]
Publication details: 
30 December 1748. Navy Office [Seething Lane, City of London].
£50.00

The War of Jenkin’s Ear had ended a few months before, and Daniel A. Baugh, ‘British Naval Administration in the Age of Walpole’ (Princeton, 1965) describes the sorry state into which the Navy Board had fallen at this point. 1p, foolscap 8vo. On recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, the verso of the second leaf being addressed ‘To / Mr Turnpenny / Navy Office’ and docketted ‘Com[missione]rs of Navy to Mr Turnpenny’. In poor condition and urgent need of archival repair. The laid and watermarked paper is flaking away, and part of text, including a couple of the signatures, is lacking.

[‘Silly Billy’: Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh.] Autograph Signature on frank addressed to Rev. Dr [Christopher] Wordsworth, his Vice Chancellor at Cambridge University.

Author: 
Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh ['Silly Billy'] (1776-1834), great-grandson of George II, nephew and son-in-law of George III
Publication details: 
Dated from London, 27 June 1827. With frank of same date.
£25.00

See his entry and Wordsworth’s in the Oxford DNB. The Prince was Chancellor of Cambridge University from 1811 to his death. Wordsworth was Vice-Chancellor twice: 1820-1821 and 1826-1827. On 13 x 7 cm panel cut from the cover of the envelope. In fair condition, lightly aged, laid down on brown paper cut from album, with slight wear to corner of letter just touching the initial ‘W’ of the Prince’s name. Laid out in the customary fashion, and reading: ‘London June Twenty seven 1827 / The Revd / Dr. Wordsworth / Vice Chancellor of the University / of Cambridge’.

[King William IV as Duke of Clarence.] Signature on [attempted] frank addressed to Mrs Skelton of St Albans.

Author: 
King William IV (1765-1837), from 1789 Duke of Clarence and St Andrews, ascended the throne in 1830
William IV
Publication details: 
23 December 1837; Bushy.
£35.00
William IV

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 11 x 7 cm panel cut from the cover of the envelope. In good condition, lightly aged, laid down on brown paper cut from album. The intial ‘C’ of the Duke’s name curls under the rest of the signature with a loop, and with end of flourish possibly trimmed in cutting the panel. (Comparison with other examples of the future king’s signature as Duke of Clarence indicate that whatever loss there may be would be minimal.) Laid out in the customary fashion. Reads: ‘Bushy. December twenty third 1827 / Mrs: Skelton / Sandridge Lodge / St: Alban’s / Street’.

[Thomas Ord, Colonel Commandant of the 4th Battalion of the Royal Artillery.] Manuscript document detailing his ‘Services’ in the West Indies, Flanders and America.

Author: 
Thomas Ord (d.1777), British Army officer who served with distinction in the West Indies, Flanders and America, latterly as Colonel Commandant of the 4th Battalion of the Royal Artillery
Publication details: 
Entries between 1740 and 1762, regarding the West Indies, Flanders and America. In a contemporary hand (Ord's own?).
£180.00

Something akin to a CV in a neat contemporary hand (perhaps Ord’s own, in pursuit of preferment or a pension?). A useful summary of Ord’s career features in ‘Commissary Wilson’s Orderly Book. Expedition of the British and Provincial Army, under Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Amherst, against Ticonderoga and Crown Point. 1759.’ (New York, 1857): ‘THOMAS ORD was appointed Captain in the Royal Artillery on 1st March, 1746. He was an excellent Officer, and stood high in the Duke of Cumberland’s esteem, by whom he was selected to Command the Artillery in Braddock’s Expedition.

[Sarah Trimmer, author, educationalist and editor.] Autograph Signature with valediction to a letter.

Author: 
Sarah Trimmer [née Kirby] (1741-1810), educationalist, author, educationalist and editor of ‘The Family Magazine’ and ‘The Guardian of Education’
Sarah Trimmer
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£50.00
Sarah Trimmer

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. On 12.5 x 3 cm slip of paper cut from letter. Aged and worn, with nick lost from left side, and remains of mount on reverse. Reads: ‘I remain / Yours very truly & affectionately / Sarah Trimmer’. See Image.

[HMS Alfred [originally HMS Asia] (1811), a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.] Manuscript statement of ‘Armament of H. M. Ship Alfred June 26th. 1833.-’

Author: 
HMS Alfred [originally HMS Asia] (1811), a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy
Publication details: 
26 June 1833.
£250.00

Launched at Frindsbury in 1811 as HMS Asia, played an active role in the War of 1812: in the bombardment Fort McHenry, and the attack on New Orleans, and sharing in the proceeds of the capture of the American vessels in the Battle of Lake Borgne in 1814. She was renamed HMS Alfred in 1819. By the time of this item she had been reduced to a 50-gun fourth rate Frigate. She was eventually broken up in 1865. 1p, small 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. On reverse: ‘Armament / of / H. M. Ship / Alfred’. The front page, in the same hand, is headed: ‘Armament of H. M.

[HMS Comet (1807), Royal Navy ship: 'Sick List'.] ‘Weekly Return of the Sick and Wounded of His Majesty’s Sloop Comet’ on printed form completed in autograph and signed by ‘John Bunting Surgeon’.

Author: 
HMS Comet (1807), Royal Navy Thais-class fireship, re-rated as a sloop in 1808, re-rated again in 1811 as a 20-gun sixth rate, an East Indiaman from 1816 [John Bunting, RN, surgeon]
Publication details: 
HMS Comet, 'at Sea'. Weekly return between 4 and 11 September 1811. On paper watermarked 'W & T CHANDLER / 1809'.
£120.00

1p, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, on watermarked laid paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased and chipped at edges. Folded twice. A printed form in a grid headed (with Bunting's autograph in square brackets): 'WEEKLY RETURN of the Sick and Wounded of His Majesty's [Sloop Comet] between [4th] Day of [September 1811] and the [11th.] Day of [September], employed in [at Sea]'. A grid of nine columns, from 'Disease' to 'Invalided' (subdivided into 'Harbour Duty' and 'Unserviceable'.

[Lord St Helens [Alleyne Fitzherbert, Baron St Helens], diplomat, Ambassador to Russia and Chief Secretary for Ireland.] Autograph Letter Signed from St Petersburgh to General Bentham, introducing 'Mr. Vaxel', who is coming to study in England..

Author: 
Lord St Helens [Alleyne Fitzherbert, Baron St Helens (1753-1839], diplomat, Ambassador to Russia, Chief Secretary for Ireland, for whom Mount St Helens is named [General Bentham]
Publication details: 
'St. Petersburgh 26th. Jany. 1802.'
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. For the context see Irina and Dmitri Gouzevitch, ‘Travelling interchanges between the Russian Empire and Western Europe / The Travels of Engineers during the First Half of the Nineteenth Century’, in Simões, Carneiro and Diogo eds, ‘Travels of Learning / A Geography of Science in Europe’ (Boston, 2003). 1p, 8vo. Nineteen lines of closely-written text. On aged and worn paper. The item has been torn away from a mount, resulting in damage to the two outer corners, with the area immediately to the right of the signature ‘St Helens’ lacking.

[Lord St Helens [Alleyne Fitzherbert, Baron St Helens], diplomat, Ambassador to Russia and Chief Secretary for Ireland.] Autograph Letter Signed to Charles R. Broughton, authorizing a charge on refunded Land Tax as retired Foreign Ministers.agent.

Author: 
Lord St Helens [Alleyne Fitzherbert, Baron St Helens (1753-1839], diplomat, Ambassador to Russia, Chief Secretary for Ireland, for whom Mount St Helens is named [Charles R. Broughton]
Publication details: 
‘Grafton Street [London] / 2 May 1810’.
Upon request

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. Sixteen lines of closely-written text. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with short closed tears along the five creases from the folding of the item into a packet. Docketed on the reverse of the leaf: ‘May 2d 1810 / Lord St Helens / Authy to charge Agency at the rate of 1 P Ct on Monies recovered on accot of Land Tax refunded to Foreign Ministers &cr.’ Signed St Helens.

[Sir John Graham Dalyell, Scottish antiquary and naturalist.] Autograph Letter Signed undertaking to promote the recipients' ‘views & interests’.

Author: 
Sir John Graham Dalyell (1775-1851), Scottish antiquary and naturalist
Publication details: 
‘H[?] Street 17 Nov 1820’.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In his expansive hand, with a good bold signature. On worn and aged leaf of laid paper, with two small punch holes to inner edge, affecting one word of text. Reads: ‘Dear Sirs / I feel quite at a loss to express my sense of this mark of your attention. I can only assure you that my best exertions shall not be wanting to promote your views & interests. / Meantime / I am Dear Sirs / Yours faithfully / John Graham Dalyell’.

[Joseph Lancaster, Quaker educationalist.] Printed ephemera: Handbill titled ‘ROYAL BENEVOLENCE.’, appealing for subscription to ‘a Fund to enable Schools in the country, for TEN THOUSAND POOR CHILDREN’.

Author: 
Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838), pioneering Quaker educationalist who advocated the monitorial system
Lancaster
Publication details: 
‘Free School, Borough Road, Southwark. / 19th of 3d Month, 1806.’
£220.00
Lancaster

A scarce and fragile item: the only copy traced on WorldCat and Jisc is held by the Society Friends (Quakers). Lancaster’s entry in the Oxford DNB, which sums up his achievements: ‘his name was to survive in English educational history as one of the foremost pioneers of mass schooling and effective teacher training in the early industrial era’. The handbill is printed on one side of a 15 x 19.5 cm leaf of thin wove paper. A fragile survival: lightly aged and worn, with a small hole and closed tear, but text clear and entire.

[Joseph Lancaster, Quaker educationalist.] Lengthy conclusion to Autograph Letter Signed to Elizabeth Clarke of Downham, explaining that the 'very sedentary' nature of 'the cause' has sent him to the country for an 'excursion'.

Author: 
Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838), pioneering Quaker educationalist who advocated the monitorial system [Zachary Clarke of Downham (d.1815), Norfolk]
Publication details: 
No date or place, but before Zachary Clarke's death in 1815.
£180.00

In the obituary of Zachary Clarke, husband of the recipient, in the Gentleman's Magazine for September 1815, it is stated that he also 'established a free school on Dr. Bell's system, and has since employed a teacher to superintend it'. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 8vo. Thirty-eight lines of text. The other leaf or leaves of the letter are missing. The cover leaf, addressed on reverse with two illegible postmarks, 'To / Elizabeth Clarke - / at Zachary Clarkes / Downham / Norfolk -'. Signed 'J. Lancaster'.

[William IV, King of the United Kingdom.] Autograph Signature (as Duke of Clarence) on frank addressed by him to Dr Carmichael Smith.

Author: 
William IV (1765-1837), King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1830-1837 (previously Duke of Clarence)
Publication details: 
4 December [no year]; London.
£45.00

See the entry for the ‘Sailor King’ in the Oxford DNB. On 12 x 7 cm piece of paper, cut from the cover of a frank. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight smudging and a small patch of light discoloration at centre (away from signature). Set out in customary fashion, and addressed by the future king (with the year cropped): ‘London. December fourth [...] / Dr: Carmichael Smith / M. D. / Upper [?] / Near Staines / Middlesex’. Firm signature at bottom left, with slight smudging to loops of the initial ‘C’: ‘Clarence’. See Image.

[The Lord Mayor of London plans a ‘cockney expedition’: William Thompson, Lord Mayor of London, 1828-9.] Autograph Letter Signed to Theodore Hook, describing the itinerary of the three-day ‘excursion to the Medway’.

Author: 
William Thompson (1793-1854), Lord Mayor of London, 1828-9, ironmaster, financier and Member of Parliament [Theodore Hook (1788-1841), writer and hoaxer; John Wilson Croker; Sir Henry Blackwood]
Publication details: 
‘Mansion House [London] / 20 July 1829’.
£90.00

An excellent slice of Georgian London history. See his entry, and Hook’s, in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Fifty-five lines of text. On bifolium. In fair condition, on discoloured and lightly-worn paper, with closed tear at foot of gutter. Also present is a typed transcript. The letter concerns a proposed three-day ‘excursion to the Medway’. Hook has engagements that will interefere, but Thompson undertakes to land him ‘safe at the Tower by seven o’clock on Saturday’.

[‘The Colossus of Roads’: Sir James Nicoll McAdam, Scottish builder and administrator of roads.] Autograph Signature cut from document.

Author: 
Sir James Nicoll McAdam (1786–1852), ‘The Colossus of Roads’, Scottish builder and administrator of roads
James Nicoll McAdam
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£45.00
James Nicoll McAdam

See his joint entry with his father John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836) in the Oxford DNB. On slip of paper roughly 11 x 6.5 cm, cut from document. In good condition, lightly aged, and laid down on part of brown paper leaf from an autograph album. (Part of an autograph by ‘[...] Perry’ is on the reverse.) Good large disciplined autograph ‘James Mc Adam’ (with the initial ‘J’ closely cropped at the head and left-hand side), beneath which is written, in a contemporary hand ‘The Colossus of Roads’. See Image.

[ Erasmus Middleton, Evangelical clergyman. ] Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs Squire of Wragby full of pious sentiment.

Author: 
Erasmus Middleton (1739-1805), Evangelical Church of England clergyman and editor
Publication details: 
'B. Friars [ Blackfriars ], London, April 27th. 1785.'
£280.00

3pp., folio. Bifolium. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, 'To | Mrs. Squire, | Wragby, | near Lincoln.' In fair condition, aged and worn, with Middleton's seal cut away from the second leaf (without any loss to text) and a number of closed tears along creases. Seventy lines of neatly-written text. A letter filled with pious sentiment, beginning: 'Mr. Squire favored us To-day with a Call, and it gave us a peculiar Pleasure to see that he is so well recovered from that Fit of Illness in which my Brother & I saw him, notwithstanding the uncommonly severe Winter we have since had.

[Sophie-Ernestine de Tott, French émigrée artist.] Signed Autograph order for David Morier to pay Gregorio Francisco de Queiroz for Francisco Bartolozzi’s engraving of her painting of the Prince de Condé. With de Queiroz’s signed receipt.

Author: 
Sophie-Ernestine de Tott (1758-1848), French émigrée artist; Gregorio Francisco de Queiroz (1768-1845), Portuguese engraver, pupil to Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815) [David Morier, banker]
Gregorio Francisco de Queiroz
Publication details: 
Signed order by de Tott: ‘No. 13. Princes Street hanover Square / a Londres - ce 16. Juin 1802 -’. Receipt signed by de Queiroz: 16 June 1802; no place.
£280.00
Gregorio Francisco de Queiroz

A nice set of documents relating to the London émigré art scene. A copy of the engraved portrait to which these two items refer, titled ‘Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé, prince du sang’, is BM P&D 1850,0211.17, and carries the information M.de de Tott pinx., F. Bartolozzi RA sculp., and her details, as publisher: London Publish'd by M.de de Tott Octo. 1 1802. De Tott’s original painting is in the Musée Condé in Paris. See Bartolozzi’s entry in the Oxford DNB and the second (1885) edition of Tuer’s monograph on him. The two items are attached with a wafer at top inner corner.

[Sir Robert Ker Porter [‘Reynhold Steinkirk’], historical painter to Tsar of Russia, British consul in Venezuela; botany] Two Autograph Letters Signed to the Hon. Mrs Villiers, regarding the procurement in Venezuela of the ‘rarest seeds’.

Author: 
Sir Robert Ker Porter [pseudonym ‘Reynhold Steinkirk’] (1777-1842), Anglo-Irish artist, diplomat and author, historical painter to Tsar Alexander I of Russia, British consul in Venezuela [Villiers]
Publication details: 
ONE: 1 April 1830; Esher [England]. TWO: 18 October 1830; Caracas [Venezuela].
£380.00

Artist, author, diplomat and horseman, present at Sir John Moore’s death in Corunna, knighted by the king of Sweden, historical painter to Tsar Alexander, British consul in Venezuela: see the entry on this renaissance man in the Oxford DNB. Both in good condition, with folds for postage. Both signed ‘R Ker Porter’. The recipient (known to her family as the ‘Queen Bee’) was the widow of the Hon. George Villiers, who resided with her family at Kent House, Knightsbridge, home of her brother the Earl of Morley.

[Henry Francis Cary, translator of Dante, poet, author and Assistant Librarian at the British Museum.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the novelist Thomas Henry Lister], expressing thanks for the placing of one of his sons in a good situation.

Author: 
Henry Francis Cary (1772-1844), translator of Dante, poet, author and Assistant Librarian at the British Museum [Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842), novelist]
Publication details: 
‘Brit. Museum. [London] / Decr 11th. 1837’.
£45.00

See Cary's entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. The recipient is not named, but the item is from the papers of Lady Maria Theresa Lewis, and the letter is written to her first husband, the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842), whose father Thomas Lister of Armitage Park was a childhood friend of Cary's (see his 1847 biography by his son).

[Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London.] Five Autograph Letters Signed (all ‘B. London’) to Thomas Maurice of the British Museum, two with detailed criticism of Maurice’s poem on Pitt the Younger.

Author: 
Beilby Porteus (1731-1809), Bishop of London [Thomas Maurice (1754-1824), Assistant Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum, Anglican cleric and oriental scholar]
Publication details: 
1798, 1800 (2), 1806 and 1807 (the last apparently a mistake for 1806). The first from St James’s Square, the last from Clifton, the others from Sundridge [Kent].
£250.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. The five items are in good condition, lightly aged, with each on a 4to bifolium, and all folded for postage. In a neat and attractive hand. The text of each letter is on the first leaf, and the first two letters are addressed by Porteus on the reverse of the second leaf, each with broken seals in red wax. In Letters Four and Five Porteus lays out his objections to Maurice’s ‘Elegy on the late Right Honourable William Pitt’, published in 1806 under the name ‘T. M.’ ONE (St James’s Square, 10 April 1898): 1p, 4to. Addressed to ‘Revd. Mr Maurice / No.

[‘you are much too young & handsome to be convenient’: Edward Jerningham, high-society poet and playwright, protégé of Horace Walpole.] Unsigned Autograph Letter, flirting with unnamed male recipient, and giving details of his relation Lady Stafford.

Author: 
Edward Jerningham (1737-1812), high-society poet and playwright, protégé of Horace Walpole on whom Sheridan is said to have based the character of Sir Benjamin Backbite in ‘The School for Scandal’
Publication details: 
1798. No other details.
£280.00

Jerningham’s entry in the Oxford DNB, states that he died unmarried, ‘despite habitual flirtations with young actresses’; the present letter indicates that the members of the other sex were not exempted from his attentions. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, on a leaf of laid watermarked paper, folded for postage. Twenty-six lines of text. Dated ‘1798’ at top right, with ‘From Edward Jerningham the Poet’ above it. Unsigned, but in Jerningham's distinctive hand.

[Sir Thomas Wyse, British Ambassador to Greece and husband of Napoleon's niece Princess Letizia Bonaparte.] Autograph Signature to valediction of a letter.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Wyse (1791-1862), Anglo-Irish diplomat, British Ambassador to Greece, husband of Napoleon's niece Princess Letizia Bonaparte
Sir Thomas Wyse
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£450.00
Sir Thomas Wyse

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 10.5 x 5 cm strip of paper, with thin mourning border, cut from the end of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with thin strip of glue from mount to one edge, and thin strip of paper laid down on reverse, with manuscript note 'Sir Thomas Wyse, Minister to Greece'. Strong stylish signature to valediction reading: 'I beg you to believe me / My Dear Lord / Sincerely Yrs. / Thos. Wyse'. Fragment of letter on reverse: '[...] truly at his discretion to go on [...]'.

[Astley Cooper [Sir Astley Paston Cooper], distinguished surgeon and anatomist.] Autograph Note Signed, requesting that the botanist and antiquary Dawson Turner vote for his nephew's membership of the Athenaeum club.

Author: 
Astley Cooper [Sir Astley Paston Cooper] (1768-1841), distinguished surgeon and anatomist [Dawson Turner (1775-1858), botanist and antiquary]
Astley Cooper
Publication details: 
‘Conduit St [London] / June 23rd / 1830.’
£80.00
Astley Cooper

The two men were both from Norfolk: see their entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo, on the recto of the first leaf a bifolium, the verso of the second leaf being addressed by Cooper to ‘Dawson Turner Esq / Yarmouth / Norfolk’, with postmark and ‘More to Pay 1d’ and ‘Post Paid’, and small seal with impression in red wax. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage, and minor traces of stub adhering to one edge. Reads: ‘Dear Sir, / You will greatly oblige me y voting for my Nephew Mr. Astley Cooper for the Athenaeum - / Yours very truly / Astley Cooper’. See Image.

[‘The most fashionable place in London’: The Clarendon Hotel, Bond Street; Foreign 'Great and Good@] Around 180 entries in the hotel guestbook, on extracted leaves, the greater part of them signatures of ‘Nobility and Gentry, and Foreigners of rank’.

Author: 
‘The most fashionable place in London’: The Clarendon Hotel, Bond Street [Georgian England]
Publication details: 
The Clarendon Hotel, Bond Street, London. The entries all said to date from 1831.
£1,200.00

The Clarendon Hotel was once - as ‘Routledge’s Popular Guide to London’ stated in 1862 - ‘the most fashionable place in London’, and the present collection of autograph signatures from its guestbook, all of them said to date from 1831, bear witness to the fact that - as ‘Gilbert’s Visitor’s Guide to London’ (1851) states - it was ‘frequented by the Nobility and Gentry, and Foreigners of rank’. Its reputation had been made during the Regency period, and in 1820 ‘Leigh’s New Picture of London’ stated that it ‘and Jaquiers are now one hotel’.

[Sir Gerard Conyers, Lord Mayor of London and Governor of the Bank of England.] Autograph Signature to Printed Annuities Receipt, completed in manuscript to pay him £50 as assignee to an executor.

Author: 
Sir Gerard Conyers (1649-1737), Lord Mayor of London and Governor of the Bank of England
Conyers
Publication details: 
2 October 1716. [Bank of England, London.]
£56.00
Conyers

Conyers is curiously absent from the Oxford DNB. The present item is a frail survival. It is the customary form, printed under the heading ‘Annuities, 3700 l. per Week.’ Completed in manuscript with date, amount and record of payment to ‘Sr Gerard Conyers - Asignee of ye Execr. of S. [Leshieuller? Lechienller?] & Attorney to Jno. Burkin, Esqr Assignee of ye same’. Signed at bottom right ‘Gerard Conyer[s]’ and with the signature of ‘Witness E Clarke’ at bottom left. On aged, creased and worn paper, with one hole from wear, and the last letter of Conyer’s surname worn away. See Image.

[Hanoverian London: T. Cecil, Thomas Mulcaster, William Adair.] Autograph Letter Signed by ‘T. Adair’, to William Adair, requesting ‘part of my Quarteridge’, with receipt for the same witnessed by Thomas Mulcaster.

Author: 
Hanoverian London: T. Cecil; Thomas Mulcaster; William Adair
Publication details: 
London, 7 April 1745.
£45.00

The writer is presumably a member of the prominent aristocratic family, but none of the parties has been positively identified. 1p, landscape 12mo. On laid paper. Letter signed ‘T Cecil’ and receipt signed ‘T. Cecil’. The The document reads: ‘Sr / I have just receivd yours, but sd. be obligd to you, if you cd not Send me forty Pounds, you wd. Twenty: as I am to go out of Town to morrow & have not money to Carry me, I have wrote a Receipt, & hope as it so [sic] pressing a thing, you’ll Comply, which will very much obilge Yrs. T Cecil / London April 7th: 1745 / Receivd Of Willm Adair Esqr.

[The man whose name became synonymous with bank notes.] Autograph Signature of Abraham Newland, Chief Cashier of the Bank of England, to part of receipt for annuities, witnessed by ‘R Ettie’.

Author: 
Abraham Newland (1730-1807), Chief Cashier of the Bank of England, whose name became synonyous with banknotes
Newland
Publication details: 
July 1789. [Bank of England, London.]
£50.00
Newland

An interesting autograph in economic history. Newland’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that ‘His signature on Bank of England notes became so familiar that they were known as Abraham Newlands. His fame in this respect was commemorated in several popular jingles’. A good firm signature, ‘A Newland’, with that of the witness ‘R Ettie’, at the foot of printed form, completed in manuscript, paying Newland £33 15s 0d as assignee to an executor.

Syndicate content