HASTINGS

[Sir Philip Francis, putative author of the celebrated ‘Letters of Junius’.] Autograph Letter Signed to the oriental scholar Thomas Maurice, offering support and information for his ‘plan’ [for 'Indian Antiquities'?].

Author: 
Sir Philip Francis (1740-1818), putative author of the celebrated political tracts ‘The Letters of Junius' (1769-1772) [Thomas Maurice (1754-1824), oriental scholar]
Sir Philip Francis
Publication details: 
'Isleworth twenty fourth June / 1791'.
£500.00
Sir Philip Francis

As John Cannon writes in Francis’s entry in the Oxford DNB, ‘The authorship of the Junius letters has been the subject of innumerable publications of various merit’, with the case for Francis, first proposed by John Taylor in 1816, ‘far the most probable’. The present item is of double interest: handwriting analysis has played a significant part in a number of publications, e.g. ‘The handwriting of Junius professionally investigated by Charles Chabot, expert; with preface and collateral evidence, by the Hon. Edward Twisleton’ (London, 1871).

[‘A very nice little collection’: the 2nd Marquis of Hastings boasts about his picture collection.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding ‘the entry in the Leicester registry’ and a picture sent to him by the recipient.

Author: 
Marquis of Hastings [George Rawdon Hastings (1808-1844), 2nd Marquess of Hastings, 3rd Earl of Moira, 3rd Baron Rawdon], British peer and courtier [Donnington Park, Leicestershire]
Publication details: 
‘Donnington Park / Novr. 5th / 1836.’
£56.00

See the entry in the Oxford DNB for his father the 1st Marquis. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and discoloured, with thin strip of glue from previous mount on reverse of second leaf. The recipient is not named, and he signs ‘Hastings’. The letter begins: ‘Dear Sir, / I made the necessary enquiries as to the entry in the Leicester registry (through a friend of our clergyman) & enclose his reply [not present] - I fear it is not what you wished for.’ He might get ‘more satisfactory information’ if the recipient can give a ‘better clue to go by’.

[Patrick Tonyn, Governor of East Florida during American War of Independence.] Autograph Letter Signed from W. H. Sands of Edinburgh, W.S., to wife of Admiral Charles William Paterson, regarding Marchmont Estate and town of Greenlaw. ,

Author: 
Patrick Tonyn (1725-1804), British Governor of East Florida during the American War of Independence; Admiral Charles William Paterson (1756-1841); Marchmont Estate] Warren Hastings Sands (1791-1874)
Publication details: 
15 March 1830; 6 Royal Circus, Edinburgh.
£150.00

See the entries on Tonyn and Paterson in the Oxford DNB, the latter stating of the recipient of this letter: ‘On 28 December 1799 he married, at St Pancras chapel, London, Jane Ellen Yeats (1771/2–1846), daughter of David Yeats, formerly registrar of East Florida, and sister of his first cousin, the physician Grant David Yeats.’ Paterson’s mother was a Tonyn, and he was also related to the Marchmont family, the Earl having been his early patron. The present item is 3pp, 4to, and a bifolium.

[Sir Thomas Hastings, distinguished Royal Navy officer and gunnery instructor.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Sir Charles’, proposing that ‘Mr Stark’ [Charles Stark] give ‘mathematical instruction’ to the Lieutenants of Royal Marine Artillery.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Hastings (1790-1870), distinguished Royal Navy officer and gunnery instructor [Royal Marine Artillery]
Publication details: 
‘Excellent [i.e. HMS Excellent] Friday morning [no date, but watermarked 1838]’.
£180.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Whatman watermark of 1838. Sixty-nine lines of text, addressed to ‘My dear Sir Charles’ and signed ‘Thomas Hastings’. Begins: ‘I have been thinking that the difficulty of giving mathematics instruction to the Lieuts of R[oyal]. M[arine]. A[rtillery].

[Matilda Betham Edwards, English author.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘M Betham-Edwards’) to ‘Miss Birkett’, proposing a four o’clock call, as she does not like ‘climbing the hill in the dark’,

Author: 
M. Betham-Edwards [Matilda Barbara Betham Edwards] (1836-1919), English travel writer poet and author of children's stories
Publication details: 
13 January 1899; on letterhead of Villa Julia, Hastings.
£35.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, which does not accord her name a hyphen, although she does in this letter. 2pp, 12mo. On grey-paper bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Signed ‘M Bethan-Edwards’ and addressed to ‘Dear Miss Birkett’. She apologises for having to decline her kind invitation: ‘I never can lunch out being busy till 1 pm’. Since ‘the afternoons are now so very short’, and she does not like ‘climbing the hill in the dark’, she proposes calling on her at 4pm. ‘It will then give me much pleasure to see you.’

[Sir Charles Hastings, eminent surgeon. ] Letter in a secretarial hand, Signed in Autograph ('Charles Hastings'), as President of the Worcestershire Natural History Society, to manuscript collector Sir Thomas Phillipps.

Author: 
Sir Charles Hastings (1794-1866), surgeon and founder of the British Medical Association [Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), collector of books and manuscripts; Worcestershire Natural History Society]
Publication details: 
Worcester. 1 November 1852.
£75.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Written by Hastings in his capacity as 'President' of the Worcestershire Natural History Society, and addressed to 'Sir Thos Phillips [sic] Bart. | Middle Hill'. A circular letter, neatly written out in a secretarial hand, with Hastings adding no more than his signature.

[Ernest Jones, Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst, official biographer of Sigmund Freud.] Typed Letter Signed ('Ernest Jones | MD.') to 'Dr. Culpin', i.e. Millais Culpin, on a 'remark' by Sir Patrick Hastings and Culpin's new professorship.

Author: 
Ernest Jones [Alfred Ernest Jones] (1879-1958), Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst, official biographer of Sigmund Freud [Millais Culpin, psychologist; Sir Patrick Gardiner Hastings, barrister]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 81 Harley Street, London, W1. 18 May 1931.
£450.00

For the recipient Millais Culpin (1874-1952), see the Oxford DNB. The first part of the letter concerns an incident involving the celebrated barrister Sir Patrick Hastings (1880-1952), who would appear from Jones's account to have made a remark – objectionable to Jones and Culpin – 'about the distinction' (between psychiatry and psychology?), in response to a question from a judge (in a case in which Culpin had been called as a medical witness?).

[ George, Duke of Cambridge ] Secretarial Note Signed "George" to Major General Cha[rle]s Hastings Doyle (see note below) about promotion.

Author: 
Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, (George William Frederick Charles (1819–1904), grandson of King George III, cousin of Queen Victoria)
Publication details: 
Horse Guards, 18 May 1868.
£45.00

One page, cr. 8vo, fold mark, very good condition. "I have the satisfactiuon to acquaint you that Her Majesty The Queen has been pleased to approve of your appointment to the Colonelcy of the 70th Regiment of Foot in succession to General Sir Wm Paty K.C.B. deceased." Note: "[Doyle] was the second Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia post Confederation and the first Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick."

[Sir Thomas Phillipps of Middle Hill, eccentric book and manuscript collector, complains of having been 'plundered' by a Worcester lawyer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos Phillipps') to the wife of Sir Charles Hastings, in reply to an invitation.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872) of Middle Hill, eccentric collector of books and manuscripts; Sir Charles Hastings (1794-1866) of Worcester, surgeon and founder of the British Medical Association]
Publication details: 
'M H [i.e. Middle Hill] 12 Aug. [no year, but after Sir Charles Hastings' 1850 knighthood]'
£350.00

3pp, 16mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. Phillipps's letter (or draft letter) is a reply to a dinner invitation from the wife of the eminent Worcester physician Sir Charles Hastings. It occupies the reverse of the first leaf, and both sides of the second leaf of the bifolium. The recto of the first leaf carries the invitation, in manuscript, with the text in square brackets printed in copperplate: 'Sir Charles & Lady Hastings [Request the pleasure of] Sir Thos & Lady Phillipps' [Company at Dinner] on Thursday the 28th. Inst.

[Sir Charles Hastings, eminent surgeon, angers Sir Thomas Phillipps.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to Sir Thomas Phillipps, regarding the Worcestershire Natural History Society, with Signed Autograph Draft of reply by Phillipps.

Author: 
Sir Charles Hastings (1794-1866), surgeon and founder of the British Medical Association [Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), collector of books and manuscripts; Worcestershire Natural History Society]
Publication details: 
Both from Worcester. 25 and 29 January 1846. Draft of Phillipps' reply dated 31 January 1846.
£450.00

Both letters in good condition, lightly aged. Both bifoliums, and both signed 'Charles Hastings'. ONE: 25 January 1846. 4pp, 12mo. He is 'glad to hear' that Phillipps is thinking of 'coming down to one of our evening meetings at the Natural History Society' (Hastings being the chairman). The date for the next meeting will be fixed on the following day, and Hastings' son, who is a member of the committee, will communicate with Phillipps. 'Our last meeting went off very well.

[ Margaret Lane, English novelist and biographer: 'it really was a thrilling adventure'. ] Typed Letter Signed ('Margaret Lane') to 'Miss Cond' [ Eileen M. Cond ], on the writing of 'A Calabash of Diamonds'.

Author: 
Margaret Lane [ Margaret Winifred Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon ] (1907-1994), British novelist, journalist and biographer
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Westmead House, Roehampton, SW15 [ London ].11 July 1961.
£25.00

1p., 12mo. On grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged. She is returning Cond's bookplate, which she has signed with great pleasure, and is very glad Cond has enjoyed 'A Calabash of Diamonds', which 'really was a thrilling adventure and I don't suppose we shall ever experience anything quite so exciting again'. The book was subtitled 'An African Treasure Hunt', and involved the search for a Zulu chief's burial place. Apparently 'Eileen Cond was a book collector who sent out her bookplate to her favorite authors, many of whom signed and returned them to her.'

[ John Harmon Charles Bonté, Professor of Legal Ethics at the Hastings College of the Law. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('J H C Bonté') to Alexander Ramsay, praising his periodical 'The Scientific Roll', and offering to contribute to it.

Author: 
J. H. C. Bonté [ John Harmon Charles Bonté ] (1831-1896), Professor of Legal Ethics at the Hastings College of the Law, Secretary of the Board of Regents of the University of California
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the University of California, Berkeley. 12 November 1882.
£65.00

1p., 4to. Aged and worn, with tear along fold line repaired on reverse with archival tape. He lists the numbers of the Scientific Roll he has just received through the Smithsonian Institution, and has spent the last hour looking them over. 'The idea of the work is superb. - Just what is needed. The execution is fine, and I shall enjoy and profit by your work.' Ramsay has done him 'a great favor which will be reciprocated as soon as possible'. He is 'making original researches' which he believes 'will be of value', and will write to Ramsay again.

Two Signed Manuscript Legal Agreements with Sir Herbert Hay Langham, the first by the fraudster Walter Hastings Coward, the second by James Donaldson, regarding prospecting on the island of Madeira for 'Mines or Deposits of Chromium or Chrome Ore'.

Author: 
Sir Herbert Hay Langham (1840-1909); Walter Hastings Coward; James Donaldson; William Lattey, London solicitor [chromium and chrome ore mining in the island of Madeira; prospecting]
Publication details: 
The agreement with Coward dated 31 October 1892; drawn up by Henry Lattey, 24 Cornhill, E.C., London. The agreement with Donaldson dated 26 July 1895.
£120.00

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Neither is signed by Langham. ONE: Agreement with Coward, 1892. 1p., foolscap 8vo. On vellum paper with red embossed tax stamp. 'I Walter Hastings Coward hereby bind myself to disclose to Herbert Hay Langham all Chrome Ore or Chromium Mine that I may discover or otherwise acquire any right or share to or that I may have at present discovered or otherwise have acquired any right or share in the Island of Madeira'.

[Printed pamphlet.] Cataclysm Has Begun! [With covering Typed Letter Signed from Williamson to George H. Brook.]

Author: 
J. J. Williamson [John Jacob Williamson], Founder-President, the Society of Metaphysicians Ltd, Hastings, Sussex [Nuclear proliferation; Cold War; Atomic Bomb]
 Cataclysm Has Begun!
Publication details: 
Pamphlet: 1955. The Society of Metaphysicians Ltd. Letter: 19 February 1955; on letterhead of the Society of Metaphysicians Ltd, Archers' Court, Stonestile Lane, Hastings, Sussex.]
£250.00
 Cataclysm Has Begun!

4to, vii + 21 pp. Stapled pamphlet, on two different paper stocks (white and grey), front cover detached Text clear and complete. Good, on aged paper, with crease to one corner of title-leaf. Title leaf printed, the rest mimeographed. Pp. v-vii consist of an appendix at the rear of the volume. Occult pseudo-science (the Society's logo is a pentacle), presaging the hippie 'retreat from reason' in the face of Cold War realities. Begins 'For ten years the Society of Metaphysicians has worked in the interests of human unity at all levels.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Isaac Heard Garter') regarding Lord Rawdon bearing 'the Surname and Arms of Hastings'; with a manuscript copy of 'The humble Petition [to the King] of Francis Lord Rawdon Baron Rawdon in the County of York' on the subject.

Author: 
Francis Rawdon-Hastings (1754-1826), 1st Marquess of Hastings; Sir Isaac Heard (1730-1822), Garter Principal King of Arms
Publication details: 
Heard's letter: February 1790; College of Arms. Copy of petition without date or place.
£85.00

Letter: Foolscap (32 x 20 cm), 1 p. Text clear and complete. 4 lines. In poor condition: on aged paper with chipping and closed tears. Male recipient not named. Heard finds 'no Objection to the Prayer of the annexed Petition of the Right Honble Lord Rawdon that he and his Issue may take and bear the Surname and Arms of Hastings.' Petition: Foolscap (32 x 20 cm), 1 p. Text clear and complete, the body of the petition consisting of twenty lines. On aged, brittle paper, with closed tears along fold lines, and chipping to extremities.

Autograph Letter Signed to Messrs Charles Cox & Son, Royal Marine Agency Office, Buckingham Street, Strand, London.

Author: 
Major John Lodington, Royal Marines, Aide-de-Camp to the Governor of Dominica, the Earl of Huntingdon [Hans Francis Hastings (1779-1828), 12th Earl of Huntingdon; Windward Islands; West Indian]
Publication details: 
12 and 13 February 1824; Roseau, Dominica.
£650.00

8vo bifolium (leaf dimensions 30 x 18 cm): 4 pp. Fair, on aged paper with slight wear to extremities, and minor damage to the area around the breaking of the black wax seal, which adheres, with a clear impression of a crest, to the reverse of the second leaf. Damage to a couple of words: otherwise text clear and complete. Circular 'F' postmark in red ink. Docketed. An impassioned, anguished letter, long and unguarded, and unusual in the valuable light it casts on the state of West Indian colonial affairs. The first three-quarters of the letter from 12 February and the rest from 13 February.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Blanchard Jerrold') to 'Hyde Clarke Esq.'

Author: 
William Blanchard Jerrold (1826-1884), English journalist and playwright [Hyde Clarke (1815-1895), English engineer, philologist and author]
Publication details: 
8 July 1852; 9 Bedford Place, Hastings.
£32.00

12mo: 1 p. Text clear and entire on creased and slightly grubby paper. Asks Hyde Clark to 'make the preliminary report you suggest, & speak with Mr Crompton'. He feels that 'the thing is to be accomplished; & that there will be honour & profit to all who may concern themselves in the undertaking'. Asks to hear from Hyde Clarke 'in a few days'. The subject of the letter is unclear.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. Paulet') to Smith, former Gunnery Officer on H.M.S. Carysfort.

Author: 
Admiral Lord George Paulet, CB (1803-1879)
Publication details: 
4 July 1845; 3 Upper Eccleston Street, Belgrave Square, London.
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp, 40 lines. On slightly grubby and creased paper, with a couple of tiny closed tears. Paulet writes that he has been 'saying much in [Smith's] favor' to 'Sir W. Gage' [Admiral Sir William Hall Gage (1777-1864), a member of the Board of Admiralty]. Gage considers the certificate Paulet has given Smith 'of no use to you without your received from the Adm[ira]l. the appointment of Gunnery Officer and that you had better lose no time in applying to me for a certificate for the time that you were actually doing the duty of gunnery officer'. Paulet reckons this 'from the time of Mr.

4 Autograph Letters Signed to his barrister, Richard Williams of Lincoln's Inn Field.

Author: 
Lieutenant General Sir Charles Hastings
Publication details: 
22 April 1802, 24 November 1803, 26 December 1803, and 'Wednesday'; all from Harley Street.
£120.00

English soldier, father of Frank Abney Hastings (1794-1828; DNB). The condition of these items is not good: the paper being discoloured, brittle and flaking. A series of intemperate communications. Letter 1 is one page, 8vo, of a bifoliate addressed and docketed on the reverse of the second leaf. It reads: 'I have taken a copy of the enclosed, which I send you, that you may get it written fairly, and signed. I shall be easier when it is done'. Letter 2 is 1 page, 8vo, with the remains of the second leaf of the bifoliate docketed.

Syndicate content