HONG

[John Bowring, sometime Governor of Hong Kong] Autograph Letter Signed John Bowring to dear Friend [Miss Mary A. Humble] about the consequences of a disaster (shipwreck in the Red Sea on his return trip from Hong Kong).

Author: 
John Bowring [Sir John Bowring or Phraya Siamanukulkij Siammitrmahayot (1792-1872), British political economist, traveller, writer, literary translator, polyglot and the fourth Governor of Hong Kong.]
Bowring
Publication details: 
Off Sardinia St [Ellera?], 2 July 1859. At foot of first page: Miss Mary A Humble | Vicars Cross | Chester.
£380.00
Bowring

Two pages, 8vo, blue paper, fold marks, slight damage at fold not affecting text, mainly good condition. Despite a neat appearance, a difficult hand occasionally. Text: Of our disaster [underlined] you will have heard from others. I know you will not be displeased to hear of our safety from us [underlined]. We have lost nearly everything - Maria everything [see Note B. below] & have been clothed by Christian charity. I think better of human nature & more highly of human virtue after what I have seen. It was a beautiful display of every mortal excellence.

[Sir Frederick Lugard [Lord Lugard], Governor of Hong Kong, Governor-General of Nigeria.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Lugard’) to ‘Dickinson’ (Lord Dickinson), regarding ‘Kenya settlers’ and a matter of ‘British honour’.

Author: 
Sir Frederick Lugard [Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard; Lord Lugard] (1858-1945), soldier, explorer, Governor of Hong Kong, first Governor-General of Nigeria [Sir Willoughby Dickinson]
Publication details: 
5 January 1933. On letterhead of Little Parkhurst, Abinger Common, near Dorking, Surrey.
£100.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Lord Dickinson [Sir Willoughby Dickinson] (1859-1943), was a Liberal and then Labour politician and early advocate of the League of Nations.1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with short nick to one edge. Folded twice. He thanks him for the morning’s note, and is ‘adopting your suggestion to put down a Motion in the Lords’. He hopes that Dickinson will ‘add the weight of your name and influence in a letter to the Times’. He would like ‘the League of Nations Union would take the matter up’.

[Sir Stephen Herbert Gatty, Chief Justice of Gibraltar; Hong Kong.] Autograph Letter Signed to Sir George Bowen regarding the ‘rumour that Hong Kong is going to be vacant’, his wish to be appointed to the post [of Attorney General of Hong Kong].

Author: 
Sir Stephen Herbert Gatty (1849-1922), Chief Justice of Gibraltar after serving as a judge of the Supreme Court of the Straits Settlements [Sir George Ferguson Bowen (1821-1899); Ker Baillie-Hamilton]
Publication details: 
28 February 1889. 26 Half Moon Street [Mayfair, London].
£38.00

The letter gives an insight into what the author calls the ‘art and ingenuity’ required to obtain preferment as a colonial justice in the British Empire. See Bowen’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Due to ill health he had retired as Governor of Hong Kong in 1887. 3pp, 12mo. On Bifolium. In good condition. Thirty-eight lines of text. Signed ‘Stephen H. Gatty’. An associated letter from Lord Knutsford to Sir Henry Rawlinson, offered separately, reveals that the post Gatty was after was that of Attorney General of Hong Kong. The present letter begins: ‘Dear Sir George Bowen.

[Lord Harlech, Conservative politician.] Typed Letter Signed (‘W Ormsby Gore’) to Sir Frederick Lugard, regarding ‘the Oil Palm industry in Southern Nigeria’.

Author: 
Lord Harlech [William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore (1885-1965), fourth Baron Harlech], Conservative politician and banker [Sir Frederick Lugard [latterly Lord Lugard] (1858-1945), Governor of Hong Kong]
Publication details: 
3 May 1925; on letterhead of the Colonial Office, Downing Street, S.W.1 [London]
£35.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly worn. Folded three times. Greeting him as ‘Dear Sir Frederick’, he thanks him for having ‘prepared and sent to me your most valuable memorandum on the Oil Palm industry in Southern Nigeria’. He is in the process of discussing the question with the Colonial Secretary (Leo Amery), and Lugard’s views ‘come at a most opportune time for him to consider’.

[Lord Knutsford, as Secretary of State for the Colonies.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Knutsford’) to ‘Rawlinson’ [Sir Henry Rawlinson; Hong Kong] regarding the claims of ‘Mr. Stephen Gatty’ to the Attorney Generalship of Hong Kong.

Author: 
Lord Knutsford [Sir Henry Holland; Henry Thurstan Holland] (1825-1914), Conservative politician, Secretary of State for Colonies [Sir Henry Rawlinson (1810-95); Sir Stephen Herbert Gatty (1849-1922)]
Publication details: 
28 August 1888; Wherstead Park, Ipswich. On Colonial Office letterhead.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The body of the letter reads: ‘Dear Rawlinson / In the event of a vacancy in the appointment of Attorney General of Hong Kong, I will bear in mind your recommendation of Mr. Stephen Gatty; but I think it is probable that there may be candidates with stronger claims for consideration.’ In a postscript he adds that ‘Mr Gatty has only been 4 or 5 years in the Colonial Service’, and that in any case he thinks it ‘probable that there may be no vacancy in the Attorney Generalship of H Kong’.

[Hong Kong; natural disaster] Typed Letter Signed, cover for instructions etc (3 pp) J. B. Keenan, to C. A. A. Nicol, enclosing 'our instructions in the event of a civil disturbance or natural disaster eg Typhoon', map and 'warning signals'.

Author: 
Major J. B. Keenan, Royal Artillery, Camp Commandant, Land Forces Hong Kong [C. A. A. Nicol (1921-2012), Special Branch, Malayan Union Police Force and Royal Malaysian Police]
Publication details: 
Letter from Camp Office, Headquarters, Land Forces Hong Kong, British Forces Post Office 1; 18 October 1973.
£250.00

Totalling 4pp., sm.fol. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter (1p., 8vo) is a circular, and in it Keenan writes: 'Do not be alarmed at the sudden appearance of these instructions. Rather accept them as a fact that some one has your interests at heart'. The instructions (2pp., 8vo) are headed 'APPX 3 TO ANNEX D | CAMP HOLF SOP NO 2 | INSTRUCTIONS TO FAMILIES'. Divided into 13 sections, under the headings: Introduction; Wardens; Precautions; Children; Shopping; Special Warning Procedure; Leave; Finally.

[Sir Frederick Lugard [Lord Lugard], Governor of Hong Kong and first Governor-General of Nigeria.] Three Autograph Letters Signed to colonial civil servant Simon Nicholson, and one to Nicholson's wife Molly.

Author: 
Sir Frederick Lugard [Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard; Lord Lugard] (1858-1945), soldier, explorer, Governor of Hong Kong, first Governor-General of Nigeria [Simon Nicholson]
Publication details: 
The first of the four letters on letterhead of Little Parkhurst, Abinger Common, Nr Dorking, Surrey; the other three without place. One from 1940, two from 1941, one from 1943.
£320.00

The recipient Simon Nicholson was a colonial civil servant and a neighbour of Lugard at Tallboys in Abinger Hammer. He and his wife Molly were a cultured couple, and were friends of Edith Wharton and Bernard Berenson. The four letters are in good condition, lightly aged and worn, and each is 2pp, 12mo. Each folded once. The first three are signed 'Lugard' and the last, to Molly Nicholson, 'Fred Lugard'. In the first letter (23 September 1940), after expressing pleasure at seeing Nicholson again and having 'a talk', he begs him 'not to postpone your week-end here.

[Privately printed item.] Oxford. A Satire.

Author: 
[Sir Andrew Caldecott (1884-1951) of Exeter College, Oxford, Governor of Ceylon and Hong Kong]
Publication details: 
Edinburgh: Printed by Morrison & Gibb Limited. [1907.]
£250.00

15 + [1]pp., 8vo. In grey printed card wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged, with rusted staples. The author describes his work in an introductory note as 'an elegant and ingenious poem in heroic verse; suggested by the third Satire of Juvenal; wherein the foolishness of the institutions of this University, and the dullness and dishonesty of its inhabitants are for the first time properly exposed'. The influence of Samuel Johnson (another adapter of Juvenal and also an Oxford man) is strong, as the opening indicates: 'Though on my brow there rose an angry frown | When B - ll - l's [i.e.

[Hon. Capt. Francis Egerton, R.N.] Autograph Letter to 'John Bowring Esqre', regarding the writing of his 'Journal of a Winter's Tour in India, with a Visit to the Court of Nepaul'.

Author: 
Hon. Capt. Francis Egerton (1824-1895), Royal Navy [Francis Leveson-Gower; Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), Governor of Hong Kong; John Murray, London publisher]
Publication details: 
[London?] 'Monday <June?> 20th' [1852].
£280.00

1p., landscape 12mo (16 x 20.5 cm). Addressed on reverse 'To | John Bowring Esqre | 6 Freeman's Court | Cornhill'. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded into a packet for hand-delivery. Written in a crabbed, difficult hand. Begins: 'Tomorrow I will send you a copy of my Character [clearly 'The Life and Character of the Duke of Wellington', which is however generally ascribed to his namesake the Earl of Ellesmere], which you will see <?> Blaquiere <?> is just now in demand. Also a work which i can only lend him. <?> The Fragment ought [last word underlined three times] to be sent'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J Bowring') to unnamed recipient.

Author: 
Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), English polymath, 4th Governor of Hong Kong [Unitarianism; radicalism; William Roberts; Thiruvenkatam Vellala]
Publication details: 
10 March 1828; 4 Highbury Park.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In a bifolium, with thin strip of archival tape along edge of reverse of second leaf from previous mounting. He is enclosing 'W Roberts' letter & the answer' (neither present), and asks for a duplicate to be made of the latter item and 'sent forward'. Complains of 'a sad irregularity of Messrs Forbes & Co', asking if the matter has been set straight.

Autograph Note Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir John Bowring
Publication details: 
2 Wellington Street; 4 December 1830.
£25.00

Linguist, writer and traveller (1792-1872). One page, octavo. Lightly creased and with a few closed tears. Reverse adhering to page from autograph album. Reads 'My dear Sir | Herewith the promised letters - | Yours most truly | John Bowring'. Docketed on reverse.

Offprint from the 'Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute' entitled The critical position of British trade with oriental countries.

Author: 
T. H. Whitehead (member of the Legislative Council, Hong Kong)
Publication details: 
London: Spottiswoode and Co.; no date, but 'READ BEFORE THE ROYAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE FEB. 12, 1895'.
£85.00

8vo. 42 pages, in original grey printed wraps. Grubby, and with staining to front wrap and first leaf. On verso of front wrap: '(With the Author's Compliments).

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