HOSTESS

[Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Baroness Holland, political hostess] Autograph Note Signed Elizth Fox to unnamed male correspondent settling a bill but mentioning that she has enclosed autographs which, he has said, his father collects(not present).

Author: 
Elizabeth Fox [Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Baroness Holland (1771-1845), political hostess and the wife of Whig politician Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland.]
Holland
Publication details: 
St Anne's Hill 16 Dec. 1839.
£65.00
Holland

One page, 8vo, fold marks, good condition. Text: I enclose you a check for the amount of my bill which I shall be glad to know you receive safe- As you say your Father is collecting autogreaphs I have enclosed you a few which he may like to have. See image.

[Lady Mary Augusta Holland, Whig society hostess, wife of Lord Holland.] Unsigned Autograph Letter [to Lord Rosebery or his wife?] regarding a foreign trip and Sydney Smith's view of the ballot.

Author: 
Lady Holland [Lady Mary Augusta Holland, née Coventry] (1812-1889), society hostess, wife of Lord Holland [Henry Edward Fox] (1802-1859), Whig politician [Sydney Smith (1771-1845), wit and cleric]
Publication details: 
'Saturday | Dover'. [7 September 1838.]
£80.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. The reverse of the second leaf laid down on part of leaf from an album, the other side of which carries an engraving of Lord Melbourne. The letter is endorsed '1838 Sept 7# | Lady Holland' on the reverse of the second learf, and at the head of the first page: 'R[eplied]. at Dalmeny | Septr. 12. 1838'. There is no salutation to the letter (which is also unsigned), but the reference to Dalmeny House would appear to suggest that the recipient was Archibald Primrose, 4th Earl of Rosebery, or his second wife, born Anne Margaret Anson.

[Arethusa Gibson on Thackeray: 'Is he not a little odd?'] Autograph Letter [from her to her mother Lady Cullum], expressing uncertainty about 'Mr Thackery', mocking MP and diplomat David Urquhart, and praising the 'Turkish Chargé d'Affaires'.

Author: 
Arethusa Gibson [née Susannah Arethusa Cullum] (1814-1885), society hostess, wife of Thomas Milner Gibson (1806-1884), Liberal politician [William Makepeace Thackeray; David Urquhart]
Publication details: 
No place or date, but circa 1846-1848, when Thackeray was publishing under the pseudonym 'Michael Angelo Titmarsh'. On letterhead of 'Arethusa'.
£250.00

See the separate entries on the Gibsons in the Oxford DNB, which notes 'her eclectic salons, attended by diplomats, writers, politicians, and, after 1848, European exiles. Regular guests included Dickens, Thackeray, Hugo, Lady Morgan, the Disraelis, Cobden, and Louis Napoleon'. (Dickens wrote part of his last novel, 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood', at the Gibsons' London house.) The present item is from the papers of Arethusa's mother Lady Ann Cullum (1807-1875), wife of Rev. Sir Thomas Gery Cullum (1777-1855) of Hardwick House. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium.

[Countess of Blessington (Marguerite Gardiner), Irish author and literary hostess.] Autograph Note in the third person to editor Samuel Carter Hall, wishing 'to consult him, about having an Enquiry executed'.

Author: 
Marguerite Gardiner [née Power], Countess of Blessington (1789-1849), Irish author and literary hostess, beauty and lover of Count d'Orsay [Samuel Carter Hall [S. C. Hall] (1800-1889), editor]
Publication details: 
'Saturday Evening' [no place or date, but on paper with watermarked date 1831].
£100.00

1p, 12mo. Bifolium. Addressed on reverse of the second leaf, with broken seal in red wax, 'To / | S. C. Hall Esqre | 59 Sloane Street'. In fair condition, on aged paper. Folded by Blessington into a diamond-shaped packet. Reads: 'Saturday Evening. | Lady Blessingtons Compts. To Mr Hall, and requests that he will call on her, as soon as may suit his convenience, as she wishes to consult him, about having an Enquiry executed.'

[Jane Octavia Brookfield, novelist and literary hostess, close friend of William Makepeace Thackeray.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Jane O. Brookfield') to the actress Leonora Wigan, regarding her 'charming house' and her son's theatrical ambitions.

Author: 
Jane Octavia Brookfield (1821-1896), novelist and literary hostess, close friend of William Makepeace Thackeray [Leonora Wigan [née Pincott] (1805-1884), actress, wife of actor-manager Alfred Wigan]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 30 Thurloe Place, S.W. [London] 24 January [1870s].
£120.00

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. The letter is addressed to 'My dear Mrs. Wigan' and begins: 'I am sorry to find that the friends I mentioned to you, have decided on another house already – but if I hear of any one else who would be glad of your very charming house, I will not fail to mention it.' She thanks her for offering to 'help Charlie some day with a word or two of advice – in case he should eventually decide on choosing the Stage as his career'. She would be 'very grateful for your valuable opinion on many points connected with it'.

[Printed Book; authorial inscription etc] Discourses in America

Author: 
Matthew Arnold [ Lady Dorothy Neville, 'writer, hostess, horticulturist and plant collector']
Publication details: 
First edition. London, Macmillan and Co., 1885
£400.00

[xiv], 207pp., dark green cloth, corners bumped, mainly good to very good. A copy inscribed by Matthew Arnold to Lady Dorothy Neville, 'writer, hostess, horticulturist and plant collector', with a letter by Arnold concerning his gift of the book tipped in. Also with prined "From the Author" note enclosed (loose), a printed bookplate alleging "Stolen from Lady Dorothy Neville", and a newspaper clipping concerning Matthew Arnold's burial place tipped in. The letter from Arnold reads as follows: "Dear Lady Dorothy | The Fourth Party are excellent company, but Sunday is impossible for me.

[ Bridget Guinness, sculptor and society hostess. ] Autograph Ownership Inscription and medical notes inside copy of Delano and McIsaac's 'American Red Cross Textbook on Elementary Hygiene and Home Care of the Sick'.

Author: 
Bridget Guinness [ née Bridget Henrietta Frances Williams-Bulkeley ] (1871-1931), sculptor and society hostess, friend and benefactor of Dame Ellen Terry [ Jane A. Delano and Isabel McIsaac ]
Publication details: 
Ownership inscription dated 1915. Book published in Philadelphia by P. Blakiston's Son & Co, 1012 Walnut Street, February 1914.
£120.00

The book is xv + 256pp., 8vo. In grey cloth binding with printed cover. In fair condition, on aged paper, with front hinge split. Ownership inscription in blue pencil on front pastedown: 'Bridget Guinness | 8 Washington Sq | 1915'. In same blue pencil on reverse of rear free endpaper is a note of an appointment for a meeting with 'the American Florence Nightingale', Anna C. Maxwell (1851-1929), who was then the Director of the School of Nursing at the Presbyterian Hospital: '4 ock Tuesday Presbyterian 70th N Mad. Miss Maxwell's office -'.

[Printed Book; authorial inscription etc] Discourses in America

Author: 
Matthew Arnold [ Lady Dorothy Neville, 'writer, hostess, horticulturist and plant collector']
Publication details: 
First edition. London, Macmillan and Co., 1885
£650.00

[xiv], 207pp., dark green cloth, corners bumped, mainly good to very good. A copy inscribed by Matthew Arnold to Lady Dorothy Neville, 'writer, hostess, horticulturist and plant collector', with a letter by Arnold concerning his gift of the book tipped in. Also with prined "From the Author" note enclosed (loose), a printed bookplate alleging "Stolen from Lady Dorothy Neville", and a newspaper clipping concerning Matthew Arnold's burial place tipped in. The letter from Arnold reads as follows: "Dear Lady Dorothy | The Fourth Party are excellent company, but Sunday is impossible for me.

Autograph Note Signed ('Dorothy Nevill') to 'Mr <Descou?>'.

Author: 
Lady Dorothy Nevill [Lady Dorothy Fanny Nevill, née Walpole] (1826-1913), hostess and horticulturist
Publication details: 
Friday 18th' [no date]; on embossed letterhead of Dangstein, Petersfield.
£28.00

12mo: 1 p. 8 lines of text. On aged paper somewhat grubby around signature at foot. Asks when he will be 'able to come to us to meet the d[uke] of Wellington'. They are 'at liberty any time between the 4th and 11th of January'.

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