INDIA

[Francis William Newman, classical scholar and moral philosopher.] Autograph Letter Signed to the sub-editor of ‘Fraser’s Magazine’ William Allingham, asking whether he will take an article on ‘ Mussulman riots against the Parsees’ and other matters.

Author: 
Francis William Newman (1805-1897), classical scholar and moral philosopher and vegetarian, brother of John Henry Newman [William Allingham (1824-1889), poet and editor of 'Fraser's Magazine']
Publication details: 
4 May 1874; on letterhead of Cumberland Terrace, Regents Park [London].
£45.00

See the entries on Newman and Allingham in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. A neatly and closely written letter of twenty-three lines. Addressed ‘To W Allingham Esq’ and signed ‘Francis W Newman’. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with unobtrusive circular mark from mount at top left-hand corner of first page. Folded for postage. At the time of writing Allingham was sub-editor of Fraser’s Magazine under the historian James Anthony Froude (1818-1894), whose wife Henrietta had just died. Allingham would take over the editorship in the following month of June, holding it until 1879.

[Sir David Chadwick, Indian Trade Commissioner.] Thirteen Signed Letters, eight Typed and five in Autograph, to Sir H. T. Wood and G. K. Menzies, Secretaries of the Royal Society of Arts, mostly regarding membership business.

Author: 
Sir David Chadwick [Sir David Thomas Chadwick] (1876-1954), British colonial civil servant, Secretary of the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux [Royal Society of Arts, London; Sir H. T. Wood; G. K. Menzies
Publication details: 
Between 22 December 1916 and 11 June 1930. Eight on London letterheads of: Indian Trade Commissioner, Department of Commerce and Industry, Government of India (5); and Imperial Agricultural Bureaux (3). Two from Beckenham, Kent.
£90.00

See his entry in Who Was Who. The thirteen items in good condition, lightly aged, most with RSA date stamp and annotations. A total of 12pp, 8vo, in autograph; and 5pp, 4to, typed. The first ten signed ‘D T Chadwick’ and the last three ‘David Chadwick’. The earliest letter, to RSA Secretary Sir Henry Trueman Wood on 22 December 1916, deals with the publication of Chadwick’s remarks ‘at the discussion on Prof. Todds paper before the Indian Section of the Society of Arts’.

[James Mill, Scottish economist and historian of British India, father of the philosopher John Stuart Mill.] Autograph Signature (‘J. Mill’) and valediction.

Author: 
James Mill [born James Milne] (1773-1836), Scottish economist and historian of British India, father of the philosopher John Stuart Mill
Mill
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£80.00
Mill

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On irregular strip of paper, roughly 9 x 1.5 cm, laid down on slightly larger rectangle cut from a leaf of an album. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Reads: ‘Always most truly Yours / J. Mill’. Beneath this, in pencil in a nineteenth-century hand: ‘Father of J. Stuart Mill’. See image.

[?Billy Blue?: Admiral Sir William Cornwallis, as Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station.] Manuscript Copy of letter to Philip Stephens, Secretary to the Admiralty, suggesting five ?additional Lieutenants?.

Author: 
Sir William Cornwallis (1744-1819), distinguished Royal Navy admiral, nicknamed ?Billy Blue?, brother of the Marquis of Cornwallis [Sir Philip Stephens (1723-1809), Secretary to the Admiralty]
Publication details: 
?Crown [i.e. HMS Crown], in Santa Cruz Bay. / Teneriffe 12th March 1789 -?.
£100.00

See his entry, and that of the recipient, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, foolscap 8vo. Laid-paper bifolium with ?I TAYLOR? Britannia watermark. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. Reverse of second leaf docketed: ?12 March / Copy / to Philip Stephens Esqr / Duplicate - left at Santa Cruz / Triplicate. sent by the shop from Port Praya Bay 24th. March 89.? See the ODNB: ?When his brother Earl Cornwallis was appointed governor-general of Bengal, Cornwallis was sent out as commodore and commander-in-chief in the East Indies in October 1788?.

[Victorian domestic interiors.] Manuscript indenture: ‘Assignment of Furniture &c. in 15 Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park’ from James George Grieve to his wife Elizabeth Charlotte Grieve, with itemized ‘Schedule’.

Author: 
A late-Victorian domestic interior: James George Grieve, ‘East India Merchant’, of 15 Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park, London, and his wife Elizabeth Charlotte Grieve [ nineteenth-century London furniture]
Publication details: 
23 January 1894. Made out by John Graham, 5 Victoria Street, Westminster.
£180.00

An interesting slice of social history, casting light on the decor of a substantial London property owned by an affluent member of the middle classes. Neatly and closely written over 18pp, foolscap 8vo. On five bifoliums bound together with green ribbon. First page with red ten-shilling stamp. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into the customary packet, endorsed crosswise on final page: ‘Dated 23rd. January 1894 / J. G. Grieve Esq / To / Mrs. E. C. Grieve / Assignment / of / Funiture &c. in 15 Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park.

[Victorian domestic interiors.] Manuscript indenture: ‘Assignment of Furniture &c. in 15 Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park’ from James George Grieve to his wife Elizabeth Charlotte Grieve, with itemized ‘Schedule’.

Author: 
A late-Victorian domestic interior: James George Grieve, ‘East India Merchant’, of 15 Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park, London, and his wife Elizabeth Charlotte Grieve [ nineteenth-century London furniture]
Publication details: 
23 January 1894. Made out by John Graham, 5 Victoria Street, Westminster.
£180.00

An interesting slice of social history, casting light on the decor of a substantial London property owned by an affluent member of the middle classes. Neatly and closely written over 18pp, foolscap 8vo. On five bifoliums bound together with green ribbon. First page with red ten-shilling stamp. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into the customary packet, endorsed crosswise on final page: ‘Dated 23rd. January 1894 / J. G. Grieve Esq / To / Mrs. E. C. Grieve / Assignment / of / Funiture &c. in 15 Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park.

[Lord Curzon [George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquis Curzon of Kedleston], Conservative statesman and Viceroy of India.] Autograph Letter Signed [to Mr Campbell], declining an invitation as he will not be taking 'any part in public affairs' that summer

Author: 
Lord Curzon [George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquis Curzon of Kedleston] (1859-1925), Conservative statesman, Viceroy of India
Publication details: 
Undated, but after 1895, and probably written early in 1922. On letterhead of The Priory, Reigate.
£65.00

See his long and sympathetic entry by David Gilmour in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Curzon acquired the Priory at Reigate after his marriage in 1895, and the letter probably dates from around March to July 1922, when, according to the Oxford DNB, ‘he was laid low by a combination of phlebitis, thrombosis, and lymphangitis which kept him out of action for five months’. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Written in pencil. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight spotting at foot of first page. One central fold for postage.

[Natural Indigo.] Lengthy correspondence of ten letters from Sir Lewis J. E Hay, ‘Retired Behar Indigo planter’ to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Lewis J. E. Hay [Sir Lewis John Erroll Hay] (1866-1923) of Park, indigo planter in Behar, India [G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
One letter from 1914, the other nine from 1915. Each on his letterhead, 42 Frederick Street, Victoria Chambers, Edinburgh.
£320.00

In one of the present letters Hay signs himself as ‘Retired Behar Indigo planter’, and the material provides an knowledgeable commentry on the colonial textiles industry at the beginning of the First World War. Some of the material was printed in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. The recipient George Kenneth Menzies (1869-1954) was Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts between 1917 and 1935. A total of 21pp, 4to. Each bears the stamp of the RSA, some with manuscript docketting.

[Lieut-Col. Sir Richard Temple, colonial administrator, oriental scholar and anthropologist.] Autograph Note Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, regarding copies of his lecture ‘Round About the Andamans and Nicobars’.

Author: 
Lieut-Col. Sir Richard Temple [Sir Richard Carnac Temple] (1850-1931), British army officer, colonial administrator, oriental scholar, anthropologist [G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
19 October 1923. From the India Office, Whitehall. On his letterhead.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. (In his Who’s Who entry he stated that he was ‘author of a great number of papers and articles in the Journals of Scientific Societies’.) 1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. With stamp and manuscript docketting of the RSA. He writes: ‘In 1900 (I think) I gave a lecture on Round About the Andamans & Nicobars published in vol XLVIII. If you have a separate copy left I shall be glad if you can send me one on payment / from Yrs trly / R. C. Temple’.

[Henry Beveridge, Scottish historian and translator.] Autograph Letter Signed to Joseph L. Williams, responding to suggested corrections, and mentioning Dr Walter Graham Blackie of his publishers Blackie & Son, Glasgow.

Author: 
Henry Beveridge (1799-1863), Scottish historian, author of ‘A Comprehensive History of India’ (1858-1863) and translator with the Calvin Translation Society, Edinburgh [Blackie and Son, Glasgow]
Publication details: 
‘8 Roxburgh Terrace Haverstock Hill [London] / 29 June 1858’.
£80.00

The recipient is clearly not the American politician Joseph Lanier Williams (1810-1865), but rather an editor of Beveridge’s history of India at Blackie’s. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, but with diagonal crease at bottom right going through Beveridge’s signature. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Joseph L. Williams Esqr’ and signed ‘Henry Beveridge’. He begins by undertaking to ‘attend to the matters’ mentioned in Williams’s note.

[Countess of Elgin and Kincardine [Mary Louisa Bruce, née Lambton], Vicereine of India.] Autograph Letter in the third person to Sir Cuthbert Sharp, as Lady Mary Lambton, hailing him as a friend of her deceased father.

Author: 
Countess of Elgin and Kincardine [Mary Louisa Bruce, née Lambton] (1819-1898), Vicereine of India, 1862-1863, daughter of the Earl of Durham [Sir Cuthbert Sharp (1781-1849), historian]
Publication details: 
22 October 1844; Lambton Castle [County Durham].
£56.00

See her husband’s entry, and those of her father the Earl of Durham, and Sir Cuthbert Sharp, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with small closed tear to blank area at foot of second leaf. Folded for postage. Laid down on leaf removed from album. Begins: ‘Lady Mary Lambton presents her Compliments to Sir Cuthbert Sharp, and begs to express her grateful sense of the kind message, conveyed to her through Mrs. Brodie, concerning Sir C. Sharps small pamphlet -’.

[Jinadasa Vijayatunga, English-language author from Ceylon [Sri Lanka].] Typed Letter Signed to Philip Dosse of ‘Books and Bookmen’ regarding a review, with reference to ‘Krishna Menon’s nervous breakdown’, ‘plagiarism’ by Mulk Raj Anand, Amita Malik

Author: 
Jinadasa Vijayatunga (b.1902), English-language author from Ceylon [Sri Lanka] in America, England and India [Philip Dosse (1925-1980); Krishna Menon, Mulk Raj Anand; Amita Malik]
Publication details: 
20 May 1974; Flat 8 King Edward Mansions, Grape Street, London WC2.
£120.00

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 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded for postage. Signed 'J. Vijaya T'.

[Jeypoor Treasury, Jaipur Government, India (now in Rajasthan State).] Eleven manuscript documents in Hindi script, each with the large seal of the Jaipur Government, and eight each with a Jaipur State 4 Annas stamp and one with an 8 Annas stamp.

Author: 
Jaipur Government, India [since 1949 part of Rajasthan State], Jeypoor Treasury
Publication details: 
[1940s.] Jaipur Government [Rajasthan State], India. (Each of the documents with large printed design of the ‘Revenue Stamp Jaipur Government’, and two with additional ink stamp of ‘RAJASTHAN STATE’.)
£450.00

Eleven documents, all foolscap, possibly relating to property. The tax stamps carried by nine of the items, and presence on the two others of a Rajasthan State stamp suggest that they date from the early years of Indian independence. Nine are bifoliums, each with punch-holed large blue oval design of the ‘Court Fee Stamp / Jaipur Government / Four Annas’ taking up much of the upper part of the recto of the first page. These documents are also blind stamped, upside down on the reverse of the second leaf, with an oval ‘Four Annas’ stamp of the ‘Jeypoor Treasury’.

[Railways in British India.] Printed account of ‘Proceedings at the Fortieth Ordinary General Meeting of the Proprietors in the Bengal-Nagpur Railway Company, Limited, [...] Sir Samuel Hoare, Bart., in the Chair’.

Author: 
The Bengal-Nagpur Railway Company, Limited [Sir Samuel Hoare, Chairman; Robert Miller, Managing Director; British India; the Raj]
Publication details: 
‘Held at 132 Gresham House, Old Broad Street, [London] on Tuesday, 18th December, 1906’.
£80.00

The Bengal Nagpur Railway Company was formed in 1887 and continued until 1952, when it merged with the East Indian Railway Company to form the Eastern Railway. The present item is 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. Printed in small type, in double column. In good condition, lightly aged, with one central vertical fold. Excessively scarce: no other copy traced, either on WorldCat, JISC, or ViaLibri.. The business of the meeting includes ‘receiving the Directors’ Report and Audited Statements of Accounts and Balance Sheet to 30th June, 1906, and the Auditors’ Report thereon’.

[British India; Edwardian Raj; Indian finances; Edward Broome, civil engineer; Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff; William Martin Wood, editor of Times of India, founder and editor of Bombay Review.] Five galley proofs of articles by Wood, on Indian topics.

Author: 
[British India; the Edwardian Raj; Indian finances; Edward Broome; Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff; William Martin Wood (1828-1907), editor of Times of India, founder and editor of Bombay Review]
Publication details: 
One item from ‘Allen’s Indian Mail’, [28 March 1887]. Three items marked as from the periodical ‘India’, [1902], 1903 and 1906. Another ‘Reprinted from “INDIA,” August 16, 1901.’
£320.00

Five galley-proofs of articles written during the high-point of the Raj by leading Victorian journalist in India W. Martin Wood (editor of the Times of India, founder and editor of the Bombay Review). Ephemeral items, creased and worn, but with text clear and entire. ONE: Headed ‘ALLEN’S INDIAN MAIL / THE LATE MR. EDWARD BROOME, C.E. / Mr. M. Martin Wood writes to us as follows: -’. Sixty-two lines in small print follow, beginning: ‘Some little time back your “Domestic Occurrences” contained the name of Mr.

[British India; Edwardian Raj; Indian finances; Edward Broome, civil engineer; William Martin Wood, editor of Times of India, founder and editor of Bombay Review.] Five galley proofs of articles by Wood, on Indian topics.

Author: 
[British India; the Edwardian Raj; Indian finances; Edward Broome; William Martin Wood (1828-1907), editor of Times of India, founder and editor of Bombay Review]
Publication details: 
One item from ‘Allen’s Indian Mail’, [28 March 1887]. The other ‘Reprinted from “INDIA,” August 16, 1901.’
£320.00

Two galley-proofs of articles by leading Victorian journalist in India W. Martin Wood (editor of the Times of India, founder and editor of the Bombay Review). Ephemeral items, creased and worn, but with text clear and entire. ONE: Headed ‘ALLEN’S INDIAN MAIL / THE LATE MR. EDWARD BROOME, C.E. / Mr. M. Martin Wood writes to us as follows: -’. Sixty-two lines in small print follow, beginning: ‘Some little time back your “Domestic Occurrences” contained the name of Mr. Edward Broome, Civil Engineer, as having died at Southport, something under 60 years of age.

[Indian students in Britain during the Empire.] Ten items of ephemera relating to: Indian National Council of Y.M.C.A.’s; Indian Students’ Union & Hostel; Indian Gymkhana Club; Edinburgh Parsi Union (inscribed by A. N. Baria).

Author: 
[Indian students in Britain during the Empire.] Indian National Council of Y.M.C.A.’s; Indian Students’ Union & Hostel (M. N. Chatterjee); Indian Gymkhana Club; Edinburgh Parsi Union (A. N. Baria)
Publication details: 
Dating from between 1909 and 1921. London (Indian National Council of Y.M.C.A.’s; Indian Students’ Union & Hostel; Indian Gymkhana Club) and Edinburgh (Edinburgh Parsi Union). Two items printed by Garden City Press, Printers, Letchworth.
£420.00

Ten scarce pieces of printed British Indian ephemera: no other copies of any of them having been traced. The ten items, which range from 8vo to 16mo, are attached to one another through punch holes by a tag. In fair overall condition, aged and worn, with rust staining from staples, and some evidence of damp to the final items (described below). ONE: Bifolium leaflet. 4pp, 8vo. Headed: ‘Indian National Council of Y.M.C.A.’s. / Indian Students’ Union & Hostel. / February 4th, 1920 - February 4th, 1921.’ A ‘brief report’ of the year’s work.

[The Raj in the 1880s.] Collection of fourteen British parliamentary papers, relating to: transfer of government to Simla, railways, silver, finance (tax, accounts, loans, revenue and expenditure).

Author: 
[The Raj in the 1880s: British parliamentary papers relating to India]
Publication details: 
All fourteen items printed for the House of Commons in London in 1886: items 9, 12 and 14 by Eyre and Spottiswoode, the rest by Henry Hansard and Son.
£100.00

The present collection reflects the state of Kipling’s India during the high summer of the Raj. At the end of 1884 Lord Dufferin replaced the Earl of Ripon as Viceroy, and apart from a period of seven months between June of 1885 and January of 1886, when Lord Salisbury and the Conservatives were in power following the death of General Gordon, and Lord Randolph Churchill was Secretary of State, Gladstone and the Liberals were in power.

[Pratap Singh, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir.] Autograph Signature ‘Pratap Singh / Maharaja’ on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Pratap Singh (1848-1925), Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, ruler of an Indian salute state under the British Raj
Publication details: 
8 June 1893; on letterhead of The Palace Srinagar [Jammu and Kashmir, India].
£100.00

Singh was deposed by the British in 1889, with accusations of misgovernment, disloyal dealings with the Russian Empire, and a plot to murder his brothers and the British Resident, but as this was deemed contrary to the 1846 Treaty of Amritsar he was reinstated, but with a new ruling council was forced upon him, under the supervision of the Resident. Two slips of paper cut from a letter for display in an album. Both somewhat discoloured and a little ruckled. All the writing is in the same ink, but it is not clear whether the text of the letter is in a secretarial hand.

[Charles Richard Weld, author.] Printed notice of the election of ‘the Council and Officers of the Royal Society’ and ensuing dinner, signed by Weld, and addressed by him to W. Vaughan. With the Society’s seal in red wax.

Author: 
Charles Richard Weld (1813-1869), historian of the Royal Society, London [William Vaughan (1752-1850), West Indian slave owner and co-founder of West India Dock, London]
Publication details: 
‘From the Apartments of the Royal Society [in Somerset Place, Strand], November 21st. 1844’.
£90.00

Weld and Vaughan both have entries in the Oxford DNB. The notice is printed in copperplate on the recto of the first leaf of a 4to bifolium. In fair condition, aged and lightly worn, with short closed tear to one edge, and slight damage to the second leaf from the cutting of the seal, which is present on the verso, with a good impression, in red wax, together with two postmarks and the address, in Weld’s hand, to ‘W. Vaughan Esq - [F.R.S.] / 70 Fenchurch Street / [Royal Society.]’ The notice, signed ‘C. R.

[Saint Nihal Singh, trailblazing Indian journalist.] Typed Card Signed to W. Macqueen-Pope, querying their possible acquaintance during his years of ‘London journalism’, and the Indian reception of MP’s BBC radio broadcasts. With carbon reply by MP.

Author: 
Saint Nihal Singh [St Nihal Singh] (1884-1949), trailblazing Indian journalist and author, for a time based in England [W. J. Macqueen-Pope [Walter James Macqueen-Pope] (1888-1960), theatre historian]
Publication details: 
3 November 1951; Suryasthanam, 16, Nemi Road, Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh, India.
£180.00

From the papers of W. J. Macqueen-Pope (see his entry in the Oxford DNB). Addressed in autograph to MP care of the BBC, and then forwarded to his office, 359 Strand. Pencil annotation by MP. On one side of an unillustrated postmarked printed British ‘Indian Postage’ air mail card with Indian postage stamp. In good condition, aged and lightly-worn. Also in Singh’s autograph is the salutation to ‘Dear Pope’ and the valediction ‘Your sincere / St Nihal Singh ST NIHAL SINGH’.

['What are we to do with our “monstrous Regiment” of Women?': Sir Charles Trevelyan, Liberal politician.] Autograph Letter Signed, to W. A. Lock, giving his views on women and ‘German Immigrants’.

Author: 
Sir Charles Trevelyan [Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan] (1807-1886), Liberal politician and administrator in India, notorious for his response to the Irish potato famine
Trevelyan
Publication details: 
‘Treasury. / 8 Dec 1882’.
£220.00
Trevelyan

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin neat strip from windowpane mount adhering to edges. Folded twice for postage. Twenty-four hands of text in secretary hand, addressed to ‘W. A. Lock Esqre’, and signed in autograph ‘Sir C Trevelyan’. He thanks him for his ‘very interesting Letter’, and hopes he will ‘never think it necessary to make any excuse for writing to me [other such?]’. He has asked ‘Mr. Farr’ for ‘any observations he might have to offer on the early part of it; and his answer is enclosed’ (not present).

[Lord Roberts of Kandahar, Boer War commander.] Autograph Note Signed giving his vote, on back of printed card soliciting it for Caroline Constance Williams to gain admission to the Soldiers’ Daughter’s Home, Hampstead.

Author: 
Lord Roberts [Frederick Sleigh Roberts; Field Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar, V.C.] (1832-1914), Victorian soldier, Boer War commander [Soldiers’ Daughters’ Home, Hampstead]
Publication details: 
Roberts' note: 14 April 1888; 'India'. On printed card of the Soldiers' Daughters' Home, Hampstead.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Written lengthwise on back of 11.5 x 7.5 printed card. The side of the card with Roberts’s autograph is discoloured but in fair condition, but there is slight loss along the inner margin of the printed side, resulting in some loss of text. Roberts’ autograph reads: ‘I give my vote / Fred. Roberts. / India / 14th. April 1888.’ The printed text states that Caroline Constance Williams, aged 8 years, was the daughter of Band-Sergt.

[Mary Carpenter, educationist, penal and social reformer in Bristol and India, abolitionist.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Miss Thompson’, following a meeting at the Bristol Social Science Congress.

Author: 
Mary Carpenter (1807-1877), educationist, penal and social reformer in Bristol and India, abolitionist [Bristol Social Science Congress, 1869]
Publication details: 
9 October 1869; Bristol.
£45.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The ‘Congress’ she is referring to in the letter is the 1869 Bristol Social Science Congress. 1p, 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Dear Miss Thompson / It gave me pleasure to see you at the Congress I feel sure you will have heard much here which will stimulate you to further work. / I enclose you my carte as a remembrance. / Yours truly / Mary Carpenter. -’

[East India Company.] Printed Counterpart Indenture, completed in manuscript and sealed, between ‘Sir John Edward Harington of Berkeley Square Baronet’ and ‘the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East-Indies’.

Author: 
East India Company [United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East-Indies, London; Sir John Edward Harington (1760-1831) of Ridlington, 8th Baronet]
Publication details: 
29 January 1812. [India House, London.]
£150.00

The East India Company has come under renewed scrutiny in recent years as ‘the world’s first multinational’: an early model of the acquisition of hegemony by means of transnational non-governmental corporations. 2pp, foolscap 8vo. On bifolium of thick laid paper, whose head has been cut into the customary wave. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into the customary packet. On the recto of the first leaf is the long printed form ‘Indenture’ with blank parts completed in manuscript. Red wax seal under paper at bottom right.

[‘To a great extent you will have to make your own tools‘: Max Müller, Oxford's first Professor of Comparative Philology.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Borlase’, advising him on works to consult in the study of ‘modern Irish’.

Author: 
Max Müller [Friedrich Max Müller; Muller] (1823-1900), Sanskrit scholar and philologist in England, born in Germany, Oxford's first Professor of Comparative Philology [Borlase]
Publication details: 
26 May [no year]. On letterhead of Parks End, Oxford.
£56.00

See his long and appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, concluding with the praise of his ‘pioneering achievements, especially in the fields of Vedic studies and comparative philology’. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two small water spots causing negiligible smudging (nowhere near signature). Folded twice. Signed ‘Max Müller’ and addressed to ‘Mr. Borlase’. The only book he can recommend to him is ‘Zeuss, Grammatica Celtica, of which a new edition has just been published by Ebel. There are several Grammars of modern Irish: I have one by Bourke.

[Jean Louis Rieu, Commissioner in Sind.] Autograph Letter Signed, providing a reference for ‘Mr. Bhojraj M. Bhambhani’, son of his acquaintance ‘Mr. Mansing Ramsing’, Honorary Magistrate and ‘most loyal subject’.

Author: 
Jean Louis Rieu (1872-1964), Commissioner in Sind between 1920 and 1925 [The Raj; British India; Bhojraj M. Bhambhani, son of Mansing Ramsing, and grandson of Diwan Ramsing]
Publication details: 
1 July 1922; on his letterhead as the Commissioner in Sind, Government House, Karachi.
£90.00

Rieu was the son of Charles Pierre Henri Rieu (1820-1902) of Geneva, Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts at the British Museum, and elder brother of Emile Victor Rieu (1887-1972), both of whom have DNB entries. In 1947 he had privately printed (as’J. L. R.’) a ‘Chronicle of the Rieu Family now settled in England’. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. Signed ‘J. L Rieu / Commissioner in Sind’. An nice sidelight on the workings of the Raj. He has been asked for a letter by ‘Mr. Mansing Ramsing’, on behalf of his son ‘Mr. Bhojraj M.

[‘I abominate woman in politics’: Sir George Birdwood, Indian administrator and naturalist.] Autograph Letter Signed to [Fagan?], regarding his foundation of Primrose Day, dislike of the Primrose League, and political predictions.]

Author: 
Sir George Birdwood [Sir George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood] (1832-1917), British administrator in India, naturalist and author [The Primrose League]
Publication details: 
23 October 1906; 119 The Avenue, West Ealing [London].
£90.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 11pp, 12mo, with three of the pages written lengthwise. On three bifoliums. In good condition, folded once. The hurried loose handwriting of this long letter presents a considerable challenge: even the signature (‘Geo Birdwood.’? ‘Gen Birdwood.’?) and the name of the recipient (‘Fagan’?) are doubtful. The letter begins with a reference to the ‘extract from Lady Dorothy Nevills - Reminiscences - given in the cutting from the Globe of yesterday enclosed in your kind note of today’.

[Lord Grey and immigration to British West India Colonies, 1850.] Two printed Colonial Office circular dispatches: on ‘Coloured Emigrants from United States’, and ‘Immigration’ of ‘Coolies’, ‘Kroomen’ and Africans taken from captured Slavers’.

Author: 
Lord Grey [Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey] as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1850 [Colonial Office; slavery; the United States]
Publication details: 
ONE: ‘Coloured Emigrants from United States’, Downing Street, 16 October 1850. TWO: ‘Immigration’, Downing Street, 30 October 1850.
£150.00

Two interesting items from the period leading up to the American Civil War. Both items are scarce: no other copy of either traced. In good condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript.Both printed in copperplate font. ONE: Printed ‘Circular’ dated from Downing Street, 16 October 1850. Headed in manuscript ‘Colonial Emigrants from United States’. In manuscript at end (not in Grey’s hand) ‘/sd/ Grey’. 2pp, 8vo. Paginated in manuscript 239-240.

[‘What stirring times these are!’ Eliza Lynn Linton, novelist and pioneering woman journalist.] Autograph Letter Signed, asking Sir Richard Temple to find employment for ‘one of the cream of the Indian Civil Service’, H. A. Acworth.

Author: 
Eliza Lynn Linton (1822-1898), novelist, pioneering woman journalist and anti-feminist [Sir Richard Temple (1826-1902); Harry Arbuthnot Acworth (1849-1933)]
Publication details: 
24 January [no year, but 1895 or after]. On letterhead of Brougham House, Malvern.
£56.00

According to her entry in the Oxford DNB, Eliza Lynn Linton moved to Malvern in 1895. (See also Temple’s Oxford DNB entry.) 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Sixty-six lines of closely-written text. The two leaves of the bifolium have been separated, and re-attached with archival tape; resulting in slight loss to some text on the third page, otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Signed ‘(Mrs.) E. Lynn Linton’. While he may not recall that she had the honour of being introduced to him by ‘Mr.

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