JOHN

[Printed pamphlet.] An Address to Bachelors. By a Bird at Bromsgrove.

Author: 
'A Bird at Bromsgrove' [pseudonym of John Crane of Bromsgrove] [Grafton & Reddell, printers, Birmingham]
 An Address to Bachelors. By a Bird at Bromsgrove.
Publication details: 
The Seventh Edition, with Additions. Birmingham: Printed by Grafton & Reddell; for the Author. 1801.
£120.00
 An Address to Bachelors. By a Bird at Bromsgrove.

36pp., 18mo. With frontispiece (preceding half-title) of 'I. CRANE / BROMSGROVE', showing a crane and a carriage lamp, within a circular border reading 'To make the Watch go faster turn the Regulator to the right & Slower the Contrary'. Side stitched in original pink printed wraps. In fair condition, in worn and lightly-stained wraps. Nicely printed on wove paper with 'LLOYD 1795' watermark. Poem titled 'Introduction' on p.5, followed by the title poem on pp.7-36. No copy of this attractive edtion on either COPAC or WorldCat, nor of any other printed by Grafton & Reddell.

Autograph Letter Signed ('I. I. Hayes') from the American arctic explorer Isaac Israel Hayes, providing an autograph for the stock broker and journalist John H. Gourtie.

Author: 
Isaac Israel Hayes (1832-1881), American arctic explorer [John H. Gourtie, stock broker and journalist]
Publication details: 
20c East 15th Street, New York. 15 June 1869.
£800.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of mount to blank second leaf of bifolium. Good, firm signature, with flourish. The letter reads 'Dear Sir | I have recd your favour of April last & am glad so easily to oblige you. - | Truly yours | I. I. Hayes'. Gourtie contributed stock exchange reports to the New-York American.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J Nichols') from the printer John Nichols, editor of the 'Gentleman's Magazine', to an unnamed male recipient.

Author: 
John Nichols (1745-1826), printer and antiquary, editor and proprietor of the 'Gentleman's Magazine', father of John Bowyer Nichols (1779-1863); Samuel Carte (1652-1740), antiquary and clergyman]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. 26 July 1825.
£60.00

1p., 12mo. 21 lines. On aged paper, with remains of grey paper mount adhering to the reverse, and short closed tears to top and bottom right-hand corners, the latter through the signature. Nichols writes that he 'forgot the Principal Thing' he meant to say on putting 'the hasty Letter [...] in Mr Parcel', which is to thank him 'for the Offer of Mr Carte's Letters'. He will 'certainly make an opportunity of introducing from them any Extracts' that his recipient will 'point out', or, if he will lend him the volume, it will be 'carefully returned'.

Leaf from an early edition of John Dryden's translation of Plutarch's Lives, marked up with autograph emendations for a revised edition by the Victorian poet Arthur Hugh Clough, with leaf carrying longer emendation's in Clough's hand.

Author: 
Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861), English poet, critic, translator and educationalist [John Dryden's translation of Plutarch]
Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861), English poet
Publication details: 
Undated [early 1850s?]
£1,200.00
Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861), English poet

The two leaves were evidently disbound from a copy of an edition of Dryden's Plutarch, in which the grey 4to leaf of writing paper following the 12mo printed leaf was one of those that interleaved the volume. In fair conditon, on lightly-aged paper. The two leaves are tipped in onto a larger leaf removed from an album. The printed leaf is 12mo, from volume 5 of Dryden's translation, with the pages numbered 511 and 612 [sic]. The two sides of the leaf carry a total of approximately 25 emendations and deletions.

Contemporary manuscript copy of a letter from Captain John Bower, 84th Regiment, to his father Alexander Bower of Kincaldrum House, Kinnettles, describing how he saved the life of the future Sir James Carmichael-Smyth while shark fishing off the Cape

Author: 
Captain John Bower (d.1800), 84th Regiment of Foot, eldest son of Alexander Bower of Kincaldrum House, Kinnettles, near Dundee [Sir James Carmichael-Smyth (1779-1838)]
Publication details: 
Letter 'dated Cape Town May 10th 1797', on paper also with watermarked date '1797'.
£120.00

2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged laid paper. Bower begins by stating that he is sending 'a Copy of a Letter which I have received from Dr Carm Smyth [James Carmichael Smyth (1742-1821) of the Middlesex Hospital]'. Smyth's son (the future Sir James Carmichael-Smyth) is 'a very fine handsome young man Lieut in the Engineers come out a Passanger [sic] in the same ship with us'. Bower and Smyth 'wisely went into the Boat which was lashed to the Stern Gallery to fish sharks which were following the ship - the Boat suddenly canted round in the slings, upon which poor Smyth went plump into the sea'.

Four documents concerning an application by Carolina Nairne [née Carolina Oliphant], Lady Nairne, to Chancellor of the Exchequer Thomas Spring Rice for an extension to her civil list pension, including accounts and statements of her financial affairs

Author: 
Carolina Nairne [née Carolina Oliphant], Lady Nairne (1766-1845), Scottish songwriter and song collector [John Mackenzie Lindsay, WS; Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle(1790-1866)]
Publication details: 
Two items dating from December 1837, one from 1838, and one undated [November 1837?].
£280.00

Items Two to Four are in good condition, on aged paper; with Item One worn and creased, repaired with strips of white paper. Items Three and Four are attached to one another by a stub, and all four items show evidence of having been removed from a letterbook. Items One and Four are statements describing Lady Nairne's financial affairs, with Items Two and Three letters to Spring Rice and the Civil List committee on the matter, the first anonymous and the second by Lady Nairne's solicitor John Mackenzie Lindsay, Writer to the Signet.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Spencer') from George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer to an unnamed recipient [his agent?], requesting him to engage 'Mrs. Hope's house' and 'the stables at Mr. Wrights'.

Author: 
George John Spencer (1758-1834), 2nd Earl Spencer [Thomas Hope (1769-1831), connoisseur, and Hon. Louisa Hope (d.1851), his wife]
Publication details: 
'Spencer House Saturday [no date]'.
£38.00

1p., 12mo. On aged and lightly-spotted paper. Reads: 'My dear Sir, | Mrs. Hope's house will do & I shall be obliged to you to engage it for me, from the Saturday before the show for a week & the stables at Mr. Wrights also. | Yours most truly, | [signed] Spencer'. Mrs Hope is probably the Hon. Louisa Hope (d.1851), wife or widow of the connoisseur Thomas Hope (1769-1831), and one of the wealthiest women of England. If this is the case the letter was written before her second marriage in 1832 to her cousin Viscount Beresford.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John C Hamilton') from John Church Hamilton, son of founding father Alexander Hamilton, to the poet Col. George Pope Morris, regarding disputed points following the sale of his house [Undercliff, Bull Hill [Mt Taurus], NYS].

Author: 
John C. Hamilton [John Church Hamilton] (1792-1882), fifth child of founding father Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757-1804) [George P. Morris [George Pope Morris] (1802-1864), American editor and poet]
Publication details: 
New York; 4 July 1835.
£380.00

3pp., 4to. 74 lines of text. Originally a bifolium, but with the two leaves now separate. Good, on aged and lightly-worn paper. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, to 'George P Morris Esq. | Cold Spring.' The reference in the letter to Morris having 'cut down the wood' around his property is ironic, given that he is most famous for the poem/song 'Woodman! Spare that Tree!' Hamilton begins by stating that he has seen 'Mr. Robinson', who will see Morris on the subject of buying Morris's house. Hamilton considers Morris's price of $8000 for his house 'very cheap'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. O. Sargent') from the Whig politician and editor John Osborne Sargent to the Boston abolitionist poltiician Charles Sumner, on his moving to New York to work as assistant editor on the New York Courier and Examiner.

Author: 
John Osborne Sargent (1811-1891), American Whig politician, lawyer, journalist and author [Charles Sumner (1811-1874), abolitionist Massachusetts senator]
Publication details: 
New York. 16 August [1837].
£180.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. 65 lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, 'To | Charles Sumner Esq. | Boston', with docketed date giving year. He writes that he had hoped to see Sumner before leaving Boston. 'Will you give my best regards to your friend Dr. Lieber, and assure him of my sincere obligations for his unsolicited & therefore more acceptable kindness.' He is 'in all respects' pleased with his 'situation' in New York: 'It is every wise more independent - & more "uninterfered-with" than ever; besides opening a large field and better prospects'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the American historian John Bach McMaster to the military historian John Codman Ropes of Boston, regarding a list of works relating to the Duc d'Enghien.

Author: 
John Bach McMaster (1852-1932), American historian, Professor of American History at the University of Pennsylvania [John Codman Ropes (1836-1899), American military historian]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The College, University of Pennsylvania. 12 January 1896.
£56.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of previous mounting on reverse. He acknowledges with 'great pleasure' the 'duplicate list of books relating to the execution of the Duc d'Enghien'. 'The pains you have taken to prepare it are very fully appreciated.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('De Tabley') from the poet John Byrne Leicester Warren, Baron De Tabley [Lord De Tabley], to Mrs Kate A. Wright of Birmingham, giving her permission to include five of his poems in an anthology.

Author: 
John Byrne Leicester Warren, 3rd Baron De Tabley [Lord De Tabley] (1835-1895), English poet, numismatist, botanist and authority on bookplates
Publication details: 
62 Elm Park Rd, Chelsea. 20 June 1893.
£80.00

1p., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. In envelope addressed by De Tabley to 'Mrs. Kate. A. Wright. | Monona House | Small Heath | Birmingham.' In reply to her letter of 18 June, he states that he will have pleasure in permitting her to 'insert the five pieces' which she enumerates in her 'forthcoming Collection of Poems and Ballads of the Nineteenth Century'. Kate A. Wright's 'Dainty Poems of the Nineteenth Century' was published in Birmingham in 1895. The titles of the five poems are given in another contemporary hand [Mrs Wright's?] on the reverse of the second leaf.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Olinthus Gregory') from the English mathematician Olinthus Gilbert Gregory to Knight Spencer, Secretary, Surrey Institution[, regarding a series of lectures by his friend John Mason Good]. With engraved portrait of Gregory.

Author: 
Olinthus Gregory [Olinthus Gilbert Gregory] (1774-1841), Mathematical Master, Royal Military Academy, Woolwich [Knight Spencer, Secretary, Surrey Insitution; John Mason Good (1764-1827), lecturer]
Publication details: 
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. 26 March [1812].
£90.00

1p., 4to. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight traces of mount on reverse of second leaf, which is addressed, with three postmarks and docketing by Spencer, to 'Knight Spencer Esq. | Surry [sic] Institution | Blackfriar's Road'. Gregory is pleased to learn 'that there is a probability of Mr. Jones being able to accommodate us with apparatus for our proposed Lectures, upon such terms as are likely to square pretty well with the funds of the Surry Institution'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Willm. Murdin') from the historian William Murdin to Dr Samuel Johnson's friend the scrivener and author John Ellis, on the nature of friendship.

Author: 
Rev. William Murdin (c.1703-1760), of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, historian [John Ellis (1698-1790), English scrivener, author and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson
Publication details: 
St John's College, Cambridge. 19 November 1721.
£220.00

1p., 8vo. Bifolium. Twenty-seven lines of text. Good, on aged paper, with minor traces of previous mounting. Addressed, with black ink circular postmark ('20 | NO'), on reverse of second leaf, ''To Mr Ellis | att Mr Taverners in Thread-needle Street'. The letter begins: 'Nothing can yield Persons in our Stations greater Satisfaction, than to be entertain'd in our silent Retirement with some harmless amusements from a facetious & learned Correspondent.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R: Griffiths') from Ralph Griffiths, editor of the Monthly Review, to an unnamed editor [John Nichols of the Gentleman's Magazine?] recommending the grandson of Dr Philip Doddridge. With engraving of Griffiths by Ridley.

Author: 
Ralph Griffiths (1720?-1803), editor of the Monthly Review [Dr Philip Doddridge (1702-1751), dissenting minister and writer; John Nichols (1745-1826), printer and editor of the Gentleman's Magazine]
Publication details: 
'Turnham Green, June 13th.' [no year].
£65.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, on aged paper, with thin trace of glue from mount on blank reverse, and minor chipping beneath flourish of Griffiths's signature. Addressing his letter to 'Dear Sir!', Griffiths suggests that if his correspondent is 'in want of any assistance' in carrying on his 'very extensive literary concerns, the Bearer can be well recommended. - He has had a liberal education, possesses a good taste, & may be useful to you in revising, correcting, translating, &c. &c.' The 'young Gentleman' to whom Griffiths refers is, he states, 'Grandson to the Celebrated Dr.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Braybrooke') from Richard Griffin, Baron Braybrooke, politician and editor of Pepys's diary, to Rev. John Stevens Henslow, Cambridge Professor of Botany, discussing Lord Grenville's tree book and Dr Clarke's mulberry tree.

Author: 
Richard Griffin [formerly Neville], 3rd Baron Braybrooke (1783-1858), Whig politician and first editor of Samuel Pepys's diary [Rev. John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), Professor of Botany at Cambridge]
Publication details: 
'A[udley] E[nd]'. 1 January [1832].
£120.00

3 pp, 4to. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of stub adhering to the blank reverse of second leaf. The year 1832 has been added in pencil in a contemporary hand. The letter is on paper watermarked 1831. Docketed at head 'Braybrooke Ld.' He begins by informing Henslow that Lord Grenville has lent him 'the Book in which his Notes upon the growth of Trees, during many years, had been made. He assures me that nothing worth your notice will be found among the MS remarks, but I am not of that opinion.

Autograph Manuscript Signed ('John Bowring') from Jeremy Bentham's literary executor Sir John Bowring to Professor James Pillans of Edinburgh University, asking him to assist 'M Mallar', who is reporting on 'the state of education in Scotland'.

Author: 
Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), polititian, diplomat and writer, literary executor of Jeremy Bentham [Professor James Pillans (1778-1864) of Edinburgh University]
Publication details: 
London. 10 August 1833.
£120.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with remains of stub to reverse. His friend 'M Mallar' has come to Great Britain, 'recommended by the French government for the official purpose of looking into the state of education in Scotland'.

Typed Letter Signed ('John Simon') from the British Chancellor of the Exchequer John Simon to J. J. Smith, regarding the exemption from military service of the only sons of widows.

Author: 
John Simon [John Allsebrook Simon] (1873-1954), 1st Viscount Simon, British politician, beginning as a Liberal and ending a Conservative, who served as Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor
Publication details: 
14 Great College Street, Westminster. 16 February 1916.
£120.00

1p., 8vo. Fair, on aged and lightly-worn paper. The letter begins: 'If the only son of a widow, upon whose earnings the mother depends, does not volunteer, he will, if unmarried, and of military age, be entitled to appeal for exemption from the Military Service Act. Mr. Walter Long expressly stated in the House of Commons that it was the intention of the authorities to exempt such cases.' Simon goes on to discuss the position of 'the Local Tribunal', and to point out the position of those who attest. He has added in pen: 'Appeal must be made before March 2nd'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Horseman') from Rev. John Horseman, Rector of Heydon, Essex, university friend of Southey, to Rev. J. Brewster

Author: 
Rev. John Horseman (1775-1844), Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and Rector of Heydon, Essex [Rev. John Brewster, Rector of Egglescliffe, County Durham]
Publication details: 
Heydon [Essex]. 16 December 1813.
£70.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Fifteen lines of closely and neatly written text, with a slip of paper carrying an unsigned six-line note by Horseman neatly laid down at the foot of the text. The letter deals with personal matters, acknowledging the receipt of £23 13s 6d, thanking Brewster for his 'kind attentions', asking him to send whatever he may receive for 'the few old books, which you sent to Stockton's', to Mary Dixon, enquiring after family news, giving his own ('I enjoy the best possible health. My brother was here, lately; & as hearty as ever.').

Holograph Latin poem by the Rev. John Keate, Master of Eton College, written while a student at King's College, Cambridge.

Author: 
Rev. John Keate (1773-1852), DD, Headmaster of Eton College [King's College, Cambridge]
Publication details: 
Without date or place [Cambridge. Written between 1791 and 1797.]
£180.00

2pp., 12mo. On a leaf of wove paper with Britannia watermark. In fair condition, on aged paper with slight wear to extremities. In pencil at head 'Rev. J. Keate | Head Master of Eton'. Tipped in at the head is a slip of paper with an entry from a Victorian manuscripts catalogue describing the item, reading: 'KEATE (The Rev. John, D.D.). Head Master of Eton.

Autograph Letter Signed from 'Chas. Hamilton', informing Henry Dundas that 'Doctor Morris of Parliament Street' has cured three men 'labouring under the same disorder which now afflicts our gracious Sovereign [King George III].

Author: 
Charles Hamilton (1753-1828), 8th Earl of Haddington [Michael Morris (d.1791) MD; Henry Dundas (1742-1811), 1st Viscount Melville; the madness of King George III; John Sheldon (1752-1808), anatomist]
Publication details: 
Without place or date, but written during the King's first attack, 1788-1789.
£220.00

2pp., 4to. Bifolium. Text complete, on aged paper with a number of closed tears repaired with archival tape. The second leaf of the bifolium, lacking a strip at the top, is docketed 'Dr. Morris of Parliament Street's Success in curing Persons afflicted with Complaints similar to that which His Majesty labours under'. Considering the political content at the end of the letter, the author is probably Charles Hamilton, at the time of writing known by his courtesy title of Lord Binning.

Autograph Letter Signed from the legal theorists Theodore Sedgwick to 'Jno C. <Hind?>' of 67 Chatham Street [New York].

Author: 
Theodore Sedgwick (1811-1859), American lawyer and legal theorist
Publication details: 
44 Wall Street, New York; 16 September [1856].
£60.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter reads 'Dear Sir | I am under obligations to you for yr. polite note of the 15th. & for yr. pamphlet - The subject is one of great importance & I shall read it with interest.' Perhaps the New York surveyor John C. Hind, who was active in the 1820s.

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. S.') from the legal theorist Theodore Sedgwick to the politician Charles Sumner, discussing John O'Connell's journal 'American Themis', with a reference to William Duer.

Author: 
Theodore Sedgwick (1811-1859), lawyer and legal theorist [Charles Sumner (1811-1874), senator from Massachusetts, antislavery leader of the Radical Republicans; John O'Connell; William Duer (1805-79)]
Publication details: 
New York, 15 February 1844.
£220.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper with minor traces of mount on the reverse. Addressed to 'Chas. Sumner Esq. | Boston Mass.' At the time of writing Sumner, having returned from Europe the previous year, was practising law at Boston. Regarding 'American Themis, A Monthly Journal of Jurisprudence and Judicature', edited by John O'Connell, Sedgwick writes that he is sending 'two or three nos. of a new Legal Magazine wh. we have just started here - you will find something of Mr Duers & something "paullo pejora" - of my own - The Editor Mr O'Connell - has talent & fire tho perhaps v.

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. Dibdin') from the playwright Thomas John Dibdin to G. B. Davidge, containing 'a List of the Patrons' who attending 'T. Dibdins Anniversary Dinner at Evans's Hotel | March 21st. 1838.'

Author: 
Thomas John Dibdin (1771-1841), playwright, illegitimate son of dramatist Charles Dibdin (1745-1814), brother of songwriter Charles Dibdin (1768-1833) [George Bolwell Davidge (1793-1842)]
Publication details: 
Dramatic Author's [sic] Society, 42 King Street, Covent Garden; 5 March 1838.
£220.00

2pp., 12mo. The letter is on the recto of the first leaf of the bifolium, with the list, in three columns, on the recto of the second. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Dibdin reminds Davidge that at his 'first Anniversary Dinner' he expressed a great wish to serve Dibdin by his patronage, but that 'absence from Town' prevented him. 'The Company were so well pleas'd that each present sign'd a Paper to come again - it is now fix'd for my Birthday (the 21st. Inst) and I take the freedom of enclosing you a List of the Patrons in the Hope I may be allow'd to add yours and enclose you a Ticket'.

Manuscript of humorous poem 'The Chapter of Fashions | Written by T Dibdin' [Thomas John Dibdin], on the history of clothing and Regency dress, with variations from the printed versions, including an extra stanza.

Author: 
Thomas John Dibdin (1771-1841), playwright, illegitimate son of dramatist Charles Dibdin (1745-1814), brother of songwriter Charles Dibdin (1768-1833) [Regency dress; Georgian clothing; fashion]
Publication details: 
Undated [circa 1802?].
£350.00

2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Divided into eight four-line stanzas, each with the same two-line refrain. The first stanza: 'Fashion was formed when the World began, | And Adam I am told was a very smart man, | As for Eve I shall say nothing more or less. | |But that Ladies of Fashion now copy her dress. | Yet barring all pother of this that & tother we all bow to Fashion in turn'. Containing witty references to the fashion for hunting boots and crops, New Bond Street, Tudor and Stuart clothing, Whigs and Tories.

Manuscript itemised bill for books from 'Mr. John Nourse to Thomas Longman', with signed receipt by Longman at foot.

Author: 
Thomas Longman (1730–1797), London bookseller and publisher, nephew of the founder of the business Thomas Longman (1699-1755); John Nourse (1705-1780) bookseller at 138 Strand, London
Publication details: 
Nourse's bill is dated from London, for items purchased between 13 February and 5 October 1770. Longman's receipt is dated 4 April 1771.
£220.00

1p., landscape 8vo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with small spike-hole (not affecting text), and minor traces of previous mount on reverse, which is docketed 'J. Nourse to T. Longman, 1770.' The bill lists five items, from 'Johnsons Dicty 2 V. folio' to 'Sherwin's Tables', with the date of purchase and price, coming to a total of £14 8s 4d. The receipt at the foot of the page reads 'April 4. 1771 Received the Contents - | [signed] Thos Longman'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. Salt') from the antiquary and book collector William Salt to the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine John Bowyer Nichols, making editorial comments and enclosing a list of 'Buckler's Engravings'.

Author: 
William Salt (1808-1863), antiquary whose book collection is now the William Salt Library in Stafford [John Bowyer Nichols (1779-1863), printer and editor of the Gentleman's Magazine]
Publication details: 
Sandgate, Kent; 11 August 1843.
£120.00

Letter: 2pp., 4to. 28 lines of text. List: 1p., on a 12mo strip. Both letter and list in very good condition, neatly placed in windowpane mounts on the two leaves of a bifolium. Salt is 'just finishing the List of Manuscript Erdeswick's' and will bring it to Nichols when he returns to London. He wonders whether Nichols has 'nearly come to the end of the Book in your reprint? I do not think you will make your first sheet answer satisfactorily - without printing the whole or part of it over again - but of course you will be the best judge of that'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F. R. Hassler') from the surveyor Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, head of the United States Coast Survey, to Hon. John C. Spencer, Secretary of the US Treasury, regarding 'the plan of Operation for the Coast Survey'.

Author: 
Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler (1770-1843), Swiss-born American surveyor, head of the United States Coast Survey and the Bureau of Weights and Measures [John Canfield Spencer (1788-1855), politician]
Publication details: 
Washington City; 28 May 1843.
£145.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Hassler begins: 'The peculiar position in which I am, will plead my excuse for addressing you the enclosed papers, and the cold which I have, for not coming personally in the present bad weather, as I intended, and shall do soon as admissible.' He asks Spencer to visit 'this Office before Your ultimate decision upon the plan of Operation for the Coast Survey'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the abolitionist Hinton Rowan Helper to John Cook Rives, editor of the Congressional Globe.

Author: 
Hinton Rowan Helper (1829-1909), racist and abolitionist, United States Consul at Buenos Aires, 1861-1866, author of 'The Impending Crisis of the South' (1857) [John Cook Rives (1795-1864), editor]
Publication details: 
43 Pine Street, New York; 22 February 1860.
£120.00

1p., landscape 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Helper asks Rives to send, with 'back numbers, from the commencement of the present Session [...] the Congressional Globe (and Appendix) for the thirty-sixth Congress'. He discusses payment and method of delivery.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jn B Buckstone') from the actor John Baldwin Buckstone [to the playwright Thomas John Dibdin] regarding a meeting 'of all the dramatic authors' to make arrangements following 'the new act' [Bulwer Lytton's copyright reforms.

Author: 
John Baldwin Buckstone (1802-1879), actor, playwright, and manager of the Haymarket Theatre [Thomas John Dibdin (1771-1841), playwright and actor]
Publication details: 
29 Walcot Place, Kennington; 14 June 1833.
£320.00

1p., 4to. 15 lines. On aged and worn paper. The letter reads 'Dear Sir/ | A general meeting of all the Dramatic Authors will take place at the Garricks head in Bow Street on Monday nexxt at One o'Clock.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John H. Sheppard') from the Boston lawyer and author John Hannibal Sheppard to General Henry Dearborn, proposing George Kent for the post of messenger to Washington.

Author: 
John H. Sheppard [John Hannibal Sheppard] (1789-1873), British-born Harvard-educated Boston lawyer, author and prominent freemason [Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn (1783-1851),]
Publication details: 
Boston; 5 December 1848.
£80.00

1p., 4to. 25 lines.Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Sheppard writes that he called on Dearborn the previous day, but found him confined to his room by indisposition. He proposes his friend 'George Kent Esq of this city, a Counsellor at Law', for the appointment of 'Messenger to carry on the electoral votes to Washington'. He describes Kent as 'a man of talents, a brother of Ex-Gov Kent of Maine', who has 'been very active with his able pen in helping in this section of the country to promote the election of Gen Taylor'. Kent is a prolific writer and 'a decided Whig'.

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