JOHN

Autograph Letter, in the third person, to 'Mr. Lee [sic]', giving commission bids on eight lots in a forthcoming sale.

Author: 
Mr Howell of Craven Street, the Strand, London [Leigh and Sotheby; Sotheby's; book auctions; auctioneering; auction catalogues]
Publication details: 
Feb. 2d. 1815. Craven Street.'
£56.00

12mo bifolium: 1 p, on recto of first leaf, with address on verso of second leaf. Grubby, and with spike hole and tear to outer edge through both leaves, that on the first neatly repaired on the reverse with archival tape. Text complete and entirely legible. 'Mr. Howell will be obliged to Mr. Lee if in addition to the Douglass case Lot 708, He will purchase Lot 213 'Discovery Witches' [...]'. A further seven bids follow. The note ends 'Mr Howell will thank Mr Lee will [sic] bear in mind, that these purchases will be upon condition of the books being in good order and perfect'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Violet Astor') to 'Miss Morland', as 'Chairman, Middlesex Hospital Rose Day Committee'.

Author: 
Violet Astor, Lady Astor of Hever [née Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound] (1889-1965), wife of John Jacob Astor
Publication details: 
14 June 1932; on letterhead of The Middlesex Hospital, W.1.
£35.00

4to: 1 p. On grubby, aged paper, with crease to one corner. Laid down on a leaf removed from an autograph album. Thanking the recipient for 'selling Roses in the Middlesex Hospital Area' on 'Alexandra Rose Day'. 'The total sum collected in our Area amounted to £680. 10s. 6d. which is most satisfactory, and I do hope you will feel rewarded for your trouble and fatigue by this very gratifying result.' Docketed at foot 'Viscount Astor'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J A Hammerton') to 'My Dear Shorter' [Clement King Shorter (1857-1926)].

Author: 
Sir John Alexander Hammerton (1871-1949), author and editor of reference works
Publication details: 
6 November 1925; on letterhead of 54 Shepherd's Hill, Highgate, London.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp, and 8vo, 1 p. A little grubby and creased, but with text clear and entire. He is sorry that Shorter was not able to visit the Chateaux of the Loire, but hopes that 'the sea air of Dieppe' has done him good. The year before Shorter's death, Hammerton writes: 'But you must really cease this brink-of-the-grave touch! Ten years hence, from an inglenook at Knockmoroon [where Shorter would die], you will wonder why you were anticipating the "closing down" of C.K.S.

Adargraphiad Llythyrenol o Flodau y Beirdd Brytannaidd, a gydgynnullwyd gan y dyfgedig Dr. John Davies, o Fallwyd [...] Ynghyd a Rhagdraethawd ar Farddoniaeth Gymreig, gan yr enwog Gadpen Wiliam Midelton.

Author: 
Dr John Davies o Fallwyd [Wiliam Midelton; William Middleton; Robert Jones (1810-1879)]
Publication details: 
Llundain [London]: 1864. [Argraffedig dros y Parch. Robert Jones, yn Mhersondy "All Saints," Rotherhithe.'] ['Argraffedig yn Rhudd-ddwr-hydd.']
£45.00

12mo: [xii] + xxiv + 76 pp. In original red cloth boards, with 'FLORES POETARUM BRITANNICORUM.' stamped in gilt on front board. Lightly aged and foxed, in slightly grubby binding, but good and tight. A few marginal notes in a contemporary hand.

ACS ('Walter Emanuel') to Hammerton.

Author: 
Walter Emanuel [Sir John Alexander Hammerton (1871-1949), author and editor; The London Magazine; The Manchester Guardian; Punch magazine]
Publication details: 
28 November 1905; on letterhead of 89 Ladbroke Grove, W.
£25.00

Dimensions of card roughly 8.5 x 11 cm. Good, with slight creasing. Twenty lines of text. Congratulating Hammerton on his appointment as editor of the 'London Magazine'.

Typed Letter Signed ('John van Druten'), giving advice to an actor named 'France'.

Author: 
John Van Druten [John William Van Druten] (1901-1957), Anglo-American dramatist
Publication details: 
6 December 1928; 5 Harewood Court, Hanover Square, London W1.
£80.00

4to, 1 p, 21 lines. On creased and lightly-foxed paper, with a couple of closed tears (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). May refer to the 1928 revival of van Druten's play 'Young Woodley' (previously banned by the censor), or (which is more likely) to his 'After All' (1929).

Autograph Letter Signed to Gladstone.

Author: 
Edward Hull (1829-1917), Anglo-Irish geologist [John Hall Gladstone (1827-1902), English physical chemist]
Publication details: 
19 May 1902; on letterhead of the Victoria Institute, 8 Adelphi Terrace, London W.C.
£45.00

12mo, 3 pp. Very good on lightly aged paper. Asking whether Gladstone would consent to the placing of his name on the list of the Institute's Council, 'to fill one of the vacancies'. 'You would be of great service to us in so doing - and the calls on your time would not be numerous - about a dozen times a year'. Six lines in shorthand (by Gladstone?) on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Robert Cust') to Horace Bleackley (1868-1931).

Author: 
Robert Cust [Robert Henry Hobart Cust] (1861-1940), English art critic, an authority on the renaissance [Horace Bleackley; John Wilkes]
Publication details: 
12 October [no year]; on letterhead of Vernon House, Lyndhouse Road, Hampstead.
£28.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper, but with a thin strip along the outer edge of the second leaf of the bifolium with glue staining from previous mounting, and a 3.5 x 0.5 piece missing at head causing damage to one word ('hers'). Otherwise text clear and entire. Cust's aunt has informed him 'that she has at present in her possession in London all the papers belonging to Sir John Cust that remain'. She does not however think that they contain much about Wilkes.

Autograph Letter Signed to Hubert Smith Stanier.

Author: 
Gifford Lumley [Devonshire; W. Mate & Sons, Limited, printers and publishers of Bournemouth, Southampton and London]
Publication details: 
23 April 1906; 62 Commercial Rd, Bournemouth, on letterhead Mate & Sons letterhead.
£85.00

8vo, 2 pp. Good, though a little grubby on the reverse. Printed down the left hand margin of the recto is a long list headed 'Printers and Publishers of Illustrated Guides to'. Printed in large letters at the centre of the letterhead is 'Shropshire: Historical and Biographical', but there is no record of this title being published, or of any volume on Shropshire by Mates & Sons. From the context it appears that Lumley had a hand in Frederick John Snell's 'Devonshire, historical, descriptive, biographical', published by Mate & Sons in 1907.

Manuscript headed 'The Informacon of William Rylands Purser of the Neptune galley merchant man' and docketed 'Informacone of William Rylands a Joseph Matthews & John Wyatt'. Signed by Rylands and by Robert Constable of the Middle Temple.

Author: 
Robert Constable; William Rylands; Joseph Matthews; John Wyatt; the galley 'Neptune' [naval and maritime; stuart; sixteenth and seventeenth century; the Inns of Court]
Publication details: 
taken on Oath before me this 17th day of October Anno. Dom 1706.'
£100.00

On one side of a piece of watermarked laid paper roughly 31 x 19 cm. Docketed on reverse. Good, on lightly aged paper, with slight chipping to right-hand edge and short closed tear neatly repaired on reverse with archival tape. The words 'Middle in top left-hand cornerr. Rylands says that the Neptune was 'lying in the Downes' three weeks before, when Matthews and Wyatt, 'being marriners on board', did 'with five other person's Run away with the long boat or yaul belonging to the Said gally'.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent [probably William Upcott].

Author: 
John Gough Nichols (1806-1873), printer and antiquary [William Upcott (1779-1845), antiquary and autograph collector]
Publication details: 
30/05/29
£85.00

12mo, 3 pp. Very good. Nichols regrets not seeing the recipient 'again before I left the Institution on Tuesday, to thank you for your kind attention' [Upcott was sub-librarian at the London Institution]. He is sending him a proof (presumably of an article in the Gentleman's Magazine), 'that you may see what I have said about your Album, and also what about modern collectors, and make any emendation you think fit in either place'. Discussion of 'the earliest Album in the Museum', about the date of which the recipient has been misled by a misprint.

Three Typed Letters Signed (all 'John : Gloag -.') to K. W. Luckhurst, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts; with copy of letter from Gloag to A. B. Read, Royal Designers in Industry; and copies of two of Luckhurst's replies.

Author: 
John Gloag [John Edwards Gloag] (1896-1981), English author specialising in the fields of industrial and interior design, architecture and social history
Publication details: 
Gloag's three letters: 17 February and 9 October 1950 and 19 March 1951; all on letterheads of 3 The Mall, East Sheen, London S.W.14.
£150.00

All six items are good, on lightly aged paper, with pin holes to the top left-hand corners. Gloag's first letter (4to, 1 p, 13 lines) concerns a 'most unfortunate error, made by the Rotary Club of London in printing a paper which I recently gave on "Design in Industry,". The copy of Gloag's letter to Read (typed, 17 February 1950, 4to, 1 p) reveals this to have been the describing of Gloag 'on the luncheon menu as an "R.D.I." ' In the copy of Luckhurst's reply (12mo, 1 p, 16 lines) he comments that he has 'read enough press reports to know how unavoidable such things are'.

Five items relating to Horton's application for permission to operate a wireless telegraph, including his 'Licence to establish wireless telegraphy station for experiments in wireless telegraphy'.

Author: 
John Laurence Horton (1915-1997), British analytical chemist and radio ham [Wireless Telegraphy Acts, 1904-1926; Post Office Telegrams; Postmaster General; General Post Office]
Publication details: 
All 1939.
£120.00

All five items in good condition, with a little rust spotting from a staple. A little wear to the edge of item two, not affecting text. Four of the five stamped with Horton's call sign '2AHN'. Item One: a printed leaflet (4to, 2 pp), dated GENERAL POST OFFICE, | London | March, 1939.', headed 'B | EXPERIMENTS IN WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY | [...] | AUTHORITY FOR SENDING AND RECEIVING | SUMMARY OF CONDITIONS OF ISSUE | NOTE. - All sending stations must also be equipped for reception'. Item Two: Typewritten copy of Horton's 'Application for Experimental Licence 25th.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L. C. Purser') to the classical scholar John Percival Postgate (1853-1926).

Author: 
Louis Claude Purser (1854-1932), Classical scholar, President of the Royal Irish Academy, a fellow pupil of Oscar Wilde and close friend of Yeats's sister Lollie [Trinity College, Dublin]
Publication details: 
22 February 1915; 35 Trinity College, Dublin.
£80.00

4to, 1 p, 22 lines. On aged paper, with chipping at extremities neatly repaired with archival tape. Text clear and entire. He thanks him for his 'interesting paper', commenting on the 'Lucretian passage'. Postgate's 're-arrangement [...] is undoubtedly more attractive & logical than the ordinary arrangment, and as such I welcome it: but must we suppose always that artists do as well instinctively as they might if they had taken counsel?' 'Ex silentio I judge that all is well with you, as far as anything can be well for any of us these terrible times.

Autograph Letter Signed to [?] Brougham.

Author: 
John Henry Bernard
Publication details: 
21 June 1900; on letterhead of Trinity College, Dublin.
£38.00

Irish churchman and philosopher (1860-1927). Four pages, 12mo. Good, though grubby and a tad spotted, and with remains of previous mount adhering to lower-half of verso of second leaf of bifoliate (not affecting text). Begins 'My dear Brougham | I have read over the article in the Gazette on SPG, and have ascertained that Mr. White had nothing, directly or indirectly, to say to it. I think that the scope of the article precluded any mention of individual workers of recent years, as it was meant to give a general view.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
John Bruce Richard O'Neill (1780-1855), 3rd Viscount O'Neill, Irish General and politician, Constable of Dublin Castle
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£32.00

On piece of paper roughly one and a half inches by three wide. Small tear in top left-hand corner not affecting signature. Reads 'Your Obed Hue Servt | [signature] O'Neill | Lieut General'. On reverse '<...> he had his discharge to <...> | <...> allowed something he had <...>'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. H. Foley') to [L. W.] Field.

Author: 
John Henry Foley (1818-1874), Irish sculptor best known for his statues of General Andrew 'Stonewall' Jackson and of Prince Albert in the Albert Memorial
Publication details: 
27 April 1868; on letterhead 10, Osnaburgh Street, Regent's Park. N.W. [London].
£86.00

Two pages, 12mo. Very good on lightly aged paper, and with the blank second leaf of the bifolium laid down on part of a leaf detached from an autograph album. Thanks him 'for the votes [of election to the Royal Academy?] which through your kindness I received to-day'. He is glad Field has been able to give Dr Armitage 'a hint that his assistance will be required as well as the assistance of others to insure the Election of young Lloyd'.

Wood engraving entitled 'GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, DUBLIN, 1853. | [...] DRAWN BY GILBERT, FROM DESIGNS BY J. MAHONY, ESQ.] [ENGRAVED BY H. LINTON AND G. PEARSON.'

Author: 
The Great Industrial Exhibition, Dublin, 1853 [William Dargan (1799-1867); Sir John Benson (1812-74), architect; Sir John Gilbert (1817-97), J. Mahony; Henry Linton, and George Pearson, engravers]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [circa 1853].
£250.00

Attractive image roughly eleven inches by ten wide, captioned 'VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, DUBLIN - OPENED MAY 12, 1853.' On piece of paper roughly fourteen and a half inches by eleven. Good on light-foxed aged paper with two neat vertical folds (perhaps indicating removal from a book). At foot of page list of twelve measurements of the 'PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS OF THE BUILDING', from 'Main Frontage' to 'Width of Outer Gallery'.

Autograph Letter Signed, a reference for Robert Abraham.

Author: 
Edward I'Anson (1775-1853), surveyor and architect [Robert Abraham (1775-1850), architect]
Publication details: 
26 April 1825; Laurence Pountney Lane, London.
£150.00

4to, 1 p, 7 lines. Text clear and entire on lightly aged and discoloured paper. Nicely connecting two notable nineteenth-century London architects. I'Anson has 'great pleasure in stating from long and intimate personal acquaintance with Mr Robert Abraham that his experience Talent and integrity qualify him to fill any office connected with his profession creditably to himself and beneficially to his patrons'. Docketed on reverse of second leaf of bifolium 'No 9 | Edwd I'Anson Esq'.

Typed Letter Signed ('J B. Priestley') to 'My dear Minney'.

Author: 
J. B. Priestley
Publication details: 
7 Dec. 1939; on letterhead of Billingham Manor, Isle of Wight.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p. Very good. He hopes she will bring her paper out soon, 'as there is room' for it, 'especially if you are careful to steer clear of mere nonsense'. Asks her to ask her 'paper' to send the cheque to him, 'and not to Peters, as he had no hand in the transaction'. He 'travelled 2,500 miles doing those articles on our war-time effort', and is 'now very glad to be back home, picking up the threads of my own work again'. He has just finished 'a comedy', and hopes 'to start another soon'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Bob. Crosby') to 'Dear Ken' [Ken Ryan].

Author: 
Bob Crosby (1913-1993), American dixieland bandleader and vocalist, best known for his group 'Bob Crosby and the Bob Cats'
Publication details: 
New Years Eve, 1955.' On letterheads of The Aladdin Hotel, Kansas City, Missouri.
£56.00

4to, 4 pp. Good, on lightly creased paper. From the Ken Ryan collection. Long, rambling, good-humoured letter on the . 'Here it is New Years Eve and I'm at home, and being quiet. - I was tired as we have worked hard all week. - and its good to be quiet. [...] London must have been interesting during the holiday season - I hope to some day see it but when I ever will is the question I'm never to [sic] good to save money. - Next week we have the Monte Carlo Ballet. Russe. and I am looking forward to seeing it. with pleasure. I've always been so fond of ballet.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. I Lockhart) to 'Isaac Espinasse Esq one of the Benchers of the H. S. of Grays Inn &c. &c &c -'.

Author: 
John Ingram Lockhart [John Wastie from 1832] (c.1765-1835), Radical Member of Parliament for the City of Oxford [Isaac Espinasse (1758-1834)] [Robert Nares (1753-1829)?]
Publication details: 
Tubney Lodge, Abingdon'. Undated [on paper watermarked 'BUTTANSHAW | 1809'].
£100.00

4to, 1 p. Good, though lightly aged and creased. He apologises for the liberty he takes in addressing Espinasse 'as one of the Benchers of Grays Inn', and hopes it is not 'wholly improper' for him 'to say a word in favor of Mr Nares, and [sic] old fellow Colegian [sic] of mine [Lockhart was educated at University College, Oxford], who is a candidate for the Chaplaincy of your Society'. Describes Nares as 'an honorable & learned man, a good divine, exceedingly well connected'. Considers that he 'will prove [...] an acquisition to the Society'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John W Burgon') to 'D[ear] L.'

Author: 
John William Burgon (1813–1888), Dean of Chichester and biblical scholar
Publication details: 
Wed[nesda]y [no date]; on letterhead of the Lower House of Convocation, Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster, S.W.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good on lightly aged paper. Folded twice. Traces of previous mount adhering to reverse of blank second leaf of bifolium. The recipient 'cannot be more conservative' than Burgon himself. 'But remember - it is the interpretation of the Rubric in question which is causing us all this difficulty.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Peter Clare, Secretary.') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Peter Clare, Secretary, The Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester [John Dalton; John James Tayler; Eaton Hodgkinson; John Eddowes Bowman]
Publication details: 
18 September 1839; 'Society's Rooms George Street Manchester'.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p, 10 lines. Forwarding a copy of a resolution passed by a meeting of the Society's Council on 17 September. The five line transcription of the resolution reads: 'Resolved That the following Gentlemen form the Printing Committee for the present year. Dr. Dalton [John Dalton (1766-1844), chemist], Rev. John James Tayler, Peter Clare, Eaton Hodgkinson [(1789-1861), engineer], John Davies & John Eddowes Bowman [botanist].'

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Freeman'), with envelope, to Hodgson at 20 Bromley Common, Bromley, Kent.

Author: 
John Freeman [John Frederick Freeman] (1880-1929), English Georgian poet [Sidney Hodgson, book auctioneer of Hodgson's, Chancery Lane, London]
Publication details: 
7 April [no year]; on embossed letterhead of 29 Weighton Road, Anerley, [London,] S.E.
£56.00

8vo: 1 p. 7 lines. Good, but with some foxing, and with a corner of the blank reverse tipped in onto a card mount on which the envelope is laid down. He thanks him 'for the catalogue containing the Moore item'. Would be 'very glad' if Hodgson 'could call here on Thursday next & join us in a meal at 7 o'clock [...] I suggest Thursday because then we shall not be alone, nor dull'. Hodgson was the author, in 1927, of 'Brief notes on the history of the hamlet of Penge with Anerley'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('M. F. T.') to his printer Thomas Brettell, 25 Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.

Author: 
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889), English poet [P. T. Barnum; John Leech; Thomas Brettell; Henry William Pickersgill]
Publication details: 
Undated, but docketed 'Jan. 31 1851'.
£75.00

12mo: 2 pp. 28 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, with unobtrusive small spike hole and traces of mounts adhering to four corners. Interesting animated letter between a Victorian author and his printer. Relates to Tupper's 'A hymn for All Nations; translated into thirty languages; nearly fifty versions; the music composed expressly by S. Sebastian Wesley.' (1851). Asks his printer to 'Attend to Hymn as within' (not present). 'We cannot help all this trouble'. Tupper has written to Dr Gavassi, but has had no answer: 'get Rossetti's as soon as you can.

Autograph Draft of Letter to his publishers Messrs Petter & Galpin [George William Petter and Thomas Dixon Galpin, associates of John Cassell].

Author: 
George Cruikshank (1792-1878), English graphic artist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£85.00

12mo (18 x 11 cm): 1 p. 15 lines of text. On aged paper with one light stain at centre. Corner on reverse tipped in onto card mount. No signature. Introducing 'Miss Napier who has just returned from the Cape of Good Hope - She has one or two M.SS which she wishes to submit to your notice [...] you will kindly assist the lady in her literary efforts'. Miss Napier's address is given as '4 Beech View Villas, South Penge Park | Penge Surrey SE.' It is perhaps significant that Sir George Thomas Napier (1784-1855) was Governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 1837 to 1843.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (two 'Eric Broad. | Frederic E Wright.' and one 'Frederic E Wright | Eric Broad.') to W. Kineton Parkes (1865-1938), assistant editor of the journal of the Ruskin Reading Guild, 'Igdrasil'

Author: 
Eric Broad' (Frederic E. Wright), English poet [W. Kineton Parkes; John Ruskin; William Marwick; the Ruskin Reading Guild]
Publication details: 
20 and 22 January and 3 March 1890; all from Scarsdale, Great Malvern.
£100.00

All three items in very good condition. Interesting series of letters by an obscure 1890s poet. Letter One (12mo, 7 pp): Although he realises that some are 'rather poor', he is sending, through his brother (possibly the artist Alan Wright, 1864-1959), 'all the lyrics I have by me': 'I have not had time to "weed" yet, being veryy busily engaged writing lyrics for a Comedy-Opera ['Ethelinda, or a Philanthropic Fad' (1890), on which he collaborated with Hamilton O. Wylde] - & a libretto for Operetta; also been trying my hand at very sensational prose'.

Autograph Note Signed ('John Oxenham') to 'Master M. Bull'.

Author: 
John Oxenham' (William Arthur Dunkerley, 1852-1941), British journalist, poet and novelist
Publication details: 
London; 28 July 1913.
£10.00

One page, 12mo. Very good, on lightly aged paper mounted on piece of card. Reads 'London | July 28/13 | Master M. Bull | I append autograph as requested | Yours truly | John Oxenham'.

Autograph Signature on card.

Author: 
Max O'Rell' (Paul Blouet, 1848-1903), French satirical author and journalist
Publication details: 
18 March 1895; place not stated.
£10.00

Dimensions of card roughly two and three-quarter inches by four inches wide. Good, with light creasing to corners. Clear signature reads 'Yours very sincerely | Max O'Rell | 18 March 1895'.

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