LAWS

[Lord George Bentinck, racehorse owner and protectionist opponent of Sir Robert Peel’s Corn Law policy.] Autograph Signature franking letter to Lieut.-General Lord FitzRoy Somerset at Horse Guards.

Author: 
Lord George Bentinck [William George Frederick Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck] (1802-1848), Conservative politician and racehorse owner, protectionist opponent of Sir Robert Peel's Corn Law policy
Bentinck
Publication details: 
No date or place, and no postmarks.
£45.00
Bentinck

See the entries of Bentinck and FitzRoy Somerset in the Oxford DNB. On approximate 11 x 6 cm rectangle cut from cover of letter. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of grey paper mount adhering to blank reverse. Addressed by Bentinck in the customary staggered way: ‘Lieut: Genl. / Lord FitzRoy Somerset G.C.B. / Horse Guards’. Bentinck’s signature ‘G. Bentinck’ is at bottom left, underlined but without the line above the signature. The merest slither of the bottom of the loop of the initial ‘G’ has been cropped. See image.

[‘Our Government will stand in a sad position amongst the nations’: Sir Edward Fry on non-ratification of the London Declaration concerning the Laws of Naval War.] Autograph Letter Signed to W. H. Dickinson, on the ‘disgrace’ that would result.

Author: 
Sir Edward Fry (1827-1918), judge and zoologist, Lord Justice of Appeal [Sir Willoughby Hyett Dickinson [latterly Lord Dickinson] (1859-1943), Liberal and then Labour politician]
Publication details: 
25 February 1911. On letterhead of Failand House, Failand, near Bristol.
£80.00

See Fry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Dickinson was an influential proponent of the League of Nations. The present item concerns the London Declaration concerning the Laws of Naval War, an international code of maritime law, following on from the second Hague Conference. Great Britain, as the world’s chief naval power, had felt that such a court should be governed by defined principles, and had convened an international concerence in London in 1908. The Declaration that was issued three years later comprised 71 articles. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once.

[The Old Poor Law in the late Nineteenth Century.] Anonymous Manuscript Document, calling in forthright terms for the amending of 'The Plan of the Poor Laws of England', to weed out 'the loose Profligate and those who do not like work'.

Author: 
[The Old Poor Law; English Poor Laws; eighteenth-century poor relief]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [English, late eighteenth century.]
£450.00

2pp, foolscap 8vo. On the rectos of the leaves of a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. On laid paper with indistinct watermark. The context of the document, with the capitalisation and spelling ('mechanick', 'shou'd', 'Publick', 'tyed down', 'lookt', 'Profitt'), points to a late eighteenth-century origin (certainly before the Speenhamland System and Michael Nolan's 1805 'Treatise of the Laws for the Relief and Settlement of the Poor'). No title or heading. A forthright document, whose rhetorical tone suggests that it was intended for public delivery.

[ Lady Agatha Russell, daughter of Lord John Russell. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Agatha Russell.'), regarding 'The Inquirer', her father's views on free trade and the repeal of the Corn Laws.

Author: 
Lady Agatha Russell (1853-1933), daughter of Liberal Prime Minister Lord John Russell and aunt of Bertrand Russell
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Rozeldene, Hindhead, Surrey. 18 April 1930.
£50.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Written in a shaky hand. The letter begins: 'Dear Sir | I was much obliged to you for the extra copy of The Inquirer which I was glad to have, containing very good letters supporting Free Trade. It is a subject on which I feel strongly – perhaps inherited from my father!

[ Charles de Coetlogon, divine. ] Manuscript 'Inventory of Mr De Coetlogon's Books'.

Author: 
Charles de Coetlogon [ Charles Edward de Coetlogon ] (1747-1820), Church of England clergyman, preacher and theologian, vicar of Godstone, Surrey
Publication details: 
Undated [ post 1800 ].
£150.00

3pp., 4to. On bifolium of watermarked laid paper. With additional slip of paper listing around twenty titles loosely inserted. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. The first page is headed: 'Inventory of Mr De Coetlogon's Books.' Beneath the main heading is a list of 25 titles, with the subheading '1st. Shelf Drawing Room Right hand Corner of fire Place.' The second page continues with two more columns of similar books. The third page, also in two columns, is headed 'Shelf of Books. - left hand of fire-place'.

[ Lord Glenelg and the Distillery Laws. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Cha. Grant') to John Cockburn Ross regarding his memorial proposing 'the amelioration of the Distillery Laws', with reference to the Highland Distillery and Sir Charles Ross.

Author: 
Charles Grant (1778-1866), 1st Baron Glenelg, Secretary of State for War and President of the Board of Trade [ John Cockburn Ross of Rowchester; Highland Distillery; Mackenzie; Sir Charles Ross' ]
Publication details: 
London. 1 April 1807.
£120.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He has communicated the recipient's letter, with the memorial regarding 'the amelioration of the Distillery Laws', to 'Sir Charles Ross & Brigadier Genl Mackenzie', and they have been well received. 'One of the Gentlemen submitted the Memorial to the perusal of the Lords Stafford & Seaforth who as I understand are zealous for the reform of those Laws'. Seaforth has signed.

[ James Ridgway of Piccadilly, London bookseller. ] Printed catalogue titled 'Pamphlets on Corn Laws, Currency, Banking, China, &c. &c. Recently published by James Ridgway, 169, Piccadilly.'

Author: 
James Ridgway of 169 Piccadilly, London bookseller [ Blatch and Lampert, Printers, Grove Place, Brompton; the Corn Laws; Opium Trade; economic history ]
Publication details: 
[ James Ridgway, 169 Piccadilly [London]. Printed by 'Blatch and Lampert, Printers, Grove Place, Brompton.' [Circa 1840.]
£120.00

8pp., 8vo. Disbound. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Sixty titles, with prices and some information, arranged under five headings: 'Important Works on the Corn Laws, &c. &c.' (24 items); 'On Banking' (6 items); 'The Chinese and Opium Question' (4 items); 'On Education' (7 items); 'Political' (19 items). No copy traced on either COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.

[Eden Phillpotts, novelist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Eden Phill<...>') [to A. G. Gardiner, editor of the Daily News], complaining of a review of his book 'Green Alleys', 'the great cause of the natural born child' and the 'Bastardy Laws'.

Author: 
Eden Phillpotts (1862-1960), English novelist, often writing on Dartmoor [Alfred George Gardiner ['Alpha of the Plough'] (1865-1946), editor of the Daily News; Robert Lynd (1879-1949), Irish essayist]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. [1916.]
£56.00

In poor condition, on aged and brittle paper, with significant chipping to edges involving loss of text, including the end of Philpott's signature. Undated, but written in 1916, the year of publication of Phillpotts' 'The Green Alleys'. Headed in blue pencil 'Mr Lynd' (i.e for the attention of Daily News columnist Robert Lynd).

Autograph Note in the third person from Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, to 'Mr Blair', regarding a pass to the 'House of Peers' [House of Lords] and a 'Pamphlet on the Corn Laws'.

Author: 
Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville (1797-1861), 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
Publication details: 
17 May [without year, but on paper watermarked 1839].
£38.00

1p., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with a creased corner. The note reads: 'The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos incloses [sic] an order for Mr Blair to the House of Peers for to-day, & begs to acknowledge the receipt of the Pamphlet on the Corn Laws. | 17th May'. The paper is watermarked '<...>YNSON | 1839'.

The Struggle.

Author: 
Joseph Livesey, Preston [William Strange, Paternoster Row; Free Trade; repeal of the Corn Laws]
Publication details: 
No. 75. 'Printed and Published by J. LIVESEY, Preston. Sold by W. Strange, Paternoster-row, London [...]. [between 1842 and 1846]
£56.00

4to: 4 pp. Unbound. Good. Half-page illustration on first page of 'The Emigrant's Farewell'. Small vignette on p.3 of 'Sancho Panza flogging himself, or the Landlords laying peculiar burthens on themselves!' Includes articles entitled 'Onward Still!', 'The Sugar Monopoly' and 'The Working Man his Own Capitalist'. Ends with 'A HINT. - Every newspaper containing debates on the corn laws, should be sent through the post from one hand to another while it will hold together.'

Autograph Signature on slip of paper.

Author: 
Sir Edwin Chadwick
Publication details: 
Without name or date.
£18.00

English social reformer and essayist (1800-90), Jeremy Bentham's literary assistant. Dimensions of paper roughly three-quarters of an inch by two and a half. Signed 'E Chadwick' over light traces of stamps in red and green, on foxed paper discoloured with age. Small portion at head of 'E' trimmed away.

Observations on the mortmain laws, act of supremacy, &c. with reference to bills now before parliament: or, popery opposed to national independence, and social happiness.

Author: 
James Lord of the Inner Temple
Publication details: 
London: Seeley, Burnside, and Seeley, 54, Fleet Street; [...]. 1846.
£45.00

Octavo. 16 pages. Disbound pamphlet from the Churchill Babington collection. Good, though first and last pages somewhat grubby.

Autograph Letter Signed to unknown male correspondent.

Author: 
Maria Acland [Sir Charles Abraham Elton; POOR LAW]
Publication details: 
Gloucester Row Clifton Feby 10th 1823'.
£56.00

Docketed in pencil at foot of page 'Authoress of book on Poor Laws &c'. One page, quarto. Creased, discoloured and stained, with the rear repaired with tape. Interesting letter, referring to the publication of an essay. She is gratified by her correspondent's approbation of her 'attempt' and accepts his offer. Had the essay been published she would have asked for proof-sheets. 'I believe I have made a mis-quotation about the 8th or 9th page, & have written "Whosoever hath not &c" instead of "If any man have not".

Offprint of poem by 'ORION' entitled 'THE BURIAL OF RICHARD COBDEN', with MS note by Sandland acknowledging authorship.

Author: 
John Dorlin Sandland [Richard Cobden; Liverpool]
Publication details: 
From THE ALBION, Liverpool, of Monday, April 10, 1865.' Dated in print 'Liverpool, Saturday, April 8, 1865.'
£125.00

Sandland was the author of 'The wanderer, and other poems' (1845). Roughly four and three quarto inches by seven and three-quarters. Grubby, folded twice and mounted on larger piece of light-green paper. Sonnet beginning 'ON they went with a step that was measured and slow' and concluding 'In this temple of quiet, where Nature is free, | Here they left in repose the Apostle of Peace.' MS reads (at head) 'To the Writer of | The Funeral of Mr Cobden | Morning Star Saturday April 8th.

Note Signed to unnamed judge.

Author: 
Hardinge Stanley Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury
Publication details: 
12 January 1888; on House of Lords letterhead.
£56.00

Lord Chancellor of England (1825-1921), author of the monumental 'Laws of England'. One page, 4to. In good condition though somewhat grubby. Folded twice, and with embossed House of Lords stamp and armorial stamp in red ink in top left-hand corner. Opening ('My dear Judge') and salutation ('faithfully yours | Halsbury') by Halsbury, the rest in secretarial hand. Reads 'I have to thank you for your letter of the 11th., and for the arrangements which have been made, at Mr. Justice Stirling's request, and of which I entirely approve'.

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