LIFE

[‘The most fashionable place in London’: The Clarendon Hotel, Bond Street; Foreign 'Great and Good@] Around 180 entries in the hotel guestbook, on extracted leaves, the greater part of them signatures of ‘Nobility and Gentry, and Foreigners of rank’.

Author: 
‘The most fashionable place in London’: The Clarendon Hotel, Bond Street [Georgian England]
Publication details: 
The Clarendon Hotel, Bond Street, London. The entries all said to date from 1831.
£1,200.00

The Clarendon Hotel was once - as ‘Routledge’s Popular Guide to London’ stated in 1862 - ‘the most fashionable place in London’, and the present collection of autograph signatures from its guestbook, all of them said to date from 1831, bear witness to the fact that - as ‘Gilbert’s Visitor’s Guide to London’ (1851) states - it was ‘frequented by the Nobility and Gentry, and Foreigners of rank’. Its reputation had been made during the Regency period, and in 1820 ‘Leigh’s New Picture of London’ stated that it ‘and Jaquiers are now one hotel’.

[W. & G. Foyle (Foyles), Charing Cross Road booksellers.] Printed prospectus for ‘The Centenary Life of Lewis Carroll ' by Langford Reed, published by the firm as a ‘Trefoile Publication’.

Author: 
Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], author of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ [Langford Reed; W. & G. Foyle, booksellers (Foyles), Charing Cross Road, London; Trefoile Publications]
Carroll
Publication details: 
[1932.] ‘A Trefoile Publication from the House of - W. & G. FOYLE, Ltd., 119-125, Charing Cross Road, London, W.C.1’.
£120.00
Carroll

This prospectus is a scarce item: no other copy has been traced. A 4to bifolium, with four unnumbered pages printed in red. Somewhat aged and worn, with a horizontal strip of light discoloration at the head of the cover, which has the title and author’s name surrounded by a border made up of Tenniel’s illustrations, beneath this is a quotation from Dodgson’s poetry and the price of ‘7/6 net’. Across the middle two pages is the heading ‘The Centenary “Life of Lewis Carroll”’. The text begins by explaining that Reed has made use of Dodgson’s letters to Ellen Terry.

[Frank Norman.] Three Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Card Signed to Philip Dosse of Hanson Books, complaining about his treatment over the reviews he has contributed to ‘Books and Bookmen’.

Author: 
Frank Norman [John Norman] (1930-1980), working-class writer on London low-life, best-known for the memoir Bang to Rights (1958) and musical Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be (1960) [Philip Dosse]
Publication details: 
All from 1975. The three letters from 5 Seaford Court, 222 Great Portland Street, W1 [London].
£220.00

Norman is puzzlingly absent from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 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 four items are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. They are all signed ‘Frank Norman’, and the letters are each 1p, 4to. ONE: TLS, 17 February 1975.

[Blanchard Jerrold, journalist and author.] Signature and autograph paraphrase of passage from his ‘Life of Napoleon III - Vol 2.’, written out for an album.

Author: 
Blanchard Jerrold [William Blanchard Jerrold] (1826-1884), journalist and author
Publication details: 
No place or date, but after the book’s publication in 1874.
£56.00

Part of leaf from autograph album, cut into an irregular shape. In fair condition, on lightly aged and discoloured paper, with film of dried glue from mount on blank reverse. The passage, which curiously enough does not correspondend with the printed text, reads (with three mistakes scored through): ‘Life of Napoleon III - Vol 2. / The Government, it is true, endeavoured to prevail upon Queen Hortense to request him to give his word that he would remain in America for ten years; but she replied that Prince Louis was master of his own actions & she would not endeavour to influence them.

[‘The Grand Old Duke of York’: Prince Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany.] Autograph Signature (‘Frederick / Colonel 2d. L. Gds.’) and conclusion of letter to ‘Mr Harrison’ regarding Captain Wyngard.

Author: 
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany [Frederick Augustus] (1763-1827), brother of King George IV, reformer of the British Army commemorated in the nursery rhyme ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’
Frederick
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00
Frederick

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On one side of 19 x 5.5 cm piece of laid paper. In good condition, lightly ruckled and with traces of mount on reverse. Clearly cut from a letter for an autograph hunter. Reads: ‘Captain Wynguard who has [...] is fit to succeed to that situation. / I am, Dear Mr Harrison, / Yours most sincerely / Frederick / Colonel 2d. L. Gds.’ The ‘2’ of ‘2d.’ looks like a ‘1’, but the signature is certainly his.

[T. E. B. Clarke, Oscar-winning screenwriter and crime writer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Tibby') to the novelist Barbara Kaye, discussing common acquaintances after the episode of the TV programme 'This Is Your Life' devoted to him.

Author: 
T. E. B. Clarke [Thomas Ernest Bennett 'Tibby' Clarke] (1907-1989), screenwriter who won an Oscar for 'The Lavender Hill Mob', and crime writer [Ealing Comedies; Barbara Kaye, novelist]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Tanners Mead, Oxted, Surrey. 10 November 1960.
£45.00

Other than 'The Lavender Hill Mob', for which he won an Oscar, Clarke's screenplays include 'The Blue Lamp' and 'The Titchfield Thunderbolt'. For the recipient Barbara Kaye [Barbara Kenrick Gowing] (1908-1998), writer, bookseller and wife of Percy Muir, see her obituary by Nicolas Barker in the Independent, 12 March 1998. The present letter was written a few days after Clarke's appearance on 31 October on the television programme 'This Is Your Life'. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn. Folded once. The letter begins: 'Dear Barbara, | Many thanks for your kind letter.

[Princess Elizabeth, daughter of George III.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Elizabeth') to Anna Maria Dashwood, regarding an offer from Lord Cathcart to place her father Sir Henry Dashwood's eldest son in the Life Guards.

Author: 
Princess Elizabeth (1770-1840), daughter of George III, Landgravine consort of Hesse-Homburg, artist [Anna Maria Tottenham-Loftus, Marchionesss of Ely; Sir Henry Watkin Dashwood; Lord Cathcart]
Publication details: 
Weymouth; 15 September 1799.
£250.00

The recipient Anna Maria Dashwood (1785-1857) was the daughter of Sir Henry Watkin Dashwood (1745-1828), and was fourteen years old at the time the letter was written. In 1810 she would marry John Loftus (1770-1845), 2nd Marquess of Ely. An Anne Dashwood – presumably a relation – had been a maid of honour of Princess Elizabeth's mother Queen Charlotte. The letter is written in the most affectionate terms, and concerns an offer by William Cathcart (1755-1843), 1st Earl Cathcart, to place Sir Henry Dashwood's eldest son Henry George Mayne Dashwood (1782-1803) in the Life Guards. 5pp, 4to.

[Harry Duncan O'Neill, Secretary of the Clerical, Medical and General Life Assurance Society.] Autograph Letter Signed ('H. D. O'Neill') to 'Hay', with copy of his privately printed 'Clerical Verses. 1889-1910. By H. D. O'N.', containing 28 inserts.

Author: 
'H. D. O'N.' [Harry Duncan O'Neill (1867-1946), Secretary of the Clerical, Medical and General Life Assurance Society] [Arthur Digby Besant (1869-1960)]
Publication details: 
Book: [London?] Printer not stated. [Circa 1911.] Letter: on letterhead of 15 St James's Square, Pall Mall, SW [London]; 9 February 1912.
£320.00

For more about O'Neill (son of the Victorian artist George Bernard O'Neill) see his obituary in The Times, 15 June 1946. LETTER: 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

[Francis Gustavus Pavius Neison.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Fr. G. P. Neison') to 'Dr. Sieveking'

Author: 
Francis Gustavus Pavius Neison, actuary, Medical, Invalid and General Life Assurance Co., London
Publication details: 
25 Pall Mall [London]. 21 May 1847.
£90.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and creased paper, with slight wear and loss at foot. The company has received Sieveking's letter of 16 May 1847, and Neison is 'glad you have referred to the subject of the Medical Referee at Hamburg. Your opinion agrees so much with that expressed by Mr. [Waddilove?] that there is no doubt our Board will follow it. | We shall be glad to see you whenever in the neighbourhood'. Note: "Dr Edward Sieveking was a prominent member of several sanitary reform associations".

[Francis Gustavus Pavius Neison.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Fr. G. P. Neison') to 'Dr. Sieveking'

Author: 
Francis Gustavus Pavius Neison, actuary, Medical, Invalid and General Life Assurance Co., London
Publication details: 
25 Pall Mall [London]. 21 May 1847.
£90.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and creased paper, with slight wear and loss at foot. The company has received Sieveking's letter of 16 May 1847, and Neison is 'glad you have referred to the subject of the Medical Referee at Hamburg. Your opinion agrees so much with that expressed by Mr. [Waddilove?] that there is no doubt our Board will follow it. | We shall be glad to see you whenever in the neighbourhood'. Note: "Dr Edward Sieveking was a prominent member of several sanitary reform associations".

[Captain G. P. Rimington, Hon. Representative, Royal Life Saving Society, Nairobi, Kenya.] Sixteen documents relating to his post, including five Typed Letters Signed from Chief Secretary Alwyn E. Briscoe, certificate, diploma, printed supplement.

Author: 
[Captain G. P. Rimington, Hon. Representative, The Royal Life Saving Society, Nairobi, Kenya; Alwyn E. Briscoe, Chief Secretary; lifeguard; swimming]
Publication details: 
Most documents from The Royal Life Saving Society, Desborough House, 14 Devonshire Street, Portland Place, London. Between 1950 and 1963.
£100.00

The documents include a printed 'Certificate of Thanks' from the RLSS, with facsimile signature of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, made out to 'Captain G. P. Rimington | Nyeri', and dated 1963; 1p., foolscap 8vo. Also present are five Typed Letters Signed from Alwyn E. Biscoe, Chief Secretary, to Rimington in Kenya. All on RLSS London letterhead, 2 May and 21 July 1950, and 16 February, 4 May and 19 June 1951. All 1p., 4to. The first two discussing 'the appointment of Mr. Tattersall as Hon. Representative for the Kisumu district' and Rimington's resignation as 'Hon.

Album of poems by Captain William Gamul Edwards of The Cedars, Bromley Common, Kent, both original compositions in his autograph and cuttings of poems published by him, mainly under the pseudonyms 'W. G. E.' and 'Gamul'.

Author: 
Captain William Gamul Edwards (1808-1884) of HM 38th Regiment of Foot and The Cedars, Bromley Common, Kent, Director of the Mid-Kent Railway, son of Rev. Thomas Edwards, Rector of Alford, Cheshire
Publication details: 
[The Cedars, Bromley Common, Kent.] Dated from between September 1835 and February 1880.
£320.00

146pp., 12mo, in autograph, almost entirely consisting of poetic compositions, with numerous emendations; with a further 35 cuttings of poems laid down (33 of them by Edwards) and another two cuttings of another two poems loosely inserted. Also loosely inserted are two poems (totalling 7pp., 4to): 'To Ill Health', dated September 1835; and 'The last hope', 28 December 1869. In contemporary dark-green crushed morocco binding, gilt, recently rebacked by Ipsley Bindery with new enpapers. All edges gilt.

[Printed chapbook.] The History of Stoney Bowes, otherwise Andrew Robinson Bowes: being a Minute Memoir of his Infamous and Notorious Character.

Author: 
[Andrew Robinson Stoney Bowes (1747-1810); John Ross, printer, Arcade, Newcastle upon Tyne; Thomas Hutchinson]
Publication details: 
Printed by J. Ross, Arcade, Newcastle. [Slug: 'Printed and published by J. Ross, Newcastle.'] [1850.]
£120.00

24pp., 16mo. Woodcut vignette on title-page, showing man in military uniform restraining a struggling woman, under a tree. Stitched, in plain cream wraps. Internally fair, on aged paper, in worn wraps. Ownership inscription on flyleaf of 'John Hutchinson | October 1850'. Thirteen line note by Hutchinson on rear flyleaf, concerning the Bowes family, and further manuscript notes by him on pp. 13, 17, 21 and 22. Slip of paper with another note by Hutchinson loosely inserted.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J Crowe') by John Crowe, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Norwich Union Fire & Life Insurance Societies, to Major-General John Hall, regarding 'the misconduct of the Secretary Mr Thos Bignold Senr.'

Author: 
John Crowe, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Norwich Union Fire & Life Insurance Societies [Major-General John Hall (1770-1823) of Park Hall, Mansfield Woodhouse; Thomas Bignold (1761-1835)]
Publication details: 
16 November 1818; Union Office, Norwich.
£280.00

Folio, 2 pp. On the rectos of the two leaves of a bifolium. On laid paper watermarked 'Gilling & Allford 1816'. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The first page contains a letter addressed to 'General Hall' from 'Union Office | Norwich 16th Novr. 1818', forty lines long and signed 'J Crowe'. The second page is headed 'Norwich Union Life Insurance Society | Statement of the particulars of the misconduct of the Secretary Mr Thos Bignold Senr.' It contains a six-point indictment of Bignold, totalling thirty-seven lines.

[Printed] Index to the Life and Letters of Washington Irving

Author: 
[Washington Irving; J. Munnings]
Index to the Life and Letters of Washington Irving
Publication details: 
London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1864.
£450.00
Index to the Life and Letters of Washington Irving

Separately published from four volume edition (1862-4), pp.308-347, 8vo, printed paper wraps, darkened, wear at spine and corners, minor foxing, mainly good. Bentley (Turner) Index 1110, ascribed to J. Munnings. A bookseller on viaLibri reveals that an index is anticipated in the fourth volume of the Life and Letters published by Bentley, 1862-4. No mention is made of this Index in either COPAC or WorldCat's listings of copies of the Life and Letters. Very scarce.

Two Typed Letters Signed from the Hollywood actress Bebe Daniels, wife of Ben Lyon, to 'Ruby', the variety entertainer Rubye Mae Colleano, mother of the film actor Bonar Colleano.

Author: 
Bebe Daniels [Phyllis Virginia Daniels] (1901-1971), Hollywood actress, and star of the British radio series 'Life With The Lyons' [Rubye Mae Colleano; Ben Lyon (1901-1979)]
Two Typed Letters Signed from the Hollywood actress Bebe Daniels
Publication details: 
Letter One: 24 October [1943]; Queen's Hotel, Leeds. Letter Two: 2 April [no year]; 18 Southwick Street, London.
£75.00
Two Typed Letters Signed from the Hollywood actress Bebe Daniels

Both items on 'Bebe' letterheads, and both with signature 'Bebe' incorporating a drawing of a stick figure with hat. Letter One: 12mo, 1 p. Twelve lines. Good, on lightly-aged paper. With addressed envelope. She is sorry they missed one another 'at the station, especially after all the trouble you went through to get there'. Gives news of show: 'Boy, it will be good to get back to town again. | I have enjoyed the tour but as you know travelling nowadays isn't what it used to be, by a long shot.' Letter Two: 8vo, 1 p. 21 lines.

The Sickness Accident and Life Association Limited. Prospectus.

Author: 
The Sickness Accident and Life Association Limited [Friends Provident; life insurance; actuarial science]
Publication details: 
Foreword' dated 'Edinburgh, December, 1897.' [Printed by Morrison and Gibb Limited, Edinburgh.]
£45.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 13 x 9 cm): 62 pp. Folded 'Proposal' tipped in on perforated stub. Sewn into cream wraps, printed in red. Text clear and complete. Internally tight on lightly-aged paper. In worn and grubby wraps with a few ink notes on front. Index on p.ii (reverse of front wrap) gives sections (each with subsections) devoted to Sickness Department, Accident Department, Employers' Liability and Accidents to Workmen, Indemnity and Third Party Insurance, Fidelity Guarantees, and Life Department. Also lists Directors, Office-Bearers, Head Office and Branches.

The causes of death among the assured in the Scottish Widows' Fund and Life Assurance Society from 1874 to 1894 inclusive.

Author: 
Claud Muirhead, M.D., F.R.C.P.E.
Publication details: 
Edinburgh: R. & R. Clark, Limited. 1902.
£50.00

4to. Pages: viii + 103. Appendix consisting of nine detailed actuarial tables. Tight copy, in grubby, stained and worn printed paper boards. From the library of the librarian of the Medical Society of London, Nehemiah Asherson, and with the Society's oval stamp on the verso of the title. Small circular label on front board.

Autograph Letter Signed to William Haines.

Author: 
John N. Rhodes
Publication details: 
18 October 1838; '2 Maddox St. Bond S London'.
£46.00

English artist (1809-42). One page, quarto, with the second leaf of the bifoliate bearing the address ('To | William Haines Esqr.. | Sol[icito]r. | Cannon Street | Birmingham'), with the remains of a red wax seal, and two postmarks. Discoloured, and with damp stains causing discoloration and damage to the paper, but not affecting the legibility of the text. Small spike hole through both leaves, not affecting text. Having been 'from home yestereday on a painting expidition' he could not acknowledge Haines' letter sooner.

Autograph Letter Signed to Cardinal [Herbert] Vaughan.

Author: 
Charles Booth
Publication details: 
25 January 1899; on letterhead 24, Cumberland Place, W.
£75.00

Shipowner (1840-1916), philanthropist and writer on social affairs. The recipient Herbert Vaughan (1832-1903) was the third Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster. Two pages, 12mo. Good, but with recto of leaf slightly smudged. Reads 'Dear Cardinal Vaughan | If half past nine is not too early I could come on Friday at that hour. I am afraid I cannot make it any later in the morning as I have to reach the City before 10.30. I could come on Friday Evening between 5 & 6 if that hour should suit you better'. Signed 'Charles Booth'.

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