LONDON

A poignant letter. See Delane’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, with neat thin strip from Victorian windowpane mount adhering to edges of second leaf. Folded for postage. 32 lines, closely written. Presumably with reference to his ‘Life and Death of John of Barneveld’, Motley begins: ‘My dear Delane / Just before leaving England ten days ago in search of health (a fugitive very hard to catch) I begged Murray to send you a copy of a work which was to come out almost immediately.

The founder of the greatest of London’s ‘Great Estates’. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, on light-grey paper, with thin neat strip of windowpane mount adhering to edges. Folded three times for postage. Good firm signature ‘Westminster’, and with the name of the recipient neatly cut away: ‘Major <...> / 1st Lancashire Eng[ee]r. Vol[un]t[ee]rs.

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of mounting on the blank reverse. The letter reads: 'I shall be happy to execute your orders, and shall be obliged if you kindly forward me the blocks and Copy, with your directions upon what style you wish these drawings to be done: to my address as above.'

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Good firm signature: ‘Henry Wace.’ He thanks him for his letter of 23 September, ‘drawing my attention to the passage in the paper which you kindly enclosed’. He regrets that he was ‘in Ireland at the time of the meeting of the Representative Church Committee’, but he will be ‘glad to bear in mind what you say in reference to future meetings’. From the papers of Wilfred Seymour De Winton of Haverfordwest.

A scarce item: the only other copy located is at the Foundling Hospital, London. 30pp, 4to, with a further 7pp of advertisements at the back. Stapled into grey wraps printed in red. A delicate survival, on browing high-acidity paper, in worn wraps chipped around the edges. On the front cover the item is described as ‘Book of Words & Programme for the Rehearsal Day’.At top right-hand corner of the title-page are the pleasing ownership initials of ‘A. G.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. For Gauntlett see the excellent article on the ‘Semibrevity’ blog: ‘Ambrose Gauntlett, forgotten gamba player and continuo cellist’, beginning: ‘Although Ambrose Gauntlett (1889–1978) spent most of his career as a full-time orchestral principal, he was the most sought-after continuo cellist and gamba player in the UK for many years. In his obituary, published in The Times, Sir Anthony Lewis mentions “his beautiful playing of the important 18th-century viola da gamba obbligato roles”.’ Both items in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Letter, 1 June 1972.

Of the five copies on JISC only that at the BL is from one of the deposit libraries. 21pp, 4to. Collotype of engraving of Caxton as frontispiece. Sewn into grey card wraps with Yapp-style edges and title repeated on cover. In good condition, lightly aged.

Only two copies of any edition of this title on JISC: at the BL and Glasgow University. Cohen’s obituary in The Times describes him as ‘outstanding as a forthright, witty and courteous debater and lecturer’. This item is 30pp, 12mo. Stitched into wraps with title printed on the front and publicity material on the other three sides. Internally in good condition, lightly aged, in slightly spotted and worn wraps.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. On bifolium with her current address in autograph on the reverse of the second leaf, which has slight traces of paper from a previous mount at its head. The recipient is not named. Reads: ‘Dear Sir / Will you give me some idea of the subscriptions made by the Committee, so that I may be [?] the amount to send, as I do not ish to send a cheque equal with the highest or below the lowest. / Faithfully yrs. / E. Lynn Linton’.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. An interesting letter, linking two significant figures in the London theatre. Around the time of writing Hollingshead had given up his career in the clothing business to write full time, early on for Dickens at ‘Household Words’, then later for Thackeray at the ‘Cornhill’. The farce that is the subject of the present letter is possibly ‘Birth Place of Podgers’, the only one known to have been published by Hollingshead, a New York edition of which appeared around 1858. 2pp, 16mo.

On 11 x 14.5 piece of paper, cut for an autograph collector from the conclusion of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with light patches of discoloration and a couple of pin holes; laid down on piece of cream paper from album. One fold line. Reads: ‘[...] I will be very pleased to look through it and if it suits me to sing it. / With kind regards to all / Believe me to remain / Yours faithfully / Mary Davies’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In very good condition. Folded twice. Clear and neat signature beneath slightly-smudged text. Written on the verge of his removal from the House of Commons to the House of Lords. Reads ‘[Admiral Buser?] to Gallery of H of C / Tuesday May 8th. 1866 / E B Lytton’. See image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The Church Army, still active today, was founded in 1882 as a Church of England equivalent to the Methodists’ Salvation Army. From the papers of the recipient Wilfred Seymour De Winton of Haverfordwest. 3pp, 12mo. On a bifolium of grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘W Carlile / Hon. Chief Sec.’ To the left of the signature, in the bottom-left of the recto of the second leaf, is a purple ink stamp of the following: ‘WRITTEN BY ONE OF OUR POOR STRUGGLING LABOUR HOME BROTHERS’.

According to Russell’s entry in the Oxford DNB, while reporting on the Civil War, he was described by one American newspaper as ‘the most famous newspaper correspondent the world has ever seen'. The inscription on his memorial in St Paul’s Cathedral calls him ‘'the first and greatest of War Correspondents'. He coined the phrase ‘thin red line’, was instrumental in the sending of Florence Nightingale to the Crimea, and is said to have written the report that inspired Tennyson to write ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’.

It is hard to overestimate the impact of ‘Ion’ on Victorian audiences in Britain and America. According to Talfourd’s entry in the Oxford DNB, the play was ‘first performed at Covent Garden Theatre, London, on his birthday, 26 May 1836.

See his obituaries in The Times, Burlington Magazine and elsewhere. Casting light on the process of reopening the British Museum in the wake of the Great War. From the papers of the recipient, Wilfred Seymour De Winton of Haverfordwest and Cardiff. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly worn and creased. Signed ‘R. L. Hobson’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr. de Winton’. He has been ‘back at the Museum about 3 weeks & most of that has been spent in helping to get ready for the public some of the more accessible galleries’.

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.

Pauer, who had studied piano with Mozart’s son, gave daily recitals during the Great Exhibition of 1862, and was later appointed Professor at the newly-formed Royal College of Music (later the Royal College of Music), also working at Cambridge University. 2pp, 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Dear Miss Alain / I do not see any chance of being able to arrange for the lessons you desire to take. I need not tell you that I am sorry that I cannot fulfil your wish. / In haste yrs truly / E Pauer’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The recipient, whose name Jacobs gives as ‘D. H. Denselow Esq’, was the commercial artist and autograph hunter Douglas Harold Hellier-Denselow, whose studio was in Gunnersbury, West London. The note reads: ‘Dear Mr. Denselow / I am much obliged for your letter & its accompanying illustration. I shall not follow your example & affix my eye to my autograph / Yours very truly / W. W. Jacobs’.

See his appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, concluding with praise of his ‘undeniable’ achievements. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with the blank reverse carrying very slight staining to one edge from glue from mount. Folded once. Neatly and firmly written, with the underlined signature with a deliberate upwards slope. Clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: ‘ “A man dies but once, a woman twice - the first time when she marries, and then, as at the last, wondering at the thereafter.” / Lady Bountiful. / Act IV. / Arthur W. Pinero. / 23rd. February 1897.’

See her entry and that of Macqueen-Pope in the Oxford DNB. The two items are in fair condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. Both with the valediction and signature in a large flowing hand, and the second letter also with an autograph postscript. Both are 1p, 4to, and folded three times. ONE (7 July 1952): Addressed to ‘Popie my dear’ and with autograph valediction ‘Yours always / Julia’. She has ‘not been too well for over a year’, and the previous year her ‘stupid heart did foolish things’, and she was ‘ordered to bed for six weeks or more’. She is still ‘not allowed to do too much’.

An evocative artefact of one of the most successful British charities of the Great War. The Silver Thimble Fund was founded by Hope Elizabeth Hope Clarke of Wimbledon in 1915, and run from her house. Damaged trinkets made of precious metals, including 60,000 silver thimbles, were collected and melted down, paying for fifteen ambulances for the front and other medical transportation and equipment. The recipient is Mrs. Evelyn Julia Allan, listed in 1918 in the London Gazette as Honorary Secretary, Chelsea Division, British Red Cross.

Barnett’s entry in the Oxford DNB accepts his ‘greatness’ and discusses its nature. 1p, 16mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The subject of this letter is William Tourell, Superintendent of the East London Shoeblack Brigade, a charity of which Barnett was treasurer. The letter begins: ‘Dear Maud. / My Friend Towrell [sic] is dying of cancer. He is taking violet leaves & somehow the disease seems arrested. The doctor says he had better go on taking these leaves as they may be doing good’.

According to Noël Coward’s entry in the Oxford DNB, his family moved through the suburbs of south London, before finally setting in Ebury Street, where his mother Violet ‘acquired a boarding-house on the fringes of Belgravia’. The letters are written on the verge of the huge success of the revue ‘Bitter Sweet’ (1929). The recipient of these letters Sewell Stokes was an author and broadcaster who also worked as a probation officer and prison visitor, writing several works on the British penal system.

The material collected here is perhaps unique: it is not clear whether any material relating to Macqueen-Pope’s BBC broadcasts has survived elsewhere. It is hard to overestimate the significance of ‘Popie’ to the history of the London stage. Other items from among his papers offered seperately attest to the regard in which he was held by both actors and those behind the scenes, as the foremost chronicler of a cherished era that was quickly passing into oblivion.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The first letter 2pp, 12mo; the other three 1p, 12mo. All four items in good condition, lightly aged; and all four folded once. Each with the stylized signature ‘Trenchard Cox’. None of the four gives the year, but the first is noted in pencil as being replied to on 14 January 1971, and the last is accompanied by its envelope, with 1972 postmark, addressed by Cox to ‘Peter Wiener Esqr / 2 Napoleon Road / RAMSGATE’. The middle two are from the same period as the fourth.

Long and almost universally-appreciative articles, with photographs and cartoons, reflecting the excitement and energy of the period during which Fry was, as Michael Billington writes in his entry on the playwright in the Oxford DNB, ‘a dominant figure in British drama’. Ranging from three continents, with a few articles in foreign languages (Swedish, German, French). Among the material are John Gielgud’s long statement ‘Mr. Gielgud discovers Mr. Fry’, New York Times, 5 November 1950; and Richard L. Coe, ‘ “Lady” Delights A Packed Gayety’, Washington Post, 21 March 1951.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On watermarked wove paper. In good condition, folded once. Centred on the page, and clearly written for an autograph hunter. Reads: ‘with kind regards from / G. Colman / 21st. July. 1828. / Brompton Square.’

A very nice piece of musichall ephemera: a signed self-caricature by one of its leading lights. See Robey’s entry in the Oxford DNB. On a 7 x 8.75 cm piece of card, cut from a plain printed postcard. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of the four paper label mounts on reverse. On the front, which is entirely plain apart from Robey’s writing, is his Autograph Inscription, in a close hand with stylized signature: ‘Good luck. Geo Robey.’ This is at the foot of the page, beneath a well-executed self-caricature in blue and red ink.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, and in particular the section headed ‘A great actress’. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Very nice letterhead with engraving of the imposing hotel. In her large, bold hand, the note reads: ‘I have found it! / & am so glad - / Hoping you are much better / Yrs. sincerely / Ellen Terry: / 7 December . 97:’.