MANUSCRIPT

[Erasmus Wilson.] Autograph Note Signed to Mrs Buchanan, sending new year's greetings.

Author: 
Erasmus Wilson [Sir William James Erasmus Wilson] (1809-1884), dermatologist and philanthropist
Publication details: 
17 Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square [London]. 2 January 1882.
£35.00

1p., 12mo. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Reads 'My Dear Mrs. Buchanan, | Many thanks for kindest New Year's greetings: - | A Happy New Year to you and yours | Faithfully yours | Erasmus Wilson'.

[Chandos Leigh, 1st Baron Leigh.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Leigh') to 'Mr. Brodie', regarding a 'rather singular letter' he has received from one of his parishoners, offering his services as a shoemaker at a prison.

Author: 
Chandos Leigh (1791-1850), 1st Baron Leigh, of Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire, minor poet, cousin of Jane Austen and friend of Byron and Leigh Hunt
Publication details: 
57 Portman Square, London. 14 July 1849.
£150.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. The recipient presumably held a living near Leigh's Warwickshire mansion Stoneleigh Abbey (said to be the model for Sotherton Court in his cousin Jane Austen's 'Mansfield Park'). Leigh apologises troubling Brodie 'with the enclosed rather singular letter which I have received from one of your Parishioners'.

[Dame Freya Stark and Peggy Drower.] 15 items from the papers of Stark's assistant Peggy Drower, including two letters to her from Stark's biographer Jane F. Geniesse, with a copy the book, an Autograph Card Signed from Caroline Moorhead.

Author: 
Peggy Drower [Mrs Margaret Hackforth Jones] (1911-2012), Egyptologist and Dame Freya Stark's last assistant at the Ikwan-al-Hurriayah in Cairo [Jane Fletcher Geniesse; Caroline Moorhead]
Publication details: 
Material from London and Washington. Dating from between 1993 and 2001.
£195.00

The material is loosely inserted in a copy of 'Passionate Nomad. The Life of Freya Stark' by Jane Fletcher Geniesse (New York: Random House, 1999). xxvi + 402 + [2]pp., 8vo. Very good, in like price-clipped dustwrapper, and inscribed to Drower by her daughter. Drower is described on p.296 as 'daughter of Freya's old Baghdad friend Lady Drower, [who] followed Pam Hore-Ruthven as her assistant and spent two years trying to get repaid for the cost, not to mention the enormous effort, of packing up Freya's belongings and sending them to Asolo after the war'.

[Peter Levi, poet and Jesuit priest.] Holograph collection of nine poems, titled 'The Element', with signed autograph note from Dom Moraes explaining their background.

Author: 
Peter Levi [Peter Chad Tigar Levi] (1931-2000), Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford, 1984-1989, and Jesuit priest [Dom Moraes (1938-2004), Indian poet]
Publication details: 
Dated by Levi to the period November 1957 to January 1958. Moraes' note dated 10 June 1963.
£750.00

14pp., 4to. In exercise book with green printed wraps. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. The first page carries the title 'The Element', with the words 'Peter Levi S.J. | Nov. '57-Jan. '58' in the top right-hand corner. With occasional light corrections. The second poem ('Out of shaking') has the directions: 'No title & no commas', and the last but one ('Unfinished Elegy'), which is the longest at 4pp., is annotated: 'There ought to be three parts or possibly four.

[Peter Levi, S.J., English poet.] Unpublished holograph poem ( 'P. L.') titled 'For Henrietta and Dom. | (December, 1960.)' Addressed to the Indian poet Dom Moraes and his wife Henrietta Moraes, lover of Lucien Freud and model for Francis Bacon.

Author: 
Peter Levi [Peter Chad Tigar Levi] (1931-2000), Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford and Jesuit priest [Dom Moraes (1938-2004), Indian poet; his wife Henrietta Moraes (1931-1999)]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. December 1960.
£280.00

2pp., foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. A fair copy of a twenty-eight line poem, arranged in seven four-line stanzas. Signed at end 'P. L. | December 1960.' The first stanza reads 'Rain-threaded gull-wheeling bell-clamorous air, | by wind shifted, by smoke lightly weighted, | in which sirens beautifully despair, | no monumnet crumbles uncelebrated,'. The poem ends with a simile of 'Adam when he woke: | stood for a moment as if he had been blind, | and bent suddenly over Eve, and spoke.' There is no indication that the poem has been published.

[Peter Levi, S.J., English poet.] Autograph Card Signed to the bookseller Eric Korn, with copies of his 'Three Poems' and the Jesuit bulletin 'To our friends', the latter with signed autograph note: 'This I did write & hideous [...] it is'.

Author: 
Peter Levi [Peter Chad Tigar Levi] (1931-2000), Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford and Jesuit priest
Publication details: 
Card postmarked from Campion Hall, Oxford, and with postmarked date 21 November 1971. Three Poems: Sycamore Press, 4 Benson Place Oxford; Spring 1970. 'To our friends': No. 33, April 1962; with note on letterhead of Heythrop College, Chipping Norton.
£200.00

The three items in good condition, with light age and wear. CARD: He has been told about Korn by 'Barbara and Cyril Connolly': 'Maybe we might meet, though I shall now be leaving England for a time. Do you ever have a catalogue? If so please put me on your list. I chiefly want classics & archaeology & (old) travels in Greece & Central Asia, but sometimes modern poetry. I am always at or c/o this address. Peter Levi.' THREE POEMS: Landscape 8vo, folded twice to make three panels. Printed in blue. The first poem is titled 'Riddle' and the other two are untitled.

[George Rimington of Tyne Field House, near Penrith, Cumberland.] Autograph 'Day Book 1840 to 1841', comprising a diary, detailed accounts (taxes, 'Liverpool Rents', 'Loss on Mines', wine merchant, chimney sweeping), meteorological entries.

Author: 
George Rimington (1783-1853) of Tyne Field House, near Penrith, Cumberland [Greenside Lead Mine]
Publication details: 
Cumberland. 1 January 1840 to 27 November 1841.
£1,450.00

348pp., 4to, with openings numbered 1-174. In original vellum binding, marbled endpapers. 'Day Book 1840 & 1841' on spine, and the following in faded letters upside-down on back board: 'Geo: Rimingtons Day Book, <...> Weather Letters <...> | Jany. 1st. 1840 Sepr 14 1841'. Internally in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn and grubby binding. An extraordinarily detailed volume, filled with disparate information, written out in a neat close hand, with twenty-one lines to a page.

[Frederick Gorringe's Department Store.] Manuscript subscription list of donations by staff to the Daily Telegraph fund for 'the Sufferers' by the Edgware Road Fire, giving more than 200 names and sums. With two press cuttings.

Author: 
[Frederick Gorringe (1831-1909), draper; Frederick Gorringe's Department Store, 75 Buckingham Palace Road, London; the Daily Telegraph; the Edgware Road Fire, 30 May 1888]
Publication details: 
[London. May and June 1888.]
£120.00

4pp., foolscap 8vo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper. First page headed: 'The Edgware Road Fire | The proprietor of "The Daily Telegraph" have as hitherto on similar occasions opened a Subscription list for the Sufferers and it is estimated that £3,000 will be required to meeet the urgent claims for relief which are already too well known | I shall be glad to receive any donations you may be pleased to give on their behalf | (JNER.)'. Arranged in eight columns, two to a page, with running totals and a grand total of £16 1s 0d. The first donation is for 10s 6d from 'Mr.

[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.

[E. Bayley, Printer.] Printed handbill of three verses of the British National Anthem, under the title 'The Patriot's Hymn', beginning 'GOD save Great George our King'

Author: 
E. Bayley, Printer (of Macclesfield, Cheshire?) [The British National Anthem]
Publication details: 
Printer's slug: 'E. BAYLEY, PRINTER.' Place not stated (Macclesfield, Cheshire?). Undated [during the Regency period].
£180.00

1p., 12mo. On aged and worn wove paper. Headed with the royal crest and title 'The Patriot's Hymn.' Twenty-one lines arranged in three verses, numbered I to III. Printer's slug beneath swelled short rule at foot of page. The printer is possibly the Edward Bayley stated by BBTI to have been active in Macclesfield between 1788 and 1825. The absence of the long s, and the use of wove paper, suggest nineteenth-century publication before 1830, and probably during the Regency period.

[James Stuart, Viscount Stuart of Findhorn, as Secretary of State for Scotland.] Typed Letter Signed ('James') to Sir Thomas Moore, MP for Ayr Burghs, thanking him for his help 'last night with the problem of the children's officer at Ayr'.

Author: 
James Stuart (1897-1971), 1st Viscount Stuart of Findhorn, Secretary of State for Scotland, 1951-1957 [Sir Thomas Cecil Russell Moore (1886-1971), MP for Ayr Burghs]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Secretary of State for Scotland, Scottish Office, Fielden House, 10 Great College Street, London, SW1. 24 April 1952.
£45.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and creased paper. After thanking him for his assistant Stuart informs Moore that he is 'delaying a further approach to the Council until you tell me that the new Provost has been appointed and you have been able to make unofficial approaches to him about a Deputation meeting me in Edinburgh'. Annotated in pencil by Moore.

[Captain Thomas William PIxley of Hill Lodge, Freshwater, Isle of Wight.] Album filled with unpublished autograph poems, mostly autobiographical and composed for recitation at Christmas, with family information, newspaper cuttings, printed ephemera.

Author: 
Captain Thomas William Pixley (1819-1891) of Hill Lodge, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, a Younger Brother of the Corporation of Trinity House
Publication details: 
Hill Lodge, Freshwater, Isle of Wight. 1875 to 1884.
£750.00

The autograph matter within the volume covers 206pp., 4to, with a further 14pp carrying newspaper articles and printed ephemera. In fair condition on aged paper, with some leaves loose, in damaged and worn quarter-binding with marbled boards and leather spine. Large armorial bookplate of Thomas William Pixley laid down on front board. Captain Thomas William Pixley (1819-1891) of Hill Lodge, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, commanded the 850-ton merchantman Essex (belonging to Messrs.

Autograph draft reply by the Duke of Wellington, on printed circular invitation to 'the Anniversary Dinner of the Governors' of the London Hospital, from secretary William John Nixon.

Author: 
Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), 1st Duke of Wellington; William John Nixon (c.1820 to 1910), Secretary and House Governor of the Royal London Hospital
Publication details: 
The Circular dated from 'London Hospital, 9th April, 1847.'
£500.00

The circular on 1p., 4to, on recto of first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. It reads: 'MY LORD, | The House-Committee and Stewards for conducting the Anniversary Dinner of the Governors of this Charity, present their compliments with the enclosed Card of Invitation for THURSDAY, the 22nd of APRIL, and request to be favored with your Lordship's [corrected in manuscript to 'Grace's'] Company on that day.

[Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), 1st Duke of Wellington.] Autograph Letter, in the third person, to 'Quarter Master Jones', regarding his request to be 'removed from half to full pay'.

Author: 
Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), 1st Duke of Wellington
Publication details: 
London. 8 February 1829.
£500.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper, with a nineteenth-century repair to short closed tears. The letter reads: 'The Duke of Wellington presents his Compliments to Quarter Master Jones and begs leave to inform him in answer to His Letter of the 3d Inst, thaht He must apply to the General Comm[andin]g. the Army in Chief; the Duke has nothing whatever to say to the Details of the Army or to the Selection of Gentlemen to be removed from half to full pay. | London Feb. 8. 1829'.

[Nineteenth-century coach building.] Lithographed handbill advertisement for 'Wright's Patent Drag' (i.e. brake for a horse-drawn coach), with two illustrations by Baddeley, and four testimonials. With accompanying engraving.

Author: 
[Wright's Patent Drag (the Proprietor, No. 22 Church Street, Soho [subsequently 138 Holborn Bars]), London [Baddeley, engraver; nineteenth-century coach building; Victorian carriages; transport]
Publication details: 
'Royal Pier Hotel, Ryde, | July 25th, 1842.' ['Office of the Proprietor, No. 22 Church Street, Soho, London' , amended in manuscript to '138 Holborn Bars']
£180.00

Text: 2pp., foolscap 8vo (35 x 20.5cm.). Engraving: 12 x 16cm with corners clipped. Both items in fair condition, on aged paper. The text is cropped at the head, through a royal crest, and has rounded corners at the head and trimmed corners at the foot. The engraving has traces of grey paper mount on reverse. The text has lithograph illustrations of two side-views of four-wheel carriages with the drag applied, beneath the cropped crest and above the title 'WRIGHT'S PATENT DRAG.' Text consists of around 60 lines in copperplate.

[George Bilainkin, English journalist.] Typescripts of three articles, two in the form of diary entries (one on an Egyptian Embassy reception and the other on an international conference on crime); the third a dialogue between monks and journalists.

Author: 
George Bilainkin (1903-1981), English journalist and expert on foreign affairs [Ernest Bevin; Lev Nikolaevich Smirnov; Admiral Sir Dudley Pound; Egyptian Embassy; Laurence Cadbury; Tom Bairstow]
Publication details: 
Two dated entries: 23 July and 18 August 1960. The third entry ('Monastery') undated.
£125.00

The three items derive from the Bilainkin papers. Each is separately paginated and stapled, with the text on one side only of the leaves. All three in good condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper, with rusty staples. Item One: Titled 'ADD 1960 DIARY. Saturday, July 23.' 7pp., foolscap 8vo. With carbon copy of the same.

[Arthur Gilbert Bedell, printer of New York newspaper the Westchester Times.] Unpublished Autograph Memoir filled with reminiscences of prominent New Yorkers ('Boss' Dick Croker of Tammany Hall, Louis J. Heintz, Theodore Roosevelt) and local politics

Author: 
Arthur Gilbert Bedell (b.c.1851), printer with his brothers Edwin Bedell and George Canfield Bedell of New York newspaper the Westchester Times ['Boss' Dick Croker; Tammany Hall; Louis J. Heintz]
Publication details: 
Without place or date, but Bedell is in his 81st year at the time of writing. [New York, 1930s.]
£1,750.00

192pp., 8vo., on 188 letterheads of the Village of Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Irregularly paginated to 179d. Six pages (6, 8, 9, 10, 13, 17) are lacking, but the missing text is supplied in an accompanying typescript, with two carbon copies, of the first 31pp. of the manuscript, each of the three copies being 11pp., 8vo. The author of this memoir, Arthur Gilbert Bedell (b.c.1851), was printer and proprietor, with his brothers Edwin Bedell and George Canfield Bedell, of the Westchester Times.

[The Atlantic Union.] Three documents relating to this club founded by Sir Walter Besant, Conan Doyle and others: Typed Letter Signed from Hon. Sec. T. D. Hawkin to Mrs J. L. Nissen; 'amplified' offprint of article from The African World; circular.

Author: 
[The Atlantic Union, club founded in 1900 by Sir Walter Besant; Thomas Driffield Hawkin; John Leigh Nissen, partner in London printers Nissen & Arnold and Past Master of the Leathersellers' Company]
Publication details: 
Hawkin's letter: on Atlantic Union letterhead, 13a Cockspur Street, Trafalgar Square, London; 10 December 1907; offprint 'Amplified from The African World, April 4, 1908'; circular from The Atlantic Union, undated.
£450.00

The Oxford DNB entry on Sir Walter Besant states that, 'Concerned to cultivate better understanding with North America, Besant worked in the last two years of his life for the Atlantic Union.' In fact it was Besant who founded the club in 1900, with Conan Doyle and others, with the object, according to The Times, 22 February 1900, 'of drawing together the various English-speaking peoples and strengthening the bonds of union by the formation of ties of personal friendship among individual members'.

[Thomas Edmund Harvey, Warden of Toynbee Hall.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'T. Edmund Harvey') to 'Mr. Aldrich' [Stephen John Aldrich], with whom he had worked at the British Museum.

Author: 
Thomas Edmund Harvey (1875-1955), Liberal politician, pacifist and Warden of Toynbee Hall, 1906-1911 [Stephen John Aldrich of the British Museum]
Publication details: 
First letter on letterhead of House of Commons Library; 8 November 1907. Second letter on letterhead of Rydal House, Grosvenor Road, Leeds; 3 January 1927.
£56.00

Both items in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Letter One: 4pp., 12mo. Harvey begins: 'Of course I well remember the too short time when I had the pleasure of being your colleague at the British Museum.' He would like to see Aldrich's 'old Dutch masters' but may not be able to visit him at Bowes Park before 'returning to reconstruction work in France in which I am interested'. He suggests a meeting in the new year, before enquiring whether Aldrich has 'got Sir Sidney Colvin's opinion of your Old masters. He is very interested in these things.' Letter Two: 2pp., 4to.

[Thomas Phillips, portrait painter.] Autograph Note Signed ('T Phillips') informing '- Wilder Esq.' that his 'Picture is now varnished & ready to be sent away'.

Author: 
Thomas Phillips (1770-1845), English portrait painter [Wilder]
Publication details: 
8 George Street, London. 1 April 1842.
£35.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight traces of glue from mount on reverse, which is docketed 'Phillips the Portrait Painter'. The note reads: 'Dear Sir | Your Picture is now varnished & ready to be sent away. Pray be so good as to favour me with the Direction for the Case'.

[Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman, English judge.] Autograph Note Signed ('Tho Denman') giving instructions to his wine merchants.

Author: 
Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman [Lord Denman] (1779-1854), English judge, Lord Chief Justice of England, 1832-1850
Publication details: 
50 Russell Square, London. 17 March 1831.
£35.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on aged paper, with traces of grey paper mount adhering to the reverse. Reads: 'Gentlemen | I shall be much obliged by your forwarding the wine to me immediately with an account of your expences - | Your obedt servt | Tho Denman | 50 Russell Square | March 17. 1831'.

[Sir Evelyn John Ruggles-Brise, Principal Private Secretary to Home Secretary Henry Matthews.] Autograph Letter Signed ('E. Ruggles Brise') to [Sir Alfred Scott-Gatty] regarding an application for his brother to be appointed a stipendiary magistrate.

Author: 
Sir Evelyn John Ruggles-Brise (1857-1935), Principal Private Secretary to four British Home Secretaries, prison reformer [Sir Alfred Scott-Gatty; Henry Matthews, 1st Viscount Llandaff; Borstal]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. 13 December 1915.
£35.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'A. S. Gatty'. Matthews has asked Ruggles Brise to acknowledge Gatty's letter, and to say 'that he will be happy to bear your brother's name in mind: but Bradford have not applied for the appointment of a fresh Stipendiary'. Sir Alfred Scott-Gatty was one of the sons of Rev. Alfred Gatty (1813-1903); another son was Sir Stephen Herbert Gatty (1849-1922), later Chief Justice of Gibraltar, who is the subject of this letter. The author Juliana Horatia Ewing (1841-1885) was a daughter.

[Robert Jocelyn, Viscount Jocelyn.] Autograph Address 'To the Independent Electors of the Borough of King's Lynn', signed 'Jocelyn'.

Author: 
Robert Jocelyn, Viscount Jocelyn (1816-1854), English soldier and Conservative Member of Parliament for King's Lynn, Norfolk,1842-1854
Publication details: 
King's Lynn, Norfolk. 18 July 1847.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Headed 'To the Independent Electors of the Borough of King's Lynn' and beginning: 'Gentlemen, | I have canvassed the constituency of your Town as an Independent candidate who as your representative supported in the last Parliament the measures of Sir Robert Peel's administration.' He thanks 'the Electors at large' for 'the courtesy with which I have been invariably received' and also 'that overwhelming majority of their body who have honored me with promises of support'.

[Mary Anne Stirling, actress.] Autograph Note in the third person, thanking the music publisher Christopher Lonsdale of Old Bond Street 'for his great kindness - not only now but always shewn to her by him'.

Author: 
Mary Anne [Fanny] Stirling [née Hehl] [Mrs Stirling] (1813-1895), English actress [Christopher Lonsdale, music publisher, Old Bond Street, London]
Publication details: 
Docketed with date 31 May 1869.
£30.00

2pp., 12mo. In envelope addressed by Stirling to 'C Lonsdale Esqre. | Bond Street'. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. 'Mrs. Stirling does not know how to thank Mr. Londsdale for his great kindness - not only now but always shewn to her by him. Mrs. Stirling remembers that she has the full store of the Midsummer Nights' [sic] Dream belonging to Mr. Lonsdale but she is warned by Mr. Lonsdale's Messenger that she must not now stop to thank Mr. Lonsdale fully, as she would wish.'

[Harriet Maria Gordon Smythies, Victorian novelist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('H. M. Gordon Smythies'] to a male correspondent, regarding the London publishers Darton and Company and the sale of her copyrights.

Author: 
Harriet Maria Gordon Smythies (d.1883), Victorian novelist [Darton & Company, London booksellers]
Publication details: 
108 Stanley Street, Pimlico. 12 September 1862.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. 'It has just struck me that I ought to have let you know that Mr. Hodge went from the bargain he had himself proposed'. She thinks that 'Mr Darton feared to make any purchase, in these bad times - I have some hopes of selling the Copyrights

and I will let you know directly I find I can do so.' Darton's had published Smythies's books 'The Breach of Promise' and 'The Marrying Man'.

Six pencil sketches by E. J. Sullivan for illustrations in the Pall Mall Budget, including ones to the H. G. Wells stories 'The Stolen Bacillus' and 'The Thumbnail'. With autograph notes by Sullivan for an apparently unpublished short story.

Author: 
E. J. Sullivan [Edmund Joseph Sullivan] (1869-1933), English book illustrator [H. G. Wells; The Pall Mall Budget, London]
Publication details: 
Undated [five of the illustrations appearing in the Pall Mall Budget, London, in May and June 1894.]
£450.00

The six illustrations and seven pages of text totalling 13pp., 4to (22.5 x 18cm), on seven leaves of laid paper removed from an album. On aged brittle paper, with chipping and slight loss to the edges. The illustrations are simple sketches, indicating the layout of the page, with titles and occasional words of text by Sullivan. Five of the six designs are for the Pall Mall Budget: 'The Thumbmark by H. G. Wells' (28 June 1894), thumbmarks around title and a newspaper seller with headline reading 'Anarchist Outrage'; 'The Stolen Bacillus by H. G.

[Dr Helen Holme Bancroft, Oxford agricultural botanist.] Three Autograph Letters Signed to 'Dr. Francis', regarding 'the difficulties of archaeological research at Southend' and palaeobotany.

Author: 
Dr Helen Holme Bancroft ['Nellie Bancroft'] (b.1887), Reader in Agricultural Botany, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Publication details: 
Two from the School of Rural Economy, University of Oxford (one on letterhead), and one from 5 St Edward's Passage, Cambridge. All dating from 1930.
£90.00

All three items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Letter One: School of Rural Economy, Oxford. 18 August 1930. 2pp., 4to. She sympathises with 'the difficulties of archaeological research at Southend [...] for I know only too well how the people who hold the ultimate strings can "do one down" when their interests don't happen to coincide with one's own'. She recalls that in 1913 she 'put in a lot of time on some fossils for the B.M. - they turned out to be pieces of fossilised timber; & because the Keeper of the Palaeobotanical Dept.

[Lieutenant-Colonel John Vandeleur, 10th Royal Hussars.] Autograph Letter Signed to the Military Secretary FitzRoy Somerset [Raglan]l, re. an application from one of his adjutants named Gladstone. Docketed with Autograph Note on subject by Somerset.

Author: 
Colonel John Vandeleur (c.1793-1864) of the 10th Hussars, Aide de Camp to General Sir John Ormsby Vandeleur (1763-1849) in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo [Lord Fitzroy Somerset (1788-1855)]
Publication details: 
Dorchester. 17 May 1839.
£80.00

1p., 4to. On bifolium. Very good on lightly-aged paper. Green date stamp of the Commander in Chief's Office. Docketed on reverse of second leaf with barely legible note by Somerset (he had had to learn to write with his left hand after losing his right arm at Waterloo), beginning 'Inform Messrs Cox of the intention'. Vandeleur considers that it 'would be a very great Indulgence to Mr. Gladstone to allow him the indulgence he asks provided it can be done without inconvenience to the Service'.

[Alfred Austin, poet.] Autograph Letter Signed to the Chevalier de Chatelain, thanking him for gifts, and reminiscing about the Chevalier and his wife Clara de Chatelain.

Author: 
Alfred Austin (1835-1913), English Poet Laureate from 1896 to his death [Jean-Baptiste François Ernest De Chatelain (1801-1881) and his wife Clara de Chatelain (1807-1876), author]
Publication details: 
67 Queen's Gardens, Bayswater. 2 August 1877.
£65.00

2pp., 16mo. 17 lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He begins by thanking him for 'the History of the Flitch of Bacon Custom at Dunnow. I well remember reading in the papers of 55 the celebration of the fete at which you & poor Made. de Chatelain were the hero & heroine'. He has called on de Chatelain to thank him for the 'Fleurs et Fruits' which he sent him, but did not find him at home. He will try again before leaving town for the autumn, 'which I shall do in a few days'.

[Alec Clifton-Taylor, architectural historian.] Corrected Signed Typescript titled 'Tour of Naval Establishments in the Mediterranean with Mr. John Dugdale, January, 1946'. [A tour of 'about 7,000 miles, almost all by air'.]

Author: 
Alec Clifton-Taylor, architectural historian [John Dugdale (1905-1963), Labour politician, Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty under Clement Attlee, 1945-1950; Royal Navy]
Publication details: 
Undated, but with covering signed page, on British Government letterhead, with alternate title: 'Mediterannean Tour | January, 1946'.
£350.00

[1] + 26pp., foolscap 8vo. On twenty-seven leaves held together with a brass stud. In good condition, on aged and worn paper. The covering page is headed with the embossed government letterhead (lion and unicorn in oval) and has the words 'Mediterannean Tour | January, 1946' in the centre, with the signature 'Alec Clifton-Taylor' in blue ink in the bottom right-hand corner. The twenty-six pages of text, carrying a few minor autograph corrections by Clifton-Taylor, are headed with the full title.

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