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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.

Two pages, 12mo, in narrow frame of stiffer paper, good condition. He thanks Senior for sending him the two volumes of your recent journals. I have not been able to read them through as rapidly as I could have wished since besides some business that could not wait I happened to have my house full of company. But I hope in a day or two to have an opportunity of returning them with all due care to your house, & I will not wait until then to thank you for the pleasure which I have derived from them.

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.'

Both items in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: Copy letter. 2pp., folio. On paper with watermark 'JOHN HOWARD | 1804'. Ends: 'To | Sir J. T. Duckworth K.B. | Vice Admiral of the White | &ca. &ca. &ca. | Given on board the Ocean off Cadiz | 12th. August 1806 | (signed) Collingwood | By Command of the Vice Admiral | (signed) W R Cosway | A Copy'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both letters 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, but with the first bearing two tape stains. Both folded for postage. Each signed ‘R. E. Prothero’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Speaker’. ONE (1 July 1918): He explains that ‘Agricultural labourers are specially excluded from the category of men to whom the War Office appeal to the V.T.C is addressed’, but that it was ‘only to be expected, as I had pointed out, that the appeal would still be made to them and that they would go in the middle of the harvest season. / The scheme is opposed by the Min.

See the entries in the Oxford DNB for his father Sir Francis Baring (1740-1810) and his son Thomas Baring (1799-1873). At the time of writing he was working with the merchant bankers Hope & Co. in Amsterdam, but growing 'so disgusted with the drudgery of the counting house' that he wanted to abandon commerce for the law. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with neat traces of windowpane mount adhering to the edges of the blank reverse. Folded for postage. Signed ‘Tho. Baring.’ Recipient not named. Reads: ‘Dear Sir / As I observe in the papers that the British [?] is to be closed on ye.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with closed tear (not affecting text) to a fold on second leaf, which also carries traces of mount on its blank reverse. Small printed slip relating to the Court of Bankruptcy, bearing Fonblanque’s name, laid down at head of first page. Folded four times for postage. Signed ‘J S M Fonblanque’.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Folded once for postage. In good condition, lightly aged, with unobtrusive line of discoloration on blank reverse of second leaf. Signed ‘Mary. J. J. Shelley’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mrs. Hollingsworth’. With envelope with stamp torn away, addressed in another hand to ‘Mrs. Hollingsworth / The Glen / Gurnard / Cowes.’ She begins with instructions for filling in a form for 'Mrs. Acland', and ends with a reference to the recipient’s son, whose ‘two friends are still both at Wellington College’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘Marie Belloc Lowndes’ and addressed to ‘My dear Mrs Doubleday’. Begins: ‘This is only a line of very very grateful thanks for our delightful stay with you and the Great Effendi!’ They ‘enjoyed every minute’ of their visit, and she wants the recipient to have their ‘London address and telephone no. so that we may meet at once when next you are in England!’ She will write if she has ‘any authentic news as to Lord Grays book’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, which carries a quotation pointing out her ‘unerring sense of admiration for herself’. What the present collection of well over a thousand cuttings assembled by her from newspapers and magazines appears to indicate is that the admiration was to a certain extent also felt by the general public; and taken as a whole the collection serves as a memorial to a once-celebrated English public figure, a woman making her mark on society in the age of suffrage. The first volume (1887-1899) is 117pp, folio: firm and tight in brown leather half binding.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, with those of Brougham and Goldwin Smith. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, with thin strip from windowpane mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf. Signed ‘O Gordon’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr Da [Qeue?]’. An interesting letter, full of content. He begins by thanking him for ‘Ld Broughams letter which I have disposed of as directed’.

See Greville’s entry in the Oxford DNB, and Douglas’s in the History of Parliament, which explains the context: ‘Gambling losses, largely accruing from his turf accounting activities at Newmarket - Douglas laid the blame on ‘Peel and Huskisson ... tampering with the currency’, problems raising capital from his property and ‘keeping too large establishment of servants’ - had reduced his fortune’. 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. 44 lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged, with negligible remains of windowpane mount neatly adhering to reverse of second leaf. Folded three times for postage.

See his father’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2p, 12mo. Neatly written over 26 lines. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘E. G. Marsh’. Recipient not named (‘My dear Sir’). He explains that, having happened on the previous day to be in the chair ‘at the monthly meeting of our clerical society in Maidstone’, he was present when the recipient’s ‘two letters to Dr. Maitland’ were presented, and is requested to convey the meeting’s gratitude, not only for the letters, but for his history of Rome, ‘received by them on a former occasion’.

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.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Large signature ‘Charles Eden’; addressed to ‘My dear Fanny’. Year and month added in pencil in another hand. He thanks her for her kind letter ‘and its enclosure from my dear, kind, old friend Mrs Quilter’. He will visit her later, but at present he has ‘several melancholy duties to attend to which prevent my leaving London’. He is also ‘wanted at the Admiralty next week - altho’!

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, and with a minor sooty smudge. Folded once for postage. The recipient is not named. Reads, in an atrocious hand, ‘Dear Sir / My typing work is all being done here, and I cannot take it away from my typist. / I enclose cheque (£3) towards a new typing machine. / Faithfully yours / A Lang’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is a valediction cut from a letter, clearly provided for an autograph hunter. On small rectangle of paper. Neatly written and in good condition. Reads: ‘A Austen Leigh / Provost of King’s / College, Cambridge / July 13, 1890’. Text on reverse (part of testimonial) reads: ‘[...] degree in 1889, being placed in the first division of the Second class of the Classical Tripos. He has always borne a high character; and his abilities, morals & manners [...]’.

All three items in good condition, lightly aged, with the book in worn and spotted binding. ONE: Letter from Hassall to 'Professor Huxley', in the hand of 'an amanuensis' and signed by him. 3pp., 12mo. Tipped-in onto the half-title of Item Three below. He begins by explaining that he has 'directed Messrs. Longmans' to forward a copy of his book (which he describes as 'a brochure') to Huxley.

According to the Daily Telegraph, 2 November 2006 (see the end of this description), Lady Margaret Sackville was 'a poet who mixed with writers such as W B Yeats and Wilfred Scawen Blunt, was a friend of Lady Ottoline Morrell, a leading member of the Bloomsbury Set'. 167pp., 4to. Each page on the recto of a separate leaf, the whole bound with green thread through punch holes in margins. The first page worn and with label (of literary agent?) removed from head, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged and worn.

Elizabeth Bury, illustrator and theatre designer, wife of and collaborator with John Bury (1925-2000), British theatre designer noted for his innovative work with Peter Hall, the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre (see his obituary in the Guardian, 15 November 2000). Two ring-bound 8vo Christmas keepsake private printings, both filled with full-page illustrations by Bury. Both inscribed by her to the playwright Christopher Fry. Both in good condition, with light signs of age. Uniform in layout, both with coloured covers of striking design.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded for postage. Signed ‘T. B. Smithies’ and addressed to ‘W. Allan Esq / 17 South Grove East’. The subject is Smithies’s monthly ‘improving paper’, the ‘British Workman, and Friend of the Sons of Toil’, which he had launched in 1855, and which Allan is clearly offering to distribute gratis.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Rectangle of paper, evidently cut from a letter for an autograph hunter. Reads: ‘Yours truly / Tom Hood’. See image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Signed ‘W Harrison Ainsworth’. Signed ‘W Harrison Ainsworth’ and reads: ‘Dear Mrs Barlow / My Daughters return on the 30th. May[.] I therefore hope to have the pleasure of seeing you and Mr. Barlow at Dinner at a quarter after 9 o’clock on Saturday, 30th?’ See image.

1p, 16. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium of grey paper, with simple drawing in the same ink as the text of a straight plain walking stick stuck in the ground and running up the left-hand margin, with the handle hooked to the right at the top with the dating to its right. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ‘le 25 Decembre 89.

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.

The third of these letters in particular gives a good indication of his Yorkshire bluntness (his entry in the Oxford DNB describes him as ‘a man of arrogance and bile, [...] capable of generosity, strong friendships, and kindness towards people in need of help’). The three items are in good condition, lightly aged; the third with slight wear along one edge. All three are signed ‘E B Denison’ and the second and third are addressed to ‘My dear Plumptre’. ONE (14 January 1856): 3pp, 4to.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is not in the best of condition: it is aged and creased (including dog-eared corner on which the signature ‘Camden’ is written), with contemporary repair to two long tears by the laying down on the blank reverse of strips from a contemporary manuscript. Docketed on the otherwise blank second leaf: ‘25th July 1824 / Marquis Camden’.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with negligible remains of windowpane mount adhering at edges of reverse of second leaf. Folded for postage. The item - an immediate artifact with the feel of history in the making - is unsigned and headed ‘Confidential’.

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 his entry, and that of his sister, in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Fifty-eight lines of text. Signed ‘James Martineau.’ On biofolium. In good condition, lightly aged and folded twice for postage. A very good letter, filled with matter. He begins by conceding that there is ‘ground for displeasure of some of my fellow-believers’ in his ‘paper in the “Christian Reformer”: ‘that the description it gives of the Unitarian modes of thought does not invariably fit to the more recent phases of feeling & conception’.