MANUSCRIPT

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. Addressed on blank reverse of second leaf to 'Captain Maconochie'. In good condition, lightly aged. Begins: 'My dear Maconochie | I have not yet done packing - Have they sent the Books &c from the Ad[miralt]y.?' He next refers to 'the Almanack for 34', and his plans for the following day's 'Journey' [to Arctic - see NOte below]. From 1830 Maconochie was the first secretary of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1833 he became the first professor of Geography at the University College London.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with small spot of discoloration. He explains that he is 'requested by a particular friend' to solicit the interest of the recipient 'in favor of the poor girl mentioned in the accompanying note, who was an unsuccessful Candidate at the last Election'. He knows that 'the applications in such cases are extremely numerous', but hopes that the recipient 'can give Maria Jones your vote on the ensuing occasion'.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. The male recipient is not named. The year has been added in another hand at the head of the first page. She will be 'pleased to speak at your proposed meeting if possible'. She a question regarding the timing of the meeting, which would have to be in 'the week beginning Jan. 29 to suit me'. She gives a number of dates and times when she has 'engagements in London', concluding: 'If you can fix the meeting so as to make it possible for me to keep these engagements I will come'.

ONE: ALS from Dark to Brooks. The handwriting is quite atrocious, and the present transcription is at points tentative. Dark begins by recalling that at 'the delightful & very alcoholic Savage lunch' (i.e. lunch at the Savage Club), Brooks 'suggested that I should write an article for Truth. Perhaps because of the super-abundant alcoholic I have clean forgotten what the article was to he about. If you haven't & still want it, I might be able to write it.' The penultimate sentence is, to this cataloguer at least, indecipherable, apart from the words 'of course in a public sense'.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Brooks may make whatever use he wishes of Templewood's speech. He agrees generally with 'Selby as to F[oreign]. O[ffice]. reorganisation', but is at present 'conentrating my attention to the points I raised in my speech. Whether we like it or not, we must now assume that public opinion will control our foreign policy. This being so, public opinion must be better instructed than it is at present.'

For information on Graves see his generous obituary in The Times, 18 April 1944. Both items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with minor staining from paperclip to first leaf of letter. The work was not published, and although Graves states in Item One that the greater part of the text is 'in the hands of my typist', there is no record of its survival, or of the thousand related documents he states were sent to him by M. H. Spielmann. ONE: ALS from 'C L. G.' to 'Dear Evoe'. 4pp., landscape 8vo.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of stub to inner margin. Reads: 'Captain Basil Hall R.N. presents his Compliments to Mr Dinwiddie, & if he can spare him a Ticket for the Caledonian Church on Sunday next the 4th. July, Captn. Hall will feel particularly obliged to Mr Dinwiddie. | 14 Conduit Street | Wednesday | Captn. Hall will be well contented with a Standing Ticket, should there be the slightest difficulty about another.'

Clearly given in response to a request for an autograph. On one side of a 7 x 11 cm piece of paper. In good condition. In a good firm hand, reading: 'Dio e Patria | Alessandro Gavazzi | 1863'.

4pp., foolscap 8vo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Headed with the date of the sale 'December 4th 1835'. At end: 'The State of Alabama | Wilcox County | Came into open Court Green A. Fisher one of the Executors of the last will & testament of William Fisher decd. who being duly sworn deposeth & saith that the forgoing is a correct account of the sales of said decedents Estate so far as the same have come to his hands | Sworn to & Subscribed in Open Court this 21st Decr. 1835'. Received, with illegible signature, on same date.

Denman was noted for his eccentricities. From 1884 he sat as a crossbencher, and introduced a number of bills on women's suffrage, none of which gained a second reading. 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. The first page heavily-spotted, and with the cross-written signature over-written, probably by a child; otherwise lightly-aged and worn.

In addition to his achievements, Young is remembered for holding a dinner party in 1877, at which the Prince of Wales arranged to sit next to Lillie Langtry while her husband was discreetly seated elsewhere, thus beginning their affair. 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and ruckled, with two small pinholes at head of first leaf, and traced of mount on blank reverse of second leaf. The letter begins: 'I have just got note from Mrs Langtry saying that she will have to go out of Town tomorrow morning and asking me to write to you to tell you'.

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with small pin hole to corner. The letter relates to celebrations of the anniversary of the Glorious First of June at Portsmouth (involving HMS Victory). He begins by expressing the hope that Wyllie has 'asked Lord Howe for the Function on June 1st? […] If not I have asked the Com[mande]r. in Chief to peform the Function, which he is agreeable to do.' It is 'desirable to know', as 'time is short', and 'The C in C wishes to ask him to lunch.

1p., 12mo. In envelope addressed to Giles at Moulsecoombe, Brighton. In good condition, lightly aged. He has looked for Giles's letter 'but cannot – yet – find it. Sorry. I vaguely remember it.' He will find Giles '2 tickets for a Dress Rehearsal if you will let me know which one.' Options of six operas, on six different days are listed, including Figaro and Giovanni.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, wtih light paperclip damage at one corner. The recipient is not named, but the item is from the Wyllie papers. Reads: 'I have been in Herefordshire working for Captain Clive the Conservative candidate - I daresay you may have seen we got him in. | Yours very truly | Day H. Bosanquet'. Percy Archer Clive (1873-1918) was member of parliament for Ross, Herefordshire, 1900-1906 and 1908-1918.

ONE: Manuscript pedigree. On one side of a 49 x 38 cm piece of thick laid paper, with no watermark. Folded three times. Discoloured and with light damp staining. The greater part of the pedigree is written in ink in a loose hand, and traces the descent of Sir Thomas Lawrence's mother Lucy (née Read) to William the Conqueror.

On 5 x 10 cm slip of paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Yours faithfully | George du Maurier'. The first line lightly inked, the signature itself bold and strong. Nothing else on the card, except for the number '92' in a contemporary hand at top left above the signature.

2pp., foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Addressed to 'Dear Mr. Wyllie'. Writing following a visit to the School by Wyllie (who from the context appears to have been doing war work to assist Otter-Barry), Otter-Barry begins by stating that he will be sending him a sketch, adding: 'I was sorry to see so little of you on the day you came over, but I was pretty well occupied & taxed with all these infernal staff people about.

Vertès won two Oscars for his work on John Huston's 1952 biography of Toulouse-Lautrec, 'Moulin Rouge': Best Art Direction (with Paul Sheriff) and Best Costume Design. The second of the present two items is an article Ede had invited Vertès to write on his role in the film; the first is the covering letter with which it was sent. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed to 'Cher M. Ede'. 4 January 1954. 2pp., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. He is enclosing 'le petit texte', which he hopes will be to Ede's taste.

Four good letters, in which the author's love for his wife and grief at her death are apparent. Littleton Powys was the second-eldest of eleven, his siblings including writers John Cowper Powys, T. F. Powys and Llewelyn Powys, architect A. R. Powys, artist Gertrude Powys, lacemaker Marian Powys, and poet and novelist Philippa Powys. His autobiography 'The Joy of it' was published in 1937, with the sequel 'Still the Joy of it' appearing in 1956. The four letters are in good condition, lightly aged. They total 12pp., 12mo.

4.5 x 18.5 cm slip of paper. In fair condition, aged and laid down on piece of card. Four lines from the conclusion of a letter. Reads: '[…] Things here are going on as usual, – and all our Friends are well. – Tucker will write to you soon himself about your Visit to Malling, - which I yet hope will be accomplished. I hope your next Letter will contain some Account of the State of the Inhabitants of Fled:, and when you expect your Uncle Home – Adieu & believe me ever your | very sincerely attached & affectionate Friend. | T. Arnold.'

1p., 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed by Clater on verso of second leaf to 'T. W. Winstanley | Royal Manchester | Institution'. Opens: 'Dear Sir | I beg leave to forward to your Exhibition two pictures'. 'No 1', which Winstanley has given the catalogue number 294 is 'May day', priced at 100 guineas, for which Clater provides a six-line poetic quotation. 'No 2' (catalogue number 135) is 'The Village Post Office', priced at 30 guineas.

In the 1940s Guest wrote the lyrics to several songs by the American composer Manning Sherwin (1902-1974), several of them for his comedy 'I'll be your Sweetheart' (1945), but he is not known to have written any music himself. No record has been found of the present item, but it presumably dates from the same period. It is 4pp., 4to. On bifolium of printed music paper. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with central vertical fold. The title is on the cover: '”Swell” | Lyrics and music by | Val Guest'. There is an illegible name lightly written at top right in another hand.

On one side of 10.5 x 14.5 cm grey-blue card. In very good condition. Inscription in blue ink, beneath the letterhead (which includes email address and phone number): 'This is for the Autograph Auction next March. | Good luck, | Nina Bawden'.

Both letters are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. 'Mrs. Chepmell' was the wife of Edward Charles Chepmell (1820-1885), society homeopathist. Mrs. Borrer' was the wife of Cary Hampton Borrer (1838-1918) of Hurstpierpoint. ONE: To 'Dear Mrs. Chepmell', 7 February 1904. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Begins: 'I find that Mr. Cranage the Cambridge secretary [Rev. David Herbert Somerset Cranage (1866-1957)] is coming down to Hurstpierpoint on Thursday & is going to lunch with Mrs.

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with punch holes at margin. MacEntee begins his letter to Hickey: 'In the tribute which “The Statist” pays to the late Hilaire Belloc a reference is made to his essay on usury. I read this some time ago but cannot recall the title of the volume in which it appeared. I should be grateful, indeed, if you would be kind enough to make good the lacuna by supplying the missing title.' He congratulates Hickey 'on the article itself'.

The four letters are in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Each 1p., 12mo. The first three letters are written to Brooks, as editor of 'Truth'; the fourth is a letter of condolence to Brooks's wife. In the first letter (14 April 1945) he apologises for the delay in sending in a review: 'I have been two months out of the country and nothing could be forwarded.' He adds: 'I wish I saw more of Charles Webster.

An attractive item, neatly written out by Gray on 1p., 4to. In good condition, with central horizontal fold. Headed 'From the St. Paul's Girls' School Song'. The eight transcribed lines begin: 'In Faith and Knowledge! May it prove | When here our work is done, | […]' Beneath the quotation Gray has written: 'With my love to Margery | Frances R. Gray | 3rd. April 1927'. In envelope with the address of the school printed at top left of cover, addressed at centre by Gray to 'Margery Clerk'.

An attractive item, neatly written out in black ink on one side of a 13 x 8.5 cm piece of shiny card, with printed decorative border of flowers in gold and blue. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with traces of mount adhering to reverse. As a joke, at the foot, in block capitals, the menu is attributed to 'Sala & Co | Refreshment Contractors', at Sala's address. An interesting artefact of the Victorian Christmas. The menu reads:'[fleuron] Menu. | CHRISTMAS DAY | 1881 | oysters on the half shell.

On 6 x 11.5 cm piece of paper, cut from the end of a document. In good condition, on aged paper, laid down on piece of grey paper cut from an album, with the words 'Marquis Seignelay.' in a nineteenth-century hand at the foot of the mount. Seignelay's signature is large and bold, above the following words in a neat secretarial hand: 'Vostre tres humble & tres aff.ne Seruiteur.'

Card with stamp and postmark. Of the two addresses in her letterhead, she has deleted the London one (105 Hallam Street, W1). In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed to 'Secretary to | E. V. Knot [sic] Eq. | Offices of “Punch”'. The card reads: 'Miss de Casalis hopes to broadcast Mr. Knot's “Reparation” at the end of her turn on Friday 27th 9.35 to 10.15 (Forces programme) & again on Sunday to Forces abroad.'