N.

[A.. N. L. Munby, Librarian of King’s College and historian of British book collecting.] Autograph Letter Signed to London bookseller Andrew Block, sending a collection of ‘Lyceum ballad-operas’ for his perusal.

Author: 
A. N. L. Munby [Alan Noel Latimer Munby] (1913-1974), Librarian of King’s College, bibliographical historian and book collector [Andrew Block, London bookseller]
Publication details: 
11 January 1954. On letterhead of King’s College Library, Cambridge.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘A N L Munby’ and addressed to ‘Dear Block’. Folded twice. He is sending ‘the volume of playbills, all Lyceum ballad-operas’, which he estimates comprises fifty-eight in total. ‘Send me along whatever they are worth to you.’

['The old friends leave us soon or late’: a poignant lyric by the author of ‘Danny Boy’, set to music within days of the composer’s death.] Signed Autograph Score by Frederic Nicholls Löhr, of his setting of ‘Friends’ by Frederic E. Weatherly.

Author: 
Frederic N. Löhr [Frederic Nicholls Löhr] (1844-1888), composer with Plymouth connections, father of Hermann Löhr; Frederic Edward Weatherly (1848–1929), songwriter and barrister
Publication details: 
Dated by Löhr to 20 November 1888. No place.
£150.00

Painfully appropriate words (‘The old friends leave us soon or late’), set to music within days of the composer’s death. Among Weatherly’s many lyrics are ‘Danny Boy’ and ‘Roses of Picardy’. See his obituary in the Oxford DNB, and Löhr’s three-page obituary, with portrait, in the Musical Herald, London, February 1889. Löhr was the father of the composer Hermann Löhr (1871-1943). 2pp, 4to, on the facing pages of a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with a couple of closed tears unobtrusively repaired with archival tape. At head of first (left-hand) page: ‘Friends.

[Indian Students' Department, East India Association, London.] Six yearly issues of the printed 'Report on the Work of the Indian Students' Department', variously by C. E. Mallet, N. C. Sen and Thomas Quayle, from between July 1912 and 31 March 1922.

Author: 
Indian Students' Department, East India Association, London (C. E. Mallet, N. C. Sen and Thomas Quayle) [Office of the High Commissioner for India]
Publication details: 
London: His Majesty's Stationery Office [the last published by the Office of the High Commissioner for India]. Six items: a run of four from July 1912/June 1913 to July 1915/June 1916; with: 1 April 1920/31 March 1921 and 1 April 1921/31 March 1922.
£450.00

From the papers held at the headquarters of the National Indian Association and the Northbrook Society, 21 Cromwell Road, London (referred to in the report for 1912/1913 as 'The House in Cromwell Road' and 'The London Bureau' and 'still to a large extent the headquarters of the Student's Department'; and in the report for 1914/1915 as 'Mr. Arnold's Bureau', referring to 'Mr. T. W. Arnold, C.I.E., the Educational Adviser in London'). For the context see F. H. Brown's article 'Indian Students in Great Britain' (with 'Discussion'), Asiatic Review, July 1925, quoting Sir Charles E.

[Indian Students' Department, East India Association, London.] Six yearly issues of the printed 'Report on the Work of the Indian Students' Department', variously by C. E. Mallet, N. C. Sen and Thomas Quayle, from between July 1912 and 31 March 1922.

Author: 
Indian Students' Department, East India Association, London (C. E. Mallet, N. C. Sen and Thomas Quayle) [Office of the High Commissioner for India]
Publication details: 
London: His Majesty's Stationery Office [the last published by the Office of the High Commissioner for India]. Six items: a run of four from July 1912/June 1913 to July 1915/June 1916; with: 1 April 1920/31 March 1921 and 1 April 1921/31 March 1922.
£450.00

From the papers held at the headquarters of the National Indian Association and the Northbrook Society, 21 Cromwell Road, London (referred to in the report for 1912/1913 as 'The House in Cromwell Road' and 'The London Bureau' and 'still to a large extent the headquarters of the Student's Department'; and in the report for 1914/1915 as 'Mr. Arnold's Bureau', referring to 'Mr. T. W. Arnold, C.I.E., the Educational Adviser in London'). For the context see F. H. Brown's article 'Indian Students in Great Britain' (with 'Discussion'), Asiatic Review, July 1925, quoting Sir Charles E.

[Robert Bridges, Poet Laureate.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Robert Bridges') to the Ulster poet R. N. D. Wilson, discussing the origins of the name of his home 'Chilswell', in the 'Childsworth Farm' of Matthew Arnold's poem 'Thyrsis'.

Author: 
Robert Bridges [Robert Seymour Bridges] (1844-1930), Poet Laureate [R. N. D. Wilson [Robert Noble Denison Wilson] (1899-1953), Ulster poet]
Publication details: 
Chilswell, Oxford; 29 March 1928.
£100.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and a little grubby. Folded once. Twenty-seven lines of text. Written in a far more ragged style than Bridges's usual calligraphic hand, perhaps suggesting undermined health. Wilson is 'at liberty to quote the verses of mine that you ask for – I take it as a complement [sic]' He thanks him for 'the kind gift of your book, wh I have not had time to read'. Noting that Wilson is 'interested in sacred wells', he states that 'our “Chilswell” is probably not a well.

[ Sir James N. Dick, Royal Navy Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('J N Dick') to 'Hart' [ Ernest Hart, editor of the British Medical Journal ], regarding the post of 'Admiralty Surgeon & Agent at Hull'.

Author: 
Sir James Nicholas Dick (1831-1920), Royal Navy Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets, and Honorary Surgeon to King Edward VII [ Ernest Abraham Hart (1835-1898), editor, British Medical Journal ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Medical Department of the Admiralty, Avenue House, Northumberland Avenue, W.C. [ London ] 18 October [ no year ].
£120.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn, with minor traces of stub adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf. Headed 'Private'. In reply to his letter he informs him that 'the post of Admiralty Surgeon & Agent at Hull has already been filled up by the appointment of Dr Roe who was formerly in the Navy'. He ends by informing him that he sent his nephew 'a permit to fish some little time ago'.

[ Norman Robertson, Canadian High Commissioner in London. ] Typed Letter Signed ('N A Robertson') to Sir Harry Lindsay, Chairman of the Council, Royal Society of Arts accepting an invitation to become a Fellow.

Author: 
Norman Robertson [ Norman Alexander Robertson; N. A. Robertson ] (1904-1968), Canadian diplomat, twice High Commissioner in London, one of Mackenzie King's advisers
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Office of the High Commissioner for Canada, Canada House, London. 22 December 1947.
£35.00

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Robertson's name in capitals in blue pencil at head. In response to the invitation he writes: 'I should be grateful if you would convey to the Council my thanks for the honour which they have done me in extending this invitation. It gives me great pleasure to accept, and I enclose herewith the application form which you were kind enough to forward.' Note in pencil in another hand at bottom right.

[ Louis Napoleon Parker, dramatist and composer. ] Five Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Louis N. Parker') to 'Mrs. Whitley' of the Pall Mall Gazette, regarding her interviews of him, one jokingly giving the opinion of 'Percy- the cat'.

Author: 
Louis N. Parker [ Louis Napoleon Parker ] (1852-1944), English dramatist and composer
Publication details: 
Four on letterhead of 75 Gunterstone Road, West Kensington, W. [ London ], and the fifth from the same address. Between 15 June 1898 and 4 October 1899.
£180.00

A total of 6pp. (5pp. in 12mo and 1p. in 4to). The five items in fair condition, with light signs of age and wear. In the first letter, 15 June 1898, he says he is posting 'the MS. (untouched: it is excellent) to Sir Douglas' (i.e. Whitley's editor, Sir Douglas Straight). The following day he informs her that 'the interview reads charmingly', and that 'everybody in the theatre is delighted with it', adding that he has 'just posted it to the Poet'.

Printed Victorian Christmas card with the poem 'Christmas Greeting' by 'S. K. Cowan M.A.' on one side, and a coloured chromolithographic illustration by J. N. Drummond on the other.

Author: 
'S. K. Cowan M.A.' [ Samuel Kennedy Cowan ]; J. N. Drummond
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [ England, 1880s? ]
£25.00

On a thick piece of shiny card, with rounded edges, 12.5 x 18cm. Aged, and with two dog eared corners and a 3cm closed tear (not affecting illustration). On one side is the chromolithographic illustration, with 'J. N. Drummond' in the bottom right-hand corner, showing an English rural landscape - more autumnal than winter - with river in the foreground and trees and viillage with church in the background.

[ Henry Noel Brailsford, journalist and socialist. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('H. N. Brailsford') to 'Dear Watson' [ Francis Leslie Watson ], fulsome in praise of his BBC Radio programme on Mahatma Gandhi.

Author: 
H. N. Brailsford [ Henry Noel Brailsford ] (1873-1958), journalist and socialist, foreign correspondent of the Manchester Guardian [ Francis Leslie Watson (1907-1988), biographer; Mahatma Gandhi ]
Publication details: 
Greylands, London Road, Amersham. 18 November 1956.
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. 33 lines of text in blue ink. In good condition, lightly-aged. He writes that his family have 'all been listening to your third broadcast on Gandhi with pleasure and admiration'. He cannot imagine 'a better treatment of the subject', and is 'lost in admiration for the skill with which you pieced all these fragments together, and wove out of them a thrilling and convincing narrative [...] The old charwoman at Bow was a delight, and how sympathetic & interesting was Lord Templewood! But there wasn't a "dud" among all your many contributors, both the Indians & the English.

[ Thomas Atholl Robertson, Scottish printer and publisher. ] Typed Letter Signed ('T. Atholl Robertson') to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, regarding the fitness of the industrial artist A. Rutledge Crouch for 'recognition by the R.S.A.'

Author: 
Thomas Atholl Robertson (1874-1955), Scottish fine art printer, publisher, and Liberal politician [ A. Rutledge Crouch, illustrator and industrial artist; the Royal Academy of Arts, London ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of W. N. Sharpe Ltd., Fine Art Publishers, Bradford. 4 March 1941.
£35.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. With Royal Society stamp of acknowledgement. Written on behalf of Crouch, who is 'desirious of securing recognition by the R.S.A.', and who has 'supplied us with many designs of high artistic merit or many years and has made a considerable contribution to theh success of our fine art productions.' He praises the 'originality of design and the high artistic merit of his work', and considers that 'his work for industrial art deserves the highest recognition', being 'easily recognizable' and in a 'style distinctly his own'.

[Printed periodical of the British Army in Persia.] Percoms Times. 1919.

Author: 
[British Army in Persia and Mesopotamia, 1919; Percoms; F. N. Stead; Charles Geoffrey Lloyd ('Babu Piche Lal')]
Publication details: 
Basrah [Mesopotamia, now Iraq]: Printed by the Superintendent, Governement Press. 1919.
£165.00

14pp., folio. Stapled. In brown wraps with attractive cover illustration of a blockage on a mountain pass by 'D. C. '. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight rust to staples and closed tears to back cover and last leaf. Editorial reads: 'Even had the guns been still roaring on all fronts, I do not think that any apology is needed for the predominantly light, and sometimes flippant, tone of this little number. It is not the habit of the man on the spot to take life too seriously - on its literary side at least.

[The Royal Army Medical Corps in the immediate aftermath of the First World War.] Long Typed Copy of letter from H. N. Stephens to his mother from the Sedan area of the Western Front, in the days following the signing of the armistice.

Author: 
H. N. Stephens (of the Royal Army Medical Corps?) [Harold N. Stephens; The First World War; The Armistice]
Publication details: 
15 November 1918.
£400.00

5pp., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with the last leaf tipped-in onto a piece of board. An interesting document, filled with valuable detail. The RAMC is not mentioned, but from the context Stephens would appear to have been a member. Writing from an unidentified location, he begins by explaining that his division 'came out of the line a few days ago, and has been making its way slowly back for a rest. [...] we are staying on here for a bit, and are busy transporting civilians to their homes from villages all over the countryside.

[Printed pamphlet.] Education of the Indian. By William N. Hailmann, Superintendent of Schools, Dayton, Ohio. [No. 19 in series 'Monographs on Education in the United States', ed. Nicholas Murray Butler]

Author: 
William N. Hailmann, Superintendent of Schools, Dayton, Ohio [Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University in the City of New York, ed.]
Publication details: 
Division of Exhibits, Department of Education, Universal Exposition, St. Louis, 1904. ['This Monograph is printed for limited distribution by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company.']
£150.00

36pp., small 4to. Includes eight full-page tables, pp.28-36. Stapled. In grey printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn wraps, with slight damage at fore-edge of last leaf. Stamps, shelfmark and label of the Board of Education Reference Library and the British Education Committee, Royal Commission, St. Louis Exhibition, 1904. In his preface Hailmann sees the 'attempts to colonize America' as a 'struggle set between brutal greed and a certain irrepressible spirit of fair play on the part of the intruding race in their intercourse with the Indians'.

[Sir Michael Clapham, while proprietor of the Cloanthus Press, Cambridge.] Scrapbook of Sir Michael's wife Elisabeth, containing forty examples of items either printed by him, or with woodcuts by his sister Christiana, or a combination of both.

Author: 
Sir Michael Clapham (1912-2002), printer and industrialist; his sister Christiana Muriel Clapham (d.1967), engraver; children of Sir John Harold Clapham (1873-1946) [Cloanthus Press, Cambridge]
Publication details: 
Items dating from between 1932 and 1937; many from the Clapham family home, Storey's End, Cambridge.
£850.00

The 40 items range in size from 25 x 19cm to 5 x 4.5cm. All in good condition, lightly-aged, and all but five laid down on the grey paper leaves of a heavily-worn album, with back cover loose, and with ownership signature of Sir Michael's wife Elisabeth Clapham at head of first page. The couple married in 1935, and one of the 40 items is a card with text in red featuring Elisabeth's maiden name. It conveys 'Good wishes for Christmas & the New Year from Elisabeth Rea | 6 Barton Street, S.W.1'.

[Hilary Nicholas Nissen.] Duplicated typescript address to the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, titled 'Brief Remarks on the Punishment of Death by H. N. Nissen - Sherriff of London 1864.'

Author: 
H. N. Nissen [Hilary Nicholas Nissen (b.c.1813) of 13 Mark Lane, stationer], Sheriff of the City of London, 1863 and 1864 [G. H. Palmer; National Association for the Promotion of Social Science]
Publication details: 
'H. N. Nissen | Sheriff. | 20th Sept. 1864.' [Reformatory Section, National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, York.]
£180.00

An abridged abstract of this item, by 'Mr. Tallack', appeared in the Social Science Review, N.S. Vol.2 (July-December 1864), pp.421-422, but the present full version of the address, as delivered, is unpublished. 3pp., foolscap 8vo. On three leaves of laid Britannia paper by Conqueror of London. Held together with a brass stud, and with the last leaf laid down on a page removed from an album. With a few manuscript corrections. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. The address is written in a vivid but not entirely coherent style, and begins: 'I have been invited by the Secretary, G. H.

Autograph ('M. Halstead') of the noted American war correspondent Murat Halstead, at foot of letter to him from autograph-hunter John N. Cobb, with another signature on his calling card. With engraved portrait of Halstead by Arthur Jule Goodman.

Author: 
Murat Halstead (1829-1908), American newspaper editor and author, war correspondent in the American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War and the Spanish-American War [Arthur Jule Goodman]
Publication details: 
Cobb's letter dated from Philadelphia, 7 June 1893.
£75.00

Cobb's letter is 1p., 4to, typed in green. He states that he is 'collecting the autographs of prominent American editors' and that he would like to add Halstead's, as 'it will not be complete without yours'. At the foot of the letter Halstead has written, in a sprawling hand, with smudged signature, 'Perhaps the will serve. | M. Halstead'. Pinned to the letter is the calling card of 'Mr. Murat Halstead.', with his signature 'M. Halstead' (again slightly smudged) beneath the name. Both items are lightly-aged, but good.

French nineteenth-century handbill poem by 'L. N.' on the game of whist, titled 'Le Whist.'

Author: 
'L. N.' [French nineteenth-century handbill poem on the game of whist]
Handbill poem by 'L. N.' on the game of whist
Publication details: 
Date of publication and name of printer not stated [1840s Paris?].
£350.00
Handbill poem by 'L. N.' on the game of whist

2 pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium of wove paper. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Signed 'L. N.' in type at end. A 114-line poem, in rhyming alexandrine couplets, beginning 'Messieurs, au jeu du whist adoptez constamment | L'air grave britannique et le flegme allemand.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Arthur Phillips') to W. N. de Mattos.

Author: 
John Arthur Phillips (1822-1887), mining engineer and metallurgist [Lyon Playfair, Baron Playfair (1818-1898), chemist]
Publication details: 
25 January 1853; on letterhead of 8 Upper Stamford Street, Blackfriars.
£75.00

12mo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper with some creasing and a short closed tear at foot. He sent his report (on 'Wurlich's patent ') to Dr Playfair on 15 December of the previous year. 'With him therefore is all the delay.' Docketed by de Mattos on reverse, including 'Read at Board on 27th Jany 1853'.

Typed Letter Signed ('G. N. S. Hunt') to Mrs Steward of Beckenham, Kent.

Author: 
G. N. S. Hunt [Geoffrey Hunt] [Oxford University Press; Geoffrey Cumberlege; Amen Corner; Christ Church, Newgate Street]
Publication details: 
2 December 1955; on Oxford University Press letterhead (Amen House, London).
£28.00

4to: 1 page. Twenty-one lines of text. Good, on creased and lightly-aged paper. An impressively-considered letter, declining Mrs Steward's manuscript 'I had rather be a Doorkeeper'. 'As you point out, Christ Church, Newgate Street, is a near neighbour of Amen House, and its ruins are a pathetic sight.

Spoof notice by 'T. N. Mitchell, Benson, Henley', regarding the death of an 82-year-old 'Wireless Dealer' who is said to have left a fortune of £50,000', with signed inscription by Mitchell on reverse.

Author: 
T. N. Mitchell of Benson, Oxford [Blows, printer, Henley; spoof; hoax]
Publication details: 
Dated by Mitchell in manuscript 'Xmas 1930'. Printed by 'BLOWS, HENLEY'.
£80.00

On a piece of brown card roughly 250 x 200 mm. Designed to be hung from two punch holes at head. Worn and aged, but with text (printed in red and black within a decorative border) clear and entire. A clever and amusing spoof, deliberately old-fashioned typographically in a parody of 'improving' texts. Reads '£50,000 | A Wireless Dealer aged 82, died - He left £50,000; thanks to long hours, close attention to business, strict economy, and - a bequest of £49,650 from an Uncle in Australia | T. N. MITCHELL | Benson, Oxford.' Inscribed on the reverse 'Xmas. 1930.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. N. B.') to 'My Dear N. M.'

Author: 
H. N. Brailsford [Henry Noel Brailsford] (1873-1958), English radical journalist and author [Independent Labour Party; Sir Muirhead Bone; Archibald Hamilton Charteris]
Publication details: 
Friday'; date and place not stated [circa 1919?].
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good. A long, interesting gossipy letter. He is a 'poor weak devil' whose 'confounded laziness' has prevented him from writing. He has 'been to Thomlinson', and all copies of 'No. 14' are sold out, 'so there's a feather in your cap, my man'. Mention of 'Charteris', 'Ball & Boyd Scott'. 'I'm damned if I know where my lecture notes are - I've just hunted all over my room. I think they must be in Newcastle, or is it not possible that I lent them to you?' Discusses his 'articles in the Record'.

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