NINETEENTH

[Sir Frederick Maurice, army officer and military theoretician.] Autograph Letter Signed to Col. H. L. Oldham, regarding a letter by Sir John Moore, and personal matters.

Author: 
Sir Frederick Maurice [Sir John Frederick Maurice] (1841-1912), army officer and military theoretician and historian [Colonel Frederick Hugh Langston Oldham Overley Hall, Shropshire].
Publication details: 
[Circa 1904?] Bowden, Two Mile Ash, Horsham.
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item was probably written around the time of his 1904 edition of the diary of Sir John Moore. 3pp, 12mo Thirty-three lines of text on bifolium of grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. Annotated in red ink at head of first page: ‘Sir Frederick Maurice on Sir John Moore (HLO had sent him a copy of a letter of Sir J. Moore, fr. among the family Autographs.)' Addressed to ‘Oldham’ and signed ‘F. Maurice’.

[‘I abominate woman in politics’: Sir George Birdwood, Indian administrator and naturalist.] Autograph Letter Signed to [Fagan?], regarding his foundation of Primrose Day, dislike of the Primrose League, and political predictions.]

Author: 
Sir George Birdwood [Sir George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood] (1832-1917), British administrator in India, naturalist and author [The Primrose League]
Publication details: 
23 October 1906; 119 The Avenue, West Ealing [London].
£90.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 11pp, 12mo, with three of the pages written lengthwise. On three bifoliums. In good condition, folded once. The hurried loose handwriting of this long letter presents a considerable challenge: even the signature (‘Geo Birdwood.’? ‘Gen Birdwood.’?) and the name of the recipient (‘Fagan’?) are doubtful. The letter begins with a reference to the ‘extract from Lady Dorothy Nevills - Reminiscences - given in the cutting from the Globe of yesterday enclosed in your kind note of today’.

[Lord John Russell and banking in the colonies, 1840.] Colonial Office manuscript circular dispatch by Russell, with printed set of ‘Regulations and Conditions’ regarding ‘Banking Companies’, for governors, legislative bodies and local authorities.

Author: 
Lord John Russell as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1840 [Colonial Office, Whitehall; banking regulations]
Publication details: 
ONE: Manuscript circular dispatch, dated from Downing Street, 4 May 1840. TWO: Printed ‘Regulations and conditions’ [1840]. Slug: ‘LONDON: / PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, 14, CHARING CROSS, / For Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.’
£120.00

The printed item is excessively scarce: no copy on OCLC WorldCat or JISC. Transcriptions of both items are to be found in The Journal of the Legislative Council of the Province of New Brunswick, 20 January to 26 March, pp.26-28. The two items are in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript. ONE: Manuscript ‘Circular’ headed ‘Banking Companies’ and dated from Downing Street, 4 May 1840. 1p, 8vo. Paginated in manuscript 15. On W. Horsington paper with watermark date 1839.

[Lord John Russell on the General Assembly of the Leeward Islands, 1840, 1841.] Two printed Colonial Office documents: copy of letter to him by J. Campbell and T. Wilde, ‘Her Majesty’s Attorney and Solicitor General’, and covering circular dispatch.

Author: 
Lord John Russell as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1841 [General Assembly of the Leeward Islands; John Campbell (Lord Campbell), Attorney General; Thomas Wilde (Lord Truro), Solicitor General]
Publication details: 
ONE: Letter of Campbell and Wilde from Temple [London], 9 December 1840. TWO: Campbell’s covering dispatch from Downing Street [London], 15 April 1841.
£120.00

Both items scarce: no other copy of either traced. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript. In good condition, lightly aged. ONE: ‘Copy’ of letter to ‘The Right Honorable Lord John Russell’, signed in type ‘J. CAMPBELL, / T. WILDE.’ 2pp, 8vo. Paginated in manuscript 27-28. Printed in copperplate font. Begins: ‘My Lord, / We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Vernon Smith’s letter of the 3d inst.

[Marshall Hall Higginbottom, Nottingham surgeon, nephew of eminent neurophysiologist Marshall Hall.] Autograph Letter Signed [to Rev. Samuel Walker], recommending the ear-surgeon Joseph Toynbee.

Author: 
Marshall Hall Higginbottom (1822-1895), Nottingham surgeon, nephew of Marshall Hall, eminent physician and neurophysiologist, vivisectionist and abolitionist [Rev. Samuel Walker; Joseph Toynbee]
Publication details: 
7 April 1856. Nottingham.
£45.00

A nice item, casting light on the practice of the provincial medical profession in Victorian England. See Higginbottom’s obituary in the British Medical Journal, 16 March 1895. There are a number of references to Higginbottom in the memoir of 1861 memoir of Marshall Hall (1790-1857) by his widow. For information about Hall, who died the following year, see his entry in the Oxford DNB, together with that of the otologist Joseph Toynbee (1815-1866). The item is from the papers of Rev. Samuel Walker, successively of Nottingham and Liverpool.

[Lord Grey and ‘unsteady habits’ of immigrants to Mauritius (and West Indies), 1846.] Three printed items: Colonial Office circular dispatch; copy of dispatch to Governor of Mauritius; ‘Heads of an Ordinance for Promoting Immigration’ to Mauritius.

Author: 
Lord Grey [Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey] as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1846 [Colonial Office, Whitehall; Sir W. M. Gomm, Governor of Mauritius; West Indies]
Publication details: 
ONE: Printed circular dispatch, Downing Street, 23 October 1846. TWO: Grey’s Dispatch No. 38, Downing Street, 29 September 1846. THREE: ‘Heads of an Ordinance’ [London, 1846].
£120.00

All three items are scarce, with no copies on OCLC WorldCat or COPAC. Both in good condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript. ONE: Printed ‘Circular’, headed in manuscript ‘Immiration / W. Indies & Mauritius’, and dated from Downing Street, 23 October 1846. Paginated in manuscript 93. At foot of page (not in Grey’s hand): ‘/sd/ Grey’.

[Lord Grey and the ‘Publication of Colonial Papers’, 1849.] Private Circular Dispatch to Colonial Governors, discussing the question.

Author: 
Lord Grey [Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey] as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1849 [publication of colonial papers]
Publication details: 
Dated from Downing Street, 15 June 1849.
£75.00

An interesting indication of the Victorian approach to transparency in government. A scarce item: no other copy traced. Dispatch with ‘Circular. / Private.’ in the margin. Headed in manuscript ‘Publication of Colonial Papers. / (Parliamentary Papers)’. At end in manuscript (not Grey’s handwriting): ‘/sd/ Gray’. In good condition, lightly aged. 4pp, 8vo. Disbound from volume, and paginated in manuscript 175-178. Printed in copperplate font.

[Lord Grey and immigration to British West India Colonies, 1850.] Two printed Colonial Office circular dispatches: on ‘Coloured Emigrants from United States’, and ‘Immigration’ of ‘Coolies’, ‘Kroomen’ and Africans taken from captured Slavers’.

Author: 
Lord Grey [Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey] as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1850 [Colonial Office; slavery; the United States]
Publication details: 
ONE: ‘Coloured Emigrants from United States’, Downing Street, 16 October 1850. TWO: ‘Immigration’, Downing Street, 30 October 1850.
£150.00

Two interesting items from the period leading up to the American Civil War. Both items are scarce: no other copy of either traced. In good condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript.Both printed in copperplate font. ONE: Printed ‘Circular’ dated from Downing Street, 16 October 1850. Headed in manuscript ‘Colonial Emigrants from United States’. In manuscript at end (not in Grey’s hand) ‘/sd/ Grey’. 2pp, 8vo. Paginated in manuscript 239-240.

[Lord Grey and colonial postal arrangements, 1850.] Two printed Colonial Office documents: a copy of a letter from W. L. Maberly of the General Post Office to H. Merivale of the Colonial Office; and a covering circular dispatch on ‘Book Posts’.

Author: 
Lord Grey [Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey] as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1850 [W. L. Maberly of the General Post Office; Herman Merivale; Royal Mail; book post]
Publication details: 
ONE: W. L. Maberly to H. Merivale; dated from General Post Office, 14 December 1850. TWO: Headed ‘Book Posts’; dated from Downing Street, 27 December 1850.
£80.00

Both items scarce: no other copies traced. In good condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript. ONE: Copy of letter from W. L. Maberly to ‘H. Merivale, Esq., / &c. &c. &c. / Colonial Office’, dated from General Post Office, 14 December 1850. 2pp, 8vo. Paginated in manuscript 257-258.

[Lord Derby [as Lord Stanley] and crime on the high seas, 1842.] Printed Colonial Office circular dispatch laying out the Government’s conclusions on the question of ‘acts done in the High Seas’.

Author: 
Lord Derby [Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby] as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1842 [Colonial Office; maritime law; piracy]
Publication details: 
Dated from Downing Street [London], 16 December 1842.
£90.00

Scarce: no other copy traced. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript 37. Printed ‘Circular’ dated from Downing Street, 16 December 1842. Headed in manuscript ‘Crime in the high Seas’. At bottom, in manuscript (not Stanley’s hand): ‘/sd/ Stanley’. Twenty-nine lines in copperplate font.

[Lord Derby [as Lord Stanley] and emigration from West Africa to West Indies, 1843.] Two printed Colonial Office items: Circular dispatch on ‘Emigration from the W. Coast of Africa’ and ‘A circular to all the West India Colonies’ on ‘Emigration’.

Author: 
Lord Derby [Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby] as Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1843 [Colonial Office; immigration to West Indies; West Africa; African emigration]
Publication details: 
ONE: ‘Emigration from the W. Coast of Africa.’ Downing Street, 25 February 1843. TWO: ‘A circular to all the West India Colonies.’ Downing Street, 25 February 1843. Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street, for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
£120.00

Important items, reflecting the state of affairs regarding movement of West Africans to the British West India colonies in the period immediately following the abolition of slavery. Both items excessively scarce: no copies traced on either OCLC WorldCat or COPAC. In good condition, lightly aged. The two items disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript. ONE: Printed ‘Circular’ dated ‘Downing Street, / 25th. February 1843.’ Lithographic reproduction of manuscript text, headed in real manuscript ‘Emigration from the W. Coast of Africa’.

[Lord Cross [Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross], Conservative politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr de Winton’, regarding the reduction of the ‘York House’.

Author: 
Lord Cross [Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross] (1823-1914), Conservative politician, Home Secretary under Disraeli and Lord Salisbury
Publication details: 
2 October 1904; on letterhead of Eccle Riggs, Broughton in Furness.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Fifteen lines. In good condition. Folded once. Address to ‘Mr. de Winton’ and signed ‘Cross’. He finds that de Winton’s ‘last letter certainly makes a very considerable difference’, but ‘the obvious answer’ to his mind is, as de Winton only proposes ‘to reduce the York House from 112 to 110, it is hardly worth stirring up the waters at all. And especially so, as the population is increasing so rapidly that the next Census will probably alter the whole state of things.’

[Lieut-Col. John Stuart Bligh, 6th Earl Darnley, amateur cricketer.] Autograph Note Signed, giving ‘Mr. F. York’ permission to ‘take some photographic views’ of Cobham Hall, Gravesend. With stamped envelope, addressed in Autograph.

Author: 
Lieut-Col. John Stuart Bligh, 6th Earl of Darnley [formerly Lord Clifton] (1827-1896), amateur cricketer, father of the England captain Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley [F. York, London photographer]
Publication details: 
5 September 1868. On embossed letterhead of Cobham Hall, Gravesend.
£50.00

See his son Ivo Bligh’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Sir: / You are welcome to take some photographic views of this place: - you will please to ask to see the Houseeeper when you come. / I remain / Yours faithy / Darnley’. In worn envelope, self-stamped with pink penny stamp and two postmarks, one from Gravesend. Addressed in Autograph by Darnley to ‘Mr. F. York / Alfred Villa / Lancaster Road / Notting Hill London W.’

[Sir John Robert Seeley, Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge.] Autograph Letter Signed, declining to write ‘the article Colonies’ for ‘the Encylopaedia of Messrs Chambers’, as too little time is allowed for its writing.

Author: 
J. R. Seeley [Sir John Robert Seeley] (1834-1895), Liberal historian and essayist, Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge [Messrs Chambers & Co, publishers]
Publication details: 
26 April [no year]. On letterhead of 7 St Peter’s Terrace, Cambridge.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Nine lines. In good condition, on lightly aged grey paper. Folded once. Addressed to ‘Dear Sir’, and signed ‘J R Seeley’. He states that ‘it will be quite impossible for me to undertake the article Colonies for the Encyclopaedia of Messrs Chambers, as the time you allow for the preparation of it is altogether too short’.

[George Colman the Younger, playwright and theatre manager.] Autograph Signature with date and address for autograph collector.

Author: 
George Colman the Younger (1762-1836), playwright and theatre-manager at the Haymarket, London
Colman
Publication details: 
21 July 1828; Brompton Square [London].
£25.00
Colman

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.’

[‘The Darling of the Halls’: George Robey [Sir George Edward Wade], comedian, singer and music-hall performer.] Autograph Inscription, with Signature, to an Autograph Portrait Cartoon, as a red-nosed clown. With Autograph Signature of Lily Morris.

Author: 
George Robey [Sir George Edward Wade] (1869-1954), ‘The Darling of the Halls’, comedian, singer and music hall performer [Lily Morris [Lilles Mary Crosby] (1882-1952), music hall artiste]
Robey
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£32.00
Robey

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.

[Herbert Edward Ryle, as Bishop of Winchester.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Herbert. E. Winton:’) to ‘Mr. de Winton’, praising his ‘investigation’, which will ‘avert the indignation of the Northerners’.

Author: 
Herbert Edward Ryle (1856-1925), successively Dean of Westminster, Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Winchester; biblical scholar
Publication details: 
30 September 1905. On letterhead of Farnham Castle, Surrey.
£28.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and with slight creasing to one edge. Folded once. In his view de Winton’s ‘investigation will certainly successfully appease Lord Cross, & avert the indignation of the Northerners. It certainly most satisfactorily justifies your suggestion.’ He ends in the hope that ‘we are now fairly well advanced towards the completion of our Scheme.’

[Dame Ellen Terry.] Autograph Note Signed (‘Ellen Terry:’), announcing that she has ‘found it!’

Author: 
Ellen Terry [Dame Alice Ellen Terry] (1847-1928), leading English actress of the late-Victorian and Edwardian periods
Publication details: 
7 December 1897; on letterhead of the Grand Hotel, Manchester.
£32.00

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:’.

[Duke of Montrose [James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose], Scottish nobleman and Tory politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to Robert Saunders Dundas (the future Viscount Melville), regarding the amending of a ‘very insufficient’ act of parliament.

Author: 
Duke of Montrose [James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose; until 1790 Marquis of Graham] (1755-1836), Scottish nobleman and Tory politician [Robert Saunders Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville (1771-1851)]
Publication details: 
5 January 1809; Grosvenor Square [London].
£65.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly-aged, with small triangle cut away from letter in opening red wax seal, of which minor traces remain. Folded and addressed in the customary manner. Franked to ‘Right Honble / Robert S: Dundas &c &c &c / Downing Street / Montrose’, sent from ‘Grosvr: Sq: 5th Jan 1809’ and signed ‘Montrose’. Begins, without salutation: ‘I wish you would look to this act, as it appears to require attention.

[Albert D. Shaw, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic.] Autograph Letter Signed to J. Rawlinson, regarding ‘the Resolution passed by the Board of Congregational Ministers of Manchester’, on the death of President Garfield.

Author: 
Albert D. Shaw [Albert Duane Shaw] (1841-1901), American government official and New York Republican Congressman, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic [Manchester, England]
Publication details: 
5 October 1881; on letterhead of the United States Consulate, Manchester [England].
£150.00

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border (for President Garfield). 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, a little worn and creased. Folded once. Signed ‘Albert D Shaw / U.S. Consul’, and addressed to ‘J. Rawlinson Esq. / Hon. Sec. / Old Trafford.’ He is in receipt of ‘the Resolution passed by the Board of Congregational Ministers of Manchester and neighbourhood, expressing their heartfelt sympathy, and that of the Churches they represent with the American people in the Calamity which has befallen them in he death of President Garfield’.

[‘The Whig Dr Johnson’: Samuel Parr, author, divine and pedagogue.] Autograph Card in the third person to the Mayor of Warwick, ‘Keeling Greenway’ [Kelynge Greenway]. In envelope with red wax seal.

Author: 
Samuel Parr (1747-1825), author, divine and pedagogue, known as ‘the Whig Dr Johnson’ [Kelynge Greenway, Mayor of Warwick]
Parr
Publication details: 
29 November 1820. Hatton [near Warwick].
£56.00
Parr

An almost miraculously legible example of Parr’s normally atrocious hand. (His entry in the Oxford DNB states that ‘Parr was flogged only once at Harrow, for bad handwriting, and to no effect. His writing remained atrocious all his life, so much so that on an occasion when he wrote to ask for 'two lobsters' his friend read the words as “two eggs”.’) On one side of blank card. In envelope with indistinguishable seal in red wax, addressed by Parr to ‘Keeling Greenway Esqr / Mayor of Warwick’.

[Royal Military College, Sandburst.] Printed handbill poem titled ‘The Staff College Drag Hunt Song. / By Major M. Churchill, 2/Northampton Regiment, / Master, S.C.D.H., 1885-86’.

Author: 
Major M. Churchill, 2nd Northampton Regiment, Master of the Staff College Drag Hunt, established 1869 [Royal Military College, Sandhurst; fox hunting; field sports]
Drag
Publication details: 
No date or place. [Royal Military College, Sandhurst; late 1880s.]
£180.00
Drag

The present item is excessively scarce: there is no record of it on either OCLC WorldCat or JISC. The Staff College Drag Hunt at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, was established in 1869 as a private pack which drag-hunted twice a week in the area surrounding Camberley, and after more than a hundred and fifty years, the hunt still rides. 1p, 12mo. Text enclosed in rules with decorative corners. In fair condition, lightly worn and spotted, with traces of stub and mounting on blank reverse. Titled: ‘The Staff College Drag Hunt Song. / By Major M.

[Maud Tree, actress and wife of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mrs. Le Blond’, regarding her efforts to stage a matinée, with reference to Sir Oswald Stoll, Sir Alfred Butt, George Grossmith and various London theatres.

Author: 
Mrs Beerbohm Tree [Maud Tree; Lady Tree; born Helen Maud Holt] (1863-1937), actress, wife of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, mother of Viola Tree [Sir Oswald Stoll; Sir Alfred Butt; George Grossmith]
Publication details: 
Undated (after 1901). On letterhead of 7 Adam Street, Adelphi [London].
£50.00

See the entries on the various members of the Tree family in the Dictionary of National Biography. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Thirty-eight lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged, with pin holes to corner. Folded once. Good firm signature ‘Maud Tree’. She does not want her to think that she is ‘losing sight of the Sunday Matinée’. She had to wait for Sir Oswald Stoll’s answer, ‘& it was kind, but it said regretful No’. She then wrote to Sir Alfred Butt ‘for the Palace or the Empire. His answer was also a sad No. - But now Mr. George Grossmith has offered me His Majestys or the Winter Garden.

[John Cam Hobhouse (Lord Broughton), Whig politician and friend and executor of Lord Byron.] Autograph Note Signed authorizing entry to the gallery of the House of Commons.

Author: 
John Cam Hobhouse [Lord Broughton] (1786-1869), Whig politician and friend and executor of Lord Byron
Hobhouse
Publication details: 
9 May 1821.
£56.00
Hobhouse

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 13 x 8 cm piece of laid paper. In fair condition, but with small sections torn away on removal from mount, at corners and at centre of top and bottom edges, damaging the first two numerals of the year. Reads: ‘May nine - <18>21 / Please to admit the bearer & his friend to the gallery of the House of Commons. / John C. Hobhouse’. See image.

[Jane Elizabeth Hornblower, poet and novelist, daughter of Liverpool abolitionist William Roscoe.] Holograph Manuscript of ‘Sonnet / written in a young lady’s album’, signed ‘J E R.’

Author: 
Jane Elizabeth Hornblower [née Jane Elizabeth Roscoe] (1797-1853), poet and novelist, daughter of Liverpool connoisseur and abolitionist William Roscoe (1753-1831)
hornblower
Publication details: 
No date or place, but before her 1838 marriage to Rev. Francis Hornblower.
£100.00
hornblower

1p, 12mo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium of pink patterned paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The sonnet, which does not appear to have been published, begins: ‘Midst the young eyes that on this book shall shine / Kindling with genius or with feeling bright, / Lit up with all youth’s visions of delight, / There yet shall gage no dearer ones than thine!’ Signed at end ‘J E R.’ See image.

[Henry Gastineau, landscape painter and engraver.] Autograph Letter in the third person to ‘Miss Nelson’, regarding arrangements for giving her lessons in painting.

Author: 
Henry Gastineau (1791-1876), English landscape painter and engraver
Publication details: 
2 June 1853; Camberwell.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Eighteen lines of text. Begins: ‘Mr H Gastineau presents his compliments to Miss Nelson and in consequence of having received her address from Miss Stringer relative to a wish to receive some instruction from him, he writes’, giving details of when he would be able ‘to give a lesson at Windham Place’, were he to ‘receive a line to say that such an arrangement’ was desirable, after which ‘future appointments can be made’.

[Edwin Long, RA, English artist.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Sir Roger’, with regard to the relative merits of Stanhope Forbes and John Bagnold Burgess for receiving a commission.

Author: 
Edwin Long [Edwin Longsden Long] (1829-1891), RA, English painter [Stanhope Forbes (1857-1947); John Bagnold Burgess (1829-1897)]
Publication details: 
12 November 1890; on letterhead of Kelston, Netherhall Gardens, N.W. [London.]
£38.00

See the entries for Long, Forbes and Burgess in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of tape from mount along one edge. Signed ‘Edwin Long’. Begins: ‘Dear Sir Richard / I have just had a chat about your kind enquiry with my friend Burgess, who knows everybody’. While Burgess ‘says Stanhope Forbes is the best man coming on & that he has painted some very good portraits’, from what Long himself remembers of his work, it seems ‘very black’. He concludes: ‘Why not give it to Burgess? he is painting capitally just now & I know he would be very pleased.’

[‘Edna Lyall’ (Ada Ellen Bayly), novelist and suffragist.] Autograph Signature on inscription.

Author: 
‘Edna Lyall’ [Ada Ellen Bayly] (1857-1903), English novelist and suffragist
Lyell
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£25.00
Lyell

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. Clearly written in response to a request for an autograph. On 11.5 x 5.5 piece of wove paper, cut from an album. In good condition. Reads: ‘Yours very truly / Ada Ellen Bayly / “Edna Lyall.” ’.

[‘Hesba Stretton’ (Sarah Smith), novelist.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Henrietta’, regarding the taking of rooms, and her Christmas at the Royal Hospital (Chelsea?).

Author: 
‘Hesba Stretton’ [Sarah Smith] (1832-1911), English novelist and author
Publication details: 
26 December [no year]; ‘Royal Hospital’.
£38.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, but with slight loss to inner upper corner, caused by removal from mount, and resulting in loss to two words on second page, and closed tear at bottom of gutter. Folded once. Signed ‘Hesba Stretton.’ Begins: ‘My dear Henrietta / It was too cold to get over to see you this morning; but as we hope to be so near to you for sme days that signifies less.’ She asks if the recipient’s maid can ‘kindly take the rooms’, as ‘we’ (i.e.

[Theodore Hook, author and hoaxer.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Theo S Hook’) [to his publishers Whittaker & Co.], reporting missing text in the revises of his ‘Gilbert Gurney’, and requesting the return of ‘the MS of the page in question’.

Author: 
Theodore Hook [Theodore Edward Hook] (1788-1841), author, wit and hoaxer, accountant-general and treasurer of Mauritius, 1813-1817
Publication details: 
No date or place, but on paper with 1834 watermark.
£75.00

Hook’s entry in the Oxford DNB descibes his novel ‘Gilbert Gurney’ (1836) and its sequel ‘Gurney Married’ (1838) as made up of ‘thinly disguised portraits and a string of anecdotes from real life’. 1p, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, folded twice. On wove paper with C. Ansell watermark of 1834. The signature ‘Theo E Hook’ does indeed have a strange ‘hook’ on the end of it, which has led to a pencil note on the blank second leaf: ‘try Thos. E. Boot / Booth / author of “Gilbert Gurney”’.

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