NINETEENTH

Both items 1p., 16mo, and both in good codition, on lightly-aged paper. The first note reads: 'Mr. Charles Hallé presents his respectful compliments to Lady Blanche Drummond and would feel greatly obliged if she would kindly take his lesson to-morrow at 4 o'clock instead of half past three.' The second confirms the time for a second lesson.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. A well-written and oddly-entertaining letter, and an evocative piece of Victorian social history. From the context it is clear that the recipient and his wife have been accused of overstepping the terms of a will, and on this matter Almack begins: 'Furniture is very comprehensive, and would I think include Work boxes, Chests, & plated Goods. It has even been decided that plate would so pass! - Also plated would. | Under "bed linen," Blankets & Quilts pass. Under "Household Linen", Coloured Table Cloths & Doyleys would pass.

2pp., 16mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Written with the essence of Victorian tact. 'We shall be extremely glad if you can give us the evening of the 7th. instead of the 5th. and I trust you will permit us to consider you engaged to us for that night - 8 oClock - | I am grieved to think that my note should have reached you at a time of grief. Thank you for kindly consenting to come.'

1p., 16mo (12.5 x 11.5cm). In good condition, on lightly aged and ruckled paper, with traces of mount on reverse and minor loss to one edge. Reads: 'Dundee | 18th. Jany. | 1855 | My Dear Sir | I have much pleasure in transmitting you my Autograph | I am | Yours very truly | George Gilfillan'.

47 + [1]pp., 12mo. Stapled. In brown printed wraps. Signed on the last page of text (p.45) 'Hbt Broome | May 1930', beneath the signature in type 'HERBERT BROOME, | March, 1930.' In fair condition, on aged and stained paper.

4pp., foolscap 8vo. Bifolium. The document consists of a long printed text, with blank sections completed in manuscript. It is docketted 'M.5 | Copy for Mr. Falconer | to appear 19/26 June 1810.' In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Signed 'Alex Davidson' and dated 28 May 1810, before the witnesses 'John Anderson and John Robertson both Indwellers in Glasgow'. The document begins: 'GEORGE, &c.

The label is printed on one side of a crudely-cut 6 x 8 cm piece of laid paper. In fair condition, aged. The item reads (with manuscript additions in square brackets): 'LEEDS | Circulating Library. | Entered [16 Sept] 180[8] | Allowed for reading the first Year, Weeks [2] Days [-] | - After the first year, Weeks [2] | Forfeiture per Day for keeping it beyond the Time, d. [2]'. At the head in manuscript is the number '1006', crossed out, and '671'.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Brooks (who conducted the Literary Gazette between 1858 and 1859) writes that he has read Glen's 'friend's verses carefully, and with much pleasure. There is an echo of Keats in them, but no mere invitation.

1p., 4to. The second leaf only of a bifoliate letter. Addressed on reverse to 'William Kerr Esqr. | (of Richmond - Virginia) | Care of Messrs Gilmour & Kerr | Glasgow | NB'. An accompanying typed note identifies the postal features as follows: 'Postage: - 3d. pre-paid. Colonial outward Ship Letter rate. | 8d. to collect. Private Ship Letter rate. | Handstruck Marks: - PAID SHIP LETTER SYDNEY AP+21 1847 in red. (SL 3, var. 1 - early use.) | NN 29AU29 1847 in red.

ONE: Brooks's letter to Leitch Ritchie: 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. He thanks him for his 'kind and courteous communication', and is pleased that 'the article I sent seems to you adapted to the purpose'. Brooks has, he explains, 'availed myself of your suggestions in reference to the additions'. He continues with references to Vauxhall and 'The Highland Lamp'.

The connection between the two firms of London bankers Thompson Hankey & Co., and Plummer & Wilson & Co. is unclear, but after the bankruptcy of John Plummer and William Wilson of Fenchurch Street 1831, a new firm named Hankey, Plummer & Wilson was formed, Plummer & Wilson bringing to it a number of clients including Beckford. The source of Beckford's vast wealth was of course the family's sugar plantations in the West Indies, and this document dates from before the abolition of slavery. 3pp., foolscap 8vo. Bifolium. Very good, on laid paper with Britannia watermark of 'E SMITH | 1828'.

4pp., 4to. 112 lines of text. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper, with closed tears along fold lines. Addressed, with two postmarks (one of Trinidad) to 'W. Wilson Esqr. | 7. Mincing Lane | London | Packet'. A closely-written letter, well-written and filled with content, and with a few clues about the identity of the writer. It begins: 'A merry Xmas to you & all my friends in England. I remembered you in my cups, but the liquor was only water for I have become almost a teetotaller of late, having had a little about me when I left St Kitts.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on aged paper. With envelope addressed by Woodin to 'W. C. M. Kent Esqr | Sun Office', on which is written 'Your Card of course will admit any Friends'. The letter begins: 'My very dear Sir, | I have taken the Salle Robin and called it The Myriographic Hall, now I intend inviting the gentlemen of the Press on Thursday Evening March 3rd.

[1] + 28pp., 4to. New title-leaf and text pp.215-242. In printed brown paper wraps, inscribed at head of front cover 'to Mr Richard Bentley | from Michael Sadleir | Dec 1924'. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. The paper was read before the Bibliographical Society on 17 November 1924. NOte: Sadleir describes the wonderful moment when he first saw the Bentley file copy collection in "Nineteenth-Century Fiction". He inevitably became very friendly. Richard Bentley was the grandson of the founder of the firm, selling up to MACMILLAN'S IN 1898.

1p., 8vo. On grey paper. Aged and worn, with chipping, glue stains and remains of gummed label. Laid down on leaf removed from album. The document reads: '548 [i.e. the number of the despatch] | Kabul 28 Decr | To O.C. Jagdalah. | In continuation of this office No 544 the O.C. is directed to request he will at once arrange to send a sufficient party to hold Seh Baba. | He is also to arrange to escort the <?> sent with Capt Tucker as far as Lataband or Butkhak if necessary, on their return journey. | They should return on Wednesday'.

Letter: 1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He begins by suggesting that Baron write to 'Mr Payn' (the novelist and editor James Payn) via the Reform Club, Pall Mall. (Baron's method involved asking one celebrity how to contact another.) He next discusses two of his works: '"The Memorial Windows" appeared in the Gentleman's & was published in Pippins & Cheese (Bradbury & Evans) - "The Valley" you will see in enclosed list'. He concludes by thanking Baron for his 'complimentary note'. With envelope addressed to 'J. T.

1p., 8vo, on the verso of the second leaf of a bifolium, with the Autograph Note by Bentley on the recto of the first leaf. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Smith's letter headed by him 'Private'.

Spencer was a sharp operator (see Mandelbrote ed., 'Out of Print and into Profit', pp.285-287) and the present items give an hint of his methods. (The two letters are addressed from the premises at which his staff were said to practice their 'sophistications'.) His two letters (both signed 'W. T. Spencer') are in good condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper, with the second dated by Bois to 1931. Bois's letter (signed 'Winifred Bois') is in fair condition, with a short closed tear along one edge. Letter One: Spencer to Bois, 23 February [1931].

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Booklet: 8pp., 32mo. Staples rusting. Cover with Worcester College crest printed in red. Pp.3-6 carry the 20 rules, and p.7 contains a list, in three columns, of 46 'Members of the Society since its foundation.', from F. E. C. Drew to W. T. Lancaster. Menu: on small rectangle of card, headed with 'Menu' and the college crest printed in blue. At the head of the card, in pencil: 'High Table - 18 June 1905'. The menu is written out in another hand, in blue ink: 'Boiled Turbot | Poulet a la Marengo. Kromeskys. | Roast Sirloin of Beef.

2pp., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. An attractive production, printed on a leaf of parchment paper, with illuminations and decorative designs in red, blue, green and gold, in the Gothic style of the period. At the end of the second page, above the printer's slug, and illuminated: 'Auction Rooms 22 Fleet Street London | Established 1823'.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, and with the margins cut down. The letter reads: 'Dear Lady Elphinstone, | I am very sorry that an engagement here will prevent my having the pleasure of coming to you this afternoon. But I hope to be able to go out to Richmond next Friday & if so shall do myself the honour of renewing so agreeable an acquaintance.'

1p., 12mo. Attractively printed within a decorative border, on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. The letter reads: 'Dear Sir | The Specimen Book sent you herewith, of which I have much pleasure in asking your acceptance, contains a history of the Caslon Foundry printed with the justly celebrated types engraved by its founder in the early part of last Century.

The text is engraved in copperplate on one side of a piece of card, with plan on reverse of the the premises at 18 Paternoster Square, with Newgate Street, Warwick Lane, Rose Street and Paternoster Row also shown. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with unobtrusive vertical crease. A nice piece of nineteenth-century London book trade ephemera. The text reads: 'Publication Committee | Presbyterian Church of England, | 18 Paternoster Square.

[4] + 47pp., 8vo. In printed wraps. Internally in fair condition, on aged paper, with slight staining to the corners; in worn and chipped wraps. A handsome production, as one might expect from one of the nine founders of the Grolier Club, with a two-page introduction followed by a full-page reproduction of the Ascensius printer's device, and 47 examples of pages set in various point sizes of Cushing, Ancient Roman, Jenson, Satanick, Louis XV, and Century Roman. No copy on COPAC, six American and one French on WorldCat.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. An interesting piece of ephemera relating to a ground-breaking series in the nineteenth-century extension of the market for serious literature. An initial 27-line prospectus in small print is followed by a list of the details of the 35 'Volumes already Published' and of 20 works 'in progress'. The final page carries details of items 'Uniform with his STANDARD LIBRARY, price 3s. 6d.', under the headings 'Bohn's Extra Volume', 'Bohn's Scientific Library, Vol. 1', 'Bohn's Antiquarian Library' and 'Bohn's Classical Library'.

4pp., 4to. Bifolium. On aged and worn paper, with slight damage caused by removal from an album. The first leaf of the document carries fifteen numbered rules; and the second leaf carries a 'List of Members', with Joseph Chamberlain as President; Viscount Milner as Chairman of Executive Committee, and Honorary Treasurer Viscount Ridley, and including the Duke of Bedford, Bonar Law, and the publisher John Murray. At the foot of the final page is a list of 'Foundation Members' of the 'South African Branch Compatriots' Club'.

On one side of a piece of 9 x 14.5 cm paper. Laid down on 11 x 23 cm piece of pink paper cut from an album. The note reads: 'Admit one Gentleman & one Lady to the Temple Church on Sunday the 7th. Novr. 1852 - | Samuel Warren. | Bencher. | To the Verger of the New Temple.'

5pp., 8vo. On two bifoliums, with four of the eight sides blank, with the reason for the arrangement stated at the head of the title: 'N.B. - The four pages following this Title may be separated, and pasted on a board.' In fair condition, on aged paper, with remains of the paper on which the two bifoliums were mounted on the blank reverses of the second leaves of both. Contemporary ownership inscription at head of title of William Dole Bushell of Taff Vale Railway.

[13] + 264pp., 8vo. In original purple wraps lacking spine label. A landmark work in the history of printing. In fair condition, on aged and dogeared paper, with damp staining to the first few leaves, and front cover of the wraps detached. Pp.246-264 carry Didot's 'Note Bibliographique et Typographique', with the engraving on p.263 of the Estienne device, to indicate that it is possible to print both text and 'taille douce' on the same page.

Printed on one side of a piece of 17 x 12 cm paper. Aged and worn, and trimmed down. Reminiscent of another Victorian spoof obituary - that which led to the Ashes cricket series between England and Australia - the full text reads: 'LOST, STOLEN, OR STRAYED, | THE | BRITISH LION. | Whoever finds him is hereby requested to KEEP him, as he is no longer of any use. | N.B. - He was last seen with his Tail between his Legs. | Obituary. | On Monday, the 27th inst., of a severe attack of Non-intervention and Court intrigue, | THE | BRITISH LION, | His end was - Peace ! !