NOTTINGHAM

[Alan Bennett, playwright, screenwriter and author.] Autograph Card Signed, with reference to 'Sam Barnett (ex History Boys)', the Nottingham Playhouse and his health.

Author: 
Alan Bennett (b.1934), playwright, screenwriter and author whose career began in the Cambridge Footlights, and includes the script for the film 'The Madness of King George'
Publication details: 
[2021.] Place not stated.
£35.00

In good condition. Printed on one side of the card is one of Bennett's self-caricatures, and printed on the other, on a left hand panel, a note apologising for not writing in autograph, as answering so much mail would take away 'time which I would like to spend working'. On the right-hand panel, in actual autograph, is the following: 'Thank you for yr letter and I hope 2021 is a better year for you. I gather from Sam Barnett (ex History Boys) that the Nottingham Playhouse is keeping going. I'm getting slower but still coming to my desk every day. / All good wishes / Alan Bennett.'

[Alan Bennett, playwright, screenwriter and author.] Autograph Card Signed to Robert J. Drury of Cleethorpes, regarding the Academy Awards.

Author: 
Alan Bennett (b.1934), playwright, screenwriter and author whose career began in the Cambridge Footlights, and includes the script for the film 'The Madness of King George'
Bennett
Publication details: 
1 August 1995. Place not stated.
£35.00
Bennett

On a ‘Lion Brand’ plain post card. In good condition, but with the hurriedly-written text somewhat smudged, and a small staple at one corner. Addressed to ‘Robt J Drury / 141 Chichester Rd / Cleethorpes / S. Humberside / DN35 OJL.’ The message on the other side is hurriedly written: ‘August 1 1995 / Dear Mr. Drury / I’ve no thought on the Academy Awards I’m afraid. Some are well deserved some not - but thats true of a [?] Alan Bennett.’

[Ben Webster [Benjamin Nottingham Webster], actor-manager who built the Adelphi.] Autograph Letter Signed, thanking Henry Spicer on behalf of the Dramatic College, Covent Garden, for a financial ‘Godsend’.

Author: 
Ben Webster [Benjamin Nottingham Webster] (1797-1882), actor-manager who built the Adelphi Theatre, London [Henry Spicer]
Publication details: 
‘New Theatre Royal Adelphi / Jany 19th 1860’.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. On a bifolium the blank second leaf of which is laid down on part of a leaf from an album. Folded twice for postage. The recipient is ‘Henry Spicer Esq’, presumably a relation of the artist of the same name (d.1804; see ODNB), several of whose theatrical portraits are in the Garrick Club collection.

[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.

[Charles James Mathews, London actor-manager.] Autograph Letter Signed ('C J Mathews.'), declining to 'risk' an association with Ben Webster, who 'never reads the pieces at all' and whom he is 'unable to controul'.

Author: 
Charles James Mathews (1803-1878), actor, manager of the Olympic, Lyceum and Covent Garden theatres in London [Benjamin Nottingham Webster (1797-1882), actor-manager who built the Adelphi]
Publication details: 
25 Pelham Crescent [London], 23 July 1869.
£45.00

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The recipient is not named. An interesting letter, indicating the relationship between two major theatrical figures in Victorian London. The main body of the letter reads: 'Dear Sir, | You really must excuse my incurring any such responsibility as that you would impose upon me. I am unable to controul Mr.

[Alan Hadfield, sculptor and author.] Inscribed copy of his pamphlet 'An Essay on Bernard Shaw (being an account of one man's approach to our Anglo-Irish dramatist)'; with conclusion of Autograph Letter Signed to playwright Christopher Fry.

Author: 
Alan Hadfield (b.1904), sculptor and children's author under name 'Robin Dale', proprietor of the Northern Lights Press, Harrowgate [and latterly Devon] [Christopher Fry, playwright]
Publication details: 
Pamphlet by the Northern Lights Press, Devon, undated, but with inscription dated February 1975. Conclusion of ALS without date or place.
£50.00

Both items in good condition, lightly aged. PAMPHLET: 12pp, 8vo. Stapled in green wraps, printed on both sides of covers, and with drawing of Shaw by Hadfield, dated 1974, on front cover. Containing a few autograph emendations. Inscribed on front cover: 'To Christopher Fry, | from | Alan Hadfield, | Greetings! | Feby 1975'. A quirky and highly personal response to Shaw, combining anecdote, reminiscence and original poetry.

[Charles Kean and his wife Ellen Tree prepare to return from America.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Rt. Clarke.') from Robert Clarke to Benjamin Webster, asking on Kean's behalf for 'information respecting Theatres in England', discussing Kean and wife.

Author: 
Robert Clarke, actor-manager, Theatre Royal, Liverpool [Charles Kean (1811-1868), actor-manager, son of Edmund Kean, husband of Ellen Tree (1805-1880); Benjamin Webster (1797-1882), actor, dramatist]
Publication details: 
2 Bladud Buildings, Bath. 27 December 1846.
£80.00

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium, endorsed 'Clarke' on reverse of second leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded three times. The letter begins: 'My dear Webster, | Charles Kean has requested me to give him information respecting Theatres in England, in which it is probable he may form engagements on his return from America, as he wishes his plans to be arranged if possible previous to his departure from the United States, so as he may see his way clearly on his arrival in England.' He asks whether it would answer Webster's purpose 'to make any proposal to him'.

[ Macclesfield District Wesleyan Methodists. ] Autograph Letter by John Meek, signed by him and Samuel Wood as 'Circuit Stewards', asking Rev. Samuel Walker of Nottingham to work on the circuit after the next conference. With autograph copy of reply.

Author: 
John Meek and Samuel Wood, Wesleyan Methodists of Macclesfield, Cheshire[ Rev. Samuel Walker of Nottingham ]
Publication details: 
Letter from Macclesfield [ Cheshire ], December 1851. Reply [ from Nottingham ], 20 December 1851.
£100.00

4to bifolium, with the letter of Meek and Wood on the recto of the first leaf, and the autograph copy of Walker's reply on the recto of the second. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed, with postmark, on reverse of second leaf, to 'The Rev Saml Walker | Wesleyan Clergyman | Nottingham'.

[ Eliza Weaver Bradburn, children's author and daughter of Rev. Samuel Bradburn, 'the Methodist Demosthenes'. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Eliza W. Bradburn') [ to Rev. S. Walker ] regarding the sale of her 'little books', and her 'Missionary capes'.

Author: 
Eliza Weaver Bradburn, children's author and biographer of her father Rev. Samuel Bradburn (1751-1816), 'the Methodist Demosthenes' [ Rev. Samuel Walker of Nottingham ]
Publication details: 
'At G. Laishley's Esq. | 71 Finchley New Road | St. John's Wood | London'. 5 December 1856.
£120.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. The letter indicates that Bradburn was deriving some sort of income from the sale of her books, and was making 'Missionary capes', possibly for charity. She writes that she is concerned that 'the two notes written to Mrs. Walker and the one to yourself, were not received', and asks whether ''the Missionary Books' and magazines were sent to him as ordered, 'I trust Mr. Thomas Walker had the dozen for which he kindly prepaid me.' She has 'an affectionate respect for Mr. and Mrs.

[ John Player & Sons, tobacco manufacturers. ] Six substantial ledgers of itemised and audited accounts of the firm's Dublin plant ('Summary of Stock. No. 1', 'Private Ledger No. 2', 'Private Journal No. 5 [6]', and two 'Impersonal Ledger').

Author: 
John Player & Sons [ Player's ], tobacco and cigarette manufacturer, based in Nottingham, now part of the Imperial Tobacco Group: the firm's Dublin cigarette manufacturing plant, 1924-1960
Publication details: 
John Player & Sons, Dublin, Ireland. The ledgers dating from between the firm's foundation in Ireland in 1924 and 1960.
£2,500.00

Six substantial ledgers (the heaviest 37 x 41 x 8 cm, and the widest 39 x 52 x 3 cm), containing itemised accounts providing a mass of information regarding the tobacco industry and economic history in Ireland, and one of Dublin's notable employers, whose sales in the 1950s were in the tens of millions. (On 9 December 2004 the Irish Times described the closure of the plant as marking 'the end of an era'. The firm's first Dublin factory, at 56-75 Botanic Road, was constructed by G. & T. Crampton in 1923, and is now the Botanic Business Centre.

[ Edward Raleigh Moran, editor of The Globe. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('E. R. Moran') to the actor-manager Ben Webster, suggesting he produce a previously 'interdicted' play titled 'Where's His Regal Highness?'

Author: 
E. R. Moran [ Edward Raleigh Moran ] (d.1852), editor of The Globe newspaper, London [ Ben Webster [ Benjamin Nottingham Webster ] (1797-1882), actor-manager ]
Publication details: 
Globe [ London newspaper ]. 3 February 1849.
£80.00

3pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. For information on the eccentric Moran see F. David Roberts' article 'Who Ran the London "Globe" in the 1830's, 1840's, and 1850's?' (1971). The letter begins: 'My Dear Webster | If you want a useful subsidiary piece producible without cost or trouble. It contains a part that of Frederick William of Prussia admirably adapted for your own filling up.

[ Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchelsea and 3rd Earl of Nottingham. ] Autograph Signature ('Winchelsea & Nottingham') to manuscript Treasury receipt, made out in the hand of the witness John Shepherd.

Author: 
Daniel Finch (1689-1769), 8th Earl of Winchilsea and 3rd Earl of Nottingham [ Lord Finch until 1730 ], British parliamentarian; John Shepherd, Deputy-Messenger to the Treasury
Publication details: 
[ London. ] 9 August 1732.
£80.00

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged paper. The body of the letter, made out by the witness, reads: 'Received this 9th: day of Augt. 1732 of The Right Honble: Lord Onslow the Sum of Five hundred and fifty five pounds being in full of the annex'd order I say Recd: by me', with reiteration in the margin. Signed 'Winchelsea & Nottingham' and 'Witness | John Shepherd'.

[ Benjamin Webster, actor-manager and dramatist. ] Corrected Manuscript (possibly autograph) of 'The Unfortunate Youth! a Farce in One Act. by B. Webster Esqre.' [ Retitled 'The Unfortunate Boy! or Always in for it.' ]

Author: 
Benjamin Webster [ Benjamin Nottingham Webster ] (1797-1882), English actor-manager and dramatist
Publication details: 
'T. R. H.' [ i.e. Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London ]. Undated [ 1840 ].
£800.00

68pp., 4to. In fair condition on lightly aged and worn watermarked laid paper. Sewn into brown paper wraps with 'The Unfortunate Youth. | T. R. H.' on cover. The title on the title-page is retitled in pencil 'The Unfortunate Boy! or Always in for it.' Possibly in Webster's hand, but with what may be the initials of the transcriber following the 'FINIS' on the final page. The text of the play is on the rectos, with occasional writing on versos. Emendations in ink and pencil, including additional dialogue.

[ Sir William Martins, Gentleman Usher. ] Autograph Letter in the third person to actor-manager Benjamin Webster, asking him to arrange a performance of a farce at the Adelphi Theatre 'at the rather earnest wish of a former Lord Chamberlain'.

Author: 
Sir William Martins (c.1787-1874), Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State [ Benjamin Webster [ Benjamin Nottingham Webster ] (1797-1882), actor-manager; Adelphi Theatre, London ]
Publication details: 
St James's Palace [ London ]. 16 February [ no year, but on paper watermarked 1844 ].
£45.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condiion, on aged and worn paper. Marked 'Private', and written with an urgency suggesting the involvement of royalty behind the request. The letter begins: 'Sir William Martins presents his Compliments to Mr Webster and at theh rather earnest wish of a former Lord Chamberlain entreats Mr Webster, if it be practicable to allow the Farce of "Powder & Ball" to be played at the Adelphi one evening this Week either Wednesday Thursday or Friday'. He will 'explain further' and writes 'in case he should not be fortunate enough to meet Mr Webster at the Theatre'.

[ Henry Kemble, actor. ] Long Autograph Letter Signed to 'Seymour', entirely written in verse, giving a humorous account of his activities in provincial theatre.

Author: 
Henry Kemble (1848-1907), English actor
Publication details: 
Theatre Royal Nottingham, 21 September 1871.
£600.00

8pp., 12mo. Text complete on aged and worn paper. A charming and high-spirited description of life in the provincial theatre in Victorian England, in better than average verse showing the influence of Byron's humorous poetry.

[ Phyllis Hartnoll, theatre historian. ] Correspondence with her agent W. T. Macqueen-Pope, impressario Jack Hylton and actress Freda Jackson regarding her translation of 'The Lady of the Camellias', together with two versions of the translation.

Author: 
Phyllis Hartnoll (1906-1997), theatre historian [ Jack Hylton (1892-1965), impressario; Freda Jackson (1907-1990), actress; W. Macqueen-Pope ]
Publication details: 
Correspondence dating from 1948, except for single items from 1947 and 1950. Hartnoll's letters either from Hobbits, Nether Westcote, Kingham, Oxon, or on Oxford University Press letterheads. Other correspondence from various London addresses.
£950.00

An interesting collection, giving an insight into theatre practices in post-war Britain. Hartnoll is commissioned by the actress Freda Jackson, then at the height of her popularity, to produce an adaptation of the play, Jackson gets impressario Jack Hylton and producer Anthony Hawtrey on board, and there is the inevitable falling out between the actress and the author, with Macqueen-Pope, who is acting as Hartnoll's agent, playing the mediator, as matters become acrimonious.

[Printed pamphlet.] East Midland Educational Union. Constitution and Examination Arrangements. Approved January, 1930.

Author: 
[East Midland Educational Union, 14 Shakespeare Street, Nottingham]
Publication details: 
[East Midland Education Union, 14 Shakespeare Street, Nottingham.] January 1930.
£40.00

21pp., 16mo. Stapled. In veryy good condition, on aged paper; with pencil shelfmark (of the Board of Education Reference Library) and small rust mark on cover. Scarce: no copy in the British Library or on COPAC.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Howitt') from the English author William Howett [to the editor of the Literary Gazette William Jerdan?], requesting a favourable review [of his 'Popular History of Priestcraft'].

Author: 
William Howitt (1792-1879), English poet and author, originally a Quaker, friend of Elizabeth Gaskell and advocate of spiritualism [William Jerdan (1782-1869), editor of the Literary Gazette]
Publication details: 
Nottingham. [1833.]
£56.00

1p., 16mo. On aged paper, with minor damage on removal from album. He requests 'the favour of an early notice in your journal, of the accompanying little volume if it be fortunate enough to meet your approbation'. The work has 'no object but to serve true religion & true liberty'. In a postscript he requests a 'copy of the paper containing the notice'. Howitt practised as a chemist in Nottingham between 1822 and 1836, when he moved to Esher, Surrey.

Signed Letter ('C. Bradlaugh'), in a secretary's hand, by the freethinker and Liberal Member of Parliament Charles Bradlaugh, to Frank Harris, editor of the Fortnightly Review.

Author: 
Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891), Liberal Member of Parliament for Northampton, freethinker and founder of the National Secular Society [Frank Harris (1856-1931), editor of the Fortnightly Review]
Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891), Liberal Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
8 January 1891; on letterhead of 20 Circus Road, St John's Wood, London.
£85.00
Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891), Liberal Member of Parliament

12mo, 1 p. Fifteen lines. Text clear and complete. Very good on lightly-aged paper. The valediction ('Yours sincerely | C. Bradlaugh') in Bradlaugh's hand, the rest in a secretary's. Addressed to 'F. Harris Esq'. Docketed by Harris: '18 or 20th of Feb. or March. Length unlimited: but more valuable short.' Bradlaugh is working on the article, but 'must not send it' before the report is presented to parliament, which Lord Derby assures him 'will be within fourteen days of the Reopening of the House'. He asks about length and deadline.

Autograph Letter Signed from 'M. McSweeney', of the American Association in London, to the English dramatist Benjamin Nottingham Webster, regarding a proposed celebration of George Washington's birthday.

Author: 
M. McSweeney of the American Association in London [Benjamin Nottingham Webster (1797-1882), English dramatist; George Washington]
Autograph Letter Signed from 'M. McSweeney', of the American Association
Publication details: 
11 February 1859; on letterhead of the American Association in London, 14 Cockspur Street.
£35.00
Autograph Letter Signed from 'M. McSweeney', of the American Association

12mo, 1 p. Eight lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Asking if Webster requires a seat at a celebratory dinner for George Washington, 'Tickets not to exceed one Guinea'.

Poor Richard's Almanack, for the year 1848. Leap Year. Containing, in addition to all that is requisite in an Almanack, A list of all the fairs in England and Wales, and advertisements for three hundred and thirty-two Heirs-at-Law.

Author: 
Richard Allen, editor [almanack; almanacks; ephemerides; ephemeris]
Publication details: 
Illustrated edition. 1848. London: W. Strange, 21, Paternoster Row. Heywood, Manchester; Philip, Liverpool; Webb and Co. Leeds; Guest, Birmingham; Allen, Nottingham; Allen, Leicester. [Nottingham: - Printed by R. Allen, 57, Long Row.]
£100.00

12mo, 32 pp. In original pink printed wraps. Unbound and stitched. Text clear and entire. Tight, but grubby and dogeared, and with closed tear and creasing at head of recto of front wrap. Densely printed in a variety of point sizes, with frontispiece and twelve wood-cuts (one for each month). Contains advertisements, 'Borough Regulations', a 'Gardener's Calendar', 'Table of the Sun's rising and setting' and other matter. Neat ownership signature of 'Mrs. Paterson' at head of recto of front wrap, and twelve others of her signatures at the head of each month.

Fragment of printed advertisement.

Author: 
George Burbage (died 1807), eighteenth-century Nottingham printer, bookseller and stationer
Publication details: 
Undated.
£50.00

One page. On leaf roughly nine and a half inches by seven wide. Aged, with frayed edges, and with slight loss to head, affecting decorative border, and extensive loss at foot, involving several lines of text. Begins 'G. BURBAGE, PRINTER, BOOKSELLER and STATIONER; ON THE LONG ROW, NOTTINGHAM, TAKES this Method to acquaint the PUBLIC, that he has just laid in an entire new Assortment of STATIONARY [sic] GOODS, - Also a neat COLLECTION of PAPER HANGINGS for ROOMS, CEILINGS and STAIR CASES: [...]'.

Letters to Eminent Hands; to wit Andrew Lang, Bret Hart, Edna Lyall, F. Anstey, George Moore, Grant Allen, Phil Robinson, Rhoda Broughton, Robt. Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, W. S. Gilbert.

Author: 
i' [iota] (Joseph William Gleeson White, 1851-1898), English writer on art and founder of the 'Studio' magazine [Art Workers Guild; Arts and Crafts Movement]
Publication details: 
Derby, Leicester, and Nottingham: Frank Murray, 1892.
£180.00

Small 8vo. Pages: x + 74. In original cream printed wraps. One of two hundred copies of the 'Small Paper edition'. In the 'Moray Library'. Internally sound and clean. Light spotting and wear to wraps. Minor foxing to endpapers. Trenchant observations on an interesting selection of late-Victorian authors.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Frank Clowes (1848-1923), Principal, University College Nottingham, and Professor of Chemistry and Metallurgy
Publication details: 
6 January 1915; on letterhead 'THE GRANGE, | COLLEGE ROAD, | DULWICH.'
£23.00

One page, 12mo. Good. Docketed and bearing the Society's stamp. Concerns 'Sir Alexander Redler's being brought up by Crookes for election to the Athenaeum by the Committee under Rule II [...] you [...] intimated that you knew Redler & that I need not descant on his virtues: he is a most clubbable man & I trust you may be able to support him'.

Autograph Letter Signed to E. J. Wheatley.

Author: 
Henry R. Potter [David Love, the Nottingham poet]
Publication details: 
Wymeswold Sat[urda]y AM.'
£50.00

Possibly the Henry R. Potter, of the Office of Works, who corresponded with Gladstone in 1885 and 1894. 4 pages, 16mo. In good condition: neatly folded twice, with traces of stub along one edge of verso of second leaf of bifoliate. Apologises for 'the numerous omissions of which I have been guilty' in his lecture. His only excuse is that he 'submitted the lists to two or three persons resident in Nott[ingha]m and consequently, as I concluded, conversant with its "Notables" '.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr. Maitland'.

Author: 
Erminia Rudersforff
Publication details: 
Monday morning'; on letterhead '15, Marlborough Road, | St. John's Wood, | N.W.'
£75.00

Anglo-German soprano vocalist, mother of Richard Mansfield. 2 pages, 16mo. Grubby and creased, but in good condition overall. Written in purple ink in a small tight hand. She wonders whether the Maitlands have 'set me down by this time as the most illmannered and ungratefull of all beings', or if they know what she has been doing since they sent her 'the information about Liverpool'. After the evening they spent together she 'had the children home, your kind information came and I discussed the matter with Harry'.

Syndicate content