ORNITHOLOGY

[Robert E. Groves, marine and landscape artist.] His Autograph Signature to typed announcement giving details of a meeting to promote the foundation of ‘A Bird Sanctuary for Lymington’.

Author: 
Robert E. Groves [Robert Emmanuel Groves] (1866-1944) marine and landscape artist [bird sanctuary at Lymington, Hampshire; British Seagull, outboard motor manufacturer]
Publication details: 
No date, but after Groves moved to Lymington in the early 1930s.
£56.00

A good illustrated article on Groves and his boats is to be found in the magazine ‘The Gull’, March 2013, pp.19-26 (available online), emphasizing his ‘brilliant line drawings in British Seagull’s early post-war advertising’. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged. Neatly folded twice. Twenty typed lines beneath the heading ‘A Bird Sanctuary for Lymington.’ Some lines and passages lightly underlined in red pencil. Signed at foot by Groves, as ‘Organiser and (Sec: pro-tem)’. Begins: ‘An Important Meetings is to be held in / The Assembly Room. Angel Hotel. Lymington. / on / Friday.

[Reginald Denham, English actor, writer and Broadway director.] Four chatty Autograph Letters Signed to the theatre historian W. Macqueen-Pope, with carbon of a reply by MP, and two associated items from other parties.

Author: 
Reginald Denham (1894-1983), English actor, writer and Broadway director [W. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian]
Publication details: 
One of Denham’s letters dated 8 June 1951; the others without year but from the same time. All four from 100 Central Park South, New York 19. Macqueen-Pope’s letter dated 5 October 1951; 359 Strand, WC2 [London]. The other two items also from 1951.
£135.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) The seven items are in good condition, though one of Denham’s letters has slight wear to one edge. All date from the same period. The four Denham letters total 5pp, foolscap 8vo; three are signed ‘Reg’ and the other ‘Reginald’; two are on his letterhead. The fully-dated Denham letter (8 June 1951) is the longest at 2pp, 8vo. Addressed to ‘My dear Mac’, he gives details of a visit he is paying to England to settle his late mother’s affairs (‘She was 83.’) He is also going to ‘confer with Edward Percy.

[Sir Peter Scott, ornithologist, conservationist and artist.] Typed Letter Signed, advising ‘Squirrel’ on ‘the right type of field glasses’ and new developments in the design of binoculars.

Author: 
Sir Peter Scott [Sir Peter Markham Scott] (1909-1989), ornithologist, artist, conservationist, founder of the Wildfowl Trust, son of Antarctic explorer Sir Robert Falcon Scott
Scott
Publication details: 
3 November 1962; on letterhead (with illustration by him of birds in flight) of the Wildfowl Trust, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.
£50.00
Scott

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight spotting to margin. Folded three times. Good signature: ‘Peter Scott.’ Addressing himself to ‘Dear Squirrel’, he writes: ‘Yes, of course I will try to advise you on the right type of field glasses. I have used Ross 12 by 50 Stepsun for many years and have found it a very good glass for ornithological and also general use. I would strongly recommend it.

[ Robert Wilson Shufeldt, American ornithologist and white supremacist. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('R. W. Shufeldt') to Alexander Ramsey, regarding the 'Scientific Roll'.

Author: 
Robert Wilson Shufeldt (1850-1934), American ornithologist and white supremacist [ Alexander Ramsey ]
Publication details: 
From Fort Wigate, New Mexico. 28 January 1886.
£320.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. A presentation copy of the 'Scientific Roll' has 'just come to hand, as I have been snowed in at this point for a long time': 'if my purse were only as willing as my spirit I would put the shoulder to the wheel with you. It is a splendid work, and I look for the remaining parts with great interest.' He ends by asking to be put down as a subscriber. Ramsay's 'Scientific Roll: A Bibliography, Guide and Index to Climate' appeared between 1880 and 1884, and 'Scientific Roll and Magazine of Systematized Notes' appeared between 1890 and 1900.

[ Howard Saunders, ornithologist. ] Autograph Letter Signed to E. L. Arnold, asking for more particulars about the piratical-looking birds' referred to in his 'Indian Hills', and explaining that gulls and terns are his 'speciality'.

Author: 
Howard Saunders (1835-1907), ornithologist [ E. L. Arnold [ Edwin Lester Linden Arnold ] (1857-1935), author ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 7 Radnor Place, Gloucester Square, W. [ London ] 18 December 1881.
£56.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Forty-eight lines of text. Arnold's 'On the Indian Hills, or Coffee-Planting in Southern India' had been published in London earlier in the year, and Saunders writes that '[a]s an ornithologist' he has been 'much interested by the numerous allusions to the birds observed [...] but most of all by your remarks on the outward voyage (pp.101-3) on the gulls &c of the Red Sea'.

[ Charles Lucien Bonaparte, ornithologist and nephew of Napoleon. ] Autograph Signature (' C L. Bonaparte').

Author: 
Charles Lucien Bonaparte [ Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano ] (1803-1857), biologist and ornithologist, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£56.00

On 5.5 x 14 cm. strip of paper. Apparently written in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'I am much flattered by the demand | C L. Bonaparte' ('demand' being a mistake for 'request').

[ John Gould, ornithologist. ] Autograph Note Signed to London bookseller J. E. Cornish, acknowledging a payment.

Author: 
John Gould (1804-1881), ornithologist [ J. E. Cornish, London bookseller ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 'London, 26, Charlotte Street, | Bedford Square. W. E.' 19 August 1870.
£150.00

1p., 12mo. In very good condition. Large bold signature. 'Dear Sir | Thanks for your prompt remittance: I return the a/c duly accepted and remain | Dear Sir | Yours very truly | John Gould | Mr. J. E. Cornish'. Docketted at top left.

[ John Gould, bird-artist ] Printed Receipt Signed boldly over stamp, "John Gould".

Author: 
John Gould (1804–1881), English ornithologist and bird artist
Publication details: 
[Printed address] To John Gould. 26 Charlotte Street, Bedford Square, W.C. 17 August 1870
£300.00

Receipt, part printed, part MS., 21 x 13cm, fold marks, good condition. A "Mr Cornish" has purchased Parts 17 & 18 of the Birds of Great Britain. Note; "The Birds of Great Britain" (1862–73).

Autograph Letter Signed "H.H. Godwin-Austen" to "[E.] Ray Lankester", zoologist, about a statue of T.H. Huxley.

Author: 
H.H. Godwin-Austen (1834-1923), explorer, topographer, geologist, naturalist and surveyor.
Publication details: 
Nore, Godalming, 27 April 1900
£125.00

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium (second leaf blank), good condition. "I very much regret that I am not well enough to be present at the unveiling of the statue of Huxley tomorrow, which I had been looking forward to see. I got a chill last Saturday when it was so hot & have had an abscess in the ear, which has just released itself, but it would not do to go out in the cold air [...]"

Typed Letter Signed ('Oliver G. Pike') from the ornithologist Oliver Gregory Pike, offering his services as a lecturer.

Author: 
Oliver G. Pike [Oliver Gregory Pike] (1877-1963), FZS, FRPS, British ornithologist, wildlife photographer and documentary pioneer
Publication details: 
On his letterhead of 'The Birdland Lectures, The Bungalow, Leighton Buzzard.' May 1925.
£80.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, aged and lightly-creased. The letterhead includes fourteen endorsements from newspapers in the left-hand margin, with Pike described as 'Author of the Birdland Books. | 100,000 copies sold.' Although bearing a genuine signature, the letter may be a circular. Pike is enclosing 'a copy of my Lecture Prospectus for next season' (not present). He goes on to discuss his 'new Lecture entitled: - "BIRDLAND CAMEOS"', before concluding: 'If your Society should decide to engage me, I can promise them a thoroughly interesting evening.'

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Clifton') from Edward Henry Stuart Bligh, Lord Clifton (later 7th Earl of Darnley) to Rev. C. W. Shepherd of Trotterscliffe, all concerning Kent natural history. With 15 page list of 'Funghi, East Kent'.

Author: 
Edward Henry Stuart Bligh (1851-1900), of Cobham Hall, Gravesend, Kent, successively Lord Clifton and (from 1896) the 7th Earl of Darnley [Rev. Charles William Shepherd (1838-1920) of Trotterscliffe]
Edward Henry Stuart Bligh (fungi)
Publication details: 
4 October 1889 and 22 August and 14 September 1891. All from Dumpton Park, Ramsgate, Kent.
£650.00
Edward Henry Stuart Bligh (fungi)

All 4to, with the letters totalling 22 pp, and the list of 'Funghi, East Kent' of 15 pp. All items clear and complete. Three leaves with light staining (one with short closed tear), otherwise all in good condition, on aged paper. All three in envelopes (lacking stamps), addressed by Clifton and with his seal in red wax. ONE. 4 October 1889. 4to, 12 pp. Begins: 'It seems a long time since we had a ramble on the Cuxton and Ralling hills from Cobham, and when I killed a viper; and I have been much amused at the apparent incredulity of a brother B.O.U. at the Dumpton Park rarities!

Alnwick Scientific and Mechanical Institution. Fine Art Exhibition in Corn Exchange, Alnwick, November 1882, Collection of Coins, Eggs of Farne Islands, Native and Foreign Curiosities, &c., &c., collected and exhibited by Mr. J. J. Horsley, Alnwick.

Author: 
J. J. Horsley of Alnwick, collector of coins and eggs of the Farne Islands [Alnwick, Northumberland; birds' eggs; ornithology; numismatics]
Publication details: 
1882. Alnwick: Printed by C. E. Moore.
£75.00

12mo, 11 pp. Stitched and unbound. First and last leaves loose, otherwise in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper with grubby title. The section of 'Eggs of the Farne Islands' consists of fifteen entries on pp.8-9, from '1. Eider or St. Cuthbert's Duck (Somateria mollissima)' to '15.

Autograph Note Signed ('J H Gurney') to Messrs Hertslet & Scott, No 31 Norfolk Street, Strand, London.

Author: 
John Henry Gurney (1819-1819), banker and ornithologist
Publication details: 
31 July 1840; Norwich.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. With 1 cm vertical closed tear at foot of each leaf. Addressed, with postmarks, on the reverse of the second leaf, which is docketed '31. July 1840. | Gurney & Co. that Mrs E. Lofty resides at Hethersett near Norwich -'. Reads 'Respected friends | We believe that the lady for whose address you enquire in yr favor of the 29th Inst resides at Hethersett near this city'. Gurney joined the family business at the age of seventeen.

Autograph Letter Signed to the naturalist Rev. Francis Orpen Morris (1810-1893).

Author: 
James Blackwood, Scottish publisher
Publication details: 
17 October 1857, on his business letterhead, 8 Lovell's Court, Paternoster Row.
£56.00

8vo: 2 pp. The 'idea is worth Consideration', but Blackwood 'can hardly see how any large sale cann be depended upon, so as to repay the expense of printing advertising &c.' Asks that Morris send him 'one sermon, to indicate style, length & to estimate cost'. Asks what size of paper should be used. Notices that Morris's works are 'principally on natural history'. Likes the idea of 'the <?> natural history', and 'will take an early opportunity of looking at it'. This notable London publisher is a surprising omission from BBTI.

Report of the departmental committee on the protection of wild birds. Presented to Parliament by command of His Majesty.

Author: 
Committee on the protection of wild birds [ORNITHOLOGY]
Publication details: 
London: Published by His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1919.
£50.00

44 pages. Folio. Unbound. In poor condition: first and last leaf fraying, torn and separated. An important document: a landmark in the history of environmentalism. The committee members were the Hon. E. S. Montagu (Under Secretary of State for India), Lord Lucas (Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture), Frank Elliott of the Home Office, E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Hugh S. Gladstone and the appropriately-named W. Eagle Clarke.

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