Prussia

In 1858 her son Frederick married Princess Victoria, the eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; her grandson was Kaiser Wilhem III. For Lady Ashbourne, see her husband’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Before receiving Lady Ashbourne’s invitation, ‘The Duke & Duchess of Abercorns, [sic] my Cousins, had begged us attend a Masonic Concert the 18th.

The papers of Sir Charles Stewart Scott (an Ulsterman: see his entry in the Ulster Dictionary of Biography) are held by the British Library. The present journal, described by its writer as ‘Private & most Confidential’, covers the very start of his career, from Paris in 1859 to Copenhagen in 1863.

An uncommon illustration: no other coloured copy traced. Rovinsky 1889, No. 773 (p.151); and Morozov 1912, No. 782 (p.125). Approximately 21.5 x 17 cm, with dimensions of plate 21.25 x 15.5 cm. Tightly cropped, and without the publisher’s details at the foot, and the number 552 at top right. Tastefully coloured in blue, yellow, brown and red. Discoloured and spotted, with closed tear at head over blank area of design, and other damage to blank areas repaired on reverse with archival tape.

1p, 8vo. On grey laid paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Madam / Permettez-moi de joindre à cette lettre l’annonce du bazar de charité que va avoir lieu dans notre maison et que j’espère sera visité par Votre Altesse Royale. / Designez agréer, Princesse, mes plus respectueux hommages. / Marie Radziwill’.

(1788) Letter, bifolium, , cr. 8vo, good condition, one page giving assurances as to quality, etc., with list (essentially a quote) of prices/features of A new Fashionable Chariot with a [?] light coloured cloth, Painted a Green [?] Patent yellow, made of the best materials & season'd timber, followed by a price list of various features (blinds, plated head plates, steps, strong plated harness, packing etc etc). See image. (1799) 1p., 4to, bifolium, very good, on lightly-aged paper.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: 'Dear Princess Charlotte. | May I venture to ask Your Royal Highness's acceptance of a small wedding present from my husband and myself with our most sincere and heartfelt good wishes for Your Royal Highness's future happiness and prosperity.' The present is 'the newest style of Minton's china and this is the first specimen of the kind'. She concludes in conventional style.

1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. With stub from mount adhering along one edge. From the celebrated manuscript collection of Richard Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton). In reply to the unnamed recipient's letter, he writes that he has presented to the Berlin Academy 'votre Prospectus que vous les avez deja fait parvenir par M le Directeur Merian [i.e. Johann Bernhard Merian (1723-1807)].' The Academy wishes Formey to thank the writer for his attentions, but as such works do not feature 'dans le plan de la Bibliotheque', the Academy will not be able to profit from the offer.

3pp, 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. With thin strip of paper attached to reverse of second leaf, which is addressed, with seal in red wax, to 'Monsieur le General Grenville.' He begins by reassuring him, and condoling with him over his excessive sufferings ('vous en souffrés excessivement'), and continues: 'Votre oppressions paroit etre nerveuse, et elle dévient [sic] plus considerables a mésure que vous vous en saupés dâvantage.

Waldburg-Truchsess appointed Beethoven Kapellmeister to the King of Westphalia when serving as the King's Chamberlain, and was one of the four Commissioners responsible for supervising Napoleon's exile in Elba. The letter is written on the eve of his return from the Hague, where he had been Prussian ambassador since 1827. 1p., 8vo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper with wear along one edge, and damage to second leaf caused by breaking of seal (not present).

1p., 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Friday 19/6 | Dear Mrs. Alexander | One word to-day: Mr Gobah takes the house, on your terms. Pray, send the Inventory. More to-morrow. | Ever yrs | Bunsen'. Presumably written during Bunsen's long residence in London.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Written from the Prussian Embassy. The letter reads: 'Chevalier Bunsen presents his compliments to Mr. Henry M Kemishead, and regrets, that neither his health nor his public as well as literary occupations allow him to extend the sphere of the engagements, which he has already contracted for this season, and that therefore he shall not be able to accept the invitation for the Public Dinner of St. Mary's Hospital, which he has had the honour to receive.'

16pp., 8vo. In yellow printed wraps. Disbound. In fair condition, on aged high-acidity paper, in worn wraps becoming detached from one another and the pamphlet. Part of stamp to one corner at reverse of title. Regarding Germany and the political situation in Europe. Begins: 'L'Allemagne est inquiète.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Replying to a request for autographs, he is sending 'an Envelope addressed by my Father' and (writing in a postscript) another 'addressed to me by the Dean of Westminster', but he 'cannot give you one of the great Niebuhr'. He agrees with Clarke's 'feeling as to possessing something coming from, or belonging to some great or good man. It is a link - as is the signature of a loved friend or companion, with the unseen world.' He enquires after Clarke's health, and recalls 'calling at your School once - & another time at your house'.

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed on second leaf, with broken seal in red wax, 'A Madame | Madame Sophie de Gail | &c &c &c | Paris'. Nine lines of neatly and elegantly written text. A somewhat flirtatious acceptance of an invitation, with Bartholdy noting 'les belles choses que vous daignez me dire [...] Votre maniere est trop sedisante pour ne pas faire de l'impression'. It was at Bartholdy's suggestion that his sister Lea, the mother of the composer Felix Mendelssohn, joined him in adopting the surname Bartholdy.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly-aged. 'I shipped on yesterday to you through Mr J. D. Brink Jr Forwarding Merchant of this city a box containing 4 Oil Pictures which I wish you to expose for sale at your Exhibition Rooms. | The titles and prices of the same will be given you by my friend Mr G. du Mourier. Please let me know when they come to hand.' The Berner's Street Gallery's association with American artists would continue: in the following decade it would gain notoriety for exhibiting Whistler's 'Symphony in White, No. 1'.

2pp., 8vo. Heavily aged and creased, with slight damage to signature. 20 lines of text, neatly written out by a secretary. Concerning revisions to his entry in the volume. Scan supplied on request.

44pp., 4to. With frontispiece photographic portrait of the author. In grey printed wraps. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper in loose front and back wraps detached from one another. Stamps, shelfmarks and label of the Ministry of Education Reference Library, London. Six copies on COPAC.

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 ! !

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 ! !

One page, 4to, with backing paper, small loss at one corner, faint foxing, small closed tear, sl. ruckled in parts, mainly good, with text complete and legible. "The royal library of Berlin being very complete in the litterature [sic] of botany, wants yet the valuable and beautiful work by which you have explained andf illustrated the nature and characters of the genus of pines; and by the acquisition of which I desire very much to add a new and important ornament to our extensive collection.

Landscape folio leaf (32.5 x 40.5 cm), 1 p. On paper watermarked 'JOHN HALL | 1810'. Neatly ruled to make a complex, detailed table, in three columns of 31 rows each. The table has a central vertical fold, with the left hand side of the reverse mounted on a leaf removed from an autograph album. In poor condition, with around an eighth of the total area of the paper and text lacking, mostly from the bottom right-hand corner. Despite the loss the table (presumably prepared for the British War Office) contains a mass of valuable information.

16mo (roughly 11 x 8 cm), 1 p. Creased and ruckled, and with slight discolouration from previous mounting, and with a piece of the mount adhering to the blank reverse. Reads 'My dear Sir | I thank you for your letter and the information it contained. I write to Paris to have PP' book as soon as it is out. | Yours truly | [signed] Elisabeth'. Signature stylized to the point of illegibility. Piece of mount docketed in contemporary hand 'Elizabeth late Queen of Prussia'.

On piece of paper roughly 6.5 x 13 cm. Good, on creased and lightly aged paper. Reads '<...> | yours very sincerely | H. Bismark'. On reverse '<...> looking forward immensely to my visit to you. I have just been asked to lunch with a very old lady <...>'.

12mo, 2 pp, 10 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, with scrap of brown paper mount adhering in top right-hand corner on the reverse (not affecting text). Concerns a volume which 'has been duly forwarded to Count Seckendorff, Comptroller of the Household of Her Majesty the Emperess Frederick'. The Ambassador Sir Edward Malet has asked Rodd to express to the correspondent 'his personal thanks for the second copy you were good enough to forward to him'.

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'.

Signed "Frederick of Prussia". One page, slighly creased but suitable for framing. He discusses Dandy's offer of "yet another Motor Cycle, this time a 1914 Triumph two Stroke". He says that his younger son would be "very happy if he could have such a rare Motor Cycle". He doesn't think his older son, Nicholas, is yet old emough to ride the bike already given by Dandy.

Baron C.C.J. Bunsen, Prussian diplomat and scholar (1791-1860). He helps the Lord Mayor with his plans for returning the visit of the King of Prussia in January 1842. He gives detailed information on the route and means of transport, including timings, instructs him on the protocol of contacting the Court, gives his plans for visiting the Norwich music festival, and asks for the draft of the Lord Mayor's speech to the King of Prussia. He will have prepared the paperwork for the Prussian Customs that same day.

Conventional Christmas Card with winter's scene on front, signed inside "Brigid & Frederick" with greetings and their address (Patmore Hall, etc.) printed. In original envelope which says "Photographs Do Not Bend" suggesting that the card may have been accompanied by a photograph.

Prussian ambassador. One page, 8vo. He announces his arrival (in Italy), gives informnation about his post and what he wants done with it.