RIVER

[A trip up the Nile by a gentleman-artist, 1864.] Manuscript agreement between Thomas Kennet Were and Fairman & Co. of Alexandria, to charter a dehabeah for a four-month trip up the Nile, signed by him, certified by the consul's clerk, with receipts.

Author: 
Thomas Kennet Were (1838-1916) of Sidmouth, traveller and gentleman-artist [Fairman & Co. (latterly Kelson, Hankey & Cie.), Alexandria, Egypt]
Publication details: 
Agreement and certification dated from Alexandria, Egypt, 9 December 1864; receipt for balance dated 17 April 1865. Separate receipt for payment in account, 9 December 1864.
£120.00

The University of Wyoming American Heritage Center has mounted a ‘traveling exhibit’ of watercolours and diaries from Kennet Were’s 1868-9 journey across the United States, a long account of which he published in the Gazette (‘Nine Months in the United States’) on his return. Were’s obituary in the Transactions of the Devonshire Association, vol. 48, (1916), p. 54, describes him as one of Sidmouth’s ‘most respected inhabitants’ and ‘the prime mover in movements for the improvement of the resort and a supporter of all good causes’, but does not refer to his artistic activities.

[Henry Mancini, one of the greatest composers in the history of cinema.] Large publicity photograph with Signed Autograph Inscription ‘to Ray’.

Author: 
Henry Mancini (1924-1994), Hollywood composer regarded as one of the greatest in the history of cinema, whose compositions include ‘Moon River’ and ‘The Pink Panther Theme’
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£50.00

A true great: Mancini won four Oscars, a Golden Globe and twenty Grammies. No place or date. Black and white 19 x 23.5 cm print on 20 x 25.5 cm glossy photographic paper. In fair condition, with slight creasing at one corner. In sports jacket and tie, Mancini stares over his piano with the merest of smiles. On the left-hand side of his jacket, in Mancini’s autograph, is the inscription, in black felt-tip pen: ‘to / Ray / Henry / Mancini’. See image.

[HMS Arethusa, ship's log, 1837.] Manuscript log of HMS Arethusa, while stationed in 'Passa D'Arcos Bay' [Paço d'Arcos, Portugal] and travelling from Cadiz to Lisbon. With 'Remarks' including a death and burial at sea, and punishment by lashing.

Author: 
[HMS Arethusa, 46 gun fifth-rate Royal Navy ship, launched in 1817]
Publication details: 
Passo de Arcos First entry while 'At Single Anchor in Passo D'Arcos Bay' [Paço d'Arcos, Portugal], dated 24 July 1837; last entry from 'Fort St. Julian' [on the mouth of the Tagus river], dated 30 September [1837]
£500.00

HMS Arethusa, the fourth of nine Royal Navy ships to bear the name, was a 46-gun fifth rate launched in 1817. (Fifth-rate ships served as fast scouts or independent cruisers. Owing to their combination of manoeuvrability and firepower, they were often assigned to interdict enemy shipping.) She was was renamed HMS Bacchus in 1844 on conversion into a hulk, and was broken up in 1883. The present item is 21pp., 8vo. Stitched. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn grey paper. With loose heavily worn remains of brown marbled wraps (front and back cover detached from one another).

[Peel River Land and Mineral Company Limited, London.] Autograph Manuscript certificate by C. A. Aylmer, with two memoranda, one signed.

Author: 
C. A. Aylmer [Charles Arthur Aylmer (1814-1885)], Secretary, Peel River Land and Mineral Company Limited [New South Wales, Australia]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Peel River Land & Mineral Company Limited, 54D Moorgate St Buildings, London EC. 21 April 1865.
£56.00

The certificate is 1p., 4to, on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. It reads: 'I hereby Certify that on the twenty-first day of April, One Thousand Eight hundred & sixty five, Walter Stevenson Davidson of No. 16 St. James's Street, Esquire, is a registered Proprietor in the Books of the Peel River Land & Mineral Company Limited of Sixty five thousand pounds (£65,000) Consolidated Stock. | C. A. Aylmer. | Secy.' The recto of the second leaf carries the following: '21st. Apl 1865 | Memo. | Mr.

[Tindal Pearson Porter, licensed surveyor, Brisbane, Australia.] Autograph Letter Signed (Tindal P. Porter) to his brother George, describing his life at the mining township of Nigger Creek, Herberton, North Queensland.

Author: 
Tindal Pearson Porter (1857-1914), English-born licensed surveyor, Brisbane, Australia [Nigger Creek, Herberton Queensland, Australia]
Publication details: 
B<orrama?>, Nigger Creek, Herberton [Queensland, Australia]. 2 November 1910.
£220.00

5pp., 4to. In good condition, on five sheets of aged and lightly-stained paper. Written in a difficult crabbed hand. Porter begins the letter by explaining that he is writing at night during steady rain, and that the previous day he rode in from his camp 'to "come in from the wet" and have been weather-bound here ever since'.

Printed circular letter, signed by Walter Townley [Sir Walter Beaupre Townley] as 'Chairman', and headed 'Argentine Centenary 1910. | British Memorial.' Regarding 'the presentation of a Memorial Clock Tower' by 'the British Community' in Argentina.

Author: 
Walter Townley [Sir Walter Beaupre Townley (1863-1945), British Ambassador to Argentina], Chairman, Argentine Centenary 1910, British Memorial
Publication details: 
Buenos Aires, July 1909.
£65.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on lighty-aged and creased paper, with a few short closed tears. Printed in blue and black. The circular reads: 'Argentine Centenary 1910. | British Memorial. | It has been decided by the British Community to celebrate the Argentine Centenary in 1910, and that the form should take the presentation of a Memorial Clock Tower, to be erected in a suitable place. | Subscriptions towards the above object are solicited andn may be forwarded to Mr. A. C. Allen, London Manager of the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway, River Plate House, Finsbury Circus, London.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W F Butler') from Sir William Francis Butler, Irish officer in the British Army, to an unnamed correspondent, discussing the 'great mediaeval Sin' that was committed by the English in Ireland.

Author: 
Sir William Francis Butler (1838-1910), Irish officer in the British Army in the Red River and Asante [Ashanti] campaigns, member of the Irish privy council and supporter of Charles Stewart Parnell
Publication details: 
On letterhead of North Camp, Aldershot. 13 May 1894.
£80.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Sir'. England and Ireland are not named in the letter, but subject of the letter is clear from the context. He has read 'with very great pleasure' the pamphlet which the recipient sent him. 'You are correct in surmising that for the present at least I take no part in the political question of the day - but my views show no change'.

Map by A. B. Becher showing 'The Course of the Quorra, (the Joliba or Niger of Park) from the Journals of Messrs. Richard and John Lander. With their Route from Badagry to the Northward, in 1830.'

Author: 
Alexander Bridport Becher, 1796-1876 [Hugh Clapperton (1788-1827); Richard Lemon Lander (1804-1834); John Lander (1807-1839); Niger [Quorra] River, Nigeria; Africa]
Map by A. B. Becher showing 'The Course of the Quorra
Publication details: 
'A. B. Becher, del. J. & C. Walker, Sculpt.' [Produced to accompany the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, vol. 1, 1831.]
£65.00
Map by A. B. Becher showing 'The Course of the Quorra

Approximately 27.5 x 31 cm. Printed in black and white, with relief shown by hill shading. A detailed map, showing the routes of the 1830 expeditions in Nigeria of the Landers' and of Captain Clapperton. Lightly aged, with closed tears unobtrusively repaired with archival paper. Small vignettes of 'Eboe House' and 'Hut called in Borgoo, Catambo.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Ashby-Sterry') to 'my dear Worth'.

Author: 
Joseph Ashby-Sterry (c.1835-1917), English novelist, poet and artist, contributor to 'The Graphic' under the name 'Bystander'
Joseph Ashby-Sterry, novelist, poet and artist, Letter
Publication details: 
18 July 1872; 3 Plowden Buildings, Temple.
£38.00
Joseph Ashby-Sterry, novelist, poet and artist, Letter

16mo, 1 p. Bifolium. Eight lines. Text clear and complete. On stained, aged paper. An uncommon autograph, written in a distinctive stylised hand in purple ink. Reluctantly announcing his inability to go on 'the Barge trip', which he had looked upon 'as the pleasantest excursion of the year, & alas & alas (not that a lass has any thing to do with my engagement) I shall be unable to be with you'.

Printed handbill, with illustration, headed 'Mississippi River Convention', advertising a meeting 'to consider the condition of this passage in the Mississippi.

Author: 
James Handly, Secretary; Charles E. Cox; James M. Bishop; Thomas Austin; W. B. Bull; Chauncey H. Castle [Mississippi River Convention, 1887]
Publication details: 
[...] to be held in the Assembly Rooms of the Young Men's Business Association, in Quincy, on Thursday, October 13th, 1887'.
£95.00

4to, 1 p. Twenty-six lines of text. Clear and complete. Very good, on aged paper. Minor traces of mount adhering to reverse. Vignette of riverboat beneath heading. Signed by Handly and five others, ending with 'Chauncey H. Castle, Of the Comstock-Castle Stove Co.' Begins 'The division of the Mississippi river between the mouths of the Des Moines and Illinois rivers having been in a notoriously unfavorable condition for the purpose of navigation for the past two years, it has been deemed advisable to call a River Convention'.

Corrected Autograph Manuscript of the final draft of an article entitled 'London's Broadest Highway' (which appeared in the Strand Magazine, 1931).

Author: 
R. A. Scott-James [Rolfe Arnold Scott-James] (1878-1959), journalist, editor of the 'London Mercury', and friend of Wyndham Lewis [River Thames; Strand Magazine]
Publication details: 
[In envelope postmarked 5 September 1930.]
£180.00

In an envelope with label and compliments slip of Hilda Neal, Copying Offices and Secretarial Training School, by whom the article had been typed up for the printers. On one side each of thirty-two A4 leaves (dimensions roughly 25 x 20 cm). The text is complete, although there are wormholes to the latter leaves, and damage and loss at the head of the last leaf.

Eight printed nineteenth-century items relating to salmon fishing, including offprints of newspaper articles entitled 'Stormontfield Ponds - The Exodus of 1861' and 'The Coquet as a Salmon River'.

Author: 
William Dickson; Anthony Wimmer; Thomas Ashworth [nineteenth-century salmon fishing; Coquet River; Stormontfield Ponds; Alnwick Castle; Kelso; Duke of Northumberland; piscatorial; Victorian angling]
Publication details: 
All British: 1857, 1858, 1860, 1861, two from 1871, and two undated (one from the 1860s).
£250.00

All items with text clear and entire. Item One: offprint, on one side of a piece of wove paper 25 x 18.5 cm. Good, on lightly-aged paper with some wear to extremities. Headed 'AQUAECULTURE, And the Artificial Propogation [sic] of the Danube Salmon in Bavaria, BY DR. WIMMER. | Re-printed from the Macclesfield Courier June 27, 1857.' The letter, dated 'Landshut, 11th June, 1857', is addressed to 'Thomas Ashworth, Esq.' and covers two columns of small print. Item Two: four-page offprint, on all sides of a grey-paper bifolium, leaf dimensions 20 x 12 cm. Very good. Headed 'ON PISICULTURE.

Typed Letter Signed ('Walter Besant') to Mrs [Alice] Westlake.

Author: 
Sir Walter Besant (1836-1901), novelist and historian of London [Alice Westlake (nee Hare); Adam and Charles Black, publishers; The Survey of London; Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; Frognal]
Publication details: 
13 February 1897; on Adam and Charles Black 'Survey of London' letterhead.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. Seventeen lines of text. On lightly aged and creased paper. Attractive arts and crafts letterhead. Sending his 'mosts profound sympathy in the danger which threatens Chelsea'. He will sign 'the paper [...] with the greatest of pleasure', although he anticipates 'very little good as a possible result'. Suggests a time at which the paper can be sent to him.

Sailing ships on the Hudson River, New York, viewed from Hoboken Docks.

Author: 
Photograph
Publication details: 
Undated but certainly nineteenth century.
£100.00

Evocative picture with docks to the right viewed through tree branches, and a number of boats and ships clearly visible, with three three-masted ones in the foreground, one sideways on and the two beside it viewed from the bows. Dimensions: 2¼ inches by 3¾ inches. Mounted on a piece of pink board which is docketed on reverse in nineteenth century hand: 'Hudson River. N.Y. from Hoboken Docks.' The picture is a little creased in the bottom left-hand corner and there is minor discolouration due to ink stains and grime.

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