SELF

[Samuel Smiles, author of 'Self-Help'.] Autograph Signature ('S Smiles') on part of letter.

Author: 
Samuel Smiles (1812-1904), Scottish biographer and author of the influential work, 'Self-Help'
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

On 3.5 x 11 cm slip of light-grey paper, cut from the end of a letter. In good condition, laid down on backing slip, which carries the manuscript caption: 'Samuel Smiles. Author of "Self Help" and many other Works.' Good firm signature, beneath the printed valediction 'Yours truly'.

[Samuel Smiles, railway administrator and author of 'Self-Help'.] Autograph notebook, containing information relating to his work as Secretary of the South Eastern Railway, including memorandums, tables and transcripts of letters.

Author: 
Samuel Smiles (1812-1904), railway administrator, biographer and author of the influential book 'Self-Help' (1859) [South Eastern Railway; Victorian steam engines; nineteenth-century locomotives]
Publication details: 
Smiles's ownership inscription on fly-leaf: 'S Smiles, South Eastern Railway | 1854.' Entries dating from between 1854 and 1886.
£2,800.00

According to Smiles's entry in the Oxford DNB, he was 'prominent in the negotiations for the amalgamation of the Leeds and Thirsk Railway [by which he was employed] with the North Eastern, which was effected in 1854 and abolished his own office. Thereupon he left Leeds for London on being appointed secretary to the South Eastern Railway (11 November). He held the post for twelve years, in the course of which he successfully arranged for the extension of the line from Charing Cross to Cannon Street (1858–9).

The Duties and Encouragements of the Poor. [With wood-engraving.]

Author: 
[Religious Tract Society]
Publication details: 
[Religious Tract Society.] No. 22. [1820?] 'Printed and sold by R. TILLING, 68, Circus-street, Liverpool.'
£56.00

16mo, 8 pp. Unbound as issued. Following slug: 'Price 2s. 8d. per 100. | Great Allowance to Shopkeepers and Booksellers.' Text clear and complete. On aged and grubby paper. Vignette, beneath title, of priest exhorting poor family in their humble home. Separate sections on duties and encouragements, each with numbered sub-sections of 'inspired passages'. Scarce: the only copies on COPAC at the British Library, Lambeth Palace, Manchester and the V&A.

Character.

Author: 
Samuel Smiles
Publication details: 
London: John Murray, 1885. New edition.
£60.00

Victorian writer and social reformer (DNB), famous for his book 'Self-Help (1859)'. Inscribed by Smiles on the half-title 'To Dear Georgie | from the Author | S Smiles. | Christmas 1886'. Later ownership inscription on front free endpaper. 8vo, xii + 388 pages, followed by sixteen-page catalogue of publisher's advertisements. Original maroon cloth, with blindstamped bevelled boards. Not in the best of condition: cloth worn, stained and rubbed; spine frayed and faded with long tear along hinge; binding loose; paper somewhat discoloured with some foxing.

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