SOUTH

[Robert Torrens; South Australia; Torrens River; economist] A utograph Letter Signed Robt Torrens to Edwd Wakefield (foundation of S.Australia - see note below) about presenting his An Essay on the External Corn Trade (Hatchard. 1815.)'

Author: 
Robert Torrens FRS (1780 ? 1864), Royal Marines officer, political economist, part-owner of the influential Globe newspaper, and a prolific writer [also see notes involving South Australia below]
Torrens
Publication details: 
61 Wells Street, Oxford Street, 30 June 1815
£2,000.00
Torrens

Note: a. He also chaired the board of the London-based South Australian Colonisation Commission created by the South Australia Act 1834 to oversee the new colony of South Australia. He also chaired the board of the London-based South Australian Colonisation Commission created by the South Australia Act 1834 to oversee the new colony of South Australia, before the colony went bankrupt and he was sacked in 1841.

[Lord Bryce (James Bryce), Liberal politician, jurist and British Ambassador to United States.] Autograph Letter Signed to William Sheowring declining to address tye South Place Ethical Society.

Author: 
Lord Bryce [James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce] (1838-1922), Ulster-born Liberal politician, jurist, British Ambassador to United States [The South Place Ethical Society, London; Conway Hall]
Publication details: 
9 August 1898. On embossed letterhead of the House of Commons.
£40.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘James Bryce’. Addressed to ‘W. S[?]ing Esq.’, presumably the secretary of the South Place Ethical Society. His ‘time is already so fully occupied with public & private work & engagements of many kinds’ that he ‘cannot hope to comply’ with the recipient’s request that he ‘should give an address for the South Place Ethical Society’.

[Abram Smythe Palmer, D.D., author and lexicographer.] Autograph Letter Signed to J. T. Barron, regarding the sale of one of his titles, and ‘ A.K.HB’s address’.

Author: 
Abram Smythe Palmer (1844-1917), D.D., lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin, lexicographer, supporter of Max Müller’s ‘solar myth’ hypothesis
Publication details: 
15 March 1882; ‘Leacroft / Staines’.
£45.00

For most of his life Palmer was Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, South Woodford. He was the father of the composer Geoffrey Molyneaux Palmer. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘A. Smyth Palmer’. He offers to supply a copy of his ‘Word-hunter’s Note-book’ at a cheaper price than it can be got from the publisher Trübner. ‘I am sorry I cannot help you to A.K.HB’s address - He is a clergyman (I think) of the Church of Scotland - probably “N. B.” [i.e. addressing the letter with this abbreviation for ‘North Britain’] would find him.’

[Lord Buxton, Governor-General of South Africa [Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton), Liberal politician].] Autograph Letter Signed, thanking Bernard Piffard for copies of the ‘West Herts Radical’, which he hopes will prove effective.

Author: 
Lord Buxton, Governor-General of South Africa during the Great War [Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton (1853-1934), Liberal politician] [Bernard Piffard (1833-1916), microscopist and entomologist]
Publication details: 
1 April 1890; on embossed letterhead of 14 Eaton Place, S.W. [London]
£65.00

Buxton was a popular Governor-General who formed an effective partnership with Botha. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed to ‘B Piffard Esq’ and signed ‘Sydney Buxton’. He is obliged for the ‘copies of the “West Herts Radical”’, and is glad to hear that Piffard is ‘able to circulate such a large number in your Division’. He hopes it will have ‘a satisfactory effect on the next Election’.

[Newcastle and Berwick Railway, 1846.] Manuscript 'Minutes on projected Railways in the Manor of Tynemouth' by 'Thorp & Dickson', Alnwick attorneys, 'Read to Mr. Hudson' (i.e. George Hudson, 'the Railway King').

Author: 
Newcastle and Berwick Railway, 1846: Thorp and Dickson, Alnwick attorneys [George Hudson (1800-1871), 'he Railway King'; Duke of Northumberland; Manor of Tynemouth]
Publication details: 
?Alnwick October 23 - 1846?. ?Thorp & Dickson?.
£220.00

See Hudsons's entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, foolscap 8vo, on three leaves, with fourth covering leaf ('23rd Oct. 1846. / Copy / Railway Minutes / Thorp & Dickson / &c &c'). Attached at one corner with red ribbon. Headed: 'Alnwick October 23 - 1846 / Minutes on projected Railways / in the Manor of Tynemouth - / Read to Mr. Hudson, of which he requested a copy.' There are five minutes, the last covering two pages. The first three read: '1.

[‘The Lion Hunter’: Roualeyn George Gordon-Cumming, Scottish traveller and big game hunter.] Autograph Letter Signed, arranging for a portrait to be sent to the fencing master H. C. Angelo via a ‘pampered menial’.

Author: 
‘The Lion Hunter’: Roualeyn George Gordon-Cumming (1820-1866), Scottish traveller and big game hunter, whose trophies were exhibited around Britain [Henry Charles Angelo, fencing master]
Publication details: 
'232 Piccadilly [London] / Septem 28. 56' [1856].
£180.00

At the time of writing Gordon-Cumming’s trophies were being exhibited at this Piccadilly address, having previously formed part of the Great Exhibition. The recipient Henry Charles Angelo (1806-1866) was a member of the celebrated family of fencing masters, and was at this time teaching the art at the Cavalry College, Richmond. 2pp, 12mo. On the rectos of the two leaves of a bifolium, with the recipient’s name written lengthwise on the verso of the first leaf: ‘H. C. Angelo Esqr’. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice.

[American War of Independence: Battle of the Delaware Capes, 1782.] Autograph Letter Signed by Mrs Joanna Mitchell, regarding prize money due to her as widow of a Royal Navy officer on HMS Diomede, who took part in the capture of the South Carolina.

Author: 
American War of Independence: Battle of the Delaware Capes, 1782 - the capture of the South Carolina by HMS Diomede, HMS Quebec and HMS Astrea [Joanna Mitchell; Royal Navy prize money]
Mrs Joanna Mitchell
Publication details: 
'Tearles Lane Plymouth August 24th 1803'.
£150.00
Mrs Joanna Mitchell

An interesting item in the social history of the Royal Navy, indicating the financial anxieties many naval widows were under. The Battle of the Delaware Capes (or 3rd Battle of Delaware Bay) took place on 20 and 21 December 1782, between the Royal Navy frigates HMS Diomede, Quebec and Astraea and the South Carolina Navy's 40-gun frigate South Carolina, the brigs Hope and Constance, and the schooner Seagrove. The British won, with the Seagrove the only ship that got away. 2pp, foolscap 8vo.

Samuell's Guide: How to know Sydney. Illustrated. Maps of Sydney, the harbour, the suburbs. Fishing resorts, masonic, shooting information, carriage drives, telegraphic code, &c. &c.

Author: 
H. J. Samuell's Guide to Sydney, 1897.
Publication details: 
Printed by McCarron, Stewart & Co., for the Samuell Publishing Company, Sydney, N.S.W. [New South Wales], 1897.
£225.00

16mo (13.5 x 10.5 cm), 288 pp. In original black and red printed wraps, illustrated on front with illustrations relating to the city. Fold-out 'Map of Sydney' (26 x 38 cm) in black and grey, with advertisements on reverse. Lacking the fold-out map which should be present on a stub between pp 124 and 125. Good, a little aged with slight staining at foot of first leaf. In worn and stained wraps, becoming detached from book at front. Ownership inscription of 'U Reynell 1895' in pencil on front wrap. Advertisements throughout. Numerous photographic illustrations.

[Royal Navy, 1838.] Manuscript ‘Return of Treasure conveyed’ by HMS Dublin (Captain Robert Tait), flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Hamond, Commander-in-Chief of the South American station. Signed by Ralph Barton, Senior Lieutenant.

Author: 
Royal Navy, 1838 [HMS Dublin (Captain Robert Tait), flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Hamond, Commander-in-Chief of the South American station; Ralph Barton, Senior Lieutenant]
Publication details: 
Compiled to 31 March 1838. No place.
£180.00

The 1812 HMS Dublin was the third Royal Navy ship of that name. At the time of this document she was a 40-gunner, and the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief of the South American station Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Hamond (1779-1862). See the entries on Barton, Hamond and Tait in O’Byrne’s ‘Naval Biographical Dictionary’ (1849), and Hamond’s in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape foolscap 8vo. Aged and creased. Docketed on reverse: ‘Dublin / Treasure conveyed. / 31. March 1838. / E1/1 / Entd 2d. April. / W Let’.

[Conquest of Cayenne, 1809.] Manuscript Petition to King George III, signed by Thomas Sevestre, surgeon of HMS Confiance, asking permission to 'enjoy the Privileges' of a Portuguese order. With seal of Portuguese ambassador Sousa Coutinho.

Author: 
Conquest of Cayenne, 1809 [French Guiana conquered by the Portuguese under British leadership]; Sir Thomas Sevestre (1784-1842) [Sir James Lucas Yeo (1782-1818)]
Publication details: 
Certified correct in London on 31 March 1810.
£250.00

The Conquest of Cayenne - part of Britain’s strategy of using its naval power to attack French colonial interests in the Napoleonic Wars - is described in the fifth volume of William James’s ‘Naval History of Great Britain’ (1827). Britain was only able to contribute HMS Confiance, but its captain James Lucas Yeo was put in charge of the whole expedition, and he and his crew performed with distinction (see Yeo’s entry in the Oxford DNB).

[Edgar Jacob, Bishop of St Albans; Colenso.] Autograph Letter Signed to Rev. R. Wilkins appealing for English Church Union subscribers to ?help towards undoing the mischief? caused by Bishop Colenso?s ?defection? in Natal.

Author: 
Edgar Jacob (1844-1920), Bishop of St Albans [John William Colenso (1814-1883), controversial Anglican Bishop of Natal; English Church Union]
Publication details: 
No date [circa 1865].
£56.00

See Jacob?s entry, and Colenso?s, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Addressed to ?The / Revd. R. Wilkins?.

[‘A Classic Bush Doctor’: Felix Paul Bartlett, Australian surgeon at Cowra, New South Wales.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to ‘Mr D’Eath’, one giving news of his surgery and mutual friends, the other describing ‘poor Walkers sudden death’.

Author: 
Felix Paul Bartlett (1855-1944), Australian ‘Bush Doctor’ at Cowra, New South Wales
Publication details: 
23 March and 11 May 1890. Both from Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
£180.00

Interesting items, casting light on the life of an Australian rural doctor of the Victorian period. A selection of Bartlett’s memoirs was published under the title ‘Bush Doctor’, edited by Jane Caiger-Smith and Michael C Bartlett, in 2011. There is an good illustrated article on him and his family (‘A Classic Bush Doctor’) in ‘Australian Rural Doctor’, June 2013. Both letters are addressed to ‘Dear Mr. D’Eath’ and signed ‘Felix P. Bartlett’.

[Old South Sea House and the Harvey family of Chigwell.] 113 manuscript items from the papers of William Peacock, John Read and James Swaine, attorneys tto William and Mary Harvey family, landlords, including 100 receipts, some itemized.

Author: 
Old South Sea House (Company of Merchants Trading to the South Seas), Threadneedle Street, London; Sir Eliab Harvey; William Harvey of Chigwell, Essex [The South Sea Bubble, 1720; Charles Lamb]
Publication details: 
Three receipts from 1735 and ninety-six from between 1742 and 1757. The Old South Sea House, Threadneedle Street and Bishopsgate Street, London. [Chigwell, Essex.]
£800.00

This collection of 113 items, dating from the middle of the eighteenth century, relates to a notable London landmark. Until the end of the nineteenth century the Old South Sea House, headquarters of the South Sea Company (Company of Merchants Trading to the South Seas and other Parts of America), stood on the corner of Threadneedle Street and Bishopsgate Street. A young Charles Lamb worked here for nearly six months in 1792, and wrote the first of the ‘Essays of Elia’ about the place.

[American War of Independence, 1782.] Manuscript folio leaf from British governmental [War Office?] ledger of payments to 'David Thomas Esq. / Carolina', re General Leslie and the British Army of the South, headed ‘Extraordinaries in North America’.

Author: 
American War of Independence, 1782: General Leslie and the British Army of the South: David Thomas, Carolina [Major General Alexander Leslie (1731-1794), British army officer]
American Revolution
Publication details: 
10 and 11 October 1782. [London, War Office? Regarding Carolina, North America.] With other accounts from 1826 on reverse.
£450.00
American Revolution

A valuable artefact of the American War of Independence: a leaf from a British War or Colonial Office ledger detailing payments to officials in General Leslie’s administration in Carolina in 1782.

[Francis Gerard, thriller and science fiction writer.] Two Typed Letters Signed to Eileen Cond, discussing his plans for writing, and work for the ‘delightful old boy’ Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, and his Anglo American Corporation of South Africa.

Author: 
Francis Gerard [Francis Edward Marie Gérard] (1906-1966), English thriller and science fiction writer who settled in South Africa, creator of ‘Occult Detective’ Sir John Meredith [ [Eileen Cond]
Publication details: 
12 March 1950; ‘P.O. Box 143, Westville, Natal [South Africa].’ 19 August 1955; Caroline Cottage, 1st Avenue, Inanda, Johannesburg.
£250.00

Good letters, the second with biographical content about a prolific yet elusive author. The recipient Eileen Margaret Cond (1911-1984) was an enthusiastic collector of autographs, with the ability to draw a more than perfunctory response from her targets. Both letters in good condition, on lightly aged paper folded for postage. Each bearing large stylized signature ‘Francis Gerard’ and addressed to ‘Dear Miss Cond’. ONE (12 March 1950). 1p, 4to.

[Geoffrey Jenkins, South African journalist and novelist, friend of Ian Fleming and author of an unpublished James Bond novel.] Typed Letter Signed to the autograph hunter Eileen Cond, regarding his next novel ‘A Grue of Ice’.

Author: 
Geoffrey Jenkins [Geoffrey Ernest Jenkins] (1920-2001), South African writer, husband of Eve Palmer, friend of Ian Fleming, author of an unpublished James Bond novel [Eileen Cond, autograph hunter]
Publication details: 
10 February 1961; on letterhead of The Star (‘Pretoria Office’).
£120.00

Jenkins’s Bond book ‘Per Fine Ounce’, which he claimed was based on a diamond-smuggling storyline he had developed with Fleming in 1957, was rejected by Fleming’s production company Glidrose in 1966. The recipient Eileen Margaret Cond (1911-1984) of Honiton was an enthusiastic collector of autographs, with the ability of drawing a more than perfunctory response from her targets. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Signed 'Geoffrey Jenkins'.

[‘No British Government could afford the economic cost’: Stuart Hampshire, philosopher and Warden of Wadham College, Oxford.] Typed Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’, regarding boycotting South Africa over apartheid.

Author: 
Stuart Hampshire [Sir Stuart Newton Hampshire] (1914-2004), English philosopher and Warden of Wadham College, Oxford [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher ‘Books and Bookmen’; apartheid in South Afri
Publication details: 
9 April 1974; on his letterhead as Warden of Wadham College, Oxford.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. This item is 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased and folded twice for postage. Signed ‘Stuart Hampshire’.

[Sir Colin Coote, editor of the Daily Telegraph.] Typescript, with Autograph additions, of essay written in support of apartheid following a visit to South Africa in 1971, with particular reference to the economy, ending with 'White Man's Burdens'.

Author: 
Sir Colin Coote [Sir Colin Reith Coote] (1893-1979), editor of the Daily Telegraph and Liberal politician [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher ‘Books and Bookmen’; South Africa and apartheid]
Publication details: 
No place or date, but circa 1971.
£350.00

An interesting document on the South African situation at the beginning of the 1970s, written in support of apartheid by a leading British journalist. See Coote’s entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Philip Dosse, who was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. There is no indication where, if anywhere, the present item was published.

[[Act of Parliament; establishment of the Science Museum, etc.] [Printed] An Act for releasing the Lands of the Commissions for the Exhibition of 1851, upon Repayment of Monies granted in aid of their Funds. [12th July 1858]

Author: 
[Act of Parliament; establishment of the Science Museum, etc.]
Publication details: 
Eyre and Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, 1858.
£250.00

Four pages, sm. fol., bifolium. damaged at join not affecting text, removed from bound volume. Whereas the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 have purchased Lands at Kensington Gore with a view to secure adequate space in the Metropolis for Institutions connected with Science and Art [...].

[[Act of Parliament; establishment of the Science Museum, etc.] [Printed] An Act for releasing the Lands of the Commissions for the Exhibition of 1851, upon Repayment of Monies granted in aid of their Funds. [12th July 1858]

Author: 
[Act of Parliament; establishment of the Science Museum, etc.]
Publication details: 
Eyre and Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, 1858.
£250.00

Four pages, sm. fol., bifolium. damaged at join not affecting text, removed from bound volume. Whereas the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 have purchased Lands at Kensington Gore with a view to secure adequate space in the Metropolis for Institutions connected with Science and Art [...].

[The South African Peace Council; 1960s anti-nuclear movement.] Carnet of 12 stamps (one missing) issued by the SAPC, with mottos ‘Outlaw Atomic Weapons’ and ‘One Year of Negotiation is better than one Day of War’.

Author: 
The South African Peace Council [1960s anti-nuclear movement; Hilda Bernstein (1915-2006) Marxist anti-apartheid campaigner]
Atom Bomb
Publication details: 
No date [early 1960s]. The South African Peace Council, P.O. Box 10528, Johannesburg.
£120.00
Atom Bomb

A nice piece of anti-nuclear war ephemera. A 19 x 6.75 cm block of perforated stamps with gum on reverse. The block originally had twelve stamps, but the one at top right is lacking. Printed in blue on white with a simple design of a dove with an olive branch in its mouth, encircled by the words 'THE SOUTH AFRICAN PEACE COUNCIL.' Stapled between two 19 x 6.75 pieces of paper: the one behind the stamps blank and grey, the one before the stamps being the cover, on which is printed: ‘OUTLAW ATOMIC WEAPONS / THE SOUTH AFRICAN PEACE COUNCIL / P.O.

[William Plomer, poet and novelist, Benjamin Britten’s librettist.] Autograph Letter Signed to the autograph collector Eileen M. Cond, apologising for his ‘ordinary’ signature.

Author: 
William Plomer [William Charles Franklyn Plomer] (1903-1973), English poet and novelist, born in South Africa, Benjamin Britten’s librettist [Eileen M. Cond, autograph collector]
Plomer
Publication details: 
27 August 1936; c/o Jonathan Cape Ltd, 30 Bedford Square, WC1 [London].
£56.00
Plomer

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Reads: ‘Dear Miss Cond, / I have pleasure in sending you my signature. As you will see, it is quite an ordinary one. / Yours very truly / William Plomer’. The signature is in fact rather stylish in an understated way, and the underlining has two small curls in it. In ink on otherwise-blank reverse, by someone who misread the signature: 'William Ploms'. See Image.

[Royal Festival Hall.] Printed brochure: ‘London County Council / Laying of the Foundation Stone of the Concert Hall, Ceremony to be performed by The Right Hon. C. R. Atlee, C.H., M.P., Prime Minister’. [With press release and manuscript notes.]

Author: 
[Royal Festival Hall; Festival of Britain, 1949; London County Council; Clement Atlee, Labour Prime Minister; Howard Roberts, Clerk of the Council; Felix Aprahamian]
Publication details: 
[Ceremony performed on 12 October 1949. Building commissioned by the London County Council.]
£150.00

The present item is rare, and its interest is heightened by the fact that it is accompanied by a press release and has the covers covered in what are clearly notes on how to film the ceremony by a press cameraman. Only three copies on COPAC: at the British Library, Sheffield Hallam and the Bishopsgate Institute. An 8vo stitched pamphlet of twenty unpaginated pages in printed card wraps. Internally very good.

[Visit of Lord Roberts to Northampton, Boer War, 1901.] Large Printed ‘Public Notice’ by ‘F. G. Adnitt, Mayor’ and ‘F. H. Mardlin, Chief Constable’, of ‘Closing of Streets against Vehicular Traffic, on the Occasion of the Visit’.

Author: 
Lord Roberts [Frederick Sleigh Roberts; Field Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar, V.C.] (1832-1914), distinguished Victorian soldier, Commander-in-Chief during Second Boer War [Northampton]
Publication details: 
County Borough of Northampton: Guildhall, Northampton, 26 September 1901. Regarding visit on 28 September 1901. Stanton & Son, Printers, Northampton.
£75.00

An attractive and apparently unique item of Victorian municipal typography, in the customary variety of fonts and point sizes. See Roberts’s entry in the Oxford DNB. (What particular connection, if any, he had with Northampton is not apparent.) 44 x 57 cm. A strip has been torn away from the top left-hand corner, resulting in the loss of the first two letters from the heading ‘COUNTY BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON’, otherwise in good condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper, with central vertical and horizontal folds.

[Richard Redgrave, RA, landscape artist, as Keeper of Paintings at South Kensington Museum [now Victoria and Albert.]] Autograph Letter Signed declining to buy a painting as it is a portrait and they are in any case short of gallery space.

Author: 
Richard Redgrave (1804-1888), RA. English landscape artist, first Keeper of Paintings at the South Kensington Museum [now the Victoria and Albert], and Surveyor of the King’s Pictures
Publication details: 
22 March 1859; on letterhead of the Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London W.
£85.00

Redgrave’s entry in the Oxford DNB praises his ‘exceptional administrative skill’, and states that ‘Redgrave and Cole supervised the new South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum), for which Redgrave designed the innovative art gallery to house John Sheepshanks's extensive collection of British art, given to the state in 1857.’ 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, laid down on part of a leaf from an autograph album. Pasted down at the head of the letter is a thin strip on which is printed ‘Inspector-General for Art. R. Redgrave, R.A.’ The male recipient is unnamed.

[The Colenso Case: the richest woman in Victorian England gives her view: Angela Burdett-Coutts, philanthropist.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘A B Coutts’), setting out her position on ‘this unhappy Cape and Natal Bishoprick controversy’.

Author: 
Angela Burdett-Coutts [Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, Baroness Burdett-Coutts] (1814-1906), the richest woman in Victorian England, philanthropist [John William Colenso (1814-1883),Bishop of Natal]
Publication details: 
1 May 1866; Stratton Street [London].
£180.00

The significance of the present item with regard to the Colenso Case - a turning point in the history of Victorian theology and ideas - is explained by the Baroness’s entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘Angela Burdett-Coutts's deep religious beliefs informed her early interest in colonial expansion. In 1847 she endowed the bishoprics of Cape Town, South Africa, and Adelaide, South Australia, both of which were strictly modelled on the English diocesan system. [...] She intended that her colonial bishoprics should remain dependent on the Anglican church in England.

[‘Not well fitted for stimulating the Imperial British sentiment’: Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace, Times foreign correspondent, assesses a volume on South Africa with ‘Cape Dutch’ sympathies.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘D. M. Wallace’) to Lady Jersey.

Author: 
Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace (1841-1919), Scottish journalist, foreign correspondent of The Times, Private Secretary to future King George V [Margaret Villiers (1849-1945), Countess of Jersey]
Publication details: 
14 February 1902; on letterhead of St. Ermin’s Mansions, Caxton Street, S.W. [London]
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium. A thin strip (no more than 1 cm deep) has been cut away at the head of the first leaf, with no loss of text, otherwise in good condition. Folded once. Written a few months after Wallace’s return from his duties as Private Secretary to the future King George V on his world tour on HMS Ophir, and during the Second Boer War. Wallace has just been struck by the thought that ‘though I returned the Volume on South Africa to the address in Victoria Street’ he forgot to give her his opinion of it.

[‘The Pentateuch [...] is throughout a mere fiction’. John William Colenso, Bishop of Natal, puts the case that will result in excommunication.] Long and substantial Autograph Letter Signed (‘J. W. Natal.’) to ‘Scudamore’, explaining his position.

Author: 
John William Colenso (1814-1883), controversial Bishop of Natal, subject of ‘The Colenso Case’, excommunicated from the Church of England [Rev. H. C. Scudamore; Robert Gray, Bishop of Cape Town]
Publication details: 
19 August 1862; Fowey, Cornwall.
£380.00

Colenso’s enormous significance in the history of Victorian theology and ideas is reflected by a long entry by Peter Hinchcliff in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

[John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley, Liberal politician after whom Kimberley in South Africa is named.] Autograph Note Signed ('Kimberley') to an unnamed peer.

Author: 
John Wodehouse (1826-1902), 1st Earl of Kimberley [Lord Kimberley], politician who held office in every Liberal administration from 1852 to 1895, and after whom Kimberley, South Africa, is named
Publication details: 
27 June 1867. On House of Lords embossed letterhead.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'My dear Lord, | I have fixed the Oath's Bills &c for Tuesday July 9. | Believe me | faithfully Yours | Kimberley'.

[Sir Edward Seymour Hicks, actor-manager, to theatre historian W. J. MacQueen-Pope.] Autograph Letter Signed and Airgraph letter, both long and gossipy, expressing dissatisfaction with South Africa. With copy of letter to Hicks from MacQueen-Pope.

Author: 
Seymour Hicks [Sir Edward Seymour Hicks] (1871-1949), actor-manager who built the Aldwych and Hicks theatres in London [W. J. MacQueen-Pope [Walter James MacQueen-Pope] (1888-1960), theatre historian]
Publication details: 
ALS: undated, but with Capetown postmark of 6 July 1942. Airgraph: 25 November 1942. Both letters c/o Barclays Bank, Cape Town, South Africa. MacQueen-Pope's copy letter: 23 September 1942; Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, WC2 [London].
£120.00

The three items in good condition, lightly aged. An entertaining and characteristic exchange, with MacQueen-Pope's letter (Item Three) dating from between Hicks's two. ONE: ALS from 'Seymour H.' to 'My dear old Poppie'. Undated, with envelope with Capetown postmark dated 6 July 1942, addressed to 'McQueen Pope Ere. | Drury Lane Theatre | Drury Lane | London | W. C. 1 | From Sir Seymour Hicks'. 2pp, 8vo. 79 lines of closely-written text, headed 'Private & Confidential'.

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