SPIRITUALIST

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The recipient is not identified. Addressed to ‘My dear Sir’ and signed ‘Herbert Thurston’. He begins by thanking him for ‘the nice things you say’, and continues: ‘I fear I have no defence as regards Samuel Butler. I knew that he had written on the Sonnets and that some people thought highly of his book but I have never seen it. The fact was that I was provoked into talking up the question by some friends who have recently become obsessed by the Oxford theory.

The item advertised in the present prospectus (no other copy of which has been traced) is unaccountably absent from the bibliography of the Victorian author Charles Kingsley. Information regarding the Universal Group of Intuitives was provided to ‘Light’, the journal of the Spiritualist Alliance, by its General Secretary Mrs Frances Boltwood (‘Angela’), and appeared in its number of 10 September 1936.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. From the Macqueen-Pope papers. Each item in good condition, lightly aged, with creasing and rust staining to one corner from a paperclip. ONE: Swaffer to MP. TLS, signed ‘Swaff’. 1p, 4to. ‘Dear Popey, / Do you know anything about this woman? [From the context he is sending MP an enquiry he has received from ‘Mr. Le Poer Trench’] I presume she was a legitimate actress.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed ‘To the Rev. A. H. Vayers’, but with the ‘V’ corrected in manuscript to ‘S’. Signed ‘Oliver Lodge’. Reads: ‘My dear Sir, / I am exceedingly busy, and a visit to Monmouth is quite out of the question. There are many others better qualified to speak for The League of Nations Union; and I trust you will have a successfull meeting.’

See Barrett’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The subject of this letter, dowsing, was a particular interest of his. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly-spotted and with staple holes in bottom margin (not on text). Folded once. He would like ‘a chat’ with Dudley Wright ‘when in London’, as he wants to see him ‘on several points’. He asks if ‘the reporters notes of these Exp[eriment]s on dowsing’ can be obtained and published. As he ‘can’t get over to London just yet’, he asks how long he will be ‘in town’, and when would be the best time to see him.

The signature 'Oliver Lodge' is firmly written in the bottom of three rectangular panels printed in red, with no other writing on the page, on one side of a 12mo leaf removed from 'The Meredith Birthday Book', the other side featuring quotations from the novelist for 13 to 15 June. In good condition, lightly aged.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper, tipped in onto a card mount. He explains that he is 'obliged to return to London immediately after the delivery of my Lecture in Glasgow', and so will not be able 'to address the audience you bring together'. If he is 'asked to take part in the Glasgow Science Lectures' the following year, he will bear Hopps's wish in mind. Hopps was both an evolutionist and spiritualist, while Carpenter considered the claims of spiritualism 'epidemic delusions'.

1p., 16mo. On aged paper, with minor damage on removal from album. He requests 'the favour of an early notice in your journal, of the accompanying little volume if it be fortunate enough to meet your approbation'. The work has 'no object but to serve true religion & true liberty'. In a postscript he requests a 'copy of the paper containing the notice'. Howitt practised as a chemist in Nottingham between 1822 and 1836, when he moved to Esher, Surrey.