STEPHEN

See Astley's entry in the History of Parliament (he was created a baronet at the end of the year in which this letter was written). The ‘Lavender’ mentioned in the letter is Bow Street Runner Stephen Lavender (fictionalized in a series of books by Karen Charlton), who was leaving to take up the position of Deputy Chief Constable at Manchester.1p, 4to. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. Verso of second docketed: ‘Chas. Humphreys / recomn to be an Officer’ and in another hand ‘Dugdale Asteley [sic]’. In good condition, lightly aged, with reverse of second leaf slightly grubby.

For information regarding Sir Leslie Stephen, consult Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, though somewhat aged and worn, with strip of brown paper stub adhering to one edge. Folded for postage. Reads: ?Madam, / I am obliged by your offer of an article, but, though I agree with you that it has some merit, I regret that my engagements make it quite impossible for me to accept it. / Your truly / The Editor of the Cornhill? (?Cornhill? little more than a series of scratches). See Image.

An interesting letter, providing a mass of interesting incormation relating to the stage in Georgian England, while responding to a request from London solicitors for information about the whereabouts of a provincial actor. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 4to. Forty lines of text, on bifolium addressed on reverse of second leaf ‘For / Messrs. Dowson, Capron and Rowley / Savile Place / near / Burlington Street / London’, and signed ‘S. Kemble.’ In fair condition, on discoloured and worn paper with minor damage at head, but text clear and entire.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The fibre-glass dress in which his second wife Helen married him is exhibited in his museum at the University of Sheffield, and was included in the 2010 BBC radio series A History of the Word in 100 Objects. The recipient George Kenneth Menzies (1869-1954) was Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts between 1917 and 1935. The nine items are in good condition, on lightly aged paper, and are folded for postage. All nine are signed 'W. E. S. Turner'. Each bears the stamp of the RSA, some with manuscript docketting.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The item is from the Gatty papers. (Herbert is writing to Gatty in Trinidad, and it is Gatty who will be appointed in place of the subject of the letter.) 1p, 8vo, on good laid paper. In good condition, but with creases from having been folded into packet (not through signature). A good looking item, with ?Confidential? in left-hand margin. Reads: ?Sir, / I am directed by Lord Knutsford to ask you to be so good as to inform him confidentially whether Mr. Justice Cook, Puisne Judge in Trinidad is to your knowledge in the habit of drinking to excess.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is the publisher Henry Blackett (1825-1871) of the leading London firm Hurst & Blackett, and the meeting was evidently to discuss terms, possibly for Wiseman’s ‘Recollections of the Last Four Popes’, which the firm published in 1859. 1p, 8vo. Laid down on another leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged, on thin paper, and with discoloration from the glue used in laying the item down. Small red armorial letterhead.

120pp, 12mo. No dustwrapper. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, tight in lightly-worn green cloth with dulled gilt. Inscribed by Williams in pencil on front free endpaper: 'For Michal'. A collection of around fifty poems, including five addressed to the author's wife: 'To Michal: After a Vigil'. 'To Michal: On Forgiveness', 'To Michal: On Brushing her Hair', 'To Michal meditating a new Costume', 'To Michal: On Disputing outside Church'. Accompanying the volume is an Autograph Letter Signed from 'Neil' to 'Dear Christopher and Dear Phyl', i.e. Christopher Fry and his wife Phyllis.

Three pages, cr. 8vo, bifolium, fold marks, good condition. "I have read your letter with reference to Mr Justice Stephen with care, and I observe that while you throw the whole responsibility on the Government for the continuance of a condition which you describe as 'notorious' and creating 'a general dissatisfaction' you do not advance a single specific allegation as to a failure of justice on which it would be possible to take action.

2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. In envelope with stamps and postmarks, addressed by Landor to 'Stephen Wheeler Esq | Oriental Club | Hanover Square | W.' He begins by acknowledging his letter, adding: 'I am quite of your opinion regarding the papers which are to be disposed of at the Browning's [sic] Sale'. Landor will 'try to get some of the autographs', but suspects that they 'may go too high'. He would have great pleasure in seeing Wheeler should he be 'in this neighbourhood', and gives details of when he will be at home.

31 items from the papers of leading Pepys scholar and maritime historian Edwin Chappell (1883-1938). The collection in good general condition, with light signs of age and wear. Around half the items are by Chappell himself, including offprints (many of them bearing his Blackheath address, 41 Westcombe Park Road), pamphlets, articles, proofs, and a bibliography. Other items are papers and pamphlets by: Sir Arthur Bryant; J. R. Tanner; Sir Stephen Gaselee (bearing an autograph inscription by him); T. Wellard; Arthur Ponsonby; Allen Beville Ramsay; Edward B. Powley; H. L. O. Flecker.

31 items from the papers of leading Pepys scholar and maritime historian Edwin Chappell (1883-1938). The collection in good general condition, with light signs of age and wear. Around half the items are by Chappell himself, including offprints (many of them bearing his Blackheath address, 41 Westcombe Park Road), pamphlets, articles, proofs, and a bibliography. Other items are papers and pamphlets by: Sir Arthur Bryant; J. R. Tanner; Sir Stephen Gaselee (bearing an autograph inscription by him); T. Wellard; Arthur Ponsonby; Allen Beville Ramsay; Edward B. Powley; H. L. O. Flecker.

The present item is part of a propaganda battle between King-Hall and Goebbels. The only other copy of the item located is at the German National Library, King-Hall having 'contrived to infiltrate', as his Oxford DNB entry has it, this 'German version' of his 'King-Hall News Letter' to 'individuals in the Reich, provoking a vehement reaction from Goebbels and Hitler himself'. See also the article in Time magazine, 7 August 1939: 'Last week all Europe was excited about the propaganda battle between England's Commander Stephen King-Hall and Germany's Paul Joseph Goebbels (TIME, July 31).

See Hofer's obituary in the New York Times, 12 October 1984, in which it is stated that 'Mr. Hofer, who was secretary of the Fogg Museum at Harvard for 12 years, was a recognized book collector focusing on 18th-century German, Iberian and Italian publications. Mr. Hofer put together an Italian book collection considered the finest outside Italy. | Konrad Oberhuber, professor of fine arts at Harvard, said of Mr. Hofer: ''He was one of the most farsighted collectors that Harvard ever had. [...]”'. Two airmail letters, both in good condition.

2pp., 4to. Aged and worn, but legible. A splendid effervescent letter, highly characteristic, written in demotic English in a close unruly hand. Tchelitchew was a close friend (lover?) of Edith Sitwell, and in addition to her brother Osbert, the letter contains references to Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996), influential figure in New York culture, founder with George Balanchine of the New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet, and the book he was writing on Tchelitchew, as well as to Tchelitchew's partner the writer Charles Henry Ford (1908-2002).

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The letter begins: 'It would afford me very great pleasure to help you in the matter of "The Scientific Roll" This is not a Literary or Scientific locality! and we have given up our Booksellers' Shop'. If Ramsay will send 'a copy of the numbers printed', he will 'give a notice in the "Hertfordshire Mercury" and perhaps that will make it known and induce people to take it.' The Austin family continued to run the Hertfordshire Mercury until the 1980s.

Regarding the Sheffield Wesleyan Conference of 1875 see the article in the Spectator, 14 August 1875, 'The Wesleyan Ultramontanes', and the long review of the conference minutes in the London Quarterly, no.45, vol.89. The present item is 2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. An interesting gossipy letter from a committee member at the conference, satirising two of the others present as 'Mr. Pepys in Conference' and 'Those who approve'. 2pp., 12mo.

2pp., 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition. On his monogram letterhead. He states that he is still too ill to teach an arranged lesson to 'Mlle Shillito', and seeks to rearrange the date.

20pp., in printed covers. Dimensions 13.5 x 10.5 cm. Stapled. In good condition, with light signs of age. Refers to a speech in the Reichstag on 24 June 1918, and thus published between then and the end of the war. Headings: 'Allies' Terms in Detail', 'The One Formal Offer', 'No Annexations and No Indemnities', 'How the Bolsheviks were Treated', 'Offers to Separate the Allies', 'The Papal Note of 1917', 'Declining All Discussion', 'Insincere Approaches', 'Frontiers "Drawn by History."' Two copies on COPAC: at the Imperial War Museum and Leeds University.

24pp., 12mo. Stapled. In good condition, with light signs of age. A wartime pamphlet, the latest reference in which is to 'the "demonstration" vote of the Socialist Party in the Reichstag, July, 1918, against the Budget', and thus written between that date and the end of the war. The author's message is summed-up in his conclusion: 'Franz Mehring is right in declaring that the old German Social Democracy is dead.

Bound up on stubs in brown leather half-binding, grey cloth boards, with 'SOMERSET HERALD | S. TUCKER' on spine. Ownership inscription of Alex Thomson Grant, the Red House, Wemyss Castle, Fife, 1909. The contents in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, in heavily-worn binding. 81 items on stubs, mainly comprising 62 letters by Tucker, 16 as 'Rouge Croix', 1874-1880 (with additional receipt by him); and 46 as 'Somerset', 1880-1887. A few of Tucker's letters signed with his name (as 'Stephen Tucker | R. C.'), but most with his title only.

The three letters in very good condition; the first two attached to one another in one corner by a stud. Also included is Dorothea Stephen's copy of Annan's biography ('Leslie Stephen: His Thought and Character in Relation to his Time', 1951), worn and without dustwrapper, with her ownership signature ('D J. Stephen'), and a page of autograph notes critical of the book at the rear.

Both items in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. The letter begins: 'Dear Mr Lane, | Conscientious research in Titmarshian activities seems to point to the fact that you owe to the club the sum of 22/- for two dinners in October 1907.' He continues on this theme for a while, before turning to Reynolds: 'I am very glad to hear that you are going to bring out the Holy Mountain & Poor Mans House by Reynolds. As partly responsible for the suggestion of the Mountain & the location at Acton, I take some interest in the book & also in its author.

A total of 1290 pages, in six 4to notebooks. Internally clean, on lightly aged paper, in worn and repaired bindings, with the back cover of one of the volumes loose. Day has signed three of the covers, and decorated the cover of one volume with the crests of three Universities: Montenegro, St Andrews and London. All the texts are carefully written out Day's neat, close hand, with tables and graphs, some titles in red ink, and occasional pencil annotations. A list of the contents of the six volumes ends this description.

Printed on the rectos only of 27 16mo (17 x 10.5 cm) leaves, attached to one another by a metal stud in the top left-hand corner. On aged and creased high-acidity paper, with the first three leaves detached. Each leaf carries a transcript of a letter of endorsement from a different individual or group, each with a facsimile signature. The writers are 'The Editor and Proprietors of the "Sheffield Telegraph"'; Sir Michael Hicks Beach, MP; W. E. H. Lecky, MP; Lord Goschen; Viscount Wolseley; Dean Farrar; Sir James Crichton Browne; Sir J.

115pp., 8vo. In red cloth binding. No dustwrapper. Aged, with back hinge sprung and one bumped corner at the back. Excellent inscription by Spender on the front free endpaper, in which he describes the history of the composition of the play: 'To And | with love from | Stephen. | March 16 1938. | This play begun January 1933, at Barcelona, partly written in January 1937 in Madrid & Albacete, and finished January 1938 in London, is almost a record of our friendships through five years.'

Both works first editions, and both in good condition, on aged paper. Bound together in late nineteenth-century red cloth half-binding, with marbled boards. Title on spine: 'COLLIER CONTROVERSY | H.R.H. | 1919'. Hamilton title in full: 'An Inquiry into the Genuineness of the Manuscript Corrections in Mr. J. Payne Collier's Annotated Shakspere, Folio, 1632; and of certain Shaksperian Documents likewise published by Mr. Collier'. [4] + 155pp., 4to. With frontispiece and two plates, one of them double-page. Collier title in full: 'Mr. J. Payne Collier's reply to Mr. N. E. S.

ONE: Autograph Petiton Signed. 'Unto the Right Honble. Lord John Russell Secrety of State &c &c | The Petition of Samuel Cleland residing near St George Dumfries Upper Canada'. 2pp., foolscap 8vo. In poor condition, aged and worn at edges, with one corner apparently nibbled away by mice. At least some of the damage would appear to be contemporary with the document, as Cleland has written within the boundaries of the loss to the corner, and there is no loss to text. Docketed in red at head '1091 U. Canada' and stamped 'Received | C. D. | June 1 1840'.

Both items in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Letter One: 4pp., 12mo. Harvey begins: 'Of course I well remember the too short time when I had the pleasure of being your colleague at the British Museum.' He would like to see Aldrich's 'old Dutch masters' but may not be able to visit him at Bowes Park before 'returning to reconstruction work in France in which I am interested'. He suggests a meeting in the new year, before enquiring whether Aldrich has 'got Sir Sidney Colvin's opinion of your Old masters. He is very interested in these things.' Letter Two: 2pp., 4to.

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. In addition to the message he left for the recipient's guest 'as to Carnegie', he asks him to tell his father-in-law (the London parliamentary bookseller P. S. King?) 'that it will be a very great favour if he sends me, to glance over, those letters he spoke of'. He undertakes to 'return them at once', and gives his address in Aberdeenshire for August and September. He has 'called twice on the chance of seeing Mrs. Roberts to say Goodbye', and asks the recipient to 'say it for me, in kindly fashion'.

The notable London firm of P. S. King & Son, 'Publishers, Parliamentary and General Booksellers, Bookbinders and Printers', was in existence for more than a hundred years, having been established, according to its own account, in Parliament Street in 1819, and still active until 1941, when it became P. S. King and Staples, under which name it traded for around six years. (An advertisement for the Staples Press Limited in The Times, 14 February 1946, lists, among incorporated companies: 'P. S.