SWAN

['Death has taken a heavy toll': Sir Frank Dicksee, Victorian artist, President of the Royal Academy.] Autograph Letter Signed to the widow of fellow-Royal Academician John Macallan Swan, accepting on behalf of the RA committee the gift of a bust.

Author: 
Frank Dicksee [Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee] (1853-1928), Victorian artist, President of the Royal Academy [Mary Anne Swan (née Rankin), wife of John Macallan Swan (1847-1910), RA, painter and sculptor
Publication details: 
10 May 1926; on letterhead of Greville House, 3 Greville Place, Maida Vale, NW6 [London].
£60.00

See his entry, and Swan's, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Seventeen stylish lines with bold signature. On first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed to 'Dear Mrs Swan' and signed 'Frank Dicksee'. Her letter gave him great pleasure and he has just had the opportunity of placing her 'very kind offer before the Council [of the Royal Academy]'. 'I need hardly tell you they are delighted to accept this valuable gift.

[W. L. Wyllie [William Lionel Wyllie], distinguished English maritime painter.] Autograph Card Signed to 'Miss Swan' (daughter of artist John Macallan Swan) regarding 'the copy of Cape St Vincent' and a roll that is unsuitable for a panorama.

Author: 
W. L. Wyllie [William Lionel Wyllie] (1851-1931), distinguished English maritime painter [John Macallan Swan (1847-1910), RA, painter and sculptor]
Publication details: 
24 March 1931. Letterhead: 'From / W. L. Wyllie, / Tower House, Portsmouth / Tel. 2598.'
£45.00

See his entry, and that of Swan, in the Oxford DNB. From the Swan papers. On both sides of an 11.5 x 9 cm card. In good condition, lightly aged, and with faint ink line at foot. Signed 'W L Wyllie'. Begins: 'Dear Miss Swan / Very many thanks for sending me the copy of Cape St Vincent. It is quite fine I will try if I cannot steal a bit for my big picture.' He turns to a 'roll' which is 'not long enough to make a panorama', but which he hopes to be able to 'drive round and look at' when the weather is warmer.

[Sir William Agnew, leading London art dealer and Liberal politician.] Autograph Note Signed inviting artist and sculptor John Macallan Swan to dine with ‘Mr Leslie and some few artists’.

Author: 
Sir William Agnew (1825-1910), proprietor of the leading London art gallery Thomas Agnew & Sons and Liberal politician [John Macallan Swan (1847-1910), RA, painter and sculptor]
Publication details: 
22 August 1905. On letterhead of 11 Great Stanhope Street, W. [London]
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin band of discoloration beneath the last line. Addressed to ‘J M Swan Esq R.A’. Reads: ‘My dear Mr Swan / Will you dine with me on Thursday June 1st. to meet Mr Leslie and some few artists? / I should be glad if you will. / Yours faithfully / Wm. Agnew’.

[Matthew Ridley Corbet, ARA, neoclassical English painter.] Three Autograph Letters Signed (‘M. R. Corbet’) to John Macallan Swan, with regard to Giovanni Costa in Italy, Alfred Gilbert, William Cosmo Monkhouse and Edwin Freshfield.

Author: 
M. R. Corbet [Matthew Ridley Corbet] (1850-1902), ARA, neoclassical painter [John Macallan Swan (1847-1910), RA, painter and sculptor; William Cosmo Monkhouse; Alfred Gilbert; Edwin Freshfield]
Publication details: 
ONE: 28 October 1896; Casa Costa, Marina di Pisa, Italy. TWO: 4 December 1898. THREE: 18 March 1902. Items Two and Three on letterhead of Crow’s-nest, 54, Circus Road, St. John’s Wood, N.W.
£120.00

An interesting glimpse into the late-Victorian world of English art. Corbet and Swan were close friends - one of Corbet’s paintings remained in Swan’s family until the 1990s. See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. The three letters are addressed to ‘Dear Swan’ and signed ‘M. R. Corbet’. All three on grey paper, lightly aged and worn, with creasing to Letter One.

[Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Limited, London publishers.] The first number and the only one printed of the periodical ‘What to read / A guide to the best in periodical literature books of the hour & books for all time’.

Author: 
Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Limited, London publishers [A. Fenwick; W. Macdonald; Charles Weekes; George Sampson; Tolstoy; Gilbert White of Selborne; Rudyard Kipling]
Publication details: 
5 November 1902 (vol. 1, no. 1). Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Limited, London. Printed by C. F. Hodgson & Son, London; ‘Published for the Proprietors by A. FENWICK, at 18 Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London.’
£100.00

Stapled periodical in black and white: iv + 12 pp, 4to. The outer leaves carry advertisements, with the front leaf paginated i-ii and the back leaf iii-iv. Engraved masthead at top of front cover. Containing thirteen articles between ‘Foreword’ (the journal aims ‘to address itself to all who, caring to read about Books, care especially to read about the Best - about those which are, beyond question, always worth reading and worth writing about’) and ‘Editorial Notices’, including ‘Books and Life’ by W. Macdonald, ‘The Birth of a Classic’ (i.e.

[ Robert Hebert Quick, educationalist. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('R H Quick') to his publishers Messrs W. S. Sonnenschein & Co., regarding their publication of Alice M. Christie's translation of a book by 'Frau Bülow'

Author: 
R. H. Quick [ Robert Hebert Quick ] (1831-1891), English educationalist [ Messrs W. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., London publishers; Alice M. Christie;; Quick Memorial Library, University of London ]
Publication details: 
Hill House, Guildford. 3 September 1882.
£65.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He begins by thanking them for sending 'a Copy of Hand work & Head work' by Baroness Martha Von Marenholtz Bülow (1810-1893), 'a book on a subject which I trust will soon attract general attention'. In his judgment 'Frau Bu¨low is […] very fortunate in getting so skilful a writer as Miss Christie [Alice M. Christie] to interpret her in England'. He is however 'sorry the circumstances so frankly explained in the translator's preface have not had more influence on the title page.

[ Awnsham Churchill and Edward Clarke of Chipley, John Locke's associates. ] Printed Exchequer receipt, completed in manuscript, and signed by the bookseller 'A. Churchill' and witnessed by radical MP 'E Clarke'.

Author: 
Awnsham Churchill (1658-1728), bookseller at The Black Swan, Paternoster Row, London, Whig member of parliament, publisher and friend of John Locke; Edward Clarke (1650-1710) of Chipley ]
Publication details: 
[ Her Majesty's Receipt of Exchequer, London. ] 28 June 1715.
£450.00

1p., 8vo. On aged paper worn at head. Customary printed Exchequer receipt, completed in manuscript, headed (manuscript text in square brackets): 'Annuities, 3700l. per Week. | Record' [19 Janu. 1715]'. Calculations in right-hand margin and clerical sign on reverse. Recording the payment by Sir Richard Onslow of £100 to 'Awnsham Churchill Attorney for mr ffra: Bennett & for selfe'.

Publishers' 'Specimen Of First Seven Plates' in 'An Elementary Text-Book of Entomology' by 'W. F. Kirby, of the British Museum'.

Author: 
W. F. Kirby [ William Forsell Kirby (1844-1912) ], of the British Museum [ Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Paternoster Square; William Wesley & Son, London, Booksellers and Publishers ]
Publication details: 
London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Paternoster Square. 1885. [ With stamp of William Wesley & Son, Booksellers and Publishers, 28, Essex Street, Strand, London. ]
£38.00

16pp., 4to. Unbound and unstitched pamphlet. On aged and worn paper. The first page has the Wesley stamp, and is headed 'Specimen Of First Seven Plates' It also carries nine lines describing the 'object of the author'. The seven plates are accompanied by captions, and there is also an explanation regarding them.

[ Yves Guyot, French politician and economist. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed to an unnamed recipient, concerning the translation into English by C. H. d'Eyncourt Leppington of his 'Principles of Social Economy'.

Author: 
Yves Guyot (1843-1928), French laissez-faire politician and economist [ Charles H. d'Eyncourt Leppington; W. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., London publishers ]
Publication details: 
One letter 20 July 1884; the other from London, 6 March [1888?].
£80.00

Written in a crabbed, difficult hand. ONE: 20 July 1884. 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly-aged. Apparently writing to the publisher of the translation, he thanks him for the copies he has been sent, expressing 'l'honneur que vous m'avez fait en entreprennant cette edition'. TWO: London, 6 March [1888?]. 1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and browned paper. A short letter, referring to Leppington.

[Dilys Powell, journalist and film critic.] Typed Letter Signed to Robert Swan, declining his 'interesting offer' of 'original portrait drawings' by Swan himself.

Author: 
Dilys Powell [Elizabeth Dilys Powell] (1901-1995), British journalist, author and film critic [Robert Swan]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Sunday Times, 135 Fleet Street, London. 14 Octobeer 1936.
£38.00

1p., 4to. On creased and lightly-aged paper, with wear and chipping to edges. She thanks him for his letter 'and for your offer of original potrait drawings by yourself', in which she was 'greatly interested'. She explains that there is a limitation of space, 'and as a general rule we are exhibiting portraits only when we can associate with them some other relic or possession of the writer concerned'. In response to 'our appeal' she has received 'souvenirs of past writers, and I am concentrating on these. This being so, I feel I must very reluctantly decline your interesting offer'.

[James Sully, pioneer psychologist.] Three Autograph Letters Signed to the publishers W. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., regarding his editing of a translation of Bernard Perez's 'First three Years of Childhood'.

Author: 
James Sully (1842-1923), English pioneer psychologist and philosopher [Bernard Perez (1836-1903)]
Publication details: 
The first letter from The Warren, Crockham Hill, near Edinburgh, 7 May 1884; the second from Holywood House, Hampstead, NW [London], 31 March 1886; the third from Hampstead, 6 April 1886.
£320.00

The three items in good condition, on aged paper. The second letter is addressed to 'Messrs Sonnenschein & Co', and from the context the other two are clearly to the same recipients.ONE: 2pp., 12mo. He states that he would be 'willing to edit Perez's work provided that the translation is well done & that only a general revision of it is necessary', and that he 'could not undertake to correct a faulty piece of work'. He asks the publishers to send him the manuscript, 'so that I may judge, together with a copy of the original', and asks for their terms.

Manuscript Fair Copy, in an eighteenth-century hand, transcribing two poems: 'Prize Monody on the Death of David Garrick Esqr. ffor the Vase at Bath-Easton, By Miss [Anna] Seward.' and 'To Miss Seward | Impromptu' by 'W[illiam] H[ayley].'

Author: 
Anna Seward (1742-1809), poet known as 'The Swan of Lichfield'; William Hayley (1745-1820), poet and patron of William Blake [David Garrick (1717-1779); Bath Easton, villa of Sir John Riggs Miller]
Publication details: 
Seward's poem dated 'Bath-Easton (the Villa of Sir John Miller,) near Bath | ffeb. 11. 1779.' Hayley's poem without place or date.
£220.00

Totalling 5pp., 4to, with Seward's poem on the first 3pp., and Hayley's on the following 2pp. Disbound from a notebook. In good condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper which has been cropped at the foot, resulting in the loss of two lines of text from Hayley's poem, and with the strip with the trimmed line from the foot of the first page of Seward's poem laid down at the head of the second page.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. Davis Richter') from the English painter H. Davis Richter to Dorothy Swan

Author: 
H. Davis Richter [Herbert Davis Richter] (1874-1955), English artist [Dorothy Swan]
Publication details: 
Letter on letterhead of 5 Redcliffe Square, South Kensington, SW10. 28 January 1946.
£200.00

Item One: Autograph Letter Signed from Richter to Swan. 1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly spotted paper. From the letter it would appear that in 1946 Richter was acting as one of the selectors for the 59th Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, at the Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly, London. He writes that he is enclosing 'the mighty deed [a book, as the letter explains], also the invitation for the exhibition at the Royal Academy valid from Feb. 13 to March 17.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E Ray Lankester. | MA. FRS. Professor of Zoology in University Coll. London.') from Sir Edwin Ray Lankester, requesting a copy of Sedgwick's translation of Claus from the publishers [Swan Sonnenschein & Co, London].

Author: 
E. Ray Lankester [Sir Edwin Ray Lankester] (1847-1929), Professor of Zoology in University College, London [Adam Sedgwick (1854-1913); Professor Carl Claus]
Publication details: 
11 Wellington Mansions, North Bank, N.W., on cancelled letterhead of the Savile Club, Piccadilly; 20 January [no year]
£120.00

3pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper with a thin strip of glue in gutter from previous mounting. Lankester complains that he has 'not received a copy of Mr. Sedgwick's translation of Claus' Handbook of Zoology'. He has 'a large number of students (annually over 60) at University College' to whom he would recommend the book if he had it. 'I should wish to be able to place it on the lecture table for them to see.' He claims that it is 'usual for publishers to enable teachers to do this kind of thing - by sending them copies of works likely to be recommended'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sonnenschein.

Author: 
James Samuelson, editor of 'Subjects of the Day' [George Routledge & Sons Limited; William Swan Sonnenschein [Stallybrass] (1855-1934), publisher]
Publication details: 
22 September 1890; Trevenna, Grosvenor Road, on letterhead of 'GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS LIMITED | "SUBJECTS OF THE DAY." | (EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.)'
£30.00

8vo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In response to a 'kind note', Samuelson informs Sonnenschein that 'the next number of our Review, which will appear shortly, is to deal with the Irish question'. He has 'a very copious list of publications' and although he would have welcomed Sonnenschein's assistance, he hardly thinks it is worth his while at the present time to trouble himself over the matter, 'for reasons which I will explain to you some day'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R. Brimley Johnson') [to Swan Sonnenschein], proposing a work for publication, and outlining his literary achievements.

Author: 
R. Brimley Johnson [Reginald Brimley Johnson] (1867-1932), English author and editor [Swan Sonnenschein, London publishers]
Publication details: 
19 February 1893; on embossed letterhead of Llandaff House, Cambridge.
£65.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He was introduced to the recipient 'by Mr. Philip Malleson of Croydon, when I wanted to send an Essay to The Albemarle'. Asks if he 'might be disposed to let me write a volume on Jane Austen or Leigh Hunt for your Dilettante Library', Austen being 'specially before the public just now'. He has edited Austen's novels and two 'well received' volumes of selections from Hunt for 'Mr. Dent's Temple Library'. 'If you do not care to arrange for either of these authors I would suggest Miss Burney[,] Hazlitt or T. L. Peacock.

Autograph Card Signed ('H C Beeching') to Messrs Swan Sonnenschein & Co., publishers.

Author: 
Henry Charles Beeching (1859-1919), Dean of Norwich and author
Publication details: 
Postmarked 21 June 1905; on letterhead '3, Little Cloisters, Westminster.'
£23.00

Plain card, roughly 8.5 x 11 cm. Five lines of text. A little grubby, but good. Asking for his manuscript, so that he can 'correct the proof of the Introduction to Crashaw. It was written so many years ago that I can't always recall what I wrote'.

Autograph Letter in the third person to the publishers Swan Sonnenschein & Co.

Author: 
Sir Charles Hallé [born in Germany as Carl Halle] (1819-1895), English conductor and pianist
Publication details: 
30 June 1890; Sydney, Australia.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Twelve lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and grubby paper. A formal letter in the third person. He has 'received with surprise the enclosed invoice. [not present] He has given no orders for any copies of the work & must therefore decline to accept the parcel, should it have been sent out to him in Australia.' If it is 'lying at his London house' he will forward it to the firm 'on his return home'.

Autograph Note Signed "Wm Yarrell" to "E. Charlesworth, The Zool. Soc., Leicester Square".

Author: 
William Yarrell, ornithologist
Publication details: 
No place, 22 February 1838.
£125.00

One page, 12mo, good condition, laid down on grey paper, through which, with the help of light, the name and address of the correspondent can be discerned. Yarrell says simply: "Herewith I send you the particulars of the new swan - for your minutes and proceedings." Yarrell was the first to describe the Bewick Swan (1830), and name it after his friend, Thomas Bewick. Presumably it is now the subject of a learned contribution to the Journal of the Zoological Society.

Autograph Card Signed ('Marshall P. Wilder') to the English publisher [William Swan] Sonnenschein (1855-1934).

Author: 
Marshall Pinckney Wilder (1859-1914), American humourist
Publication details: 
19 August 1889; on Marshall's letterhead from 'The Alpine', 55 West 33rd. Street, New York.
£28.00

8.5 x 11 cms. Grubby and lightly spotted. Reads 'My dear Mr Sonnenschein | Kindly send draft as I can collect here - | Merrily Yours | Marshall P. Wilder'. Presumably refers to the English printing of his 'The people I've smiled with: recollections of a merry little life' (1889).

Typed Letter Signed to Leslie Bloom of the Gallery First Nighters' Club.

Author: 
Ian Wallace (born 1919), English baritone singer connected with Flanders and Swann
Publication details: 
29 October 1956; on letterhead 27 Stormont Road, Highgate, London, N.6.
£18.00

Two pages, on letterhead of roughly 13.5 x 17.5 cms. He has sent a wire accepting the 'kind invitation'. '[A]s you can imagine we are rehearsing all day and every day at the present [...] The only thing thaht could stop me being with you is that we are, I understand, to record the "Fanny" music for a long-playing record on that Saturday'.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Annie S. Swan [Annie Shepherd Swan Burnett-Smith]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

novelist (1859-1943). Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by two inches. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of pink paper. Reads 'Yrs sincerely | Annie S. Swan.'

Coloured advertisement for Swan Vesta matches, in the form of a pastiche of a London Underground sign.

Author: 
Advertising artwork [ LONDON UNDERGROUND; SWAN VESTA; TOBACCO; SMOKING]
Publication details: 
Without date or place [1920s or 30s?].
£75.00

Attractive illustration, in red, green, yellow and black, on piece of white card roughly nine and three-quarter inches by six and a quarter, neatly mounted on piece of black card roughly ten and a quarter inches by seven and three-quarters. At head a parody of the London Underground black rectangle over red circle, roughly six and a half inches by three and a quarter, bearing the notice 'ALIGHT HERE' in white letters. Beneath this the words 'FOR EVERY SMOKER.', with a red arrow at foot pointing to a box of Swan Vesta matches. Very good, though lightly foxed.

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