THEORY

[Sir Richard Owen, palaeontologist who coined the term ‘Dinosaur’, first Director of Natural History Museum, London.] Autograph Signature cut from document.

Author: 
Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892), biologist, comparative anatomist, paleontologist, first Director of Natural History Museum, opponent of Charles Darwin
Owen
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£45.00
Owen

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A small item whose size lends it a certain charm. Simply the signature 'Rd. Owen.', on 4 x 1.5 cm piece of paper. In good condition, lightly aged, laid down on piece of grey paper torn from an album. See Image

[Grant Allen [Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen], British novelist and writer on science, born in Canada.] Heavily-revised Autograph Manuscript of part of essay on literary obscurity, with reference to George Meredith, presented to Meredith’s daughter.

Author: 
Grant Allen [Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen] (1848-1899), British novelist and writer on science, born in Canada, atheist and proponent of evolution [George Meredith, Victorian man of letters]
Publication details: 
Without place or date (1880s?).
£220.00

See the entries on Allen and Meredith in the Oxford DNB. On one side of 20 x 18 cm piece of paper, in good condition, with two vertical folds, laid down on 4to leaf of thick gilt-edged paper removed from an autograph album of Meredith's daughter Marie Eveleen (Mariette; 1871-1933), later the wife of Henry Parkman Sturgis (1847-1929), American-born banker and Liberal politician. Sixteen lines of heavily-revised text, in Allen’s close hand, with interpolation by him in the right-hand margin. The place of publication of the text has not been traced, but it is highly complimentary to Meredith.

[Commander William Guy Carr, Royal Canadian Navy submarine officer and Illuminati conspiracy theorist.] Signature, with address and date, apparently intended for an autograph hunter.

Author: 
Commander William Guy Carr (1895-1959), Royal Canadian Navy submarine officer and Illuminati conspiracy theorist, leader of the anticommunist National Federation of Christian Laymen of Toronto
Publication details: 
13 June 1939; Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.
£50.00

On 11 x 5.5 cm piece of grey paper. Good firm signature, with emphatic underlining, apparently in response to request for an autograph. Reads: 'Richmond Hill / Ontario / Canada. / William Guy Carr / June 13th. 1939.'

[Commander William Guy Carr, Royal Canadian Navy submarine officer and Illuminati conspiracy theorist.] Typed Letter Signed to Eileen Cond, discussing his writing of a second book dealig with ‘the famous “Harwich Strking Force”’ during the Great War.

Author: 
Commander William Guy Carr (1895-1959), Royal Canadian Navy submarine officer and Illuminati conspiracy theorist, leader of the anticommunist National Federation of Christian Laymen of Toronto
Publication details: 
13 June 1939; Maplecroft, Yonge Street, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.
£50.00

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. 1p, 8vo. Good firm signature, 'William Guy Carr', above typed 'Wm. Guy Carr.' On lightly browned paper with nicks and short closed tears to extremities. His London publishers Hutchinsons have sent on her letter, and he is pleased to learn that she enjoyed her book, and is sending his autograph for her correction.

[Sir Richard Owen, palaeontologist who coined the term ‘Dinosaur’, first Director of Natural History Museum, London.] Autograph Signature and address to William Gregson of the Temple.

Author: 
Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892), palaeontologist who coined the term ‘Dinosaur’, first Director of Natural History Museum, London, opponent Darwin and Huxley and the theory of evolution
Owen
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£56.00
Owen

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 9 x 5.5 cm rectangle cut from front of envelope. In good condition, lightly aged, laid down on part of leaf from album, with the following in a contemporary hand: ‘R. Owen. the naturalist’. Light postmarking over address. Reads as follows: ‘Wm. Gregson, Esq: / 2 Tanfield Court, / Temple.’ Small signature at bottom left: ‘R. Owen.’ See image.

[‘Why don’t you ask me to do it for you?’: Sidney Webb, Fabian theorist.] Three Autograph Letters Signed to A. G. L. Rogers, one criticising a pamphlet he has a hand in, another declining to put himself forward for the Liberal candidacy in Stepney.

Author: 
Sidney Webb [Sidney JamesWebb, Baron Passfield] (1859-1947), Fabian Society theorist and socialist politician, literary collaborator with his wife Beatrice Webb (1858-1943) [A. G. L. Rogers]
Publication details: 
ONE: 22 September 1891; on letterhead of 4 Park Village East, N.W. TWO: 6 February 1892; 4 Park Village East, N.W. THREE: 8 June 1893; on letterhead of the London County Council, Spring Gardens, S.W.
£150.00

See Sidney Webb's entry in the Oxford DNB, now unaccountably placed within that of his wife. From the papers of Arthur George Liddon Rogers (1864-1944), son and editor of the economist Thorold Rogers [James Edwin Thorold Rogers] (1823-1890), for information regarding whom see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The three items in good condition, lightly aged. Each folded once. All three signed ‘Sidney Webb’; the first to ‘Sir’, the second to ‘My dear Rogers’, and the third to ‘Dear Rogers’. ONE: 22 September 1891. 4pp, 12mo.

[Auguste-Henri Forel, Swiss entomologist and neurologist, authority on ants, pioneer of neuron theory.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Aug. Forel’), in French, on overwork (‘Ma position ici me tue’), work (‘mes fourmis de Colombie’) and future plans..

Author: 
Auguste-Henri Forel (1848-1931), distinguished Swiss entomologist, neurologist, Director of Burghölzli psychiatric hospital, Zürich, and eugenicist, authority on ants and co-founder of neuron theory
Publication details: 
Burghölzli psychiatric hospital, Zürich. 23 December 1896.
£450.00

Forel’s work on ants was praised by Charles Darwin. Such is his standing that his image appeared on the 1000 Swiss franc banknote between 1878 and 2000. 4pp, 12mo; bifolium. Lightly aged, worn at foot (with slight affect on signature); folded twice. 73 lines of text, in an untidy hand. Entirely in French, apart from the following towards the end, suggesting an English-speaking recipient: ‘Merry Christmas and New Year!’ Excellent content. The recipient appears to be a British naturalist to whom he promised a magazine piece on a recent visit.

[George Henslow, botanist, opponent of Darwinian evolution.] Autograph Letter Signed ('G Henslow') to George St Clair, thanking him for his book ('Darwinism and Design'), and sending a book and paper in return.

Author: 
George Henslow (1835-1925), botanist, opponent of Darwin, proponent of a form of Lamarckianism which he called 'the true Darwinism', son of John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861) [George St Clair]
Publication details: 
'140 Kensington Pk Rd | Nottinghill W. [London]' 4 January 1873.
£50.00

See Henslow's biography in his father John Stevens Henslow's entry in the Oxford DNB. (Botany ran in the family: in addition to father and son, George's sister married J. D. Hooker.) 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, laid down with light glue staining on a leaf from an autograph album, carrying a biographical caption in a nineteenth-century hand. Henslow writes the recipient's name ('G S Clair') at bottom left. He thanks him for his book (presumably 'Darwinism and Design', London, 1873), and is sending his own in return, 'also a paper on Natural Theology to wh.

[Julian Huxley, biologist, first director of UNESCO, as Secretary of Zoological Society of London.] Typed Note with cyclostyled signature, informing Dr Maurice Ernest that he does not consider the 'main thesis' of his book 'biologically justified'.

Author: 
Julian Huxley [Sir Julian Sorell Huxley] (1887-1975), evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, first director of UNESCO, brother of Aldous Huxley, grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley [Dr Maurice Ernest]
Publication details: 
15 March 1941. On letterhead of the Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, N.W.8.
£50.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Cyclostyled signature: 'Julian S. Huxley'. Addressed to 'Dr. Maurice Ernest, | New Court, | Esher, | Surrey.' He apologises for having been unable to read his book, adding: 'I am afraid I cannot feel that your main thesis is biologically justified'. It is obvious why Huxley did not look beyond the title, as the book he is clearly referring to is Ernest's 'Lives of 300 years and continual rejuvenation' (1942).

[Thomas Tooke, Victorian economist, throws over Charles Babbage for a 'superior attraction'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos. Tooke') to 'Mrs. Hawes', regarding a dinner invitation, sending three trout caught by his son in the Itchen.

Author: 
Thomas Tooke (1774-1858), Victorian economist, for whom the Tooke Chair of Economics at King's College London (LSE) was endowed, and after whom Tooke Town, Millwall, was named [Charles Babbage]
Publication details: 
12 June [no year]; Spring Gardens [London].
£180.00

In 1821, along with Ricardo, Malthus, James Mill, and others, Tooke founded the Political Economy Club. Although Carlyle is unlikely to have had him specifically in mind, Tooke is the archetypal 'Professor of the Dismal Science'. 2pp, 18mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Twenty-eight lines of text, neatly and closely written. He has 'deferred acknowledging' his answer to her 'kind invitation' to dinner on the coming Saturday until seeing his son, who has been 'out of town on a fishing excursion'.

[Thomas Tooke, Victorian economist, throws over Charles Babbage for a 'superior attraction'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos. Tooke') to 'Mrs. Hawes', regarding a dinner invitation, sending three trout caught by his son in the Itchen.

Author: 
Thomas Tooke (1774-1858), Victorian economist, for whom the Tooke Chair of Economics at King's College London (LSE) was endowed, and after whom Tooke Town, Millwall, was named [Charles Babbage]
Publication details: 
12 June [no year]; Spring Gardens [London].
£180.00

In 1821, along with Ricardo, Malthus, James Mill, and others, Tooke founded the Political Economy Club. Although Carlyle is unlikely to have had him specifically in mind, Tooke is the archetypal 'Professor of the Dismal Science'. 2pp, 18mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Twenty-eight lines of text, neatly and closely written. He has 'deferred acknowledging' his answer to her 'kind invitation' to dinner on the coming Saturday until seeing his son, who has been 'out of town on a fishing excursion'.

[Julian Huxley, biologist, first director of UNESCO, as Secretary of Zoological Society of London.] Typed Note with cyclostyled signature, informing Dr Maurice Ernest that he does not consider the 'main thesis' of his book 'biologically justified'.

Author: 
Julian Huxley [Sir Julian Sorell Huxley] (1887-1975), evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, first director of UNESCO, brother of Aldous Huxley, grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley [Dr Maurice Ernest]
Publication details: 
15 March 1941. On letterhead of the Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, N.W.8.
£50.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Cyclostyled signature: 'Julian S. Huxley'. Addressed to 'Dr. Maurice Ernest, | New Court, | Esher, | Surrey.' He apologises for having been unable to read his book, adding: 'I am afraid I cannot feel that your main thesis is biologically justified'. It is obvious why Huxley did not look beyond the title, as the book he is clearly referring to is Ernest's 'Lives of 300 years and continual rejuvenation' (1942).

[ Charles Adolphe Wurtz, French chemist, pioneer in the field of atomic theory. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Ad. Wurtz') [ to Wilhelmina Maria Green ], encouraging her to translate one of his works into English.

Author: 
Charles Adolphe Wurtz (1817-1884), Alsatian French chemist, writer and educator, pioneer in the field of atomic theory
Publication details: 
27 rue St Guillaume, Paris. 6 January 1881.
£150.00

1p., 8vo. On aged and worn paper. Addressed to 'Mademoiselle', but from the papers of The item is from the papers of the second wife of the geologist Alexander Henry Green (1832-1896), previously Miss Wilhelmina Maria Armstrong of Clifton, herself a scientist. He apologises for the late reply, which is to be attributed 'aux distractions du "Christmas" et du Tour de l'An'. His 'Traité de Chimie Biologique' has not been translated into English and it would please him to see such a translation made, with the agreement of his editor M. Manon'.

[ Thomas Henry Huxley, biologist ('Darwin's Bulldog'). ] Autograph Note Signed ('T H Huxley') to 'Jones', regarding the whereabouts of 'Montagu I' and 'Montagu II'.

Author: 
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), English biologist, friend of Charles Darwin and supporter of the theory of evolution ('Darwin's Bulldog')
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£220.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and spotted, with traces of mount adhering to reverse. Reads: 'My dear Jones | Montagu II is in the Fruit Room | You have Montagu I I think? | Yours sincerely | T H Huxley'. Note: A Google search throws up the Fruit Room in the Topkapi Palace (Istanbul) associated with Lady Mary Wortley MONTAGU. Would the association be presumptious.

[ William Henry Dallinger, astronomer. ] Autograph Note Signed ('W. H. Dallinger') enclosing payment in stamps for a number of Ramsay's 'Scientific Roll'.

Author: 
W. H. Dallinger [ William Henry Dallinger ] (1839-1909), microscopist, the first scientist to carry out a controlled experiment on Darwin's theory of evolution [ Wesley College, Sheffield ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Wesley College, Sheffield. 26 May 1881.
£65.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The letterhead incorporates an attractive engraved front elevation of the College, of which Dallinger was Governor, 1879-1888. The note reads: 'Dear Sir | Please find enclosed 12 stamps for No 3 of Scientific Roll and oblige | Yours truly | W. H. Dallinger'.

[ St. George Jackson Mivart, eventually anti-Darwinian biologist. ] Autograph Note Signed about a ticket.

Author: 
St. George Jackson Mivart (1827-1900), biologist who promoted Darwin's theories, then repudiated them
Publication details: 
No place. 29 June [ no year ].
£250.00

1p., 12mo. On aged and norn paper. Written in a difficult hand. Appears to read: 'Dear Mr Woodrow | I send you the enclosed (my ticket) till the end of July. Please let me <?> it at 71 Seymour St on the evening of July 31st.' A Catholic convert, Mivart was increasingly disenchanted with his friend Thomas Henry Huxley's anti-papist stance, and repudiated his initial support for the theory of evolution. This did not, however, endear him the the Roman Catholic authorities.

[ Sir Frank Watson Dyson (1868-1939), Astronomer Royal. ] Autograph Note Signed ('F. W. Dyson') to 'Prof. Adams'

Author: 
Sir Frank Watson Dyson (1868-1939), Astronomer Royal who introduced Greenwich time signals ('pips') and helped prove Einstein's theory of general relativity
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Royal Greenwich Observatory. 1 July 1919.
£200.00

1p., 16mo. In good condition. Reads: 'Dear Prof. Adams, | Will you give us the pleasure of your company at lunch at the Royal Observatory on July 8 at 1 o'clock?'

[ Felix Plater, Swiss physician. ] Autograph Document Signed ('Felix Platerus Basil | Archiatros & Prof')

Author: 
Felix Plater (1536-1614), Swiss physician and professor at the University of Basel, pioneer in fields of psychiatry and germ theory of disease
Publication details: 
Basil. May 1611.
£950.00

On one side of an 11.5 x 7.5 cm piece of paper. In fair condition, aged and stained. Consisting of a two-line improving Latin quotation beginning: 'Nullius est Felix'. Signed beneath this: 'Felix Platerus Basil | Archiatros & Prof. | Ao S

1611 Maio | Ao AM. 73'. On the reverse are two longer signed quotations, both in calligraphic hands, the lower of the two by 'Johannes Philippus a Fritten back', dated 28 February 1607. The author is identified in pencil in a later hand as John Phillips who died in 1640.

[ 'Maryla de Chrapowicki, D. Psy., M.D.' ] Typed paper titled 'Fundamental Principles of Bio-Crystallography of the Blood.' With particular reference to the treatment of tuberculosis.

Author: 
Countess Maryla de Chrapowicki (d.1959), pioneer of alternative medicine and colour therapy [ Radionic Association ]
Publication details: 
'Copyright 1951'. Place not stated [ London? ].
£220.00

5pp., 4to, typed on five leaves stapled together. With a few minor manuscript corrections. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. The introduction reads: 'Bio-crystallography of the blood rests on the premise that the motive force which directs the processes of crystallisation is a Psychosomatic activity inherent in the blood stream.

[ Seymour Aubrey Papert, MIT mathematician and computer scientist. ] Typed scientific paper in French: 'Sur les treillis des ouverts et les paratopologies | par Mrs Dona Papert et Seymour Papert'.

Author: 
Seymour Aubrey Papert (b.1928), MIT mathematician and computer scientist, pioneer of artificial intelligence, inventor of Logo Programming System [ Dona Papert Strauss; Charles Ehresmann (1905-1979) ]
Publication details: 
'Faculté des Sciences de Paris | Séminaire de Topologie et de Géométrie Différentielle (C. Ehresmann) | Année 1957 / 58.'
£200.00

Papert has been described by by Marvin Minsky as 'the greatest living mathematics educator'. At the time of this paper he was studying for a PhD at Cambridge University and living in London, where he was a leading figure in the revolutionary socialist circle centred on the magazine 'Socialist Review'. 9pp., 8vo. On nine leaves stapled together. In fair condition, aged and worn, with creasing to last couple of leaves. Divided into three parts: '1. Propriétés des treillis des ouverts et représentation des treillis comme treillis d'ouverts; | 2.

[G.D.H. Cole] Clipped signature "Yours sincerely | G.D.H. Cole".

Author: 
G.D.H. Cole [George Douglas Howard Cole] (1889 –1959), political theorist, economist, writer and historian.
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£25.00

Clipped signature, c. 5 x 2cm, good condition.

[B. H. Liddell Hart as 'defeatist'.] Two Typescripts of his 'Memorandum' titled 'The Prospect in this War', including 'P.S. to Memorandum of November 7th. 1939. From the papers of John Gordon, editor of the Daily Express.

Author: 
B. H. Liddell Hart [Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart] (1895–1970), military thinker and historian [John Rutherford Gordon (1890-1974), editor of the London 'Daily Express']
Publication details: 
Both typescripts have 'The Prospect in this War' dated 'B. H. L. H. 8th. [in one draft amended from '7th.'] November, 1939.', and the 'P.S. to Memorandum of November 7th. [sic] 1939' dated '14th November 1939.'
£950.00

This piece does not appear to have been published, and the only copy traced is in the Liddell Hart Papers at King's College London, with the original manuscript and an accompanying list of eighteen recipients including Lloyd George, H. G. Wells, and John Gordon of the Sunday Express, from whose papers the present two copies derive.

[Ernest Bloch, composer.] Collection of papers on music criticism by Joseph Sussman, including typewritten drafts of an unpublished monograph titled 'Ernest Bloch, Music's Prophet', an autograph notebook titled 'Ernest Bloch. The Piano Music'..

Author: 
Joseph Sussman, instructor in the pianoforte and music theory [Ernest Bloch (1880-1959), Swiss-born American Jewish composer
Publication details: 
England. Dating from at least between 1963 and 1975.
£650.00

The collection is in good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper, and can be grouped into three sections. ONE: Complete typewritten draft ([3] + 44pp., 4to) of Sussman's unpublished monograph on Bloch is contained in a large brown envelope, with the following note by Sussman on the front: '2ND COPY (without illustrations) of "Ernest Bloch - Music's Prophet" | JS'. It includes the contents, list of illustrations, introduction, and two-page 'Key and Bibliography'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the legal theorists Theodore Sedgwick to 'Jno C. <Hind?>' of 67 Chatham Street [New York].

Author: 
Theodore Sedgwick (1811-1859), American lawyer and legal theorist
Publication details: 
44 Wall Street, New York; 16 September [1856].
£60.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter reads 'Dear Sir | I am under obligations to you for yr. polite note of the 15th. & for yr. pamphlet - The subject is one of great importance & I shall read it with interest.' Perhaps the New York surveyor John C. Hind, who was active in the 1820s.

Autograph Letter Signed "R.L. Ellis" to R. Rothman, M.D., applying mathematics to a political economy issue.

Author: 
R.L. Ellis, English polymath (1817-1859), remembered principally as a mathematician and editor of the works of Francis Bacon.
R.L. Ellis, English polymath (1817-1859)
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£500.00
R.L. Ellis, English polymath (1817-1859)

Three pages, 8vo, good condition. He commences with a mathematical supposition (in formula terms) then proceeds with putting the suppositions of "the master" [Malthus, Ricardo or their like?) in mathematical terms, concluding a fall of price to "3/4d or one quarter", adding that "The suppositions he makes are incompatible with the ratio theory ...", doing sums which he concludes with the an answer he describes as "absurd".

[Pamphlet] Address of Alexander W. Williamson, President

Author: 
[Alexander W. Williamson, Chemist, President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science]
Address of Alexander W. Williamson, President
Publication details: 
[1873]
£95.00
Address of Alexander W. Williamson, President

27pp., 8vo, sewn as issued, good condition. Scarce. COPAC lists six copies, while WorldCat lists the Glasgow and Edinburgh copies but no American.

Typed Letter Signed ('Cyril Burt') to 'Mrs. Place' [i.e. Mrs G. M. Place, of the publishers Pitman].

Author: 
Sir Cyril Burt [Sir Cyril Lodowic Burt] (1883–1971), disgraced psychometric psychologist and eugenicist,
Publication details: 
12 October 1932; on letterhead of 4A, Eton Road, Hampstead, NW3.
£85.00

4to: 2 pages. 37 lines of text. Text clear and entire on slightly discoloured paper, lightly worn and creased and with a few nicks to extremities. Signed properly on the second page. Place's essay, apparently a biographical account of the psychological development of a very young child, 'whiled [sic] away a long train journey last night very pleasantly'.

The Theory of Chances, or The Modern Development of the Rules of Probability; with some notes regarding 'probabilities' in the game of roulette at Monte Carlo.

Author: 
James McGowan, FIA, formerly Government Actuary to the South African Government [Gambling; Roulette; Monte Carlo; Theory of Probability]
Publication details: 
London: Lamley & Co. 1, 3, and 5 Exhibition Road, South Kensington. [Printed at the Oxford University Press by Frederick Hall.]
£120.00

Small octavo: 31 pages. Unbound and stapled. Very good, in grubby original pink printed wraps. According to one authority McGowan is the 'first fully qualified actuary in South Africa of whom there is record [becoming] Cape Government Actuary of the former Cape Colony in 1890'. COPAC (under mispelt name "MacGowan") only recordds the BL copy.

Autograph note signed to [?] Bowerbank,

Author: 
Samuel Wilberforce
Publication details: 
April 11 [no year], with letterhead Cuddesdon Palace, Wheatley, Oxon.
£30.00

Bishop of Oxford (1805-73), celebrated opponent of the theory of evolution, nicknamed for his slippery arguments "Soapy Sam". One page, 12mo, on mourning paper. "I cannot fail to pay the greatest attention to your recommendation of Mr P Chabot". Signed "S Oxon". Minor discolouration to paper.

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