TRIALS

[‘the lover of words (as I am)’: Lord Birkett, judge, British representative at the Nuremberg Trials.] Two Typed Letters Signed, one with long Autograph Postscript, and Typed Note Signed, all to V. H. Collins, defending his use of language.

Author: 
Lord Birkett [William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett] (1883-1962), judge, a British representative at the Nuremberg Trials, Lord Justice of Appeal, Liberal Member of Parliament [Vere Henry Collins]
Publication details: 
LETTERS: 9 July 1953 and 11 May 1954. NOTE: 14 July 1953. All three items on letterheads of the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2.
£180.00

The third letter gives an excellent indication of Birkett’s pride in his use of language. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler. All three signed ‘Norman Birkett’. In fair condition, lightly aged and little grubby. The first letter with a small hole to one corner, and the two leaves of the last letter held together with a pin. ONE: ALS, 9 July 1953. 1pp, 4to. He is adding Collins’s book to his ‘select library on “words”’.

[ Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel interviewed at Nuremberg. ] Original carbon of Typed Affidavit, in English, by 'Field Marshal Keitel', giving his detailed answers to five questions by 'Maj K W Hechler'.

Author: 
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel (1882-1946), highest-ranking German army officer executed at Nuremberg; K. W. Hechler [Kenneth William Hechler; Ken Hechler ] (b.1914), American politician [ Nazi Party ]
Publication details: 
Place not stated [ United States Army, Nuremberg, Germany ]. 24 July 1945.
£350.00

2pp., 8vo. Single-spaced. In fair condition, on two leaves of lightly-aged air mail paper, with punch holes to left-hand margins and at head. Made out to be signed by 'Keitel | Generalfeldmarschall | (Field Marshal)'. The five questions are: 'What was your estimate in 1939 of the speed and capabilities of the U.S. to build up a war machine? Did the U.S. exceed your expectations in producing war material and training an army?' (26 line response), 'On what basis did you estimate that Germany could complete its campaign in Europe before the U.S.

[Lord Birkett, judge who officiated at the Nuremberg Trials.] Two Typed Letters Signed (both 'Norman Birkett') to 'Mr Burnett', i.e. Hugh Burnett, producer of BBC TV series 'Face to Face', regarding arrangements for his interview by John Freeman.

Author: 
Lord Birkett [William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett] (1883-1962), judge, a British representative at the Nuremberg Trials [Hugh Burnett (1924-2011), producer of BBC TV series 'Face to Face']
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, W.C.2. 25 May and 9 July 1953.
£56.00

'Face to Face', consisting of interviews of notable figures by John Freeman, was a television milestone, and Birkett's was the first interview in the series, broadcast on 4 February 1959. As Burnett recalled in his book of the series: 'Lord Birkett was the first guest on FACE TO FACE. It was a live transmission, as were most FACE TO FACE broadcasts, and much of the character and success of the whole new series depended on his candour and co-operation. We plotted together as we had often done in the past. He enjoyed broadcasting and he liked the challenge of attempting something new.

[Titus Oates and the Popish Plot, 1678-1681.] Long list in a contemporary hand of tracts relating to the Popish Plot.

Author: 
[Titus Oates and the Popish Plot, 1678-1681]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [late seventeenth or early eighteenth century].
£320.00

2pp., foolscap 8vo. On watermarked laid paper, and plainly intended as an index to a volume of bound tracts. Aged and worn, with chipped edges, and a small part of the bottom outer corner of the leaf torn away, resulting in the loss of two numbers from the pagination. The document is headed 'The Contents of the 2. Volume', and is closely written in a clerk's hand. Both pages divided into two columns.

[ Roger Kenyon of Peel Hall, (GreaterLancs; his son George Kenyon. ] Annotations by an outraged Jacobite Tory, defending James II, fulminating against the 'usurper' William of Orange, in 2- volume: 'State Trials' and 'a Farther Collection'.

Author: 
[ Roger Kenyon (c.1627-98) of Parkhead and Peel Hall, Lancashire, Tory Member of Parliament for Clitheroe, 1690-1695; his son George Kenyon (1666-1728), MP for Wigan, 1713-1715 ]
Publication details: 
The two printed volumes are: ONE, 'State Tracts': London, no printer, 1693. TWO: 'a Farther Collection of Several Choice Treatises', 'London: Printed, and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane. MDCXCII. [1692]'
£650.00

The first of the two works in the present volume bears on its title-page the ownership signature of 'Ll: Kenyon'. This is either Lloyd Kenyon (1732-1802), 1st Baron Kenyon, successively Master of the Rolls and Attorney General, or (less likely) his father Lloyd Kenyon of Gredington, Hanmer, Flint. The volume comes from the library of George Kenyon of Peel Hall (uncle and father-in-law of Lord Kenyon) and the annotations it contains are either by George Kenyon himself or (more likely given the handwriting) his father Roger Kenyon.

[ James Beresford Atlay, writer on the law and crime. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'J. B. Atlay') to Sir Richard [ Harington ], the first regarding the Hereford Mappa Mundi, and the second the murder trial of Edmund Walter Pook.

Author: 
J. B. Atlay [ James Beresford Atlay ] (1860-1912), writer on the law and crime
Publication details: 
15 April 1895; on letterhead of the Athenaeum [ Pall Mall, London ]; and 16 February 1897; 14 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn [ London ].
£80.00

Both items in good condition. ONE: 3pp., 12mo. After a reference to 'Mr. Lang' he turns to the Hereford Mappa Mundi (his father was Bishop of Hereford): 'I am very glad you were interested in the introductory Essay to the "Mappa," and the commentary renders it easy to work out the whole thing: I once gave a lecture on it in my youth'. (The lecture was given in 1880.) A reference follows to the 'introductory dinner' at Lincoln's Inn of 'Dick' - Harrington's son Richard, the future 12th Baronet - at which he was 'in company with Bosanquet and myself'. TWO: 3pp., 12mo.

[ The Gouzenko Affair, Canada, 1945; start of Cold War ] Typed contemporary document titled 'The Story of Igor Gouzenko', with covering note referring to 'Mr. Birdwood'.

Author: 
The Gouzenko Affair, Canada, 1945, and The Kellock–Taschereau Commission, 1946 [ Christopher Bromhead Birdwood (1899-1962), 2nd Baron Birdwood? ]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [ London? Circa 1947. ]
£450.00

[2] + 17pp, 8vo. Lacking the conclusion (one page). On seventeen leaves of paper stapled together, with covering typed note on slip, reading 'PLEASE RETURN TO MR. BIRDWOOD'. The covering leaf carries two sets of initials, one in pencil and one in ink, both ticked through. This may suggest official distribution, but the tone of the document makes it more likely to have been a personal statement, presumably by Birdwood. Aged and worn, with rusting to staples.

[ 1968 Tokyo Olympic Games. ] Autograph 'Olympic Diary' of Brigadier James Grose, equestrian team manager, covering the period leading up to the opening ceremony; with accounts. With 'situation report for Col Ansell', telegrams, receipts.

Author: 
Brigadier James Grose, Director of the Burghley Horse Trials and British equestrian team manager at 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games [ Col. Sir Michael Picton Ansell (1905-1994) ]
Publication details: 
'British Equestrian Team | Yo-yogi Village' [Tokyo, Japan]. 23 September to 14 October 1964.
£450.00

38pp., 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. In 'Note Book Made of paper Specially prepared in Japan'. On front cover: 'J. GROSE | British Equestrian Team | Yo-yogi Village | Olympic Diary'. Begins on 23 September with flight from London Airport via Bombay. In Hong Kong he dines with 'Algie (Lady O'Connor)' at Flagstaff House. In the Olympic Village at Yoyogi on 26 September he discusses problems 'in our hut (448)', before inspecting 'the Equestrian Centre (Baji-Koen)'.

Autograph Letter Signed by Wood to unnamed recipient, recalling the Manchester treason trial of Thomas Walker and five others, 1794.

Author: 
Ottiwell Wood, radical Manchester fustian manufacturer [Thomas Walker (1749-1817), Manchester radical; Treason Trial of 1794; Luddites; Luddism]
Publication details: 
8 January 1844; Edge hill.
£150.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Wood begins by recalling 'the savage bigotry and infuriate hostility of the Manchestr. Tories at the time you mention towards the liberals'. He does not think an attempt was made to put the Oath of Allegiance to those on the recipient's list. 'The lives of 6-8 men of high Character and standing in the Town were placed in jeopardy by the perjury of two Villains and they were tried at Lancaster for either Treason or Sedition. I think for the former.

Autograph Note Signed ('Hartley Shawcross') to J. Livingstone of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Author: 
Sir Hartley William Shawcross [Lord Shawcross] (1902-2003), English jurist, chief prosecuting counsel at the Nuremberg War Trials [Tribunal], 1945-1946
Publication details: 
25 July 1949; on letterhead of the Royal Courts of Justice, London.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. On aged and creased paper. He has autographed the picture sent by Livingstone, and is returning it.

Six Autograph Letters Signed by Hume-Campbell (all 'A: Hume-Campbell') to his 'Couzin' (a member of the Tonyn family).

Author: 
Alexander Hume-Campbell (1708-1760), Member of Parliament and Lord Clerk Register from 1756 to 1760 [Hugh Hume-Campbell, 3rd Earl of Marchmont]
Publication details: 
All six letters dated from London in 1759.
£450.00

All six letters in quarto; good, on aged paper; and with text neatly-written, clear and entire. Letter One: 3 May 1759. 2 pp. 40 lines of text. Giving advice regarding a will to be drawn up by a Mrs Robertson. 'As to the place where Mrs. Robertson makes the Disposition it is absolutely immaterial, [...] and then her will wrote in her own hand writing without witnesses will be as good as with twenty witnesses [...]'. Valediction from 'your affectionate friend & Cousin'. Letter Two: 30 June 1759. 1 pp. 24 lines.

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