VAN

Seven Autograph Letters (five signed) from Mary Frances Stevens of Albany, New York: five to her mother and two to her father, including a description of a party at her home for her husband's friend Daniel Webster followed by a political meeting.

Author: 
Mary Frances Stevens [née Smith; later Butterworth] (d.1890), wife of Hon. Samuel Stevens (c.1798-1854) of Albany, New York [Daniel Webster (1782-1852), Whig politician; President Martin Van Buren]
Publication details: 
All seven letters from Albany, New York; those to her mother dated 27 August 1842, 2, 19 and 24 September 1844 and 24 September 1848; those to her father dated 24 January 1846 and 22 October 1848.
£650.00

Mary Frances Stevens was the daughter of Silas O. Smith of Rochester, and the mother of the novelist Augusta de Grasse Stevens (1852-1894) and of Marie de Grasse, Lady Evans (d.1920), wife of the English Liberal politician Sir Francis Henry Evans (1840-1907). After her husband's death in 1854 she married John Fowler Butterworth. The seven letters in this collection are closely and neatly written; those to her father in brown ink and those to her mother in blue. All seven in good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

Engraved portraits of the Flemish artists David Teniers the Elder (by Van Leysebetten from a painting by Van Mol) and his son David Teniers the Younger (by Meyssens from a self-portrait), both from Cornelis de Bie's 'Gulden Cabinet'

Author: 
[David Teniers the Elder (1582-1649); his son David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690), Flemish painters from Antwerp; Cornelis de Bie (1627-1715); Pieter van Mol (1559-1650); Jan Meyssens (1612-1670)]
Publication details: 
[Antwerp: Juliaen van Montfort, 1662]
£120.00

Both prints in very good condition. David Teniers the Elder: Dimensions of paper 22 x 17.5; dimensions of plate 18 x 14 cm. Captioned 'DAVID TENIERS SENIOR' and numbered 26. Brief biography in French beneath image, and 'P. V. Mol pinxit P. V. Leysebetten sculp'. David Teniers the Younger: Dimensions of page 20.5 x 15.5 cm; dimensions of plate 16.5 x 11.5 cm. Captioned 'DAVID TENIERS' and numbered 58. Short biography in French, followed by: 'Dav. Teniers pinxit Pet. de Iode sculpsit Io. Meyssens excudie.'

Autograph Letter Signed from the bookseller and publisher Herbert van Thal to the gossip columnist 'William Hickey' [Tom Driberg], regretting his sacking from the Daily Express

Author: 
Herbert van Thal [Bertie Maurice van Thal] (1904-1983), bookseller and publisher [Tom Driberg [Thomas Edward Neil Driberg] (1905-1976), Baron Bradwell, the 'William Hickey' of the Daily Express]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the White House, Regents Park, NW1. 5 July 1943.
£56.00

1p., 8vo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Van Thal was 'most distressed to read in the Daily Express this morning that you were no longer connected with that paper.' He thanks him 'for the pleasure that you have given me over a number of years of reading a first class column'. He hopes it will be 'discoverable as to where you are going to continue to write - or have politics put an end to a chapter?' In a postscript he states that he is at least 'able to console myself with Hansard!'

Holograph Poem (signed 'Henry van Dyke') by the American author and educator Henry Jackson van Dyke, a sonnet titled 'Richard Watson Gilder'.

Author: 
Henry van Dyke [Henry Jackson van Dyke] (1852-1933), American author, educator and clergyman [Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909) of New York City, poet and editor of 'The Century Magazine']
Publication details: 
Without place or date [written on Gilder's death in 1909].
£280.00

1p., 4to. A fair copy, on a piece of aged high-acidity paper, with chipping and loss to edges (not affecting text). Signed at foot. The poem begins: 'Heart of a hero in a poet's frame, / Soul of a soldier in a body frail, - / Thine was the courage clear that did not quail / Before the giant champions of shame'. Gilder is praised as a 'poet, patriot, friend', the poem concluding: 'Thou leavest two great gifts that will not die, - / Amid the city's noise, thy lyric cry!

Keepsake, designed by Bram de Does and with text by John Dreyfus, presented to the members of The Wynken de Worde Society, and featuring a facsimile of a 1947 letter in English by Jan van Krimpen.

Author: 
Jan van Krimpen; John Dreyfus; Bram de Does; Offsetdrukkerij Jan de Jong, Amsterdam; The Wynkyn de Worde Society
Keepsake, designed by Bram de Does and with text by John Dreyfus
Publication details: 
One of 250 copies 'printed by Offsetdrukkerij Jan de Jong, Amsterdam. | Presented to the members of The Wynknyn de Worde Society on the occasion of the International Luncheon Meeting 21 September 1995.'
£56.00
Keepsake, designed by Bram de Does and with text by John Dreyfus

8vo, 3 pp. Bifolium on laid paper. Fair, aged and lightly-creased. 'Composed in Lexicon, designed by Bram de Does in 1992. 250 copies printed by Offsetdrukkerij Jan de Jong, Amsterdam. | Presented to the members of The Wynknyn de Worde Society on the occasion of the International Luncheon Meeting 21 September 1995.' The facsimile of the letter, by 'Jan', dated 'Heemstede 12 March 1947', is on both sides of the first leaf. Biograpical printed text by Dreyfus on recto of second leaf, the verso of which is blank.

Typed Note Signed by Carl Van Vechten to 'Miss Lucha', thanking her for a copy of the Gertrude Stein number of the Academic Observer.

Author: 
Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964), American author and literary executor of Gertrude Stein [Margaret Lucha; the Academic Observer]
Typed Note Signed by Carl Van Vechten
Publication details: 
15 April 1937; on Van Vechten's 101 Central Park West, New York, letterhead.
£280.00
Typed Note Signed by Carl Van Vechten

8vo, 1 p. Typed and signed in light-blue, beneath green letterhead, and with 'CARL VAN VECHTEN' 'watermark' at centre of page. Text clear and complete. On lightly aged paper, worn and dogeared at extremities. He thanks her for the copy of 'the Academic Observer (Gertrude Stein number) which intererested me so much that I am writing to ask if I may have another copy for a friend of mine, Please.' Autograph note explains that the 'friend' is one 'who also collects Steiniana'. Docketed in pencil on reverse: 'Miss Mallory | Keep this until I call - someday I will. | [signed] M. Lucha'.

Sur une Collection d'Amulettes Chinoises. Dessins de Mlle Gilberte Zaborowska.

Author: 
Raphaël Blanchard and Bui Van Quy, authors; Gilberte Zaborowska, illustrator [Chinese metallic medical amulets]
Publication details: 
Extrait de la 'Revue Anthropologique'. Paris: Librarie Félix Alcan. Juillet-Août 1918.
£100.00

8vo: 42 pp (paginated 131 to 172). Stitched pamphlet. In original printed wraps, with title and illustration. Two photographic illustrations in text and forty-eight numbered illustrations by Zaborowska. Good, on aged paper, with light notes in blue pencil on pp. 144 and 145. Blanchard explains that Quy, a doctor from Hanoi, came to Paris to further his medical studies. He had a position under Blanchard 'au Laboratoire de Parasitologie'.

Handbill headed 'UNIONIST SONGS. FOR POLITICAL MEETINGS. To be sung to Popular Airs. WORDS BY "VAN." '

Author: 
Van' [Ulster Unionism; Unionist; Conservative Party]
Publication details: 
March 1892; Published by the Conservative Publication Department, St. Stephen's Chambers, Westminster, S.". [Printed by the "Birmingham Daily Gazette" Co., Limited.]
£100.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 22 x 14.5 cm), 4 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. On lightly-worn and aged paper. Excessively scarce: no copy in the British Library, on COPAC, or on WorldCat. Five songs: 'The Union Jack. Air "Nancy Lee." ', 'The Shamrock, Thistle, & Rose. Air "The British Grenadiers." ', 'The Unionists' song. Air "The Mermaid." ', 'Here's To Our Cause. Air "Drink, Puppy, Drink." ' and 'Loud Roars The Gladstone Thunder. Air "Bay Of Biscay." '

The Deportation of the Norfolk Islanders to the Derwent in 1808. I. The Settlement of Norfolk Island. II. The Deportation to the Derwent.

Author: 
Jack Backhouse Walker [Norfolk Island deportation, 1808; Derwent; Tasmania; Van Diemen's Land]
Publication details: 
Tasmania: William Grahame, Jun., Government Printer, Hobart. 1895.
£75.00

12mo: 26 pp. In original printed wraps. Stapled pamphlet. Unopened. The only copies on COPAC at the British Library and Oxford. For more information about Walker (1841-1899) see his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Oliver A. Fry') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Oliver Armstrong Fry (b.c.1855), editor of 'Vanity Fair' from 1889 to 1904
Publication details: 
20 April 1898; 141 Portsdown Road, W. [London], on 'Vanity Fair' letterhead.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. On first leaf of a bifolium. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. In reply to the recipient's note, by which he is 'much worried', Fry does not know that he can offer him 'any more than the few short notes <?> for us in "Men & Women of the Times". Little is known about Fry, apart from the fact that he was born in Van Diemen's Land, the son of the Church of England clergyman Henry Phibbs Fry (c.1807-1874).

"Two Thunder-Clouds, closing in conflict": the meeting of Madvig and Cobet at the tercentenary of Leyden University and its historical background. Authorised translation by H. J. Rose.

Author: 
B. A. Van Proosdij [H. J. Rose, translator; Johan Nicolai Madvig (1804-1886); Carel Gabriel Cobet (1813-1889); Leiden University]
Publication details: 
Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1954.
£50.00

8vo, 47 pp. In original grey printed wraps. With frontispiece portrait of Madvig and one plate. Good, in dusty wraps. Presentation copy, with card 'With the compliments of Dr B. A. Van Proosdij, Scientific Advisor to Messrs. Brill' loosely inserted. Divided into four parts: 'The Intellectual Background', 'Preparations and the Eve of the Day', 'The Dies Natalis' and 'Epilogue', with six appendices of passages from original sources, and a postscript of 'Four Letters from Madvig to Geel, Bake, and Cobet'.

Typed Letter Signed ('John van Druten'), giving advice to an actor named 'France'.

Author: 
John Van Druten [John William Van Druten] (1901-1957), Anglo-American dramatist
Publication details: 
6 December 1928; 5 Harewood Court, Hanover Square, London W1.
£80.00

4to, 1 p, 21 lines. On creased and lightly-foxed paper, with a couple of closed tears (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). May refer to the 1928 revival of van Druten's play 'Young Woodley' (previously banned by the censor), or (which is more likely) to his 'After All' (1929).

Steel engraving by de Mare, after drawing by Rochussen, printed by Brugman, of 'Eene Dames Kunstbeschouwing in de Kunstzaal der Maatschappij: "Arti et Amicitiae."

Author: 
Charles Rochussen (1814-94), Dutch painter; Johannes de Mare, Dutch engraver; J. F. Brugman, Dutch printer
Publication details: 
[Amsterdam: circa 1880?]
£75.00

Paper dimensions roughly ten and a half inches by eleven and a half; print dimensions eight and a half inches by ten and a half. Aged and with three inch strip, roughly half an inch wide, torn away from surface of print in top left-hand corner. Depicts a crowded and rather grand hall, containing a long horseshoe-shaped table around which are crowded connoisseurs of both sexes contemplating engravings and illustrated books or engaged in discussion. Arti et Amicitiae is an Amsterdam society of artists and art lovers, founded in 1839.

Autograph Letter Signed, in French, to Monsieur Van Santen.

Author: 
William Roberts (1767-1849), editor of the 'British Review'
Publication details: 
Without date or place [but before 1811?].
£38.00

One page, 12mo. Very good. He presents his correspondent with 'deux petits ouvrages sortis de ma plume'. The first was mentioned by 'Mr. Burgess' and the second is 'un petit traite qui a eu le bonheur il y a quelques ans de remporter le prix annuel dans l'Universite d'Oxford'. Signed 'Willm. Roberts'. In a postscript asks to be recommended to any acquaintances Van Santen may have 'a Rotterdam Anvers ou Bruxelles'. Address, with broken wafer, on second leaf of bifolium. Roberts is perhaps best remembered for the controversy brought on by a passage in Byron's 'Don Juan'.

Autograph Letter, third person, to a Miss Maxwell

Author: 
J.E. Bicheno,
Publication details: 
(2 May 1830)
£30.00

Colonial secretary , Van Diemen's Land. 1.5pp., 8vo. He discusses the physical composition of a necklace. (Bicheno's works on Law and the Irish economy are listed on the reverse in a different hand.)

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