VICTORIAN

See Dilke’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Lurid claims of three-in-a-bed adulteries put a paid to his political ambitions (he had been touted as a future prime minister), and rendered him the butt of musical hall jokes. The recipient is not named. On one side of a plain 11.5 x 9 cm postcard. In fair condition, lightly aged, with the two right-hand corners creased.

See Dilke’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Lurid claims of three-in-a-bed adulteries put a paid to Dilke’s political ambitions (he had been touted as a future prime minister), and rendered him the butt of musical hall jokes. ANS: 1p, 12mo. In good condition. Reads: ‘My dear Cavendish, / I’ve told them to send you the Revenue & Expenditure estimate of Cyprus for the current year. | Sincerely Yrs. / Charles W. Dilke’. GALLEY PROOFS: 104 lines of text, in the customary block, on one side of a 17 x 38 cm piece of good laid paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Headed ‘The Rt. Hon.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Lurid claims of three-in-a-bed adulteries put a paid to Dilke’s political ambitions (he had been touted as a future prime minister), and rendered him the butt of musical hall jokes. The recipient is not named. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. The letter begins: ‘Dear Sir, / I suppose a pamphlet is meant - called I think “Parliamentary Reform” - (but I’m not quite sure), written about 1878 & sold at Smith’s bookstall.

See Webb's entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, aged and worn with traces of glue from mount at head. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Rev. A. R. F. Hyslop, M.A. / Warden, / Glenalmond College, PERTHSHIRE.’ Following on from previous correspondence, Webb is ‘desired to explain’ that ‘the Board feels strongly the advantage of a training in freehand drawing as a preliminary to architectural training’, and that they do not consider ‘the geometrical drawing of architecture more particularly from plates’ ‘generally helpful’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The body of the letter reads: ‘Dear Rawlinson / In the event of a vacancy in the appointment of Attorney General of Hong Kong, I will bear in mind your recommendation of Mr. Stephen Gatty; but I think it is probable that there may be candidates with stronger claims for consideration.’ In a postscript he adds that ‘Mr Gatty has only been 4 or 5 years in the Colonial Service’, and that in any case he thinks it ‘probable that there may be no vacancy in the Attorney Generalship of H Kong’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 16 x 10 cm rectangle cut from leaf of an autograph album. In good condition, on wove paper, lightly aged and creased. Nothing on the leaf apart from the signature ‘John Herman Merivale’, with the helpful addition ‘(Dead)’ in a near-contemporary hand beside it.

See the entries for writer and recipient in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, folded once. In envelope (with Oxford crest on flap), with stamp and two postmarks, addressed by Magrath to ‘Henry Jenner Esq / British Museum / London E.C.’ From ‘a communication I have received from Madan’ (Falconer Madan, Bodley’s Librarian) he gathers that Jenner ‘would be interested to know the results of the kind assistance you gave a Committee of the Hebdomadal Council in May in the matter of the extension of the Bodleian Library’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of mount to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded twice. Le Jeune’s handwriting is strangely childlike. The recipient is not named. He begins: ‘Dear Sir / Your little picture of “The Bather” has been finished some time, & I should be glad to shew it you at your earliest convenience.’ He briefly suggests arrangements for a showing.

Painfully appropriate words (‘The old friends leave us soon or late’), set to music within days of the composer’s death. Among Weatherly’s many lyrics are ‘Danny Boy’ and ‘Roses of Picardy’. See his obituary in the Oxford DNB, and Löhr’s three-page obituary, with portrait, in the Musical Herald, London, February 1889. Löhr was the father of the composer Hermann Löhr (1871-1943). 2pp, 4to, on the facing pages of a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with a couple of closed tears unobtrusively repaired with archival tape. At head of first (left-hand) page: ‘Friends.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, where she is described as a ‘philanthropist’. 2pp, 12mo. With mourning border. A 4cm triangle of paper has torn away from the bottom of the letter, far below Mrs Gladstone’s slightly-smudged signature, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged and folded twice. Reads: ‘Downing St. / Saturday / Dear Sir. / You have often encourage me to appeal to you upon matters of charity. it will be very kind if you will give the enclosed [a] place in your Paper. / Yours truly / Cath Gladstone’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. In a loose, untidy hand. He is ‘much obliged for the note of the 4th.’, and as she wishes has sent instructions to ‘Davy’, to whom he asks her to ‘send all communications’. He is ‘very sorry indeed’ to ‘loose [sic]’ her as a tenant.

2pp., 12mo. On leaf with mourning border. In good condition, lightly-aged, with neat repair to a short closed tear. He is returning a memorandum, 'which is quite correct & may be acted on', and has made a payment of £380 to his account with Drummonds Bank.

See the entries for Jones and Chantry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. An interesting letter of 39 lines with text intact, in poor condition, aged and with closed tears, and discoloration from tape used in repair, and ink blot to first page. The surname of the recipient is not given, but the close friendship between the two men (Jones published a memoir of Chantrey in 1849) puts Chantrey’s identity beyond doubt.

See Napier’s entry, and that of his sister Maria’s husband John Gellibrand Hubbard (1805-1889), 1st Baron Addington, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and discoloured, with small closed tear to a crease. Part of letter torn away on opening, and now under small black wax seal (good impression of crest with letter N). Folded four times. Addressed, with three postmarks, on reverse of second leaf, to ‘The Rt Honble | The Lady Napier | Kew Green’. Minuted by Lady Napier: 'Cambridge Novr. 1838’. 64 lines of neatly-written text.

See her entry and that of her husband Fred Terry (1863-1933), brother of Dame Ellen Terry, and of the recipient of these letters W. J. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), the foremost British theatre historian of the twentieth century, in the Oxford DNB. The seven items (Neilson?s five letters and carbon copies of two typed letters to her from Macqueen-Pope) are in good condition, lightly aged and creased. The first letter is signed ?Julia Neilson-Terry? and the other four ?Julia?. The first is addressed to ?Mr Macqueen Pope? and the others to ?Popie?. ONE: ALS, 1 March 1949. 3pp, landscape 12mo.

4to, 1 p. Nine lines. Text clear and complete. On bifolium of paper watermarked 'J WHATMAN | 1855'. Aged and lightly-stained. Reads 'I have the Honor to inform you that Parliament having been called to meet on Thursday the 3d of December Business of great Importance will then immediately be brought forward, and I trust that it may be consistent with your Convenience to attend in your Place in the House of Commons on that Day'. From the papers of James Wyld (1812-1887), cartographer and Member of Parliament for Bodmin.

For information on Cook see his biography in the Oxford DNB, which points out that the subtlety of his later fiction was lost on his contemporaries, being written in a style that ‘was not sufficiently sensational’ for the period. The present item is the complete text of the last thing Cook ever wrote: a story which appeared in the weeks following his death, in Hood’s Comic Annual for 1884 (London, 1883).

2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Folded once. The first page is scored through in ink, with pencil annotations at head. The final page, with Saléza’s signature, is unmarked. He asks him for as many seats as possible for that evening. He would like ‘une bonne loge, deux Stalls et plusieurs petites places’. He will pass by the office to collection, and asks for them to be left in his name.

1p, 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, with two pencil notes at head, one in orange. Folded twice. He hopes he is not abusing the kindness of 'Monsieur Menager' (i.e. the house manager) by asking for two seats, for his wife and her friend, as they would like to go to the opera that night. After terminating the letter in the customary Gallic fashion, he adds a postscript asking for the reply to be left with the porter.

Fragment of letter in Gladstone’s autograph, with his signature, on both sides of 10 x 6 cm rectangle. In good condition, with one vertical fold. Five lines on recto read: ‘<...> It was most kind of you to send me the delightful pearl studs - & to write so friendly a letter. Lady Paget gave me a set’. Recto reads: ‘<...> & preserve your kind thought | With many thanks to you & Mrs Robson | Always | W E Gladstone’. See image.

See Procter’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition on lightly-aged paper. 85 lines of closely- and neatly-written text. He begins by thanking Sutton for ‘the welcome portrait of Sir Edward Lugden’. He gives an example of Lugden’s ‘happy election repartee’(a joke about ‘Lather’ and ‘the present price of “Soap”’), for which, if no other reason, he ‘deserves a niche in my tonsorial gallery’.

Boehm had executed a bronze bust of Wolseley two years before. It may be that the present letter is in response to congratulations from Boehm on his forthcoming elevation to the viscountcy, with occurred 28 September 1885. 1p, 12mo. Folded once. In good condition, with unobtrusive folds to two corners. Reads: ‘Dear Lord Wolseley | Many thanks for your kind note & the Norfolk jaquet which arrived safely this morning | Yours sincerely & obliged | J. E. Boehm’.

Clearly given in response to an autograph collector, and written for display on front panel of envelope. Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.5 cm. In good condition, lightly aged. Horizontal crease along bottom not affecting signature, which reads ‘Emma Albani Gye | 1883.’ In 1883, after several years of enormous success in Europe, Albani returned to Canada to give a series of recitals. Thousands turned out to greet her arrival in Montreal.

See Gould’s entry in the Oxford DNB, with that of Lady Lyte’s husband. The Lytes were Somerset neighbours of Gould. 1p, 12mo. In good condition. He is glad to hear that ‘Mr Logsdail has done the drawing for you for he would be able to do far more justice to it than I could possibly have achieved’. On the occasions when he is called upon to ‘put sentiment into a cartoon’ he is ‘always conscious of failure and it is well to know one’s limitations’.

See Gould's entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition. The two leaves of the bifolium on which the letter is written have been separated, and each bears minor evidence of mounting on the blank reverse. He thanks Ashford for allowing him to ‘look through your very interesting collection of autographs’, which ‘does equal credit to your energy and to the good nature of mankind in general’. He continues: ‘The pages of an autograph book always make me realise that people are not so crabbed and disagreeable to each other as pessimists imagine or profess to believe.

Gertrude Ward trained under Florence Nightingale at St Thomas’s Hospital in London (see below), after which she became a district nurse, and then sister at the Medical Mission, Zanzibar. She was appointed to the position of Matron at Eton in 1901. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium, folded twice. In good condition. Nineteen lines of text. Signed ‘Gertrude Ward.’ She confirms the day of an appointment, but wishes to change the hour, as ‘unfortunately another UMCA Candidate has arranged to come at 3.30 on that day’.

1p, 12mo. On laid paper, folded once. Informing her that ‘Fanny’ will be returning in a few days, and that ‘we shall be very happy to come to your Garden Party on Thursday 10th. which is one of my chief pleasures of the Season’.

See Gould's entry in the Oxford DNB, with those of Newnes and Hobhouse. All eleven items are 12mo and signed ‘F Carruthers Gould’. Some show evidence of previous mounting. The collection is in good overall condition. As assistant editor of the Westminster Gazette he thanks Mrs Elizabeth Lee for her ‘suggestion about an article on the German Theatre’; and Macleod Yearsley for his ‘sketch of Macrurus’ (‘I already had the creature in my mind as the likeness is certainly a striking one’).

See both their entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition. He has ‘just read with much grateful pleasure’ the ‘very kindly reference’ to him in her ‘delightful book’ (presumably her second volume of reminiscences, ‘Leaves from the Notebooks of Lady Dorothy Nevill’, 1907). He is ‘just in the middle of it and enjoying it keenly’. The only fault he can find is that he will soon come to the end of it. It deserves great success and he hopes she will ‘give us more reminiscences’.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border (her mother had died the previous December). In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of paper to which the item was glued still adhering to reverse of second leaf. Having been informed by her sister ‘Miss Kingsley’ (her elder sister Rose) that Combe is ‘kind enough to wish for my autograph’, she has ‘much pleasure in sending it you - but I wish my pen was a better one, more befitting this serious occasion!’