VICTORIAN

Autograph Letter Signed to R. Hollingworth of the Glen, Gurnard, Cowes.

Author: 
Edward Boucher James (1819-1892), Vicar of Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight, and local historian
Publication details: 
30 March 1892; The Vicarage, Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight.
£25.00

12mo, 3 pp. 39 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with remains of stub from mounting adhering to one edge. Difficult hand. He thanks him for his reply to James's query 'in the local papers as to the family'. He is returning a book, apparently because the 'Authoress Mrs Traherne was also good enough to send me her book so that I am well supplied with copies of the volumes'. He finds that 'all the information from other sources [...] confirm [sic] the details of the history recorded in these Annals'.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
William Everett (1839-1910), American Democratic congressman for Massachusetts' Seventh District, [Charles William Eliot (1834-1926); Harvard University]
Publication details: 
15 January 1869; 96 Washington Street.
£75.00

12mo, 3 pp. 42 lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Small ink stain at foot of reverse of blank second leaf (not affecting text). Interesting letter, revealing of the politics surrounding appointments within nineteenth-century Harvard. The 'Lectureship' having been 'carried throough', Everett repeats his 'very special request that in some way the Undergraduates may have an opportunity of attending the course - This I regard as vital'. Reports the view of 'Mr. Eliot' on the idea that Everett 'desired to be on the staff of instructors at Harvard'.

Seven letters to Lord Dalhousie, as Lord in Waiting [whip] in the House of Lords, from peers, regarding the second reading of a bill entitled 'Marriage with the Sister of a Deceased Wife'.

Author: 
[John William Ramsay (1847-1887), 13th Earl of Dalhousie, Lord in Waiting in Gladstone's Liberal Government, 1880-1885] [Farrer; Kilmorey; Kinnaird; Kinnoull; Montrose; Strafford; Wharncliffe]
Publication details: 
May, June and July 1885. From various locations (see below).
£280.00

According to the diarist Sir Edward Walter Hamilton, the second reading of the Divorced Wife's Sister Bill caused 'great excitement'. Due to clerical opposition, the Bill did not reach the statute book until 1907, and even then in a limited form. These seven items provide an interesting glimpse into the inner workings of the Victorian legislative process. All are clear and complete, and docketed by Dalhousie in red. All in fair condition, with various degrees of aging.

Handbill headed 'An Appeal to Working Men and Women', pressing for 'the English law to protect your girls from being led into vice'.

Author: 
Ellice Hopkins (1836-1904) and Emily Janes (d.1928), Honorary Secretaries, Ladies’ Associations for the Care of Girls
Publication details: 
January, 1885. 41, Great Russell-street, British Museum, W.C.
£225.00

On both sides of a piece of paper, 19 x 11.5 cm. Seventy-seven lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and lightly-worn paper. Contrasts the law on the continent with that in England, where 'an unruly girl at any age can go on the streets, and the person who harbours her is not guilty of a greater crime than if she were a women [sic] of thirty or forty [...] Will you not help us heart and soul in getting our English girls, - your daughters, remember, - as carefully protected as Belgian and French girls?

Autograph Letter Signed ('E Herbert') to Wyatt, on the subject of 'the lighting of the Wilton Chapel'.

Author: 
Edward Herbert (d.1870?) [Thomas Henry Wyatt (1807-1880); Wilton House]
Publication details: 
Cairo. Feby. 18. 1864.'
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. With mourning border. 42 lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and worn paper, with slight chipping to extremities. Herbert has not yet received Wyatt's 'promised letter', but wants 'to say one word [...] about the lighting of the Wilton Chapel. The Gap must be brought to the centre of the Ceiling before the works are completed, as Mr. Olivier wishes to give Eveng. Lectures to the Servants on different occasions & I thought a Corona in the centre would light the whole [...] I can quite trust to yr. Taste to choose one.

Autograph Letter Signed to his brother.

Author: 
John Stuart Blackie (1809-1895), Scottish man of letters
Publication details: 
Oban; 8 August [no year].
£95.00

12mo, 4 pp, in a bifolium, with postscript on reverse of a Commercial Bank of Scotland 'Paid-in Slip'. Text clear and complete on aged and worn paper. Difficult hand. A fluent and energetic letter. Regarding the queries concerning 'Strasburg, and other words', 'the German Authorities which I fancy you consulted [...] are in my Edinburgh house'. He suggests writing to the London booksellers Williams & Norgate. He is glad to learn that 'Lockhart is turned a golfer.

Autograph Signature ('Waddington') and address in frank to Fritz Cunliffe Owen, and with an Autograph Note Signed by Owen to 'friend Leckie'.

Author: 
William Henry Waddington (1826-1894), Prime Minister of France in 1879 [Fritz Cunliffe Owen]
Publication details: 
Undated.
£28.00

On one side of a piece of paper, an irregular rectangle cut from the front of a letter (10 cm x 13 cm at head and 16 cm at foot). On aged paper with pinholes from mounting. Small signature boxed in to the bottom left-hand corner by Waddington. Addressed to 'Fritz Cunliffe Owen Esqre | 4 Grafton Street | Piccadilly'. Owen's note, above the address, reads 'Dr. friend Leckie. Your sister may like to have this autogr. of the French ambassador Mr. Waddington as you know, a great French statesman - au revoir a Bologna on Sunday morning. Yours affect. [signed] Fritz Cunliffe Owen'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Fred Slade') to 'My dear Bee'.

Author: 
Lt-Gen. Frederick George Slade (1851-1910), Royal Artillery, Assistant Adjutant-General, Woolwich Arsenal
Publication details: 
24 February 1899; on letterhead of the Chief Staff Office, Woolwich.
£38.00

12mo, 1 p. 6 lines. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged and slightly grubby paper, with strip of glue from mount on blank reverse, which has laid down on it a ten-line biographical newspaper cutting referring to Slade ('[...] one of the youngest major-generals on the Staff in the Army [...] His most recent appointment was that of Assistant Adjutant-General at Woolwich'). He is sending 'a missed lot of Soldiers autographs. Some that you already have may be useful in exchanging for others'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E. A. Sothern') to 'Davis'.

Author: 
Edward Askew Sothern (1826-1881), English actor
Publication details: 
Undated. On letterhead of the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. On bifolium. 12 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Part of the leaf to which the item was attached in an autograph album adhering to blank part of reverse of second leaf. 'Miss Cross' has written to him again, 'desiring me to use my influence in obtaining an engagement for her. - She states she is "quite disengaged now" '. Sothern states that when she made a similar request on a previous occasion 'there was some little misunderstanding', so he considers it best to 'drop you a line'.

Poems and Ballads of Young Ireland 1888. [Inscribed by the contributor Rose Kavanagh.]

Author: 
Rose Kavanagh (1860-1891), John Todhunter, Katherine Tynan, W. B. Yeats, Patrick Henry, T. W. Rolleston, Charles Gregory Fagan, Ellen O'Leary, Frederick J. Gregg, George Noble Plunkett, contributors
Publication details: 
Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, O'Connell Street. 1888.
£600.00

Wade A289. 12mo: viii + 80 pp and errata slip. In original cream buckram binding, with title and harp decoration in gilt on front board. Black endpapers. Internally tight, on aged and spotted paper. Binding grubby, stained and worn, with slight damage at head and foot of spine. Some ink marking to the fourth stanza of the dedicatory poem to John O'Leary (p.1). Housed in a green solander box. Inscribed at head of title: 'Elizabeth Monteagle from Rose Kavanagh | June 21. 88'.

Autograph List of 'Publications by Prebendary Havergal. All on sale by local booksellers. J. Jones. & Jakeman & Carver'. With publication details of his 'Herefordshire Words & Phrases'.

Author: 
Francis Tebbs Havergal (1829-1890) Prebendary of Hereford, author and antiquary
Publication details: 
Undated [after 1887].
£175.00

On one side of a piece of foolscap (33 x 20.5 cm). Text clear and complete. On aged paper, with wear to extremities and slight loss to bottom right-hand corner. Three items are listed: 'Description of Ancient Glass at Credenhill' (1884), 'The simile of ancient glass in Bristol Church representing St George in full military costume' and '[Herefordshire] Words & Phrases' (1887). Havergal adds nine lines of annotation to the last item, beginning: '- see Prospectus - issued to Subscribers only at 2/6. present price 4/- issue very small - only 300 copies which will soon be sold out.

Autograph draft of letter to the Editor of the Daily Chronicle, rebutting in strong terms the claim that Knowles was editor of the Contemporary Review.

Author: 
Alexander Strahan [Alexander Stuart Strahan] (1833-1918), English publisher [Sir James Thomas Knowles (1831-1908); Alfred Tennyson]
Publication details: 
14 February 1908; on letterhead of Oakhurst, Ravenscourt Park, W.
£150.00

12mo (17.5 x 11 cm): 5 pp. On two bifolium letterheads and half of a third. The text of each page is clear and complete on aged and lightly-spotted paper, but gaps between the various sections indicate that the draft is incomplete. Begins 'Sir | I see that in your obituary notice of Sir James Knowles inn today's paper you say that he was the Editor of the Contemporary Review from 1870 to 1877. | This is news to me. I was the Editor and proprietor of the Contemporary Review all these years, and I think I ought to know the facts of the matter.

Manuscript notebook, listing the infantry regiments of the British army, with brief descriptions of their mottos, uniforms, and periods of service.

Author: 
[British Army Regiments of Foot; Infantry; military]
Publication details: 
Undated [1840s?]. [English.]
£125.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 16 x 11 cm), 60 pp. Stitched notebook of thirty leaves, without covers. In fair condition, aged and with wear to extremities of outer leaves. On laid Italian paper, with the watermark of the Italian firm G. & C. Cini. Neatly written, with the body of the writing in one hand, and the mottos in another. Text clear and apparently complete. Begins: '1st. Regiment of Life Guards. | Peninsular Waterloo. | Scarlet, Facings Blue. | Returned from France, January 1816.' A typical entry reads '58th. (the Rutlandshire) Regt. of Foot. | Gibraltar, with the Castle and Key.

Printed document proposing a nursery for Bedminster and Redcliff, headed 'To the Glory of the Holy Child Jesus, And in Memory of The Manger of Bethlehem.'

Author: 
Bedminster and Redcliff, Bristol [Rev. Arthur Hawkins Ward (1832-1906)]
Publication details: 
Undated. [Bristol, 1860s?]
£56.00

On one side of a piece of paper 28 x 22 cm. Text clear and complete. Aged and creased, with two small areas of slight loss (not affecting text) and closed tears. Part of previous mount adhering to the reverse. Twenty-four lines beneath the title, with the whole enclosed within a border. Begins: 'It is proposed to establish, in the midst of the dense population of Bedminster and Redcliff, a nursery for children under three years of age.' Ends 'Rev. A. H.

Handbill, with body of text in Latin, headed 'Christ's College Lodge. April 1, 1867. | At the Congregation on Thursday, April 4, at Two o'clock P.M., the following GRACES, having received the sanction of the COUNCIL, will be offered to the SENATE:'.

Author: 
Christ's College, Cambridge [Rev. William Done Bushell (1838-1917)]
Publication details: 
[Cambridge.] 1867
£35.00

Printed on one side of a piece of laid paper, 24.5 x 20 cm. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with 3 cm closed tear at edge along fold line. Nicely printed. Twenty lines in Latin, including five graces. The first reading 'Placeat vobis, UNDERGRADUATI, ut Dominum PROCANCELLARIUM non plus quam natura jamdudum est ludibrio habeatis.' In manuscript on the reverse: 'Ask William to translate the enclosed to you | All Well. | CL.' From the album of Rev. William Done Bushell (1838-1917).

Printed letter, with names, by the 'Assistant Masters of Eton, Winchester, Charter House, St. Paul's, and Harrow Schools' to their headmasters, urging a 'reconsideration of their announced intention with respect to the Public School Latin Primer.'

Author: 
Eton, Winchester, Charter House, St. Paul's and Harrow Schools [the Public School Latin Primer]
Publication details: 
[London. 1850s?]
£95.00

4to, 2 pp. Bifolium, with each printed page on the recto of the leaf. Good, on aged paper. With part of the previous mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf. Five objections are given, including the fact that the primer is 'unattractive in its present form'.

Manuscript headed 'Regulations for Direct Commissions Examination'.

Author: 
[Direct Commissions Examination; British Army; Victorian England]
Publication details: 
Undated [England, 1860s?].
£75.00

12mo (20.5 x 13.5 cm), 2 pp. Forty-one lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, with part of the leaf from the album in which the item was mounted still adhering to the blank part of the reverse of the leaf. Divided into six sections, the first reading 'Exam: quarterly or oftener if necessary in London. The no. of Candidates admitted to Exam: will depend on exigencies of service.' Other sections include: Age; Exam. by Medical Board; Marks & SUbjects of Exams; Obligations; mmarks in voluntary subjects..From the album of Rev. William Done Bushell (1838-1917).

Alphabetical and Descriptive Catalogues of the Publications of the Presbyterian Board of Publication.

Author: 
The Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia [Joseph P. Engles, Publishing Agent; trade catalogues]
Publication details: 
Undated [circa 1860]. Philadelphia: Joseph P. Engles, Publishing Agent, No. 821 Chestnut Street.
£200.00

12mo: xxvi + 64 + [i] pp. Unbound. Stitched as issued. Last leaf blank. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, with heavy wear to outer leaves, and staining to first and last half-dozen leaves. Ownership inscription of Charles Ira Gordon Skeen of Covington, Virginia, along outer margin of title. Two vignettes: the first on the title (three boys entering an library and being handed books by an adult) and the second at the head of the Descriptive Catalogue (family at the dining table). The main body of volume (pp.1-61) consists of the Descriptive Catalogue, in small type, of 553 items.

Printer's trade catalogue, titled 'Cut Book. Showing a few of the many cuts carried in stock and for sale by The Enterprise Printing House, Corfu, N.Y.' Containing more than a hundred vignettes, with prices.

Author: 
The Enterprise Printing House, Corfu, New York [American trade catalogue]
Publication details: 
Undated [late Victorian or Edwardian]. Corfu, New York State.
£200.00

8vo (23 x 15 cm), 32 pp. Stapled. Outer pages in blue. In fair condition, with a little damp-staining at the head of the first leaf (with minimal effect on the text), and a tiny dab of the same staining continuing at the corner of each leaf (not affecting the text). Title-page on cover illustrated by C. H. Dennis, showing Uncle Sam sharpening a razor of 'GOOD CUTS'. Note on page 2 begins: 'THIS CUT BOOK contains a few of the many varieties and styles of cuts which we carry in stock and use on your printing free of charge. We have many more and are constantly adding new designs. [...]'.

Note, in a secretarial hand, signed by Blomfield ('Reginald . Blomfield'), to Dollman.

Author: 
Sir Reginald Blomfield [Reginald Theodore Blomfield] (1856-1942), British architect and garden designer [John Charles Dollman (1851-1934), English illustrator; Frederick William Pomeroy (1856-1924)]
Publication details: 
7 November 1906; on letterhead of 1 New Court, Temple [London].
£33.00

12mo, 1 p. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. From the context of other items in the same collection, this letter relates to an 'Artists general Benevolent Banquet' (for which Dollman was acting as steward). Blomfield would be pleased to join Dollman, but has 'already promised my subscription to Pomeroy' (presumably acting as steward for a rival dinner). Addressed to Dollman at Hove House, Newton Grove, Bedford Park.

Autograph Letter Signed to Dollman.

Author: 
John Hassall (1868-1948), English illustrator
Publication details: 
10 November 1906; on letterhead of 88 Kensington Park Road, W. [London]
£56.00

8vo, 1 p. Nine lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and lightly-spotted paper, lightly-creased and with small closed tears at edges of central crease. From the context of other items in the same collection, this letter relates to an 'Artists general Benevolent Banquet' (for which Dollman was acting as steward). Hassall writes that the previous year he 'got into trouble through giving subscriptions to stewards of other society's than the R[oyal]. I[nstitution].', so that 'if there's to be an R. I. table this year I must support it for all I'm worth'.

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." '

Collection of nine items (eight printed and one in manuscript) relating to Cambridge University, six of them giving examination results, two of University accounts, and the last a lithographic plan of a visit by a dignitary to the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Author: 
Cambridge University, 1861 to 1865 [Fitzwilliam Museum; William Done Bushell]
Publication details: 
[Cambridge.] Eight of the items dated between 1861 and 1865; the other undated.
£450.00

The collection assembled by William Done Bushell (see Item Nine), later a senior master at Harrow School. All nine items clear and complete. On aged paper, discoloured by the glue used in mounting. The first eight are printed, and the last is in manuscript. ITEM ONE: 'Classical Tripos. | 1861.' 4to, 1 p. Names the examiners, and those of the students (with colleges), under columns for the first, second and third classes. ITEM TWO: Headed 'List of Honors at the Bachelor of Arts' Commencement, January 26, 1861.' 4to, 1 p.

Fragment of Autograph Letter to Palmer, with signature ('W E Gladstone') on frank.

Author: 
William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), British Liberal Prime Minister [Roundell Palmer (1812-1895), Earl of Selborne]
Publication details: 
20/07/35
£30.00

Part of a letter, cut away for an autograph collector, roughly 5.5 x 10.5 cm. The recto carries the franked address, trimmed close, reading 'London July twenty 1835. | Roundell Palmer Esq | Mixbury | Birmingham [corrected in another hand to 'Magdalen Colle | Oxford'], signed in bottom left-hand corner 'W E Gladstone'.

Unpublished manuscript poem, titled 'The lament of a gyp', humourously recounting the 'troubles of a Cambridge man, a careful hardworked gyp' on the disappearance of Bushell on a mountaineering trip.

Author: 
[William Done Bushell (1838-1917) of St John's College, Cambridge University; later assistant master and honorary chaplain at Harrow School; Victorian mountaineering
Publication details: 
Undated (around 1861).
£65.00

From Bushell's own collection, and possibly in his hand. On both sides of a piece of light-blue paper, 27 x 22 cm. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with four labels from previous mounting (one with small closed tear) on the reverse. A delightful item, casting light on the social history of Victorian Cambridge. Thirty-six lines in couplets. Written from the point of view of Bushell's 'gyp' (college servant). Begins 'Oh! listen to me now all ye who give anyone the slip.

Regulations for the Entry and Examination of Naval Cadets.

Author: 
Examination of Naval Cadets, Admiralty, 1865 [Royal Navy]
Publication details: 
Admiralty, 6th February, 1865. [Printed by 'W. Woodward, The Hard, Portsea.']
£35.00

Printed on one side of a piece of grey paper, 22.5 x 16 cm. Text clear and complete. In fair condition: lightly-aged and with remains of stub adhering to the blank reverse, on which a clean closed tear has been unobtrusively repaired with archival tape. Nine regulations are listed, from 'I. No Person will be nominated to a Cadetship in the Royal Navy, who shall be under 12 or above 14 years of age at the time of his first Examination.' to 'IX. After having completed twelve months' instruction, exclusive of vacations, in the Training Ship, a Cadet will have to undergo the final examination.

First issue of 'John Nichols's Metropolitan Advertiser'.

Author: 
John Nichols, printer, The Milton Press, Strand [The Metropolitan Advertiser]
Publication details: 
No. 1. 7 January 1836. 'Printed at the Milton Press, 9, Chandos Street, Strand, by John Nichols.'
£225.00

4to, 4 pp. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and grubby paper. Engraving of beehive, with motto, beneath title. Given away 'GRATIS'. Begins with a prospectus for what is described as 'a new medium of communicating with the public', concluding, 'for the inconsiderable sum of 5s. an Advertiser may give publicity to his business in FIVE THOUSAND respectable channels inaccessible to every other advertising medium hitherto established'. The rest of the first page carries 'ADVICE TO A YOUNG TRADESMAN' by 'AN OLD TRADESMAN'.

Autograph Signature, removed from letter.

Author: 
William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), British Liberal Prime Minister
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

On piece of paper roughly 2.5 x 7.5 cm. Mounted on piece of 7.5 x 13 cm card. In fair condition, with both card and paper aged and slightly discoloured. Good firm underlined signature ('W E Gladstone'). The card carries the following caption, in a contemporary hand: 'Autograph of | The Right Honorable William Ewart Gladstone, M.P., | Premier Minister and | Chancellor of the Exchequer.'

Autograph Signature ('W E Gladstone') on frank, addressed to Guillemard at 11 Downing Street.

Author: 
William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), British Liberal Prime Minister [Sir Laurence Nunns Guillemard (1862-1951)]
Publication details: 
Without date.
£25.00

The front cover of the envelope, 9.5 x 12 cm, cut away and laid down on a ruled piece of paper cut from an autograph album. A little grubby, but good. Reads 'L N Guillemard Esq | 11 Downing St. | [signed] W E Gladstone'. Signature approximately 4.5 cm long, and underlined.

Four original sepia studio photographs of Gladstone, and one of his wife. With photographic reproduction of an optical illusion caricature.

Author: 
William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), British Liberal Prime Minister; his wife Catherine Gladstone [nee Glynn] (1812-1900) [Thomas Fall; Samuel Alexander Walker]
Publication details: 
None dated [but one from 1881]. The photograph of Mrs Gladstone by the London Stereoscopic Company; photographs of Gladstone by T. Fall, 9 & 10 Baker Street, London, and Samuel A. Walker, 230 Regent Street, London. [The other two unattributed.]
£450.00

ITEM ONE: Photograph of Gladstone, 14 x 10 cm, by Thomas Fall (1833-1900). In very good condition, laid down on the photographer's worn printed card, 16.5 x 11 cm. Showing Gladstone seated outdoors, with his grandson on his knee. NPG x22229 (the entry for which describes it as a 'carbon cabinet card', taken on 14 September 1881). ITEM TWO: Photograph of Gladstone, 14.5 x 10 cm, by Samuel Alexander Walker (1841-1922). Laid down on the photographer's printed card ('Portraits "At Home" A new Application of Photography introduced by Samuel A. Walker'), 16.5 x 11 cm.

Syndicate content