VICTORIAN

Handbill street ballad entitled 'Mr. Sopkin's Misadventures at Blackpool. (After Ingoldsby's Misadventures at Margate.)'

Author: 
Samuel Laycock (1826-1893), Victorian Yorkshire dialect poet [nineteenth-century Blackpool]
Publication details: 
Publisher and date not stated.
£75.00

At foot: 'PRICE ONE PENNY.' On one side of a piece of wove paper, roughly 220 x 170 mm. Enclosed within decorative border. Foxed and creased, with edges trimmed to edge of border. Thin strip of card mound adhering to one edge of reverse. Text clear and entire. Printed in two columns employing characteristically Victorian typography. Twenty-six four-line stanzas (the last two being the 'MORAL.'). Begins 'When down at Blackpool last July, and walking on the Pier, | I met a pretty maiden, so I said "How do my dear?" | "What do you here, love, by yourself? How is it you're alone?

Illustrated chromolithographic printing proof of 'CALENDAR 1878 | ENGLISH & FOREIGN WATCHES & CLOCKS | A CHOICE SELECTION OF JEWELLERY'.

Author: 
Victorian colour printing [nineteenth century illustration; chromolithography; lithographic Calendar 1878]
Publication details: 
[1877. British.]
£65.00

Printed on one side of a piece of stiff art paper (shiny on printed side, matt on reverse), dimensions roughly 245 x 160 mm). Very good. The name of the firm is not stated, and dabs of colour in 3 mm margins as printing guide. Attractive and characteristic illustration, in eight (?) colours: dark brown, beige, green, red, pink, yellow, dark and light blue, showing a carriage clock surrounded by plate, jewellery (including a goblet, a fan, a pearl necklace, a fob watch, decanters) and a profusion of flowers. The calendar in twelve tiny squares, six at the head at six at the foot.

Everything New? Or Nothing New? A Satirical Comicality, Relating to Men, Manners, Incidents, and Novelties of the Day. [...] To which is added, The Shakespeare Tercentenary Prologue, As Spoken by the author, April 23, 1864.

Author: 
William Scribble, Esq.' (pseudonym of William Smyth (1813-1878), Irish portrait painter, satirist and friend of William Makepeace Thackeray)
Publication details: 
Dublin: William Robertson, 35, Lower Sackville-street, And may be had of Wiseheart, and all Booksellers. 1864. [Goodwin, Son, and Nethercott, Printers, 79, Marlborough-street, Dublin.]
£225.00

12mo: 24 pp. In original pink printed wraps: the front wrap bearing the title; the recto and verso of the rear carrying newspaper reviews of works by 'Scribble'. Stitched. On aged and spotted paper. Wraps heavily worn. A worn presentation inscription can be made out at the head of the title: 'Dr <?> With the Authors Best regards'. Pp.1-2: Introduction and Author's Preface (the latter dated 'Dublin, May, 1864.').

Autograph (Facsimile?) Letter Signed ('Jas. R. Fairfax') to male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir James Reading Fairfax (1834-1919), Australian newspaper proprietor [The Sydney Morning Herald; The Sydney Mail]
Publication details: 
11 May 1884; on letterhead of the Sydney Morning Herald and Sydney Mail.
£56.00

12mo: 1 p. Ten lines of text. Bifolium. Grubby, and with the text of the letter faint. Letterhead printed in red with illustration of the firm's headquarters. Written in, or faded to, lilac, and could well be a carbon. Sending copies of the two newspapers as 'we think it probable you would like your newly published works noticed or reviewed' in them.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Burns') to an unnamed male correspondent [the M.P. J. W. Logan?].

Author: 
John Elliot Burns [John Burns] (1858-1943), Independent Labour Party Member of Parliament for Battersea
Publication details: 
28 August 1893; on parliamentary letterhead.
£56.00

8vo: 1 p. 14 lines of text. On aged and spotted paper, laid down on a piece of card, and with the head of the letter (not affecting the text but causing the loss of the top half of the letterhead) worn away. Originally a 2-page 12mo bifolium, but with the text from the second page laid down below the first.

Cruikshank's Autograph Signature ('Geoe Cruikshank') on a slip of paper cut from the minutes of meetings of a 'Society'.

Author: 
George Cruikshank (1792-1878), English engraver, illustrator and caricaturist
Publication details: 
01/06/27
£95.00

On both sides of a piece of wove paper, dimensions roughly 8.5 x 20 cm. Cruikshank's signature is approximately 9 cm long, with the final letter of his Christian name in superscript. Paper aged and creased, with central vertical fold, and wear to one edge (not affecting text). Recto reads '<...> in the interim - | That 2 door Mats be ordered for the use of the Society | Adjourned till Thursday 7th June - | [signed] Geoe Cruikshank | Monday June 4. | General Meeting of the Society | Mr Parsonage in the Chair.

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Christine Nilson (1843-1921), Swedish singer, the subject of Corot's famous painting 'The Bohemian with a Mandolin'
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£35.00

On a piece of laid watermarked paper roughly 11.5 cm square. Good firm underlined signature, about 8 cm long. On aged paper, with pin holes above and below, and a vertical fold about 1 cm above.

Autograph Note Signed ('J. Doran') to 'Thomas Faed Esq. R.A'.

Author: 
John Doran (1807-1878), writer and editor of 'Notes and Queries' [Thomas Faed (1826-1900), R.A., Scottish artist]
Publication details: 
30 October 1877; on letterhead of 33 Lansdowne Road, Kensington Park West.
£28.00

16mo (11.5 x 9 cm): 1 p. On aged paper with a diagonal crease towards top right-hand corner. In a shaky hand. Reads 'With much pleasure I accept your hospitable invitation for Nov. 20, at 1/4 to 8; - and am | Very truly Your's | [signed] J. Doran'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Julius de Geyter'), in Flemish Dutch.

Author: 
Julius de Geyter (1830-1905), Flemish poet
Publication details: 
31 December 1899; Antwerp.
£35.00

12mo: 1 p. Seven lines of text. Monogram in red in top left-hand corner. On creased and aged paper, with pinholes at head (not affecting text). Scan on request.

Autograph Note Signed to <R. Branden Esq.?>.

Author: 
Joseph Hume (1777-1855), Scottish radical politican
Publication details: 
19 June 1850; Bry[anston] Sq[uar]e.
£28.00

12mo: 1 p. Good, on aged and lightly-ruckled paper. Text clear and entire. Difficult hand. Asks the recipient to 'allow the Bearer to see the L<?> Papers laid on the Table yesterday'. Also asks that the papers 'be printed as soon as possible as I shall mention them in the house'.

Autograph Note Signed ('J M').

Author: 
John Mitford (1781-1851), clergyman, antiquary and editor of The Gentleman's Magazine [Sir Frederic Madden]
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£35.00

12mo: 1 p. Dimensions of leaf 11 x 9 cm. Twelve lines of text, headed 'P. 320'. In poor condition: grubby and aged. Laid down on piece of grey paper removed from autograph book. 2 cm closed tear in bottom left-hand corner affecting a couple of words of text. Difficult hand. Criticising a note, giving references to three works. Ends 'I don't see any use in printing this letter - but Sir F. Madden will tell you better. | JM -'.

The Betting-Book. By George Cruikshank. With Cuts.

Author: 
George Cruikshank [Victorian London; gambling; betting]
Publication details: 
London: W. & F. G. Cash, 5, Bishopsgate Street Without; [successors to Charles Gilpin.] And sold by W. Tweedie, 337, Strand; George Gallie, Glasgow; and all booksellers. 1852.
£350.00

8vo: 32 pp. Stitched. In original grey wraps. Text, four illustrations and map clear and entire. Printed on discoloured high-acidity paper. Lightly creased with a little wear to corners. Scarce. An attack on 'the Betting-offices that are springing up all over the town', with particular reference to those in the St Martin's Lane area. COPAC only lists four copies: at the British Library, Bodleian, Cambridge and Edinburgh; with two copies of the second edition: British Library and V & A National Art Library.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Marie Corelli (1855-1924), British novelist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

On a piece of paper roughly 5.5 x 13 cm. Good firm signature (8 cm long) on lightly aged and creased paper. Reads 'Faithfully yours | [signed] Marie Corelli'. Fragment on reverse reads '<...> education nowadays <...> hope you <...> induced to <...> estimable'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('le Cte de Montalembert'), in French, to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Charles Forbes René de Montalembert (1810-1870), French historian
Publication details: 
3 March 1849; Paris.
£56.00

12mo: 2 pp. Very good on lightly aged paper. Asks if it might be possible, as previously, to forward a packet to 'Mr. d'Abbadie': 'depuis deux ans je suis sans nouvelles de lui'. It is six months since he had the honour of forwarding a similar packet via the French legation at Lisbon. Good firm signature, but with the words '(Le comte de Montalembert)' in another hand beneath it, and interfering with the flourish (paraph).

The Art of Swimming rendered easy; with Directions to Learners. To which is prefixed, Advice to bathers, by Dr. B. Franklin.

Author: 
Benjamin Franklin [Scottish Chapbook]
Publication details: 
Glasgow: Printed for the Booksellers. 81. [sic] [1840-50?]
£850.00

Unbound, on six loose leaves folded to make bifoliums. Good, though grubby and with rough edges (particularly the head). Text clear and entire. 12mo, 24 pages. Cover features woodcut of eighteenth-century gentleman (Franklin?) leaning on stick. Sections on 'Swimming like a dog', 'To beat the water', 'To show both feet out of the water', 'To suspend yourself by the chin', etc. Scarce: Copac only lists copies at Glasgow and in the National Library of Scotland. Dated 1840-50 by the NLS 'from examination of text and style [of] Illustration on title page'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Walter Besant') to Mrs [Alice] Westlake.

Author: 
Sir Walter Besant (1836-1901), novelist and historian of London [Alice Westlake (nee Hare); Adam and Charles Black, publishers; The Survey of London; Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; Frognal]
Publication details: 
13 February 1897; on Adam and Charles Black 'Survey of London' letterhead.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. Seventeen lines of text. On lightly aged and creased paper. Attractive arts and crafts letterhead. Sending his 'mosts profound sympathy in the danger which threatens Chelsea'. He will sign 'the paper [...] with the greatest of pleasure', although he anticipates 'very little good as a possible result'. Suggests a time at which the paper can be sent to him.

Catalogue of the well-known and very valuable library formed at the Durdans, Epsom, by the late Rt. Honble. the Earl of Rosebery, K.G., K.T. Sold by order of his daughter Lady Sybil Grant. The first and second portions.

Author: 
Archibald Philip Primrose (1847-1929) , 5th Earl of Rosebery, British Prime Minister [Lady Sybil Grant; the Durdans, Epsom; Sotheby & Co.]
Publication details: 
Sotheby & Co., 34 & 35, New Bond Street, W.(1). On Monday, the 26th day of June, 1933, and four following days.
£100.00

TWO COPIES, both octavo: iv + 158 pages. Several collotype plates, several in red and gold. In original green printed Sotheby wraps. Both items sound internally, with some wear to the wraps. One item has extensive pencil annotations to the front wraps, and the other has a few ink marks to the reverse, with minor wear to the last couple of leaves. Both catalogues partially priced with some names by the London booksellers Myers & Co. of New Bond Street, one on the second day of the sale and the other on the fifth.

Post Office Telegraph to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer.

Author: 
Leopold Rothschild
Publication details: 
Handed in at Mayfair'; 3 June 1904.
£20.00

From the third son (1845-1917) of Baron Lionel de Rothschild to the noted botanist (1843-1928), Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (1885-1905). Stamped, printed Post Office telegraph on discoloured high-acidity paper, roughly twenty-centimeters by thirteen centimeters. Mounted on larger piece of better-quality paper, also discoloured with age. Reads 'TO { Thiselton Dyer | Kew Gardens | Very many thanks Kind congratulations | Leopold Rothschild'. The reason for congratulations is unclear.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Terrick Williams'): two to John Littlejohns and one to Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd.

Author: 
Terrick Williams [Terrick John Williams] (1860-1936), English landscape painter [John Littlejohns]
Publication details: 
First Letter (to Littlejohns): 15 June 1929. Second Letter (to [Littlejohns]): 20 December 1930. Third Letter (to Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons): 14 February 1931. All three on letterhead of 89, Gunterstone Road, W. Kensington, W14 [London].
£150.00

All three items concern Littlejohns' 'British Watercolour Painting and Painters of Today' (London: Pitman, 1931)'. First Letter: 12mo, 3 pp. 43 lines. Text clear and entire. On two leaves attached to one another in a corner by a pin. Good, on lightly-creased paper. Interesting and informative letter concerning 'two watercolours' which Williams would 'like to be 'reproduced in [Littlejohn's] work on water colours'. Gives details of the titles of the works and the name and address of the owner, 'who has consented to send them'.

Autograph Signature ('Isabel Somerset') on piece of paper.

Author: 
Lady Isabel Somerset [Lady Isabella Caroline Somerset; Lady Henry Somerset] (née Somers-Cocks) (1851-1921), Temperance activist and campaigner for women's rights
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

On irregularly shaped piece of paper, roughly 3 x 7 cm, cut around the signature and its double underlining. Good signature, with slight smudging to a couple of letters.

Papers on Literature and Art.

Author: 
S. Margaret Fuller [Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli]
Publication details: 
Two volumes. London: Wiley & Putnam, 6, Waterloo Place. 1846.
£250.00

8vo: [viii] + 164 pp; [iv] + 183 pp. Bound together in contemporary half calf binding, gilt, marbled boards and endpapers. A tight copy, printed on aged, spotted paper, with occasional light damp-spotting, in worn binding. Bookplate of Aemiliani Reich, on spotted, aged paper, by Gordon Browne, on front pastedown. The first volume has a four-page preface by 'S.M.F.', dated 'New York, July, 1846.' Both volumes contain eight essays.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('Victor Meunier') to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Victor Meunier (1817-1903), French author and journalist; editor of 'Cosmos', the 'Revue Synthétique', and 'L’Ami des Sciences'
Publication details: 
Undated; on letterhead of the Revue Synthetique, Paris.
£25.00

12mo, 1 p. Five lines of text. Very good on lightly aged paper. Good firm signature. He is sending the first issue of the 'Revue Synthétique' and proposes an exchange of that magazine for the one that the recipient edits.

Autograph Letter Signed, in French, to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Jacques Herz (1794-1880), French pianist and composer [Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865), President of the Royal Academy and first Keeper of the National Gallery]
Publication details: 
Vendredi 11 Mars' [no year]; 23 Bentinck Street, Manchester Square, London.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. 12 lines of text. Creased and ruckled, with a little smudging. Difficult hand. Asking the recipient 'd'aller passer une soirée avec nous'. Laid down on a piece of paper which is attached to the blank reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium is a slip of paper (roughly 2 x 9 cm) carrying Eastlake's signature ('always truly yours | [signed] C. L. Eastlake').

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all three 'W. Elwin') to historian Alexander William Kinglake (1809-1891).

Author: 
Whitwell Elwin (1816-1900), English journalist, editor of the 'Quarterly Review'
Publication details: 
1875, 1883, 1887; all three from Booton Rectory, Norwich.
£250.00

All three letters 12mo, and closely written. All three with rusted pinholes at head. A valuable correspondence, in which one of Victorian England's leading critics describes his response to the work of one of the age's foremost historians. LETTER ONE (1 page, 26 lines, good): He thanks Kinglake for sending his 'new volume' [of 'The Invasion of the Crimea']. 'I am reading it with great delight. The work to me is unique both in military & literary history.

Discourse, On the Objects and Importance of the National Institution for the Promotion of Science, Established at Washington, 1840, Delivered at the First Anniversary.

Author: 
Joel R. Poinsett, Secretary of War and Senior Director of the National Institution for the Promotion of Science [Smithsonian Institution]
Publication details: 
Washington: P. Force, Printer. 1841.
£35.00

8vo: 52 pp. Stitched pamphlet in marbled paper wraps. On aged, damp-stained paper, with foxing to last leaf. The Institution was later renamed the National Institute and eventually became a part of the Smithsonian Institute.

Liverpool Fire Prevention. An Act For the better protection of Property in the Borough of Liverpool from Fire. [ROYAL ASSENT, AUGUST 24th 1843.] 6 Vict. - Sess. 1843.

Author: 
Liverpool Fire Prevention [Act of Parliament, 1843; British Fire Brigade]
Publication details: 
London: J. B. Nichols and Son, Printers, 25, Parliament-street. [1843.] [Radcliffe, Town Clerk, Liverpool. Burke and Venables, 44, Parliament Street, Parliamentary Agents.]
£150.00

Folio: ii + 59 + [1] pp. Unbound. Stitched as issued. Text clear and entire, but in poor condition: on creased, discoloured and stained paper, with wear to extremities. Begins 'WHEREAS fires in warehouses in the borough of Liverpool have of late years been of frequent and alarming recurrence, and have been attended with considerable loss of life and property.' 124 clauses, followed by seven pages of 'Schedules referred to by the foregoing act'.

Prospectus for the New Series of "Once a Week"

Author: 
[Printed Pamphlet; Prospectus of Literary Periodical]]
Publication details: 
Bradbury & Evans, London, [1866].
£85.00

Pamphlet, [12]pp., 8vo, formerly sewn but thread missing, hence leaves loose, good condition. It advertises new works (for example, "A New Novel, by the Author of 'Guy Livingstone'") but is notable for its lists of contributing Authors and Artists, and "Classified Index of all the Principal Articles in Prose".

Verses on the Monumental Effigy of Alice-Evelyn, The Infant-Daughter of Martin Farquhar Tupper, Esq. Sculptured as a Sleeping Child, by J. Durham, Esq. Written by R. T. for W. H. [...]'.

Author: 
R. T. [Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889); Joseph Durham (1814-1877); Thomas De La Rue & Co.]
Publication details: 
London: Imprinted by Thomas De La Rue & Co. Dwelling in Bunhill Row. For Presentation to Private Friends. 1854. Not Published.'
£100.00

Printed on all four pages of a bifolium, with each leaf roughly 17.5 x 13.5 cm. Lightly creased, and with the outer pages a little grubby, but good overall. A self-consciously well-printed production, with each page encased in a black ruled border, and with an engraving of the sculpture on the front page, beneath which, 'A. C. CHISHOLM. DEL. J. DURHAM. NV.' Possibly complete in itself, but in view of the elaborate title probably a taster for a volume which, considering the fact that there is no record of this item on COPAC, was probably never printed.

Printed circular (in the form of a facsimile of a handwritten letter) invitation to the 'Ceremony of laying the Foundation Stone [of the 'New Library and Museum' at the Guildhall]'.

Author: 
William Sedgwick Saunders [Guildhall Library; Corporation of London; the City]
Publication details: 
17 October 1870; Guildhall.
£55.00

4to: 1 p. Facsimile of a handwritten letter. With small embossed circular letterhead, in red and gilt, with crest enclosed by the words 'Bibliotheca civitatis Londoniarum'. Somewhat grubby bifolium, but with text clear and entire, reading 'The Committee appointed by the Corporation of London to carry out the works in connexion with their new Library and Museum having fixed Thursday, the 27th. Instant for the ceremony of laying the Foundation Stone of the buildings, it will afford them much pleasure to be favored with your company on the occasion, at Guildhall at 2. o'clock. p.m.

The Struggle.

Author: 
Joseph Livesey, Preston [William Strange, Paternoster Row; Free Trade; repeal of the Corn Laws]
Publication details: 
No. 75. 'Printed and Published by J. LIVESEY, Preston. Sold by W. Strange, Paternoster-row, London [...]. [between 1842 and 1846]
£56.00

4to: 4 pp. Unbound. Good. Half-page illustration on first page of 'The Emigrant's Farewell'. Small vignette on p.3 of 'Sancho Panza flogging himself, or the Landlords laying peculiar burthens on themselves!' Includes articles entitled 'Onward Still!', 'The Sugar Monopoly' and 'The Working Man his Own Capitalist'. Ends with 'A HINT. - Every newspaper containing debates on the corn laws, should be sent through the post from one hand to another while it will hold together.'

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