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An amusing letter, shedding light on publishing practice in early-Victorian London. The subject is Maxwell's 'Hill-side and Border Sketches', published in two volumes in London by Bentley in 1847. 6pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. There is no salutation, but the author is identified as 'David Macbeath' in the course of the letter. Written in a high-spirited jocular style.

2pp, 4to. Bifolium. Franked in the usual manner 'Egremont', with postmark and broken seal in red wax, on reverse of second leaf, and addressed: 'Petworth Jany. Seventh 1828 | The Revd: J. Austen | Ockham | Ripley | Surrey'. An interesting letter, casting light on personal financial affairs in late-Georgian England. The letter has been forwarded by the recipient Austen to the individual who is clearly 'the Gentleman' referred to in it, addressed by Austen on the recto of the second leaf, with Ripley postmark, as 'John Smallpeice Esqr | Guildford'.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded three times. The recipient is not named, but is clearly a book illustrator, and the letter provides an interesting view of the practices of book illustrators and engravers in Victorian London. Whymper begins by stating that he is sorry to have missed his 'Call', and to have been 'equally unfortunate this afternoon', when he left at his house 'Two pieces of wood & a little book I want you (if convent [sic]) to make me a Front[ispiece]. for by Thursday Morng.

A rare and unusual item, distributed as news of the execution broke, no other copy of which has been traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC. Printed on one side of a 59 x 48.5 cm piece of watermarked laid paper. In four columns of small print, surrounded by a thick-thin ruled border. Engraving (13.5 x 14.5 cm) of the moment of execution by guillotine at head of the central two columns. Aged and worn, with small drops of ink spattering, but with the text entirely legible and the engraving practically unmarked. Folded four times.

1p, 4to. In good condition, with slight creasing to extremities, on a leaf of 'Onion Skin' paper. A sixteen line poem in three stanzas, beneath which is written, boldly and in pencil: 'W B. Stanford | Trinity College | Dublin'. The poem is one of Stanford's best and best-known, and features in Donagh MacDonagh's 'Poems from Ireland' (1944) and Brendan Kennelly's 'Penguin Book of Irish Verse' (1970). The present version exhibits no variations from the text printed by Kennelly.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-creased grey paper. Addressed to 'Dear Prof Brunbaugh'. He explains that Brunbaugh's letter of 19 September 'went into a large collective envelope marked “For attention”', adding 'You can guess what that means. It is lucky ever to have come out.' He has 'made a copy of a short poem' for Brunbaugh, and hopes that he will go and see him when he next comes to Ireland.

Fourteen items, including three letters from Starkie and seven letters from the Oxford University Press – five of them from Geoffrey Cumberlege and two from G. W. S. Hopkins – and copies of two letters from Cumberlege to Fry's agent Emanuel Wax, and a copy of a letter from the OUP to Starkie. All dating from 1955. The collection is in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The three Starkie letters are all in autograph, and total 7pp. The first two are written from Madrid, and the last from the Athenaeum in Pall Mall.

From the papers of the Ulster poet R. N. D. Wilson [Robert Noble Denison Wilson] (1899-1953), whose Trinity degree is recorded in Item Two. Two nice pieces of Trinity ephemera, with Yeats's receipt of an honorary degree (with unfortunate misprint) adding interest. Both items printed on blue paper, and both in fair condition, lightly aged. Both headed 'Comitia Hiemalia | Termino S. Michaelis. | Habita Die Vicesimo Decembris, | MCMXXII. | Nomina Candidatorum.' Both giving lists of names, in small type, grouped under the Latin names of the various degrees they are receiving. ONE: 2pp, folio.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded once. He begins by stating that he found 'the saying about Crete in Phineas Fletcher's Purple Island'.

2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, aged and a little grubby. Folded once. Twenty-seven closely-written lines. The letter is addressed to the author James Alexander Steuart (1861-1932), and refers to his recent novel 'Wine on the Lees' (1899). There is also a reference to 'the Whitefriars men', i.e. the staff of the St James's Gazette, which was published in Dorset Street, Whitefriars.

On 4.5 x 14.5 cm slip of paper cut from the conclusion of a letter. In good condition, lightly aged, laid down on 8 x 16 cm piece of paper cut from album. A good firm signature, with the remaining text of the letter reading: 'I think that F. W. H. Myers attempted an explanation in his book “Human Personality.” [Added here in Lodge's autograph: 'I think it was.'] | Yours faithfully, | Oliver Lodge'. The mount carries a manuscript biographical note. Myers's book 'Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death' was publishd in 1903.

The letters are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, except for the third, which is damp-stained with closed tears at head and foot. The book is in fair condition, without dust wrapper. All four letters are signed 'W. H. Davies.' The first three are addressed to 'Mr Harris', and the last (an ANS rather than an ALS) to 'Mr Fry'. Each is 1p, 12mo. Letter One: 23 March 1928; Malpas House, Oxted. After reading his poem, Davies states, 'I begin to think you ought to take some step towards publishing, as soon as you have enough material.

BOOK: 48pp, 8vo. Quarter-bound with purple crushed tissue boards and cream vellum-paper spine. No dustwrapper. Internally in good condition, in fair binding with gilt on spine slightly dulled, and two bumps at the head of the back board. Colphon on reverse of first leaf (Davies's autograph in square brackets): 'Of this edition of Secrets have been printed 100 copies for sale, each copy signed by the author | Copy number [84] | [W. H. Davies.]' A collection of forty poems, each on a single page and many with a vignette at the foot of the page.

[12]pp, 8vo. Paginated to 14, but twelve pages on six leaves, comprising half-title, title and eight pages of text. Sewn into raspberry printed wraps. Title with engraving of the church, duplicated on front cover. Internally in fair condition, with slight creasing, but with blue ink (or wine?) stain at foot of outer edge of front cover. Bloomfield & Mendelson A46, which states that the edition was printed in November 1963 and limited to 250 copies, 'sent out to a number of personal friends whose names were mainly suggested by Mrs. MacNeice'. In this case, from the library of Christopher Fry.

A close friend of Rudyard Kipling, Feilden fought on the Confederate side in the American Civil War, and married the daughter of a South Carolina judge. The recipient Daniel Meinertzhagen (1875-1898) was the eldest of the ten children of Daniel Meinertzhagen (1842-1910) of Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire, and brother to the celebrated intelligence officer and fraud Col. Richard Meinertzhagen (1878-1967). At the time of writing he was a student at New College, Oxford.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition. He has 'from week to week been purposing a visit to you to express my gratitude & sincere thanks for your kindness to me & the cure you accomplished'. He can only write his thanks, having been overwhelmed by 'the arrears of work that followed my illness', and leaving for Paris the following day.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Begins: 'Prof. Corfield presents his compliments to Miss Armstrong and begs to inform her that his Course of Lectures on Hygiene to Ladies will commence on Thursday Octr. 2nd at University College, London, and will be illustrated by specimens &c from the Parkes Museum.' He would forward a syllabus if he had one, and suggests that she apply to the college secretary 'for a copy of the Prospectus of the Faculties of Science'.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He cannot accept her dinner invitation as he has 'promised to go to the Red Lion dinner & as the friend who got me the invitation there had I fear some trouble to do so, I do not like to withdraw'.

The two volumes constitute the first and last volumes (the middle volume is missing) of a three-volume work described by its author as 'a more or less humorous account of a ramble round the Kentish Coast by two men'. This unpublished work constitutes a topographical and social narrative, written by the well-known artist and illustrator when in his eighties. Stylistically indebted to Jerome K.

29pp., small 4to. Stitched into card covers. Internally in fair condition, in aged and worn covers repaired along the spine with brown tape. There are eleven hand-coloured engravings: one on the cover, a frontispiece, two vignettes (at the beginning and end of the poem) and seven full-page illustrations in the body of the poem (six of them with blank reverses). The cover illustration, frontispiece, and all but two of the full-page engravings are attributed to Chandler and Duran.

8pp., 16mo. Disbound pamphlet without wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Pp.3-6 carry the 'Friendly Hints to the Teachers of the Christ-Church Sunday-School, Bradford.', signed in type at the end 'W. Morgan' and addressed to 'My dear Fellow-Labourers'. Pp.7-8 carry the ten 'Rules for the Teachers of the Christ-Church Sunday-School, Bradford, Agreed upon at their Monthly Meeting, Sep. 28th., 1828.' No other copy traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC.

Both cards around 9 x 12 cm. The first written on one side and the second on both sides. In fair condition, lightly aged. ONE: Begins: 'My dear Plarr, | We were delighted – for your sake – to see the announcement in the Times of your election to the <?> district, which we hope is well worth your acceptance'. He sure that 'we shall all be very sorry to lose you at King's. However I trust we shall sometimes see you.' Postscript: 'We are off to the Borders & the Roman Wall next week.

The recipient's name, given at the foot of the last page, appears to read 'Mr. L. Newland' or 'Newlaw'. This may be J. W. Newland, was an English daguerreotypist and magic lanternist who travelled from New Orleans, through Central and South America, to the Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, England, and finally to Calcutta between 1845 and 1857. 2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He has submitted the recipient's letter to the Queen, 'together with the Daguerrotypes that accompanied it'.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with tissue labels from mount adhering to the blank reverse. Tinsley Brothers of 8 Catherine Street, Strand, were Ainsworth's publishers during this period. The letter begins: 'Dear Mr. Tinsley, | You are quite incorrigible.' Ainsworth complains that Tinsley has sent him a letter, 'delayed since Novr. 11th. last', and that he has 'been obliged to write a long letter of explanation and apology'. He hopes that 'the lady – for the writer is a lady – will be satisfied'.

The four Lawrence Asylums were founded at the desire of Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence as boarding schools for the sons of British Army officers in India. What is now the Lawrence School, Lovedale, is now one of the most exclusive schools in India. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged.

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with minor damage in margin at the gutter of the second leaf caused by removal from stub. Addressed to 'Sir Edwin Landseer RA | &c &c'. A week from the writing of the letter Frith is expecting 'a few artists & others to tea-supper smoke-whist &c'. He explains that the group usually meets 'about eight supper at ten or half past. We should all be pleased if you can be induced to give us the pleasure of your company.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. The letter is addressed to 'My dear Sir' and the recipient is not identified. He begins by thanking him for his 'kind attention': 'I had got the information about Gattie, though I dont think I shall want it.' He is surprised the recipient 'never heard Mr Elliston mention The King of the Sheffield Gallery'. He continues: 'I am sorry my Anecdotes do not appear to please you, there is one thing however which must please you, which is, that finding them so incorrect &c you had nothing to do with them'.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium on grey paper. Aged and worn. Addressed on reverse of second leaf by Black, with his initials, to 'J B Nichols, esq | 25 Park Street.' An interesting glimpse of the editorial workings of the Gentleman's Magazine and Georgian periodical publication in general. Black complains that he has been 'waiting some days for the concluding sheet (as I suppose) of that part of which contains the Ferrar, - the end of the quarto MS. copy'.?>

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn, with traces of mount on blank reverse. He is sending, 'as promised, the address', but has forgotten 'the exact member of the club'. 'I conclude, however, that it is well known to Sir Rowland's myrmidons' (Sir Rowland Hill and his postmen). He asks for 'a line of assurance', and for a proof if the recipient prints the address. A pencil postscript at the foot of the leaf has been neatly torn away, except for the following, up the right-hand margin: '<...> I have pencilled might be omitted. She can judge'.