WAR

A very nice print in grey tones. Landscape: 7.5 x 13 cm. With the words ‘POST CARD’ printed on the reverse. Image in very good condition; traces of black paper mount adhering to the reverse. A head and shoulders shot of the future king, taken from the left, with right shoulder slightly forwards, face turned to the right and eyes staring vacantly ahead over the viewer’s right shoulder. Clean-shaven with parting on left; arms folded across chest, smartly attired in double-breasted check lounge suit with white shirt and ‘oriental-knot’ tie.

An interesting indicator of the economic impact of the continental blockade in the year of the Battle of Trafalgar. Roger Knight provides an excellent overview of the background to the present document in his ‘Convoys: The British Struggle against Napoleonic Europe and America’ (2022), and in particular the fifth chapter, which deals with North Sea Convoys between 1804 and 1812.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 13 x 6.5 cm piece of thin paper, apparently cut from the end of a letter for an autograph hunter. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, folded twice. Reads: ‘Francis Grenfell / Maj Genl / April 16 / 1892.’ See image.

Silver gelatin negative photostatic print of two documents: 3pp, 4to (i.e. each of the three pages on 19.5 x 24 cm. leaf). The first page of Goschen’s two-page ‘Aide Mémoire’ on a separate leaf, and the second page and von Jagow’s note on different leaves of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. N.B. The entire item is a photostatic copy. Reproduced at the head and down the left margin of the first page of Goschen’s text are manuscript notes in German (including at top left: A15930 pr. 4. August 1914 pm. / Von Sir E.

A highly-interesting correspondence of some historical significance, in which North tells ‘the whole story’ as he sees it of his controversial wartime dismissal, to one of his leading supporters in the attempt to clear his name. A marked antipathy to Churchill is shown on both sides, with added attacks by Elibank on Earl Mountbatten and Montgomery of Alamein.

For the family see the entry on ?HOMFRAY, of Wollaston Hall, and The Hill, near Stourbridge; Broadwaters, Kidderminster; and The Hyde, Kinver, Staffordshire?, in H. S. Grazebrook, ?The Heraldry of Worcestershire? (1873). 1p, 8vo. Text clear and complete, on aged paper worn and chipped at edges, with one short closed tear. Previously folded into a packet. Endorsed. Reads: ?Sir / I have just rec?d yours enclosin [sic] a statement of the Half Pay which you say is 33? - 8s - [?]d & that there is only 12? . 15s due to me for 6 months.

2pp, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight spotting and single punch hole centred above letterhead. Folded twice. The letter is addressed to 'My dear Vice-Chancellor' without further elaboration, but the item comes from the Ross papers. Temple explains that it has been ?difficult to foresee how this summer could be arranged: the planning of domestic life in two houses under present conditions of staffing is very complicated!? His wife will not be joining him in the visit, as she ?feels obliged to spend that week-end at Canterbury?.

See the entries for Grey and Ross in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Reads: ?My dear Provost / Probably you will not think that the enclosed requires any answer or that it is a matter for the head of a College but as it concerns a member of Oriel I send it on to you / Yours very truly / Grey of Fallodon.?

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On his letterhead of coronet and letter R. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. He is sorry to refuse the Duke, ?but I could not really take the chair at a dinner in aid of the Westminster Hospital Funds?, as he has ?promised Lord Cadogan to to [sic] act in that capacity in aid of [same?] Chelsea Hospital. Under these circumstances, I am sure you will excuse me.?

A good example of Nash’s attractive and distinctive signature ‘John Nash’ on a very light dotted line, a piece of paper cut into an oval roughly 5 cm wide and 2.5 cm high. In good condition, lightly aged, laid down on an irregularly-shaped piece of card. See Image

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Folded twice. A printed circular, completed in manuscript by a secretary for the ‘Earle of Hardwicke Kt’ (as Colonel of the Cambridge Regiment of Militia), and signed by Pulteney ‘Ja: Pulteney’. Note at head of page in a third contemporary hand: ‘Copied for Col. the Rt. Hon. Chas. Yorke - 14/7/7’.

See the entries for Grenfell and Ross in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium of light-grey paper. In fair condition, aged and spotted. Folded once for postage. The identity of the recipient is unclear, but the item derives from the papers of Sir David Ross [W. D. Ross], Scottish philosopher and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (see the Oxford DNB).

An interesting item in the social history of the Royal Navy, indicating the financial anxieties many naval widows were under. The Battle of the Delaware Capes (or 3rd Battle of Delaware Bay) took place on 20 and 21 December 1782, between the Royal Navy frigates HMS Diomede, Quebec and Astraea and the South Carolina Navy's 40-gun frigate South Carolina, the brigs Hope and Constance, and the schooner Seagrove. The British won, with the Seagrove the only ship that got away. 2pp, foolscap 8vo.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On piece of 8.5 x 4.5 cm laid paper cut. In fair condition, on aged paper with reverse bearing traces of glue from mount. Reads: ‘M. Power / M Genl. Comm[andin]g’. Endorsed on reverse: ‘M General / Sir Manley Power / K.C.B’. See Image.

Edward Knobloch’s play ‘My Lady’s Dress’ (‘in which’, as one newspaper wrote at the time, ‘the heroine’s dream takes her to the foreign [and London] scenes surrounding the manufacture of a costly gown’) premiered at the Royalty Theatre in London in 1914 and was revived several times through the 1920s.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, on aged paper with nicks and small closed tears to extremities. Addressed to ‘Thos. M. Wilson Esqre / the Captain 59 foot’, and signed ‘Fitzroy Somerset’. The document is in a secretarial hand, only the signature being in Somerset’s autograph.

An unusual survival, providing details of a little-known Second World War scheme for artists to lend their work to the army for placement in officers’ messes. Three items, in fair condition, lightly-aged. ONE: Mimeographed Typed Circular from ‘T. A. Fennemore. / Director.’, headed ‘The Central Institute of Art and Design, National Gallery, London, W.C.2. / January 1942.’ 1p, 4to. (originally foolscap; a form has been cut away at bottom).

On 13 x 7.5 piece of paper, cut down from the label of a packet containing a manuscript (see the annotation on the reverse). On discoloured paper, with glue staining from mount on reverse. Sumner's signature 'C. Sumner' is at top left, with the top of the S slightly cropped. The address, by Sumner, reads 'W. S. Law Magazine / New York / N. Y.' Annotated in pencil on reverse: 'Charles Sumner / M.S.S. 22d Apl 1853 / Massachusetts / Lawyer'. See Image

A nice collection of ephemera, relating not only to one of England’s best-loved poets, but also to Sotheby’s auction practice during the Great War. The provenance of the Gray letters put up for auction by Mrs Turpin is given in a New York Times article of 27 June 1915 (‘To sell relics of Thomas Gray; many letters by the poet will also be put up at auction at Sotheby's’), which stated in a report on the forthcoming sale that the letters ‘were transmitted to the present owner, Mrs.

A nice item relating to a significant figure in French nineteenth-century history. Such was Boulanger’s popularity with the French working classes in the late 1880s that it was believed that he could make himself dictator. Stylish and dynamic signature ('Genl: Boulanger'), on back of 9.5 x 6.5 cm calling card. In good condition, lightly aged. The words ‘Général Boulanger’ are printed in large letters on the front of the card, and nothing else.

One of the great figures of world history. On one side of 10 x 3.5 cm piece of wove paper, cut from the end of a letter, with blank reverse. In fair condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of glue at right (away from signature) and central horizontal fold (over signature). Evidently cut from the letter in response to a request for an autograph. Reads 'Your obedient servant / Wellington'. See Image.

See his entry, and that of the recipient, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, foolscap 8vo. Laid-paper bifolium with ?I TAYLOR? Britannia watermark. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. Reverse of second leaf docketed: ?12 March / Copy / to Philip Stephens Esqr / Duplicate - left at Santa Cruz / Triplicate. sent by the shop from Port Praya Bay 24th. March 89.? See the ODNB: ?When his brother Earl Cornwallis was appointed governor-general of Bengal, Cornwallis was sent out as commodore and commander-in-chief in the East Indies in October 1788?.

An interesting and well-written poem, unpublished, casting light on the life of a midshipman in the Royal Navy in the year after Trafalgar. The author of this poem is frustratingly elusive (he was perhaps a member of the family of the antiquary Francis Grose, 1731-1791), but the 1787 Captain was a 74-gun third rater of some renown, having been captained by Nelson at the 1797 Battle of St Vincent. In the year following this poem she would act as one of the escorts for the expedition that left Falmouth and eventually attacked Buenos Aires.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that he 'was after Wellington the most respected soldier of his time in Britain, whose opinion carried immense weight both at home and abroad and not only on military matters'. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight creasing at head. Reads: ‘Sir George Murray has to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Wrights letter of the 4th.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that after his resignation from government in protest against the impending war, ‘Around him he rallied those few brave, independent spirits who shared his views. Together they helped to found the Union of Democratic Control, in A. J. P. Taylor's judgement 'the most formidable Radical body ever to influence British foreign policy' (A. J. P. Taylor, Politicians, Socialism and Historians, 1982, 103). Trevelyan became the union's principal advocate in the Commons.

See his long obituary in the Gentleman’s Magazine, December 1847. This letter, which concerns the prize money for the capture of the 36-gun Danish fifth-rater the Venus, captured by Dashwood at the Battle of Copenhagen, 1807. 2pp, 4to, on the first leaf of a bifolium, the reverse of the second leaf is addressed, with two postmarks, to ‘James Sykes Esqe / Arundle St / London’, and docketed ‘C. Dashwood / 16 Feb 1808 / Recd 17 do’. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight damage to second leaf from breaking open of the wafer. Folded for postage.

An excellent letter, describing the state of affairs in Sicily during the period of British occupation, 1806-1814. The recipient Sir Sidney Smith (see Oxford DNB) was second in command to Sir Edward Pellew, head of the Mediterranean squadron which included Bromley’s ship HMS America, a 76-gun third-rater, launched only three years before, in 1810. The present letter is written with the ship on the verge of a notable engagement (described in the European Magazine, March 1814, pp.245-247, quoting from the London Gazette). From Bromley’s entry by P. R.

See Gambier’s entry in the Oxford DNB. He served during capture of Charleston during American Revolutionary War, at the Glorious First of June, and commanded at Battle of Copenhagen and Battle of the Basque Roads. He was First Naval Lord, three times: 1795-1801, 1804-6 and 1807-8. Henslow was Surveyor to the Navy, 1784-1806, and Hope was Deputy Comptroller of the Navy, 1795-1801.

Bligh’s entry in the Oxford DNB does not note his service on HMS Wasp, to which he was appointed in October 1774. According to one authority the ship ‘saw service out of Passage, County Cork, Ireland from [November 1774]. In October 1775 [Bligh] brought sixty volunteers from Ireland into Plymouth, and in June 1776 sailed from Portsmouth to Plymouth with money for the dockyard artificers.

A valuable artefact of the American War of Independence: a leaf from a British War or Colonial Office ledger detailing payments to officials in General Leslie’s administration in Carolina in 1782.