WAR

[Lieutenant General Archibald Robertson of Lawers.] Manuscript 'Extract from Decree Arbitral by Adam Rolland Esq | In the Submission between Mrs. Catherine Austen or Robertson and The Trustee of Lieut General Archd. Robertson of Lawer'.

Author: 
Lieutenant-General Archibald Robertson (1745-1813) of Lawers, Perthshire [Adam Rolland]
Publication details: 
[Scotland.] Made 19 December 1814; recorded 1833.
£35.00

2pp., foolscap 8vo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Docketted on reverse of second leaf, including the information that this is the second recording (the first being made at the time of the document in 1814). The extract ('Sexto') concerns the payment of an 'Annuity of Eleven hundred pounds Sterling bequeathed to he said Mrs. Catherine Robertson by the said Lieut. General Archibald Robertson'. Robertson is the subject of a portrait by George Romney, now in the Museum of Fine Art, St Petersburg, Florida.

[Malcolm Osborne, painter.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to Westley Manning, in the first describing his wartime enlistment in the Artists Rifles, and training under the artist William Lee-Hankey.

Author: 
Malcolm Osborne (1880-1963), English landscape painter [William Westley Manning (1868-1954), artist; The Artists Rifles, British Territorial Army; William Lee-Hankey (1869-1952), artist]
Publication details: 
The first from 11 Edith Grove, Chelsea. 24 July 1915. The second from 15 Redcliffe Square, South Kensington. 25 July 1921.
£160.00

Both letters in very good condition, neatly written out on lightly-aged paper. ONE: 2pp., 4to.

[George Wyndham, as Under-Secretary of State for War.] Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Redvers Buller

Author: 
George Wyndham (1863-1913), Conservative politician and author, one of 'The Souls' [General Sir Redvers Buller (1839-1908); George Peel]
Publication details: 
On government letterhead. 25 October 1899.
£100.00

2pp., 12mo. 25 lines of text. On aged and worn paper with slight loss at head (not affecting text). The letter begins: 'My dear Sir Redvers | I am ashamed to write to you about a personal matter at such a time, but this is, I think, a very strong claim. | George Peel, son of Lord Peel, in the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, has gone out to South Africa at his own expense, & wishes to be attached to any expedition which is sent to relieve Kimberley, because his sister is there.

[An young English Quaker relief worker in Germany.] Seven Autograph Letters Signed from 'David' [to the Tennant family?], describing in vivid terms his work in Lower Saxony (Harzburg, HIldersheim, Goslar) in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Author: 
'David', a young English Quaker relief worker in Germany [The Tennant family of High Wycombe; British Army of the Rhine; Friends Relief Service]
Publication details: 
The first five from 124 Friends Relief Section [or 'Service'] (Quakers), B.A.O.R. [British Army of the Rhine]; the sixth letter from 17 Friends Relief Section; seventh from Work-Camp at Hildesheim,. Between March and July 1947.
£650.00

66pp., 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, each of the letters kept together with rusty staples. All the letters are signed 'David' and addressed to 'My Dear All'. Accompanying them is an envelope addressed in another hand to S. W. J. Tennant, Beechcote, Brands Hill Avenue, High Wycombe, and this may provide a clue to the identity of the recipients, to whom 'David' makes it clear on a couple of occasions that he is not related, signing off one letter 'from your muddle-headed friend'.

[Fitzroy Somerset, Lord Raglan.] Secretarial Letter, signed 'Fitzroy Somerset', informing 'Ensign Bickerstaff' [Robert Bickerstaff] that he may purchase a lieutenancy in the 64th Foot Regiment.

Author: 
Field Marshal Fitzroy Somerset [FitzRoy James Henry Somerset], 1st Baron Raglan [Lord Raglan] (1788-1855), British commander in Crimean War [Lt-Col. Robert Bickerstaff (d.1894), 6th Dragoon Guards]
Publication details: 
Horse Guards [London]. 18 November 1846.
£120.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Raglan signs and addresses Bickerstaff at the foot of the letter, otherwise it is in a secretarial hand. It reads: 'Horse Guards | 18 November 1846 | Sir, | I am directed by The Commander in Chief [the Duke of Wellington] to acquaint you, that, on your lodging the Sum of £250 - in the hands of Messrs. Cox & Co of Craigs Court His Grace will submit your name to Her Majesty for the purchase of a Lieutenancy in the 64th Foot - | I have the honor to be, | Sir, | Your humble Servant, | Fitzroy Somerset | Ensign Bickerstaff | 64th Foot'.

[Paul Hamilton Hayne] Autograph Letter Signed "Paul H. Hayne" to [the wife of Henry M. Alden, editor of Harper's Monthly], about publication of a poem.

Author: 
Paul Hamilton Hayne, Southern American Poet [1830-1886].
Publication details: 
Augusta, 19 March 1873.
£180.00

Two pages, 8vo, a small stain, fold marks, mainly good condition. He begins by saying that he has an "uncomfortable feeling" that he's about to impose of her kindness. But "Nothing but the presence of a stern necessity, just at present, could have emboldened me to again [underlined] address you and again [underlined] solicit your good offices in the disposition of one of my poems. | But verily, I am hard-[bestead?] and I must spare no effort to sell these and other compositions, if indeed I would successfully accomplish a purpose, near my heart. Pardon thus much of explanation.

[Printed booklet; M. Montgomery] I remember - I remember

Author: 
M. Montgomery [Maud Montgomery, mother of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery]
Publication details: 
W. & G. Baird Ltd, Belfast, [1945]
£180.00

Booklet, 44pp., 12mo, paper wraps, red with phot of the author on front, some marking top of front cover, mainly good condition. INSCRIBE by author on title: "With kind regards | from the Author | M. Montgomery".Scarce; four copies listed on WorldCat (the two major Irish libraries, NLS and Oxford).

[Halifax Explosion, Nova Scotia, Canada, 6 December 1917.] Twelve postcards of scenes of devastation by the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion in history, by Underwood & Underwood of New York.

Author: 
Underwood & Underwood, N.Y. [Halifax Explosion, Nova Scotia, Canada, 6 December 1917]
Publication details: 
Copyright Underwood & Underwood, N.Y. [New York.] 'Novelty Mfg. & Art Co., Limited, Montreal [Canada]'. Undated [1917 or 1918].
£100.00

The largest man-made explosion before the the development of nuclear weapons, with a force equivalent to nearly 3 kilotons of TNT, occurred when the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc, laden with wartime munitions, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. The explosion devastated the Richmond District of Halifax, killing 2000 and injuring 9000. Each postcard carries the words 'Copyright Underwood & Underwood, N.Y.' next to the caption beneath the image, with 'Novelty Mfg.

[New Zealand; Maoris; Admiral David Robertson-Macdonald.] Autograph transcripts of 3 documents (defence of Kororarika, NZ, against an attack by 'natives' during the Flagstaff War). With 88 (eighty-eight) newspaper obituaries and other biographical matter.

Author: 
Admiral David Robertson-Macdonald (1817-1910), Scottish Royal Navy officer who served under six sovereigns [his son David Macdonald Robertson-Macdonald (1857-1919)]
Publication details: 
[Edinburgh, Scotland; Kororarika, Nelson and Auckland, New Zealand.] The transcripts, made by the Admiral towards the end of his life, from documents dating from 1845. The newspaper obituaries all dating from 1910. Other matter from 1918.
£950.00

At the outbreak of the Flagstaff War, Robertson-Macdonald was serving as Commander of HMS Hazard. On 11 March 1845 he was severely wounded while leading the defence of the town of Kororarika (now Russell) from 'the attack of an overwhelming body of natives', resulting in the loss of six of his men. The three transcripts that form Item One below relate to this action, and were presumably made out by the Admiral himself towards the end of his life, in a shaky hand and with a number of errors.

15 items relating to Lieut. A.H. Ross's service in the Second World War as Platoon Commander in the Hertfordshire Battalion of the Home Guard, including Platoon photographs, Special Army Orders, service certificate, letter from Lt-Col. H. K. O'Kelly.

Author: 
Alexander Howard Ross (1880-1965), Commissioner, Southern Province of Sierra Leone, 1920-1928, Platoon Commander, Hertfordshire Battalion, Home Guard, 1940-1944 [Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Kane O'Kelly]
Publication details: 
Items from the War Office, London, and Hertfordshire. From 1940 to 1944.
£750.00

The fifteen items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, laid down or pinned to leaves removed from an album. Items One to Three: three black and white landscape photographs, each around 15 x 20 cm. The first photograph, captioned 'November 1940', shows Ross standing in a field, in front of a platoon in two columns, shouldering rifles with bayonets. The second photograph, captioned '7. C. Coy of Batt., Herts Home Guard 1943', shows twenty-six officers, in three rows, in front of the entrance to a municipal building. The front row, seated, consists of seven senior officers with batons.

Manuscript Interrogatories in a law suit over Colonel Nicholas Shuttleworth's alleged abuse of Richard Greene, with claims that he has beaten him, cheated his estate and taken his wife as mistress. With transcript and letter by William Beamont.

Author: 
William Beamont (c.1797-1889) of Orford Hall, antiquary and first Mayor of Warrington [Sir Nicholas Shuttleworth; Richard Greene [Grene]; Richard Green of St Martin's in the Fields]
Publication details: 
1653. Beamont's letter and transcript both 15 March 1878, the letter on letterhead of Orford Hall, Warrington.
£600.00

1p., 4to. On a piece of watermarked laid paper. Aged, and with chipping and loss along the fold lines, which have been repaired on the reverse with (nineteenth-century?) tape. The words 'Cromwells Protector' in a later hand at the head of the reverse, which is otherwise blank. Accompanied by a autograph transcript (3pp., foolscap 8vo) by Beamont, 'Copied from the original Mar. 15, 1878', and an Autograph Letter (2pp., 12mo) from him to 'Miss Blackburne', on letterhead of Orford Hall, Warrington, also dated 15 March 1878. Beamont begins his letter: 'I return your paper with a transcript.

Autograph Letter Signed from 'W. Taylor' (the Swahili scholar Rev. William Ernest Taylor (1856-1927)?) to Sir Thomas Lynedoch Graham, regarding Sir Gordon Sprigg and the suspension of the Cape constitution.

Author: 
W. Taylor of Plumstead [Rev. William Ernest Taylor (1856-1927), Swahili scholar?] [Sir Thomas Lynedoch Graham (1860-1940); Cape Colony; South Africa; Lord Milner; Sir Gordon Sprigg]
Publication details: 
Plumstead. 12 June 1902.
£850.00

2pp., foolscap 8vo. 54 lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Addressed to 'The Hon. T. L. Graham, M.L.C., Prime Minister's Office, Cape Town.' Taylor begins by thanking Graham for his 'courteous letter' and is pleased to find that he has not been misunderstood. 'While siding with Dr. Smart it was on purely personal grounds that I wrote you. I cannot say that a number of your constituents differ from you; I do not know.

Autograph Letter, Signed 'Glencairn', presumably written by Sir Adam Fergusson of Kilkerran, claimant of the Earldom of Glencairn, to the Earl of Eglinton, offering to raise a volunteer company 'to serve within the district' of the Parish of Kilbride

Author: 
Sir Adam Fergusson (1733-1813) of Kilkerran [Earl of Glencairn; Hugh Montgomerie (1739-1819), 12th Earl of Eglinton, Lord Lieutenant, County of Ayr; Scottish militia; Kilbride, Ayrshire, Scotland]
Publication details: 
Kilmarnock [Scotland]. 28 July 1798.
£180.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged paper with loss to corners caused by removal from mount. Glencairn writes that with Eglinton's 'approbation' he offers 'to raise for His Majesties Service an Independant [sic] or Volunteer Company in the Parish of Kilbride Ayrshire Consisting of Sixty Men inclusive of non comissioned [sic] Officers Drums & Fifes or otherways as shall be deem'd most proper - upon the Same Footing and Regulations as other Independant [sic] or Volunteer Companys - and to serve within the District'.

Manuscript Note, in a secretarial hand, signed ('Pache') by Jean-Nicholas Pache, Mayor of Paris, acknowledging a letter from the architect Charles-François Mandar, informing him that Mandar has 'ouvert un cours de fortification'.

Author: 
Jean-Nicolas Pache (1746-1823), French politician supported by Jean-Paul Marat, Mayor of Paris 1793-1794, who helped bring down the Girondists [Charles-François Mandar (1757-1844), architect]
Publication details: 
'Paris le 21 pluviose l'an 2e. [i.e. 2 February 1794] de la république uni et indivisible'.
£180.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged paper, with loss to the two upper corners. Addressed on the reverse, with red circular 'PD' postmark: 'Au Citoyen Mandar architecte | Cour Mandar No. 3. | Mairie de Paris'. The note reads: 'Citoyen, j'ai reçu ta lettre du 18 de ce mois, qui a pour objet de m'informer que tu as ouvert un cours de fortification qui se tiendra a cinq heures du Soir, les premidi, tridi, Septidi et nonidi de chaque décade.'

Autograph Letter in the third person from Lord Bingham [later George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan] to Sir Francis Freeling, Secretary of the General Post Office, regarding a petition to be presented to the House of Commons. With two cuttings.

Author: 
George Charles Bingham (1800-1888), 3rd Earl of Lucan [Lord Lucan], until 1839 known by the courtesy title Lord Bingham [Sir Francis Freeling (1764-1836), Secretary of the General Post Office]
Publication details: 
3 Park Place [London] 12 June 1830. One of the cuttings dating from the commencement off the Crimean War, 1853.
£220.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. 'Lord Bingham presents his compliments to Sir Francis Freeling & will feel much obliged to him if he will be good enough to have the accompanying letter opened & returned to him free of postage as Ld. B. knows it to be a Petition to the House of Commons | Ld. B.

[Printed pamphlet.] An Account of Warrington Siege, A.D. 1643; and of some manuscripts of that period recently discovered at Houghton Green, near Warrington.

Author: 
James Kendrick, M.D. [the Siege of Warrington, 1643; Houghton Green; English Civil War]
Publication details: 
'Read before a Meeting of the Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society, on the Evening of Thursday, December 11th, 1852 [corrected to '1851'].' Liverpool: T. Brakell, Printer, Cook Street, 1852.
£150.00

15pp., 12mo, with six plates on art paper. In grey printed wraps with title on front cover. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. The plates include engravings by H. C. Pigeon of illustrations by S. Holden and a plan by T. B. Ryder.

Manuscript account book giving the itemised wartime expenses of Mrs Alice Cross (n

Author: 
[Stanley T. Cross, of the Registry of the International Court of Justice, the Hague, and his wife, n
Publication details: 
Mrs Cross's expenses from Broadhurst between January 1943 to March 1945. Matilda's and Ann's expenses from January 1938 to November 1940.
£220.00

70pp., 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in sturdy notebook with green and black marbled boards and black cloth spine. Label in French and German on front pastedown. Apparently mainly the work of S. T. Cross, with the sections in French by his wife. There appear to be three children: Titi, Ann and Matilda. The main body of the volume gives (on 48pp.) 'Alice's a/c General Expenses at Wadhurst'.

[Privately printed booklet, in French, on Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse and his role in the American Revolution.] Appel aux Etats-Unis. Un Grand Oublié.

Author: 
[Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse (1722-1788), commander of the French fleet at the Battle of Chesapeake; Lady Marie de Grasse Evans (d.1907), American-born wife of Sir Francis Henry Evans]
Publication details: 
Imprimerie des Orphelins d'Auteuil, 40, rue La Fontaine, Paris. No date.
£220.00

16pp., 12mo. Stapled. In cream wraps, with the title in brown on front cover. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with vertical fold and slight rust staining to cover from staple. From the Evans family papers, which include those of de Grasse's descendant Lady Marie de Grasse Evans [née Stevens]. No copy traced, either in English-speaking libraries or the Bibliotheque Nationale.

[Printed handbill poem.] "La Belgique Martyre." Poème du maître belge Emile Verhaeren, dont la publication a été autorisée par l'auteur comme contribution a l'oeuvre "Asiles des Soldats Invalides Belges."

Author: 
Emile Verhaeren [Asiles des Soldats Invalides Belges; German war crimes in Belgium; the First World War]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [Circa 1918.]
£220.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. The poem, of 60 irregular lines, is placed (with a facsimile of Verhaeren's signature at the foot) within a thick floral border, reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts movement. It begins: 'Ce n'est qu'un bout de sol dans l'infini du monde. | Le Nord | Y déchaîne le vent qui mord. | Ce n'est qu'un peu de terre avec sa mer au bord | Et le déroulement de sa dune inféconde.' Scarce: no copy in the Bibliotheque Nationale, on COPAC or in the Imperial War Museum.

[Printed pamphlet by the Socialist Party of Canada.] The Socialist Manifesto.

Author: 
[The Socialist Party of Canada, founded in 1931 in Winnipeg, Manitoba]
Publication details: 
Published by the Socialist Party of Canada, P.O. Box 1751, Winnipeg, Canada. [Preface dated 'DOMINION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, | JUNE, 1944.']
£120.00

42pp., 12mo. In yellow wraps printed in black and red, with 'Object' and 'Declaration of Principles' of the SPC inside the front cover, and advertisements for SPC publications on both sides of the back cover. Stapled. In fair condition, aged and worn, with pencil ownership inscriptions of 'Jean Thurlow'. The Preface begins: 'This pamphlet was first published in 1910 as the Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Canada. During the ten-year period ending in 1920, five editions, totalling more than 25,000 copies, were issued.

Signature ('Fitzroy Somerset') of Lord Fitzroy Somerset, later Lord Raglan, on frank to Colonel Brotherton.

Author: 
FitzRoy James Henry Somerset [known as Lord FitzRoy Somerset], 1st Baron Raglan [Lord Raglan] (1788-1855), British army officer [The Charge of the Light Brigade; Battle of Balaklava; Crimean War]
Publication details: 
Merthyr Tydvil [Wales]. 11 June 1831.
£25.00

On piece of 6.5 x 11.5 cm paper, cut from front of frank. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. With the red government postmark ('FREE | 11 JU 11 | 1831'). Reads 'London June seventh 1831 | Colonel Brotherton | Merthyr Tydvil | [signed] Fitzroy Somerset'.

[Printed booklet with introduction by Winston Churchill; a bookplate by Gooden loosely inserted.] The Trumpeter of Saint George. An Engraving by Stephen Gooden A.R.A. with verses by G. Rostrevor Hamilton.

Author: 
Stephen Gooden; G. Rostrevor Hamilton [Winston Churchill]
Publication details: 
London: George G. Harrap & Company Limited in association with the Royal Society of Saint George. 1941. [Printed by Harrison & Sons, Ltd, Printers to His Majesty The King, 44-47 St. Martin's Lane, London, WC2.]
£135.00

16pp., 8vo. Stapled, unpaginated pamphlet with five blank versos. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Typed label laid down at head of reverse of first leaf: 'Issued by the Royal Society of St. George in W.W.W. London had been severely burned by incendiaries, the Guildhall and eight Wren churches destroyed. | Original contribution by Winston Churchill.' Circular reproduction of black and white engraving, somewhat in the style of a seventeenth-century emblem book, showing the trumpeter riding a carved lion on a globe overlooking a landscape.

Autograph Letter Signed in French from Jean de Perregaux of Neuchâtel, presenting his cousin Carle de Marval of the Red Cross to General P. Markow, Aide-de-Camp to Ferdinand I, Tsar of Bulgaria, and referring to the Battle of Kirk Kilisse.

Author: 
Jean de Perregaux (1860-1919) of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, engineer and artillery officer [General P. Markow, aide-de-camp to Ferdinand I, Tsar of Bulgaria; Battle of Kirk Kilisse; First Balkan War]
Publication details: 
Neuchâtel [Switzerland]. 5 November 1912.
£100.00

1p., 8vo, and 1p., 12mo. A bifolium, with the first page (in 12mo) on the recto of the first leaf, and the second page (in 8vo) lengthwise across the verso of the first leaf and the recto of the second. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-ruckled paper. With envelope addressed by Perregaux to 'Monsieur le Général P. Markow | Aide de camp général de S. M. le Roi des Bulgares. | Sophia | Bulgarie'. On monogrammed letterhead, addressed to 'Mon cher Markow', and signed 'J de Perregaux'. Perregaux begins by stating that he was agreeably surprised by Markow's telegram 'de Gare Yamboli'.

[WITH MS MAP] First WW aerial reconnaissance photo. of the area around Passchendaele during the 3rd Battle of Ypres, and intelligence map of the same area, with manuscript plan of the Honnecourt Wood and Lempire-Ronssoy area in pencil on reverse.

Author: 
[Aerial photograph and manuscript map of the Passchendaele area during the 3rd Battle of Ypres, First World War; No. 105 Machine Gun Company; British Army]
Publication details: 
Passchendaele, Belgium. 'Reproduced & Printed by No 5 Advanced Section AP & SS'. Stamped on the reverse: 'NO. 105 MACHINE GUN COMPANY', with the date '1/9/17' [i.e. 1 September 1917.
£800.00

Printed on a piece of card, roughly 50 x 22 cm., with the photographic side shiny and the reverse carrying the manuscript plan matt. In fair condition, folded four times and lightly aged, worn and chipped. The whole of the one side comprises a single photographic print, with 'Reproduced & Printed by No 5 Advanced Section AP & SS' at the foot. The upper part of this print reproduces an aerial photograph, roughly 15 x 22 cm, with six positions indicated: 'Kansas Cross', 'Gravenstafel', 'Passchendaele', 'Otto FM. D. 15a', 'Delva FM.

Substantial Autograph Letter Signed ('Frederick Niven') from the Canadian novelist Frederick John Niven to the Irish journalist and essayist Robert Lynd, explaining his ill health and praising Lynd's writing.

Author: 
Frederick Niven [Frederick John Niven] (1878-1944), novelist from British Columbia, Canada, born in Chile of Scottish parents [Robert Lynd (1879-1949), Irish journalist and essayist]
Publication details: 
Lorenza, Combe Martin, North Devon. 26 December 1916.
£160.00

4pp., 4to. Fair, on lightly aged and creased paper, with a few closed tears. The letter begins: 'Dear Lynd: I have been very ill and after two months in bed and an introduction to what Marley called "the thick, sweet smell of chloroform" I have been sent down here to get better - with the word of specialist and doctor that when I am well again I shall be better than I have been for a long time. This I write because I have often thought of writing to tell you how much I relish your papers.

[Printed handbill.] Roedean School. Dates of the Beginning and End of Terms for 1917.

Author: 
[Roedean School, near Brighton, East Sussex, boarding school for girls founded by the Lawrence sisters in 1885]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [Roedean School, East Sussex. 1916 or 1917.]
£56.00

1p., 16mo. Good, on lightly-aged and spotted laid paper. A few pencil calculations on the reverse. Neatly printed. Giving details for the three terms: Lent, Summer and Michaelmas, with dates for 'Pupils re-assemble', 'Opening Address to Pupils', 'Reading of the Reports and Closing Address' and 'Pupils leave'. These details are followed by the following notices: 'Parents are earnestly requested to co-operate with the School authorities in enforcing punctuality of attendance at the beginning and end of Term.

Autograph Letter from Henry Allen Brainard, editor of 'The Pacific Tree and Vine (And Santa Clara Valley)' to his former colleague in the Union army, Major B. F. Ainger, discussing their colleagues and describing the horticulture of the San Jose area

Author: 
Henry Allen Brainard (1840-1900), Editor, The Pacific Tree and Vine (And Santa Clara Valley)
Publication details: 
The Pacific Tree and Vine (And Santa Clara Valley), 10 Orchard Street, San Jose, California. 10 May 1892.
£90.00

2pp., 12mo. Very good, on two leaves of lightly-aged paper. In a difficult hand. The recipient is addressed as 'B. F. Ainger, Delegate to Editorial Committee, <?> Excursion'. The first two pages of the letter only, hence lacking Brainard's signature. Having seen Ainger's name 'among the delegates from Pennsylvania', he is 'strongly reminded of a Maj B. F. Ainger formerly of the 2nd. <?> Artillery with whom I had the pleasure of an acquaintance long ago when we were watching the Defences of Bermuda Honduras &c.

Mid-Victorian manuscript list, headed 'Weight of Appointments', giving the weights of a British Army cavalryman's equipment.

Author: 
[British Army Cavalryman's list of 'Weights of Appointments', circa 1850]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [Circa 1850.]
£125.00

On one side of a piece of 15.5 x 11 cm laid paper. In fair condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper. The list gives the weights of nine items (Saddle; Horse Shoes & Nails; Velisse; Sword & Belts; Carbine; Ammunition 20 rounds; Cloak; Sheep Skin & Shabracque; Wallets), ranging in weight from 27 lbs to 4 1/2 lbs, and totalling 7 st 3 lbs. Apparently very scarce. No record found.

Autograph Letter Signed from J. W. Leach in Australia to his aunt Mrs Baker in Sidcup, England, discussing his return to 'good old Sydney', the 'frightful state' of the country post-War, and the arrival of 'a great number of English Brides'.

Author: 
J. W. Leach of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia [Mrs Baker, Sidcup, Kent, England]
Publication details: 
84 Victoria Street, Potts Point, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 27 November 1919.
£90.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper, with small rust hole to second leaf affecting two words of text. He begins in the hope that she is 'quite well & Plenty of Business'. He reports the death of his mother the previous may: 'she only lasted 5 Months after I left her'.

Hints to instructors.

Author: 
Anon.
Publication details: 
3rd. ed., Aldershot : Army Gym Headquarters, n.d.
£75.00

10p. (fold.) illustrated, cloth; Text folded inside envelope 7x4cm, worn. Title on envelope followed by instructions: "Be brief but very impressive. | Develop your Power of Observation. | Check Faulty positions." Only copy recorded on COPAC at Imperial War Museum (suggesting Second World War but former owner was told First WW by donor).

Syndicate content