WEDGWOOD

[ William Adams, potter ] Autograph Note Signed Wm Adams to a Miss Parr, autograph collector, offering a letter by Mr Wedgwood

Author: 
William Adams, potter
Publication details: 
Garabaldi [sic] Street, Etruria, 19 July 1871
£25.00

One page, 12mo, remnants of laying down in album on reverse, actual letter in good condition. I received yours enclosing an Envalope [sic] of Postage stamps, I have looked over all my Papers & old Letters & have been fortunate in finding a Letter written by Mr Wedgwood to Mr. Cox, which you Please accept, part of the Autograph is illegible.

[Mary Stocks (Lady Stocks), author and supporter of women's suffrage and social reform.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Mary Stocks') to J. Samson of the Royal Society of Arts, regretting that she is 'too senile' to chair a meeting.

Author: 
Mary Stocks [born Mary Danvers Brinton; Lady Stocks] (1891-1975), writer and worker in fields of women's suffrage, welfare state and social work; linked to Strachey, Wedgwood and Ricardo families
Publication details: 
31 August 1973. On letterhead of 'The Lady Stocks', Aubrey Lodge, Aubrey Road, W8 [London].
£60.00

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with pin hole to one corner. Folded twice. The surname in Stock's signature underlined in green. She is 'greatly honoured' by Samson's invitation, '& it is a thing I should have loved to do. But the sad fact is, I am getting too senile to be sure of being able to keep a discussion in hand as a competant [sic] chairman should'. The letter concludes: 'I fear I am a bad example of an 82 year-old in view of what Sybil Thorndike does at 90!'

[ Anthony Wedgwood Benn, Labour politician: 'You shouldn't believe the rubbish you read in the press'. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Tony Benn') to 'Mrs Kingham', describing his 'life-style' and family.

Author: 
Tony Benn [ Anthony Wedgwood Benn, quondam Viscount Stansgate ] (1925-2014), Labour politician
Publication details: 
On House of Commons letterhead. 16 November 1979.
£35.00

1p., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Obtrusive stamp at head giving the date of receipt as 28 November 1979, with this date queried in ink. Benn's signature underlined by the recipient in thin red ink. Reads: 'Dear Mrs Kingham: | Forgive the delay. | My life-style is that of a very hard-working M.P. with a wife who teaches & writes & 4 children educated at comprehensive schools. | You shouldn't believe the rubbish you read in the press.'

[ H.M. Patent Office, London. ] Manuscript document containing 'Searches' into the 'Novelty' and 'Validity' of around 150 patent applications, with diagrams and index.

Author: 
H.M. Patent Office, London (now the Intellectual Property Office) [ Sir Henry Bessemer; Sir John Coode; Gusttav Overbeck; Crosse & Blackwell; Wedgwood; Bryant & May ]
Publication details: 
H.M. Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, London, WC. 13 March 1878 to 19 December 1882.
£450.00

The Patent Office - now the Intellectual Property Office - was established by the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852, which simplified the procedure for obtaining patents of invention and reduced costs. In 1883 another Act of Parliament brought into being the office of Comptroller General of Patents, with, according to the National Archives, 'a staff of patent examiners to carry out a limited form of examination; mainly to ensure that the specification described the invention properly, but without any investigation into novelty'.

Manuscript document recording details of the fees to be paid to Clerks of the Court for their various duties.

Author: 
[Legal Fees; Clerks of the Court]
Manuscript document recording details of the fees to be paid to Clerks
Publication details: 
Staffordshire, 7 October 1729
£280.00
Manuscript document recording details of the fees to be paid to Clerks

C.32 x 41cm, part Latin, mainly English, closed tear and minor loss on fold marks. Presumably one of the copies ordered to be delivered to the High Constable and other JPs. The first few Latin lines give occasion (Quarter Sessions), place, date, and names of officers of the Court (Justices of the Peace presumably), including John Wedgwood, of the Pottery Family, Francis Elde (Stafford M.P.), and Joseph Girdler, MP in the First British Parliament.

Three different bookplates.

Author: 
Josiah Clement Wedgwood (1872-1943), 1st Baron Wedgwood, British Liberal and Labour politician
Publication details: 
[1890s to 1930s.]
£80.00

Arranging the three in what appears to be chronological order, the first (good, roughly four inches by two and three-quarters wide) has 'Josiah C. Wedgwood' in copperplate beneath a straightforward Victorian armorial design, with shield, coronet and motto 'OBSTANTIA DISCINDO'. The second (three and a half inches by three wide) dates from after Wedgwood's election as a Member of Parliament in 1906, having 'EX-LIBRIS JOSIAH C. WEDGWOOD, M.P.' on a scroll beneath a more modern armorial design, with helmet and leaves. It has slight damage to the bottom right-hand corner.

Ten Typed Letters/Notes Signed and One Autograph Letter Signed to G. K. Menzies, [Secretary,] Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Frank H Wedgwood [ Francis Hamilton Wedgwood; Josiah Wedgwood ]
Publication details: 
1918-26; all but one item (from 'Barlaston Lea, | Stoke-on-Trent') on Wedgwood letterhead.
£250.00

Chairman of the famous pottery firm Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, Ltd (1867-1930), and High Sheriff of Staffordshire. All items are very good, if somewhat grubby. The typed letters are one page, quarto and the autograph, one page, octavo. All are signed 'Frank H Wedgwood', and most are stamped and docketed. One letter from 1918, two from 1919, one from 1924, five from 1925 and two from 1926. Mostly brief.

Two Autograph Letters Signed and four Typed Letters Signed, two to W. Perry, three to the Secretary and one to the Vice President of the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Honourable Josiah Wedgwood
Publication details: 
First three (all typed): 14 November, 16 and 18 December 1935, all on Wedgwood letterhead; fourth and fifth (both autograph), 13 and 18 February 1936, on letterhead 'STOKE GRANGE.STONE.STAFFS'; the sixth (typed), 1 May 1836, on Wedgwood letterhead.
£250.00

Managing Director of the famous pottery business ('saviour of the firm') and the fifth in the family to bear the name (1899-1968), Member of Parliament. All six items in good condition, though grubby, and with the first three bearing pin holes in one corner (not affecting text), the hole in the first letter being decidedly marked. All but one item docketed and stamped. Letters one, two, three and six are one page, quarto; letter four, two pages, 12mo; letter five, one page, 12mo; letter six, one page, quarto. All but the third item, which is signed 'Wedgwood', are signed 'Josiah Wedgwood'.

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