wills

[William Gorman Wills, Irish dramatist, novelist and painter.] Autograph Letter Signed ('W G Wills') to 'Chepmell' [i.e. the society homeopathist Edward Charles Chepmell], expressing thanks for 'the cure you accomplished'.

Author: 
W. G. Wills [William Gorman Wills], Irish dramatist, novelist and painter [Edward Charles Chepmell (1820-1885), society homeopathist]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Garrick Club [London]. No date.
£56.00

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.

[ John, Lord Belasyse. ] Extensive manuscript 'Abstract of the Will and Codicil of the Right Honble John Lord Belasyse from the Probate thereof granted the 7th. May 1690', mentioning estates in Yorkshire, London, Middlesex, Nottingham and Durham.

Author: 
John Belasyse (1614-1689), Lord Belasyse, Royalist nobleman in the English Civil War, imprisoned during the Popish Plot
Publication details: 
Will of 22 April 1689. Probate granted by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 7 May 1690. Abstract dating from the eighteenth century. (watermark includes "GR")
£150.00

13pp., large (41.5 x 33 cm) 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, on good Britannia paper. In worn wraps, with printed slip describing the item from a bookseller's catalogue (Henry Grey, 1901, 45s), and docketed at back. Neatly and closely written out in a clerk's hand. At end: 'The Abstract of this Will and Codicil is taken from the Probate thereof Granted by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury to Anne Lady Belasyse Relict of the said John Lord Belasyse and One of the Executors the 7th. of May 1690'. Belasyse's second wife was the daughter of the Marquess of Winchester.

[Richard Almack, Suffolk solicitor and antiquary.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Rd Almack') to 'Dear Edwd:' [Edward Shepherd] discussing in detail the points in a contested Victorian will, and the 'contumely of the disappointed'.

Author: 
Richard Almack (1799-1875) of Long Melford, Suffolk, solicitor and antiquary
Publication details: 
Melford [Long Melford, Suffolk]. 14 October 1856.
£150.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. A well-written and oddly-entertaining letter, and an evocative piece of Victorian social history. From the context it is clear that the recipient and his wife have been accused of overstepping the terms of a will, and on this matter Almack begins: 'Furniture is very comprehensive, and would I think include Work boxes, Chests, & plated Goods. It has even been decided that plate would so pass! - Also plated would. | Under "bed linen," Blankets & Quilts pass. Under "Household Linen", Coloured Table Cloths & Doyleys would pass.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Caroline Lucy Scott') to a solicitor, regarding her will.

Author: 
Caroline Lucy Scott [née Douglas], Lady Scott (1784-1857), Scottish novelist
Caroline Lucy Scott, Scottish novelist
Publication details: 
24 January 1840; Petersham, Surrey.
£125.00
Caroline Lucy Scott, Scottish novelist

4to, 2 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and stained paper. Docketed by the recipient on the reverse of the second leaf. The recipient drew up her will in 1819, but 'the many changes from Deaths &c which have since taken place' mean that it 'no longer expresses my wishes in several particulars'. Asks a number of questions. States that she is 'aware that as a married woman I have no right to make a Will but as in the former distribution of my property Sir George Scott authorized my doing so (as you many remember) so he will now any alteration'.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'My dear Scott'.

Author: 
William Gorman Wills (1828-91), Irish dramatist
Publication details: 
No date; on embossed letterhead of the Garrick Club.
£33.00

One page, 12mo. Good, though aged and foxed. 'My best thanks & gratitude for your noble notice | Were you ever in low spirits If so sympathise with me I feel as if I would never wish to be acted again . . Chastelard the first night my god almighty ! ! ! - | Your sincere friend | W G Wills'. Chastelard is a character in Wills's play 'Marie Stuart' (1874).

Autograph note signed and one typed letter signed to Dennis Eadie,

Author: 
George Pleydell Bancroft
Publication details: 
12 and 31 May 1926.
£15.00

Clerk of Assize for the Midland Circuit (1868-1956), son of the actor Sir Squire Bancroft (1841-1926) and the actress Marie Effie Wilton (1839-1921). The letter, 12 May 1926, one page, 8vo, on mourning paper, with embossment White Lodge, Westgate-on-sea. "Pray excuse a typewritten letter. / To certain specified "comrades of the Stage, members of the Garrick Club, in grateful remembrance of their friendship", my father by his Will bequeathes a souvenir.

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