Latest additions

Author, Title, Summary Price
John Milton, England's epic poet, author of 'Paradise Lost'

[John Milton, England's epic poet.] Ten photographic prints of engraved portraits of John Milton, marked up in pencil on the back with instructions for making a block for publication ('Sphere Strip').

Ten photographic prints of engraved portraits of Milton, ranging in size from 12.5 x 7.5 cm to 16 x 12 cm. In fair overall condition, with slight age and wear. From different sources. All black and white or sepia, and with a pre-First World War feel. Numbered in pencil on reverse, between 1 and...

£45.00
Catharine Tait (1819-1878), philanthropist [St Ann's School, Brixton; Harriet Amelia Johnson]

[Catharine Tait, philanthropist.] Printed facsimile of Autograph Letter Signed ('Catharine Tait'), with one addition in her genuine autograph: a circular regarding 'the election of Harriet Amelia Johnson to St Ann's School Brixton'.

For information on Tait, see her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Aged, worn and lightly stained. The fact that Tait was able to produce a lithographed circular for such a minor purpose indicates her resources. The only words in the document in Tait's genuine autograph are the interpolated '...

£45.00
'[delta]', pseudonym [Allen Francis Gardiner (1794-1851), Royal Navy officer and missionary to Patagonia; the Christian Times, London]

[Poem on 'Captain Gardiner's Patagonian Mission'.] Printed brochure with poem titled 'The Last Hour: A Scene in Patagonia.'

For the context see Gardiner's entry in the Oxford DNB. Gardiner's disastrous last mission to Patagonia ended with his death on 6 September 1851, as the last of the seven missionaries to starve to death on Picton Island. No other copy of the present item has been traced, either on OCLC WorldCat...

£120.00
Sir Edward Marshall Hall, K.C. [Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods, London auctioneers; French snuff boxes]

[French snuff boxes, Christie's auction catalogue.] Catalogue of the Collection of Old French Snuff-Boxes and Objects of Vertu formed by Sir Edward Marshall Hall, K.C. deceased.

14pp, 4to. Stitched into grey printed wraps. In good condition, lightly aged, with one corner slightly dog-eared. 143 lots, divided into two sections: 'Miniatures and Enamels' and 'Objects of Vertu'. The snuff-boxes feature in the latter, and include: '112 A Louis XVI. plain oblong gold snuff-...

£90.00
Sir Bernard Spilsbury [Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury] (1877-1947), eminent pathologist, whose murder cases included Crippen and the 'Brides in the Bath' [Raymond Benedict Hervey Wyatt, coroner]

[Sir Bernard Spilsbury, eminent pathologist.] Autograph Note Signed ('Bernard H. Spilsbury') to 'Mr Wyatt' [coroner R. B. Hervey Wyatt], apologising for the delay in producing a report in the case of 'Patricia Margaret Goodwin dec'.

1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged, on creased and aged paper. Reads: 'Dear Mr Wyatt | Re Patricia Margaret Goodwin dec | I am sorry to have kept you waiting for the report in the above case which I now enclose | Yours Sincy | Bernard H. Spilsbury'. It was in March 1941 that Spilsbury...

£220.00
Samuel Foart Simmons (1750-1813), physician, one of the 'mad doctors' of George III [St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics, Old Street, London]

[Samuel Foart Simmons, one of the 'mad doctors' of George III.] Autograph case notes for six women, made as physician to St Luke's Hospital, London.

St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics was founded in 1750 by City of London philanthropists to treat mental illness among the poor of London. In 1786 it moved from Moorfields to Old Street, where it remained until 1916. Simmons was appointed physician to the hospital in 1781. 6pp, 16mo. A piece of...

£280.00
François Guizot [François Pierre Guillaume Guizot], French historian and statesman, Prime Minister of France under Louis Philippe

[François Guizot, historian and Prime Minister of France.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Guizot') to a lady, having procured a ticket for her to the following day's 'Séance Royale'.

On one side of a 12 x 13 cm piece of paper with the corners cut away to make a irregular octagon shape. In fair condition, lightly aged. Laid down on part of leaf from album. Reads: 'Madame | Voici un billet pour la Séance Royale de demain. Je suis charmé d'avoir pu me le procurer puisque vous...

£120.00
Bedales School, Petersfield, Hants [J. H. Badley, Headmaster]

[Bedales School, Petersfield, Hants.] Printed illustrated prospectus and three loose insertions: lists of staff and 'Scholarships, etc., gained at the universities and elsewhere', and 'Additional Information for Parents' from headmaster J. H. Badley.

The four items in good condition, lightly aged. None of the four found on OCLC WorldCat. The three items loosely inserted in the prospectus each neatly folded once. ONE: Prospectus. [8]pp, 4to. With nine photographs on seven plates on four leaves of shiny art paper. Stapled into brown wraps with...

£150.00
Florian [Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian] (1755-1794), French poet and writer of romances, author of fables and pastoral novels [Firmin Didot (1764-1836), Paris printer]

[Florian [Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian], French poet and writer of romances and fables.] Autograph Letter in the third person to his printer Firmin Didot, regarding the latter's request for information regarding 'le véritable homo'.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering along one edge. From the celebrated manuscript collection of Richard Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton). In 1787 Didot published Florian's 'Mélanges de poésie et de littérature'. A courtly and characteristic response to a...

£350.00
'Mark Twain', pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), great American writer, creator of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, described by William Faulkner as 'the father of American literature'

['Mark Twain' (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), great American writer.] Envelope addressed to 'S. L. Clement, Esqr. | "Mark Twain"', at 'Buckenham Hall', and forwarded to 88 Brook Street, with annotations and eight postmarks.

8.5 x 14 envelope. In fair condition, aged and creased. Torn open, with slight loss to flap. A nice Mark Twain artefact, and something of a puzzle, as he does not appear to have been in England at the time. There does not appear to be any connection between Twain and William Amhurst Tyssen-...

£90.00 Twain
Syndicate content