Military and Naval History

Autograph Note Signed ('Fred Slade') to 'My dear Bee'.

Author: 
Lt-Gen. Frederick George Slade (1851-1910), Royal Artillery, Assistant Adjutant-General, Woolwich Arsenal
Publication details: 
24 February 1899; on letterhead of the Chief Staff Office, Woolwich.
£38.00

12mo, 1 p. 6 lines. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged and slightly grubby paper, with strip of glue from mount on blank reverse, which has laid down on it a ten-line biographical newspaper cutting referring to Slade ('[...] one of the youngest major-generals on the Staff in the Army [...] His most recent appointment was that of Assistant Adjutant-General at Woolwich'). He is sending 'a missed lot of Soldiers autographs. Some that you already have may be useful in exchanging for others'.

Manuscript notebook, listing the infantry regiments of the British army, with brief descriptions of their mottos, uniforms, and periods of service.

Author: 
[British Army Regiments of Foot; Infantry; military]
Publication details: 
Undated [1840s?]. [English.]
£125.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 16 x 11 cm), 60 pp. Stitched notebook of thirty leaves, without covers. In fair condition, aged and with wear to extremities of outer leaves. On laid Italian paper, with the watermark of the Italian firm G. & C. Cini. Neatly written, with the body of the writing in one hand, and the mottos in another. Text clear and apparently complete. Begins: '1st. Regiment of Life Guards. | Peninsular Waterloo. | Scarlet, Facings Blue. | Returned from France, January 1816.' A typical entry reads '58th. (the Rutlandshire) Regt. of Foot. | Gibraltar, with the Castle and Key.

Part of a mimeographed typewritten report into the activities of the VDA, including translations of Haushofer's 'Problems and Solutions of the VDA', Bockhacker's 'Resettlement Christmas', and other texts.

Author: 
Der Volksbund für das Deutschtum im Ausland [VDA; Karl Haushofer; Heinz Bockhacker; Nazi propaganda; Germany; Second World War]
Publication details: 
[Compiled by the American intelligence services between 1942 and the end of the Second World War.
£950.00

The spelling (e.g. 'honor') is American, the latest date mentioned is in 1942, and there is no indication that the document has ever been published. 58 pages, on one side each of fifty-eight A4 leaves (each roughly 26 x 20 cm), paginated 26 to 83. Punch holes for a binder at the head of each leaf.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Dear Mr Taylor'.

Author: 
Barry Pain [Barry Eric Odell Pain] (1864-1928), English humorist and contributor to Punch magazine [Sir Hubert von Herkomer (1849-1914)]
Publication details: 
13 April 1905; on letterhead of Hogarth House, Bushey, Herts.
£38.00

12mo, 1 p. Thirteen lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and foxed paper with some fraying to edges (not affecting text). He would like to show Taylor 'something of interest with reference to Sir Herbert Taylor [sometime soldier and Private Secretary to teh KIng]' and suggests meeting that night. 'It seems rather late, but I shall be at von Herkomer's till then'.

Manuscript headed 'Regulations for Direct Commissions Examination'.

Author: 
[Direct Commissions Examination; British Army; Victorian England]
Publication details: 
Undated [England, 1860s?].
£75.00

12mo (20.5 x 13.5 cm), 2 pp. Forty-one lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, with part of the leaf from the album in which the item was mounted still adhering to the blank part of the reverse of the leaf. Divided into six sections, the first reading 'Exam: quarterly or oftener if necessary in London. The no. of Candidates admitted to Exam: will depend on exigencies of service.' Other sections include: Age; Exam. by Medical Board; Marks & SUbjects of Exams; Obligations; mmarks in voluntary subjects..From the album of Rev. William Done Bushell (1838-1917).

Humorous pamphlet entitled 'Display of Knights in Tourney. Programme. 1. Jousting. 2. The two-handed Sword. 3. Melee with Battleaxes and Maces.'

Author: 
Ferozepore Brigade, Punjab [British Army in India; Firozpur; the Raj]
Publication details: 
Undated [early twentieth century]. Muir Press Brigade Printers, Ferozepore Area.
£45.00

4to (leaf dimensions 21.5 x 17.5 cm), 3 pp. Bifolium. On green paper. The central two pages carry a 'arms', 'motto' and 'biography' of each of the 'Dramatis Personae': 'Sir Attaboy de Walloper', 'Sir Kolynos Dent', 'Sir Bottholm Duster' and 'Sir Guinness Comme-Boisson'. The targets of this lighthearted satire are lost. Beside each character is an Indian name (the last being 'L/Def. Mohmed Sultan Khan'). There are also nine Indians named as playing herald, pages and varlets. No copy on COPAC.

Autograph Letter Signed "M.A. Hughes" to Richard Twining,jun., Banker and Tea Merchant (see DNB

Author: 
Mrs M.A. Hughes, author, grandmother of Thomas Hughes, central to the literary society of her day.
Publication details: 
No place, 24 Sept. [1807].
£350.00

Three pages, 4to, but cross-written, making six pages of writing, sometimes hard to read, small piece of letter with a few words detached but present. Mrs Hughes is her usual informative, authoritative, lively and intelligent self, initially discussing the British disaster at Buenos Ayres. being unable to think of "a worse planned or more ill-fated expedition" in which the dead were "sacrificed". She attacks the commander, the Duke of York, in no uncertain terms: she hopes it's not a crime to wish him out of a world to which he he'd done so little good.

Regulations for the Entry and Examination of Naval Cadets.

Author: 
Examination of Naval Cadets, Admiralty, 1865 [Royal Navy]
Publication details: 
Admiralty, 6th February, 1865. [Printed by 'W. Woodward, The Hard, Portsea.']
£35.00

Printed on one side of a piece of grey paper, 22.5 x 16 cm. Text clear and complete. In fair condition: lightly-aged and with remains of stub adhering to the blank reverse, on which a clean closed tear has been unobtrusively repaired with archival tape. Nine regulations are listed, from 'I. No Person will be nominated to a Cadetship in the Royal Navy, who shall be under 12 or above 14 years of age at the time of his first Examination.' to 'IX. After having completed twelve months' instruction, exclusive of vacations, in the Training Ship, a Cadet will have to undergo the final examination.

Fascists and Nazis. By Perry Belmont, Commander of the Narragansett Bay Chapter of the Military Order of the World War.

Author: 
Perry Belmont [Eric Underwood; German Nazism; fascism; the Teutonic Order; Freemasonry]
Publication details: 
[Privately printed.] Newport, Rhode Island: December, 1940.
£150.00

Stapled pamphlet. 8vo, 27 pp, including full-page photograph of Mussolini embracing a man in Nazi uniform (Himmler?). Fair: internally clean and tight; some marking and wear to covers. Inscribed on title-page to 'Eric Underwood Esq with the sincere regards of Perry Belmont'. (Underwood is perhaps the English-born Australian nutritionist, 1905-1980.) Curious, digressive, energetic attack on fascism, with sections on the Teutonic Order, 'Oath-bound organisations' (Freemasonry) and 'Gangsters'.

Manuscript logbook, with diagrams, specifications and 'Diary of Way', of a First World War sailmaker in the Royal Navy's 3rd Cruiser Squadron.

Author: 
J. Ryan, AB, sailmaker [3rd Cruiser Squadron, Royal Navy; Battle of Dogger Bank, 1915]
Publication details: 
Government stamp: 'Supplied for the Public Service'. Diary entries dated from 29 July 1914 to demobilization on 31 May 1919.
£180.00

Landscape, with leaf dimensions 19 x 10.5 cm. The diary covers 48 pages at one end of the notebook, with the diagrams and specifications over 32 pp at the other end. In original sturdy brown leather binding, with brass clasp, empty wallet at front and pouch for pencil. Marbled endpapers. In good condition. Text clear and complete on lightly-aged paper. Binding worn and with split hinges. In pencil on fore-edge: 'J. RYAN.

"The true hero" and other poems.

Author: 
R. Eurog Jones [THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC]
Publication details: 
Without date [circa 1918?] or place ['Western Mail, Ltd., Cardiff.']
£175.00

64 pages, 16mo. In original printed wraps. In poor condition. Ownership inscription at head of front wrap. The two binding staples rusted, and the wraps in particular grubby, torn and worn. Photograph of 'Private JENKIN THOMAS' in what appears to be World War I uniform on front wrap. Illustration of the 'SINKING OF THE "TITANIC." ' on page 9; photograph of 'WILLIAM HERBERT HARRIS, A.L.C.M.' on page 47.

Carbon copy of manuscript.

Author: 
Stunts by Fag End': contemporaneous account of first world war experiences by unidentified writer.
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£100.00

3 pages, 8vo. On three leaves of paper, all creased, discoloured and worn, with a few tears and pin holes. Lively, humorous, and well-written account of the army career of a skiver. 'Behold me then the next time in the trenches a Lewis Gunner, my-self to be about to kill Bosches in neat little trenches of 47. As a matter of fact I did not kill one as I never fired the gun but we had one or two thrilling times. [...] January 1st. 1917 I became a member of the now famous Tank Corps.

Autograph Letter Signed to Bobbie [?].

Author: 
George Cunningham [regarding rumours of Russian troop movements at the beginning of the 1st World War and other subjects]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Privy Council Office, Whitehall, S.W.; 3 September 1914.
£50.00

4 pages, 8vo. Creased and grubby but in good condition overall. Interesting letter in difficult hand. Opens by sending his deepest sympathy: 'I can sympathise having as you know been personally damaged by a falling branch last Xmas.' 'Officially we have given up contradicting the <?> prevalent rumours of Russian Troops moving through Great Britain. The Germans may hear of the rumours - may believe them: [^ that may do good;] but there is no truth in them at all. Barring a few Russian reservists who were in this country no Russian troops have been sent to France.

Manuscript Map, in colours, by Corporal A. Hunter, of the 'Bilstien [sic, for 'Bilstein'] Defences. scale 1/6250'.

Author: 
Bilstein (Germany) [Junkermuehle, Nassenstein]
Publication details: 
01/02/19
£85.00

Dimensions of paper roughly. Creased, with fraying to extremities, closed tears, and some staining and fading due to damp. A careful production, detailing the fortification to the towns of Bilstein (north-east of Cologne), Junkermuehle and Nassenstein, in black, yellow, red and green, with attractive lettering. 'References' are to 'barbed wire entanglements', 'main roads', 'Woods', 'stream', 'bye Roads' and 'Bridges'. Pencil additions include position of 'SNIPERS'. Ascribed at foot to 'Cpl. A. Hunter' and dated 'February 1919'.

Autograph Letter Signed.

Author: 
Letter to Sir James Rennell Rodd from H. Nelson gay
Publication details: 
Palazzo Orsini, Rome, 'Xmas 1916'.
£45.00

The author is obscure, but the letter is addressed to 'Sir Rennell' [Sir James Rennell Rodd (1858-1941), diplomat and author]. 2 pages, 16mo, creased but in good condition. A florid missive beginning 'In this tempest of egotism and hate which has plunged us all into Teutonic darkness, you will not have forgotten, my dear Sir Rennell, the lines of Coleridge: | [...]'.

Manuscript Itinerary headed "H.M.S. Mindful" at Buncrana June 1918.

Author: 
A member of the crew of H.M.S. Mindful, destroyer.
Publication details: 
25 June -14 Dec. 1918.
£400.00

Manuscript, 8 pages, 4to, chipped (with minor textual loss) and slightly stained, text clear. Convoy and anti-submarine activity. Usually one line description per day but there is a long description of action involved while on convoy duty, encounters with submarines, reinforcements, damaged ships, etc. Their first move was to leave Base on 27th June "in search of Submarine D.6. (overdue) and then carried on to Lamlash". [D.6.

A collection of six autograph letters signed to Clement Shorter, man of letters, editor of "The Sphere".

Author: 
George Scott Robertson.
Publication details: 
1898-1914.
£150.00

Anglo-Indian Administrator (1852-1916). Total sixteen pages, 8vo, good condition. . Subjects include: anticipation of the publication of his book, "Chitral. The Story of a Minor Siege"; the Johnson Club, political activity (canvassing), Edward Clodd, a request to be the "accredited agent" of "The Sphere" at the Front (Great War). With; (printed) Order of his Memorial Service (1916). 7 items,

Autograph Letter Signed ('B Wilson') to Rev. Charles William Tonyn (d.1805), 'at the Palace Berwick upon Tweed'.

Author: 
Benjamin Wilson (c.1721-1788), English portrait painter and scientist
Publication details: 
Postmarked 17 April [no year]. Place not stated.
£300.00

Foolscap (31.5 x 20.5 cm): 1 p. 24 lines of text. Address, with postmark, on reverse. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Discussing a picture he has been painting of 'Captain Tonyn', which 'is within one days work of being finished'. Points out that there has been a misunderstanding about the price: 'fifty five pounds [...] could not be the case because I never yet reced from any body pounds, but always Guinneas'. Because of 'the great work that so large a Canvas wod. require (it being bigger than a whole length for which I had at that time 50 Gs. and now 60 Gs.

Autograph Signature ('Roger Keyes').

Author: 
Sir Roger Keyes [Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes] (1872-1945), British naval officer
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

On a leaf of pink paper (roughly 16 x 20 cm) removed from an autograph album. Firm signature, 6 cm long, with the initial 'R' blotted by Keyes. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The page bearing the signature is headed, in another hand, 'Famous Men Military and Naval'.

Autograph Signature ('W Gordon-Stables | MD - RN').

Author: 
William Gordon Stables (1840-1910), Scottish Royal Navy physician and writer of adventure stories
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£20.00

On a piece of paper roughly 7 x 10 cm. Laid down on a piece of card. Fair, rucked and grubby, with traces of previous mount adhering to the reverse. Presmuably in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'I wish thee well | [signed] W Gordon-Stables | MD - RN'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Charle | Geographe rue de Sevres | No. 48.'), in French, to the French Minister of War, 'Monseigneur le Maréchal Duc de Bellune'.

Author: 
J. B. L. Charle, French cartographer [Claude Victor-Perrin (1764-1841), Duc de Belluno (Bellune)]
Publication details: 
4 October 1823; Paris.
£85.00

One page, on the recto of the second leaf of a bifolium, leaf dimensions 31 x 20 cm. In fair condition on lightly-aged paper with slight wear to extremities. According to his entry in the catalogue of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Charles was a 'Géographe attaché au Dépôt général de la guerre en 1933 [sic], ancien membre de la Société de Géographie. - Dessinateur, il eut une production cartographique très abondante à partir de 1823'. Neatly laid out.

Regulations and Instructions relating to the Royal Marine Forces, when on shore.[Copy, from the 'Barrack Office' at Chatham, printed ] [Containing section on 'Infirmaries', and appendix on 'Vaccine Inoculation'.] With manuscript additions.

Author: 
Admiralty Regulations, Royal Marines, 1819 [Barrack Office, Chatham Division; Royal Navy; naval and military; vaccination; inoculation]
Publication details: 
[Undated.] In manuscript on front board: 'Admiralty Regulations 1819. Barrack Office Chatham Division'.
£450.00

4to: 120 + [19] pp. The last 19 unpaginated pages comprise the appendix, divided into 18 parts. Text clear and complete. On aged and foxed paper. Original boards rebacked in leather, with title on spine and new free endpapers. Title-leaf carries no date or printing details. In manuscript scored through on reverse: 'Adjutants Office by order | [signed?] T. G. Gascoigne | Adjutant', with crude drawings. The first section (pp.3-39) is headed 'BY the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, &c.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Robt. Walpole'), in French, to 'J. Fr. Ostervald Esq'.

Author: 
Robert Walpole (1736-1810), Clerk of the Privy Council and British Ambassador to Portugal (nephew of the Prime Minister) [J. F. Ostervald; the French Revolution]
Publication details: 
30 October 1792; Clifford Street [London].
£180.00

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper with damp staining causing the fading of ink in some parts, and a little chipping to bottom edge. Since writing there has been no packet from Falmouth, and the news from the continent are reported with sufficient detail in the gazettes, so 'il est inutile de vous en parler. Les procedes du Duc de Brunswick [he led an invading German army into France], et le systeme du Roi de Prusse sont egalement mysterieux [...] Les Emigrants [...] sont reduits a la derniere necessite'.

Autograph Signature ('Roberts, F.M.').

Author: 
Field-Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts (1832-1914), 1st Earl Roberts [Lord Roberts of Kandahar]
Publication details: 
28 April 1908; on letterhead of Englemere, Ascot, Berks.
£25.00

On rectangle of paper roughly 8 x 11 cm, with small triangles neatly cut away from corners. Aged and with traces of glue and paper from previous mounting. The letterhead has Roberts's Garter crest in the top left-hand corner and his address at top right. Firmly written: '[signed] Roberts, F.M. | 28. April 1908.' Slight smudging to the 'rt' of 'Roberts'.

Autograph Signature on part of document

Author: 
Sir Charles Yorke (1790-1880), General in the British Army
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£28.00

A piece of laid paper, roughly 8 x 20 cm, cut from a document by an autograph collector. Yorke's signature, large (4.5 x 7 cm) and bold, is in the bottom right-hand corner. The surviving text is in a secretary's hand, and reads: '<...> of Our Reign. | By His Majesty's Command. | C Yorke | Our Trusty and Wellbeloved William Gordon Esqr General in Our Army & Col of Our 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot or to the Officer appointed by him to raise Men for Our said Regiment'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Messrs Charles Cox & Son, Royal Marine Agency Office, Buckingham Street, Strand, London.

Author: 
Major John Lodington, Royal Marines, Aide-de-Camp to the Governor of Dominica, the Earl of Huntingdon [Hans Francis Hastings (1779-1828), 12th Earl of Huntingdon; Windward Islands; West Indian]
Publication details: 
12 and 13 February 1824; Roseau, Dominica.
£650.00

8vo bifolium (leaf dimensions 30 x 18 cm): 4 pp. Fair, on aged paper with slight wear to extremities, and minor damage to the area around the breaking of the black wax seal, which adheres, with a clear impression of a crest, to the reverse of the second leaf. Damage to a couple of words: otherwise text clear and complete. Circular 'F' postmark in red ink. Docketed. An impassioned, anguished letter, long and unguarded, and unusual in the valuable light it casts on the state of West Indian colonial affairs. The first three-quarters of the letter from 12 February and the rest from 13 February.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Selkirk') to unnamed male recipient.

Author: 
Dunbar James Douglas (1809-1885), 6th Earl of Selkirk [Lord Selkirk; Alexander Hall & Co, Aberdeen shipbuilders]
Publication details: 
21 February 1857; Athens.
£65.00

12mo bifolium: 4 pp. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper.

Reports and Translations No. 234. The Hydrodynamical Fundamentals of Heat Transfer.

Author: 
Alexis von Baranoff [Ministry of Supply (Air), Völkenrode]
Publication details: 
M.O.S.(A) [Ministry of Supply (Air)], Völkenrode: June 1946.
£150.00

Not published. Cyclostyled on the rectos only. 8vo: 165 pp followed by 28 pages of 'figures'. Contained in a buff 'Apex Vertical Filing Folder'. Very good, on aged paper. Complete and clear. Stamped 'UNCLASSIFIED' on front cover, with manuscript reference 'GVC/54T'. Preface reads 'The present work is the English rendering of a partly revised German manuscript which the Author prepared for the Leipzig publishers Bibliographisches Institut to be published as volume 49 of their series Meyers kleine Handbücher.

Autograph Letter Signed to "Lennox" (Sir Wilbraham Oates Lennox, Royal Engineers (see DNB)). WITH related material.

Author: 
C.W. Wilson and some important papers [CHARLES WILLIAM WILSON], Major-General.
Publication details: 
War Office, 12 May 1873.
£450.00

Director of the Topographical Department at the War Office (1836-1905)(see DNB). Two pages, 8vo, fold marks but good condition. "I send you today the remainder of the plans you left with me; and a translation of the letter press on those of the environs of Vienna. The plans of the defences of Vienna during the war of /66 are very interesting and I should be glad to have them for the Topo: if you will present them to the Dept: after you have finished with them.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Beattie. MD.') to the editor of the 'Naval and Military Gazette'.

Author: 
William Beattie (1793-1875), Scottish physician and poet
Publication details: 
13 August [1858]; St James's Street, London, on embossed letterhead of the Conservative Club.
£56.00

16mo (11 x 9 cm) bifolium, 3 pp, 16 lines of text. Mourning border. Good, with slight discoloration to the external pages. He is sending a manuscript 'At the suggestion of the Author, an officer residing in Paris'. If 'on examination' the recipient considers it 'unsuitable for the pages' of the Gazette, he asks for it to be returned to him at 13 Upper Berkeley Street 'when your messenger happens to pass that way'. The author 'is a man of high character and well acquainted with Paris & the Parisians'.

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