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Author, Title, Summary Subject Price
Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon [William Salt Brassington (1859-1939), archaeologist; Evan Marlett Boddy (c.1847-1934), FRCS; Stewart Dick; Edgar Flower; Archibald Flower]

[Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.] 37 items, including 21 ALsS from librarian W. S. Brassington to one of the Theatre’s governors, Dr E. M. Boddy, regarding his gift of portraits to Shakespeare Memorial, and resulting disagreement.

The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was founded through the efforts of local brewer Charles Edward Flower (1830-1892), after whose death its management was taken over by his brother Edgar Flower (1833-1903), also Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. On Edgar’s death these duties fell to...

£650.00
Sir Arthur Hodgson (1818-1902), Australian squatter and politician involved in the deaths of hundreds of aborigines, and later Mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon [Evan Marlett Boddy (c.1847-1934)]

[Sir Arthur Hodgson, Australian squatter and politician.] Autograph Letter in the third person, thanking ‘Marcian’ [Evan Marlett Boddy?] for his ‘brochure’ ‘Relics of the late William Shakespeare’.

Hodgson’s entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography omits to mention the fact that the territory named Eton Vale which he squatted with his brother Christopher Pemberton Hodgson (1821-1865), was taken by force from the Barunggam people, and that, as the brother recalled in 1848, ‘so many...

£60.00
Sir George Sinclair (1790-1868), 2nd Baronet, Scottish Whig politician and author, friend of Bryon’s at Harrow, personally interrogated as a spy by Napoleon Bonaparte

[Sir George Sinclair, 2nd Baronet, Scottish Whig politician, schoolfriend of Byron, interrogated by Napoleon Bonaparte.] Autograph Letter Signed to James Cockell, editor of the Mirror of Parliament, regarding copies of parliamentary speeches by him.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. It was in October of 1806 that a sixteen year-old Sinclair was arrested as a spy near Jena, and brought before Napoleon, who examined him and ordered his release. 1p, 16mo. On heavily aged, creased and worn paper with light staining above the signature, and strip...

History £90.00 George Sinclair
RMS Queen Mary of the Cunard White Star line, launched 1937, built in Glasgow, registered in Liverpool and now a tourist attraction at Long Beach, California

[RMS Queen Mary, Cunard White Star ocean liner, maiden voyage.] Printed card for 'Kocktails and Kisses / With Harry Hayes', depicting one of the ship's 'mural carvings by John Skeaping'. With printed names of nine prominent guests.

A scarce and interesting piece of Queen Mary ephemera. No other copy traced. 13 x 16 cm bifolium card. In fair condition, lighly aged and worn. Printed on the front cover in metallic grey and bronze is an image captioned on the back cover: 'One of the three large mural carvings by John Skeaping...

Travel and Topography £120.00 Queen Mary
Stan Barstow (1928-2011), working-class Yorkshire novelist and playwright, author of the novel ‘A Kind of Loving’, which was made into a ‘kitchen sink’ film

[Stan Barstow, working-class Yorkshire novelist and playwright, author of ‘A Kind of Loving’.] Typed Letter Signed to Paul Furness, discussing the literary group in The Fenton pub in Leeds, connected with the BBC radio programme 'The Northern Drift'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, foolscap 8vo. Thirty lines of text. Signed ‘Stan Barstow’. One of a number of letters to Furness by writers, responding to his enquiry about socialist authors and British pubs. Barstow begins by discussing ‘The Fenton in Woodhouse Lane, Leeds’, which had ‘...

£100.00
HMS Alfred [originally HMS Asia] (1811), a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy

[HMS Alfred [originally HMS Asia] (1811), a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.] Manuscript statement of ‘Armament of H. M. Ship Alfred June 26th. 1833.-’

Launched at Frindsbury in 1811 as HMS Asia, played an active role in the War of 1812: in the bombardment Fort McHenry, and the attack on New Orleans, and sharing in the proceeds of the capture of the American vessels in the Battle of Lake Borgne in 1814. She was renamed HMS Alfred in 1819. By...

£250.00
William Manning (1763-1835), Governor of the Bank of England, West Indian merchant, slaveowner, Tory MP, father of Cardinal Manning [Francis Freeling (1764-1836), Secretary of the General Post Office]

[William Manning, Governor of the Bank of England, West Indian merchant, slaveowner.] Autograph Letter Signed to Francis Freeling of the Post Office, regarding a 'communication' indicating 'the delusion which prevails in the public mind' on a subject

See his entry, and Freeling’s, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. Aged and worn, with nicks and closed tears around the edges, but not near the valediction ‘Yours very faithfully / W: Manning.’ Addressed to ‘Francis Freeling, Esqr.’ Begins: ‘My dear Sir, / Your Letter of yesterday I have just received...

£50.00
Henry Livings (1929-1998), working-class Lancastrian playwright, screenwriter and actor in the first 'Carry On' film and the 'Coronation Street' television series

[Henry Livings, working-class Lancastrian playwright, screenwriter and actor.] Typed Letter Signed to Paul Furness, discussing the pubs he has frequented.

Livings’s entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that his farces ‘convey serious truths’ with ‘both a dazzling comic flair and an unexpected force and profundity that is heightened by his use of colloquial language’. 1p, foolscap 8vo. Twenty-two lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged...

£80.00
Jacob Schwartz [Jake Schwartz] (b. 1899, fl. 1960), New York dentist who turned to bookselling and founded the Ulysses bookshop in London, dealing largely in James Joyce and the Modernists

[Jacob Schwartz, American-born proprietor of the Ulysses Bookshop in London, dealer in James Joyce and the Modernists.] Autograph Letter Signed

Several James Joyce scholars have turned their attention to Schwartz, an early dealer in his books and manuscripts, as well as publisher of a couple of pirated editions. See William S. Brockman, 'Jacob Schwartz - The Fly in the Honey' in Joyce Studies Annual, Summer 1998. 1p, 4to. On the Ulysses...

£80.00
John Adams-Acton (1830-1910), English sculptor [Tom Taylor (1817-1880), playwright and editor of Punch]

[John Adams-Acton, English sculptor.] Letter in a Secretarial Hand, Signed by him, inviting the editor of Punch Tom Taylor to visit his studio, with a list of six works to be seen there, including a bust of the prime minister Gladstone.

See his entry, and that of Taylor, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Only the sculptors heavily inked signature ‘John Adams-Acton’ is in his hand, the rest more lightly written by an amanuensis. Addressed ‘To, Tom Taylor Esqr.’ Begins: ‘I...

£56.00