Autograph Letters

Autograph Letter Signed ('Holbrook Jackson') to 'Mr. Bennett'.

Author: 
George Holbrook Jackson (1874-1948), author, wroter on books, etc
Publication details: 
10 August 1912; on letterhead of the Crossways, Langley Park, Mill Hill, N.W.
£45.00

8vo: 1 p. Good on lightly-aged paper. Small closed tear at head, and traces of glue and grey paper from previous mounting on reverse. He is sorry to say that he will be 'away at the seaside' when Bennett is in London. If he is 'in town again shortly' Jackson will be glad to meet him. 'I am to be found most days at 29 Henrietta St, Covent Garden [the offices of 'T.P.'s Weekly', on which Jackson held an editorial position] - but it is safer to make an appointment.'

Autograph Letter Signed [to the publishers Messrs George Routledge & Sons].

Author: 
Beatrice Harraden (1864-1936), British novelist and suffragette [George Routledge & Sons, Ltd.]
Publication details: 
29 July [no year]; on letterhead 3, Fitzjohn's Mansions, Netherall Gardens, Hampstead, N.W. [London]
£100.00

Two pages, 12mo. Good, with minor effects of damp. Text clear and entire. Twenty-five lines. Harraden has found an old acquaintance, Mrs Charles Routledge ('the widow of the son of Colonel Robert Warne Routledge'), in 'very distressing circumstances; she had been very ill from blood poisoning in the leg, had been in hospital, & in the work house'. Mrs Routledge has 'done her very best [...] to fight an adverse fate', working hard 'as a house keeper, maid of all work, servant of lodging house'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. L. Hatton.') to Bennett.

Author: 
John Liptrot Hatton [J. L. Hatton] (1809-1886), English composer and conductor [William Cox Bennett (1820-1895)]
Publication details: 
26 October 1859; 3 Goswell St. E.C. [London], on cancelled letterheada of 13 Park Village West, Regents Park.
£36.00

12mo, 2 pp. Ten lines of text. Good. Asks 'upon what terms' he may 'publish some of the songs I have set from the charming volume you sent me'. He is 'acquainted with the Gentleman' to whom Bennett has dedicated his book: 'it was in his shop I was introduced to Longfellow'. Possibly referring to Bennett's 'A Sea Song' and 'The Sea-Boy's Dream', set to music by Hatton and both published in 1861.

Autograph Signature of Phillips ('Montague F. Phillips'), with manuscript of score of musical phrase; autograph signature of Butterworth ('Clara Butterworth').

Author: 
Montague Phillips [Montague Fawcett Phillips] (1885-1969), English composer and organist; his wife Clara Butterworth (1888-1996), soprano
Publication details: 
Phillips's signature dated 1927.
£100.00

On the recto of a piece of pink paper, roughly 17.5 x 23.5 cm, removed from an autograph album. Good, on lightly aged paper. Phillips's autograph is in the top left-hand corner, reading 'Montague F. Phillips | March 1927.' Above it are four bars of musical notation, marked 'allegro' and titled 'The Fishermen of England. The Rebel Maid" - both by Phillips).' Beneath this, and divided from it by a diagonal line, is Phillips's wife's autograph: 'Yours sincerely | Clara Butterworth'. The couple met while both students at the Royal Academy of Music.

The autographs of the four members of the Gresham Singers.

Author: 
The Gresham Singers; Hatherley Clarke; Charles Flinn; Greeves Johnson; Leonard Salisbury; Arnold Stoker [English musicians' autographs]
Publication details: 
17 August 1923; Eastbourne.
£150.00

On a leaf (roughly 11 x 17 cm) removed from an autograph album. Good, on lightly spotted paper. Reads 'All good wishes from The Gresham Singers | 17 Aug. 1923 | Eastbourne | Hatherley Clarke | Charles Flinn | Greeves Johnson | Leonard Salisbury'. Signature of 'Arnold Stoker | 7/3/1919' on reverse. Stoker was winner of the Guildhall Gold Medal in 1919.

The Autograph Signatures of the members of the Hedley Ward Trio.

Author: 
The Hedley Ward Trio: Jack Mckechnie, guitar; Derek Franklin, bass; Bob Carter, piano [English jazz musicians' autographs]
Publication details: 
Undated.
£200.00

On a leaf of blue paper (roughly 11 x 14 cm), removed from an autograph album. Good: lightly aged and spotted. Reads 'With best wishes The Hedley Ward Trio | Jack Mckechnie | Derek Franklin | Bob Carter'. Docketed, presumably by the recipient, with the members' instruments. Hedley Ward was one of the foremost British bandleaders of the 30s, 40s and 50s, and his Trio featured in many radio and television broadcasts, and are still to be heard on archive programmes.

Signatures of 'Russell Thorndike' and 'Harry Alfred Harding', and manuscript score of music by 'E. H. Thorne', transcribed by 'A. E. Thorne'.

Author: 
Dr Edward Henry Thorne (c.1835-1917), organist at St Anne's, Soho; Alfred E. Thorne, organist, Christ Church, Newgate Street; Arthur Russell Thorndike (1885-1972); Harry Alfred Harding (1855-1930)
Publication details: 
The score and two signatures all dated 1929.
£100.00

On a leaf of pink paper, roughly 18 x 23.5 cm, removed from an album. Good, on lightly aged paper. The score, on the recto, consists of eight grand staff bars, titled 'St. Andrew | A + M 403. | Jesus calls us; o'er the tumult | E. H. Thorne'. The score is folowed by the signature 'A. E. Thorne | 30th. Aug 1929.' The autographs, on the reverse, read 'Yours Very Sincerely | Russell Thorndike. | (Death in Everyman.) | Grey Friars Mar. 1929.' and 'Harry Alfred Harding | June 1. 1929.' Thorne was a leading figure in the late-Victorian Bach revival. Thorndike was the detective novelist.

Letter Signed "James C. Pilling", to E.S. Cox, State Geologist, Indianapolis, Ind.

Author: 
James C. Pilling, Ethnologist (here Chief Clerk of the Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian]
Publication details: 
Washington, DC, 19 July 1880.
£65.00

One page, 4to, body of letter secretarial, fold marks, fair condition, complete and legible: Our Library is minus the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th annual report of teh geological survey of your State, nor have we anything later than the 10th. I am directed by Maj. Powell [Director] to ask if you can furnish us with the same, & to say that we should be glad to send you any of the publications of this Office that you have not already received."

Autograph Letter Signed "L.H. Thebaud" to [H. Beresford] Hope, British diplomat (Washiongton etc).

Author: 
Leo H. Thebaud, later Rear-Admiral, Director of Naval Intelligence, 1944-5.
Publication details: 
Chestnut Hill Acaddemy, Philadelphia, Pa., 5 June 1908
£85.00

Four pages, 8vo, conjoint, good condition. Thebaud is a schoolboy and about to "take Harvard examinations" he informs Hope). The parental home in Madison NJ is shut up, but he is "sponging" off an uncle. He hopes Hope will visit New York so that they can "see Broadway by night together". He had been staying with a family where he had some German "hammered into [his] head. He recalls their joint experience in Dresden (and discusses Hope's successor in a room). He hopes he will enjoy New England and congratulates him on his success in exams [presumably Foreign Office].

Typed Letter Signed "Archie Black" to J.G. Wilson, John & Edward Bumpus Ltd.

Author: 
Archie [presumably Archibald] Black, publisher (of A. & C. Black).
Publication details: 
4,5, & 6 Soho Square, London, 18 Nov. 1932 (A & C Black headed notepaper).
£50.00

One page, minor defects, text clear and complete. He would like to see some drawings which have beeen mentioned, and will call in. "Our contributions to the Scott Exhibition were returned this morning in excellent conditio, and I would like to congratulate you and Miss Hughes on a most excellent show. | By the way, Miss Hughes has never let me have back the Scott's butler's MS., which I lent her some time ago. I wish you would mention this to her." He concludes by asking Wilson to address letters to "Archie Black" or "A.A.G. Black" to avoid confusion with his father.

Autograph Letter Signed to [H. Beresford] Hope, diplomat (Washington etc).

Author: 
A. Willert, Foreign Editor of The Times.
Publication details: 
Headington Hill, Oxford, 25 May 1909.
£35.00

Three pages, 8vo, good condition. He telss Hope that "when you come over you will be expected to notify me at the Foreign Dept The Times Printing House Square, London E.C." The birth of his "son and heir" has led to his going home for a few days ("the fatigue of producing that Empire Supplement" contributed). He reveals that he earns well from "cynical productions concerning British affairs, signed A.W. in the New York Evening Post". He is moving to Camden Hill and expects to be in the London Office for some years.

Autograph Letter Signed to [Harold Beresford] Hope, diplomat (Washington, etc.).

Author: 
Luigi Villari, Italian historian, traveller and diplomat
Publication details: 
R. Consolato D'Italia Philadelphia Pa., 20 Nov. 1908.
£56.00

Two pages, conjoined, slightly damaged but text complete and clear. "I heard the other day from the British Consul here, Mr Powell, that you are at the British Embassy in Washington. I am glad of the news & hope we may meet some time or other, either here or in Washington. | I have been in Philadelphia since October 1907 as Italian Vice-Consul, having previoulsy occupied a similar position at New Orleans. | I hear from Naurois occasionally & have seen him in Paris several times on my way to and from Italy. | Blair I have corresponded with but never met since the Moscow days.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Guinnard'), in French, to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Auguste Guinnard, French traveller, who wrote an account of his three-years' captivity in Patagonia [Jules Verne; Pierre Kalfon; Benard]
Publication details: 
7 January 1863. 4 rue St Louis en l'Ile [Paris].
£100.00

8vo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Thirty-two lines of text. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. It is only now that he is able to thank him for the 'bon accueil que m'a fait Monsieur Benard grâce à votre Gracieuse recommendation'. Benard has lent him 'quelques ouvrages', including 'ceux que vous aviez bien voulu <?> sur la petite note'. He has not had time to look at them, 'pressé que j'etais tout d'abord de vous remettre ceux que vous m'avez bien voulu prêter'. He has not been able to 'les compulser', but has 'sommairement lu le contenu qui je l'espere me suffira'.

Signed Autograph Manuscript testimonial ('Philip Gibbs') on behalf of G. K. Chesterton's candidacy for the Rectorship of the University of Glasgow.

Author: 
Sir Philip Gibbs [Sir Philip Armand Hamilton Gibbs] (1877-1962), writer and journalist [G. K. Chesterton; Glasgow University]
Publication details: 
Undated [1925].
£45.00

8vo: 2 pp. Fifty lines. Text clear and complete, on two pieces of aged and spotted paper, with rust spots from paperclip. Untitled. Begins: 'I should like to see Chesterton as Lord Rector of a university which stands for Liberal thought. Some people, limited in imagination and hostile to unconventional character, would as soon give their votes to a modern Don Quixote who by some miracle has acquired the corporeal structure of his own Sancho Panza.

Three Typed Letters Signed (the first two in full and the third 'E P Gorini') the first two to Violet Bonham Carter and the last to her son Mark, the first in English and the last two in Italian.

Author: 
Edvige Pesce Gorini, Italian poet, editor of the 'Giornale dei Poeti' [Violet Bonham Carter (1887-1969); Mark Raymond Bonham Carter (1922-1994), Baron Bonham-Carter, Liberal politician]
Publication details: 
21 February 1946; 15 May 1947; and 28 July 1948. All three from Via Angelo Poliziano No. 69, Rome.
£120.00

Text of all three items clear and complete. All three on lightly aged paper, creased and with some wear to extremities. Letter One (8vo, 1 p; 20 lines of text): She thanks Bonham Carter for her 'kind and appreciative letter' and 'will see that through the English Embassy' she receives 'a copy of my short story: "I due prigionieri", of which your son is the protagonist'. (An officer in the Grenadier Guards, during the war Mark Bonham Carter had escaped from a prison camp in northern Italy.) Describes material she is sending relating to her 'literary career'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. Cairns.') to 'Mr. Logan'.

Author: 
William Cairns, schoolmaster of Oldcambus, brother of John Cairns (1818-1892), Scottish United Presbyterian minister and theologian
Publication details: 
28 March 1882; 10 Spence St. Edinburgh.
£28.00

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium with mourning border. 39 lines of text, 12 of which have been damaged, presumably on the removal of the item from an autograph album, which has resulted in a large hole to the upper half of the second leaf of the bifolium. Begins 'My Dear Mr.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Quatremère'), in French, to 'Monsieur Feuillet, Bibliothecaire de l'Institut'.

Author: 
Étienne Marc Quatremère (1782-1857), French Orientalist [Laurent François Feuillet (1768-1843), from 1823 chief librarian of the Institut de France]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1823 and 1843].
£45.00

12mo: 1 p. Eight lines of text. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. A bifolium, addressed by Quatremère on the reverse of the second leaf. He is returning a work borrowed from the library of the Institut, and asks Feuillet 'de vouloir bien me communiquer le Voyage de l'Anglois en Afrique, et le 5e. volume de la nouvelle histoire des voyages.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. T. Gell') to 'Dear Walter'.

Author: 
George T. Gell [I.O.G.T.; IOGT International; Independent Order of Good Templars; International Order of Good Templars; temperance movement; abstinence; prohibition; Sydney, Australia]
Publication details: 
25 February 1889; 15 Little's Lane, Nicholson Street, Balmain, E. Sydney, Australia [on I.O.G.T. letterhead].
£28.00

8vo: 4 pp. Bifolium. 66 lines. Text clear and complete, on aged, spotted and worn paper. Letterhead with printed mottos in decorative borders: 'Total Abstinence is the only certain Preventive of, or Remedy for Intemperance.' and 'INDIVIDUAL ABSTINENCE. | STATE PROHIBITION.' In conclusion Gell apologises for 'what you no doubt will stigmatize as an absurd letter', and to the modern reader this item is certainly unintentionally-amusing. Since his correspondent 'went up', 'one of my Tasmanian friends along with Mrs.

Letter, in a secretarial hand, signed by Cuvier ('Bn G Cuvier'), to 'Mr. Raynal, Proviseur du college Royal de Nismes'. With engraved portrait of Cuvier by T. Richomme, from a drawing by 'Mme Lizinka de Mirbel'.

Author: 
Baron Georges Cuvier [Baron Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert Cuvier] (1769-1832), French naturalist [Theodore Richomme; Aimée Zoe Lizinka de Mirbel]
Publication details: 
Letter of 2 April 1822; on letterhead of the Conseil royal de l'Instruction publique. Engraving undated (circa 1840?).
£225.00

Letter: Folio (30.5 x 20 cm), 1 p. Bifolium, with text on recto of first leaf and address (with several postmarks) on reverse of second. Five lines. Text clear and complete, with good clear signature. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper, with 1.5 cm closed tear in top left-hand corner (not affecting text). The 'Objet de la lettre' is given as 'Envoi d'un Brevet de Pension'. The pension will be paid 'par la Caisse d'Amortissement'. Engraving: Original, on paper 24 x 15.5 cm. Captioned 'G. CUVIER.' A good clear impression on grubby, spotted and lightly-creased paper.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R Seeley') to his business partner Service.

Author: 
Richmond Seeley, son of and successor to Robert Benton Seeley (1798-1886), London publisher [F. Stanley Service; Seeley, Service & Co.; 'Clive Holland' [Charles James Hankinson] (1866-1959)]
Publication details: 
5 February 1908; Holmbury, Epsom.
£85.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium with mourning border. Good: lightly aged and with a slight bloom at the foot. Text clear and complete. Written to a business partner, and providing an insight into the everyday workings of the Edwardian book trade. The beginning of the letter appears to be a response to suggestions by Service of authors to write a book on Holland. Begins 'Dear Mr. Service, | We cannot employ Clive Holland again until he has at least put his "Egypt" into a shape in which we can venture to reprint it.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to Messrs George Routledge & Sons.

Author: 
Allan Menzies (1845-1916), Professor of Biblical Criticism, St Andrews University
Publication details: 
4 and 6 February 1906; both on letterheads of 58 South Street, St. Andrews, Fifeshire.
£38.00

Both items good on lightly-aged paper. Letter One (12mo, 2 pp): Having considered the question of the fee for a piece of writing, he does 'not know very well what to say. Perhaps you might give me what the Hibbert Journal pays its contributors.' (Docketed in pencil in the margin: 'What is that?') He 'could do the work when the College Session is over - at the end of March'. Asks to be informed 'what is necessary of the arrangements', and to be sent 'the sheets of the book.

Typed Letter Signed ('John G. Murray') to 'Mrs. Norsworthy'.

Author: 
John Murray the sixth [John Grey Murray; Jock Murray; John Arnaud Robin Grey Murray (1909-1993), London publisher
Publication details: 
9 March 1936; on the firm's 50 Albemarle Street letterhead.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. Eight lines in typescript and one line in manuscript. Good, on lightly-aged paper. With stamped Envelope addressed in manuscript. The firm is 'sorry to hear' that she intends to 'take two volumes' over her book on Henry III, not considering that 'a biography of him could succeed in more than one complete volume. To take him to 1237 in the first volume would spoil the completeness of what we feel should be a one-volume biography.' He adds in manuscript: 'I hope we will not prove too unwieldy.'

Typed Letter Signed to Rev. J. W. Thompson, "Brockenhurst", Birmingham Road, Walsall, Staffs.

Author: 
Philip Unwin, cousin of Sir Stanley Unwin (1884-1968) [George Allen & Unwin Ltd, publishers; Sir Stanley Unwin]
Publication details: 
20 August 1931; on letterhead of George Allen & Unwin Ltd, Publishers and Exporters.
£45.00

4to, 2 pp. Thirty-two lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. A tactful letter in response to an enquiry concerning the possibility of employment as a translator of Dutch publications. Unwins 'very seldom have occasion to translate from Dutch, but we should always be glad to give consideration to any important Dutch book which you were able to bring to our attention'. He suggests times when Thompson might be able to meet Stanley Unwin, who is travelling on the continent.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R. Brimley Johnson') [to Swan Sonnenschein], proposing a work for publication, and outlining his literary achievements.

Author: 
R. Brimley Johnson [Reginald Brimley Johnson] (1867-1932), English author and editor [Swan Sonnenschein, London publishers]
Publication details: 
19 February 1893; on embossed letterhead of Llandaff House, Cambridge.
£65.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He was introduced to the recipient 'by Mr. Philip Malleson of Croydon, when I wanted to send an Essay to The Albemarle'. Asks if he 'might be disposed to let me write a volume on Jane Austen or Leigh Hunt for your Dilettante Library', Austen being 'specially before the public just now'. He has edited Austen's novels and two 'well received' volumes of selections from Hunt for 'Mr. Dent's Temple Library'. 'If you do not care to arrange for either of these authors I would suggest Miss Burney[,] Hazlitt or T. L. Peacock.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Martin Armstrong') to Thorpe.

Author: 
Martin Armstrong [Martin Donisthorpe Armstrong] (1882-1974), English novelist and poet [Thomas Thorp, Guildford bookseller]
Publication details: 
15 January 1933; Sutton, Pulborough, Sussex, on cancelled letterhead of 37 Great Ormond Street, London.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Giving the details of three titles from Thorp's 'large catalogue' which he hopes are still available (one is ticked in pencil and the other two marked as sold). 'Also can you let me have a cheap copy of John Masefield's "Sea Life in The Time of Nelson" and J. R. Hutchinson's "The Press Gang Afloat & Ashore." Publishers and prices of both items are noted in pencil, with 'Cheque Noted' in margin.

Autograph Note Signed ('George A Lawrence') to unnamed publisher [Tinsley?].

Author: 
George A. Lawrence [George Alfred Lawrence] (1827-1876), English novelist
Publication details: 
Undated. On monogrammed letterhead of 25 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, London.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Six lines. Mourning border. Text clear and complete. Aged, creased and a little grubby. Asking to be sent '4 copies of "The Butterfly", if ready', and if not to be told 'when it will be'. Lawrence published his 'Breaking a Butterfly; Or Blanche Ellerslie's Ending' anonymously by Tinsley in 1869.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George A Lawrence') to an unnamed publisher [George Routledge?].

Author: 
George A. Lawrence [George Alfred Lawrence] (1827-1876), English novelist [Miss Caulfield; George Routledge]
Publication details: 
22 March 1858; Plymouth.
£35.00

16mo (leaf dimensions 13 x 10 cm), 3 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and lightly creased paper with small closed tear in margin (not affecting text). He has been asked by 'Miss Caulfield' to 'perform the ceremony of "introduction" with a view to your publishing (if you approved of it) a work she has lately written [...] <"Janet de Rinzy?">'.

Autograph Note Signed ('D. Lysons.') to unnamed publisher.

Author: 
Sir Daniel Lysons (1816-1898), English army officer
Publication details: 
11 January 1893; on letterhead of 22 Warwick Square, London S.W.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Large bold signature. He has 'no present intention of publishing any book on [his] career'. It may be that the correspondence planted a seed, as three years after the writing of this note Lysons published 'Early Reminiscences' (John Murray, 1896).

Typed Letter, signed by 'C B', 'per W. & G. Foyle, Ltd, to C. F. Bradshaw, headmaster of the Council School at Cresswell, Worksop, Derbyshire.

Author: 
Foyles Bookshop [W. & G. Foyle Ltd of 119-125 Charing Cross Road, London booksellers]
Publication details: 
18 March 1939; on 'W & G FOYLE LTD' letterhead.
£22.00

4to, 1 p. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper with minor rust stain from paperclip at head. Letterhead, in light and dark blue, featuring globe and the mottos 'BOOKSELLERS TO THE WORLD' and 'STOCK OF NEARLY THREE MILLION VOLUMES'. Thirteen lines of text. Bradshaw is clearly unhappy at the price asked for a copy of Cox's 'Memorials of Old Derbyshire'. 'The writer would point out that we received six reports regarding this book from various clients, but in no case at a price allowing us to quote below 15/-.

Autograph Letter in the third person to the publishers Swan Sonnenschein & Co.

Author: 
Sir Charles Hallé [born in Germany as Carl Halle] (1819-1895), English conductor and pianist
Publication details: 
30 June 1890; Sydney, Australia.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Twelve lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and grubby paper. A formal letter in the third person. He has 'received with surprise the enclosed invoice. [not present] He has given no orders for any copies of the work & must therefore decline to accept the parcel, should it have been sent out to him in Australia.' If it is 'lying at his London house' he will forward it to the firm 'on his return home'.

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