Manuscripts

[ Louis-Philippe Mouchy, French sculptor. ] Part of request to 'Concitoyens Commissaires', signed 'Mouchy Sculpteur de l'academie de peinture de la Commission des monuments', regarding works of art in the 'Cy devant Seminaire de St. Louis' in Paris.

Author: 
Louis-Philippe Mouchy (1734-1801), French sculptor [ La Commission des Monuments, Paris; French Revolution ]
Publication details: 
25 January 1793.
£150.00

1p., 8vo. In good condition. The ancient Seminary of St Peter and St Lewis in Paris (now demolished) was being used as barracks at the time Mouchy was writing, having been suppressed the year before. The page begins: 'Au Cy devant Seminaire de St. Louis rue d'Enfer dans L'Eglise sont a distraire de la vente primo tous ce qui Compose le maitre autel en marbre bleux et blanc, et le grand Tableaux [sic] representant St. Pierre guerissant un paralitique, [sic] et autres Secondo les chapelles de cote aussy [sic] de même Couleur avec leurs tableaux bordures dorés, dont l'un est un St.

[ Jean-Pierre Pequignot, French sculptor and artist. ] Autograph Receipt Signed ('Pequignot | Sculpteur') for moneys received from the 'Citoyen Penkoucke' for a copy 'dune joueuse dosselets' [sic; female player of bones?]].

Author: 
Jean-Pierre Pequignot (1765-1807), French sculptor and artist [ Panckoucke family, Parisian printers ]
Publication details: 
'a paris le 23 brumaire lan qatrieme [sic] de la republique'. [ 15 November 1795 ]
£120.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Pequignot's spelling is shaky. The document reads: 'Le Sossignez en reconais avoir recu du Citoyen Penkoucke la Some de deux mile franc a Compte dune Copie que je lui fais dune joueuse dosselets | Pequignot | Sculpteur'. He is referring apparently to an engraving of his sculpture "La Joueuse d'Osselets" ["jacks"], or some form or other. The recipient was a member of the notable firm of French printers and publishers, probably Charles-Joseph Panckoucke (1736-1798).

[ Felix Plater, Swiss physician. ] Autograph Document Signed ('Felix Platerus Basil | Archiatros & Prof')

Author: 
Felix Plater (1536-1614), Swiss physician and professor at the University of Basel, pioneer in fields of psychiatry and germ theory of disease
Felix Plater
Publication details: 
Basil. May 1611.
£450.00
Felix Plater

On one side of an 11.5 x 7.5 cm piece of paper. In fair condition, aged and stained. Consisting of a two-line improving Latin quotation beginning: 'Nullius est Felix'. Signed beneath this: 'Felix Platerus Basil | Archiatros & Prof. | Ao S

1611 Maio | Ao AM. 73'. On the reverse are two longer signed quotations, both in calligraphic hands, the lower of the two by 'Johannes Philippus a Fritten back', dated 28 February 1607. The author is identified in pencil in a later hand as John Phillips who died in 1640.

[ Bridget Guinness, sculptor and society hostess. ] Autograph Ownership Inscription and medical notes inside copy of Delano and McIsaac's 'American Red Cross Textbook on Elementary Hygiene and Home Care of the Sick'.

Author: 
Bridget Guinness [ née Bridget Henrietta Frances Williams-Bulkeley ] (1871-1931), sculptor and society hostess, friend and benefactor of Dame Ellen Terry [ Jane A. Delano and Isabel McIsaac ]
Publication details: 
Ownership inscription dated 1915. Book published in Philadelphia by P. Blakiston's Son & Co, 1012 Walnut Street, February 1914.
£120.00

The book is xv + 256pp., 8vo. In grey cloth binding with printed cover. In fair condition, on aged paper, with front hinge split. Ownership inscription in blue pencil on front pastedown: 'Bridget Guinness | 8 Washington Sq | 1915'. In same blue pencil on reverse of rear free endpaper is a note of an appointment for a meeting with 'the American Florence Nightingale', Anna C. Maxwell (1851-1929), who was then the Director of the School of Nursing at the Presbyterian Hospital: '4 ock Tuesday Presbyterian 70th N Mad. Miss Maxwell's office -'.

[ Lucien Jeorgeaguet, Parisian porcelain [porcelaine] decorator. ] Collection of source material, including original drawings (some coloured) and photographs. Included among the drawings are two signed by 'Alice Mattei | pour Delvaux'.

Author: 
Lucien Jeorgeaguet, Parisian porcelain decorator [ Alice Mattei; Delvaux ]
Publication details: 
With label addressed to 'Mr JEORGEAGUET Lucien | Décorateur Porcelaine | 48 Rue de Pixérecourt | PARIS XXe Gr 14'. Mattei's drawings dated February and March 1961. Also a bill dated 24 November 1970. The other material from around the same time.
£600.00

53 items, in remains of folder with 'Documents Modèles' in manuscript on cover. In fair condition, with light signs of age and wear. Mainly comprising tracings and drawings (some coloured) of designs (both original and copied from historical items), in pencil, pen and watercolour, including some on pages torn from notebooks, some of them annotated in French. Mattei's two coloured drawings show bold floral designs for teacups and saucers. Also present is a series of versions of a playing-card design. There are also eleven black and white photographs of pots, vases and snuffboxes.

[ College of Aeronautics, Cranfield. ] 'Secret' typed thesis, with 71 diagrams, on the interception of atomic bombers, titled 'Turning Performance and Manoeuvrability of Aircraft at Supersonic Speeds by Lieutenant (E) R. A. Langley, Royal Navy'.

Author: 
Lieut-Commander R. A. Langley, Royal Navy [ College of Aeronautics, Cranfield; Nuclear War; Atomic Weapons ]
Publication details: 
The College of Aeronautics, Cranfield. May 1952.
£1,250.00

The problem with which the thesis deals is summed up at the start: 'If war broke out in the near future, attack by atomic bombers would become an immediate possibility, and one of the biggest problems would be the defence of this Island, which, with its areas of dense population, particularly around its essential industries, would present many ideal targets to the enemy. It would, therefore, be essential to destroy, or attempt to destroy, each enemy bomber before it reached the coast.

[ Robert Charleton, Quaker philanthropist. ] Signed Autograph guarantee to the Great Western Railway of payment for tickets for a journey organised by the New Bedminster Temperance Hall, with an engraving of a design for the Hall.

Author: 
Robert Charleton (1809-1872), Quaker philanthropist and temperance campaigner, model employer at his Bristol pin-making factory [ Temperance Hall and Mechanics Institution, Bedminster, Bristol ]
Railway
Publication details: 
Guarantee dated from Orwell Villa, Cotham New Road, Bristol; 24 August 1853. Engraving by Lavars, Lithographer, Bridge Street, Bristol; undated.
£120.00
Railway

Guarantee: 1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged paper. Reads: 'Bristol 8mo 24. 1853 | I hereby guarantee to the Great Western Railway Company payment for all the tickets which may be sold for the Cheap Trip to London, on the 29th. Inst., undertaken by the promoters of the New Bedminster Temperance Hall | Robert Charleton | Orwell Villa | Cotham New Road'. Written across the page in red ink: 'Cancelled | M J Cairns'. Addressed by Charleton on reverse to 'The Manager | Great Western Railway Company'. The engraving is on a 12 x 17.5 cm piece of paper.

[ Hans Sloane, MP, of South Stoneham, Hampshire. ] Armorial Bookplate of 'HANS SLOANE ESQR.', with his Autograph Signature on the flyleaf of a book.

Author: 
Hans Sloane (1739-1827), MP, of South Stoneham, Hampshire, Deputy Cofferer of the Royal Household
Sloane
Publication details: 
Signature dated 1755.
£56.00
Sloane

The engraved armorial bookplate is on a 9.5 x 7.5 cm. piece of paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Loosely attached to the flyleaf, which carries the calligraphic signature 'Hans Sloane | 1755.' (Sloane would have been sixteen at the time, and the writing is suitably juvenile.) The flyleaf is in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, and laid down on a piece of wove paper. Sloane (a kinsman of the great collector Sir Hans Sloane) is the subject of an excellent entry by Sir Lewis Namier in the History of Parliament.

[ Ginger Rogers, Hollywood star. ] Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Ginger Rogers [ born Virginia Katherine McMath ] (1911-1995), Hollywood actress, dancer and singer, famed for her partnership with Fred Astaire
Ginger
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£20.00
Ginger

Good, firm signature in blue ink, 7cm. long, on a piece of paper laid down on a 16 x 25cm. piece of card, beside a magazine cutting of a photograph of Rogers, the two protected by a loose plastic sheet. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

[ Royal Navy in the age of Nelson. ] 'A true Copy', in manuscript, of Harvey Bateson's appointment as 'Lieutenant on the Board the Amelia 7th. day of Novr. 1804.', with Autograph Letter Signed from Bateson to his uncle Sir Robert Bateson Harvey.

Author: 
Lieutenant Harvey Bateson (d.1805), RN, nephew of Sir Robert Bateson Harvey of Langley Park [ Admiral Hood [ Sir Samuel Hood ] (1762-1814) ]
Publication details: 
Bateson's letter from 'Budge Town Barbadoes', undated, but received 'after his Death Apl. 1805.' Copy document undated, but original dated 7 November 1804.
£100.00

Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Bateson's letter is 3pp., 4to. On a bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Sir Robert Bateson Harvey Bart. | Langley Park | near Uxbridge Bucks | England'. Docketted on same page: 'Harvey Bateson | Barbadoes | Recd after his Death | Apl. 1805'. He conveys the news of his appointment, thanks his uncle, and reports: 'We are waiting in expectation of a Spanish War and as the Amelia sails will I dare say we shall make something'.

[ The Potato Blight in Scotland, 1854. ] Anonymous manuscript paper: 'The Cause and Cure of the Potato disease &c.', including 'Memorandum of Facts relative to Pestilence and the Potato disease in the Parish of Campbeltown'.

Author: 
[ The Kintyre Agricultural Society; Cambeltown, Argyll and Bute; the Potato Blight in Scotland, 1854 ]
Publication details: 
'To The Members of The Kintyre Agricultural Society'. Section headed: 'Campbeltown 2nd Oct 1854'.
£800.00

121pp., folio, with each page on a separate leaf. The author's own pagination skips p.20, but the text is complete. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn watermarked laid paper. Manuscript emendations (corrections, deletions and additions) throughout, and also occasional directions to a printer in the margin (for example, p.18: 'Indent an M piece') suggesting contemporary publication. (The Otago Witness in 1891 reproduced under the same title a few short extracts from the present item - starting at p.24 of it.

[ Edwardian theatrical manuscript magazine. ] 'Ye Piecan's Gazette No 8', entirely in manuscript, with hand-coloured covers.

Author: 
[ 'Ye Piecan's Gazette', Edwardian theatrical manuscript magazine, edited by 'R. B.' ]
Theatrical MS newspaper
Publication details: 
Place not stated [ English ]. Vol. |1 No. 8 [ 1903 ].
£80.00
Theatrical MS newspaper

11pp., 12mo. Stapled into card covers. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Covers illustrated in colour by 'T. U. P.' The front cover carries, with the title, an illustration of a maid with a duster, captioned 'BESSAY NOTHING'. Humorous in intent.

[ Association Football: Scotland v Wales, Aberdeen 1934. ] The Autographs of 13 members of the Scottish team, with trainer Donald Colman, and 13 members of the Welsh team.

Author: 
[ Association Football: Scotland v Wales, 1934 ]
Footer
Publication details: 
'Nov. 1934 at Aberdeen.' [ Scotland ]
£220.00
Footer

The game was played on 21 November 1934 at Pittodrie, Scotland winning 3-2. 2pp., 12mo. on two leaves removed from an autograph album. Each team's autographs on a separate page. Both leaves in good condition, lightly-aged. ONE: On page headed 'Scotland Team', carries 14 autographs: 'C Napier [Charlie Napier (1910-1973), Celtic] | Alex Massie [ (1906-1977), Hearts] | | Pr.

[ South Africa; Rugby Union; autographs ]The Springboks Tour of the UK in 1931-2, Signatures of the Players.

Author: 
[ South Africa; Rugby Union ]The Springboks Tour of the UK in 1931-2
Springboks
Publication details: 
1931-2
£150.00
Springboks

Two pages extracted from an autograph album, c.17.5 x 11cm, sl. grubby, mainly good condition. One entitled (in ink, "North of Scotland v. Springboks. | Aberdeen: 9th Jan.1932"; the other just headed by date so, "10/1/31 [32 in fact]" There are eight (8) signatures of South African players on the first page described above, and twenty-two (22) signatures on the second, total 30. One name, "S G Osler" is repeated on both pages. Given that a scrawled signature is liable to misinterpretation, the following members of the touring party appear to have signed: First page (total 8 signatures): a.

[ Hal Collier, Victorian popular dramatist. ] Typescripts, with autograph additions, of three of melodramas: '"In the Hands of the Mormons" Or "The Mormon Peril"; 'The Broken Rosary' and 'The Secret Panel'.

Author: 
Hal Collier, Victorian popular playwright, author of melodramas
Publication details: 
One play with stamp of 209 Northumberland Road, Southampton, the other two without place. All three undated [ Edwardian ].
£1,250.00

Collier was the author of a number of melodramas and farces in the period between the Boer War and the Great War, including one written in conjunction with F. H. Dudley, but little is to be discovered about him, with no mention of these three titles. All three items in fair condition, on aged paper, in aged and worn bindings. ONE: '"In the Hands of the Mormons" Or "The Mormon Peril" A Drama in FOUR acts written by Hal Collier'. [1] + 45pp., 4to. Stitched into grey paper wraps. With pencil emendations throughout, including extensive deletions.

[ John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute. ] Manuscript indenture, signed by 'Cardiff' (with his seal), Dutens and Jacmar: 'Escoffment of a Cottage at Collierly in the County of Durham | The Right Honourable John Lord Cardiff to Mr. John Smith.'

Author: 
John Stuart (1744-1814), 1st Marquess of Bute (as John, Lord Cardiff) [ Louis Dutens (1730-1812), French author; David George Jacmar (d.1896) of the Auditor's Office; Thomas Shafto of Witton Gilbert ]
Publication details: 
[ Regarding Collierley, County Durham. ] 1 July 1780.
£80.00

3pp., folio. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Laid out in the customary fashion, with two tax stamps, one embossed and the other in black ink. Signed 'Cardiff' beside a good impression of his seal in red wax. Witnessed by 'L. Dutens' and 'D G Jacmar'. The indenture is 'Between The Right Honourable John Lord Cardiff of Cardiff Castle in the County of Glamorgan of the first Part John Smith of Wilton Gilbert in the County of Durham Gentleman of the second Part and Thomas Shafto of Dunston in the said County of Durham Esquire off the third Part'.

Manuscript Catalogue of 'Books received by R. H. Grubbe by bequest from W. J. Grubbe who received them by bequest from Louis H. Hall to be handed on for the most part to descendants of Dr. George William Hall, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford.'

Author: 
Louis Edmund Hall (b.1863); Rev. Reginald Hall Grubbe (b.1862) [ Dr George William Hall (1770-1843), Master of Pembroke College, Oxford and Vice-Chancellor ]
Publication details: 
'These books were recevied by the above R. H. G. in March & June 1926.'
£350.00

49pp. In 4to notebook with red cloth spine and black cloth boards. Internally in good condition, lightly aged, in aged and worn covers. An alphabetical list, with entries covering two facing pages, divided into three columns: 'Name of Book', 'Description' and 'How disposed of'. Almost all the entries in the last column are 'H[enr]y Hall', but one item is recorded as being 'Sent to Julia Hall'. The serious library of an educated Englishman, with almost no fiction present. Nearly all the books date from the period 1770-1900, although 'Gloucestershire Visitation of 1623' is also present.

[ Joseph Warton, Poet Laureate. ] Autograph Receipt Signed ('Jos. Warton') of monies (presumably tuition fees) from Hugh Rogers.

Author: 
Joseph Warton (1728-1790), Poet Laureate [ Trinity College, Oxford ]
Publication details: 
No place. 16 July 1767.
£250.00

On one side of 11 x 18.5 cm piece of paper. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. On reverse is small circular printed paper label of the Ray Rawlins Collection. Reads: 'July 16 1767 Received of Hugh Rogers Esqr the Above Sum in Full for His Son till Last Whitsuntide | by me | Jos. Warton'. Hugh Rogers of Helston, had a son, John, at Trinity, Oxford, presuambly tutored by Warton.

Autograph list by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, naming pictures he has contributed to thirteen international exhibitions between 1862 and 1898, proposed in autograph queries by the art historian William Roberts.

Author: 
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), Dutch-born English painter of the 'Victorian Olympus' period [William Roberts (1862-1940), art historian]
Alma-Tadema
Publication details: 
Address in bottom left-hand corner of 'W. Roberts 47, Lansdowne Gardens, Clapham, S.W.' [Circa 1898.]
£500.00
Alma-Tadema

1p., folio. Good, on a lightly-aged piece of ruled paper. In two columns, with the left-hand column, written out by Roberts with his address at the foot, headed 'Name of Exhibition', and listing twelve international exhibitions between 1862 (Amsterdam) and 1898 (Brussels). The right-hand column, headed 'Picture Exhibition', carries Alma-Tadema's responses, some of which are written in darker ink than others, indicating that they were added at more than one point. Alongside 'Paris (EU) 1867' he writes '13 pictures amongst them.

[Edward Mason Wrench] Manuscript describing events in 1855-6, during his service in the Crimean War with the 34th Regiment of Foot. With duplicated (hectograph) letter by him and handbill advertisement for talk by him, both on the Siege of Sebastopol

Author: 
Edward Mason Wrench (1833-1912) of the 34th Regiment of Foot [The Crimean War; Siege of Sebastopol; Crimea]
Publication details: 
The account of 'Events in 1855 [and 1856]' dated by Wrench from Park Lodge, Baslow [Derbyshire], 1902. The duplicated letter dated 12 December 1880. The printed advertisement for talk at the School, Baslow, and dated 14 January 1881.
£450.00

Wrench was the son of a clergyman, and well connected, being presented to the Prince of Wales and staying at Chatsworth in his old age. His obituary in the British Medical Journal (27 April 1812), describes how he went out to the Crimea in 1854. 'He had been gazetted Assistant Surgeon to the 34th Regiment in November, and joined it on its arrival in the Crimea. He served during the terrible winter of that year, and was present at the capture of the quarries, the successful assault on the Redan of June 18th, and the final capture of Sebastopol on September 8th, 1855.

[Autograph Manuscript; Robert Lynd; Ireland] Autograph drafts of two chapters from RL's 'Rambles in Irish Places'

Author: 
Robert Lynd, Essayist, Journalist and Irish Nationlaist
Publication details: 
(Published in London as 'Rambles in Ireland' by Mills & Boon in 1912).
£250.00

ONE. First draft chapter headed: 'Rambles in Irish Places | (By Robert Lynd) | Chapter III | Through Lisdoonvarna'. 40pp., 4to, in notebook without covers. Early draft in pencil, heavily corrected with deletions and emendations. Begins: 'It was the merest accident that we went to Lisdoonvarna. Our ambition was to get from Spiddle, where we had been attending the opening of a summer school of Irish, to Killaglin in Kerry in time for the Fair'. TWO. Second draft chapter headed: 'Puck Fair: an Irish Medley | By Robert Lynd'. 48pp., 4to, in notebook.

[Embargo Act of 1807?;] Substantial copy letter, John Holmes, lawyer & politician in Maine/Massachusetts, to William Sabatier, merchant, about land in Maine/MA. Annotated & Copied by Sabatier,and forwarded to Thomas Hutchinson, Jr (see notes below)

Author: 
William Sabatier, "office holder, merchant, jp, and lobbyist (Canadian DNB) [John Holmes, US Senator, etc. (Wikipedia)]
Publication details: 
[Holmes letter] Alfred, Mass., 24 March 1809; [Wm Sabatier note], 5 May 1809.
£280.00

Four-pages bifolium, fold marks, good condition. Holmes letter copied by Sabatier to Hutchinson, and with substantial added material also by Sabatier, 2pp., folio; Sabatier added the note to Hutchinson, p.3, "A cross grained business has happened in the appointment which will occasion a temporary delay; Hutchinson's address appears on page four with a note (presumably in Hutchinson's hand), "Willm Sabatier Esq.

[ The Siberian 'Katorga' in Imperial Russia. ] English translation (by Peter Kropotkin?) from the French, of Émile Andreoli's account of his captivity following the January Uprising, titled ''Siberian Convicts' Life'. Containing unpublished material.

Author: 
Émile Andreoli (1835-1900), Franco-Italian writer and inventor, sent to Siberia following his participant in the Polish 'January Uprising', 1863-1864 [ Peter Kropotkin, Russia; Russian Katorga ]
Publication details: 
Without details or date. [London, 1880s? Certainly after 1869.]
£4,000.00

99pp., 8vo. Each page typed on a separate piece of paper ruled with red marginal borders. The manuscript housed in a contemporary thumb-indexed ledger, with each leaf tipped-in onto the recto of a leaf of the ledger. The manuscript in good condition, lightly-aged and worn; the ledger heavily worn and shaken, and lacking covers. Andreoli's name is not given anwhere in this item. Title-page with typed title 'Siberian Convicts' Life'. Above the title, in manuscript is '? Convict-Life', and typed beneath the title is a six-line epigram from Goethe.

Manuscript headed 'A Valuation of Houses and Gardens &c in Corbridge as follows', giving names of proprietors, tenants, 'What the Building consists of' and valuations.

Author: 
[ Corbridge, Northumberland: manuscript valuation of houses and gardens, circa 1800 ]
Publication details: 
[Corbridge, Northumberland. Circa 1800.]
£100.00

10pp., 4to. On five leaves pinned together. In good condition, on aged laid paper with Britannia watermark. Folded into the customary packet, and docketted 'Valuation of Corbrid. Houses & Gardens &c.' Arranged in ten columns: No. of Claim; Proprietors Names; Situation & Tennants Names; What the Building consists [Premises consist] of; Particular Content of Land [Gardens &c]; Total Content of Land; Particular rent of Houses & Land; Yearly rent of Houses & Land; Houses & Land proportioned; Total Claim.

[Archive; unpublished history] Papers and correspondence relating to an intended history of the early years of the Daily Express

Author: 
John Gordon, editor of the Sunday Express [Lord Beaverbrook]:
Publication details: 
No particular place or date.
£2,000.00

For more about John Rutherford Gordon (1890-1974), editor of the Sunday Express between 1928 and 1952, see his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.Although the volume for which the present material was amassed did not materialise, there is no doubting the seriousness of the project. Working with Beaverbrook's approval and encouragement (the nine memoranda by him present in the collection indicate his interest), Gordon employed Sunday Express news editor Jack Garbutt (John Lambert Garbutt, 1907-1973), John ('Jock') Selby Bradford and 'T. N. Shane' (i.e. H. A. H.

Autograph Note Signed 'Will. H. Lizars' on receipt of payment for work on Walter Scott novels.

Author: 
[ William Home Lizars ] William H. Lizars (1788–1859), Scottish painter and engraver.
Publication details: 
Edinburgh, 8 June 1827.
£180.00

One page, 21 x 8cm, one dge frayed and sunned, text clear and complete. Lizars acknowledges paymentof £49.14 from "John Gibson Junr, Esqre for the Trustees of Sir Walter Scott, Bart [...] payment of [annexed?] account [not present] for Titles to Tales & Romances."

[F. G. Gordon and the Oxford University Press.] Correspondence with John Johnson, Humphrey Milford, Sir John Forsdyke, S. R. K. Glanville, Sir G. F. Hill, and others, about his book 'Through Basque to Minoan'. With corrected manuscripts, proofs, etc.

Author: 
Frank Gordon Gordon [né Straube] (1874-1968), classical scholar with theory on Minoan Linear A [John Johnson; Humphrey Milford; Oxford University Press; Sir John Forsdyke; S. R. K. Glanville]
Publication details: 
Letters from various locations (including the British Museum), between 1930 and 1932. [The book published by Oxford University Press, 1931.]
£950.00

The collection is in good overall condition, with light signs of age and wear. As the following description indicates, much care was taken by OUP with the production of the book, the Press even going so far as to produce new type for it (examples of which are accompany a letter by the printer John Johnson). Unfortunately the book was not well received - a savage review [by Sir P. J.

Seventeenth-century Vellum Manuscript Indenture, a Terrier of John Head's lease lands in West Hendred, Berkshire.

Author: 
[John Head of Langley, Hampstead Norreys, High Sheriff of Berkshire, 1698-1699; terrier his lease lands in West Hendred]
Publication details: 
[West Hendred, Berkshire.] Late seventeenth-century.
£220.00

On one side of a strip of vellum (circa 40 x 18 cm). In fair condition, aged and worn. In English. Scan of part on application

[J. G. Wilson, proprietor of London booksellers J. & E. Bumpus Ltd.] Autograph notebook containing draft of talk to trainee booksellers on 'Modern Fine & First Editions', proposals for 'Anecdotal History of Bookselling' and for trade 'social club'.

Author: 
J. G. Wilson [John Gideon Wilson] (1876-1963), 'the most famous English bookseller of his time' and proprietor of the prestigious London firm of J. & E. Bumpus Ltd., 477 Oxford Street
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [J. & E. Bumpus Ltd., 477 Oxford Street.]
£350.00

It is Sir Basil Blackwell, in his DNB entry on Wilson, who described him as 'the most famous English [sic] bookseller of his time'. The freshness and enthusiasm conveyed by this small volume supports Blackwell's view that Wilson viewed 'bookselling not so much as a matter of retail trade as a service in which bookseller and customer met and shared the experience of contact with the precious manifestations of the spirit of man', as well as casting light on the methods and practices which made Wilson so successful.

[Felicia Hemans, poet.] Autograph inscription to 'Miss Chorley' [daughter of her biographer Henry Fothergill Chorley?].

Author: 
Felicia Hemans [Hemans Felicia Dorothea, née Browne (1793-1835)], English poet [Henry Fothergill Chorley (1808-1872), author]
Hemans
Publication details: 
Without place or date [c.1828?].
£50.00
Hemans

On the reverse of the half-title leaf (only) of her book 'Records of Woman: with other Poems'. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Reads: 'Miss Chorley. With | Felicia Heman's kindest regards.' A nice association: Henry Fothergill Chorley edited the 'Memorials of Mrs Hemans' (1836).

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