OF

[Mary Anne Clarke; Duke of York] Handbill satire on the Duke of York, entitled 'Love a-la-mode, or, My Darling; A Duett, As Sung by An Overseer of the United Parishes of John Bull and St. George's, and Mrs. Clarke, late of Gloucester Place Theatre.'

Author: 
[Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany; Mary Anne Clarke (1776-1852)]
Mary Anne Clarke
Publication details: 
[circa 1809] 'Printed and Published by J. Lowe, No 27, Bakers Row, Whitehcapel Road.'
£120.00
Mary Anne Clarke

Printed on one side of a piece of laid paper, watermarked with date 1808, roughly 34.5 x 21 cm. Very good. Illustration at head, coloured in red and green, roughly 6.5 x 10 cm.

[William IV, King of the United Kingdom.] Autograph Signature (as Duke of Clarence) on frank addressed by him to Dr Carmichael Smith.

Author: 
William IV (1765-1837), King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1830-1837 (previously Duke of Clarence)
Publication details: 
4 December [no year]; London.
£45.00

See the entry for the ‘Sailor King’ in the Oxford DNB. On 12 x 7 cm piece of paper, cut from the cover of a frank. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight smudging and a small patch of light discoloration at centre (away from signature). Set out in customary fashion, and addressed by the future king (with the year cropped): ‘London. December fourth [...] / Dr: Carmichael Smith / M. D. / Upper [?] / Near Staines / Middlesex’. Firm signature at bottom left, with slight smudging to loops of the initial ‘C’: ‘Clarence’. See Image.

[The man who built Cardiff: John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquis of Bute.] Autograph Letter Signed, explaining restrictions he is placing on the recipient's permission to shoot on his land.

Author: 
The man who built Cardiff: John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquis of Bute (1793-1848), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1794 and 1814, Scottish aristocrat and industrialist
Publication details: 
?Mountstuart [Mount Stuart House, Isle of Bute] 21st Septr 1820?.
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and spotted paper. Folded for postage. The recipient is not named. Signed ?Bute and Dumfries.? ?I should with pleasure have renewed to you a general permission to shoot upon my lands in Galloway, but having this year restricted other gentlemen in the neighbourhood on account of the condition of my muirs, [sic] I feel myself under the necessity of confining my permission to you within those which [match?] immediately with Mr Adair?s.?

[Sir Leslie Stephen, first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, father of Virginia Woolf.] Autograph Letter, Signed as ?The Editor of the Cornhill?, to an unnamed lady, declining the offer of an article.

Author: 
Sir Leslie Stephen (1832-1904), first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, author and literary critic, father of Virginia Woolf
Publication details: 
24 December 1874; on letterhead of the Cornhill Magazine, Smith, Elder & Co [London].
£180.00

For information regarding Sir Leslie Stephen, consult Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, though somewhat aged and worn, with strip of brown paper stub adhering to one edge. Folded for postage. Reads: ?Madam, / I am obliged by your offer of an article, but, though I agree with you that it has some merit, I regret that my engagements make it quite impossible for me to accept it. / Your truly / The Editor of the Cornhill? (?Cornhill? little more than a series of scratches). See Image.

[Lady Dufferin [Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava], Vicereine of India; Emily Faithfull] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Miss Faithful', regarding her celebrated fund to provide medical care for the women of India.

Author: 
Lady Dufferin [(1843?1936), Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava], Vicereine of India, wife of Frederic, 1st Marquis, Viceroy of India.
Publication details: 
?Rome June 13th.? [circa 1886?]
£120.00

See her entry, and that of her husband, in the Oxford DNB. Hers states: 'most memorably used her energies to found the National Association for Supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women of India, often known as the Countess of Dufferin Fund, in 1885.' 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium on grey paper. Addressed to ?Dear Miss Faithful? and signed ?H. Dufferin & Ava?. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. She thanks her for her ?kind note? and will be grateful for any help she can ?ever give with regard to my Fund?.

[Hugh Boyd McNeile, Dean of Ripon.] Autograph Letter Signed from France to a 'Brother', in recommendation of 'Monsr. Rossellot', who is coming to England to promote the Female Orphan Asylum at Orleans.

Author: 
Hugh Boyd McNeile (1795-1879), Dean of Ripon, controversial Anglican cleric, fiercely opposed to Tractarianism and Roman Catholicism [Rosselot; Orleans Orphanage]
Publication details: 
‘Paris 30 April 1842’.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium with thin mourning border. In poor condition, aged, worn and discoloured, with chipping and closed tears, but text clear and complete. The recipient (‘My dear Friend’) is not named. The letter’s valediction reads: ‘Your’s my dear Brother / most affy. / Hugh McNeile’. (Whether or not McNeile’s actual brother is unclear.) He explains that the bearer of the letter, ‘Monsr. Rossellot’, is ‘the Pastor of a Protestant Church in Orleans’, and that there is ‘at Orleans a female Orphan Asylum, on behalf of which he is going to England’.

[Henry Reeve, editor of the Edinburgh Review for four decades.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the publisher Alexander Macmillan] regarding books he intends to review by Lady Godon Duff and J. R. Seeley.

Author: 
Henry Reeve (1813-1895), editor of the Edinburgh Review from 1855 to his death, Registrar of the Privy Council, 1843-1887 [Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896), publisher]
Publication details: 
11 May 1866. On embossed letterhead of the Privy Council Office [Whitehall].
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The recipient (‘Dear Sir’) is not named, but is presumably Alexander Macmillan (see Oxford DNB), the publisher of the two books referred to in the letter, which he seems to have sent for review. The letter is signed ‘H Reeve’. Folded for postage. He begins by thanking him for sending copies of ‘Lady Duff Gordon’s Letters [from Egypt]’ and ‘Ecce Homo’ [‘a survey of the life and work of Jesus Christ’ by J. R. Seeley], which he has ‘already read with great interest’.

[ A. E. W. Mason, English novelist, author of ‘The Four Feathers’.] Typed Note Signed to Rosemary Barron, responding to a request for an autograph.

Author: 
A. E. W. Mason [Alfred Edward Woodley Mason] (1865-1948), hugely-popular English novelist, playwright and screenwriter, author of ‘The Four Feathers’ and creator of Inspector Hanaud
Publication details: 
9 August 1927. On letterhead of New Grove, Petworth, Sussex.
£50.00

Mason was, according to E. V. Lucas, ‘famous in both hemispheres’. His entry in the Oxford DNB ends with this assessment: ‘His books were best-sellers for fifty years, and the films made from them, notably The Drum (1938), for which he wrote his own scenario, and The Four Feathers (1939), were among the most popular in their time.’ 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. The valediction is in Mason's autograph: 'Yours sincerely / A. E. W. Mason'.

[Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts], poet and journalist, editor of the ‘Literary Souvenir’.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Wauchope', assistant to the Bond Street bookseller John Andrews

Author: 
Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts] (1797-1864), poet and journalist, editor of the ‘Literary Souvenir’
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. (BBTI has John Andrews with bookshop and circulating library at 167 New Bond Street from before 1831 to 1857.) 1p, 12mo. Addressed on reverse of second leaf for delivery by hand ('wait') to 'Mr Wauchope / at Mr Andrews' / 167. New Bond St.'. In good condition, lightly aged, with unobtrusive central spike hole (for business correspondence) through both leaves. Reads: 'Dear Sir / Be so good as send me the vouchers of the Scrivener for 1827 agreeably with your promise, is there particular occasion for them today'.

[The Lord Mayor of London plans a ‘cockney expedition’: William Thompson, Lord Mayor of London, 1828-9.] Autograph Letter Signed to Theodore Hook, describing the itinerary of the three-day ‘excursion to the Medway’.

Author: 
William Thompson (1793-1854), Lord Mayor of London, 1828-9, ironmaster, financier and Member of Parliament [Theodore Hook (1788-1841), writer and hoaxer; John Wilson Croker; Sir Henry Blackwood]
Publication details: 
‘Mansion House [London] / 20 July 1829’.
£90.00

An excellent slice of Georgian London history. See his entry, and Hook’s, in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Fifty-five lines of text. On bifolium. In fair condition, on discoloured and lightly-worn paper, with closed tear at foot of gutter. Also present is a typed transcript. The letter concerns a proposed three-day ‘excursion to the Medway’. Hook has engagements that will interefere, but Thompson undertakes to land him ‘safe at the Tower by seven o’clock on Saturday’.

[‘The Colossus of Roads’: Sir James Nicoll McAdam, Scottish builder and administrator of roads.] Autograph Signature cut from document.

Author: 
Sir James Nicoll McAdam (1786–1852), ‘The Colossus of Roads’, Scottish builder and administrator of roads
James Nicoll McAdam
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£45.00
James Nicoll McAdam

See his joint entry with his father John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836) in the Oxford DNB. On slip of paper roughly 11 x 6.5 cm, cut from document. In good condition, lightly aged, and laid down on part of brown paper leaf from an autograph album. (Part of an autograph by ‘[...] Perry’ is on the reverse.) Good large disciplined autograph ‘James Mc Adam’ (with the initial ‘J’ closely cropped at the head and left-hand side), beneath which is written, in a contemporary hand ‘The Colossus of Roads’. See Image.

[Princess Sophia of Gloucester, niece of King George III.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Sophia Matilda’) [to Sir Herbert Taylor, Private Secretary to George IV], regarding ‘the kind Legacy from the late Queen at Wirtemberg’.

Author: 
Princess Sophia of Gloucester [Sophia Matilda] (1773-1844), daughter of the Duke of Gloucester, niece of King George III [Lieut-Gen. Sir Herbert Taylor (1775-1839), Private Secretary to the Sovereign]
Publication details: 
‘Bagshot Park / Septr. 16th. [1829]’.
£90.00

See Taylor’s entry, and that of Princess Sophia’s brother William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1776-1834), in the Oxford DNB. Bagshot Park was the residence of her brother the duke (Silly Billy’), to whom she was very much attached. The siblings were not entirely accepted by the Royal Family due to the unequal nature of their parents’ marriage. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Taylor, who is not named but is clearly the recipient, has marked the letter as ‘Private’. Good firm signature ‘Sophia Matilda’.

[Victorian fraud: Philip Bliss, Registrar of the University of Oxford; William Okill, agent for Thomas Hudson, claimant to the Dukedom of Devonshire.] Unsigned Autograph notes by Bliss, on Autograph Letter Signed to him by Okill.

Author: 
Philip Bliss (1787-1857), Registrar of the University of Oxford and Principal of St Mary Hall, antiquary; William Okill of Liverpool, agent for Thomas Hudson, claimant to the Dukedom of Devonshire
Philip Bliss
Publication details: 
ONE (Okill's ALS): '2 Duke Street / Liverpool 30th. June 1848'. TWO (Bliss's Unsigned Autograph notes): Without date or place.
£200.00
Philip Bliss

This forgotten case of identity fraud predates the celebrated Titchborne case by more than a decade.

[J. S. Fletcher [Joseph Smith Fletcher], notable writer in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.] Autograph Letter Signed to D. Webster, bookseller, commenting on ‘two Chichester pamphlets’ and ordering an item from his catalogue.

Author: 
J. S. Fletcher [Joseph Smith Fletcher] (1863-1935), prolific author, a notable writer in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction [D. Webster, bookseller]
Publication details: 
24 October 1923; on embossed letterhead: Hambrook, Emsworth, Hants.
£120.00

In a letter to ‘John O’London’s’ in 1921, Fletcher boasted of having ‘written (and published) seventy-three novels, twelve volumes of collected short stories, and fifteen historical and topographical works, the last-named mostly of considerable length’. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Annotated by recipient with date of response. Addressed to ‘Mr D. Webster.’ and signed ‘J. S. Fletcher.’ He thanks him for ‘the two Chichester pamphlets duly to hand’, noting that one was ‘The Accompt Cleared’ by Roger L’Estrange.

[Dame Isobel Baillie, Scottish soprano and teacher at the Royal College of Music.] Typed Letter Signed to James Butt, recommending ‘a young New Zealand girl with a sweet voice’ (Kiri Te Kanawa?) for ‘sacred work’.

Author: 
Dame Isobel Baillie [née Isabella Douglas Baillie] (1895-1983), Scottish soprano and teacher at the Royal College of Music and elsewhere [James Butt; Kiri Te Kanawa?]
Publication details: 
17 January 1968; on letterhead of 3 Langford Close, London, NW8.
£60.00

1p, 12mo. On blue-grey paper with matching stamped, postmarked envelope with typed address to ‘Mr. James Butt / 23 Hartop Rd. / St. Marychurch / TORQUAY’. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Good large signature: ‘Isobel Baillie’. In response to his enquiry, she reports that she has ‘several good pupils who could make satisfactory Sacred Records’, but she would like him to hear them first.

[C. B. Oldman [Cecil Bernard Oldman], bibliographer and musicologist, Principal Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum.] Autograph Letter Signed to the music bookseller Leonard Hyman, regarding his promotion and Hyman’s latest catalogue.

Author: 
C. B. Oldman [Cecil Bernard Oldman] (1894-1969), bibliographer and musicologist, Principal Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum from 1948 to 1959 [Leonard Hyman, music bookseller]
Publication details: 
30 December 1947; on letterhead of 3 Cromwell Road, Kensington, S.W.7 [London].
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Dear Hyman’ and signed ‘C. B. Oldman.’ He begins by thanking him for his ‘kind congratulations’ (on his promotion to at the British Museum, following the retirement of Sir Henry Thomas): ‘I have been laid up with a bad cold over Christmas otherwise I should have written before’. Hyman’s latest catalogue interested him very much, and he hopes that ‘the fact that I don’t buy much nowadays will not deter you from sending me future issues.

[Admiral Sir Phipps Hornby, hero of the Battle of Lissa, Lord of the Admiralty.] Autograph Letter Signed Phipps Hornby, as Superintendent of the Victualling Yard, Plymouth, discussing what to do with the butter and cheese for 'the Ordinary'.

Author: 
Admiral Sir Phipps Hornby (1785-1867), senior Royal Navy officer, hero of the Battle of Lissa, 1811, Lord of the Admiralty, Superintendent of the Naval Hospital and Victualling Yard, Plymouth
Publication details: 
‘Navl Hospl [Naval Hospital, Plymouth] / June 21st. [1834]’.
£90.00

See his entry, and that of his son, in the Oxford DNB. Hornby served as Superintendent of the Royal Naval Hospital and Victualling Yard at Plymouth between 1832 and 1838. This item is 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium with thin mourning border. Fifty lines, neatly and closely written. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight damage and a few closed tears around gutter. Folded for postage. Signed ‘Phipps Hornby’, and with recipient (‘My dear Sir’) unnamed. Pencil note giving note by recipient at head of first page, giving prices for butter and cheese ‘for the Year 1834’.

[Conan Doyle; Oscar Slater] Autograph Sentiment and signature Oscar Slater, with image seemingly extracted from a newspaper.

Author: 
Oscar Slater, victim of miscarriage of justice, supported by Conan Doyle among others.
Oscar Slater
Publication details: 
Dated '23/4.27' ("1927 saw the publication of The Truth about Oscar Slater by William Park."
£450.00
Oscar Slater

Sentiment Thanks for your good wishes | Sincerely yours | Oscar Slater | 23/4.27. Image (= portrait) appears to be a drawing extracted from a newspaper or periodical. Backing paper, 8 x 11.5, portrait and text (slightly overflowing) on laid down pink paper, c.9.5 x 6cm. SEE IMAGE. Note: a. Oscar Joseph Slater (8 January 1872 – 31 January 1948) was the victim of a notorious miscarriage of justice in Scotland.

[ Erasmus Middleton, Evangelical clergyman. ] Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs Squire of Wragby full of pious sentiment.

Author: 
Erasmus Middleton (1739-1805), Evangelical Church of England clergyman and editor
Publication details: 
'B. Friars [ Blackfriars ], London, April 27th. 1785.'
£280.00

3pp., folio. Bifolium. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, 'To | Mrs. Squire, | Wragby, | near Lincoln.' In fair condition, aged and worn, with Middleton's seal cut away from the second leaf (without any loss to text) and a number of closed tears along creases. Seventy lines of neatly-written text. A letter filled with pious sentiment, beginning: 'Mr. Squire favored us To-day with a Call, and it gave us a peculiar Pleasure to see that he is so well recovered from that Fit of Illness in which my Brother & I saw him, notwithstanding the uncommonly severe Winter we have since had.

[ Peter de Rome, 'Grandfather of Gay Porn'. ] Eight Letters (five in Autograph, three Typed), seven of them signed ('Peter.' and 'P.') to costume designer Ivan Alderman.

Author: 
Peter de Rome (1924-2014), homosexual filmmaker, called 'Grandfather of Gay Porn' [ Ivan Alderman (d.2003), costume designer ]
Publication details: 
Four from 1986-1987, on letterheads of the Paramount Pictures Corporation, New York. The others from New York, 1997-1998, the last two with his monogram letterhead.
£450.00

The eight letters total 10pp., 4to., of which 3pp. are typed and 7pp. in autograph. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. De Rome's reputation was enlarged towards the end of his life, with the British Film Institute mounting a thrusting retrospective season, with an accompanying DVD and a penetrating documentary by David McGillivray, 'Peter de Rome: The Grandfather of Gay Porn' (2007). For more information on Alderman, who acted in de Rome's films 'Scopo' (1966) and 'The Second Coming' (1970), and who had been J. R.

[Sir Frederick Joseph Bramwell, mechanical engineer.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr Lanyon’

Author: 
Sir Frederick Joseph Bramwell (1818-1903), mechanical engineer, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, associated with the Stockton and Darlington Railway
Publication details: 
8 April 1888. On letterhead of 1A Hyde Park Gate, S.W. [London]
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with small strip of discoloration at head of first page and traces of previous mount on discoloured blank reverse of second leaf. He thanks Lanyon for his ‘renewed kindness’ durimg his ‘recent visit to Belfast’, and extends an invitation to ‘a party of a few friends we are about to have on the 5th of May’. With respect to Lanyon’s visit, ‘and to the earlier call I hope you will make on my wife (who is generally not in from her drive till 5.0)’, he makes him a street plan (on lower part of second page).

[Fitzroy Kelly; attempted murder is as bad as murder] {Part of?] Autograph Letter OR Note Signed with initials (probably a Postscript?) 'FK [FitzRoy Kelly]', later Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, to an unknown correspondent defining murder.

Author: 
Sir Fitzroy Edward Kelly (1796-1880), Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, judge and Conservative politician [Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd (1795-1854), writer, judge and politician]
Publication details: 
No place or date. See Image.
£150.00

One page, 8vo, strip on left edge from origins in an album(?), fair condition, completely legible if hasty. Text: I will let you off now - but you had better let me ask Gunning whether he has further occasion for you.| I think too that an attempt to murder is as bad as murder - But inasmuch as punishment is not to revenge [underlined] but to deter [underlined]; as long as murder is punishable with deat you have all the security that you can have against attempts to murder. | JK.

[Mark Pattison, scholar (said to have been the original of George Eliot's 'Edward Casaubon')] Signed Autograph Draft of 'Notice', as Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, 'by order of a College meeting', regarding forfeiture of scholarships.

Author: 
Mark Pattison (1813-1884), scholar, Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, reputed to be the most learned man in England, and said to be the original of ‘Edward Casaubon’ in George Eliot’s 'Middlemarch'
Mark Pattison
Publication details: 
4 June 1874; on letterhead of Lincoln College, Oxford.
£60.00
Mark Pattison

See his entry in the Oxford DNB (‘He had the reputation of being the most learned man in England’). 1p, 16mo. On aged, worn and discoloured paper, with minor damage to the four corners (at bottom-left affecting the date) from previous mounting. Reads: ‘Notice / Any Scholar, elected for classics, who does not obtain at least a Second Class in classical Moderations, will forfeit his Scholarship. / by order of / a College meeting / Mark Pattison / Rector’. Date ‘4 June 1874.’ at bottom left.

[Frederick, Duke of York, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army and George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, First Lord of the Admiralty.] Autograph Letter Signed requesting a Royal Navy post for a 'young man', with autograph draft of Spencer's reply.

Author: 
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827), second son of George III, Commander-in-Chief of British Army during Napoleonic Wars; George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834)]
Publication details: 
ONE (Frederick's ALS): 'York House [London] February 6th 1798'. TWO (Spencer's Signed Autograph Draft of his Reply): 'Adm[iralt]y. [London] 6 Feb: 1798.'
£180.00

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. Each of the two letters is 1p, 4to, with the Prince’s letter on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, and the Earl’s signed autograph copy of his reply on the recto of the second leaf of the same bifolium. Both leaves are discoloured and damaged, with wear and loss from infestation, but the two signatures and the area around them are good and clear. The document has been folded twice for postage. Strip of white tape along gutter of blank reverse of second leaf from mount. ONE (Frederick’s ALS): Fifteen lines.

[Maharajadhiraj Bahadur Sir Bijay Chand Mahtab, ruler of the Burdwan Raj, Bengal.] Typed Letter Signed to Eyre Chatterton, Bishop of Nagpur, regarding a meeting at the Mansion House in London 'on behalf of the Anglo-Indian Schools in India'.

Author: 
Maharajadhiraj Bahadur Sir Bijay Chand Mahtab (1881-1941), ruler of Burdwan Raj, Bengal (present-day West Bengal, India) from 1887 to his death [Eyre Chatterton (1863-1950), Bishop of Nagpur]
Publication details: 
1 November 1937; from Grosvenor House, Park Lane, on his letterhead as ‘Maharajadhiraj Bahadur of Burdwan’.
£90.00

1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘The Right Rev. Eyre Chatterton, D.D., / President, Indian Church Aid Association, / Westminster Chambers, / 5, Victoria Street, S.W.1.’ (‘My dear Bishop Chatterton’) and signed ‘Burdwan’. He is ‘indeed very interested to know’ that Chatterton is holding a meeting, 'at the Lord Mayor's invitation', at the Mansion House in London, ‘on behalf of the Anglo-Indian Schools in India, which are controlled by the Indian Church Aid Association’.

[Lord Longford [General William Lygon Pakenham, 4th Earl of Longford]. Autograph Signature, as Under-Secretary of State for War, to document in secretarial hand, regarding the Army Chaplains' Bill.

Author: 
Lord Longford [General William Lygon Pakenham (1819-1887), 4th Earl of Longford], Anglo-Irish soldier and Conservative politician, Under-Secretary of State for War [Army Chaplain's Bill]
Lord Longford
Publication details: 
'War Office [Whitehall] 29 June 1868'. On embossed letterhead of the War Office [Whitehall].
£80.00
Lord Longford

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, foolscap 8vo, on recto of first leaf of bifolium. Docketted in customary style, lengthwise on reverse of second leaf: ‘Earl of Longford / War Office 29 June 68 / Army Chaplain’s Bill’. Addressed to ‘John Graham Esq / &c &c / 3 Westminster Chambers’. Small tight signature 'Longford', good and uncrowded, on creased and worn paper. Folded into packet. The rest of the document is written hurriedly in the under-secretary’s hand.

[Frederick William Robertson, celebrated Victorian preacher and theologian, admired by Dickens.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Miss Smith’, playfully offering to assist her in her ‘atheistical’ and her sister in her’demonological investigations’.

Author: 
Frederick William Robertson (1816-1853), Anglican preacher and theologian, Oxford friend of Ruskin, admired by Dickens, patronized by Lord Shaftesbury and the Marquis of Lansdowne
Publication details: 
8 November [no year]; 60 Montpellier Road [Brighton].
£60.00

An amusing and entertaining letter from a man destined for ‘une triste vie et une triste ministère’ (see his entry in the Oxford DNB). 3pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Thirty-seven lines of text, neatly and closely written. In fair condition, worn and grubby. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘Fred: W: Robertson’. Begins: ‘My dear Miss Smith / Could you but see the piles of books & papers that are as yet only partially disinterred from their temporary coffins you would conceive my dismay and despair at your question. I will become a disciple of Comte to please you.

[G. J. Romanes; Darwin; Canadian-born evolutionary biologist, friend and disciple of Charles Darwin.] Part of Autograph Draft of biographical entry on himself, with deleted passage.

Author: 
G. J. Romanes [George John Romanes] (1848-1894), evolutionary biologist, born in Canada, friend and disciple of Charles Darwin
G. J. Romanes
Publication details: 
No date, but from internal evidence written in 1893. No place.
£220.00
G. J. Romanes

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is clearly part of a draft of an intended biographical entry, penned by Romanes himself in his close and distinctive hand. On one side of a cm piece of laid paper with the reverse blank. Reads: ‘His extensive treatise entitled “Darwin and after Darwin,” which is now being published in successive volumes, is an outgrowth of the lectures delivered in both capacities.

[Edward Christian, Cambridge law professor, and Philip Manington, Governor of Prince of Wales' Islad (Penang).] Parts of Signed Autograph Documents by the two men, regarding a case of 'combination and confederacy.

Author: 
Edward Christian (1758-1823), Cambridge law professor, elder brother of Fletcher Christian of the Mutiny on the Bounty; Philip Mannington (d.1806), Governor of Prince of Wales' Island (Penang)
Christian
Publication details: 
No date or place. [Late eighteenth century England.]
£250.00
Christian

See Christian's entry in the Oxford DNB. (He was the newly-created Downing Professor of the Laws of England at Cambridge from 1788 to his death.) 1p, landscape 8vo. On one half of a 4to leaf that has been torn in two. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of tape at the right-hand edge, and two punch holes at the left-hand edge of Manington's side. ONE (Christian): Conclusion of autograph draft legal document, numbered '(9)' and signed at bottom left 'Ed. Christian'. With several deletions. Relates to 'Jno Hutchings & Son', who deny 'Combin[ation] & Confederacy &c'.

[Dean Stanley’s ‘execrable handwriting’.] Autograph Letter Signed from Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster, to 'My dear Dictionary ' [i.e. Sir William Smith, editor of the Quarterly Review and lexicographer], about a friend of Duckworth's.

Author: 
Dean Stanley [Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-1881), Dean of Westminster, theologian [Sir William Smith (1813-1893), classical and biblical scholar and lexicographer, editor of the Quarterly Review]
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£45.00

See the entries for Stanley and Smith in the Oxford DNB, the former drawing attention to Stanley’s ‘execrable handwriting’. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Nineteen lines of text. Addressed to ‘My dear “Dictionary” ’, and signed ‘A P Stanley’, but with much of what comes in between only deciperable with effort: ‘[...] salutation [...] addressing [...] Could you do anything for the enclosed? I know nothing beyond what the writer says of himself - & Duckworth’s recommendation of him which I also enclose.

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