OF

See his entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘Following Raglan's instructions, he wrote out the order which led to the fateful charge of the light brigade on 25 October 1854, but unfortunately in the heat of battle kept no duplicate. Subsequently, he had to request a copy from Lieutenant-General Lord Lucan, the cavalry division's commander, to whom the order was addressed and who strongly resented implications that he was at fault. In writing and in person Airey attempted to placate Lucan, reputedly arguing that “it is nothing to Chillianwallah”’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. See David Owen, who was minister for the navy when Begg was appointed Admiral of the Fleet in 1968, commented on his death that Begg was 'an Admiral with salt both in his ears and his tongue', who 'did not suffer fools gladly' (The Independent, 15 July 1995). 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘Dear Mr Dean. / I have signed the photograph as you asked.

A prescient note regarding his projected history of the Glorious Revolution, in which Mackintosh expresses the desire to ‘leave the ground somewhat more clear to a successor of greater talents’. And this is indeed what he did: his history was not published during his lifetime, but his voluminous notes proved invaluable to Thomas Babington Macaulay in writing his great history. See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp., 12mo. Twenty-four lines of text. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper, with short closed tear to one edge. Signed ‘James Mackintosh’.

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. On 11 x 6 cm slip of paper, laid down on thicker paper cut from album. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ‘9th Dececmr. 1715 / Receit in full / Edw Northey’. See image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is the Harrow housemaster George Townsend Warner (1865-1916), father of the novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner, referred to as ‘Townsend Warner / Historian’ in a pencil note to this letter. Signed ‘Ian Hamilton’. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with a few pin holes from attachment of a no-longer-present enclosure. Folded twice. Possibly concerning shooting practice for the Harrow army cadets.

An uncommon signature. During the 1794 invasion of Corsica, D’Aubant took over as Lord Hood’s second-in-command after Hood forced Major-General David Dundas to resign, but proved even more cautious, to the frustration of Nelson and others. 1p, landscape 8vo. Laid down on part of leaf from autograph album, captioned in Victorian hand, ‘General D’Aubant’. On discoloured paper, with deeper discoloration from glue from mount. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Genl D’Aubant presents his compliments to Mr Brown, and will call upon him at 12. next Thursday 8th July / Devonshe. place.’ See image.

The present item is producer Hugh Burnett's own copy, from his papers, of the transcript of John Freeman's interview with Thomson, broadcast in the groundbreaking BBC series 'Face to Face' on 4 February 1962. This single-spaced typed transcript was produced for inclusion in Burnett's book 'Face to Face / Edited and introduced by Hugh Burnett' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1964), and is marked up with printing instructions in pencil and red ink, with a few proof corrections in green ink. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Emphasizing Thomson’s unthreatening ordinariness.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Mill had died on 8 May, and in his 2018 biography, Timothy Larsen gives an account of the controversy over the efforts to have buried in Westminister Abbey. (In any event by his own desire Helen Taylor had her husband buried at Avignon.) 2pp, 12mo. With thin mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded three times.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight damage to one corner from removal from mount. Folded four times. Signed ‘Carnarvon’ and addressed to ‘E. Lovell Esr.’ If he possibly can he will ‘attend on the Wednesday’, but he doubts whether his ‘other business’ will allow this. ‘Wednesday is a less convenient day than Tuesday to me, but I sd. be very glad to attend if possible.’

An interesting item from a medical point of view, with a well-informed patient describing and discussing his condition, symptoms and treatment options. Three years after the writing of this letter the appropriately-named Boddy, who is addressed here as ‘W. Barnard Boddy Esqr / 3. Saville Row. Walworth’, published ‘Diet and Cholera’ (London, 1848). 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Fifty-five lines of closely-written text. The signature is large and shaky, and the use of an amanuensis is understandable in the light of the content of the letter.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Between 1816 and 1819 Hope held the post of Major General Commanding in North Britain (i.e. Commander-in-Chief in Scotland). On 9.5 x 4 cm slip of wove paper, presumably the valediction cut from a letter. In good condition, lightly aged, with the reverse bearing a thin strip of grey paper from mount along thin strip at head. Reads: ‘John Hope / M. Genl. Commdg / in N. B.’ See image.

20 x 25 cm colour print. Suitable for framing. In good condition, with a few light dinks. Head and shoulders shot of Ford in jacket and tie, standing in front of an American flag, arms folded and with his trademark toothy smile. Large signature ‘Gerald R. Ford’ on a white stripe of the flag, downwards and slightly over Ford’s right shoulder. It was Lyndon Johnson who said of the subject of this photograph: ‘Jerry Ford is so dumb he can’t fart and chew gum at the same time’ (the word ‘fart’ being altered by the press to ‘walk’). See image.

Two charming and moving letters, each sent on a significant occasion: the first Richmond’s resignation from the editorship of the TLS in 1937, and the second his ninetieth birthday in 1961; and with the latter containing interesting reminiscences of the early years of the TLS. See his appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, and both addressed to ‘Dear Orlo’. ONE: 3 January [‘1937’, the year added by Williams]. Signed ‘Bruce L. Richmond.’ 2pp, landscape 12mo. Folded twice.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is the publisher Henry Blackett (1825-1871) of the leading London firm Hurst & Blackett, and the meeting was evidently to discuss terms, possibly for Wiseman’s ‘Recollections of the Last Four Popes’, which the firm published in 1859. 1p, 8vo. Laid down on another leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged, on thin paper, and with discoloration from the glue used in laying the item down. Small red armorial letterhead.

See Wallas’s entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Arthur George Liddon Rogers (1864-1944), son and editor of the economist Thorold Rogers [James Edwin Thorold Rogers] (1823-1890), for information regarding whom see his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The conclusion of the letter only. Reads: ‘[...] extracts enclosed - / Edgeworth says he will look out for materials for you. / Sincerely / Graham Wallas / 32 Great Ormond St / W. C. / May 10 -’.

William and Mary owes its survival to Ewell: he rebuilt it from ruins after the American Civil War, and every morning during several years of closure he is said to have rung the assembly bell to keep the memory of the college fresh. The present item is 1p, landscape 8vo. It is in poor condition, on brittle high-acidity paper, with significant chipping to all the edges except the bottom one, which has resulted in the loss of a few letters of text, and to the engraved illustration of the college in the letterhead. The letter reads: ‘Mr. Walter G.

Adams was the author of more than one hundred books. He was criticised by Louisa May Alcott for his use of slang and depiction of ‘low’ characters such as bootblacks, elements which make him sound like a proto-Mark Twain, and should attract renewed attention today. Without date or place. On 4.5 x 9.5 cm slip of wove paper. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to blank reverse.

A splendidly-forthright missive on a subject close to Oakeley's heart. See both men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. The two were near-contemporaries at Rugby School, and Stamer, at the time of writing a Prebendary at Lichfield, would go on to become the Bishop of Shrewsbury. 8pp, 12mo. On two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged, with the two bifoliums folded twice and unobtrusively attached with tape. From the context it appears that Oakeley has been invited through Stamer to give a paper on church music to the Church Congress.

See Oman’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Each letter 1p, 12mo. Each folded once. All three in good condition, lightly aged. The correspondence concerns Harlow’s proposal, according to the letter of 2 June 1937, ‘that All Souls College should present to the Rhodes House Library the comparatively few yearly numbers of the Cape Parliamentary proceedings 1875-1910 which are not already in either the Bodleian or the Rhodes House shelves - keeping for the College the residuence, a broken set of about 200 volumes’.

See the entries for Pollock, Peel and Baring in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘My dear Baring’. He begins by thanking him for his ‘introductions - & the kindness of your letter that enclosed them’.

On 11.5 x 7.5 cm leaf, with rounded outer edges, extracted from an autograph album. In good condition, lightly aged. Written at the head of the recto, the rest of the leaf being blank: ‘Sarah D Roosevelt - (Mrs James Roosevelt, Sen.) / mother of President Franklin D. Roosevelt / July 11th. 1934’. See image.

1p, 4to. On somewhat worn and aged paper, cropped at head, and with traces of tape from mount to inner edge. Folded three times. Bold signature: ‘Thorez’. Having been informed of Hopkins’ request by the ‘secrétariat de notre Parti’, he will be very willing to grant him an interview, but asks if he can see the text of the questions in advance.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, on the first leaf of a bifolium, the blank second of which carries traces of mount. Folded twice. Begins: ‘My dear FitzGerald / I thank you very much for your obliging note - and I rejoice greatly that you have obtained for Capt Macgregor this mark of favor and distinction. India has no better soldier, nor has any political agent, placed in trying circumstances, shewn a better nerve or a sounder discretion’. FitzGerald’s ‘just notice of him’ will be ‘well appreciated’ by others.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘During his periods of ‘madness’, George III imagined that he was married to Lady Pembroke. Apparently, 'his infatuation went back to the days when he was only seventeen and she, of the same age, was Elizabeth Spencer'. The king went so far as to make 'her handsome offers if she would be his mistress.’ [...] In 1804 the king suffered another attack of dementia and again announced his desire for Lady Pembroke. This situation aroused some amusement among younger courtiers since she was by this time almost seventy years old.” 1p, 12mo.

Information regarding this major figure in British history is not far to seek. On 11.5 x 5.5 cm panel cut from front of envelope. In fair condition, with a few traces of glue at centre and short closed tear to right-hand edge; none of this anywhere near the signature. The letter is addressed in another hand: ‘The Solicitor General / Hackwood Park / Basingstoke’, with last word deleted. Signed in the customary manner at bottom left: ‘W E Gladstone’. Basingstoke postmark in blue, and cropped frank in red. See image.

Each of the two items attributed to Wright in pencil note on reverse. Both in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: On 11 x 17.5 cm piece of paper. At head: ‘Book Plate of Morrall A[?] vox stellarum vox Dei’. At foot: ‘M. J. Morrall’. (Unlikely to be the Brooklyn architect of this name active at this time.) Up left-hand margin: ‘Mr. Edward Morrall / Mayor 1885-6’. Down right-hand margin: ‘Presented to Mr Edward Morrall Quay House Bridgnorth’. Full achievement, from crest to motto, with colours indicated. TWO: On back of 9 x 11 cm printed ‘at Home’ card.

For information about this brave and gallant man, who offered himself to be hanged in place of his fellow officers during the Nore Mutiny, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The presence of these four items together may indicate a Victorian autograph dealer as the source, or perhaps a family member wishing to distribute keepsakes. Some with tantalizing fragments of surviving text. All four in good condition, some with fold lines. ONE: 14.5 x 6.5 cm. On one side: ‘[...] Ever your truly obliged and / Affectionate Friend / Edward O’Bryen’.

A nice slice of London ephemera. The three items are in good condition, lightly aged. They were clearly all sent together. ONE: ALS from Westley (‘W. Westley | Hon. Sec.’) to unnamed recipient. 2pp, 12mo. In answer to an application he is sending ‘one New Programme showing Waters &c’, pointing out that not all are ‘Trout Waters’, and that ‘about 30% of the Members only take part in competitions’. He explains that they have had good (he mistakenly writes ‘few’) membership over the previous two years, ‘but at the present time there are a few members’. TWO: Printed ‘C.L.P.S.

See the entries for Beresford and Temple in the Oxford DNB (in an unfortunate omission, Ramsay - ‘The King of Kumaon’ - is not represented in that work). 3pp, 12mo. Ruckled, with second leaf laid down on a piece of card, and damage along the gutter repaired with archival tape. Twenty-nine lines of text. Signed ‘Charles Beresford’. He has received ‘a long explanatory letter from General Sir Henry Ramsey [sic] containing the explanation of a grievance by which he has lost £300 a year since 1884.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 20 x 25 cm lithograph in pink, white and black. In good condition, lightly aged. An attractive item, suitable for framing. Head and shoulders portrait of a dapper bespectacled Hall, with parted greased hair, in white tie, staring at the viewer. Across his shirt, Hall has written in green ink ‘Best Wishes / Henry Hall’. Captioned at bottom left: ‘HENRY HALL / DIRECTOR, B.B.C. DANCE ORCHESTRA’; and at bottom right: ‘Presented with “Radio Pictorial,” / No. 1, January 19, 1934’. See image.