OF

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. In a letter sadly lacking in spoonerisms, Spooner writes that he is sending the unnamed recipient 'a form of Entrance for our Scholarships', advising him 'to come up as early in the day as possible', as the examination is held in term time, and 'I fear you may have some difficulty in finding lodgings'. He continues, regarding lodgings: 'If we can hear of any we can recommend notice of they will be sent to the Porter's Lodge, and you should make enquiries there'.

See Rees's entry in the Welsh Dictionary of Biography. Printed in red and black on one side of a 12mo leaf. Aged and creased, with loss at head and a couple of short closed tears at edges. Gives price and format, with nine appreciative quotations from newspaper reviews, the first from 'Western Mail' and last from 'A Friend'. At foot of the page, crossed out in pencil: 'Printed and Published by | W. SPURRELL & SON, CARMARTHEN.' To the right of the author's name, in ink, and presumably in his hand: 'Sent to the author', and to the left, 'Few copies left.'

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount unobtrusively adhering at head of reverse. Folded twice. The salutation is to 'My dear Barker', and the name of the recipient is given at the foot of the first page as 'W. B. Barker Esqe'. He thanks him for his 'kind, but too complimentary note'. He is afraid that Barker's friend, who has clearly requested Layard's autograph, 'sets too much value upon a specimen of such detestable handwriting', but in this matter, 'as in anything else', he will be happy to oblige Barker.

The earldom of Glengall was created in 1816 for Lord Cahir who died three years later; the second and last earl held the title from 1819 to his death in 1858. Another of the signatories, Dr Richard Burgess, was active in Clonmell in the Regency period. On one side of 24 x 19 cm piece of watermarked laid paper. Clearly the left hand half (only) of a 24 x 38 cm petition addressed 'To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty'. In fair condition, aged and worn, with closed tears and chipping along one edge, and one signature cut away, leaving only the acronym 'D.

2pp, folio. On bifolium endorsed on reverse of second leaf. In fair condition, lightly creased and aged. Three folds. Embossed with five pound tax stamp at head. Printed in copperplate, with the details of the appointee 'John Amhust Philpott of Cranbrook in the County of Kent, Gentleman' filled-in in manuscript. Circular stamp of the Court of Justice at end of document with two signatures: 'Entd. | H. R. W.' and 'Entered 14th June 1876 | E W Williamson | Deputy Registrar of Solicitors'.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads: 'Dear Mr Blacket | I should wish to know in the course of the day how many pages of print are in the first volume.' Despite the spelling of the name, the recipient is presumably either Henry Blackett (1825-1871) of the publishers Hurst and Blackett, or one of the four of his sons to become publishers. There is no record of a book by Vámbéry being published by a Blacket or Blackett, but he may be referring to an essay or article published in a periodical or compilation, or an anonymous or pseudonymous work.

Although ostensibly neutral, Denmark participated was participating in the Continental Blockade, and under heavy pressure from the French and their Russian allies to pledge its fleet to Napoleon. As a consequence a Royal Navy fleet, under Vice-Admiral James Saumarez, bombarded the Copenhagen for a period of days in August and September 1807. The controversial action succeeded in its aims: the Dano-Swedish fleet was seized, and the sea lanes of the Baltic and North Sea were secured for the use of the British merchant fleet.

1p, 8vo. Aged and worn, with closed tears, chipping and creasing. Several folds. The full heading reads: 'Case on Mr. Chrisr. Blacketts Will & Mr. Ords Opinion | See Copy of Will'. Endorsed on reverse: '1750 June 13th - | Copy | Mr. Ords Opinion on Mr. Blacketts Will'. Twenty-eight lines of neatly-written text, arranged as two queries, each with its answer. Contains a couple of corrections by Ord. The case concerns the various claims on a freehold of 'Mrs. Eliz: Smart and Mrs. Martha Maria Bellassyse' and 'Mrs. Blackett'. The various families in the case hailed from the north-east of England.

In 1824 Bullock held the public offices of Island Storekeeper and Public Messenger. He was also Secretary of the Island and Notary Public. On one side of a 32 x 20 cm piece of laid paper, with Whatman watermark dated 1817. In good condition, lightly aged, with parts of the edges cut down. Seal under paper at bottom left. In a secretarial hand, with Bullock only supplying the date and his signature 'W Bullock | Not Pub'.

For Lady Craven's colourful life see her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Folded four times. Begins: 'Mr. Thomas, I will thank you to send my Carriage by a Western Waggon, immediately here - directed to Hr. S. Highness The Margravine of Anspach Brandenburg house, near Hammersmith, and I hope as I have waited so long for it that it will be a well seasond [sic] Carriage - & reasonable in Price, which if it is, and finish'd to my Satisfaction, you may depend ont that it will not be the last by many which you will make'.

Manuscripts in a contemporary hand of two poems which won the University of Oxford Chancellor's Prize for Latin Verse, neither of them published. In 1789, Canning, as a Christ Church undergraduate, won the prize for the second of the two, 'Iter ad Meccam Religionis causa susceptum'; and in 1792 John Richardson, 'Scholar of University', won it for the first of the two, 'Maria Scotorum Regina'. The manuscript of the two poems totals 29pp, 8vo. The pages are written lengthwise on fifteen of the twenty leaves of a stitched booklet of laid paper with Britannia watermark.

1p, 4to. Bifolium endorsed on reverse of second leaf: 'Ansd. 30th. | Transfg. an Address of Condolence from the County of Fife'. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The subject of the address is the Prince Regent's mother Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), and is addressed to him rather than her husband George III as the king is incapacitated. Morton served as Queen Charlotte's Chamberlain between 1792 and her death in 1818.

3pp, 8vo. On three leaves with hole in one corner where they were attached with stud. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The letter is clearly a draft of a public letter to be signed by a number of eminent individuals, and was presumably composed by Bryce himself. No date or place, simply headed: 'To the Chairman of | The Government Distress Committee.' It begins: 'Sir, | We whose names are appended hereto view with concern the methods that seem about to be adopted for the relief of the distress caused by the war.

2pp, folio. In fair condition, aged, worn and with chipping to extremities. Several folds. Begins: 'My Lord, | I hae the honor of transmitting the following Addresses of Condolence to Her Majesty the Queen, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and His Serene Highness the Prince Leopold of Sax Cobourgh'. A list of six addresses follows, variously sent to different members of the royal family from noblemen, gentlemen, clergy, freeholders, burgesses, inhabitants. sheriffs, aldermen, of the county of Wexford, and cities of Armagh and Limerick.

2pp, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded several times. Endorsed on reverse of second leaf: 'Transmitting two Addresses of Condolence from the Co: of Renfrew - and Paisley -'. Reads: 'My Lord | I am directed by a Meeting of The Noblemen, Gentlemen, Justices of Peace, & Commisioners of Supply of The County of Renfrew, Held at Renfrew on the 27th.

According to Duncan's entry in the Oxford DNB, 'In 1809 he founded the Caledonian Horticultural Society, and in later years he was actively occupied in promoting the establishment of a public experimental garden.' 2pp, 4to. In good condition, on aged paper, creased. The recipient is not named, and the letter begins: 'Although I have already often interrupted important business of State, yet I trust you will once more, forgive an Octogenarian, when he can plead, that his principal temptation, to transgression, is an earnest desire to promote the publick good -'.

For Jessel's judicial high standing see his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. In envelope with Penny Red and postmarks, and 'LADHAM HOUSE, | GOLDHURST' printed on the flap, addressed by Jessel to 'E. A. Scott Esq | Schoolfield | Rugby | Warwickshire'. The envelope is signed 'G. Jessel' at bottom left of cover, and the letter concludes with the same signature. He is 'glad to be able now to withdraw the notice' he gave Scott about his son Charles 'leaving Rugby'.

Arthur Sidgwick's long entry in the Oxford DNB concludes with the following assessment: 'a university liberal of rare consistency and stamina: a progressive bridging Victorian and Edwardian generations, and pre-eminent among the male dons who made a place for women's higher education in Oxford'. At the time of the present letter he was nearing the end of a 'brilliant' undergraduate career at Cambridge, with the winning of many prizes: 'In 1863 he was second in the first class of the classical tripos and fourteenth senior optime in mathematics, and was also president of the union.

Four items, all in good condition, lightly aged, the three letters with stubs and labels used in mounting in an album. In addition to the pleasant picture they paint of the court gathered around the blind king in the last year of his kingdom's existence (with an interesting reference to the new palace he had built his wife at Marienburg), the three letters indicate a surprisingly cordial state in nineteenth-century Anglo-German relations.

5.5 x 10 cm piece of paper, cut from the front of an envelope. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Immediate | The | Lord Archbishop of Canterbury | W Gladstone'. The signature is in the customary place, in the bottom left-hand corner.

On 12mo leaf, intended to be inserted in a book. In good condition lightly aged and worn. Centred on the page the inscription reads: 'With the author's kind remembrances. | W W Hunter. | Oaken Holt. | 1895.' The reverse is blank.

An interesting item in the field of Victorian Egyptology. The subject is what Owen describes here as 'one of the oldest Statues of an Egyptian Notable in the British Museum'. Its current Museum Number is EA103, and it has been in the Museum since 1835, but the details of its acquisition are unclear. In his translation Birch calls the sitter 'the Royal Scribe, Amenhelp', but the current BM description begins: 'Scribal statue of Amenhotep son of Hapu: of black grano-diorite. Hieroglyphic texts are inscribed on the papyrus unrolled on his lap and on the statue plinth.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Tipped-in onto a piece of paper cut from an album owned by the Cullum baronets of Hardwick House, with whom - other papers reveal - Mackinnon was associated, possibly as land agent. The letter, in Peabody's shaky hand, reads: 'Mr Peabody presents his Compliments to Mr Mackinon [sic] and regrets that owing to an attack of gout he was unable to avail himself of Mr: Mackinnon's [sic] kind invitation for the evening of the 29th. Ulto. - - Mr Peabody returns to Scotland in a few days to be absent for the season.

Title-page: 'The Friars in England. | An Essay | by | Elizabeth E. Smith, B.A. | Birmingham – 1908.' Duplicated typescript, printed on versos only. [1] + x + [1] + 209pp, 4to. With hand-drawn plans on two leaves at rear (the first, 'Site of the Blackfriars of Leicester'; the second, 'Carmelite Friary at Hulne' and 'Dominican Friary at Norwich'. In half binding of black leather spine and corners, with purple cloth boards, title in gilt on front cover, floral printed endpapers. Tightly copy, in good condition, on lightly aged paper, in lightly worn binding with slight discoloration to cloth.

Seven items from the Christopher Fry papers, relating to the film 'A Queen Is Crowned', which was a British box office hit in coronation year, and was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. At the time of writing Fry was at the height of his popularity: around this time he had four plays running in the West End at once.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight nick at gutter of bifolium. Addressed 'To | Revd G Bainton.' Reads: 'Dear Sir | You are quite at liberty to publish my letter. - If it finds its way into the papers, I should be obliged if you would kindly forward me a copy. | Ever yours truly | Chas Mackay'.

The letter announces the transfer to Berlin of 'Monsieur de Wagner', London Chargé d'Affaires of the the Kingdom of Württemberg, resident at 42 Alpha Place, Regent's Park. The recipient Sir John Coxe Hippisley, whom George III had described as a 'busy man' and 'grand intriguer', had retired from public life two years previously, but was clearly still involved in diplomatic affairs. 2pp, 4to. Bifolium. Forty-one lines of neatly-written text, addressed to 'Sir J C Hippisley Bart. | Lower Grosvenor Street.' On aged and worn paper, with short closed tears at edges of folds.

A total of 12pp, 12mo. On bifoliums. All addressed to 'Dear Shuttleworth'. In good condition, lightly aged. A curious feature of the four letters is that the handwriting of each differs from the others. ONE: 7 April 1880. Trevelyan condoles with Shuttleworth, who has lost his Hastings seat in the General Election. He states that he is 'so heartily disgusted' with Shuttleworth's constituents, adding 'The loss, most temporary I feel sure, to the House will be very sensible, and I shall sorely miss you as a friend.

See Sams's entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On a bifolium, the second leaf of which has had a rectangle, almost amounting to half, cut away from the bottom. The text of the letter is complete, but the priced list of the prints and drawings on the last page, lacks the lower half. A long letter, closely written. Signed 'J. Sams.' Aged, worn and lightly stained, but nevertheless in passable condition. The recipient, saluted as 'Esteemed Friend', is not named.

Despite the four years (1840-1844) Howitt spent in the colony with his brother the entomologist Godfrey Howitt (1800-1873), the present letter has nothing to do with Australia. The letter is addressed to the editors of 'The Aurora Borealis: A Literary Annual edited by Members of the Society of Friends'. This periodical was the work of a group of Quakers in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with George Atley Brumell (1800-1877) one of the founding editors. Another of those involved was Joseph Watson (1807-1874), named in the letter's address.