OF

[Duke of Devonshire [Spencer Compton Cavendish (1833-1908), 8th Duke of Devonshire].] Autograph Letter Signed regarding prizegiving at Derby Grammar School

Author: 
Duke of Devonshire [Spencer Compton Cavendish (1833-1908), 8th Duke of Devonshire, styled Marquis of Hartington between 1858 and 1891, aristocrat and statesman [Derby Grammar School]
Publication details: 
15 June 1901; on letterhead of Chatsworth House, Chesterfield.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Outer sides somewhat grubby, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed ‘Dear Sir’ and signed ‘Devonshire’.

[Terence Hodgkinson, art historian and Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to renaissance art expert Giles Robertson, regarding a relief attributed to Grinling Gibbons.

Author: 
Terence Hodgkinson [Terence William Ivan Hodgkinson] (1913-1999), art historian and Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London [Giles Henry Robertson (1913-1987), Italian Renaissance expert]
Publication details: 
20 and 31 December 1947. Both on letterheads of the Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington, London.
£50.00

See his entry in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. A year before these letters Hodgkinson had become an assistant keeper in the Department of Architecture and Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert, where his first task had been to organize the display of the Hildburgh collection of English medieval alabasters. Also in 1946 Robertson had begun his long career at Edinburgh University, having worked through the war at Bletchley Park, before joining the unit assigned to track down works of art looted by the Nazis.

[Monsignor Francisco Cardozo Ayres, Roman Catholic Bishop of Pernambuca.] Autograph Letter Signed, in English, to Rev. H. W. Lewthwaite, describing his passage and Dr Baines, supplier of the 'Altar Stone, Wine & Altar Breads'.

Author: 
Monsignor Francisco Cardozo Ayres (1821-1870), Roman Catholic Bishop of Pernambuca (Olinda), Brazil [Rev. H. W. Lewthwaite]
Publication details: 
'On Board the Seine / Off Cape Verde, 19 June, 68.' [1868.]
£180.00

Ayres is the subject of a monograph by Domenico Mariani. He studied at Ratcliffe College, Charnwood, Leicestershire, where he was ordained. 2pp, 12mo. Twenty-eight lines of text. In fair condition, on thin, aged and worn paper. Addressed to ‘Revd. H. W. Lewthwaite / London’ and signed ‘Yours in Xt. / very affect.ly / + Francis Cardozo Ayres / Bishop of Pernambuco’. Begins: ‘Very Dear Fr.

[Keith Falkner, English bass-baritone, Director of the Royal College of Music, London.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to ‘Miss Scott’ [the musicologist Marion Scott], the first agreeing to sing at an 'At Home', the second while at work for the RAF.

Author: 
Keith Falkner [Sir Donald Keith Falkner] (1900-1994), distinguished English bass-baritone, Director of the Royal College of Music, London [Marion Margaret Scott (1877-1953), musicologist]
Publication details: 
ONE: 10 June 1928, from 60 Mayfield Road, Sanderstead, Surrey. TWO: 18 August 1941, ‘as from R.A.F. Middle Wallop. / Nr. Stockbridge. Hants.’, on cancelled letterhead of the Officers Mess, RAF ‘Woodlands’, Clamp Hill, Stanmore, Middlesex.
£120.00

See his entry and hers in the Oxford DNB. The two items are in good condition, lightly aged, and each folded once for postage. Neatly and firmly written. Both addressed to ‘Dear Miss Scott’ and signed ‘Keith Falkner’. ONE: 2pp, 12mo. Eleven lines. He will be ‘pleased to sing in the “Peasant Cantata” at the Union “At Home” on June 28th’ and asks to know ‘which version you will be doing as soon as you decide?’ He ends with thanks for her ‘kind sympathy - I do appreciate it very much’. TWO: 2pp, 8vo. Twenty-three lines of text.

[Lionel Tertis, viola player, Professor of Viola at the Royal Academy of Music.] Autograph Letter Signed, thanking ‘Miss Scott’ [the musicoloigst Marion Scott] for ‘such a nice tea-party’ and urging her to come to lunch.

Author: 
Lionel Tertis (1876-1975), viola player, Professor of Viola at the Royal Academy of Music [Marion Margaret Scott (1877-1953), musicologist]
Publication details: 
8 December 1929. On letterhead of Smalldown, Belmont, Surrey.
£38.00

See his entry and hers in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘Lionel Tetris.’ Begins ‘Dear Miss Scott / It was so kind of you to give us such a nice tea-party yesterday[.] We thoroughly enjoyed it and thank you very much indeed. / We hope you will come & see us soon[.] Won’t you come to Lunch one day?’

[Lord Curzon [George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquis Curzon of Kedleston], Conservative statesman and Viceroy of India.] Autograph Letter Signed [to Mr Campbell], declining an invitation as he will not be taking 'any part in public affairs' that summer

Author: 
Lord Curzon [George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquis Curzon of Kedleston] (1859-1925), Conservative statesman, Viceroy of India
Publication details: 
Undated, but after 1895, and probably written early in 1922. On letterhead of The Priory, Reigate.
£65.00

See his long and sympathetic entry by David Gilmour in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Curzon acquired the Priory at Reigate after his marriage in 1895, and the letter probably dates from around March to July 1922, when, according to the Oxford DNB, ‘he was laid low by a combination of phlebitis, thrombosis, and lymphangitis which kept him out of action for five months’. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Written in pencil. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight spotting at foot of first page. One central fold for postage.

[John Playfair, Scottish mathematician and geologist, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.] Autograph Inscription: ‘University of Edinh. / Mathematicks / by / John Playfair’, for William Fraser.

Author: 
John Playfair (1748-1819), Scottish mathematician and geologist, Church of Scotland cleric and Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh
Playfair
Publication details: 
November 1803. University of Edinburgh.
£56.00
Playfair

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On one side of 12 x 8 cm card. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Evidently removed from album, part of one of whose leaves is laid down on the reverse. Reads: ‘University of Edinh. / Mathematicks / by / John Playfair / Class 1. Novr. 1803 / For Mr William Fraser’.

[John Venn, Anglican cleric, abolitionist and central figure in the Clapham Sect of social reformers.] Autograph Signature to the conclusion of a letter.

Author: 
John Venn (1759-1813), Church of England clergyman and abolitionist, a central figure in the Clapham Sect of social reformers
Venn
Publication details: 
‘Clapham 10 Sepr. 1810’.
£56.00
Venn

Venn features in the Oxford DNB article on his father Henry Venn (1725-1797). In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Two rectangles cut from a letter, laid down on one side of a 14 x 5.5 cm piece of thicker paper. The first rectangle, 12.5 x 2.5 cm, carries the conclusion of the letter: ‘[...]ain are truly I am my dear / your ever faithful & affect Friend / J Venn’. At the foot of the slip, in pencil in a Victorian hand: ‘X (Son of “Complete duty of Man”). Beneath this slip is the second one, 9 x 1.5 cm, which gives the date: ‘Clapham 10 Sepr. 1810’.

[Thomas Burt, trade union leader and Radical Member of Parliament.] Autograph Letter Signed to A.G.L. Rogers, Secretary of the Liberal Publication Department, regarding a piece of parliamentary legislation on the question of mining.

Author: 
Thomas Burt (1837-1922), trade union leader and Radical Member of Parliament; General Secretary, Northumberland Miners' Association [A. G. L. Rogers, Secretary, Liberal Publication Department]
Publication details: 
2 June 1892. On House of Commons letterhead.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Under Gladstone Burt served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, 1892-1895. From the papers of Arthur George Liddon Rogers (1864-1944), son of the editor of the economist Thorold Rogers, and written while Rogers was Secretary of the Liberal Publication Department (a sort of public relations department), a position to which he was appointed in November 1891. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Signed 'Thos Burt'. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage.

[R. J. Burn [Rodney Joseph Burn], English painter.] Three Autograph Letters Signed and one unsigned, to ‘Mr Lawrence’, regarding his work, his studio and ‘Mr Daniel’ [Sir Augustus Moore Daniel], the new Director of the National Gallery.

Author: 
R. J. Burn [Rodney Joseph Burn] (1899-1984), English painter, Member of the Royal Academy, senior tutor at the Royal College of Art [Sir Augustus Moore Daniel (1866-1950)]
Publication details: 
One dated 10 September 1928, the others without year, but around the same time. All from 2 Hill Way, Highgate N.6. [London]. One also with ‘Studio address / 7 Park Hill studios / Park Hill road / Hampstead’.
£150.00

After serving in the Great War, Burn (son of Sir Joseph Burn) studied at the Slade between 1918 and 1922, winning six prizes. After teaching in London at the Royal College, and in Boston, he offered his services to the war effort. After the war he went back to the Royal College, as a senior tutor. The four ot the items here are in fair condition, lightly worn and discoloured. Each is folded once for postage. Although only one is dated, the others appear to date from around the same time. ONE (‘Monday’): 1p, 4to. Unsigned.

[Richard Holt Hutton, literary editor of the Spectator.] Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Lovelace Stamer, regarding arrangements for a ‘Congress’.

Author: 
R. H. Hutton [Richard Holt Hutton] (1826-1897), journalist and theologian, joint-editor of the Inquirer and National Review, and literary editor of the Spectator [Sir Lovelace Tomlinson Stamer]
Publication details: 
24 September 1875; on letterhead of ‘ “The Spectator” Office, / 1, Wellington Street, / Strand, London, W.C.’
£45.00

See Hutton's entry in the Oxford DNB, together with that of the recipient Sir Lovelace Tomlinson Stamer (1829-1908), Anglican Bishop of Shrewsbury. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper, with slight smudging on the first page. With two folds for postage. Addressed to ‘The Revd Sir Lovelace T Stamer Bart’ and signed ‘R H Hutton’. Twenty-five lines of text in a hand that must surely have proved as much of a challenge to Hutton’s compositors as to present-day readers.

[J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane, distinguished editor of The Times.] Autograph Letter Signed, to a brother of the Conservative politician William Forsyth, concerning a meeting proposed by Lord Clarendon.

Author: 
J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane (1817-1879)], editor of The Times, 1841-1877 [William Forsyth, Conservative politician; Lord Clarendon, Liberal Foreign Secretary]
Publication details: 
November 29 [no year, but between 1857 and 1870]. 16 Serjeants Inn [Temple, London].
£56.00

According to Delane’s entry in the Oxford DNB, he settled ‘from about 1847 at 16 Serjeants' Inn, Temple’. The addressee appears to be ‘W. Forsyth Esq’, and is named in the letter as a brother of the Conservative politician William Forsyth (1812-1899), who took silk in 1857, and hence also of the diplomat Sir Thomas Douglas Forsyth (1827-1886), both of whom have ODNB entries. 2pp, 12mo, with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, and folded twice for postage, in the neat remains of a windowpane mount.

[Henry Jutsum, landscape painter.] Autograph Note Signed, directing ?Mr. Vaughan? [Thomas Vaughan, Clerk of the Royal Academy] to ?deliver to Mr Green? his ?picture not received for the Exhibition?.

Author: 
Henry Jutsum (1816-1869), landscape painter [Thomas Vaughan, Clerk of the Royal Academy, London]
Jutsum
Publication details: 
?174 Edgware Road / Maida Hill / 27 April 1832?. [London]
£80.00
Jutsum

An uncommon signature. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On one side of 18 x 10 cm piece of paper. Discoloured and worn, with spike hole. Good firm signature, full of character. Reads: ?174 Edgware Road / Maida Hill / 27 April 1832 / Please deliver to Mr Green or [aide? drdee?order?] my picture not received for the Exhibition / Henry Jutsum / To / Mr. Vaughan / Royal Academy?. See Image.

[H. Brereton Baker, distinguished English chemist.] Autograph Letter Signed [to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary of the Royal Society of Arts, London], agreeing to give three Cantor lectures.

Author: 
H. Brereton Baker [Herbert Brereton Baker] (1862-1935), distinguished English inorganic chemist [Sir Henry Trueman Wood (1845-1929), Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, London]
Publication details: 
30 July 1913; on letterhead of Latchmoor House, Gerrard?s Cross, Bucks.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightl aged. Folded once for postage. The recipient is not named, but the letter has at its head the date stamp of the Royal Society of Arts, London, and is docketed by Wood. Signed ?H. Brereton Baker?. He agrees to give ?the three Cantor lectures as you suggest, provided they can begin after the 3rd. week in February?. He gives the subject as ?Catalysis in its scientific and industrial aspects?. A pencil note at the foot gives dates for the lectures as ?Mch 16, 23, 30?.

[Edgar Jacob, Bishop of St Albans; Colenso.] Autograph Letter Signed to Rev. R. Wilkins appealing for English Church Union subscribers to ?help towards undoing the mischief? caused by Bishop Colenso?s ?defection? in Natal.

Author: 
Edgar Jacob (1844-1920), Bishop of St Albans [John William Colenso (1814-1883), controversial Anglican Bishop of Natal; English Church Union]
Publication details: 
No date [circa 1865].
£56.00

See Jacob?s entry, and Colenso?s, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Addressed to ?The / Revd. R. Wilkins?.

[Ernst Philipp Graf von Brunnow, longtime Russian Ambassador to the Court of St James [Great Britain].] Autograph Signature and valediction of letter in English.

Author: 
Ernst Philipp Graf von Brunnow (1797-1875), Baltic German diplomat who served in the Russian Empire, for thirty years (1840-1854, 1858-1874) Russian Ambassador to the Court of St James [Great Britain]
Brunnow
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£56.00
Brunnow

A close, controlled hand, on a slip of paper 10 x 1 cm. See Image. In good condition, lightly aged with a little light red spotting. Reads: ?Believe me / faithfully yours / Brunnow?.

[?Bazaar of Nations?, Ealing Town Hall, London, 1920.] Printed ?Book of the Bazaar?, ?Complete Guide to Bazaar, containing a Detailed Account of the Stalls, Entertainments, Side Shows, also Names of Stall Holders, Helpers, &c.?

Author: 
?Bazaar of Nations?, Ealing Town Hall, London, 1920
Ealing
Publication details: 
Town Hall Ealing, 8, 9 and 10 June 1920. Francis A. Percy, Printer, West Ealing.
£90.00
Ealing

A nice piece of Ealing ephemera, and scarce: no other copy traced, either on WorldCat or JISC. 48pp, 12mo. Stapled into grey wraps, with heavily-inked cover illustration by Joan Murrell, depicting six figures from various nations (Japanese geisha in the middle), beneath bunting of five flags with Union Flag in centre, and with 'BAZAAR OF NATIONS' at head. Title page reads: ?Book of the Bazaar / held at the / Ealing Town Hall, / Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, / June 8th, 9th, 10th / 1920.

[National Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, London.] Printed pamphlet by NCADP Secretary Frank Dawtry: ‘Bulletin No. 26 / Public Opinion and the Death Penalty’.

Author: 
National Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, London; Frank Dawtry [Frank Dalmeny Dawtry] (1902-1968), General Secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers
Publication details: 
March 1948. National Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, 14 Victoria Street, London, SW1. ‘Printed for Edgar G. Dunstan & Co., Draycot House, Gordon Street, W.C.1, by The Hereford Times Ltd., London and Hereford.
£80.00

See Dawtry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is scarce: no copies traced on JISC or WorldCat. 4pp, 4to. Bifolium printed in small type. In fair condition, lightly aged, with creasing and nicking to both leaves at bottom outer edge.

[Jo Grimond, Scottish Liberal Party politician.] Autograph Card Signed acknowledging receipt of twenty pounds from Hanson Books.

Author: 
Jo Grimond [Joseph Grimond, Baron Grimond] (1913-1993), Scottish Liberal Party politician
Grimond
Publication details: 
4 August [1978]. ‘Official Paid’ card printed with ‘House of Commons’.
£35.00
Grimond

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Philip Dosse (1925-1980), proprietor of Hansom Books, publishers of several arts magazines. Presumably acknowledging payment for a review in ‘Books and Bookmen’. On plain ‘House of Commons’ postcard. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with crease to one corner going through the final flourish of Grimond’s signature. Reads: ‘4 Aug / Many thanks for cheque for £20 already acknowledged / J Grimond’.

[Lord Alverstone [Richard Webster, Lord Chief Justice of England; Irish Home Rule.] Autograph Letter Signed to J. Ellaby, regarding Home Rule and ‘the Ulster Unionist Programme at the next Election’.

Author: 
Lord Alverstone [Richard Webster (1842-1915), 1st Viscount Alverstone, successively Attorney General, Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice of England] [Lord Salisbury; A. J. Balfour]
Publication details: 
23 July 1891; 2 Pump Court, Temple, on embossed letterhead of the Royal Courts of Justice.
£150.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘Richard Alverstone’ and addressed to ‘J. Ellaby Esq’. He regrets that Ellaby is asking him ‘for more information than it is in my power to give you’. Even if he were ‘in possession of the views of the Government’ he ‘could not disclose them’ to Ellaby, who must form his own opinion ‘from the public utterances of the Prime Minister and Mr. Balfour’.

[Christ’s Hospital, London public school.] Six forms and circulars relating to the application for admission of Stanley Thomas Cross (later of the League of Nations); two letters from Cross to his mother about going up to Pembroke College, Oxford.

Author: 
Christ’s Hospital (The Blue-coat School), charitable public school founded by Henry VIII [Stanley Thomas Cross (1884-1950) of the League of Nations; City of London; Pembroke College, Oxford]
Publication details: 
Eight items from Christ's Hospital, London and West Horsham. The first six from 1894 and 1895, the last two from around 1903.
£280.00

Eight items from the papers of Stanley Thomas Cross, including six evocative pieces of Christ’s Hospital ephemera. Four of the items have some singing to extremities (in a couple of cases affecting a few words of text), otherwise the material is in fair condition. The material ranges in dimension from foolscap 8vo to 12mo. Items One to Five are printed circulars (each with the school crest) relating to the Christ’s Hospital admissions process, dating from 1894 and 1895, all from ‘R. L. Franks, Clerk’. ONE: 17 October 1894.

[‘We are so vexed, & not our fault’: Augusta, first Empress of Germany [Augusta of Saxe-Weimar], wife of Kaiser Wilhelm I.] Autograph Letter Signed, in English, to Lady Ashbourne, regarding a conflict of invitations with the Abercorns.

Author: 
Augusta, Empress of Germany [Augusta Marie Luise Katharina of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach; Queen of Prussia] (1811-1890), wife of Kaiser Wilhelm I [Frances Maria Adelaide Gibson, Lady Ashbourne (1849-1926)]
Augusta
Publication details: 
‘Easter Sunday / 1887.’ On letterhead of the Royal Hospital, Dublin.
£150.00
Augusta

In 1858 her son Frederick married Princess Victoria, the eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; her grandson was Kaiser Wilhem III. For Lady Ashbourne, see her husband’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Before receiving Lady Ashbourne’s invitation, ‘The Duke & Duchess of Abercorns, [sic] my Cousins, had begged us attend a Masonic Concert the 18th.

['The Laureate of Lancashire': Edwin Waugh, dialect poet associated with Manchester.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to the Blackburn poet J. T. Baron

Author: 
Edwin Waugh (1817-1890), 'Lancashire Burns' and 'Laureate of Lancashire', dialect poet associated with Manchester [J. T. Baron [Joseph Baron, 'Tom o' Dick o' Bobs'] (1859-1924), Blackburn poet]
Publication details: 
14 and 24 February 1889. Each on letterhead of The Hollies, New Brighton, Cheshire.
£100.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both in fair condition, worn and aged. The first item with one fold. Both signed ‘Edwin Waugh’ and addressed to ‘Mr. J. T. Baron’. ONE (14 February 1889): 2pp, 12mo. On the rectos of a bifolium. He would have answered Baron sooner, had he not been ‘tossing to and fro a good deal lately’. He thanks him ‘very heartily for the kind feeling expressed in your lines addressed to me on the 73rd [the 3 underlined three times] anniversary of my birth, in the Blackburn Times’.

[Rochester, New York State.] Manuscript ‘Arbitration Bond’, with ‘the very rare signature of Everard Peck, pioneer printer Father of Wm. F. Peck’ and that of Walter S. Griffith.

Author: 
Everard Peck (1791-1854), Rochester printer, newspaper editor, father of the historian William Farley Peck (1840-1908); Walter S. Griffith (c.1810-1872) [Lewis Selze; Monroe County, New York State]
Publication details: 
No date [1860s or 1870s?]. [Rochester, Monroe County, New York State.]
£320.00

Accompanying this item is a piece of paper with the following note in a mid-twentieth-century hand: ‘Interesting because of the very rare signature of Everard Peck, pioneer printer Father of Wm. F. Peck’. He was a bookbinder from Connecticut who moved to Rochester around 1816 and opened a bookstore. He moved into printing and publishing, founded the successful weekly Telegraph newspaper and later became a banker. He was a generous benefactor of the early city, co-founding the University of Rochester and the Rochester Orphan Asylum and becoming a leader in the Female Charitable Society.

[‘Nor will I lose a farthing for all the Generals in the Kings dominions’.] Autograph Letter Signed from future Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Dashwood, concerning prize money for the Danish ship the Venus, captured by him at the Battle of Copenhagen, 1807

Author: 
Sir Charles Dashwood (1765-1847), Royal Navy Vice-Admiral who served during the American War of Independence, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and War of 1812 [Battle of Copenhagen, 1807]
Publication details: 
‘Franchise [HMS Franchise], Spithead / 16th Feby. 1808.’
£250.00

See his long obituary in the Gentleman’s Magazine, December 1847. This letter, which concerns the prize money for the capture of the 36-gun Danish fifth-rater the Venus, captured by Dashwood at the Battle of Copenhagen, 1807. 2pp, 4to, on the first leaf of a bifolium, the reverse of the second leaf is addressed, with two postmarks, to ‘James Sykes Esqe / Arundle St / London’, and docketed ‘C. Dashwood / 16 Feb 1808 / Recd 17 do’. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight damage to second leaf from breaking open of the wafer. Folded for postage.

[Admiral of the Fleet James Gambier, distinguished Royal Navy officer.] Navy Office document, signed by Gambier, John Henslow and Charles Hope, querying an account submitted by ‘Captain Stanhope / late of L’Achille’.

Author: 
James Gambier [Lord Gambier] (1756-1833), Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and First Naval Lord; John Henslow (1730-1815); Captain Charles Hope
Publication details: 
'Navy Office 20th March 1799.'
£220.00

See Gambier’s entry in the Oxford DNB. He served during capture of Charleston during American Revolutionary War, at the Glorious First of June, and commanded at Battle of Copenhagen and Battle of the Basque Roads. He was First Naval Lord, three times: 1795-1801, 1804-6 and 1807-8. Henslow was Surveyor to the Navy, 1784-1806, and Hope was Deputy Comptroller of the Navy, 1795-1801.

[Old South Sea House and the Harvey family of Chigwell.] 113 manuscript items from the papers of William Peacock, John Read and James Swaine, attorneys tto William and Mary Harvey family, landlords, including 100 receipts, some itemized.

Author: 
Old South Sea House (Company of Merchants Trading to the South Seas), Threadneedle Street, London; Sir Eliab Harvey; William Harvey of Chigwell, Essex [The South Sea Bubble, 1720; Charles Lamb]
Publication details: 
Three receipts from 1735 and ninety-six from between 1742 and 1757. The Old South Sea House, Threadneedle Street and Bishopsgate Street, London. [Chigwell, Essex.]
£800.00

This collection of 113 items, dating from the middle of the eighteenth century, relates to a notable London landmark. Until the end of the nineteenth century the Old South Sea House, headquarters of the South Sea Company (Company of Merchants Trading to the South Seas and other Parts of America), stood on the corner of Threadneedle Street and Bishopsgate Street. A young Charles Lamb worked here for nearly six months in 1792, and wrote the first of the ‘Essays of Elia’ about the place.

[Admiral Sir Richard Rodney Bligh, Royal Navy officer in American War of Independence.] Autograph Letter Signed to the Admiralty, regarding ‘Her Majesty’s Sloop the Wasp under my Command’.

Author: 
Admiral Sir Richard Rodney Bligh (1737-1821), GCB, Royal Navy officer who saw service in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars [HMS Wasp]
Publication details: 
‘Wasp, Portsmouth 1st. Decr. 1775.’
£180.00

Bligh’s entry in the Oxford DNB does not note his service on HMS Wasp, to which he was appointed in October 1774. According to one authority the ship ‘saw service out of Passage, County Cork, Ireland from [November 1774]. In October 1775 [Bligh] brought sixty volunteers from Ireland into Plymouth, and in June 1776 sailed from Portsmouth to Plymouth with money for the dockyard artificers.

[American War of Independence, 1782.] Manuscript folio leaf from British governmental [War Office?] ledger of payments to 'David Thomas Esq. / Carolina', re General Leslie and the British Army of the South, headed ‘Extraordinaries in North America’.

Author: 
American War of Independence, 1782: General Leslie and the British Army of the South: David Thomas, Carolina [Major General Alexander Leslie (1731-1794), British army officer]
American Revolution
Publication details: 
10 and 11 October 1782. [London, War Office? Regarding Carolina, North America.] With other accounts from 1826 on reverse.
£450.00
American Revolution

A valuable artefact of the American War of Independence: a leaf from a British War or Colonial Office ledger detailing payments to officials in General Leslie’s administration in Carolina in 1782.

[Duke of Newcastle (Henry, 2nd Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne).] Autograph Signature, with that of Henry Saxby, to extracted manuscript document with debenture entry.

Author: 
Duke of Newcastle [Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 9th Earl of Lincoln and 2nd Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, KG, PC] (1720-1794); Henry Saxby
Publication details: 
Circa 11 October 1773. [London.]
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. While shunning the limelight, Newcastle was an influential figure in British politics; it was through his lobbying that his cousin Sir Henry Clinton was appointed commander-in-chief of the British forces in America during the American Revolution. According to Timothy Mowl's 1996 biography of Horace Walpole, Newcastle was 'famed for an unusually large penis', which he deployed on both sexes. On one side of a 12 x 19 piece of laid paper, with large triangle cut at top right (not near signature).

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