ABORIGINE

[Sir James George Frazer, author of 'The Golden Bough'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. G. Frazer') to 'Mr. Wright', regarding difficulty getting copies of his obituary of Australian anthropologist Lorimer Fison from publisher Alfred Nutt.

Author: 
Sir J. G. Frazer [Sir James George Frazer] (1854-1941), Scottish anthropologist, author of 'The Golden Bough' [Alfred Trübner Nutt (1856-1910); Lorimer Fison (1832-1907), Australian anthropologist]
Publication details: 
St Keyne's, Cambridge. 7 April 1910.
£400.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two fold lines. Thin strip of stub from mount adhering to one edge. The subject of the letter is Frazer's obituary of 'the Rev. Lorimer Fison and Dr. A. W. Howitt' (their deaths being 'two heavy losses' suffered by 'Australian anthropology in particular'), published in Folklore, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Jun. 30, 1909), pp. 144-180. Frazer begins by thanking Wright 'for the copy of my article which you have succeeded in wringing from the clutches of young Mr Nutt', i.e. the publisher of 'Folklore' Alfred Nutt (himself a folklorist).

[The first census of the British Empire.] Two documents printed for Earl Grey at the Colonial Office: Major Graham's 'Memorandum' of 'suggestions' on how to take a colonial census; and a letter from Grey instructing colonial governors to prepare one.

Author: 
Major George Graham (1801-1888), Registrar General of England and Wales, 1842-1879; Earl Grey [Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey (1802-1894)] [Sir Frederick Peel (1823-1906), Liberal MP]
Publication details: 
[HMSO, London.] The Major Graham document, dated from the General Register Office [Somerset House, London], 7 December 1848. The Grey circular dated from Downing Street, 20 January 1849.
£320.00

Two printed documents: the first carrying Major Graham's 'Memorandum' of 'suggestions respecting the mode of taking a Census in each of our Colonial Posssessions', together with his observations on the making up of 'Statistical Abstracts', a specimen 'Form of Return' and a covering letter; the second a circular letter from Earl Grey, instructing colonial governors 'to cause a Return of the Population of the Colony under your Government to be prepared'. For the background to these two documents, see A. J.

Original lithographic engraving by Dupare, from a drawing by Arago, of 'Nouvelle Hollande. Vue d'une partie de la presqu'île Péron, et 1re entrevue avec les sauvages', depicting a meeting of Aborigines and Frenchmen at Shark Bay, Western Australia.

Author: 
[Jacques Etienne Victor Arago (1790-1855), artist; Louis Claude Desaulses de Freycinet (1779-1842), Paris publisher; [Dupare, French engraver; Australian aborigines; Shark Bay, Peron Peninsula]
Publication details: 
[Paris: de Freycinet. Circa 1825.]
£80.00

Dimensions: 18.5 x 25.5 cm. Laid down on a piece of 19.5 x 26.5 cm grey paper. The print has been trimmed, so that there is no margin. In good condition, lightly-aged and ruckled. Against a rocky backdrop, with aborigines viewing from the top of a hill, a group of six aborigines are shown to the right, naked and waving sticks and spears. To the left are the five Frenchmen, with a stack of rifles in front of a tent at far left. In the centre of the image the leading Frenchman places gifts on the end of a long stick held by one of the aborigines.

[Headed "The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society] Four Typed Letters Signed, to Sir Henry Trueman Wood (2), S. Digby (1) and G. K. Menzies (1), of the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir John H. Harris [SLAVERY]
Publication details: 
3 and 6 March 1917, and 31 January and 25 March 1918; all four on letterhead of the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society.
£85.00

Campaigner against slavery and colonial exploitation in Africa (1874-1940) and Liberal MP for North Hackney, 1923-24. All four items one page, quarto. All in good condition, though on somewhat discoloured paper. Two items docketed in pencil and two bearing the Society's stamp. ITEM ONE: He hopes to be present at Dr. Max Horn's lecture, and wants to know whether the Society is 'publishing the lecture by Mr. Wilson Fox on Imperial Resources'. He thinks he should join the Society, 'if not now soon after the war', and asks to be sent the conditions of membership.

Autograph Letter [or draft?] Signed ('Geo. Grey') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir George Grey (1799–1882), politician [South Africa; Captain Stockenstrom]
Publication details: 
15 May 1838; Downing Street.
£56.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good, with traces of previous brown-paper mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium. His 'time is too fully occupied' for him 'to attend the meeting of the Aborigines Protection Society'. Discusses the parliamentary prospects of 'Mr. Baines' motion relative to the emigration of certain inhabitants of the Eastern district of the Cape'. 'In the meantime however I hope Mr is aware that he is fully at liberty to call on Mr. <?> the Librarian of this Dept. who is authorized to submit to him Captain Stockenstrom's despatches on this subject'.

Two Typed Letters Signed to [G. K. Menzies,] Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, together with unsigned carbon copy of 'Extract from a letter to Major Furse from Dr. A. C. Haddon, dated 15th December, 1925.'

Author: 
Sir Gerard Edward James Gent [ALFRED CORT HADDON; MALAYA]
Publication details: 
LETTER ONE: 31 December 1925, on embossed Colonial Office letterhead. LETTER TWO: 13 January 1926, on embossed Colonial Office ('NATIONAL SCHEME FOR DISABLED MEN') letterhead.
£106.00

British colonial administrator (1895-1948), High Commissioner for the Federation of Malaya. One letter docketed and both bearing R.S.A. stamp. Both signed 'G E. J. Gent'. LETTER ONE (one page, quarto): Ormsby Gore has had forwarded to him a letter received by one of the Secretaries of State's Private Secretaries 'from Dr. A. C. Haddon, [Alfred Cort Haddon, 1855-1940; DNB] a Reader in Anthropology at Cambridge University', and thinks the R.S.A. may be interested in Haddon's proposal. This is outlined in the carbon copy (one page, folio): 'Prof. A. R.

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