A.J.

[Lord Balfour [A. J. Balfour; Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl Balfour], Conservative Prime Minister.] Autograph Signature ‘Arthur James Balfour’ for collector.

Author: 
Lord Balfour [A. J. Balfour; Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl Balfour] (1848-1930), Conservative politician, Prime Minister 1902-1905; Foreign Secretary who issued the 1917 Balfour Declaration
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£25.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On piece of paper, roughly 12 x 7.5 cm, laid down on 14 x 9 cm plain postcard, with contemporary printed heading on reverse (‘A half penny stamp to be placed here.’, and so on). In good condition, lightly aged. Good firm signature at head of paper, with ‘Autograph’ in a contemporary hand at the foot, with wide space between.

[A. J. Balfour [Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl Balfour], Conservative Prime Minister.] Lithographed Circular in facsimile of Autograph Letter Signed, urging Parliamentary attendance (of MPs) for ‘the discussion of important questions'.

Author: 
A. J. Balfour [Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl Balfour] (1848-1930), Conservative Prime Minister who as Foreign Secretary issued the 1917 Balfour Declaration
A. J. Balfour
Publication details: 
24 January 1896; on letterhead of First Lord of the Treasury, 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, S.W. [London]
£60.00
A. J. Balfour

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. A lithographed document, in facsimile of an Autograph Letter Signed, on a genuine letterhead with embossed motif of First Lord of the Treasury, with mourning border. On aged paper, with the blank reverse carrying unobtrusive glue stains from previous mounting. Folded three times for postage.

[A. J. Ayer [Sir Alfred Jules ‘Freddie’ Ayer], logical positivist philosopher, Wykeham Professorship in Logic at Oxford.] Three Typed Letters Signed to Philip Dosse of Hansom Books, regarding review work for ‘Books and Bookmen’.

Author: 
A. J. Ayer [Sir Alfred Jules ‘Freddie’ Ayer] (1910-1989), logical positivist philosopher, Wykeham Professorship in Logic at Oxford [Philip Dosse (c.1924-1980), proprietor of ‘Books and Bookmen']
Ayer
Publication details: 
4 February, 18 April and 18 October 1974. All three on letterhead of 10 Regents Park Terrace, London NW1.
£250.00
Ayer

See Richard Wollheim’s appreciative entry on Ayer in the Oxford DNB. From the archives of Philip Dosse, proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of the ‘Seven Arts’ group of magazines, including ‘Books and Bookmen’ and ‘Plays and Players’. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The three items are each 1p, small 4to. All three in good condition, each folded twice. All three signed ‘A. J. Ayer’, with typed name beneath, ‘Sir Alfred Ayer’.

[ Arthur Joseph Munby, diarist and poet. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('A. J. Munby') to the bookseller Bertram Dobell, regarding two lost postal orders.

Author: 
A. J. Munby [ Arthur Joseph Munby ] (1828-1910), diarist, poet and barrister obsessed with women in service [ Bertram Dobell (1842-1914), bookseller and literary scholar ]
Publication details: 
Ripley, Sussex. 23 September 1894.
£65.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. The letter concerns two missing postal orders, regarding which Munby reports that he has made enquiries with 'the Ripley postmaster'. He discusses the question, giving the numbers of the postal orders, and writes: 'The postmaster tells me that, as the Orders were crossed, the G. P. O. will (unless by any chance the Orders have been cashed) repay the £1. 4.

[ A. J. Hall and Dr. James Stewart. ] Autograph Note Signed [ to Dr James Stewart ] by the Irish singer A. J. Hall, with biographical 'Memo. by Dr. James Stewart ("Sheamus Rua")'.

Author: 
A. J. Hall, Irish singer [ Dr James Stewart ('Sheamus Rua') of the Irish Medical Schools' and Graduates' Association ]
Publication details: 
Note on letterhead of the Junior Athenaeum Club, 116 Piccadilly [ London ]. 18 November [ circa 1898 ]. Stewart's memorandum undated.
£60.00

The note and memo are on a 12mo bifolium. In good condition, lightly-aged. The letter is signed 'A. J. Hall' and addressed to 'My dear Doctor'. He explains that he would gladly visit him, 'if at liberty', but that he is 'at Wolverhampton that night with Madame Albani'. The biographical note, presumably in Stewart's autograph, is on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium, beneath the following, in red ink: 'Memo. by Dr. James Stewart ("Sheamus Rua") Hon. Secy.

[ A. J. Webbe, England cricketer. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('A J Webbe.') to 'My dear Crawfurd' [ the Irish cricketer John Crawfurd ], regarding rain at Lord's, an exciting match, and 'all the trouble' Crawfurd has had.

Author: 
A. J. Webbe [ Alexander Josiah Webbe ] (1855-1941), English test cricketer and Middlesex captain [ John Crawfurd [ John William Frederick Arthur Crawfurd ] (1878-1939), Irish cricketer ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 35 Eaton Square, S.W. [ London ] 16 July 1909.
£120.00

2pp., 16mo. In good condition. He is 'due at Woolwich the moment the rain stops as we have a day's match there today & tomorrow, but I don't suppose that you will be at Lords the ground must be under water.' He 'couldn't come out of the boys' room on Friday, the cricket was too exciting for words & it was cruel that we could not win'.

[ A. J. Cronin, Scottish author. ] Typescript of his play 'Jupiter Laughs'.

Author: 
A. J. Cronin [ Archibald Joseph Cronin ] (1896-1981), Scottish author
Publication details: 
'All communications to: Mrs. T. C. Dagnall, Messrs. A. M. Heath & Co., Ltd., 188, Piccadilly, W.1. [ London ]' Undated [ circa 1941 ].
£250.00

144pp., 4to. Stapled into red card wraps, with typed label on cover. A carbon copy with label of the London typing bureau Curtis and Page. The play was published in London by Victor Gollancz in 1941, with a second edition from the same publisher in 1954.

[Offprint of treatise by Junayd of Baghdad.] The Book of the Cure of Souls.

Author: 
A. J. Arberry [Arthur John Arberry (1905-1969), British orientalist; The Royal Asiatic Society, London; Junayd of Baghdad]
Publication details: 
From the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, April, 1937.
£56.00

13pp., 8vo, paginated 219-231. Stapled, in yellow printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with rusted staples. Publishing 'the text and translation of what is one of the most interesting of the little treatises preserved in the Istanbul manuscript, both because of its contents, and also for the reason that it is the only work of Junayd for which we have a second authority'. No copies of this offprint traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC.

[Printed item.] An Address to Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, on Her Marriage; shewing the Cause of the Distress of the Country, and pointing out a safe and effectual Remedy.

Author: 
'An Englishman' [Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796-1817); A. J. Valpy, London printer and editor of 'The Pamphleteer']
Publication details: 
'Original. 1816.' [Extracted from 'The Pamphleteer', vol. 8, no. 16, published by A. J. Valpy, London.]
£100.00

[44]pp., 8vo, paginated 487-530. Rebound in modern red cloth binding, with red leather label on cover, with title 'ADDRESS TO HRH PRINCESS CHARLOTTE' in gilt. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn.

Typed Letter Signed ('A J Sylvester') from Lloyd George's private secretary A. J. Sylvester [Albert James Sylvester] to Sir Charles Starmer, regarding 'Mr. Lloyd George's visit to Cober Hill Guest House'. With copy of Starmer's typed letter.

Author: 
A. J. Sylvester [Albert James Sylvester] (1889-1989), Secretary to three Prime Ministers, David Lloyd George, Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin [Sir Charles Starmer; Cober Hill, Scarborough]
Publication details: 
Thames House, Millbank, SW1. On House of Commons letterhead. 12 May 1933. Copy of Starmer's reply dated the same day.
£80.00

Both Sylvester's letter and the copy of the letter by Starmer to which it is replying are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, each with punch holes to one margin. Starmer, who at the time of writiing was proprietor of a large group of newspapers, had begun his career on the 'Northern Echo'; he had for many years been a Liberal member of parliament, standing down in 1931 due to ill health. Cober Hill Guest House was at that time an early experiment in what would become the children's home or retreat. For clarity's sake this description begins with the copy of Starmer's letter: 1p., 4to.

Autograph Prices Current (Published Annually.) Being a Complete Alphabetical and Chronological Record of all Autograph Letters, Documents & Manuscripts, Sold by Auction in London, with the Date and Place of Sale, Name of Purchaser, and Price [...].

Author: 
Edward Hugh Courville (died 1920), A. J. Herbert, eds. A.G.E. Phillips, contrib. [Autograph Prices Current]
Publication details: 
Six vols [all published]: 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1921, 1922 [covering years 1914 to 1922]. First vol: London: E. H. Courville, 25 Rumsey Road, Brixton, S.W. [1916]. Sixth vol: London: A. J. Herbert, 1, Barton St., Westminster, S.W.1.[1922].
£200.00

The six vols are uniformly octavo, in original blue cloth gilt. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In worn, spotted binding, with gilt on spine dulled. Each volume opens with several leaves of advertisements for dealers (ranging from Maggs and Quaritch to James Tregaskis and Frank Hollings) and a preface by the editor (that of 1918 describing as the 'outstanding features of the past season [...] the two sales of the Alfred Morrison Collection and the two 'Red Cross' sales'). Still a valuable reference tool, with many of the entries including a precis of the item or quotation from it.

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