ALEXANDER

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient (?Broadley Pasha?) was a renowned autograph collector and shady social figure, as well as the de facto editor of Yates?s ?World?, until the Cleveland Street scandal drove him into exile in 1890. Broadley was a prominent figure in freemasonry, and the present item appears to link two individuals who were members of Oxford?s Apollo University Lodge: Oscar Wilde (whose proclivities Broadley shared) and Randolph Stewart (later Earl of Galloway). 1p, 16mo. On first leaf of bifolium, with second leaf tipped-in onto a page from one of Broadley?s albums.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient (?Broadley Pasha?) was a renowned autograph collector and shady social figure, as well as the de facto editor of Yates?s ?World?, until the Cleveland Street scandal drove him into exile in 1890 (the year of this item with its reference to 'going away'). A 9 x 5 cm piece of paper, cut from the end of a letter, and laid down on a 13 x 7.5 cm piece, which has been neatly annotated by Broadley: 'Signature of Edmund Yates 1890'. In good condition, lightly aged, with one postage fold. Reads, with good firm stylized signature: '[...] of going away?

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In addition to being the de facto editor of Edmund Yates?s ?World?, the recipient (?Broadley Pasha?) was a renowned autograph collector and shady social figure. Scott?s handwriting is not entirely legible. ONE: ?Wednesday?, dated by Broadly ?March 1887.? 1p, 12mo. In good condition, with glue from mount adhering to the blank reverse. Folded once. Signed ?Clement Scott?. On the question of ?the letter from the impertinent idiot Mr James Runciman? he comments: ?He thinks that calling a man ?Tommy Rot? is a complaint! I conclude that he must be a madman?.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. D’Orsey was Professor of Elocution at University College, London. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. On aged, brittle paper, with slight wear and discoloration, a few closed tears along folds and traces of stub adhering to second leaf, but with entire text clear and intact. A long untidy letter, with writing up the margin on outer two pages. Addressed to ‘The Revd. A J D’Orsey’ and signed ‘Tom Taylor’. The topic is an outbreak of cholera at Madeira, about which D’Orsey has clearly launched an appeal.

According to Russell’s entry in the Oxford DNB, while reporting on the Civil War, he was described by one American newspaper as ‘the most famous newspaper correspondent the world has ever seen'. The inscription on his memorial in St Paul’s Cathedral calls him ‘'the first and greatest of War Correspondents'. He coined the phrase ‘thin red line’, was instrumental in the sending of Florence Nightingale to the Crimea, and is said to have written the report that inspired Tennyson to write ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, from which the scandalous recipient, a high-society fixer, is unaccountably absent. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Fifty-seven lines of text, sloping upwards. Addressed to ‘Mr Broadley’ and signed ‘Burdett Coutts’. The handwriting is difficult, and the following reading tentative.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient (‘Broadley Pasha’), who does not have the entry he deserves in the same work, had been involved in homosexual scandals in India, in 1872, and in England (‘The Cleveland Street Affair’), in 1889. LETTER: 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of tape from mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf. Folded once. Addressed to ‘A. M.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient (‘Broadley Pasha’), at the time de facto editor of Edmund Yates’s magazine ‘The World’, was a scandalous figure, who richly deserves his own entry in the same work. 2pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Text on the outer pages, the inner pages carrying the remains of newspaper cuttings which were previously laid down on them. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of tape from mount adhering to the last page, which also has a newspaper cutting laid down at its foot, regarding the death of A. Sutherland Sutton. Folded once.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB (from which the scandalous Broadley is unaccountably absent). 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium of grey paper. Tears to the second leaf (not affecting signature) have been unobtrusively repaired with archival tape, and its blank reverse carries a thin remnant of the mount. One postage fold. Addressed to ‘My Dear Broadley’ and signed ‘Ernest Hart’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, from which the scandalous recipient, a high-society fixer, is unaccountably absent. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Fifty-seven lines of text, sloping upwards. Addressed to ‘Mr Broadley’ and signed ‘Burdett Coutts’. The handwriting is difficult, and the following reading tentative.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, with slight wear at top left-hand corner of second leaf (not affecting text). Biographical details added in small type at head of first page. Addressed to ‘The Honbl Spencer Ponsonby’ and signed ‘Alaric A. Watts.’ Begins: ‘Dear Sir / May I trespass so far upon your kindness as to ask you to place the enclosed letter [not present] to Lord Clarendon. It is on the subject of the London Library of which his Lordship is the President’.

See the various entries in the Oxford DNB. Typed carbon copy. 1p, foolscap 8vo. Text complete, on aged piece of carbon paper, worn and chipped at edges. No signature. Addressed at foot to ‘E. F. Benson Esq.’ Thirty-one lines of text. He begins by stating that Benson, in his ‘work on Charlotte Brontë’, has ‘made a very correct study of her’. After discussing a point about Branwell Bronte, he states: ‘We cannot rely on Charlotte’s assertion that he knew nothing whatever of their ventures in publishing.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Addressed ‘Revd. F. Damstini Cremer / The Rectory / Keighley / England’. Signed ‘A. B. Bruce’. He begins by confirming that Cremer has has not mistaken his meaning ‘on p. 32 “The Kingdom of God”’, reaffirming over a paragraph what it is he was saying regarding the temptation of Christ. ‘It seems a considerable liberty, but then the Scripture writers do take liberties in their quotations & use of Holy Writ’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The recipient (‘Dear Sir’) is not named, but is presumably Alexander Macmillan (see Oxford DNB), the publisher of the two books referred to in the letter, which he seems to have sent for review. The letter is signed ‘H Reeve’. Folded for postage. He begins by thanking him for sending copies of ‘Lady Duff Gordon’s Letters [from Egypt]’ and ‘Ecce Homo’ [‘a survey of the life and work of Jesus Christ’ by J. R. Seeley], which he has ‘already read with great interest’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, landscape 12mo. On bifolium of grey paper. The letter is complete, on what appears to be the upper half of a 4to bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with stamp, postmark and remains of autograph address on reverse of second leaf, with traces of mount. Signed ‘J A Fuller Maitland’. Begins: ‘Dear Sir / Very many thanks for your book, the second copy of which has just come. I shall hope to be able to come & hear your lecture on a subject which is especially dear to me.

See the entries for Custance and Holmes in the Oxford DNB. According to the latter: ‘On his retirement in November 1910, Holmes published What is and What Might Be (1911), a condemnation of the existing education system, which stressed competition rather than co-operation, emphasized visible results, and demanded the mechanical obedience of the child. The book attracted wide public attention. [...] Shortly before his retirement, he became involved in the furore over the so-called 'Holmes–Morant circular', a highly confidential memorandum which he had issued in January 1910 to inspectors’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On the front cover of a 12 x 7 cm envelope, from which the seal has been torn away on the reverse. Otherwise in very good condition. A pleasing piece of calligraphy, with the word ‘Private’ centred and underlined at the head, and the address to ‘The Honble. Spencer Ponsonby. / Foreign Office’ across the central band, with the signature at bottom left: ‘Alaric Watts.’ See Image.

See his entry, and that of his elder brother, in the Oxford DNB. From the collection of Irish nationalist autographs of Miss Burgess of Norwich. On 16.5 x 7.5 cm piece of paper, cut down from a larger document. In fair condition, lightly aged and spotted. Folded three times. Written in a large bold hand: ? ?One in name, one in fame / Are the Sea-divided Gaels.? / A. M. Sullivan / St Patricks Day / 1884?. See Image.

16pp., 8vo. In good condition, lightly-aged, no wraps, disbound. Several copies on COPAC, none of this edition on market currently.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, and folded once for postage. Clearly responding to a request for an autograph. Boldly written, with the merest smudging to the surname: 'with compliments / of Stanhope A. Forbes / 5th March 1935'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, and folded once for postage. The male recipient is not named, and the letter is signed ‘Stanhope A. Forbes’, with slight smudging to the ‘o’ of ‘Forbes’. As he is obliged to him for his letter ‘& the kind things you are good enough to say about my work’, he is happy ‘to accede to your request to append my signature’.

Curious items. Yale has the originals of these pages, in an ‘Album, formerly owned by John Murray, containing items either by Pope or related to him, 1717-1855’, described as ‘original proof of two pages from Pope's Epistles, pages 69 and 70, with the author's corrections’. Each of the present items is printed on a 28.5 x 37.5 cm leaf of wove paper. A previous owner(lord Houghton in fact) thought highly-enough of them to include them in an album, as a profession white stub adheres neatly at the left of each.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. With mourning border. In fair condition, aged and worn, with remains of white 'star' wafer mounts adhering to the four corners. Beneath the underlined heading 'Note for Secretary' reads: 'The relative positions of Iris & Phoebe do not appear to agree in papers marked (2) and (4) in my letter. Please let me know which is right. / LB.' Presumably Iris and Phoebe were ships.

Williamson is notable for his work on the formation of ether, and for furthering Anglo-Japanese relations by welcoming the 'Choshu Five' and later members of the Satsuma han into his home. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the Piffard papers. Signed ‘Alexr W. Williamson’ on ticket engraved in copperplate on one side of 15.5 x 10.5 cm card. In fair condition, a little worn and somewhat discoloured with age. Central horizontal fold. Blind-stamped with ‘Treasury Seal’. The signature is at bottom right, with number of ticket (40) and the initials of the secretary ‘’ at bottom left.

See his entry, and that of his brother, in the Oxford DNB. 11 x 6 cm rectangle of paper, cut from the end of a letter, laid down on 13.5 x 7 cm piece of thicker paper. Reads: ‘[...] will see to them for you. / Kind regards to all / Thine / W. Brodie’.

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.

Shand is great-grandfather of Queen Camilla. His best-known work is 'The Foundations of Character' (1914). ONE: 18 November 1907. 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Thirty-five lines. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Shand - who is weakened by ‘fever & cough’, and ‘too tired to think consecutively’ - thanks Burdett for his ‘very kind letter which was a real consolation to me in my bed’. His ‘argument about avarice was most interesting, & I think I quite agree with it.

For information about the Lady Hosie and her husband see his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage, and with a minor closed tear to edge of fold at head of leaf. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Burdett’ and signed ‘Dorothy [sic] Hosie’. Forty-one lines of closely-written text. The letter concerns a review she has written for a periodical whose title is difficult to decipher (‘The L[?]’). She was ‘going to type out a fair copy’, but thinks Burdett ‘may like it at once’. If he feels ‘portions of it unsuitable’, he ‘can then delete’. ‘Mr.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, folded for postage. Recipient (‘Sir’) not named. Signed ‘A. C. Fraser’. He is ‘pleased to think that anything [he has] written has given pleasure’ to the recipient. ‘As yet my productions have been occasional & fragmentary, but I am now engaged in a larger work - an edition of Berkeley’s writings, for the Oxford Press.’ Postscript: ‘I have an article in the last (September) North British Review on Mill & Hamilton, & in the October Macmillans Magazine on the “Literary Life of Isaac Taylor”’.

Within a couple of years of his death Norbury’s nickname was given as ‘the hanging judge’ (see ‘The Georgian Era’, vol.2, 1833), and yet no mention is made of the fact in his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present document is 1p, 4to. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged.