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9 x 14.5 cm glossy publicity photograph. On reverse: “A Gaumont-British Star / Raphael Tuck and Sons’ “Real Photograph” Postcard No. 66”. In fair condition, lightly aged, with a couple of indentations. Inscribed at bottom right: ‘Best Wishes / Jessie Matthews’. A black and white head-and-shoulders shot of a wide-eyed Matthews staring at the viewer over her left shoulder, with short hair, in a white feather hat and white fur coat, against a black background. Scan on application.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 11 x 7 cm panel cut from the cover of the envelope. In good condition, lightly aged, laid down on brown paper cut from album. The intial ‘C’ of the Duke’s name curls under the rest of the signature with a loop, and with end of flourish possibly trimmed in cutting the panel. (Comparison with other examples of the future king’s signature as Duke of Clarence indicate that whatever loss there may be would be minimal.) Laid out in the customary fashion. Reads: ‘Bushy. December twenty third 1827 / Mrs: Skelton / Sandridge Lodge / St: Alban’s / Street’.

Publicity photograph on 8.5 x 13.5 postcard. In good condition, lightly aged, with a tiny piece worn away from bottom left. Inscription diagonally at bottom left: ‘Best wishes / Elizabeth Allan’. A black and white head-and-shoulders portrait of a young Allan, against a white background, with short wavy hair and side parting gazing to her left with beatific smile.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. Good bold signature ‘Gracie Fields’, underlined and rising upwards. On 11.5 x 9 cm piece of thin light-grey card. In good condition, lightly aged, but with border of discoloration created by tape, a tiny part of which has encroached on the initial ‘G’ of the signature.

N.B. abebooks don't show a full description. Please either check my website or enquire. 110 items from the papers of C. W. Eborall, all but one relating to his work as a senior inspector with the South Eastern and Chatham Railway, and with 104 of the items dating from between 1911 and 1915. Almost all of the material relates to three reports compiled by CWE as 'special work' for the SECR general manager F. H.

A scarce item: no copies on WorldCat or JISC, nor at the Caird Library, National Martime Museum (though the latter does have a signed print of one of the illustrations). Twenty-six broadsheet pages, on news stock paper, in shiny paper covers printed in red, blue and brown. Filled with illustrations and topical advertisements for everything from corsetry to bicycles, from a full-page one on the inside front cover for ‘Brickwoods Jubilee Brew / 4d. per Small Bottle in Public Bars’, to one on the back cover reading ‘On Review / United Ales & Stout Are Supreme’.

Two nice ephemeral items. Both now quite scarce: the first (four copies on COPAC) more than the second. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Disbound and stabbed as issued. ONE: ‘No. 592. / The Blind Schoolmistress of Devonshire. / A True and Interesting Story.’ 8pp, 12mo. Slug at foot of p.8 (beneath the RTS’s dove-and-olive-branch device): ‘London: Printed by W. Clowes, Stamford-street, for The Religious Tract Society; and sold at their Depository, 56, Paternoster-row; also by J. and C.

An interesting document, neatly laid out in black with red underlining on both sides of 29 x 42 cm leaf. Painted in black lengthwise near one edge is ‘Winchelsea / 1805’, and 1805 would be a good year for the document’s composition, with Britain fighting the Napoleonic Wars and in the midst of invasion fears around the time of the Battle of Trafalgar. 2pp, large folio. On thick laid paper watermarked either ‘VI’ or ‘IV’ (depending on which side you look from). In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with closed tears and one nick (not affecting text) along central horizontal fold.

See her 18 October 2006 obituary in Variety, which states that 'Bigley had been playing Laurey in the London production of “Oklahoma!” when she was offered the role of Sarah Brown, the “mission doll” who entrances gambler Sky Masterson in the show based on Damon Runyon’s characters.' She won a Tony Award for her performance. A 10.5 x 13.5 black and white photographic image, printed on an 11.5 x 16.5 cm piece of matt card. In good condition, lightly aged. A head and torso shot of a seated Bigley dressed as Laurey, smailing over her left shoulder against a plain and shadowy background.

Taylor is noticed in his brother’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium, the second leaf carrying the address (‘R. S. MacKenzie Esqr / Chesterfield’), and a seal in black wax, beneath which is a corner of the leaf, cut away in opening the letter, the leaf also being annotated ‘James Taylor of Bakewell / author of “What is Money?”. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of brown paper mount along inner edge of second leaf. Good signature, with expansive flourish, ‘Jas Taylor’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and ruckled. Addressed to ‘Dear Maurice’ and signed ‘A Black’. For Lothian see ‘Memoirs of Adam Black’ (1885). He asks him to ‘glance at the inclosed’: ‘The description appears to me abundantly broad. And I hope to get the legion of proprietors in a trim to sign.’ He concludes by stating that he will ‘send for it’ that evening, ‘as Mr Bruce wishes to have it to send to Dymock tomorrow morning’. ‘Mr Bruce’ may be the future Sir James Knight Bruce (1791-1866); ‘Dymock’ is William Dymock, the Edinburgh advocate.

Printed on one side of a piece of laid paper, watermarked with date 1808, roughly 34.5 x 21 cm. Very good. Illustration at head, coloured in red and green, roughly 6.5 x 10 cm.

See the entry for the ‘Sailor King’ in the Oxford DNB. On 12 x 7 cm piece of paper, cut from the cover of a frank. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight smudging and a small patch of light discoloration at centre (away from signature). Set out in customary fashion, and addressed by the future king (with the year cropped): ‘London. December fourth [...] / Dr: Carmichael Smith / M. D. / Upper [?] / Near Staines / Middlesex’. Firm signature at bottom left, with slight smudging to loops of the initial ‘C’: ‘Clarence’. See Image.

Weyman was, as his entry in the Oxford DNB states, ?one of the most popular and skilled of the historical romance novelists of the cloak and dagger school?. Oscar Wilde recommended (in all seriousness) Weyman's novels as reading for convicts. 1p, 16mo. In fair condition, lightly creased and worn. Folded for postage. From the collection of Rosemary Barron, autograph collector. Reads: 'Dear Miss Barron / I am sorry that your letter has remained unanswered so long but I have been laid aside by illness.

See her entry, and that of her husband, in the Oxford DNB. Hers states: 'most memorably used her energies to found the National Association for Supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women of India, often known as the Countess of Dufferin Fund, in 1885.' 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium on grey paper. Addressed to ?Dear Miss Faithful? and signed ?H. Dufferin & Ava?. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. She thanks her for her ?kind note? and will be grateful for any help she can ?ever give with regard to my Fund?.

See her entry, and that of her husband, in the Oxford DNB. Black and white print postcard, on shiny paper stock. In good condition, lightly aged. Showing image of waterfall in thick foliage, with caption at foot ‘The Waterfall, Earby.’ Photographers’ details at bottom right.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with small strip of discoloration at head of first page and traces of previous mount on discoloured blank reverse of second leaf. He thanks Lanyon for his ‘renewed kindness’ durimg his ‘recent visit to Belfast’, and extends an invitation to ‘a party of a few friends we are about to have on the 5th of May’. With respect to Lanyon’s visit, ‘and to the earlier call I hope you will make on my wife (who is generally not in from her drive till 5.0)’, he makes him a street plan (on lower part of second page).

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. Each of the two letters is 1p, 4to, with the Prince’s letter on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, and the Earl’s signed autograph copy of his reply on the recto of the second leaf of the same bifolium. Both leaves are discoloured and damaged, with wear and loss from infestation, but the two signatures and the area around them are good and clear. The document has been folded twice for postage. Strip of white tape along gutter of blank reverse of second leaf from mount. ONE (Frederick’s ALS): Fifteen lines.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of mount on blank reverse. Folded once. Addressed to ‘My dear Spielmann’ and signed ‘Harry Furniss’. He asks if Spielmann is ‘at home on Sundays’, as he will be in town between Saturday and might be able to ‘look in for a minute sometime but I’ll not say exactly when’. ‘I’ll have so much to do, but probably it will be sometime in the morning before noon. / Leave all till then. / You don’t say how you are’. Postscript: ‘Lectures going very well’ (last two words underlined four times).

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with pinholes to one corner. Signed ‘Julius Harrison’. Begins ‘Dear Boosey, / From the recent batch sent, I return the enclosed which I fancy may all be useful in the English market. / I am struck with the “Flowers in the Valley” as a possible Alto lead number. Please see my remarks thereon.’ He explains that he is ‘trying to find an Alto lead piece for Cleethorpes Festival next July’, and could include the ‘Flowers’ if it were ‘published in C as soon as possible’.

A nice item relating to a famously secretive and influential society. See Taylor’s entry in the Oxford DNB (Ferrar is not to be confused with the Dean of Canterbury Frederic Farrar, who was an Apostle). 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Sixteen lines, very neatly written. On aged and creased paper, with part of the leaf torn away at top left (not affecting text). Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Tom Taylor Esqre. / 8 Richmond Terrace / Whitehall / S.W.’ and signed ‘Fredc: Ferrar. / Genl.

Such was the longevity of Tether?s Financial Times ?Lombard? column that it featured in the Guinness Book of Records, so the entire absence of biographical information seems odd. Conspiracy theorists might point to the fact that he was an early opponent of the Bilderberg Group: an article on them was rejected by the Financial Times in November 1976. It is reprinted in his ?Banned Articles of C. Gordon Tether? (1977). From the papers of Philip Dosse, proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players.

The original item. On one side of a piece of a piece of paper roughly 70 x 100 cm, folded into a 10.5 x 15.5 cm packet of fifty panels. An attractive item, but in need of some attention: on brittle and discoloured paper, with several closed tears. The map was the work of Col. H. B. Hudson. A significant map, still cited in the Sino-Indian border dispute. For the background see 'Two Important Maps from the Survey of India', Geographical Journa, October 1915. First published in 1914, but the only copy of this 1917 version located in the National Library of Australia.

1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, with slight wear at foot of gutter. Folded once for postage. The signature ‘Reginald Stuart Poole’ is large and expansive. The text, in another hand, reads: ‘Sir, / I regret to say that I cannot entertain the purchase of the coin of Egbert which you showed me the other day’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Philip Dosse, proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts 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; and Michael Barber, 'What was Books and Bookmen?', Literary Review blog, 18 August 2023. On one side of a 14 x 10 cm compliments slip in red ink, which has 'Sir JOHN BETJEMAN' at top left, and 'With Compliments' centred.

A controversial figure much-ridiculed by the media, but nevertheless wielding considerable influence. See her entry in the Oxford DNB. All three items in good condition. Items 1 and 2 are 11.5 x 9 cm compliments slips for ‘The Secretary’ of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, with the address in the bottom left-hand corner: ‘MRS. MARY WHITEHOUSE | Triangle Farm House | Far Forest | Nr. KIDDERMINSTER | Worcs.’ and her phone number at bottom right. ONE: ‘The Secretary’ crossed out by Whitehouse and replaced with her signature ‘Mary Whitehouse’. Autograph message: ‘In haste.

from the end of a letter. A good example of Crane's stylized and distinctive signature. Reads: 'Believe me, / Very truly yours, / Walter Crane'. The top part of a cropped 'P S' is present at bottom left. See Image.

See Hudsons's entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, foolscap 8vo, on three leaves, with fourth covering leaf ('23rd Oct. 1846. / Copy / Railway Minutes / Thorp & Dickson / &c &c'). Attached at one corner with red ribbon. Headed: 'Alnwick October 23 - 1846 / Minutes on projected Railways / in the Manor of Tynemouth - / Read to Mr. Hudson, of which he requested a copy.' There are five minutes, the last covering two pages. The first three read: '1.

From the papers of Philip Dosse, proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts 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; and Michael Barber, 'What was Books and Bookmen?', Literary Review blog, 18 August 2023. Both items in good condition, lightly aged. Both folded once for postage. Both 1p, 12mo. ONE (1 October 1974): It was 'nice' of Dosse to write, but he 'needn't have given it a second thought'.

See Berlin's entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse (often addressed, as in this letter, as ‘Dossé’) was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts 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. Both items 1p, landscape 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged.