ASQUITH

[Violet Bonham Carter, daughter of Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, step-daughter of Margot Asquith, and wife of Maurice Bonham Carter.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr. Seyers', declining 'offers of hospitality' from Monmouth Town.

Author: 
Violet Bonham Carter (1887-1969), daughter of Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith [Herbert Henry Asquith], step-daughter of Margot Asquith, and wife of Maurice Bonham Carter
Publication details: 
22 June 1932. On letterhead of Stockton House, Codford St. Mary, Wilts.
£120.00

An opponent of appeasement and Winston Churchill's closest female friend. See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘Mr. Seyers’ and signed ‘Violet Bonham Carter’. She regrets that she is unable to accept his invitation to ‘come to Monmouth in November - as my plans are very uncertain - it is just possible I might be abroad then. / It is so good of the Monmouth Town [bench?] to invite me’. She ends by asking him to thank them for ‘their kind offers of hospitality’.

[H. H. Asquith, Liberal Prime Minister.] Autograph Signature to Printed Circular regarding 'the University Settlements' [in London's East End and elsewhere] as a solution for 'social problems'.

Author: 
H. H. Asquith [Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith] (1852-1928), Liberal Prime Minister [University Settlements; Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel; Oxford House, Bethnal Green]
H. H. Asquith
Publication details: 
Printed Circular dated 'October, 1911.' No place.
£65.00
H. H. Asquith

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The ‘settlement’ movement was the result of growing unease among the educated classes regarding the condition of the poor. The two most celebrated settlements, both still active, are Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel and Oxford House in Bethnal Green. From the papers of Sir William David Ross (1877-1971), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford. The present printed circular is 1p, 12mo. Printed on wove watermarked paper. In good condition, lightly aged and folded once. Asquith’s signature is genuine. Reads: ‘October, 1911.

[Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford.] Autograph Letter Signed (Draft?), urging her ‘Darling’ to overcome the ‘love of blue in yr. pictures’ and ‘do an oil sketch of white on white’. With reference to Selwyn Image.

Author: 
Margot Asquith [Emma Margaret Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, née Tennant] (1864-1945), wife of Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, author and socialite
Publication details: 
12 March 1932; on letterhead of 44 Bedford Square, W.C.1. [London.]
£50.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. An interesting letter, whose circumstances are intriguing. 3pp, 12mo. On two leaves of letterheaded paper. In pencil. From the Asquith papers, and possibly a draft letter to her son Anthony (‘Puffin’). In good condition, lightly creased. Folded once. The signature is a short squiggle. The handwriting is challenging, and the following interpretation is tentative. She begins: ‘My Darling, I felt rather guilty after leaving you about abusing yr. love of blue in yr. pictures. - I can see that nothing I say can alter yr. love of this colour, & I hate hurting yr.

[Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford.] Autograph Signature ('Margot Oxford') to Copy of Typed Letter to the Editor of The Times, regarding the plans of the University of London with regard to the preservation of Torrington Square, Bloomsbury.

Author: 
Margot Asquith [Emma Margaret Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, née Tennant] (1864-1945), wife of Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, author and socialite [University of London; Birkbeck]
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [Circa 1935.]
£120.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, long 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Headed ‘TORRINGTON SQUARE. / To the EDITOR of The TIMES’. Whether the letter was published or not, and if so whether it appeared in its entirety, is unclear. Clearly a carbon, but with her characteristic signature at end in black ink ‘Margot Oxford’. The forty-seven-line text has four autograph emendations.

[‘A deliberate attempt was made to overthrow the Government’: Lloyd George’s Chief Whip lays into a Liberal on the eve of the ‘Coupon Election’ following the end of the Great War.] Long Typed Letter Signed from Frederick Guest to W. H. Dickinson.

Author: 
Frederick Edward Guest [Freddie Guest] (1875-1937), politician, sportsman and promoter of aviation, Chief Whip in Lloyd George's Coalition Liberal Party [Sir Willoughby Hyett Dickinson (1859-1943)]
Publication details: 
26 November 1918. On embossed letterhead of 12 Downing Street, S.W.1. [London.]
£150.00

An extraordinary letter, rubbing the nose of a pro-Asquith Liberal in the muck on the eve of his leader Lloyd George’s landslide Coalition victory in the 1918 ‘Coupon Election’. Guest, who was Winston Churchill’s cousin, is described in his entry in the Oxford DNB as a ‘highly controversial’ figure who ‘knew where all the bodies were buried’, a useful attribute for someone who served as the Coalition Chief Whip from 1917 to 1921. The recipient Willoughby Hyett Dickinson (1859-1943), later an influential proponent of the League of Nations, began his career a Liberal MP.

[Anthony Asquith, British film director.] Signed Autograph Inscription to Louis Frewen, of rHodes Hose Library, autograph collector..

Author: 
Anthony Asquith ['Puffin'] (1902-1968), film director ('The Winslow Boy', 'The Browning Version', 'Pygmalion') and aesthete, son of Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and socialite Margot Asquith
Asquith
Publication details: 
December 1931. No place.
£45.00
Asquith

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, with light dabs of glue from mount on reverse. On 11.5 x 9 cm card with rounded edges. Clearly in response to a request for an autograph, he writes: 'For Louis Frewen / with all good wishes / from / Anthony Asquith / December 1931'.

[Sheena Tennant, Scottish composer and Margot Asquith's niece.] Two pieces of printed sheet music: her piano accompaniments of 'An Irish Cradle Song', 'From Poems by W. B. Yeats'; and Yeats's 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree'.

Author: 
Sheena Lilian Grant Tennant (1883-1974, later Kendall), daughter of James Tennant (1852-1933) of Fairlieburne, Fairlie, Ayrshire, Scotland, industrialist and cousin of Margot Asquith [W. B. Yeats]
Sheena
Publication details: 
Both items published by The Frederick Harris Company, London. 'An Irish Cradle Song' from 85 Newman Street, Oxford Street, W. [1914.] 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' from 40 Berners Street, London, W1. [1917]
£350.00
Sheena

Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Excessively scarce, with COPAC only listing one copy (at the British Library) of both items. ONE: 'An Irish Cradle Song. Words by W. B. Yeats. From Poems by W. B. Yeats, published by T. Fisher Unwin'. [1914.] 5 + [1]pp., folio. Title page carries the gaelic motto: Goth yani me von gilli beg, | N heur ve thu more a creena. TWO: 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree. Words by W. B. Yeats'. [1917.] 5 + [1]pp., folio. Illustration of tree on bank of lake on front cover.

[Irish Independence] Striking original coloured Conservative Party election poster by Halkett, captioned 'Their Irish Master', showing John Redmond, with flag of 'IRISH INDEPENDENCE', leading Asquith, Lloyd George, Winston Churchill by the nose..

Author: 
George Roland Halkett (1855-1918), cartoonist [John Redmond; Herbert Henry Asquith; David Lloyd George; Winston Churchill; Irish Home Rule; Eire]
Ireland
Publication details: 
[1910.] 'No. 256. Published by the National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations, St. Stephen's Chambers, Westminster, S.W. Printed by Sir Joseph Causton & Sons, Limited, 9, Eastcheap, London, E.C.'
£500.00
Ireland

Lithograph. Landscape, 51 x 76 cm. In fair though fragile condition and worthy of framing, although aged and with a few small holes repaired. Weakened folds mainly repaired on reverse.. A determined Redmond marches to the right of the picture, large green flag of 'IRISH INDEPENDENCE' over his right shoulder, in his left hand three chains, linked to the noses of Asquith (with 'HOME RULE' paper under his arm), Lloyd George (holding a 'BUDGET BILL') and Winston Churchill (carrying a 'HOME DEPARTMENT' paper), who follow submissively.

[Vaughan Nash, writing as Private Secretary to Prime Minister H. H. Asquith.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Vaughan Nash') to 'Sir William', conveying the prime minister's regret at a misunderstanding over a royal commission.

Author: 
Vaughan Nash (1861-1932), Private Secretary to Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, economist, journalist, husband of Rosalind Nash, correspondent of Florence Nightingale
Publication details: 
1 March 1909. 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, SW [London].
£50.00

1p, 12mo. On aged paper, with closed tear repaired on reverse with brown paper. Folded twice. Addressed to 'Dear Sir William'. The prime minister (Asquith) has asked him to say that he is 'quite at a loss to understand how he came to be so misinformed as to the progress of the negotiations connected with the appointment of the Royal Commission'. All the prime minister can do is 'express his regret at the misunderstanding'.

[Vaughan Nash, writing as Private Secretary to Prime Minister H. H. Asquith.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Vaughan Nash') to 'Sir William', conveying the prime minister's regret at a misunderstanding over a royal commission.

Author: 
Vaughan Nash (1861-1932), Private Secretary to Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, economist, journalist, husband of Rosalind Nash, correspondent of Florence Nightingale
Publication details: 
1 March 1909. 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, SW [London].
£50.00

1p, 12mo. On aged paper, with closed tear repaired on reverse with brown paper. Folded twice. Addressed to 'Dear Sir William'. The prime minister (Asquith) has asked him to say that he is 'quite at a loss to understand how he came to be so misinformed as to the progress of the negotiations connected with the appointment of the Royal Commission'. All the prime minister can do is 'express his regret at the misunderstanding'.

[Lady Cynthia Asquith, author, as personal secretary of Sir J. M. Barrie.] Autograph Letter Signed ('C. Greene. | (For Sir James Barrie)', to Theo Feilden, conveying Barrie's answer regarding 'the honour of your suggestion'.

Author: 
'C. Greene', i.e. Lady Cynthia Asquith (1887-1960), personal secretary and principal legatee of Sir J. M. Barrie, author of 'Peter Pan' [Theo Feilden, Director General of the Empire Trade League]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Adelphi Terrace House, Strand, W.C.2. 17 May 1922.
£100.00

Lady Cynthia Asquith was Barrie's personal secretary in his later years, and inherited the bulk of his estate, but not the rights to 'Peter Pan'. The letter is 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with small holes to one corner from staple. With red date stamp marking receipt. Begins: 'Dear Sir | Sir James Barrie directs me to express his regret at your letter having remained unanswered for so long – but he has been absent from London, and unable to attend to his correspondence.

[ Margot Asquith, socialite and author, wife of Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith. ] Autograph Note Signed ('Margot Oxford') acknowledging receipt of a letter and a book.

Author: 
Margot Asquith [ Emma Alice Margaret Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith; née Tennant ] (1864-1945), Scottish socialite and author, wife of Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 44 Bedford Square, WC1 [ London ]. 13 February 1936.
£28.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Thank you very much for yr. letter & the book | Yrs | Margot Asquith | 13 Feb 36'.

[ Cynthia Asquith; J.M. Barrie ] Autograph Note Signed "C. Greene" [Cynthia Asquith] to Morley Stuart, Editor, "Cambridge Daily News", Barrie's response to an article in the newspaper about his change of hand for writing. With related clippings etc.

Author: 
Cynthia Asquith ("C. Greene"), Secretary to J.M. Barrie, wife of Herbert Asquith, the PM's son.
Publication details: 
[Headed] Adelphi Terrace House, Strand, W.C.2, 1 February 1937.
£65.00

ANS, one page, 12mo, good condition, saying "I am asked by Sir James Barrie to thanmk you very much for a nice letter and an interesting article. | Yours daithfully | C. Greene | (For Sir James Barrie)". Accompanied by: a. newspaper clipping about "Barrie Handwriting Contrasts" - Barrie's change from right to left (because the right 'gave out') illustrated and discussed; b. a small clipping entitled "Sir James Barrie's Last Autograph", with detail and illustration; c. Typed Statement concerning "The Mysterious C.

[ H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister. ] Autograph Signature ('H. H. Asquith').

Author: 
H. H. Asquith [ Herbert Henry Asquith ] (1852-1928), Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1908-1916
Publication details: 
Without place and date.
£30.00

On 3 x 9 cm piece of card, cut from the end of a letter. Reads: 'Yours sincerely | H. H. Asquith'. In poor condition, heavily creased and marked.

[ Raymond Asquith, son of Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and member of 'The Corrupt Coterie'. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Raymond Asquith') to 'Dummett' [ Sir Robert Ernest Dummett ], regarding speaking at a political meeting.

Author: 
Raymond Asquith (1878-1916), son of British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, barrister and member of 'The Corrupt Coterie' [ Sir Robert Ernest Dummett (1872-1941) ]
Publication details: 
The first on letterhead of 1 Paper Buildings, Temple, EC [ London ]. 14 December 1908. The second (with mourning border) on letterhead of 49 Bedford Square, WC [ London ]. 8 January 1909.
£100.00

Both items in fair condition, with light signs of age and wear. ONE: 2pp., 12mo. He complains of having done 'no political speaking for 2 or 3 years now', and of being 'a poor hand at it even when in practice'. Dummett is nevertheless invited to 'command' him on 29 January. TWO: 3pp., 12mo. Circumstances having arisen, he has to apologise for 'crying off'. He is certain that 'in the 3 weeks which remain' Dummett will have 'no difficulty in securing a substitute who will be much more effective'. From the papers of Sir R. E. Dummett.

[ Herbert Henry Asquith, Liberal Prime Minister. ] Autograph Note Signed ('H. H. Asquith') to W. J. Fisher, agreeing to join a committee appealing for help for the family of Harold Frederic.

Author: 
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith [ H. H. Asquith ] (1852-1928), English Liberal Prime Minister
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 20 Cavendish Square, W. [ London ] 15 November 1898.
£55.00

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'My dear Sir, | I shall be very happy to be one of the committee who are to appeal for help for the family of the late Harold Frederic.' The letter relates to a Victorian scandal. In 1884 Frederic (1856-1898) had come to England with his wife and five children as the London correspondent of the New York TImes. He set up a second household with Kate Lyon, with whom he had a further three children. Lyons was a Christian Scientist, and when Frederic suffered a stroke in 1898, she tried to cure him by faith healing.

[ Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, Liberal Prime Minister. ] Autograph Document Signed ('Oxford & Asquith'), ' a word of greeting to the students of the University of Glasgow'.

Author: 
Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-1928), 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, Liberal Prime Minister between 1908 and 1916 [ The University of Glasgow ]
Publication details: 
Undated [ 1920s. ]
£130.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The document is possibly a draft, as it contains a couple of emendations. Describing himself as 'an old Lord Rector of 20 years' standing' (he held the post from 1905 to 1908), he praises the University's 'great traditions, which have been maintained & enriched by many generations of their predecessors'. He urges them to 'carry on the torch which has been handed down to them, and to keep their famous University in its place in the forefront of the vangard of the <?> of Culture & Science, to which Scotland & the Empire owe so much'.

[Herbert Henry Asquith, Liberal Prime Minister.] Autographh Signature ('H H Asquith') on envelope, franking a letter to Quintin Hogg.

Author: 
H. H. Asquith [Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith] (1852-1928), British Liberal Prime Minister, 1908-1916.
Publication details: 
Home Office, Whitehall. Envelope with London and Brighton postmarks, 10 March 1893.
£28.00

10 x 13 cm envelope. In fair condition, aged and worn, with damage and loss to back flap.. Asquith has written out the address as follows: 'Quintin Hogg Esq | 5 Cavendish Square | W'. The last two lines have been crossed out, and the address amended in another hand to '56 Westbourne St | West Brighton'. The front of the envelope has a square London postmark in black ink, and circular frank in red; the rear has two more postmarks (one London and the other Brighton. The flap has 'Home Office | Whitehall' printed on it.

Three Typed Letters Signed (the first two in full and the third 'E P Gorini') the first two to Violet Bonham Carter and the last to her son Mark, the first in English and the last two in Italian.

Author: 
Edvige Pesce Gorini, Italian poet, editor of the 'Giornale dei Poeti' [Violet Bonham Carter (1887-1969); Mark Raymond Bonham Carter (1922-1994), Baron Bonham-Carter, Liberal politician]
Publication details: 
21 February 1946; 15 May 1947; and 28 July 1948. All three from Via Angelo Poliziano No. 69, Rome.
£120.00

Text of all three items clear and complete. All three on lightly aged paper, creased and with some wear to extremities. Letter One (8vo, 1 p; 20 lines of text): She thanks Bonham Carter for her 'kind and appreciative letter' and 'will see that through the English Embassy' she receives 'a copy of my short story: "I due prigionieri", of which your son is the protagonist'. (An officer in the Grenadier Guards, during the war Mark Bonham Carter had escaped from a prison camp in northern Italy.) Describes material she is sending relating to her 'literary career'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed ('M Asquith' and 'Margot Asquith'), both to the Editor of the London Daily Graphic Harold Edward Lawton.

Author: 
Margot Asquith [Emma Alice Margaret Asquith] (1864-1945), Countess of Oxford and Asquith
Publication details: 
3 and 8 December 1920; the first on letterhead of 44 Bedford Square, London W.C.1, and the second on letterhead of The Wharf, Sutton Courtney, Berkshire.
£100.00

Both items written in pencil and good, on lightly aged paper, with their stamped and postmarked envelopes addressed by Asquith. Both envelopes with traces of brown paper mount adhering to reverse, and both docketed by the Graphic's editor 'To me Harold Lawton'. Letter One (12mo, 4 pp, headed 'Private'): Amusingly outraged letter regarding a visit by 'two gentlemen' of whom Asquith 'had no sort of knowledge'. Graphic journalists, they assured Asquith 'that nothing wd. be written about me without my seeing it first [last five words underlined in red]'.

Autograph Card Signed and Autograph Note Signed (both 'Margot Asquith'), both in French, to unnamed male correspondent ['Cher trest Cher Coq'].

Author: 
Margot Asquith [nee Margot Emma Alice Tennant], Countess of Oxford and Asquith (1864-1945)
Publication details: 
Card 1 July and Note 3 July [both no year, but before 1919]; both with printed address '20 Cavendish Square, W. [London]'.
£76.00

Dimensions of card roughly 8 x 12 cm. Very good though lightly aged. Asking her correspondent to dinner in the following week. Note, addressed to 'Cher tres Cher Coq', on one side of 8vo grey paper. Very good, though lightly creased. She will be 'enchante de vous voir chez moi' on Wednesday [6 July] at 1 o'clock. Both items written before the Asquiths 1919 move from Cavendish Square to 44 Bedford Square. Two items,

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