AUSTRALIA

See his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Despite the Prince of Wales’s endorsement, the novelist Sally Emerson (b. 1954) proved to be the last editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’, which followed the suicide of the proprietor Philip Dosse of Hansom Books. (See her article ‘Death of a Bookman’, in Standpoint magazine, October 2018.) 2pp, 4to. On two leaves stapled together, the first with letterhead in blue ink with biblical quotation and illustration of a cross and a crown of thorns. Signed ‘T Noffs’.

‘Mr Flotsam and Mr Jetsam’ are regarded as precursors of Flanders and Swan. The present item is on a 14 x 13 cm leaf torn from an album. The high-acidity paper is discoloured, otherwise in good condition, with no chipping or wear. Entirely blank on both sides apart from the autograph ‘Flotsam’, with diagonal flourish, beneath a highly stylized and simplified portrait of flotsam seated at his piano. A nice and unusual item. See Image

From the papers of Sylvia and Robert Lynd. Scarce: the only copy on JISC at Bristol University. Not in NLI or BL. 16pp, 12mo. Stapled. In green printed wraps. Heavily worn, with lightly-rusted staples, and with the back wrap separated. The centre pages carry a map of ‘The Real Position in Ulster’, with explanatory note. Begins with ‘Facsimile of Message from the Hon. A. Fisher, Premier of the Australian Commonwealth.’, dated 16 February 1912. Quotations (some with portraits) from individuals from South Africa, Canada, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand.

An informative collection of material, mainly relating to Australia, assembled in the years immediately following the First World War. The collection consists of fifty items: twenty-one typescripts (1-21), twenty-eight manuscripts (22-49), and one printed (50). Dated items range from 1919 to 1924, with the others appearing to date from around the same time. All items clearly legible, and all except item 2 complete. All but item 50 on loose leaves of paper.

Hodgson’s entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography omits to mention the fact that the territory named Eton Vale which he squatted with his brother Christopher Pemberton Hodgson (1821-1865), was taken by force from the Barunggam people, and that, as the brother recalled in 1848, ‘so many hundreds of these poor creatures’ were ‘sacrificed’ in the struggle over the territory. From the papers of Evan Marlett Boddy (c.1847-1934), who is presumably the recipient ‘Marcian’, author of the named ‘brochure’, published in Birmingham in 1901. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, folded once.

See his entry, and that of his father the civil engineer, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On separate letterheads. The recipient is not named and there is no salutation (though the letter is complete). Signed ‘Brassey’. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘I have two maxims for [hourly?] use. / I do the little I can do and leave the rest to thee / What thou livest live well. The rest commit to Heaven / Nor should the last message of the greatest sailor since the world began ever be forgotten / England expects that every man this day will do his duty’.

Note: a. He also chaired the board of the London-based South Australian Colonisation Commission created by the South Australia Act 1834 to oversee the new colony of South Australia. He also chaired the board of the London-based South Australian Colonisation Commission created by the South Australia Act 1834 to oversee the new colony of South Australia, before the colony went bankrupt and he was sacked in 1841.

This document, signed by George IV as Prince Regent, and by the former Prime Minister Lord Sidmouth as Home Secretary, relates to Matthias Maher (1798-1865), a Royal Navy officer who was twice tried at the Old Bailey on a charge of forgery. On the first occasion, 6 May 1818, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity; and removed to the criminal asylum in St George's Fields. Maher was found sound of mind – as the present document reveals by Sir George Leman Tuthill (1772–1835) and Edward Wright (c.1788-1859), the latter to die of disgrace in Australia.

16mo (13.5 x 10.5 cm), 288 pp. In original black and red printed wraps, illustrated on front with illustrations relating to the city. Fold-out 'Map of Sydney' (26 x 38 cm) in black and grey, with advertisements on reverse. Lacking the fold-out map which should be present on a stub between pp 124 and 125. Good, a little aged with slight staining at foot of first leaf. In worn and stained wraps, becoming detached from book at front. Ownership inscription of 'U Reynell 1895' in pencil on front wrap. Advertisements throughout. Numerous photographic illustrations.

Dillon's entry in the Oxford DNB states that on 6 March 1889 he ‘sailed for Australia to solicit contributions; he also toured New Zealand, and returned to Ireland via the United States in late April 1890. His mission raised about £33,000’. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Addressed to ‘My dear Miss Meredith’ and signed ‘Yours very Sincerely / John Dillon’. In fair condition, lightly aged, with very light transfer of ink from another letter (from blotting pad?) onto third leaf, including signature. Folded for postage.

Interesting items, casting light on the life of an Australian rural doctor of the Victorian period. A selection of Bartlett’s memoirs was published under the title ‘Bush Doctor’, edited by Jane Caiger-Smith and Michael C Bartlett, in 2011. There is an good illustrated article on him and his family (‘A Classic Bush Doctor’) in ‘Australian Rural Doctor’, June 2013. Both letters are addressed to ‘Dear Mr. D’Eath’ and signed ‘Felix P. Bartlett’.

An excellent letter, describing the state of affairs in Sicily during the period of British occupation, 1806-1814. The recipient Sir Sidney Smith (see Oxford DNB) was second in command to Sir Edward Pellew, head of the Mediterranean squadron which included Bromley’s ship HMS America, a 76-gun third-rater, launched only three years before, in 1810. The present letter is written with the ship on the verge of a notable engagement (described in the European Magazine, March 1814, pp.245-247, quoting from the London Gazette). From Bromley’s entry by P. R.

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and Australian Dictionary of Biography. The recipient George Kenneth Menzies (1869-1954) was Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts between 1917 and 1935. The nine items are in good condition, lightly aged, and are folded for postage. Each bears the stamp of the RSA, some with manuscript docketting. Letters of 4 April and 18 September 1925 are in autograph, the rest typed; all nine are signed ‘Walter Rosesnhain’.

Barton, who was born in London, joined the Royal Mint’s Melbourne branch as one of two assayers on its opening in 1869; in 1887 he was promoted to Superintendent, and in 1895 to Deputy Master, holding that position until his reitrement in 1904. See his entry in the Encyclopaedia of Australian Science and Innovation. In case Barton has misspelled the name, the recipient may be William Dawson Grubb (1817-1879) or his son Frederick William Grubb (1844-1923), who have a joint-entry in the Australian Dictionary of National Biography. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Signed ‘Robert Barton’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The item is from the Gatty papers. (Herbert is writing to Gatty in Trinidad, and it is Gatty who will be appointed in place of the subject of the letter.) 1p, 8vo, on good laid paper. In good condition, but with creases from having been folded into packet (not through signature). A good looking item, with ?Confidential? in left-hand margin. Reads: ?Sir, / I am directed by Lord Knutsford to ask you to be so good as to inform him confidentially whether Mr. Justice Cook, Puisne Judge in Trinidad is to your knowledge in the habit of drinking to excess.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The correspondence dates from the year 1901, Bligh having acceded to the earldom on the death of his elder brother Edward on 31 October 1900, and the material consists of what is probably the first set of banking instructions, mainly relating to his ‘accession account’, with recipients of payments ranging from the Dowager Countess to Rochester Golf Club. 10pp, foolscap 8vo; 2pp, 4to; 10pp, 12mo. The fifteen items range in size from foolscap 8vo to 12mo. Four items (letters to Coutts from Wadeson & Malleson) are typed and the rest are in manuscript.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice for postage. Begins: ‘Mr. Westall presents his compliments to Miss Macirone & begs to assure her how very much obliged to her he feels for the honor she has done him in sending him two tickets for her morning concert’. He will have ‘the greatest pleasure in attending’ the concert, and is ‘quite sure he shall be very much delighted’.

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) 1p, 4to. Aged and creased, on discoloured high-acidity paper. Folded twice for postage, and with closed tear at head of vertical fold. Slight damage and rust staining from removal of staple. The letterhead incorporates two photographic portraits of Lauri, with press comment from ‘Everyone’s Magazine’ and career resume beginning: ‘Ernest Lauri / (The Singing Anzac) / STARRED IN AUSTRALIAN PICTURES / Versatile Vocalist and Monologist’. Macqueen-Pope is not named, but is presumably the recipient.

Underlined signature on 9 x 1.5 cm piece of wove paper, apparently cut from letter. In good condition. Reads ‘Joan Sutherland.’ Reverse blank. See image

See their entries in the Oxford DNB. Two Autograph Signatures, on an 11 x 5 cm slip cut from a leaf of an album. In good condition, lightly aged. On one side: ‘Novar / G. G. Australia 1914 - 20. / Stirling 14. 10. 22.’ (The date ‘1914’ is slightly smudged. On the other side ‘Katharine Atholl - Jan. [...]’; and above it, in another hand ‘Duchess of Atholl - Under Secretary for Edu’. See image.

Plain 11.5 x 7.5 cm card, with letterhead in red. The card reads: ‘Dear Herman Hart / I can barely write even today with rheumaticky right hand. I have written to Thring to say that I propose you & have known you for years. It gives me great pleasure to do so / Yrs sincerely / Douglas Sladen’. On reverse, in contemporary hand, ‘Author of Japanese Marriage.’

Chambers is not mentioned in Dame Nellie Melba’s entry in the Oxford DNB. She met him in London in 1895, and their affair ended for unknown reasons in 1904. It is clearly the ‘notorious’ affair in whose fame Chambers ‘rejoiced to the last’, according to Somerset Maugham’s devastating assessment of the man in ‘A Writer’s Notebook’ (1946). Harry de Windt gives a markedly kinder account of Chambers in his ‘My Note-Book at Home and Abroad’ (1923). The recipient would appear to be Chambers’s agent. Regarding the content of this letter, see ‘The Theatre’, 1 November 1894: ‘Mr.

Chambers is not mentioned in Dame Nellie Melba’s entry in the Oxford DNB. She met him in London in 1895, and their affair ended for unknown reasons in 1904. It is clearly the ‘notorious’ affair in whose fame Chambers ‘rejoiced to the last’, according to Somerset Maugham’s devastating assessment of the man in ‘A Writer’s Notebook’ (1946). Harry de Windt gives a markedly kinder account of Chambers in his ‘My Note-Book at Home and Abroad’ (1923).

One page, cr. 8vo, fold marks, good condition. Text: I have your letter of March 5th,and am posting to you - under separate cover - 'The World we live in' and 'Australia's place in the World'. | With my thanks for the courtesy of your letter. With additional note in his handwriting, Will be forwarded in next shipment.

Piece of letter, shaped, 7 x 4cm, laid down on paper (part of album leaf prob.), 14 x 8cm. Text: I am | Yrs very truly | Linlithgow. Docketed in pencil with information about him (Governor-General of Australia). See image. On reverse of paper, the signature of the Breadalbanes.

Album Page (extracted), 20.5 x 16cm, very good condition. A full page in his smallish neat hand. He starts by saying some general words about Happiness concluding It is something far more than the immediate reaction to a piece of very good news. He can recall many such moments, including family life, firendship, etc., but one stands out. He goes on to describe in evocative style The most vivid moment of all [...] in the Australian bush. I sat in the shade of a large blue gum tree. The glare of the hot summer sun was broken up by the l;eaves and formed a pattern all around me.

5pp, 8vo. On bifolium and single leaf of thin ruled paper. In fair condition, on lightly aged and discoloured paper. Closely written, in a not-entirely legible hand, with the first page having the underlined heading: 'to the Editor of the Tonbridgian'. (The Tonbridgian was the magazine of Tonbridge School, where Wilson was educated, and the letter was presumably published as intended.) The letter begins: 'Dear Sir, | I promised when in England last year that I would send a letter sometimes about our work in Melanesia.

Two years after arriving in England from Australia in 1913, Franklin White entered the Slade School. His studies were interrupted by the First World War, during which he worked as a draughtsman at the Admiralty. In 1919 he re-entered the Slade, and was soon invited by Tonks to join the teaching staff. On his retirement in 1957, he devoted his full energies to the Samuel Palmer School of Art, which he had run from his home in Shoreham since 1924, when he first held summer classes in landscape painting for his Slade students.

The context is explained in Wallace's 'Island Life' (1880), in which he discusses 'a fragment of a well-formed stone axe' that his 'friend A. C. Swinton, Esq.' found, 'while working in the then almost unknown gold-field of Maryborough, Victoria, in January, 1855'. Later in the book Wallace refers to the brother of the recipients of the letter, 'Mr. Mackworth Shore', i.e. Mackworth Charles Shore, as 'one of the discoverers of the gold-field, before any rush to it had taken place'. See the Oxford DNB entry on one of the two recipients of the letter, Louisa Catherine Shore.

The full title reads: 'Can Hiraethlon | David Davies (Dai'r Cantwr,) | Pan yn Garcharor yng Nghaerfyrddin, am y Terfysg yn amser Becca. | Cenir ar y dôn “Roslin Castle.'” The title may be translated as 'A nostalgic song, written when a prisoner in Carmarthen, for the riot in Becca's time. | Sung to the tune of 'Roslin Castle'. 4pp, 12mo (15.5 x 9 cm). Paginated [1]-4. Disbound. A frail survival: aged and worn, with damp-stain along one edge. Beneath the title is a small vignette of a sailing ship, and at the end of the final page is another of a crown. Poem in four sixteen-line stanzas.