AUTOGRAPH

Eighteenth century manuscript manorial Court Leet 'Charge in the Court Baron', engrossed on vellum, giving instructions for an enquiry to be made by a land steward into matters 'that concen the Lord's Interest'.

Author: 
[Eighteenth-century Manorial Court Leet 'Charge in the Court Baron']
Publication details: 
Place and date not given. [English; mid-eighteenth century?]
£160.00

Engrossed on both sides of a long strip of vellum, 18.5 x 76 cm. Written in a neat clerk's hand. The vellum is worn, with slight damage at the head, and some passages, particularly at the start, are illegible. The heading appears to be 'Court Leet Charge', and the sub-heading 'Charge in the Court Baron' appears twice. The text is strongly reminiscent to the relevant sections in Giles Jacob's 'Complete Court-Keeper, or, Land-Steward's Assistant'.

Manuscript document relating to the Whittlewood Disafforesting Act of 1855, with 'Extract from Plan of the Forest of Whittlewood in the Counties of Northampton and Buckingham (In Three Parts) Part 2. Wakefield Walk and Hanger Walk'.

Author: 
T. R. Fearnside, Keeper of the Land Revenue Records; William Fry Channell; George Wingrove Cooke; Nathan Wetherell [The Whittlewood Disafforesting Act of 1855; Whittlewood Forest, Northamptonshire]
Publication details: 
Copy certified as correct by T. R. Fearnside, Keeper of the Records, 13 February 1860. Plan originally dated 'this 8th. day of July 1856'.
£120.00

Consisting of a manuscript transcription of a document allotting portions of the forest 'for the exclusive pasturage of the Commonable Cattle', and an accompanying coloured map or plan on cloth. The whole folded into a 34 x 12 cm. packet, within a covering leaf docketed: 'Dated 8th. July 1856 | Extract from Award of Commissioners under the Whittlewood Disafforesting Act of 1855 -'. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, but with the covering leaf heavily aged and discoloured. The transcription consists of 3pp., 4to, neatly written out on three stamped 41.5 x 34 cm.

[Offprint.] Account of an Ancient Scotch Deed. By Rev. William Reeves, D.D. ['a grant of certain lands in Islay, from Mac Donnell of the Isles to Brian Vicar Magee']

Author: 
Rev. William Reeves [(1815-1892), later Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore; Mac Donnell of the Isles; Islay; Brian Vicar Magee]
Publication details: 
'From the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, January 12, 1852.'
£56.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. On aged and lightly-creased paper, with one stain in margin. This offprint is scarce: the only copies on COPAC at the National Library of Scotland and St Andrews.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Welby') from Lord Welby [Reginald Earle Welby, Baron Welby] to Col. E. S. E. Childers, regarding his biography of his father the Liberal politician Hugh Culling Eardley Childers, 'the great Colonies' and the British Empire.

Author: 
Reginald Earle Welby (1832-1915), Baron Welby, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and President of the Royal Statistical Society [Hugh Culling Eardley Childers and his son Col. E. S. E. Childers]
Publication details: 
11 Stratton Street, London. 18 March 1901.
£80.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. With mourning border. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. At the time of writing the biography of the Liberal politician Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827-1896) by his son Col. Edmund Spencer Eardley Childers (1854-1919) had just been published, and Welby begins by thanking the Colonel for the gift of the book.

Autograph Signature of the German composer and conductor Peter Josef von Lindpaintner, received after his death from the London music publishers Wessel & Co.

Author: 
Peter Josef von Lindpaintner (1791-1856), German composer and conductor [Wessel & Co., music publishers, 18 Hanover Square, London]
Publication details: 
With note stating that it was received 'from Wessel & Co - 1859'.
£45.00

The signature, cut from a letter is on a strip of paper roughly 1.5 x 10 cm, laid down on a piece of paper, 7 x 11.5 cm. Lindpaintner's signature ('Js. Lindpaintner') is bold and florid; a small part at the head has been trimmed away in cutting the strip. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with one pinhole at head of mount, and traces of grey paper on reverse. The mount is neatly captioned 'Autograph of Lindpaintner, composer of "The Standard Bearer" | &c. &c. &c. | Recd. from Wessel & Co - 1859'.

Pencil sketch of George Washington's home Mount Vernon by 'G E Blenkins', with leaf from the orange tree planted by Washington, and explanatory Autograph Note by Blenkins.

Author: 
Mount Vernon, Virginia home of George Washington, first United States President [George Eleazar Blenkins (d.1894), Assistant Surgeon, Grenadier Guards, and Member of the Royal College of Surgeons?]
Washington
Publication details: 
Sketch made and leaf taken by Blenkins on a visit to Mount Vernon, Virginia, in 1840.
£450.00
Washington

While only a rough pencil sketch, the drawing is an attractive one, landscape on a piece of wove paper, 20 x 25 cm, with 'JESSUPS' watermark. In good condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper, folded into a packet for postage, with remains of red wafer. Beneath the drawing, in ink in a shaky contemporary hand: 'Lawn view from the backs of Mount Vernon | This is from the Orange Tree planted by himself.' The reverse carries the following note: 'I made the enclosed rough sketch of Mount Vernon the residence of Genl.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Linnell Sen.') from the English portrait painter John Linnell to the Glasgow picture dealer Thomas Lawrie, regarding the verification of a picture ['The Woodcutters'] and describing work he will have for sale.

Author: 
John Linnell (1792-1882), English landscape and portrait painter, an associate of William Blake, Samuel Palmer and the Ancients [Thomas Lawrie, Glasgow picture dealer]
Publication details: 
Red Hill [Redhill, Surrey]. 15 December 1870.
£250.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. 28 lines of text. In fair condition: aged and a little ruckled. Docketed 'The Woodcutters' (a theme around which Linnell produced several paintings). Linnell writes that he has just received Lawrie's 'half note for £5 - and will not fail to attend to your wishes about The Verification'. He explains that he usually requires, in addition to the fee, 'an assurance that I shall not be called upon personally to give evidence respecting the work said to be mine.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Congregational minister James Bennett to an unnamed male recipient.

Author: 
James Bennett (1774-1862), evangelical Congregational minister and author [Rotherham, Yorkshire]
Publication details: 
Rotherham, Yorkshire. 26 October 1818.
£56.00

1p., 4to. In poor condition, on aged, stained paper, with wear and loss to corners. Boldly signed 'James Bennett'. According to his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Bennett lived in Rotherham, 'where he was tutor in the college and pastor of the church at Masborough', between 1813 and 1828. He is delighted that the recipient is 'devising means for the revival of religion' in his town: 'It is, however, not in my power to be with you.' Nevertheless he hopes he will 'persevere & obtain effectual help'.

Autograph Letter Signed "George Bentley", publisher to a "Mr. Welford", about autographs he will send.

Author: 
George Bentley, publisher (Richard Bentley & Son).
Publication details: 
G B [Printed], Upton, Slough, 13 Nov. 1882.
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium, slightly grubby, but mainly good, legible and complete. " I send a first instalment. The one of Miss Mitford is very characteristic of her, since she wrote more of her letters on little scraps of paper. The other two are from Fanny Kemble and Anthony Trollope." These three had works published by Richard Bentley & Son, and the letters he was sending were presumably from the Publishing Archive, now housed in the BL, Bodleian, Berg Collection, UCLA, Illinois, and elsewhere.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F. C. Bernand') from the humorist Sir Francis Cowley Burnand to the illustrator Harry Furniss, lamenting that there will be 'no dinner for the Punch boys' in Christmas week, and discussing an unsuccessful illustration.

Author: 
F. C. Burnand [Sir Francis Cowley Burnand] (1836-1917), English humorist and dramatist, a main contributor to 'Punch' [Harry Furniss (1854-1925), 'Punch' caricaturist and illustrator]
Publication details: 
On Burnand's letterhead, 27 The Boltons, SW [London], 8 December 1891.
£56.00

2pp., landscape 12mo. Addressed to 'Dear Furniss'. He is glad to hear of Furniss's success: 'Your tour ends after the last dinner but one of the year. No dinner Xmas week! awful that isn't it? When all are feasting no dinner for the Punch boys!!' He hopes Furniss will be 'here with us'. Had Furniss been 'on the spot' Burnand would have got him 'to substitute something for your John Bull picture in almanack which no one (I do not speak of "The Table" but of our best friends outside) comprehends.

Contemporary manuscript document describing in detail the 'Weights and Measures, &c. in use in Eskdale' [Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland], docketed 'Local weghts & measures &c 1855.'

Author: 
Eskdale, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland; Weights and Measures, 1855 and 1874]
Publication details: 
[Eskdale, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.] 1855 and 1874.
£90.00

2pp., folio. In fair condition, on aged and lightly creased and chipped paper. The whole of the first page is filled in the same hand in two columns, with the first column beginning '4 Cops, 1 Peck, or "Sleek"; i.e. a sleekit peck - not a heaped one, as with potatoes or apples. | 4 pecks make 3 Imperial or Winchester bushels. | 1 Carlisle Bushel is 4. pks. 1 or 3 imp. Bushels.' The right-hand column begins: '1. Imp. Bush. of Barley weighs 56 lbs. The common sized cart will hold 24 pks. (or sleeks): or 18 Imp.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Dungannon') from Arthur Hill-Trevor, 2nd Viscount Dungannon, to an unnamed individual [his agent?], directing him to arrange for the forwarding of letters from Oxford to London.

Author: 
Arthur Hill-Trevor, 2nd Viscount Dungannon (1763-1837) [Post Office; postal history]
Publication details: 
7 Hertford Street, London. 4 December 1827.
£40.00

On one side of piece of paper trimmed down to roughly 15 x 18 cm. On aged paper, with wear and loss to corners and extremities caused by removal from a mount. He writes: 'Sir, | I should feel extremely obliged if you cou'd take out of the Post Office two Letters, directed to me at Oxford, as I unexpectedly arrived today in town - | I remain | Sir | Sincly. Yrs. | [signed] Dungannon | 7. Hertford St | 4th. Decbr. 1827'. The signature is complete, but being placed in a corner, is close to an area of wear. Docketed on the reverse in an unknown hand: 'recd.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A W Kinglake.') from the historian and travel writer Alexander William Kinglake [A. W. Kinglake] to an unnamed recipient.

Author: 
Alexander William Kinglake (1809-1891), historian and travel writer, author of 'Eothen' and 'The Invasion of the Crimea', Liberal Member of Parliament for Bridgwater.
Publication details: 
On House of Commons letterhead. 16 March 1864.
£35.00

1p., 12mo. 8 lines. On aged paper with a small hole (not affecting text) and pin marks. He thanks him for his 'kind thought' in sending 'the Danish Images', adding: 'I assure you the present was a very welcome one to me.'

Autograph Letter Signed from Augustine Birrell to the journalist and publicist Sydney Walton, mocking him in entertaining terms for suggesting that he would be well-received as a lecturer to 300 boys.

Author: 
Augustine Birrell (1850-1933), Liberal politician and essayist [Sydney Walton (1882-1964), journalist and publicist]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 70 Elm Park Road, Chelsea, SW. 2 September 1917.
£50.00

2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. A very funny letter, written in the style that became known as 'birrelling'. He begins: 'Dear Sir. | I admire the enthusiasm which from the depths of an Office bearing the historically-ominous title of "Ministry of Food", & lodged in a once ducal mansion, can dictate (in type) so spirited a letter as your's [sic] of the 27th. ult. I wish I could believe in your vision of Three hundred Boys shouting Come - to an (almost) Septuagenarian Lecturer. It is of course all nonsense.

Autograph note by the English physician Dr William Jenner.

Author: 
Sir William Jenner (1815-1898), Bart, English physician who discovered the distinction between typhus and typhoid
Publication details: 
8 Harley Street, London. 15 June 1866.
£45.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on a piece of lightly-aged paper, with fold lines. Possibly written in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'With Dr. Jenners Compts. & thanks - | 8 Harley St | June 15th 1866.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. Mitchell') from the classical scholar Thomas Mitchell to an unnamed editor ('My dear friend'), discussing his work translating Demosthenes.

Author: 
Thomas Mitchell (1783-1845), English classical scholar, who produced a number of editions of Greek authors for the Clarendon Press, Oxford University
Publication details: 
Ramsdon [sic]. 24 January 1822.
£150.00

2pp., 12mo. In a windowpane mount on a leaf removed from an album. The letter itself very good, on aged paper; the mount worn at extremities. He begins by informing the recipient that his 'last Letter has made ample atonement for the provocation of the preceding', and he has 'ever been the foremost, both in word & deed, to keep my wings in motion. I speak this seriously: my former note was only a temporary petulance'. The second paragraph begins: 'I must positively have another Paper for my Orators'. He has 'run to a fearful length, & yet have cramped myself all the way.

Autograph Letter Signed from C. E. E. Childers, British vice-consul in Pittsburgh, to his brother Col. E. S. E Childers, regarding the latter's biography of their father the Liberal politician Hugh Culling Eardley Childers.

Author: 
Charles Edward Eardley Childers (1851-1931), British vice-consul in Pittsburgh; Liberal politician Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827-96); Col. Edmund Spencer Eardley Childers (1854-1919)]
Publication details: 
On his letterhead, 708 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 21 April 1901.
£125.00

2pp., 4to. 58 lines. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. E. S. E. Childers' biography of his father had appeared earlier in the year, and his brother writes to tell him that the American booksellers 'have not yet received the copies (3) of the "Life" which I ordered on first hearing it was published'. He is ordering a further six, and will send copies 'to some of the leading papers for review, including 1 each to Dean Hodges and Mr Robt Woods of Boston for review in the "Churchman" and Boston "Transcript"'.

[Printed act.] Anno Regni Georgii III. Regis. Cap. LXXVII. An Act [concerning the hospitals of 'Christ, Bridewell, and Saint Thomas the Apostle [...] "The House of the Poor," in West Smithfield, [...] and of the House and Hospital called Bethlehem'].

Author: 
[Act of Parliament, 1781, relating to the Corporation of the City of London and hospitals St Thomas's, Southwark; St Bartholomew's, Smithfield; Bedlam; Clayton, Cookson & Wainewright, solicitors]
Publication details: 
London: Printed by George Eyre and Andrew Spottiswoode, Printers to the King's most Excellent Majesty. 1834.
£120.00

11pp., foolscap 8vo. Stitched and unbound. Aged and worn, with closted vertical 5cm cut from bottom through all six leaves. The full drophead title reads: 'CAP. LXXVII.

Typed Letter Signed from John Papworth to Mrs Ena Driberg, wife of the Labour MP Tom Driberg

Author: 
John Papworth (b.1921), English economist and activist, personal adviser to the President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda [Ena Mary Binfield, née Lyttelton, wife of Tom Driberg of Bradwell Lodge, Essex]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the British Asian and Overseas Socialist Fellowship (London Branch). 15 November 1957.
£36.00

1p., 4to. Fair, on aged paper, with one small burn-hole to margin. Addressed to 'Mrs. T. Driberg, | Bradwell Lodge, | Bradwell juxta Mare, | nr. Southminster, | Essex.' He thanks her for receiving 'an African boy from Northern Rhodesia and some members of my family', and 'showing us the details of your charming house so unhesitatingly'. He discusses the 'astonishing contrast the house is to the landscape around it.

Autograph Letter Signed from the bookseller and publisher Herbert van Thal to the gossip columnist 'William Hickey' [Tom Driberg], regretting his sacking from the Daily Express

Author: 
Herbert van Thal [Bertie Maurice van Thal] (1904-1983), bookseller and publisher [Tom Driberg [Thomas Edward Neil Driberg] (1905-1976), Baron Bradwell, the 'William Hickey' of the Daily Express]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the White House, Regents Park, NW1. 5 July 1943.
£56.00

1p., 8vo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Van Thal was 'most distressed to read in the Daily Express this morning that you were no longer connected with that paper.' He thanks him 'for the pleasure that you have given me over a number of years of reading a first class column'. He hopes it will be 'discoverable as to where you are going to continue to write - or have politics put an end to a chapter?' In a postscript he states that he is at least 'able to console myself with Hansard!'

Autograph Letter Signed ('W C Hazlitt') from the author and bibliographer William Carew Hazlitt, grandson of the essayist William Hazlitt, to autograph hunter John Baron of Blackburn, discussing his published writings.

Author: 
William Carew Hazlitt (1834-1913), author and bibliographer, grandson of the essayist William Hazlitt (1778-1830) [John J. Baron of Blackburne, autograph hunter]
Publication details: 
Barnes Common, Surrey. 18 July 1882.
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. In envelope, with stamp and postmarks, addressed to 'John J. Baron Esqr. | 48 Griffin St. | Witton | Blackburne | Lancashire'. Although Hazlitt's handwriting is legendarily attrocious, the reader escapes lightly on this occasion. Hazlitt regrets that he has no copy of either of the books Baron names, as he 'printed only a few copies for presents. Nor have I any photograph of myself.' He is 'extremely glad that the perusal of my publications' has 'proved agreeable' to Baron.

Typed Letter Signed ('Compton Mackenzie') from the Anglo-Scottish author Sir Compton Mackenzie to the theatre historian W. J. MacQueen-Pope, discussing famous London actors and pantomimes of the 1890s, with a carbon copy of the typed reply.

Author: 
Sir Compton Mackenzie [Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie] (1883-1972) [W. J. MacQueen-Pope [Walter James MacQueen-Pope] (1888-1960)]
Publication details: 
Mackenzie's letter on letterhead of Denchworth Manor, by Wantage, Berkshire. 1 January 1951. Copy of MacQueen-Pope's reply dated 5 January 1951, with place not stated.
£120.00

Mackenzie's letter is 1p., landscape 12mo. 16 lines. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with a crease to one corner. He thanks MP for his 'encouraging letter' and discusses his own 'silly slip about the Faery Queen's entrance' in a radio broadcast: 'I was so much concerned with giving listeners the difference between the O.P. and the Prompt side that it became a question of physician heal thyself.' He continues: 'I wasn't sure of the year Mille Le Garde [sic] sang that song. Probably '97. Rose Dering was the Aladdin. She was second boy. Ted Young was the Widow Twankey.

Autograph Note in the third person from Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, to 'Mr Blair', regarding a pass to the 'House of Peers' [House of Lords] and a 'Pamphlet on the Corn Laws'.

Author: 
Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville (1797-1861), 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
Publication details: 
17 May [without year, but on paper watermarked 1839].
£38.00

1p., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with a creased corner. The note reads: 'The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos incloses [sic] an order for Mr Blair to the House of Peers for to-day, & begs to acknowledge the receipt of the Pamphlet on the Corn Laws. | 17th May'. The paper is watermarked '<...>YNSON | 1839'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Spedding Curwen') from Rev. Spedding Curwen of Frome, Dissenting Minister (father of John Curwen), entreating the congregationalist minister Rev. Dr Andrew Reed of Cambridge Heath, Hackney, to preach at Frome

Author: 
Rev. Spedding Curwen (1790-1856) of Frome, Dissenting Minister, and father of John Curwen (1816-1880), printer and educator [Rev. Dr Andrew Reed (1787-1862), Congregationalist minister]
Publication details: 
Frome, Somerset. 13 June 1835.
£80.00

2pp., 4to. 23 lines. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper, with the two pages of text on the two sides of the first leaf, and the address on the reverse of the second leaf, which has minor damage due to removal from mount, and carries two postmarks, and a broken red wax seal, with address by Curwen, to 'The Revd. Andrew Reed D.D.

Manuscript Letter, signed on behalf of the London solicitors 'Moncrieff Webster & Thomson', informing Laurence Davidson, Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh, that 'P. White' of Paddington is ' a regular swindler'.

Author: 
Moncrieff, Webster & Thomson, solicitors, 1 Old Palace Yard [Lawrence Davidson, WS, Edinburgh; P. White of Paddington, swindler]
Publication details: 
1 Old Palace Yard, Whitehall. 23 April 1831.
£56.00

1p., 4to. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed, with postmarks and docketing, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Lawrence Davidson Esq | W.S. | Edinburgh'. The solicitors write that they received that morning 'your letter requesting us to make enquiry as to the character of P.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L. Homburger'), in English, from the French linguist Lilias Homburger to the Cambridge anthropologist J. H. Driberg, discussing the difficulties arising from mixing anthropology and linguistics, with reference to Africa.

Author: 
Lilias Homburger (1880-1969), French linguist, authority on African languages [Jack Herbert Driberg (1888-1946), social anthropologist]
Publication details: 
Written from 'London Tuesday [no date]', giving the French address as '98 rue de la Tour | Paris | 16e'.
£135.00

2pp., 12mo. 28 lines. In fair condition, on aged high-acidity paper. Homburger begins by thanking Driberg for his 'papers' and expressing pleasure at their meeting. He encloses 'a list [not present] of feila words (just a few typical) and a draft of my paper not complete nor absolutely definite but which will shew you that I have pretty sound basis for my ideas as to the sénégalais nilotique.' 'Great difficulties', he considers, 'have arisen [...] from mixing anthropologie [sic] & linguistics.

Autograph Letter Signed from the printer and Congregationalist minister John Curwen, praising in the most affectionate terms his 'loving old friend' the typefounder and Liberal politician Sir Charles Reed.

Author: 
John Curwen (1816-1880), Congregationalist minister, printer, and founder of the Tonic sol-fa system of music education [Sir Charles Reed (1819-1881), typefounder, philanthropist, Liberal politician]
Publication details: 
Plaistow, E. (on reversed 1875 letterhead of the Tonic Sol-fa College, Plaistow, London, E. 18 December 1874.
£80.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. 40 lines. In fair condition, creased and with minor damage to second leaf from previous mounting. Addressing Reed as 'Dear Charles', Curwen explains that when asked who he would like as chairman for a forthcoming meeting, 'it was natural I should mention you, because of our old regard'. He is sorry that his 'friends' applied 'again - after your declining'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jas. Millar') from James Millar, Assistant Secretary, British and Foreign School Society, a letter of introduction in English for Captain Walter Bromley to Marc-Antoine Jullien fils, editor of the Revue Encyclopedique,

Author: 
James Millar, Assistant Secretary, The British and Foreign Schools Society [Marc-Antoine Jullien fils (1775-1848), editor of the Revue Encyclopedique; Captain Walter Bromley (1775-1838)]
Publication details: 
London, 7 September 1826.
£120.00

2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Mons. Marc Julien [sic] | Redacteur de la Revue Encyclopedique &c &c'.Jullien's address has been added in another hand: 'Rue d'Enfer St. Michel No. 18'. The first paragraph reads: 'Dear Sir | I have the pleasure to introduce to you Captn. Bromley, who is a zealous advocate of the cause of general Education, & who is visiting Paris for a short time. He will deliver you a Copy of the 21st. Report of the B. & F.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Southesk') from the Scottish nobleman and poet James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk [Sir James Carnegie of Kinnaird and of Pitcarrow], dealing cannily with the autograph hunter John J. Baron of Blackburn.

Author: 
James Carnegie (1827-1905), 9th Earl of Southesk [Sir James Carnegie of Kinnaird and of Pitcarrow], Scottish nobleman and poet
Publication details: 
Hotel des Princes, Biarritz, France. On his monogrammed letterhead. 21 January 1883.
£120.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In original envelope, with stamp, three postmarks and red wax seal, addressed by Southesk to 'John J. Baron Esq. | 48 Griffin Street | Wilton | Blackburn | England.' Unaware that Baron is a barefaced autograph hunter, he expresses regret that, having no copies of his own works to hand, he is 'unable to accede to the very gratifying request of the lady referred to by you, as desirous to have two verses of my poems, in my own handwriting'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. H. Rose') from the English historian John Holland Rose, writing, while on active service in France with the British Expeditionary Force, to Alfred Tresidder Sheppard to commend his latest novel.

Author: 
J. H. Rose [John Holland Rose] (1855-1942), English historian best-known for his biography of Napoleon Bonaparte, Reader in Modern History, Cambridge University [Alfred Tresidder Sheppard (1871-1947)]
Publication details: 
On Y.M.C.A. letterhead, 'On Active Service | With the British Expeditionary Force', 15 September 1917.
£65.00

2pp., 4to. 53 lines. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of previous mounting at head, and a light and unobtrusive water stain. The letter is headed by Rose 'Y.M.C.A. B.A.P.O.2 B.E.F. France'. Regarding Sheppard's recently-published 'Quest of Ledgar Dunstan', Rose writes: 'You have a wonderfully keen mental eye which sees everything with extraordinary sharpness, & you have a literary hand which etches with just & delicate touch. The book is also one of singular intensity of feeling which carries the reader along fascinated & thrilled.

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