AUTOGRAPH

[Sir Anthony Panizzi [Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi], Principal Librarian at the British Museum.] Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Sir Anthony Panizzi [born Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi in Italy] (1797-1879), Principal Librarian at the British Museum, London
Panizzi
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£25.00
Panizzi

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Now viewed in a favourable light, Panizzi was a controversial figure in his own time, being dubbed a ‘fat pedant’ by Thomas Carlyle, who was moved to press for the creation of the London Library as a result of the Italian’s high-handed behaviour. On 7 x 4 cm piece of grey paper, presumably cut from an album. No othe writing on the slip other than Panizzi's compact and disciplined signature 'A Panizzi.' In good condition, lightly aged, Strips of sunning at top and right edge, but nowhere near the signature. See scan.

[Sir Oliver Lodge, physicist, inventor and Christian spiritualist.] Autograph Signature, together with caricature on John Player & Sons cigarette card.

Author: 
Sir Oliver Lodge [Oliver Joseph Lodge] (1851-1940), physicist, inventor and Christian Spiritualist [Alick P. F. Ritchie; John Player and Sons cigarette cards]
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£25.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Signed 'Oliver Lodge' in pencil at foot of 10 x 11 cm piece of paper, in which slits have been made for loose insertion of the cigarette card. The signature is clear and clean, but the paperr and card are spotted, and the paper is worn with border of discoloration made by tape. The caricature is in colour, by Alick P. F. Ritchie. No 38 out of 50 in a series titled 'Straight Line Caricatures', issued by John Player & Sons. Scan on application

[The Navy Office, London.] Manuscript document, addressed to ‘Mr: Turnpenny’ from the Navy Office, in the matter of ‘the Hire of the Pulteney Advice Boat’, regarding a request to delay payment of a bill, signed by six Commissioners of the Navy.

Author: 
The Navy Office, Seething Lane, City of London [Commissioners of the Navy; Navy Board; Royal Navy; Admiralty]
Publication details: 
30 December 1748. Navy Office [Seething Lane, City of London].
£50.00

The War of Jenkin’s Ear had ended a few months before, and Daniel A. Baugh, ‘British Naval Administration in the Age of Walpole’ (Princeton, 1965) describes the sorry state into which the Navy Board had fallen at this point. 1p, foolscap 8vo. On recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, the verso of the second leaf being addressed ‘To / Mr Turnpenny / Navy Office’ and docketted ‘Com[missione]rs of Navy to Mr Turnpenny’. In poor condition and urgent need of archival repair. The laid and watermarked paper is flaking away, and part of text, including a couple of the signatures, is lacking.

[The Wesleyan Missions.] Three printed pamphlets in the series 'Papers relative to the Wesleyan Missions, and the State of Heathen Countries.' All illustrated, two with illustrations hand-coloured.

Author: 
The Wesleyan Missions; James Nichols, printer, 46 Hoxton Square, London [Fiji; Captain Dillon; Charles F. Allison, Wesleyan Academy, Mount-Allison, New Brunswick]
The Wesleyan Mission
Publication details: 
ONE: No. LXXII, June 1838. TWO: No. CXV, March 1849. THREE: No. CXXXVII, September 1854. All three printed by James Nichols, 46 Hoxton Square, London.
£100.00
The Wesleyan Mission

See W. Moister, ‘A History of Wesleyan Missions in all Parts of the World’ (1871). Each item 4pp, 12mo bifolium. All three with engraved illustration on first page, which has a drophead title. The three are worn and discoloured, with loss of text in caption in Item One (see below), and the first two items with cover illustrations crudely hand-coloured. ONE: No. LXXII, June 1838. Mostly consisting of ‘An appeal to the sympathy of the Christian public, on behalf of the cannibal Fejeeans’.

[‘Silly Billy’: Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh.] Autograph Signature on frank addressed to Rev. Dr [Christopher] Wordsworth, his Vice Chancellor at Cambridge University.

Author: 
Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh ['Silly Billy'] (1776-1834), great-grandson of George II, nephew and son-in-law of George III
Publication details: 
Dated from London, 27 June 1827. With frank of same date.
£25.00

See his entry and Wordsworth’s in the Oxford DNB. The Prince was Chancellor of Cambridge University from 1811 to his death. Wordsworth was Vice-Chancellor twice: 1820-1821 and 1826-1827. On 13 x 7 cm panel cut from the cover of the envelope. In fair condition, lightly aged, laid down on brown paper cut from album, with slight wear to corner of letter just touching the initial ‘W’ of the Prince’s name. Laid out in the customary fashion, and reading: ‘London June Twenty seven 1827 / The Revd / Dr. Wordsworth / Vice Chancellor of the University / of Cambridge’.

[Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor singer and film actor.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph of ‘Richad Tauber / als Schubert / im “Dreimädlhaus”’.

Author: 
Richard Tauber (1891-1948), Austrian tenor singer and film actor [Atelier Schneider, Berlin photographers]
Publication details: 
Inscribed by Tauber ‘1931 / London’. Printed at foot: ‘Atelier Schneider, Berlin phot.’
£25.00

8 x 11 cm collotype print on 9 x 14 cm postcard, with caption (‘Richard Tauber / als Schubert / im “Dreimädlhaus”’) and publication details in blank space at foot. Tauber has signed emphatically, between two lines, at the foot of the card: ‘Richard Tauber / 1931 / London’. In good condition, lightly aged, but with dink to bottom-left corner, affecting neither image nor signature. Depicts Tauber, in the character of a bespectacled Franz Schubert, seated before a dark background. Scan on application.

[Mary Ellis [Mary Belle Elsas], American actress on Broadway and in film, who later found fame in England.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph.

Author: 
Mary Ellis [born May Belle Elsas] (1897-2003), American Broadway and screen actress and singer, particularly associated with Ivor Novello
Publication details: 
February 1944. No place.
£25.00

A black and white publicity photograph on an 11 x 15 cm collotype print. Signed at bottom right: ‘Yours sincere / Mary Ellis / Feb. 1844’. A head and shoulders portrait of a dreamy-looking Ellis in front of netting, staring downwards to her right, with her head cradled in her right hand, which is clasped by her left. In good condition, lightly aged. Scan on application

[Paul Robeson, black American singer and actor of international repute, prominent in the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement.] Autograph Signature from album.

Author: 
Paul Robeson [Paul Leroy Robeson] (1898-1976), black American baritone singer and actor of international repute, prominent in the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£25.00

On piece of pink paper roughly 13.5 x 9.5 cm. Reads: ‘Every good wish / Paul Robeson.’ No other writing, and the good firm signature with plenty of space around it. In good condition lightly aged, with thin strip of discoloration running through the ‘E’ of ‘Every’. Scan on application.

[Major General Sir Noel Galway Holmes, Irish soldier and senior British Army officer in Second World War.] 14 typed and manuscript documents from his papers, all but one relating to his distinguished career, including reports and recommendations.

Author: 
Major General Sir Noel Galway Holmes (1891-1982), KBE CB MC, Irish soldier and senior British Army officer, close colleague of Sir Winston Churchill during Second World War as Director of Movement
Publication details: 
Documents dating from between 1920 and 1953. [British Army; War Office, Whitehall.]
£800.00

Fourteen items from the papers of Sir Noel Galway Holmes, all but the last relating to his three decades of service in the British Army, with reports and recommendations by superior officers from 1920 to 1939.

[Mary Anderson de Navarro, American Shakespearian actress.] Autograph Signature on postcard.

Author: 
Mary Anderson [later Mary Anderson de Navarro] (1859-1940), American Shakespearian actress
Publication details: 
On postcard with stamp and postmark of Broadway, Worcestershire [USA], 26 August 1905.
£35.00

Anderson spent six years in England in the 1880s, acting to much acclaim at venues including the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon. In 1887 she was the first actress to take on both roles of Perdita and Hermione at once in the Winter’s Tale. On 14 x 9 cm postcard, addressed (by the recipient) to ‘Norman Wetton / 7, Claremont Road, / Forest Gate, / Essex.’ Slightly grubby and worn, but in fare condition overall. On the blank side she writes: ‘Broadway / Worc / Mary Anderson de Navarro / Auto Graph only’. Scan on application

[‘Scotland’s greatest ambassador’: Sir Harry Lauder, music hall singer and comedian.] Autograph Inscription and Signature.

Author: 
[Harry Lauder] Sir Henry Lauder (1870-1950), hugely-popular Scottish music hall singer and comedian popular, described by Sir Winston Churchill as ‘Scotland’s greatest ambassador’
Publication details: 
On stamped postcard with Tooting postmark of 13 January 1905.
£25.00

Lauder was the highest-paid entertainer in the world in 1911, and the first British artist to sell a million records (by 1928 he had sold two million). See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 14 x 9 cm plain postcard, addressed (by the recipient) to ‘Norman Wetton / 7 Claremont Road / Forrest Gate.’ On the blank reverse Lauder has written: ‘ “D’you Know this ” / Yours very truly / Harry Lauder’. A little grubby and discoloured, but in fair condition. Scan on application.

[Jessie Matthews, ‘The Dancing Divinity’, English actress, dancer and singer, star of stage and screen.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph for Gaumont-British by Raphael Tuck and Sons.

Author: 
Jessie Matthews [Jessie Margaret Matthews] (1907-1981), British actress, singer and dancer, star of stage and screen, dubbed ‘The Dancing Divinity’ [Gaumont-British; Raphael Tuck and Sons]
Publication details: 
No date. [1920s?] ‘A Gaumont-British Star / Raphael Tuck and Sons’ “Real Photograph” Postcard No. 66’, Printed in England.
£25.00

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.

[Joan Barry, British film actress who worked with Alfred Hitchcock in the early days of the ‘talkies’.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph.

Author: 
Joan Barry [born Ina Florence Marshman Bell] (1903-1989), British film actress, who worked with Alfred Hitchcock and was mother of the Duchess of Bedford
Publication details: 
No date or place (1920s or early 1930s).
£25.00

Sepia portrait on 10 x 15 cm photographic print, on card. In good condition, lightly aged. Good bold inscription across foot: ‘Best wishes / Joan Barry’. A soft-toned head-and-shoulders portrait of a Marcel-waved Barry, staring dreamily to the left, with pursed made-up lits, in a sleeveless white gown with pearls and bracelet, left hand to chin and right hand supporting left elbow. Scan on application.

[Julie Suedo, English film star of the twenties and thirties.] Autograph Signature to publicity portrait.

Author: 
Julie Suedo (1901-1978), English actress who played glamorous roles in many films of the twenties and thirties
Publication details: 
No date [early 1930s?]. On reverse ‘No 330 “Picturegoer” Series, 88, Long Acre, London / - This is a “Real Photograph” -’.
£25.00

Glossy publicity portrait (‘Real Photograph’) on 8.5 x 14 cm post card with publication details on reverse. In good condition, lightly aged. Inscribed diagonally at bottom right: Best wishes / Julie Suedo.’ A black and white head-and-shoulders shot of an Mediterranean-looking Suedo, with curled hair with flower jewellery in it and toothy smile, looking joyfully to her left, with bright necklace and pearl bordered sleeveless gown.

[King William IV as Duke of Clarence.] Signature on [attempted] frank addressed to Mrs Skelton of St Albans.

Author: 
King William IV (1765-1837), from 1789 Duke of Clarence and St Andrews, ascended the throne in 1830
William IV
Publication details: 
23 December 1837; Bushy.
£35.00
William IV

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’.

[Herbert Marshall, English actor and Hollywood movie star.] Autograph Signature on publicity photograph.

Author: 
Herbert Marshall [Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall] (1890-1966), English actor and Hollywood movie star
Publication details: 
No date or place. [1930s]
£25.00

11.5 x 16 cm image on 18 x 12.5 cm card. Signed at foot ‘Herbert Marshall.’ An urbane Marshall is seated, looking over his left shoulder while cradling his hands on his knees, in a grey pin-striped suit, in front of a plain white background. In good condition, but with a horizontal strip of the card trimmed above Marshall’s head. Scan on application.

[Hugh McDermott, Scottish golfer and film actor.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph by John Vickers.

Author: 
Hugh McDermott (1906-1972), Scottish golfer who became a successful British film actor, mostly playing Americans [John Vickers, photographer]
Publication details: 
[Hugh McDermott, Scottish golfer and film actor.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph by John Vickers.
£25.00

10 x 13 cm glossy publicity photographic print, on 10.5 x 15.5 cm piece of card, with ‘PHOTO: JOHN VICKERS / COPYRIGHT’ in blank space beneath image. In good condition, lightly aged, with mounts at corners on blank reverse. Black and white head-and-shoulders portrait of McDermott in pub setting, looking sharply to his left in a double-breasted Royal Navy jacket, whiskey tumbler in hand. Scan on applicatioin

[Ivor Novello, hugely-popular Welsh stage and screen actor, dramatist, singer and composer.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph.

Author: 
Ivor Novello [David Ivor Davies] (1893-1951), Welsh stage and screen actor, dramatist, singer and composer, one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century
Publication details: 
No date or place [1930s?].
£35.00

Novello’s three decades of unprecedented success began with the First World War song ‘Keep the home fires burning’. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 8.5 x 13.5 cm publicity photograph on postcard, printed in sepia. In good condition, with tiny dink at top left. Captioned at foot ‘MR. IVOR NOVELLO’. Prim-looking with side-parting in white shirt, tie, and dark double breasted suit, the darkness of which makes the signature ‘Ivor Novello’ rather difficult to make out. Scan on application

[Dorothy Ward, English actress who specialised in the part of principal boy in pantomimes.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph by S. George of London.

Author: 
Dorothy Ward (1890-1987), English actress over five decades, who often played principal boy in pantomimes, opposite her husband Shaun Glenville [S. George, London photographer]
Publication details: 
1926. With stamp: ‘REPRO BY / S. GEORGES / [14] GREEN ST. / W.C.2.’
£25.00

Glossy black and white publicity photograph on 8.5 x 13 cm postcard, embossed with studio details at bottom right. ‘MISS DOROTHY WARD’ in white print at foot. Autograph inscription across foot: ‘Best wishes / Dorothy Ward / 1926’. In good condition, lightly aged. A head-and-shoulders image of Ward with right shoulder slightly forwards, looking upwards, with a laurel wreath around her head and frizzy short hair, in pearls and a white sleeveless gown. With stamp and Liverpool postmark on reverse, which is addressed to ‘F. J. Clare / 5 Delamere Grove / Leacombe / Wallasey’. Scan on application

[Elizabeth Allan, English actress, star of stage and screen.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph.

Author: 
Elizabeth Allan (1910-1990), English actress, star of stage and screen
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£25.00

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.

[Dame Gladys Cooper, English actress, star of stage and screen.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph by ‘Philco’ of London.

Author: 
Gladys Cooper [Dame Gladys Constance Cooper] (1888-1971), distinguished English actress, star of stage and screen [‘Philco’, London photographer]
Publication details: 
No date [Early 1930s?]. By ‘Philco’, London, W.C.1.
£25.00

7.5 x 11.5 cm black and white publicity photograph by ‘ “Philco” London W.C.1.’ Expansive genuine signature ‘Gladys Cooper’ across bottom part of image, in addition to facsimile signature in white at bottom right. In good condition, on postcard with border trimmed. Dark sepia-toned image. A head-and-shoulders portrait, with Cooper staring to her right, with short frizzy hair, in fashionable gown. Scan on application

[‘Our Gracie’, ‘The Lancashire Lass’: Gracie Fields, much-loved English singer, actress and comedienne, star of music hall and screen.] Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Gracie Fields [born Grace Stansfield] (1898-1979), much-loved English singer, actress and comedienne, star of music hall and screen, known as ‘Our Gracie’ and ‘the Lancashire Lass’
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£25.00

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.

[Binnie Hale, English stage and screen star of the 20s and 30s.] Autograph Signature to publicity photo by Dorothy Wilding of London.

Author: 
Binnie Hale [Beatrice Mary Hale-Monro] (1899-1984), English actress, singer and dancer, one of the most successful musical theatre stars in 20s and 30s London [Dorothy Wilding of London]
Publication details: 
No date [1930s.] ‘Portrait by Dorothy Wilding / 42 Old Bond Street, W.1.’ [London]
£25.00

Hale is best-remembered for singing ‘Spread a Little Happiness’ in the musical ‘Mr. Cinders’ (1929), and for strarring in ‘No, No, Nanette’ (1925). 9 x 13 cm postcard, printed in light-brownish grey. In good condition. Nice signature ‘Binnie Hale’ running diagonally across lower right-hand corner. She looks wistfully at the camera, with a Marcel wave and pursed made-up lips. Not among the 32 images of Hale list on the National Portrait Gallery website. Scan on application.

[Dame Wendy Hiller, distinguished stage and screen actress.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph.

Author: 
Dame Wendy Hiller [Wendy Margaret Hiller] (1912-2003), distinguished English stage and screen actress over six decades
Publication details: 
No date or place (1940s?).
£25.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 8 x 13 cm collotype print, with 8 x 2 cm space at bottom in which she signs ‘Wendy Hiller.’ In good condition, lightly aged. Black and white, with Hiller’s face in left profile, her body at three-quarters, squinting to her right while wearing what looks like a buttoned-up sou’-wester. Scan on application.

[Doris Keane, American actress.] Autograph Signature on photographic portrait published as 'SUPPT. TO GREAT NOVELS'.

Author: 
Doris Keane (1881-1945), American actress
Publication details: 
Card by 'BASSANO'.
£25.00

Black and white photographic portrait, on 4.5 x 6.5 cm piece of shiny card. Signature 'Doris Keane' across bottom of image. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with strips of tape around the edges to make a border, but hardly discoloured. Printed at head: 'SUPPT. TO GREAT NOVELS.', and at bottom 'DORIS KEANE / BASSANO'. A head and shoulders portrait, in which Keane faces the viewer, in fur hat and coat with fur collar. Scan on application.

[Anti-Aircraft Defence, World War II.] Instructional material from the Searchlight Wing, School of A. A. Defence, Shrivendon, Swindon [Royal Artillery]; with manuscript reports; from the papers of Sgt. J. L. B. Royall.

Author: 
Anti-Aircraft Defence, World War II [Searchlight Wing, School of A. A. Defence, Shrivenham, Swindon; Sgt. J. L. B. Royall; Royal Artillery, British Army]
Publication details: 
Five of the sixteen items dated between 17 March 1941 and .6 October 1943 (the rest contemporaneous). Searchlight Wing, School of Anti-Aircraft Defence, Shrivenham, Swindon. Also Longcot, Lyford, Lyndhurst and Romsey.
£350.00

The topic of this material is wartime training (in part during the Blitz) of sergeants for ‘Search Light Control’ or SLC (nicknamed ‘Elsie’). A larger archive of similar material from the papers of Sgt. J. L. B. Royall on the same theme is offered separately. Sixteen items, a few of which are discoloured and creased, but the collection being in good overall condition. The first three items are in manuscript (i.e. Royall’s autograph).

[Austen Chamberlain] Signature and date below cigarette card.

Author: 
Austen Chamberlain [Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain] (1863-1937), Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer [Alick P. F. Ritchie; John Player and Sons cigarette cards]
Austen Chamberlain
Publication details: 
4 March 1927. No place.
£35.00
Austen Chamberlain

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 10 x 12 cm leaf removed from an autograph album. He signs and dates floridly at the foot of the page: 'Austen Chamberlain / 4. 3. 27'. Slits have been cut into the leaf to loosely insert the cigarette card. In poor condition, worn and spotted, with border of discoloration (extending over the end of the signature) caused by tape. The caricature, in colour, by Alick P. F. Ritchie is No. 11 of 50 in the 'Straight Line Caricatures' series of cigarette cards by John Player & Sons.

[Bill Johnson, Hollywood and Broadway actor and singer.] Autograph Signature on publicity photo James J. Kriegsmann of New Jersey.

Author: 
Bill Johnson [William Thomas Johnson] (1916-1957), Hollywood and Broadway actor and singer [James J. Kriegsmann of New Jersey]
Publication details: 
No date (1940s?). By James J. Kriegsmann of New Jersey.
£25.00

Johnson’s career began with a job singing on an NBC radio show. His 1940s Hollywood films included “Keep Your Powder Dry”. He later returned to Broadway, where in 1956 he received a Tony nomination for his performance as ‘Doc’ in Rodgers and Hammerstein's last musical ‘Pipe Dream’. He died of a heart attack in 1957. 10.5 x 10 cm black and white glossy photographic print on shiny art paper. In good condition. Stylish signature 'Bill Johnson' in white at bottom left.

[Victorian butterfly illustration; nineteenth-century nature drawing.] Eight original coloured illustrations of butterflies and moths, with leaves, translucent on waxed oiled cloth.

Author: 
[Victorian butterfly illustration; nineteenth-century botanical drawing; nature; natural history]
Butterflies
Publication details: 
No date or place (nineteenth century).
£280.00
Butterflies

An attractive collection, by an unidentified artist, on uniform pieces of waxed or oiled cloth, cut to 10 cm squares with rounded edges. Each illustration features a different butterfly or moth, arranged with a different single leaf. Very nicely executed, in a wide range of colours, and suitable for display. Seen to their full advantage with a light source behind them. See Scan.

[Admiral Beatty [Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty], First Sea Lord.] Autograph Signature from album.

Author: 
Admiral Beatty [Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (1871-1936)], First Sea Lord, 1919-1927, commander of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland in 1916
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£25.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, in which ‘deep professional commitment and mental toughness’ are said to be qualities whose possession he demonstrated ‘heroically’. On 8 x 5 cm piece of light blue-grey paper. Good large firm signature 'Beatty'. No other writing on page. In good condition, lightly aged.

Syndicate content