AUTOGRAPH

See Smirke’s entry, and those of Cooke and Heath, in the Oxford DNB. His most celebrated design is the Reading Room of the British Museum. 2pp, 12mo. With monogram and mourning border. On first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Begins: ‘My dear Sir, / Vernon Heath, of Piccadilly, has made me a photograph of our new front, which is I think fairly satisfactory.’ He has told Heath to deliver a copy ‘addressed to you at the R. Academy’. As it is ‘rather large’, he did not like to send it ‘by post or Parcel’, as it ‘might get crushed on its way to you.

27 February 1975. On letterhead of the Committee for Peace in the Middle East. From the papers of Philip Dosse (1925-1980), 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. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Dear Mr.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice, with spots of discoloration around the creases and slight nick at head of leaf. On monogram (Order of the Bath?) letterhead with motto ‘Tria juncta in uno’. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Townshend’ and signed ‘Clements R Markham’. Acknowledging receipt ‘of a paper by your brother-in-law Mr.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘In the 1840s Peto had thirty-three railway contracts worth £20 million, the largest number held in the kingdom; according to Brunel he was the largest contractor in the world.’ 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Begins: ‘Sir Morton Peto presents his Compliments to Lady Hooker and begs to acknowledge the receipt of her not of the 9th. Inst. on his return from the Continent’. He regrets that ‘it will not be in his power to assist the Case of Dr.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Lightly aged and worn. With central horizontal and vertical crease for postage, each quarter with double pinholes at the centre (from attachment of an enclosure?). Signature unaffected (it starts close to vertical crease). Reads: 'Dear Mrs. Lord / With the greatest pleasure - and with ten thousand apologies. I thought I had answered long ago. But letters lie in heaps in my tray & on my table - everywhere! and I carry them about in bags labelled carefully Unanswered until I dare no longer look inside.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight loss to two of the corners, and a trace of paper from the mount adhering on the reverse. Addressed to 'Jas Thomson Esq'. Reads: 'Dear Sir / I have forwarded your list of names to the Land Tax Office / & remain Dear Sir / faithfully Yours / Richd Cobden'. Pencil note, in a contemporary hand, at the foot of the letter: 'The Great Anti Corn Law man. / Mr. Thompson [sic] to whom it was written was proposed by Cobden & seconded by Bright, of the Free Trade Club. A Club in St. James Square, London, of 400 or 500 members.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Plain postcard. Lightly aged. Addressed to John [Graham, obscured by postmark], The Willows, Church Road, Lowfield Heath, Crawley, Sussex. Reads: ‘Many thanks. I am terribly sorry to say that I am a broken reed at the moment, because there are various conference dates I haven’t got. I’ll write when the situation clarifies. / Best wishes / [in autograph] P. M. / PS Last Wed. of each month is no good: BAA [i.e. British Astronomical Association monthly meeting] day!’ Image on application.

Neither Curtis nor the 'Mr Recorder' named Preston mentioned in the letter feature in G. Roberts’s ‘History of Lyme Regis’ (Sherborne, 1823). Preston may be ‘Richard Preston Esq.’ of ‘Marino’ named as living near Barnstaple in Cary’s New Itinerary, 6th ed, 1815. The recipient’s name is not decipherable. Six years previously a parliamentary committee had examined ‘Mr. Follett, the town clerk of Lyme. He said, he had held that office fifty years.’ (Luders, Reports, 1789) 2pp, 4to. On first leaf of bifolium, the reverse of the second leaf being addressed to ‘Mr Wh[encon?] / Town Clerk / Lym’.

Of his activities around this time the Oxford DNB writes: 'he 'wrote film scripts in Hollywood in 1934–5 for classics such as David Copperfield (MGM, 1935), in which he played a bit part, and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)'. The subject of the letter may be his novel 'The Inquisitor', published by Macmillan in 1935. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. Reads: ‘Dear Mr. Hunt / Here is a proof. The quotations are from the [?] Version. to me the only [last word underlined] version. / Yours sincerely / Hugh Walpole’.

See his entry, together with that of Benjamin Britten, in the Oxford DNB, the latter explaining the context of the last letter, which is an attack on Britten and Peter Pears for not returning from the United States to wartime England. From the Scott papers. Each letter 2pp, 12mo, on a single leaf (a total of 8pp, 12mo). In good condition, lightly aged. Each letter folded for postage. All four letters addressed to ‘Miss Scott’, and each signed ‘Gordon Jacob’. ONE (1 April 1929): He will be ‘most delighted’ to give her ‘any information you may require about my work’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Reads: ‘Dear Miss Jennings / Thank you for your letter. There was however no half crown in the envelope. I searched carefully. / Yours sincerely / Hugh Walpole’.

See her entry in Grove. The letter can be dated by the reference to Sir William Mitchell (see Oxford DNB) and the operetta 'The Rival Beauties', which he produced in London and then Plymouth. The letter is on one side of the paper, has been cut down to 11 x 9 cm, and laid down on a piece of card. Aged and worn, with slight loss at top right, affecting one word of text. Thirteen lines of close and neatly-written text, addressed to ‘Dearest Mrs. Sprague’ and signed ‘Yours affectionately, / Erminia Rudersdorff’, with a little of the flourish beneath the signature cut away.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Sixty-one lines of text in Pusey’s distinctive minuscule (and not always easily decipherable) hand. Aged and worn. The item has been repaired after damp damage, with the second leaf laid down on a piece of thick paper. Loss of a few words of text. Pusey begins by stating that his pamphlet ‘God’s Prohibition of the Marriage with a Deceased Wife’s Sister’ (1860), which he believes is out of print, is ‘more readable than the longer book’ (‘Marriage with a Deceased Wife’s Sister’, 1849), of whose ‘very heavy form’ he gives a description.

The first two items are scarce pieces of unpublished ephemera, neither showing up on JISC. See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The three items in good condition, on discoloured and lightly-worn paper. The first two items are written by Rev. John R. Magrath, D.D., Provost of Queen’s College, Oxford, as Chairman of the Dorothea Beale Memorial Committee. ONE: ‘For Subscribers only. Dorothea Beale Memorial’. By ‘John R. Magrath, / Chairman. / Cheltenham, / 1 April, 1909.’ 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Folded once.

See his brothers’ entries in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Folded once. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight rust spotting at head of last page. Erroneous attribution to Earl Brassey in small type at the head of the first page. Addressed to ‘B. Hobbie Esq’ and signed ‘Albert Brassey’. He doubts whether you will be able to attend the public meeting at Oxford on 28 May.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. The letterhead is both printed and embossed. Addressed to ‘Miss M. G. Hocken, / Meadow Way House Studio, / St. Ives, / Cornwall.’ Signed ‘Ninette de Valois’. Reads: ‘May I suggest you write to the Director of Productions at The Royal Opera House. I do not know what our theatre does with regard to the many requests for such exhibitions - so I would be grateful if you would forward your request to this particular department.’

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 6 x 3.5 cm slip of paper, cut from letter. Reads ‘Yours very truly, / David Masson.’ Laid down on piece of 16mo paper, beneath oval photographic portrait of Masson cut from magazine. Biographical details typed at head of page. In good condition, lightly aged. Seee Image

4pp., 8vo. Bifolium. In very good condition, lightly-aged. Neatly placed with a windowpane mount onto a leaf of cream paper. Writing within a year of his demise, D'Orsay begins by defending himself to his attorney: 'My Dear Du Pasquier | You received my letter yesterday about Mousley. I could not act otherwise, and even I have no right to complain when a man is losing more than 5000 by me, to find fault that he did not send me £1300. I am astonished that you are so severe. I am sorry that you will not give your assistance in this affair. Do as you like.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘In 1848 he was articled to the staunchly Quaker P. B. Alley, then in partnership with Richard Lane, the leading neo-classical architect of Manchester. In 1853 his education was completed with a ten-month tour of France, Italy, and Germany, after which he set up in practice as an architect in Manchester.’ (Waterhouse’s first success would come with his winning design for the Manchester assize courts in 1859.) 1p, 12mo. On the first leaf of a grey-paper bifolium. In good condition. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Thomas Haigh Esq:’ and signed ‘A Waterhouse’.

See his entry, and that of his fellow Academician Horsley, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘A Waterhouse’. Reads: ‘Dear Horsley. / You are quite right. No “mystery” between us if you please. / I say “yes” to your query to the extent of 2 guineas. / I hope you will soon gain the sum you desire without any great trouble to yourself’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, with slight wear at top left-hand corner of second leaf (not affecting text). Biographical details added in small type at head of first page. Addressed to ‘The Honbl Spencer Ponsonby’ and signed ‘Alaric A. Watts.’ Begins: ‘Dear Sir / May I trespass so far upon your kindness as to ask you to place the enclosed letter [not present] to Lord Clarendon. It is on the subject of the London Library of which his Lordship is the President’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On piece of paper, roughly 12 x 7.5 cm, laid down on 14 x 9 cm plain postcard, with contemporary printed heading on reverse (‘A half penny stamp to be placed here.’, and so on). In good condition, lightly aged. Good firm signature at head of paper, with ‘Autograph’ in a contemporary hand at the foot, with wide space between.

An apparent forgery of a letter the text of which is quoted in Hallam Tennyson’s 1897 memoir of his father. 1p, 12mo. On discoloured wove paper. Aged, and with repair with archival tape at extremities on reverse. Folded twice for postage. Reads: ‘Aldworth / Oct 25 - 76 / My dear Mrs Gladstone / On Monday then - if all be well. As you are good enough to say that you will manage everything rather than lose my visit - you must manage that I may have my pipe in my own room whenever I like? / Yours ever / A Tennyson/’.

An interesting item occupying the zone in which French connoisseurship and literature overlap. In 1880 - three years before the present item - Maurice Mauris (Marchese di Calenzano) described a visit to Dumas fils’s Paris house in Rue de Villers. ‘The walls above the library are enriched with a priceless collection of paintings, modern and antique. Diaz, Fortuny, Marchal, Vernet, Delacroix are there seen at their best. Dumas generally presents himself with a new painting after he has presented a new book to the public.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 12 x 5 cm piece of paper, cut from letter for an autograph hunter. In good condition, lightly aged. On one side: ‘With much esteem, / Believe me, my dear Sir / Yours ever Sincerely / W Morley Punshon’. On the other side: ‘[...] desire, of every part of the service but the Sermon & while we would not on [...]’ Annotated in pencil: ‘An eminent Wesleyan minister not long dead’. Scan on application.

ay is said to have preached nearly a thousand sermons before the age of twenty-one. On 11 x 8.5 cm piece of paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, but with patches of sunning. At the head of the page is the order for the books, presumably in Godwin's hand: 'A Volume of Crabbe's Works - to bind / 2 Vols to match it'. Beneath this is Jay's heavily-inked response: 'Will Mr Godwin leave the ordering of the binding till I see him? / Wm Jay'. Scan on application.

Sepia studio portrait on 8.5 x 13.5 cm postcard, stamped on reverse 'MANNELL LONDON'. In good condition, lightly aged. She signs 'Winifred Shotter' at foot. A soft-toned head and shoulders portrait of a wistful Shotter, with Marcel wave, staring at the camera in a fashionable frock. Scan on application.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In poor condition, aged, worn and creased, with damage to edges. Tape was previously present as a border along all the edges, and the corners are still strengthened with tape, causing discoloration that affects the end of Handley's signature. Reads: 'B.B.C. / London / Dear Pte Dean. / In reply to Yours. I would send you a ticket with Pleasure but I have no control over same. I'm afraid you will have to write direct to the B.B.C. / Best wishes. / Tommy Handley'. Scan available.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 10 x 7 cm piece of paper, cut down from letterhead. In good condition, lightly aged, with pin holes at top left. Clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'Yours very truly / W. W. Jacobs'. See scan

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.