BENJAMIN

[Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, physician and medical author.] Autograph Letter Signed ('B W Richardson') to 'Dr Cleveland' [William Frederick Cleveland], regarding a University of St Andrews dinner and testimonial for George Edward Day.

Author: 
Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson (1828-1896), physician, sanitarian and medical author [William Frederick Cleveland (1823-1898), surgeon; George Edward Day; University of St Andrews]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 12 Hinde Street, W. [London] 28 April 1864.
£180.00

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to the blank second leaf of the bifolium. Folded twice. With regard to the University of St Andrews, where he and Cleveland received their medical education, Richardson writes that he is 'very pleased to hear from Dr Paul' that Cleveland 'will attend our University dinner. We shall have a very agreeable and I believe successful meeting'.

[William Benjamin Carpenter, biologist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('William B. Carpenter') to the physician and geologist John Bostock

Author: 
William Benjamin Carpenter (1813-1885), biologist and administrator at the University of London [John Bostock jnr (1773-1846), physician and geologist]
Publication details: 
22 Park Street, Bristol. 7 February 1840.
£250.00

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering at gutter edge of reverse of last leaf, and covering the last few letters of Carpenter's signature. After explaining that he is directing Bostock's attentiont to 'the accompanying Remarks', he announces that he has 'lately decided upon relinquishing the practice of my Profession, and upon devoting myself altogether to the pursuit of Physiology and its allied branches of Science.

[William Benjamin Carpenter, biologist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('William B. Carpenter') to Professor William Alison of Edinburgh University, addressing an accusation of plagiarism laid against him by fellow-student John Hughes Bennett.

Author: 
William Benjamin Carpenter (1813-1885), biologist and administrator at the University of London [William Pulteney Alison, Professor of Medicine, University of Edinburgh; John Hughes Bennett]
Publication details: 
22 Park Street, Bristol; 8 November 1837.
£400.00

According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, 'Carpenter studied initially at the Bristol medical school and then in London, and in 1835–7 and again in 1839 in Edinburgh, where he took the MD degree.' The present letter dates from the hiatus in Carpenter's Scottish studies, to Professor William Pulteney Alison (1790-1859) of Edinburgh University, addressing an allegation that he has plagiarised from fellow-student John Hughes Bennett. 4pp, 4to. Bifolium.

[Karl Pearson, mathematician, biostatistician and eugenicist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Karl Pearson.') to 'Dr. Peirce', regarding 'Mrs Baker's death', ancestry and Professor Benjamin Osgood Peirce of Harvard.

Author: 
Karl Pearson (1857-1936), mathematician, biostatistician and eugenicist, pioneer in the field of mathematical statistics [Benjamin Osgood Peirce, Harvard Professor of Mathematics]
Publication details: 
7 Well Road, Hampstead; 11 November 1902.
£350.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. The letter begins with a reference to 'Mrs Baker's death'. Pearson and his wife 'had not realised the gravity of her illness', as they had recently seen her 'so well and fresh in spirit'. He wishes he had been able to accept Peirce's suggestion of 'putting me up for tonight' in order to be 'present tomorrow', but he is 'overdone and had work till 6 o'clock arranged for today, so that to come down by the night train tonight & track back tomorrow night have been more than I could safely attempt'.

[General Edmund Boyle, 8th Earl of Cork and Orrery.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Cork') to 'Mr: Vuillamy' [i.e. Benjamin Lewis Vuillamy, Clockmaker to the Crown], regarding a broken watch. Also franked by him, as 'Boyle'.

Author: 
[General Edmund Boyle, 8th Earl of Cork and Orrery (1767-1856), Irish peer and soldier, styled Viscount Dungarvan, 1768-1798 [Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (1780-1854), Clockmaker to the Crown]
Publication details: 
Marston. 25 November 1814.
£200.00

1p, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Franked on reverse of second leaf, with seal in red wax broken into two pieces, and franking postmark: 'Frome – November twenty fifth 1814 | Messrs: Wulliamys | Watch Maker's | Pall Mall | London | Boyle'.

[ The original 'Big Ben'? Sir Benjamin Hall [ Lord Llanover ], Welsh civil engineer and politician. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('B Hall') to London solicitors Platt & Hall, stating his determination to defend 'the Petition presented against my return'

Author: 
Sir Benjamin Hall [ from 1859 Lord Llanover ] (1802-1867), Welsh civil engineer and politician, after whom 'Big Ben' is said to have been named
Publication details: 
No place. 1 July [ no year ].
£80.00

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Franked on reverse of second leaf, with broken seal in red wax, to the firm of London solicitors 'Mess. Platt & Hall | New Boswell Court | Carey Street', with Halls signature ('B Hall' between two horizontal lines) at bottom left. The letter itself reads: 'Gentlemen/ | I have just received a letter from Mess: Prothero & Philipps who state that you will call here to know my intention respecting the Petition presented against my return.

[ 'Lewis Melville' [ Lewis Saul Benjamin ], Anglo-Jewish author. ] Autograph Note Signed ('Lewis Melville')

Author: 
'Lewis Melville', pen name of Lewis Saul Benjamin (1874-1932), English author, born into a Jewish family
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The Playgoers Club, Strand, W.C. [ London ]. 'Please reply | 28 Clifton Gardens | Madia Vale. W' 28 September 1900.
£25.00

1p., 12mo. On grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Dear Sir, | Will you please give me an appointment on Thursday next when I am in town? | Faithfully yours, | Lewis Melville'.

[ Pollock's Toy Museum, London. ] Three letters from Benjamin Pollock's daughter Louisa (Miss E. L. Pollock), as manager, to W. H. Prince, including list of books and itemised receipt. With price list and engraving of the front of the original shop.

Author: 
Pollock's Toy Museum, London [ Miss E. L. Pollock [Louisa Pollock ]; Benjamin Pollock's Toy Shop; founded by John Redington (1819–1876), and continued by his son-in-law Benjamin Pollock (1856-1937)]
Publication details: 
[ Pollock's Toy Museum. ] The three letters (all 1944) dated from 73 Hoxton Street, London, N1. The price list and illustration of the Hoxton shop front undated.
£320.00

Five items. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. ONE: Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'E. L. Pollock') to W. H. Prince. A total of 6pp. The writer, 'Miss E. L. Pollock', is Benjamin Pollock's daughter Louise, who with her sister Selina managed the shop after his death. All three letters are written in 1944, the year in which the sisters sold the stock to the bookseller Alan Keen. The letters respond to enquiries regarding the stock, and one (12 May 1944) includes an itemised bill of twelve items 'Bought of Pollock's late B Pollock | 73. Hoxton St. London.

[ Benjamin Brierley, Lancastrian poet and novelist. ] Home Memories, and Recollections of a Life. [ With 'In Memoriam Poems' by John L. Owen, William Charlton, Jennie Heywood, J. Gee and Charles C. Hall. ]

Author: 
Ben Brierley, Author of "Tales and Sketches of Lancashire Life," &c. [ Benjamin Brierley (1825-1896); John L. Owen, Bowdon; William Charlton, Hulme; Jennie Heywood, Rochdale; J. Gee, Manchester ]
Publication details: 
Manchester: Abel Heywood & Son, 56 & 58, Oldham Street, London; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., Stationers' Hall Court. [ 1886 or 1887. ]
£50.00

Viii + 99 + [1]pp., 12mo. In Victorian half-binding, with dark-green calf spine and corners, and brown marbled boards. The original yellow card front cover has been bound in with the volume. It carries the price (one shilling), title, publication details, and a portrait of Brierley, and is headed 'AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH', The volume contains no library markings whatsoever, but the front pastedown carries a pink printed notice of the 'Rules of the Library' of the Bury District Co-operative Society Ltd.

[ William Benjamin Carpenter, physiologist, author of one of the first temperance books. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('William B. Carpenter') to the mathematician l'Abbé Moigno

Author: 
William Benjamin Carpenter (1813-1885), Registrar of the University of London, zoologist and physiologist, temperance advocate [ François Napoléon Marie Moigno [ l'Abbé Moigno ] (1804-1884) ]
Publication details: 
375 Hotel du Louvre [ Paris ]. 8 April 1863.
£65.00

Carpenter's most famous work is The Use and Abuse of Alcoholic Liquors in Health and Disease. The first printing of the first edition was published in London by Charles Gilpin in March 1850. It was one of the first temperance books (Washingtonian Movement) to promote the fact that alcoholism is a disease. He was also one of the founders of the modern theory of the adaptive unconscious. 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn. He reminds him of his 'kind promise to procure for me an invitation to M.

[ Presentation copy from 'R. B.', i.e. the publisher Richard Bentley, to his assistant-editor H. E. G. Evans. ] Lord Althorp. By Ernest Myers.

Author: 
Ernest Myers [ Richard Bentley, London publisher; his assistant-editor H. E. G. Evans ]
Publication details: 
London: Richard Bentley and Son. Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. 1890. [ Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Limited, London and Beccles. ]
£80.00

v + [2] + 240pp., 8vo. In original dark-blue cloth binding, gilt. Grey on brown printed endpapers with Bentley's 'Fide et Fiducia' motif. In good condition, in like binding, with bookplate neatly removed from front pastedown. Binder's ticket of Burns & Co. at rear. At the head of the reverse of the front free endpaper Bentley has written: 'H. E. G. Evans from R. B. | 19 Octr.

[ Cuthbert Kelly and the New English Singers. ] Autograph Signatures of the six members of the ensemble, including Dorothy Silk, Nellie Carson Mary Morris and Kelly himself.

Author: 
Cuthbert Kelly, Director, The New English Singers; Dorothy Silk (1883-1942); Nellie Carson; Mary Morris
Publication details: 
Place not stated. 2 March 1934.
£120.00

On one side of an 11.5 x 17.5 cm page removed from an album, dated 2 March 1934 and headed 'THE NEW ENGLISH SINGERS'. In good condition, lightly aged. To the right of the page are the signatures of 'Dorothy Silk' and 'Nellie Carson' (sopranos), and 'Martin ' and 'Mary Morris'; to the left are those of 'Vernon and 'Cuthbert Kelly' (bass). According to Chapter One of 'The Travel Diaries of Peter Pears, 1936-1978' (1999), titled 'American Tour with the New English Singers (1936)', the ensemble was 'a vocal sextet specializing in Elizabethan madrigals and English folksongs.

[ Dr. Williams's Library, London. ] Two birth certificates: first (1798), signed by J. L. Towers, Registrar, for daughter of Thomas Cooper of Hoxton; second (1816), signed by Thomas Morgan, Registrar, for son of Benjamin Seaton of Chatham.

Author: 
Dr. Williams's Library, London (Thomas Morgan and J. L. Towers, Registrars) [ Thomas Cooper of Homerton; Rev. Israel Lewis; Benjamin Seaton of Chatham; Jacob George Bryant; Dissenters; Unitarians ]
Publication details: 
Dr. Williams's Library, Redcross-street, near Cripplegate, London. The second (1816): 'Printed by S. Couchman, Throgmorton-street, London.'
£150.00

The two documents are printed forms, completed in manuscript. Both are tipped-in onto a leaf removed from an album. Both in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. ONE: 'C No 1429'. Dated 12 October 1798 and signed by 'J L Towers', 'Register.' Recording the birth of Sarah Cooper, daughter of Thomas Cooper and Jane Cooper (daughter of the Rev. Israel Lewis', born in Homerton, in the Parish of Saint John Hackney, on 17 June 1783. Witnessed by 'E. S. Cooper' and 'Sarah Mackaness'. TWO: 'E No 3478'. Dated 30 January 1816.

[ Lord Cairns, twice Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Cairns'), offering to try to gain 'Rowcliffe' a place on the Surrey Bench.

Author: 
Hugh McCalmont Cairns, 1st Earl Cairns [ Lord Cairns ] (1819-1885), Irish jurist and Conservative statesman, twice Lord Chancellor of Great Britain [ William Rowcliffe (1840-1922), lawyer ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 5 Cromwell Houses, S.W. [ London ] 10 April 1880.
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Headed 'Private'. Reads: 'I shd. be glad to see you on the Surrey Bench before I leave office, if you still wish it, & if I can accomplish it. The first of these ifs you can answer. Please let me have a line.' The recipient was presumably the lawyer William Rowcliffe (1840-1922).

[ 'Lewis Melville' [ pen name of Lewis Saul Benjamin ], author and actor. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Lewis Melville'), enquiring whether his book 'In the World of Mimes' has been accepted for publication.

Author: 
'Lewis Melville' [ pen name of Lewis Saul Benjamin (1874-1932) ], literary biographer, novelist and actor
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The Playgoer's Club, Strand, W.C. [ London ]. 28 July 1900.
£35.00

1p., 12mo. On grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged. He writes to enquire whether the recipient 'can undertake the publication of the novel I submitted to you – In the World of Mimes – as I am leaving town at the end of the week', and he hopes to 'settle the matter one way or the other (preferably one way & not the other)' before he leaves. 'In the World of Mimes' was published in London by Greening & Co. in 1902.

[ Edward Raleigh Moran, editor of The Globe. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('E. R. Moran') to the actor-manager Ben Webster, suggesting he produce a previously 'interdicted' play titled 'Where's His Regal Highness?'

Author: 
E. R. Moran [ Edward Raleigh Moran ] (d.1852), editor of The Globe newspaper, London [ Ben Webster [ Benjamin Nottingham Webster ] (1797-1882), actor-manager ]
Publication details: 
Globe [ London newspaper ]. 3 February 1849.
£80.00

3pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. For information on the eccentric Moran see F. David Roberts' article 'Who Ran the London "Globe" in the 1830's, 1840's, and 1850's?' (1971). The letter begins: 'My Dear Webster | If you want a useful subsidiary piece producible without cost or trouble. It contains a part that of Frederick William of Prussia admirably adapted for your own filling up.

[ James Hall of Walthamstow, poet. ] Autograph Letter Signed to Benjamin Bloomfield, asking for a copy of his 'Cottage Poems' to be presented to the Prince Regent.

Author: 
Rev. James Hall (c.1754-1844) of Chestnut Walk, Walthamstow, poet [ Benjamin Bloomfield, 1st Baron Bloomfield (1768-1846), soldier and Private Secretary to the Prince Regent ]
Publication details: 
Long Itchington by Southam, Warwickshire. 8 February 1817.
£100.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, neatly inserted into a windowpane mount. Bloomfield, 'somewhat more than a year ago', laid 'before the Prince Regent at Sudbourne Hall, two small productions' of Hall's, and he now wishes, 'as they are my mite to the good of my Country, Cottage poems also to be laid before him'. He feels that the 'concluding little poem' in the collection 'cannot displease his Royal Highness'. No copy of the original edition of Hall's 'Cottage Poems' is listed on COPAC, and only one copy, at Oxford, of the new edition of 1820.

[ Sir Stafford Northcote, Conservative politician. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Stafford H. Northcote') to 'Hankey' [ the economist Thomson Hankey ]

Author: 
Sir Stafford Northcote [ Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh ] (1818-1887), Conservative politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1874-1880 [ Thomson Hankey (1805-1893), economist
Publication details: 
On House of Commons letterhead. 17 June 1873.
£220.00

4pp., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. An excellent letter, concerning a banking bill in the House of Commons, written while Hankey was briefly outside the House of Commons, and Northcote was in opposition (he would be appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer following the election the following year. Northcote has read and is returning Hankey's 'papers', and finds his argument 'sound and right, but I own to a little uneasiness as to the view the House may take of the bill, - whatever that may turn out to be, for as yet we have not been favoured with a sight of it.

[ Charles Henry Hart on the portrait of Benjamin Franklin at the Royal Society. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Charles Henry Hart') to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, discussing his discovery and attribution of the portrait.

Author: 
Charles Henry Hart (1847-1918), American art expert and author [ Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts; Benjamin Franklin; Caleb Whitefoord ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Royal Societies Club, St. James's Street, S.W. [ London ] 26 August 1914.
£130.00

2pp., 12mo, and 1p., 8vo. On a 12mo bifolium, with the opening written lengthwise as one page. In good condition, lightly aged, with the Society's oval date stamp. He regrets 'exceedingly' that he was not able to meet Wood on the previous day 'when I was at the Hall'. He thanks him for 'recalling to me the Whitefoord Correspondence which I had forgotten altho I used it in writing my monograph on the Unique Portrait of Franklin at the Royal Society that was presented by Caleb Whitefoord and which the Royal Society did not know by whom it was painted until I discovered it & wrote my paper'.

[ Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, physician and medical author. ] Typed Letter Signed ('B W Richardson') to Major R. H. C. Tufnell, concerning missing numbers of the Madras Journal. With newspaper cutting of his obituary.

Author: 
Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson (1828-1896), English physician, medical author, sanitary reformer and temperance campaigner
Publication details: 
Without place and date.
£50.00

1p., landscape 12mo. On aged and worn paper, with strip of discoloration affecting Richardson's signature. The text concerns 'the numbers of the Madras Journal [which] have not yet turned up'. Accompanied by an unattrtibuted newspaper cutting of Richardson's obituary, laid down on a leaf removed from a notebook.

[ Herbert Mills Birdwood, Anglo-Indian botanist. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'H. Birdwood') to H. B. Wheatley of the Royal Society of Arts

Author: 
Herbert Mills Birdwood (1837-1907), Anglo-Indian botanist and jurist [ H. B. Wheatley [ Henry Benjamin Wheatley ] (1838-1917), Assistant Secretary, Royal Society of Arts ]
Publication details: 
Both from Dalkeith House, Cambridge Park, Twickenham (one on letterhead). 25 January and 12 June 1901.
£80.00

Both items in good condition, on grey-paper bifoliums, the first with the Society's stamp and both docketed. ONE: 25 January 1901. 1p., 12mo. Concerning the binding up of his copies of the Society's journal, and the supply of missing parts. TWO: 12 June 1901. 3pp., 12mo. Concerning his 'promised letter' for 'Friday's Journal': 'I cannot hope to have a proof sent me, but if you accept the letter & should be correcting a proof yourself & would, when ordering a proof, order a spare copy for me to see at your office, I shd. be greatly obliged & wd. call in tomorrow afternoon to look through it'.

[ Georgian theatre in Cheltenham. ] Autograph Letter Signed from the actress Cecilia Crisp to actor-manager Benjamin Webster, offering to buy, for performance at her benefit, the rights to his interlude 'Pay for Peeping''.

Author: 
Cecilia Crisp [ Cecilia Charlotte Crisp, later Carey ] (b.1811), actress, daughter of actor-manager, Charles Sherwin Crisp (c.1790-1832) [Benjamin Webster [ Benjamin Nottingham Webster ] (1797-1882) ]
Publication details: 
34 Gydes Terrace, Cheltenham. 27 October 1832.
£120.00

2pp., 4to. Bifolium. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with seal of a harp in green wax, 'To | - Webster Esqre. | Theatre Royal Haymarket'. Writing two days before her father's death, she explains that she commissioned a friend to offer a guinea for his 'Interlude of "Pay for Peeping"', but finds that 'in return you expect one pound eleven for it'. She points out that she was 'the original (at the Strand Theatre) in the piece', and that she is offering the same terms accepted from her by 'Mr Selby for his "Day in Paris"'.

[ Ronald Duncan, poet and playwright. ] Typed Letter Signed to bookseller Barry Duncan, regarding his play 'Nothing Up My Sleeve'. With a carbon copy of Barry Duncan's letter that elicited this response.

Author: 
Ronald Duncan (1914-1982), poet, playwright and author, collaborator with Benjamin Britten
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Welcombe, near Bideford, North Devon. 20 December 1950.
£35.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight rusting at head from paperclip. He writes that there is 'no relationship between myself and any of the people you mention. I have no antecedents such as you suggest and I cannot recall having received a copy of your catalogue.' Turning to the character 'Horace' in his play 'Nothing Up My Sleeve' he writes: 'he's just a figment of my imagination and the whole play is just a piece of work without any intended resemblance to anyone, only types.' The carbon copy of Barry Duncan's letter is somewhat aged and worn around the edges.

[ Paul Robeson, African-American singer and actor. ] Autograph Signature, with that of his accompanist Lawrence Brown, on a photographic reproduction of a drawing of Robeson.

Author: 
Paul Robeson [ Paul Leroy Robeson ] (1898-1976), African-American singer and actor associated with the Civil Rights Movement; Lawrence Benjamin Brown (1893-1972), African-American pianist and arranger
Publication details: 
[ On Robeson's concert tour of the British Isles with Lawrence, 1934. ]
£56.00

The two signatures are on a reproduction of a drawing of Robeson, on a 15 x 11 cm piece of shiny art paper, cut from a programme from Robeson's 1934 tour of Britain. In good condition, lightly-aged. The head and shoulders portrait shows a moody Robeson in collar and tie. The two signature are at the foot of the image, with Robeson's, in blue ink, slanting downwards, and Brown's, in green ink, slanting upwards, around the line of Robeson's lapels.

[ The Old Drury Club, 'a Social Circle round the Shrine of Shakspeare' in Regency London. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Benj. Oakley') by Benjamin Oakley of Tavistock House, a 'Circular' to Thomas Hill, regarding the club's 'embarrassing finances'.

Author: 
[ The Old Drury Club, 'a Social Circle round the Shrine of Shakspeare' in Regency London] Benjamin Oakley of Tavistock House, stockbroker and editor of Shakespeare
Publication details: 
Tavistock Place [ London ]. 4 April 1815.
£200.00

1p., 4to. Bifolium. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with postmarks, to 'Thomas Hill Esq | New Inn'. In good condition, lightly-aged. Headed by Oakley 'Circular' and entirely written out in his own hand. The letter begins: 'In consequence of the embarrassing finances of the Old Drury Club, and its being uncertain whether, or no, it can any longer hold its deliberative meetings at its accustomed place of redevous [sic] - it has been determined by a majority of its members - to resolve themselves into a committee of ways and means'.

[ Benjamin Webster, actor-manager and dramatist. ] Corrected Manuscript (possibly autograph) of 'The Unfortunate Youth! a Farce in One Act. by B. Webster Esqre.' [ Retitled 'The Unfortunate Boy! or Always in for it.' ]

Author: 
Benjamin Webster [ Benjamin Nottingham Webster ] (1797-1882), English actor-manager and dramatist
Publication details: 
'T. R. H.' [ i.e. Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London ]. Undated [ 1840 ].
£800.00

68pp., 4to. In fair condition on lightly aged and worn watermarked laid paper. Sewn into brown paper wraps with 'The Unfortunate Youth. | T. R. H.' on cover. The title on the title-page is retitled in pencil 'The Unfortunate Boy! or Always in for it.' Possibly in Webster's hand, but with what may be the initials of the transcriber following the 'FINIS' on the final page. The text of the play is on the rectos, with occasional writing on versos. Emendations in ink and pencil, including additional dialogue.

[ Sir William Martins, Gentleman Usher. ] Autograph Letter in the third person to actor-manager Benjamin Webster, asking him to arrange a performance of a farce at the Adelphi Theatre 'at the rather earnest wish of a former Lord Chamberlain'.

Author: 
Sir William Martins (c.1787-1874), Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State [ Benjamin Webster [ Benjamin Nottingham Webster ] (1797-1882), actor-manager; Adelphi Theatre, London ]
Publication details: 
St James's Palace [ London ]. 16 February [ no year, but on paper watermarked 1844 ].
£45.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condiion, on aged and worn paper. Marked 'Private', and written with an urgency suggesting the involvement of royalty behind the request. The letter begins: 'Sir William Martins presents his Compliments to Mr Webster and at theh rather earnest wish of a former Lord Chamberlain entreats Mr Webster, if it be practicable to allow the Farce of "Powder & Ball" to be played at the Adelphi one evening this Week either Wednesday Thursday or Friday'. He will 'explain further' and writes 'in case he should not be fortunate enough to meet Mr Webster at the Theatre'.

[ Alfred Benjamin Wyon, medallist. ] Pencil drawing of crown, captioned in ink 'Scottish Crown.'

Author: 
Alfred Benjamin Wyon (1837-1884), sculptor and medallist, with shop at 287 Regent St, London
Publication details: 
With stamp of 'WYON | REGENT ST' [ Alfred Benjamin Wyon, 287 Regent St, London ].Undated.
£120.00

On one side of a 12 x 13 cm piece of paper. On aged paper with four folds. The crown is drawn in pencil, and is 2.5 x 2.75 cm. The caption, in ink, is below, and reads: 'Scottish crown. | Drawing to be returned.' Between the two lines of text is the firm's stamp, made up of perforated lettering. Presumably a design for a letterhead, or other engraving.

[ Major-General Sir Benjamin Charles Stephenson, Surveyor-General of the Board of Works. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('B C Stephenson') to 'Lieutt: Lawrence R:N:' about an invention.

Author: 
Major-General Sir Benjamin Charles Stephenson (c.1766-1839), G.C.H., Surveyor-General of the Office of Works
Publication details: 
Office of Works [London]. 19 March 1823.
£56.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper, with a short closed tear along a crease and slight loss to one corner. He regrets that 'it is not in my power to afford any Official Assistance, in promoting the use of your very Ingenious, & Valuable Invention; as the Business of this Department is exclusively confined to the Building, & <?>, belonging either to His Majesty, or the Public, such as Palaces, Public Offices &c.' He suggests a number of organisations to which Lawrence should apply., 'as the Departments most likely to encourage your useful Undertaking'.

[ B. F. Stevens of Vermont, London bookseller. ] Stevens' Historical Collections. Catalogue of the First Portion of the Extensive & Varied Collections of Rare Books and Manuscripts relating chiefly to the History and Literature of America [...]'.

Author: 
Henry Stevens (1819-1886) of Vermont, American bibliographer based in London, brother of the London bookseller Benjamin Franklin Stevens (1833-1902) [ Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, London auctioneers ]
Publication details: 
Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 13 Wellington Street, Strand, W.C., London. On 11 July 1881 and four following days. [ J. Davy & Sons (The Dryden Press), 137 Long Acre, London. ]
£220.00

vi + 229 + [1]pp., 8vo. Frontispiece facsimile letter from Benjamin Franklin. In original printed wraps. In blue cloth binding with title in gilt on front cover and spine. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding. Full title: 'Stevens' Historical Collections.

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