BINDING

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn. Frank on reverse of damaged second leaf to 'Mess Nichols & Son | Parliament Street | Printers | W Curtis'. Seventeen lines of directions to ' his friends Mess Nichols & Son', regarding the binding of legislative works, beginning with 'two Statute books of Geo the Fourth'. Regarding 'an odd, abridgment of some of Geo 3d' he writes: 'it is probable there may be more, if so begs Mess N & Son would get them & bind them, if not it will hardly be worth the expense of binding the one'.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. The letterhead styles the firm: 'Maggs Bros., | Rare Books, Prints & Autographs. | Catalogues issued. | Publishers, Exporters & Shippers.' gives thhe address of the firm's warehouse, telegraphic and cable address, 'Code in Use', and telephone number. With reference to an order, the firm is sending 'a large plate of the "Mistaken Marriage" and another of "The Whiskers" of these latter kindly use the larger of the two but do not inlay'.

On a piece of grey paper, 5 x 9.5 cm, cut away from a letter. Good. Thin strip of white mount adhering to right-hand edge. The signature is in the form of a monogram, with Prideaux's initials S and T combined to make a stylized shape with long diagonal stroke, which cuts through the final 'P.' The letter's valediction reads '<...> all my divans. | Yrs. | [signature]'. Lengthwise to the right of the signature, the slip is docketed 'Miss Sarah Prideaux | celebrated as a Lady Bookbinder whose Work has taken prizes at all the great exhibitions'.

All three items in good condition, a little grubby and lightly creased. Three pieces of nineteenth-century Scottish book trade ephemera. Item One (12mo, 1 p, nine lines of text): printed announcement that the 'concluding Volumes of our Edition of OWEN'S WORKS [...] will not be sent to Subscribers in arrear'. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, with the verso of the blank second leaf docketed by Alsop. Item Two (12mo, 1 p, on grey-paper printed form): invoice, 'To JOHNSTONE & HUNTER, 15 PRINCES STREET.', dated June 1855. The subscription of 'J. Allsop Esqr.

On one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 10.5 x 17.5 cm. Good. Printed in top left-hand corner: 'To J. B. Nichols and Son. Printers and Booksellers. 25, Parliament Street, Westminster. ***Office, 10, King Street, Westminster.' Asks that the 'Subscription to Forby's Vocabulary 1 1 0' be paid to him or to 'Mr Wilkin, Bookseller, herewith'. Countsigned crosswise 'Received for S. Wilkin | [signed] Josiah Fletcher | Jan 25/30'. Docketed on reverse. BBTI has Wilkin as a bookseller in Norwich from before 1821 to 1830; and Fletcher as a binder and printer there from around 1820 to 1835.