BOOK

Four small children's stories published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, bound together in wraps with their original title pages: 'Tommy and Mary', 'The Rector's Brook', 'Dobbin; or, The Discontented Donkey', 'The Little Missionary'.

Author: 
[The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London; James Truscott and Son, printers, Suffolk Lane, City; children's books]
Publication details: 
All four published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, and printed by Printed by James Truscott and Son, Suffolk Lane, City. All four undated [1870s].
£250.00

All four stories 16mo, and each with a frontispiece included in the pagination. ONE. 'Tommy and Mary. A Book for the Very Little Ones.' 17pp. TWO. 'The Rector's Brook: A Story for Little People.' 32pp. THREE. 'Dobbin; or, The Discontented Donkey.' 30 + [1]pp. FOUR. 'The Little Missionary. A Tract for Children.' 11pp. Stitched into printed wraps, with the front cover coloured blue and the rear pink. Aged and worn, but complete and tight. Handwritten in a contemporary hand on the reverse of two frontispieces: 'Kilndown Lending Library'.

Three financial documents from 1880 on 'Vanity Fair': holograph 'Report' by the editor Thomas Gibson Bowles, accompanying 'Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Account' and 'Comparative Statement of Income and Expenditure' by accountants Masson & Lewis.

Author: 
Thomas Gibson Bowles (1841-1922), editor of the London society magazine 'Vanity Fair', founded by him in 1868 [Masson & Lewis, Accountants, 27 Leadenhall Street, London]
Publication details: 
Bowles's report dated 10 November 1880. 'Balance Sheet' and 'Comparative Statement' both by Masson & Lewis, Accountants, 27 Leadenhall Street, London, and both for the half-year ending 30 September 1880.
£450.00

The three items, all in manuscript, are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. All three are folded into the usual packets, with the two items by the accountants each titled in manuscript on the outside. Item One (Gibson's report): 'Report to accompany the Accounts of "Vanity Fair" for the six months ending 30th. Septr. 1880'. In Bowles's autograph, and signed by him at the foot, 'Thos. G. Bowles | 10 Novr 1880'. 1p., foolscap 8vo.

Itemised manuscript account of 'Mr. Alexr. J. Murray's Charges in relation to the Sale to Mr. Hanbury of 1/18th. Share in "Vanity Fair"'.

Author: 
Alexander J. Murray, solicitor, 1 Clement's Inn, London [Hanbury; Thomas Gibson Bowles (1841-1922), editor of the London society magazine 'Vanity Fair', founded by him in 1868]
Publication details: 
Entries dating from 1 November 1881 to 1 July 1882. Document carrying tax stamp postmarked 14 March 1883.
£600.00

5pp., foolscap 8vo. Attached with green ribbon. The sale was a protracted affair, and the detailed nature of these accounts may be due to Murray's desire to justify his charges of £22 1s 6d. The first entry reads: '1881 | Novr. 1st. Attending Mr. Bowles on his calling and receiving his instructions to act for all parties in the Sale of 1/18th. Share in "Vanity Fair" and General Roberts Executors would call and hand me the necessary papers [6s 8d]'. Other entries include 'Novr. 28th [1881] Writing Mr. Bowles that the Deed would be ready for his signature tomorrow morning [5s]', 'Jany.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Winchilsea') from George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea to John Preston Neale, accompanying a corrected proof of the section on Burley House in Neale's 'Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen'.

Author: 
George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea, of Burley House [Burley on the Hill Mansion], Rutlandshire, amateur cricketer and patron of the game, founder of the White Conduit Club
Publication details: 
Letter: Place not stated. 28 December 1822. Proof without place or date.
£220.00

Letter: 1p., 12mo. On bifolium. On aged and worn paper with closed tears at foot and pinholes at head. Reads: 'Sir, | I return you the account of Burley with some Amendments which I think it requires, I dare say that when I have an opportunity of seeing your Work I shall wish to become a Subscriber.' The proof, with a few minor corrections in Winchilsea's hand, are 2pp., 8vo, printed on one side of a half sheet folded once to make a bifolium, with the first page on the recto of the first leaf, and the second page on the verso of second leaf. On aged and worn paper.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Trollope') from Rev. William Trollope, classics master at Christ's Hospital, offering the London publishers Cadell & Davies his 'Analecta Theologica'. Together with the a statement of account by Cadell & Davies.

Author: 
Rev. William Trollope (1798-1863), MA, Pembroke College, Cambridge, one of the masters of Christ's Hospital [Cadell & Davies, London publishers; Thomas Cadell (1773-1836); William Davies]
Publication details: 
Trollope's letter: Christs Hospital. 12 September 1827. The statement of account at 28 December 1829 (volume 1) and August 1835 (volume 2).
£166.00

Trollope's letter: 3pp., 12mo. 48 lines. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper. Addressed, with postmarks, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Messrs. Cadell & Co. | Booksellers | Strand.' Trollope begins by announcing that he has 'a work nearly ready for the Press, wh. may probably be worth your attention [...] It is designed as companion to Mr Horne's work on the Scriptures, of wh. as you are the publishers, you may perhaps have no objection to engage in another, wh.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Baptist Minister and essayist John Foster, to his unnamed London bookseller (J. Cox or James Nisbet, both of Berners Street?), discussing arrangements on the bookseller's retirement.

Author: 
John Foster (1770-1843), Yorkshire-born Baptist minister and essayist
Publication details: 
Stapleton, Gloucestershire. 26 January 1823.
£120.00

2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. 43 closely-written lines. An interesting letter, in which Foster closes 'a long and amicable communication' with the bookseller, the reason being given in the following passage: 'I am sorry for what you intimated, that your more recent undertakings have not been so advantageous as you had expected. From your hint of the possibility of a continued residence at Hastings I may conclude that you withdraw from business (that of books at least) altogether.

[Printed booklet for children, with illustrations.] The Bunch of Violets.

Author: 
Anonymous [James Burns, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square, London; Levey, Robson, and Franklyn, 46 St Martin's Lane, London]
Publication details: 
London: James Burns, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square. 1840. [Printed by Levey, Robson, and Franklyn, 46 St Martin's Lane, London.]
£250.00

19pp., 32mo. Stitched. In pink printed wraps. Lightly-aged, in worn wraps. The front cover duplicates the only different element being the central vignette. On the rear wrap is a list of twelve children's books, 'Just published, uniform in size with the present', 'The Series to be continued.' Stock engraving at head of first page, showing old man with stick at cottage door, admonishing three children, one of them crying. Final engraving shows man with hat and stick on tired horse, with accompanying dog in foreground and foliage in background.

Manuscript receipt, signed ('Arch Forbes') by the war correspondent Archibald Forbes, for £50 from the London publishers Henry S. King & Co., for the right to publish an edition of 1000 copies of his 'Soldiering and Scribbling'.

Author: 
Archibald Forbes (1838-1900), British war correspondent, born in Scotland [Henry S. King & Co., 65 Cornhill, London publishers]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. 27 June 1872.
£56.00

1p., landscape 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper. Signed by Forbes over a purple one penny Inland Revenue stamp. Reads: '£50 : 0 : 0 | 27th. June 1872. | Received of Messrs: Henry S. King & Co. of 65 Cornhill London, the sum of Fifty Pounds in payment for the right to publish an edition of 1000 copies of "Soldiering and Scribbling" | [signed] Arch Forbes'. The book was published by the firm in the same year as the receipt.

Autograph Letter Signed from the novelist Michael Sadleir to the diplomat Ernest Frederick Gye, congratulating him on his posting to Tangier.

Author: 
Michael Sadleir [born Michael Sadler] (1888-1957), English novelist and director of the publishers Constable & Co. [Ernest Frederick Gye (1879-1955), diplomat, son of Ernest Gye and Dame Emma Albani]
Sadleir
Publication details: 
On letterhead of [the offices of the publishers Constable & Co.,] 10-12 Orange St, London. 1 March 1933.
£32.00
Sadleir

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'dear Ernest'. Marked by Gye 'Ansd.' He is sending Gye 'a word of congratulations on the august appointment to Tangier'. He apologises that he cannot be 'part of the celebration on March 23'. He concludes: 'I hope you are pleased and that everything will prosper. | No answer required of course'.

Manuscript Memorandum of Agreement between J. Hain Friswell and the London publisher Henry S. King, setting out the terms of publication of Friswell's 'The Better Self'. Signed 'J. Hain Friswell'.

Author: 
James Hain Friswell (1825-1878), English essayist and novelist [Henry S. King & Co., publishers, 65 Cornhill, London]
Publication details: 
22 October 1874.
£56.00

1p., foolscap 8vo. On laid paper, with red embossed tax stamp in top left-hand corner. In fair condition, lightly-aged. The memorandum is seventeen lines long, and begins: 'Memorandum of an Agreement made this twenty second day of October One thousand eight hundred and seventy four. Between Mr J. Hain Friswell of Fair House, Bexley Heath, Kent, of the one part and Messrs. Henry S. King & Co. of 65 Cornhill London publishers of the other part. | The said Mr J. Hain Friswell has written a Work entitled "The better self" which he herby assigns to Messrs. Henry S.

Printed 'Prospectus' for 'a Poetical illustration of the Career of Field Marshall the Duke of Wellington, and his Illustrious Companions', with the autograph signature of 'George Webb De Renzy, Major and Barrack-Master'

Author: 
Major George Webb De Renzy, of the 82nd Regiment, and Barrack-Master, Dundee [The Duke of Wellington]
Publication details: 
Castletown, Isle of Man. 1 January 1847.
£135.00

1p., 4to. Thirteen lines of text, daintily printed in small type. On lightly-aged and creased paper, with a number of short closed tears. Dated in print at the foot 'Castletown, Isle of Man, | 1847.' Beneath this De Renzy has written, in manuscript, '1st January, | [signed] George Webb De Renzy, Major | and Barrack-Master'.

Nine Autograph Letters Signed from the poet Herbert Palmer to Rev. Harry Escott of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, editing a book of Escott's poetry, discussing Christian verse, and attacking T. S. Eliot, the Faber poets and modernism.

Author: 
Herbert Palmer [Herbert Edward Palmer] (1880-1961), English poet and critic [Rev. Harry Escott (1905-1987), MA, Congregational Minister at Rhynie, Aberdeenshire]
Publication details: 
All from 22 Batchwood View, St Albans, Hertfordshire. One from 1938, two from 1942, one from 1943, and the rest undated.
£280.00

Totalling 36pp., 4to. In fair condition, bound by Escott with brown paper into paper wraps, with the front wrap signed by Escott and bearing the typed label 'LETTERS from HERBERT PALMER on "Minstrels of Christ" and my second book of verse "Soar for Victory", amended in February 1948 to "Back to the Fountain."' An interesting correspondence, casting light on the workings of the mid-twentieth century publishing industry, from the point of view of a successful traditional poet strongly opposed to modernism.

[Children's book by Darton and Harvey] The Voyages and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe: who was Shipwrecked on the Coast of America, and cast ashore on an uninhabited Island, where he resided twenty-eight years. Written by himself.

Author: 
[Daniel Defoe; Darton and Harvey, London children's booksellers and publishers; Joseph Rickerby, Printer, Sherbourn Lane]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for Darton and Harvey, Gracechurch-street. 1837. [London: Joseph Rickerby, Printer, Sherbourn-lane.]
£250.00

45 + [ii] pp. Frontispiece. Two pages of advertisements of the firm's books at end. In original pink printed boards with further advertisements for the firm on back. Lightly-aged in worn boards with wear to spine. Scarce: no copy of this 1837 Darton & Harvey edition on COPAC, which lists only four copies by them alone: one from 1831 (NLS), two from 1834 (TCD and Bodleian), and one from 1838 (V&A). This title does not feature in Linda David's catalogue of the 1992 Lilly Library exhibition of 'Children's books published by William Darton and his sons'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Spottiswoode') from the scientist and Queen's Printer William Spottiswoode to Captain Washington [John Washington, Hydrographer to the Navy], regarding the difficulty of 'finding a Japanese scholar' and Washington's son.

Author: 
William Spottiswoode (1825-1883), mathematician, physicist, President of the Royal Society, and the Queen's Printer [Rear-Admiral John Washington (1800-1863), Hydrographer to the Navy]
Publication details: 
H. M. Printing Office. 21 March 1860.
£125.00

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. Fair, on aged paper. The letter begins: 'Maitland, Secretary of the Civil Service Commission, tells me that Mr Robertson was examined only in European subjects; or, to use his own expression, "as to his capacity for learning Japanese".' Maitland cannot help them 'in finding a Japanese scholar'. As Spottiswoode is 'always so glad to find any one interested in oriental subjects', he asks for 'an opportunity of becoming acquainted' with Washington's son.

[Mimeographed Typed Report, with plans and diagrams.] St. Anne's Board Mill Co., Ltd. | Visit to the United States of America and Canada of Mr. R. J. Thomas and Mr. S. F. Smith | July/August 1946.'

Author: 
[Report by R. J. Thomas and S. F. Smith of St Anne's Board Mill Company, Limited, Bristol, on their visit to the USA and Canada, 1946]
Publication details: 
[St Anne's Board Mill Company, Limited, Bristol. 1946.]
£320.00

311pp., folio. With page of 'Errata' laid down on rear pastedown, under the manuscript heading 'COPY NO. 3. (PB).' With fold-out map of North America, and numerous plans and diagrams laid down in text, as well as several full-page plates. In original blue buckram binding, with 'REPORT ON AMERICAN VISIT | 1946.' in gilt on the spine. Good, on lightly-aged and spotted paper.

[Mimeographed Typed Report, with plans and diagrams.] St. Anne's Board Mill Company Limited | Visit of Mr. R. J. Thomas and Mr. D. R. Hicklin to the U.S.A. and Canada - 1954'.

Author: 
[Report of R. J. Thomas and D. R. Hicklin of the St Anne's Board Mill Company Limited, Bristol, to the USA and Canada]
Publication details: 
[St Anne's Board Mill Co. Ltd. 1954.]
£220.00

[v] + 135pp., folio. With diagrams and plans in text, and one large fold-out diagram of '100 Ton Waste Paper Cleaning System'. A well-produced item, well-typed and with clear diagrams, bound in navy buckram with 'REPORT ON AMERICAN VISIT | 1954' on the spine. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The text is preceded by an Index, a map of North America, and an itinerary. The 'objects of the visit' are given on the first page as '(a) To obtain information on the current production practice in Woodpulp and Paperboard Mills.

Autograph Letter Signed "René Bull", to "Gilmer", declining a commission because of a prior engagement.

Author: 
René Bull (1872– 1942), book illustrator.
Publication details: 
20 Palliser Court, Barons Court, Londo, W., 10th August 1919.
£125.00

Three pages, 12mo, bifolium, some marking but mainly good condition. "Many thanks for your letter - I thought the Indian Book was off long ago - anyhow I am sorry I could not undertake it now as I am bought up by Vickers Ltd [engineering company,inc. aircraft] for experimental work at a big premium - am awfully sory. Cheerio - hope to come across you sometime." Note: Bull served in the Royal Air Force during the Great War. Perhaps he joinned the Aircraft section of Vickers in 1919.

47 Autograph Letters Signed, 3 Typed Letters Signed and 3 Autograph Cards Signed, from the author 'Charles Inge' [Captain Charles Inge Gardiner] to his literary agent

Author: 
Captain Charles Inge Gardiner, author, under the pseudonym 'Charles Inge', of six books between 1905 ('A North Sea Agony') and 1920 ('Flashes of London') [J. B. Pinker [James Brand Pinker] (1863-1922
Publication details: 
Written from London, York, Brighton, Windsor and other places in England between 1904 and 1920.
£350.00

An interesting correspondence by an author about whom little is known. The 54 items (including one TLS to Gardiner from Methuen & Co Ltd) are in fair condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Four letters are signed 'Chas. Inge' and the others 'Chas. I . Gardiner'. The earliest items (1904-1911) are on the letterhead of 'CHAS. I. GARDINER', Blenheim Mansions, Queen Anne's Gate, London; thereafter he moves to 9 Irving Mansions, Queen's Club Gardens, West Kensington, and thence, while serving in the First World War, to York.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John B. Inglis') from the book collector John Bellingham Inglis to Isaac Preston Cory of Caius College, Cambridge, about the superiority of his 'method of trisecting an angle' over that of 'Mr. Rowbotham' [John Rowbotham].

Author: 
John B. Inglis [John Bellingham Inglis] (1780-1870), book collector [Isaac Preston Cory (1801/2-1842), Hebrew Lecturer, Caius College, Cambridge, and writer on accountancy; John Rowbotham (1793-1846)]
Publication details: 
21 Upper Montagu St; 24 February 1836.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. 42 lines. Bifolium. Fair, on aged paper. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'I. P. Cory Esq'. The letter begins: 'A friend of mine Mr. Jackson having told Mr. Rowbotham [Ruskin's tutor John Rowbotham] that I had discovered a method of trisecting an angle that gentleman said he had done it himself, which I believe he has, upon the proposition you showed me - he says it was originally published by Professor Leslie'. Inglis considers that 'Mr. R. seems to have hit upon something he does not quite comprehend'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Ada Ellen Bayly / "Edna Lyall."') by the novelist Edna Lyall (real name Ada Ellen Bayly), on the part played by illustrations in novels.

Author: 
'Edna Lyall', pseudonym of the novelist Ada Ellen Bayly (1857-1903)
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 6 College Road, Eastbourne. 11 January 1893.
£90.00

2pp., 12mo. Fifteen lines. On bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. The male recipient is not named. She apologies that 'the crowd of Christmas engagements' has meant that his letter has gone unanswered until now. 'With regard to the question you ask, my feeling is that where an artist and an author can contrive to work well together illustrations are a decided improvement to novels. But it is most trying to an author to see his characters presented to the public in a way utterly unlike his own conception of them.' In her view it is 'clear gain' if a book can be 'well illustrated'.

Typed Letters Signed from Frank E. Wright, President, and W. T. Adair, Vice President and General Manager, Syndicate Publishing Company, New York, to Sydney Walton (later Lloyd George's spin doctor), on his employment in the firm's London office.

Author: 
Frank E. Wright, President, Syndicate Publishing Company, New York; W. T. Adair, Vice President and General Manager [Sydney Walton (1882-1964), journalist and spin doctor]
Publication details: 
Both on letterheads of the Syndicate Publishing Company, New York. Adair's letter: 2 December 1914. Wright's letter: 30 March 1915.
£280.00

The letters provide a fascinating insight into the development of the transatlantic publishing industry. They are closely typed with single spacing, and both centre around Walton's employment situation and his complaints about the sending over from America of 'Mr. Russell', about whose 'absolute worthlessness to the business' he complains. Adair's letter: 2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper.

Autograph Letter Signed ('M Berry') from the diarist Mary Berry, sister of Agnes Berry and friend of Horace Walpole, [to her publishers Longman & Co] regarding proofs [of her book 'A Comparative View of the Social Life of England and France'].

Author: 
Mary Berry (1763-1852), author and diarist, sister and companion of Agnes Berry (1764-1852), and friend of Horace Walpole [Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, publishers, of Paternoster Row, London]
Publication details: 
'Petersham Wedy. Mony' [1828].
£180.00

1p., 12mo. 12 lines. Good on lightly-aged paper. She is requesting 'an alteration to be made in the Contents of Chapr 9. to the necessity of which I had not adverted till I saw that Chapr. in Print'. After correcting the chapter she 'desired a Revise', but 'foolishly forgot to Revise the Contents of the Chapr.' 'It cannot however be too late & must be done, as the Chapr: ends with Mr Fox'. The work referred to is clearly Miss Berry's 'Comparative View', published by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green in 1828, the ninth and last chapter of which does indeed end with Charles James Fox.

Autograph Letter Signed from the journalist and literary biographer George Barnett Smith to J. T. Baron of Blackburn

Author: 
George Barnett Smith (1841-1909), English author, journalist and literary biographer
Publication details: 
Cuba Villa, Bickerton Road, Highgate, N. 6 March 1882.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium.Good, on lightly-aged paper. In stamped envelope, with London and Blackburn postmarks, addressed by Smith to 'J. T. Baron, Esq. / 18, Griffin Street, / Witton, / Blackburn.' He is only able to reply to Baron's not now, having been 'ill & confined to bed'. He thanks him 'for the kind expressions you use respecting my Life of Gladstone, which I am glad you like so much. I suppose you are aware that I have recently published (through Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton) a companion work, the Life of Mr.

Six Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Halifax'), and one secretarial letter, from Charles Lindley Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax ('Lord Halifax') to Canon Edward James Russell, regarding the English Church Union and the evils of 'Undenominationalism'.

Author: 
Charles Lindley Wood (1839-1934), 2nd Viscount Halifax ['Lord Halifax'], President of English Church Union and collector of ghost stories [Rev. Edward James Russell (1843-1911), Canon of Manchester]
Publication details: 
1900 (2), 1907 (4) and 1908 (1). Four from Hickleton, Doncaster, one from Garrowby, Bishop Wilton, York, one from 79 Eaton Square, London, and one from Harrowgate.
£180.00

The seven letters total 23pp, 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The third letter, written from Hickleton on 7 January 1907, is in a secretarial hand, Halifax being 'laid up with Influenza' and 'utterly good for nothing'; it carries an autograph postscript by Russell at the head of the first page. The first letter (14 July 1900) invites Russell to fill the 'vacancy on the list of Clerical members of our E.C.U. Council'; Russell's acceptance is acknowledged in the second, which also discusses charges of 'disloyalty'.

Leaf from the notebook of the Victorian artist George Cruikshank, carrying two pages of serious sketches, each signed by him 'Geo Cruikshank'.

Author: 
George Cruikshank (1792-1878), English caricaturist and illustrator
Leaf from the notebook of the Victorian artist George Cruikshank
Publication details: 
Undated, but on paper with watermarked date 1824.
£450.00
Leaf from the notebook of the Victorian artist George Cruikshank

In ink on both sides of a 4to leaf of wove paper, watermarked 'J GREEN & SON / 1824'. None of Cruikshank's drawing or writing is affected, but one corner of the leaf has been cut away, and there is another thin strip cut from another. Fair, on aged paper. One page carries a full-length drawing of a bearded athletic man in shorts and sandals, making a sweeping theatrical gesture with his right hand, and holding a spear in his left. Beneath the drawing is Cruikshank's signature, and a study of the left foot.

[Printed pamphlet.] An Address to Bachelors. By a Bird at Bromsgrove.

Author: 
'A Bird at Bromsgrove' [pseudonym of John Crane of Bromsgrove] [Grafton & Reddell, printers, Birmingham]
 An Address to Bachelors. By a Bird at Bromsgrove.
Publication details: 
The Seventh Edition, with Additions. Birmingham: Printed by Grafton & Reddell; for the Author. 1801.
£120.00
 An Address to Bachelors. By a Bird at Bromsgrove.

36pp., 18mo. With frontispiece (preceding half-title) of 'I. CRANE / BROMSGROVE', showing a crane and a carriage lamp, within a circular border reading 'To make the Watch go faster turn the Regulator to the right & Slower the Contrary'. Side stitched in original pink printed wraps. In fair condition, in worn and lightly-stained wraps. Nicely printed on wove paper with 'LLOYD 1795' watermark. Poem titled 'Introduction' on p.5, followed by the title poem on pp.7-36. No copy of this attractive edtion on either COPAC or WorldCat, nor of any other printed by Grafton & Reddell.

Autograph Letter Signed from Emma Roberts, author of 'Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan', to William Jerdan, editor of the 'Literary Gazette'

Author: 
Emma Roberts (1791-1840), author and traveller in India [William Jerdan (1782-1869), editor of the 'Literary Gazette'; Rudolph Ackermann (1764-1834), London publisher]
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but between 1826 and 1829.
£280.00

1p., 8vo. 22 lines. Fair, on aged and worn paper. Addressed on reverse to 'William Jerdan Esqr | Grove House'. On wove paper watermarked 'G & R TURNER | 1826'. The letter can thus be dated from between 1826 and 1829, the year 'Ackermann's Repository of the Arts' ceased publication. Written in a difficult, hurried hand. She has received a letter from 'Mr Ackermann', saying that the package which Jerdan was 'kind enough to promise should go in your bag yesterday I having given it to you too late for the boy on Monday, has not reached him'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the New Hampshire almanac maker Dudley Leavitt ('Old Master Leavitt') to the bookseller Charles Norris of Exeter, New Hampshire, publisher of his 'Scholar's Review', discussing it and giving the text of an advertisement.

Author: 
Dudley Leavitt (1772-1851), New Hampshire almanac maker for over half a century, known locally as 'Old Master Leavitt' [Charles Norris (1782?-1847), bookseller and publisher, Exeter, New Hampshire]
Publication details: 
Meredith [New Hampshire]. 3 September 1811.
£160.00

2pp., folio. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Signed twice. In the body of the letter, consisting of twenty-two lines, Leavitt writes that he is forwarding to Norris 'the Register with such additions and corrections as appeared necessary'. He will insert any further information in a few weeks. Regarding 'the sitting of the Courts' he states: 'If the Legislature of this State altered none of the sitting last June, they are correct in your Register for 1811. I think there is no alteration.' As his 'local situation is such' that he cannot soon ascertain particulars, he suggests George Sullivan.

Autograph Letter Signed ('William Huggins') from the astronomer Sir William Huggins, President of the Royal Society, to 'Mr. Viney' [of printers Hazell, Watson & Viney?], regarding the printing [of Huggins' 'Atlas of representative Stella Spectra'].

Author: 
Sir William Huggins (1824=1910), astronomer, President, Royal Astronomical Society (1876-1878), British Association for the Advancement of Science (1891), and Royal Society (1900-1905) [J. E. Viney?]
Publication details: 
Upper Tulse Hill, S.W. [London]; [circa 1899?].
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The paper appears to have an 1890s watermark, and the correspondence may relate to the publication of Huggins's 'Atlas of representative Stellar Spectra', printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney for William Wesley & Son in 1899. Apparently impressed by the speed of Viney's response to his last letter, Huggins begins 'Your lightning is treble-greased.' He is returning the corrected proof, and sent 'a new copy with your name written on, by this morning's post as yr.

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. Campbell') from Thomas Campbell, editor of the New Monthly Magazine, to fellow Scottish poet Allan Cunningham, introducing his 'Cousin and friend Mr Gray of Glasgow'.

Author: 
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), Scottish poet and editor of the New Monthly Magazine [Allan Cunningham (1784-1842), Scottish poet and author]
Thomas Campbell
Publication details: 
10 Seymour Street West, London; 3 September [no year].
£65.00
Thomas Campbell

1p., 12mo. Fair, on aged paper, wtih two small unobtrusive closed holes to the paper. Placed in narrow paper windowpane border. The letter reads 'My dear Cunningham | This will be delivered to you by my Cousin & friend Mr Gray of Glasgow - He is ambitious of paying his respects to you - I need say no more - I am sure that you will soon be good acquaintances - With the greatest regard | Believe me | Yours truly | [signed] T. Campbell'.

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