BOOKSELLER

See Sams's entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On a bifolium, the second leaf of which has had a rectangle, almost amounting to half, cut away from the bottom. The text of the letter is complete, but the priced list of the prints and drawings on the last page, lacks the lower half. A long letter, closely written. Signed 'J. Sams.' Aged, worn and lightly stained, but nevertheless in passable condition. The recipient, saluted as 'Esteemed Friend', is not named.

See Sams's entry in the Oxford DNB. Two letters providing an interesting glimpse of the practicalities of Victorian antiquarian bookselling. Both letters 3pp, 12mo, and bifoliums addressed on reverse of second leaf, with broken seals and postmarks, to 'Godfrey Meynell Esqre | at Mr Stamp's, | Surgeon, | Seaton Carew, | nr Hartlepool.' Both addressed to 'Respected Frd.' In fair condition, aged and worn. ONE: 15 August 1847. He begins by explaining that he was 'from home in the city of Durham' when Meynell's letter came.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with three punch holes to margin, and endorsement of number in a circle. The letter begins: 'My dear Percy | Your catalogues – especially the literary parts of them – are my favourite reading. You find such unusual books, and describe them with such care and skill.' He asks him to send him, 'to Soho Square', the two Rothenstein items nos 260 and 260 a'. He explains that while he longs 'for some of the Blunts', his daughter is getting married that June, and he is 'saving up for that'.

See Harling's entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. The salutation ('My dear Percy'), valediction ('Luv Robert'), and one additional word in autograph; the rest typed. He begins by thanking Muir for a copy of 'PHM 80', the volume celebrating Muir's eightieth birthday.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and spotted, with loss at foot of reverse of last leaf, the verso of which is addressed to 'Mr Palmer | Bookseller | 18 Paternoster Row'. The recipient is the theological bookseller Ebenezer Palmer the elder (c.1782-1866). Twenty-two lines of text in a difficult hand. The stridently pious tone perhaps hints at some degree of mental instability. The letter opens: 'My dear Sir & friend in the LORD | I greet you in Him'.

1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with a few small holes, and thin strip of paper from mount adhering to the blank reverse. Reads: 'The Assignees of Mr George Underwood will please deliver up to Messrs Renshaw & Reid all the Copies of my “State of Lunatic Asylums” also all copies of my “Letter to Lord Robert Seymour” as also Any Copies of “Letters from Germany & Holland” or any other of my works that may remain or be found among the stock of the said George Underwood as the whole are my individual Property - | Andrew Halliday | Hampton Court | 31 August 1831'.

60pp., 12mo. Disbound and without wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Businesslike alphabetical catalogue of unnumbered priced general items, in double column. Short notes at the beginning and end, the former boasting that books will be sold 'aux prix de Paris', the latter offering for sale a 'nouvelle et très-belle édition' of Plato by Firmin Didot. The author was presumably Jacques-Christophe Frère, father of Édouard Frère (1797-1874), archivist, biographer, and historian specialized in the Normandy area. No copy in the Bibliotheque Nationale, nor on OCLC WorldCat or COPAC.

8pp., 8vo. Disbound and without wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged. Manuscript emendation on p.6. A law bookseller's careful and businesslike priced catalogue of unnumbered entries, several of which are accompanied by long descriptions by the author in small type. No copy in the Bibliotheque Nationale, nor on OCLC WorldCat or COPAC.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Begins: 'Mem. for Mr Henry Gray | I have received your Catalogue dated April 25th. | Will you send me, if still in hand, […]'. A list of five works follows, the last four French, including Sarah Scott's Utopian "Millenium Hall", following which Besant writes: 'for wh. I will remit by return post – on receipt.'

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter begins: 'Mr. [ Park? ], the Artist, of Dublin, has this day written me word that he has some intention of coming to settle in London in the ensuing winter.' He urges Spencer to 'get him to deliver a course of Lectures on Painting at the Surrey Institution. From speeches which I have heard him deliver, I should think his language & delivery well calculated for the purpose & likely to render him popular.' He explains that he is prevented from writing himself by a 'complaint in my eyes'.

1p., folio. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, with the neat, controlled signature of 'Richard Royston' at the foot, with that of 'Jo Smyther' above it. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with two seals cut from the first leaf. The document was produced in the Chancery suit 'Kensey ads Smythyer': there is a note by 'Heydon' of the Court on the reverse of the first leaf, and the following docketing – written at different points in different hands – on the reverse of the second: 'Mr.

Dobell is not named, but the second letter contains a reference to the recipient's wife 'Mrs. Dobell'. Both letters 2pp., 12mo, and both in good condition, on lightly aged paper. ONE: 21 August 1895. Signed 'G. J. Harney.' He makes an order of books from the library of George Augustus Sala, of whom he 'cannot profess to be an admirer': 'clever, versatile, a typical journalist; but not of the stuff of Cobbett, Wooler, Hone (before he became a melancholy mad religious crank) or Hetherington – or Hunt (John).

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged paper with small spike hole at head. He thanks the unnamed recipient for his 'obliging letter' and 'ingenious Catalogue', and 'would have acknowledged the receipt sooner' had he not been waiting for 'an opportunity of conveying the same free of expence'. The recipient is 'welcome' to the copy of 'Stewarts Athens' at his 'own price' of two guineas. Burnham has 'adjusted Mr. Hayes's Account with the balance of onepound [sic] ffifteenshillings [sic]', and begs 'to thank that Gentleman for the same'.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with the blank second leaf tipped-in onto a leaf from an album. His only excuse for 'the long delay' is 'that all my time has been occupied in taking stock, which necessarily has been a most irksome job'. It will be the following month before he can 'put forth an appendix to my Catalogue, as it will be necessary for me to wait the coming event of something, that I may, or may not be engaged in.' He will have time 'to consider & reconsider' Huggins's 'advertisement'.

On 8 x 18.5 cm piece of paper cut from a letter. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, with thin strip of staining from mount at head. The signature side reads: '[...] but it might not be on Saturday, as on that day my House will be in a bustle - | I remain | Your Obedt: Humle: Servt | Garvagh | To | Mr Lackington | [...]'. The other page reads: '[...] letter in its first arrival - and to day I presume is not one that either yourself or Mr Dry could wish the Pictures to be turned out of doors in.'

On the half-title of his self-published anonymous 'Literary copyright: seven Letters addressed by Permission to the Right Hon. the Earl Stanhope' (1871), now a loose leaf in 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Printed in the centre of the page are the words 'Literary Copyright.' Above this Hotten has written, in his stylised hand: 'To Charles Welford | with the respects of | Jno Camden Hotten | 24 Oct. 1871.'

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, aged and with creasing at foot. Reads: 'Thos Jeffery | 7 Conway Row | Half way Houses | Portsea | takes an active part in visiting the Convicts in the hulks & wd be most thankful for some tracts | Jos: Butterworth | 28 Jany 1826 | Bedford Square'. At the head of the page, in another hand: 'Rec'd £1. 1. 0'.

18pp., 8vo. Disbound. In fair condition, on aged and brittle paper. 404 items in double column. First page headed 'IX. LXXX. XVII.' An interesting collection of Americana. First entry: 'ABBOT, LIEUT. JOEL. Naval Court Martial. Scandalous Conduct. Printed from Official Record on file in Navy Department. 8vo, pp. 152. Washington, 1822. 75 [cents] | Another, Reported by F. W. Waldo, to which is added an Appendix, containing Sundry Documents in Relation to Management of Affairs on Boston Station. 8vo, pp. 237, boards, uncut. Boston, 1822. 1 00 [i.e. one dollar]'. Last entry: 'ZANE, SARAH.

3pp., large 8vo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Headed 'Original'. Docketed on reverse of second leaf: 'May 1835 | £75. 7. 5. | Richardson a/c for Sir James Harington decd | paid | paid additional balance - £1. 16 -'. The ninth baronet died in 1835, the tenth baronet assuming the title at the age of fourteen. The present document was evidently produced to clear the old account. It contains numerous items, dated between 10 January 1834 and 8 December 1835.

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, aged and worn. He begins with regard to a change of address ('Widcombe Manor - where I was overhoused and understaffed - is for sale.'), and continues with reference to a booklet ('I chuckled over the illustrations'),as well as his book 'An Impending Sword' (written 'in the naughty nineties, long before I met Dot Boucicault, whose experiences were then unknwon to me'), and the Princess Royal. He concludes: 'I never heard the yarn of the man who stripped himself. I can cap it. My brother, Arthur, vanished from the luncheon table.

Nine items. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Heavily annotated by Duncan. The letters (each 1p. long, two in 4to and two in 8vo) concern her orders and wants'. On 23 April 1945 she writes: 'I find on looking through the Play Pictorial bound volumes that No. 28 His Highness My Husband is missing. It is not a very important one, in fact I don't remember hearing of the play before, but if you happen to have a copy among your single numbers, I should be glad to have it, in order to complete the volume.

55 + [3]pp., 12mo. Frontispiece engraving of Quaritch, with facsimile of his signature. Bound in card boards covered in pink fake vellum paper printed in gold. In good condition, lightly aged, in lightly worn covers. Limitation leaf completed in manuscript, with this copy no. 134 of 255, with pencil signature of 'Ed. Heron Allen', presenting the book to ' Gottschalk'. Introduction by George Clulow, President. Note at end by 'B.

All twenty-four illustrations have been laid down on leaves removed from an album of prints. Both series are numbered to twelve, and each is complete. The plates in the Retzsch series appear to have had their margins cropped. All images clear and complete, on lightly-aged paper, with occasional light spotting and discoloration. Laid down at the head of the first illustration in the first series, and slightly (0.5 cm) encroaching onto it, is a printed label reading 'Illustrations to Shakespeare's | TEMPEST | in 12 plates'.

[4] + [288]pp. [paginated 1-96 three times]. In original brown cloth binding, with decorative design in black on front board. A fair copy, internally tight, on aged paper, in worn and faded binding. An initial 'Advertisement' reads: 'It is well known that stories by some of the most eminent writers have appeared from time to time in "Bentley's Miscellany." It is here proposed to republish the best of them in a collected form. | London, August, 1859.' Thirteen contributions in prose and verse, from, first, the named authors W. H. Maxwell (2), 'T. C.

(The book is anonymous, but Rimbault is generally accepted to have been the author.) x + 189 + 32pp., 12mo. A 32-page publisher's catalogue is bound in at the end. In publisher's blind-tooled black ribbed cloth, with gilt spine. Advertisements printed on endpapers. Tight copy on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding with damage to hinges. Ownership inscription on half-title.

xi + 213pp., 8vo. In good condition, in like dustwrapper on which Korn is depicted, in characteristic lurid t-shirt, leaning against a shelf of books. Autograph inscription by Korn in blue ink on reverse of half-title: 'A. R. | d. d. | E. K. | "more stimulating than Highlife" - West Drayton Observer.' Beneath this, in pencil in another hand: '1 . xi. 89 | @ 31,000 feet.' For more on this remarkable man, see the obituary by his son Andrew Korn and memoir by Michael Frayn in the Independent, 19 December 2014.

3pp., landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly-aged, with two punch holes for placement in album to margins of each of the three leaves. He congratulates him on his catalogue, states that he is attaching a wants list (not present) and that he is leaving it to the recipient 'to make out the account as I am not good at adding - & also dont know the postage. | The Librarian at the House of Lords showed great interest in your catalogue & is writing to you for one'. He suggests sending a copy to John Hayward, and gives his address.

1p., folio. An unusual production, containing 78 numbered items in two columns, with illustrations, lithographed to look like a manuscript in tight, neat handwriting. In fair overall condition, on aged paper, with a triangular hole with 5 cm edges and minor damage sympathetically repaired with archival tape. The books range from 'No. 1. Eugene Aram's Trial, Life, Letters, Poems, &c. 12mo. Facsimile Letter. 1/2 cloth, scarce s4/ Richmond, 1832' to '78. The Stowe Catalogue Priced & Annotated by H. R, Forster. Sm. 4to cloth leather back.

1p., 4to. On bifolium. Written in an elegant assured hand. Addressed on second leaf, 'To | Mr Francis Wingrave'. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Reads: 'Dear Frank | I shall be much obliged to you if you can possibly get the copies I leave with this, inserted in the Gazeteer, the Public, & the Ledger, & the Morning Chronicle, we suppose it of consequence to the success of our exhibition, the interests of which I have greatly at heart. | Yours sincerely | J Stuart | Any expence attending the publication I shall gladly reimburse you'.

16pp., 12mo. Stabbed and unbound. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. The books, from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, are such as would adorn the shelves of a gentleman's country mansion. BBTI only has Bellchambers active in 1846, and there is a hint of desperation about the pricing, with the published price often given along with Bellchambers', and Ritson's 'Ancient Poetry' being offered at 'a very reduced price'. Scarce: no copies traced either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC.