bookselling

[ French law bookseller's catalogue. ] Catalogue des Livres Nouveaux, de Fonds, en nombre et d'assortiment.

Author: 
B. Warée, oncle, Libraire de la Cour Royale, Paris [ French law bookseller ]
Publication details: 
Qui se trouvent à Paris, chez B. Warée, oncle, Libraire de la Cour Royale, au Palais de Justice, ou Cour de la Sainte-Chapelle, no. 13. Novembre, 1821. [ Lottin de S.-Germain, Imprimeur du Roi.' ]
£60.00

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.

[ Lord Harris of Belmont House. ] Autograph Note in the third person [ to his bookseller ], regarding two books sent to him.

Author: 
Lord Harris of Belmont House, Throwley, near Faversham, Kent [ Lieutenant General William George Harris (1782-1845), 2nd Baron Harris, British soldier under his father in Anglo-Mysore War ]
Publication details: 
'Belmont [ i.e. Belmont House, Throwley, near Faversham, Kent ] | 16th. Decr. 1841'.
£30.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, with central spike-hole and a few burn marks at foot. Reads: 'Lord Harris has just recd the Illustrations to Deserted Village, but retyrns Retsch's Othello by this night's Coach, having received a copy of it about a week since.'

[ Ex-Officers Book Union, London. ] Printed book catalogue ('Part I'): 'A Collection of Choice & Charming Books of the 17th 18ty & 19th Centuries & a few Modern Authors offered for sale by the Ex-Officers Book Union'.

Author: 
[ Major George William Redway (1859-1934), soldier and military historian, trading as bookseller under the name ] 'Ex-Officers Book Union', Ealing, London
Publication details: 
London: 16 Rathgar Avenue, West Ealing. [ The Westminster Press, London W. ]
£45.00

The 'Ex-Officers' Book Union' (the apostrophe was omitted in later years) was an obscure business. The firm was certainly active between 1919 and 1936, mostly from 16 Rathgar Avenue, West Ealing. In the early 1930s its address was given as '87 Bishop's Mansions, S.W.6', which was also Redway's residence. It seems likely that the business was a joint-venture between Redway and at least one other former army officer. The present item is 40pp., small 4to. Stapled in brown printed wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged, on worn and creased wraps.

[ A. Absolon, London publisher. ] Autogaph Card Signed to F. Davis, regarding his publication in the 'Forge & Lathe' of 'Maltons Gt. Treatise on Perspective'.

Author: 
A. Absolon (fl. 1878), London publisher [ Frederick Davis ]
Publication details: 
3 York Street, Covent Garden. 13 February 1878.
£25.00

Half-penny postcard printed in purple. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip along one edge from former mounting obscuring parts of a few words. Addressed to 'F. Davis Esq. | 4 Upper Phillamore [sic] Place | W.' The communication reads: 'Sir, | I beg to inform you that we have bought out Maltons Gt. Treatise on Perpective in the columns of the Forge & Lathe a fortnightly Journal devoted to Practical Mechanics &c. The Preface appeared in our No. Published yesterday price 6d by post 7d Terms for Subscribers 16/- Yearly 8/- ½ Yearly 4/- Quarterly. | A. Absolon | Publisher'.

[ George Harris Healy, Professor of English and curator of Rare Books at Cornell University. ] Typed Letter Signed to 'Mr. Duff', discussing the content of two letters by Daniel Defoe, their monetary value, auction houses, Dr. Rosenbach of New York.

Author: 
George Harris Healy (1908-1971), Professor of English and curator of Rare Books at Cornell University
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Department of English, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. 22 February 1949.
£50.00

1p., foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, aged and lightly creased, with some wear to extremities. Healy begins by thanking Duff for his letter, and 'for your generosity in sending me copies of the two letters of Daniel Defoe'. He explains that he has 'searched for their whereabouts for about ten years', and had finally become convinced 'that unless they were in your family they were lost'.

[ Printed booklet. ] The Idea of a British Book Trade Association. An Address given to The Society of Bookmen by Basil Blackwell.

Author: 
Basil Blackwell [ Sir Basil Blackwell (1889-1984), Oxford bookseller and publisher ] [ The Society of Bookmen, London ]
Publication details: 
The Society of Bookmen, 3 Henrietta Street, London, W.C.2. June 1937. [ Unwin Brothers Limited, London and Woking, Printers. ]
£35.00

12pp., 8vo. Stapled into light-brown printed wraps, with title in dark-brown on white label on front wrap. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Blackwell's address is on pp.3-10; p.11 carries a 'List of Members 30th June 1937', in two columns, including R. Cobden-Sanderson, Geoffrey Faber, Rupert Hart-Davis, Harold Macmillan, Stanley Unwin and Sir Hugh Walpole. The final page carries details of the Society's officers, committee, secretary and offices. Blackwell begins his address: 'I have nothing new or strange to propose to-night.

[ William Curtis, Tory politician and banker who coined the phrase 'the three Rs'. ] Autograph Letter in the third person to 'his friends Mess Nichols & Son' [ i.e. John Nichols and John Bowyer Nichols ], conveying directions for bookbinding.

Author: 
Sir William Curtis (1752-1829), banker and Tory politician, who coined the phrase 'the three Rs' [ John Nichols (1745-1826), printer and editor of the Gentleman's Magazine; John Bowyer Nichols ]
Publication details: 
Lombard Street [ London ]. 9 April 1823.
£120.00

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'.

[ Arthur Chenevix Trench, publisher in firm of Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('A Chenevix Trench') to Rev. A. P. <Brown?>, regarding misprints in his father's works, and making 'young Bliss' into a 'good business man'.

Author: 
Alfred Chenevix Trench (1849-1938), London publisher, with Charles Kegan Paul (1828-1902), in the firm of Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., son of Richard Chenevix Trench (1807-1886), Archbishop of Dublin
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., Publishers, 1 Paternoster Square, London. 17 October 1889.
£40.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He is obliged for Brown's letter, 'pointing out misprints in my father's works. | Such communications are always valuable.' He is happy to say that 'young Bliss is working very well, & we shall make a good business man of him'.

[In original boards, with catalogue of Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, London booksellers.] Memoir of the Early Life of William Cowper, Esq. written by himself, And never before published..

Author: 
William Cowper [ Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, Paternoster Row, London. ]
Publication details: 
Second edition. London: Printed for R. Edwards, Crane Court, Fleet Street; and sold by all booksellers. 1816. [ Printed by R. Edwards, Crane Court, Fleet Street, London. ] With catalogue of Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, Paternoster Row, London, 1816.
£50.00

Subtitle: 'With an Appendix containing some interesting letters, and other authentic documents, illustrative of the memoir.' 130pp., 12mo. Frontispiece. Bound in at the end is a twelve-page catalogue, dated 1 October 1816, and with drophead title: 'Valuable Periodical Works, Published by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, Paternoster Row, London. Beneath the drophead title is a woodcut of a lion. Only one copy of the trade catalogue traced on OCLC WorldCat.

[ John Murray the second, London publisher. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('John Murray') to the historian Henry Hallam

Author: 
John Murray the second (1778-1843), English publisher [ Henry Hallam (1777-1859), historian; Thomas Phillips (1770-1845), portrait painter ]
Publication details: 
Albemarle Street [ London ]. 3 August [ circa 1841 ].
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He begins by informing him that the accounts 'for sale of your works for the past year are being made out'., and that he hopes to send them in a few days: 'they have been delayed only until I could receive from the various newspapers the acc[oun]ts of advertising'. He continues, regarding a portrait of Hallam by Thomas Phillips: 'I have this day seen Phillips Copy of your Portrait - very nearly finished - &, as it seems to me, executed with care & accuracy'.

[ John Camden Hotten, London bookseller. ] Signed Autograph inscription ('Jno Camden Hotten') to Charles Welford., on hf title of his 'Literary Copyright'.

Author: 
John Camden Hotten (1832-1873), London bookseller [ Charles Welford ]
Hotten
Publication details: 
No place. 24 October 1871.
£65.00
Hotten

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.'

[ Charles L. Woodward, New York bookseller. ] Printed catalogue: 'Bibliotheca Bloodandthunder | No. 3. | Trials and kindred Literature, for sale by Charles L. Woodward, Dealer in Rare Books and Pamphlets relating to America, 78 Nassau St., New York'.

Author: 
Charles L. Woodward, New York bookseller [ Bibliotheca Bloodandthunder ]
Publication details: 
Charles L. Woodward, 78 Nassau Street, New York. Undated [ late nineteenth century ].
£150.00

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.

[ Charles Coote, historian and biographer. ] Autograph Letter in the third person to Cadell of the London pubishers Cadell and Davies

Author: 
Charles Coote (c.1760-1835), historian and biographer [ Thomas Cadell the younger (1773-1836), publisher with London firm Cadell and Davies ]
Publication details: 
28 January 1814.
£35.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Tipped in onto leaf of grey paper removed from an album. Addressed by Coote on reverse to 'Mr. Cadell'. Reads: 'Dr. Coote presents his Compliments to Mr. Cadell, & offers many Apologies for having solong [sic] kept back, from Inattention and Negligence, the Books which Mr. C. furnished for the Supplement to Mosheim. - January 23, 1814.' For more on Coote, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. Cadell & Davies published his six-volume supplement to Mosheim's ecclesiastical history in 1811.

[ Awnsham Churchill and Edward Clarke of Chipley, John Locke's associates. ] Printed Exchequer receipt, completed in manuscript, and signed by the bookseller 'A. Churchill' and witnessed by radical MP 'E Clarke'.

Author: 
Awnsham Churchill (1658-1728), bookseller at The Black Swan, Paternoster Row, London, Whig member of parliament, publisher and friend of John Locke; Edward Clarke (1650-1710) of Chipley ]
Publication details: 
[ Her Majesty's Receipt of Exchequer, London. ] 28 June 1715.
£450.00

1p., 8vo. On aged paper worn at head. Customary printed Exchequer receipt, completed in manuscript, headed (manuscript text in square brackets): 'Annuities, 3700l. per Week. | Record' [19 Janu. 1715]'. Calculations in right-hand margin and clerical sign on reverse. Recording the payment by Sir Richard Onslow of £100 to 'Awnsham Churchill Attorney for mr ffra: Bennett & for selfe'.

[ Printed item. ] George Newnes, Limited | Balance Sheet and Directors' Report | For the Year Ended 31st March, 1935.

Author: 
George Newnes, Limited, London publishers noted for their popular magazines and part-works
Publication details: 
Secretary and Registered Offices: Horace Cole, 8-11 Southampton Street, Strand, London, W.C.2. [ 1935 ] [ Williams, Lea & Co., Ltd., Printers, Clifton House, Worship Street, London, E.C.2.'
£120.00

[8]pp., 4to. Stapled pamphlet. Aged and worn, with rusting staples. Two-page 'Directors' Report', with topics including a yearly balance of £134,953 5s 3d, the death of Lord Riddell and the decision to 'rebuild the old-fashioned sections of the Company's premises in Southampton Street, Tavistock Street and Exeter Street; centrefold balance sheet; single-page 'Statement Showing Combined Assets and Liabilities of George Newnes, Limited and Subsidiary Companies'; single-page 'List of Magazines and Periodicals'; and cover page. The subsidiary companies included Country Life; W. H. & L.

[Holbrook Jackson archive] Aphorisms in Manuscript

Author: 
Holbrook Jackson, bibliophile and author
Publication details: 
[1874-1948]
£400.00

351 aphorisms by the journalist, writer, publisher and bibliophile George Holbrook Jackson (1874-1948), unpublished and all written out in autograph, on 13 x 20 cm slips made from the halving of 4to leaves from autograph and typewritten drafts of essays and correspondence.In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

Statements of account of the sales of books by 'Owen Meredith' [Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton], by the London publishers Messrs. Macmillan & Co., Ltd., and Longmans, Green & Co.

Author: 
Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton (1831-1891), Viceroy of India and poet under the pseudonym Owen Meredith
Publication details: 
Dating from between 1890 and 1916. Longmans, Green & Co., 39 Paternoster Row, London, EC. June 1893 to June 1916. Messrs. Macmillan & Co., 29 & 30 Bedford Street, Covent Garden [later St. Martin's Street], London. April 1890 to June 1900.
£350.00

On forms printed in red and black, totalling 1p., folio; 40pp., landscape 8vo; 6pp. (of which four in landscape), 12mo. The seven accounts from Messrs. Macmillan & Co., all relating to 'The Ring of Amasis', are on seven sheets, landscape 8vo, dating from between 1889 and 1900.

[ MS. Sermon ]] A Series of Sixty Manuscript Sermons Containing Four in Each Part. PART XIII (ONLY)

Author: 
Anon. ["By a Doctor of Divinity]
Publication details: 
Sold by T. Cadell, Strand, [1820-1836].
£150.00

Total 73pp., 4to, crude brown paper wraps, sewn, chipped and crumpled at the edge, contents good. Comprising four sermons based on Revelations, pp.15, 20,, 19, and 19. The titles of the 52 sermons already published are printed (also in MS.) on the inside covers, some titles faded. The lithographic process has been used to give the effect of a manuscript perhaps to deceive the eye of the sermon's audience into thinking it the sermoniser's own work.

Mimeographed typescript history of a club for New York antiquarian booksellers, titled 'The Old Book Table | A Social Organisation | An Informal Record 1931-1970 | Lists of Officers & Members and of Guests of The Old Book Table | &c., &c.'

Author: 
The Old Book Table, club for New York antiquarian booksellers, founded 1931 [Ernest R. Gee; E. Byrne Hackett, Brick Row Bookshop; Frank R. Thoms (Thoms and Eron); Edgar H. Wells; Geoffrey J. L. Gomme]
Publication details: 
Undated [1971]. New York: The OBT [i.e. The Old Book Table].
£400.00

[iv] + 39 + 7 pp, with a further 17 pp loosely inserted at back (making a total of 67 pp), 4to. Good, in maroon plastic folder. Preface followed by list of 'Past Officers, Roster of Members, etc.', 'Chronology of The Old Book Table [1931-1970]' and 'Alphabetical List of Guests 1933-1970'. The loose leaves mainly consist of 'Extracts from the Minutes: 1931-1954'. The preface begins: 'Five members of the antiquarian booktrade in New York City met for a friendly dinner on the night of 9 January 1931. They were: Ernest R. Gee, a leading specialist in sporting and color plate books; E.

[British Book Trade.] Manuscript list of material, made by collector 'Mr Abrahams', with an Autograph Letter Signed from W. H. Peet, who made use of Abraham's collection in compiling the bibliographical index to Mumby's 'Romance of Book Selling'.

Author: 
Abrahams; William Henry Peet [F. A. Mumby [Frank Arthur Mumby] (1872-1954), author of 'The Romance of Book Selling' (1910), later 'Publishing and Bookselling' (sixth edition, 1982)]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [circa 1910].
£500.00

The manuscript is closely-written over 80pp., 4to, in green cloth, and is interleaved with the twenty leaves of Peet's printed bibliography from the 1910 edition of Mumby's book (paginated 431-470), to which it does not correspond, with only a small amount of the information in the manuscript also in Peet's bibliography. It contains a mass of material not present in Peet's bibliography, and has the main list followed by entries under the following headings: 'Booksellers' Portraits', 'Tokens', 'Petitions & Memorials', 'Charities', 'Magazine Articles', 'Book Labels' and 'Copyright'.

Twenty-four original outline lithographic illustrations to Shakespeare: a series of twelve anonymous ones to 'The Tempest', published in London in 1825 by Charles Knight; and a series of twelve by Moritz Retzsch to 'Macbeth'.

Author: 
Charles Knight, London publisher; Friedrich August Moritz Retzsch (1779-1857), German painter, artist and draughtsman; William Shakespeare
Publication details: 
The 'Tempest' illustrations 'Published by C. Knight, Pall Mall East, April 1825'. Retzsch's 'Macbeth' illustrations undated [1833 or 1847.
£250.00

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'.

A Catalogue of an Unique Collection of Ancient English Broadside Ballads printed entirely in the Black Letter.

Author: 
'Black-letter Ballads' [ John Russell Smith, London bookseller; Charles Whittingham, Chiswick Press ]
Publication details: 
On Sale by John Russell Smith, No. 36, Soho Square, London. 1856. [ Chiswick Press: - C. Whittingham, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane. ]
£100.00

vii + 141 + [1]pp., 8vo. Final leaf with Chiswick Press device of dolphin and anchor and lion. In sturdy nineteenth-century black leather half-binding, with marbled boards and 'Russell's Catalogue 1856' in gilt on spine. Ownership stamp of 'Alfred H Maurais' on fly-leaf. A characteristically-elegant Chiswick Press item, with 408 items listed, the titles in black letter. Three-page anonymous preface, dated 'May, 1856.' Tight copy, but aged and lightly damp-stained, in worn binding.

[ Annotated by Author ]The History of the Church of Rome. to the End of the Episcopate of Damasus, A.D. 384 (with related items).

Author: 
Edward John Shepherd, Rector of Luddesdown.
Publication details: 
London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1851
£250.00

Author's own copy. Pp.vxi.541, cr. 8vo, with additional "Corrections" page, hf-lea, raised bands, worn, contents good, interleaved with additional blank pages, a few of which have notes in Shepherd's hand. The book derives from the residual archive of the family of E.J. Shepherd. No copy recorded in Lambeth Palace Library Catalogue. With (from the same archive): the Accounts, 1851-1853, prepared by Longmans giving costs and sales, these in MS. but they are on the reverse of a lengthy printed statement by Longman's headed "Paternoster Row, London | January 1843. | Messrs.

[ Grafton & Co. (Frank Hamel), London publishers and booksellers. ] Archive of material relating to the firm's dealings with V. M. Arnold, including invoices, quotations, and autograph copies of his letters and orders.

Author: 
Grafton and Co., London publishers and booksellers, owned by Frank Hamel (1869-1957), also proprietor of 'The Library World' [ V. M. Arnold, chemist ]
Publication details: 
Grafton & Co. (Frank Hamel), Publishers and Booksellers, Coptic House, 51 Great Russell Street, London, W.C.1. Between 1942 and 1945. V. M. Arnold, from Worcester (International Chemical Co.) and Ilford.
£200.00

This small archive provides an interesting insight into the world of mid-twentieth century antiquarian bookselling. In excess of one hundred items, the collection being in good condition, lightly aged and worn, including 61 typed letters, invoices and quotations by the firm, all on its letterhead, and around 30 drafts of the letters to the firm from a somewhat difficult customer, with an interesting range of interests, his purchases dating between the seventeenth and the twentieth century, on such subjects as Russian antiquities, bookplates, the classics, Rossica and Oscar Wilde.

[Frank Marcham.] Two typewritten drafts of an annotated list of nearly 500 'Auction Sales made by Robert Harding Evans'; with autograph notes on Evans and on his own collection, with typescript titled 'Literary History and local topography'.

Author: 
Frank Marcham (c.1887-1944), English bookseller [Robert Harding Evans (1778-1857), auctioneer and bookseller]
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated. [London. Begun in the 1920s?]
£1,000.00

Robert Harding Evans has been described as 'the greatest of all auctioneers of literary property'. In a career spanning three decades he oversaw the dispersal of many of the finest libraries ever assembled, from the great Roxburghe sale of 1812 to that of the Duke of Sussex in 1845, as well as those of the books of Lord Byron and the manuscripts and copyrights of Sir Walter Scott. In an undated letter to Bodley's Librarian (copy in Item Four below) Marcham states that he is 'working on Evans the auctioneer and the list will be published.

[ Henry J. Wake of Cockermouth, Victorian bookseller. ] Lithographed 'Catalogue of Books, MSS., Coins, Antiquities, &c,'

Author: 
Henry J. Wake of Cockermouth (Lake District), Victorian bookseller and auctioneer
Publication details: 
'On Sale by H. J. Wake, 18, Station Street, Cockermouth. Imo. 1877.' [ At foot: 'Henry J. Wake, Bookseller &c. Cockermouth. 10/1/77 [ i.e. 10 October 1877 ]'. ]
£120.00

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.

[ Maggs Brothers, London booksellers. ] Printed catalogue: '1915. Desiderata. No. 2. Catalogue of Books Wanted to Purchase'.

Author: 
[ Maggs Brothers, London booksellers ]
Publication details: 
Maggs Bros., 109, Strand, London, W.C. [ 1915. ] [ W. C. Hemmons, Central Printing Works, Bristol. ]
£80.00

[2] + 44pp., 12mo. Stapled in grey wrappers (which are included in the pagination). 3258 items, in double column, from '1. A full and correct report of the trial of Sir Home Popham, 1807' to '3258 [ Zola. ] - Labor'. A 'Special Notice' at the front explains that 'All the books are definitely desired for Customers or for completing sets. The greater number are inexpensive, and many of them would be found on the shelves of Circulating Libraries.' No copy traced on OCLC WorldCat or COPAC.

[ Sir Allen Lane, publisher. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Allen Lane') to 'Mr Bailey', describing the 'original concept' behind Penguin Books, and giving his view of 'the book business'.

Author: 
Sir Allen Lane [ Allen Lane Williams ] (1902-1970), founder of Penguin Books
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 'El Fenix . Carvajal . Malaga . Spain'. 31 March 1969.
£250.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. The letterhead, printed in red and black, features the illustration of a phoenix in fire which featured on the covers of some Penguin Books publications of works by D. H. Lawrence. He begins by stating that Malcolm Kelly has sent him Bailey's letter 'with its very flattering reference to me'. He explains that he has 'always regarded the book business as a whole & not as two camps as it were, book-sellers & publishers'.

[ Sir Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Books. ] Nicely printed funeral service and ticket (designed by Jan Tschichold or Ruari McLean?, the former titled: 'Allen Lane | 21 September 1902 - 7 July 1970 | A Service of Thanksgiving for his Life and Work'.

Author: 
[ Sir Allen Lane [ Allen Lane Williams ] (1902-1970), founder of Penguin Books ] [ Ruari McLean? Jan Tschichold? ]
Publication details: 
[ St Martin-in-the-Fields, London. 18 August 1970. ] The funeral service printed by 'Carter, Cambridge.'
£120.00

Both items are printed with elegant restraint, and  designed by Sebastian Carter (from the horse's mouth). Both are in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. The service with a horizontal central fold and the ticket with a vertical fold. The funeral service is printed in black and red on deckled-edged wove paper. The second page gives details of 'The Music' and the third 'The Order of Service', which features Michael Morpurgo, Richard Hoggart, Robert Lusty and Harry Paroissien, with Rev. Austen Williams officiating. The last page gives details of the eight musicians.

[ Edmund Henry Barker, classical scholar. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('E. H. Barker') to Frederick Thomas Maxon, regarding 'Dr. Parr's birthday', 'The Chancellor's illness' and 'a very awkward mortality among Booksellers'.

Author: 
Edmund Henry Barker (1788-1839) of Thetford, classical scholar and editor [ Frederick Thomas Maxon ]
Publication details: 
Thetford. 26 January 1826.
£180.00

1p., 8vo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, brittle and chipped at edges. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Fr. Thomas Maxon Esqr. | 6 Little Friday-Street'. 24 lines of text. The letter begins: 'This is Dr. Parr's birthday, & Dr. John Johnstone was to have a grand commemoration of it, to which he invited me. Mrs. Barker is on the whole better, but I cannot say that any great progress has been made towards a recovery, & probably much time will elapse first.

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