BRITISH

[Patric Dickinson, poet, translator and broadcaster.] Copy of his poetry collection 'The Scale of Things', filled with explanatory annotations by him for his mistress Sarah Hamilton.

Author: 
Patric Dickinson [Patric Thomas Dickinson] (1914-1994), poet, translator, BBC radio broadcaster
Publication details: 
London: Chatto and Windus, 1955.
£150.00

Patric Dickinson has not received his due. A self-styled ‘poet and impresario of poetry’, Dickinson occupied a central position in the cultural landscape of post-war Britain. As an editor and broadcaster he worked with poets such as Dylan Thomas, Cecil Day Lewis and Roy Campbell, actresses Flora Robson, Peggy Ashcroft and Jill Balcon, and actors Robert Donat, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud. See his 1965 autobiography 'The Good Minute' and John Mole’s obituary in the Independent, 31 January 1994. From the papers of Dickinson’s mistress Sarah Emmeline Hamilton.

[?One in name, one in fame / Are the Sea-divided Gaels.?: Alexander Martin Sullivan, Irish nationalist politician and author.] Autograph Signature with poetic quotation.

Author: 
Alexander Martin Sullivan (1829-1884), Irish nationalist politician and author, member of the British parliament, younger brother of Timothy Daniel Sullivan
Publication details: 
?St Patricks Day / 1884?.
£100.00

See his entry, and that of his elder brother, in the Oxford DNB. From the collection of Irish nationalist autographs of Miss Burgess of Norwich. On 16.5 x 7.5 cm piece of paper, cut down from a larger document. In fair condition, lightly aged and spotted. Folded three times. Written in a large bold hand: ? ?One in name, one in fame / Are the Sea-divided Gaels.? / A. M. Sullivan / St Patricks Day / 1884?. See Image.

[Alfred Webb [Alfred John Webb], Anglo-Irish Quaker nationalist, Irish Parliamentary Party MP in the British Parliament.] Autograph Letter signed to 'Miss Burgess' [of Norwich], listing and discussing Irish autographs he has procured.

Author: 
Alfred Webb [Alfred John Webb] (1834-1908), Anglo-Irish Quaker nationalist, anti-imperialist and anti-racist, Irish Parliamentary Party MP in the British parliament and Dublin printer
Publication details: 
18 January 1890. Lisnabin, Dartry-park, Rathmines, Dublin [Ireland].
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is from a collection of Irish nationalist autographs assembled by Miss Burgess of Norwich. 1p, 8vo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded for postage. Addressed 'To Miss Burgess' and signed 'Alfred Webb'. Date and location in another hand, the rest in Webb's autograph. Begins: 'Dear Madam, / Those autos. you have of our MP's are some of which I have most. Unfortunately others you want I have only of a private character, & I do not like cutting off the signatures.' He is sending those of J. E.

[Sir Herbert James Read, Governor of Mauritius, and his wife Lady Violet.] Six items including autograph speech by him for members of Second Colonial Office Conference to British Empire League, and other speech, and commonplace book by Lady Read.

Author: 
Sir Herbert James Read (1863-1949), Governor of Mauritius, and his wife Lady Violet Kate Read [n?e Maclachlan] (d.1951) [Second Colonial Office Conference, 1930]
Publication details: 
Second Colonial Office Conference speech from 1930, on letterhead of Government House, Mauritius. Lady Read's commonplace book dated March 1924. Another item from 1934.
£350.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Six items. Items Two and Five in fair condition, somewhat creases; the other four items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: Autograph fair copy of speech by Read on behalf of his ?fellow-members on the [Second] Colonial Office Conference? [1930] to the British Empire League and the British Empire Club. Apparently unpublished. Unsigned. 5pp, 12mo. On bifolium and single leaf, both with letterhead of Government House, Mauritius.

[Aylmer Bourke Lambert, disgtinguished botanist, vice-president of the Linnaean Society of London.] Autograph Letter Signed to ?Captn. Ross? [the future Sir James Clark Ross], asking him to show his drawings to the King and Queen of New Zealand..

Author: 
Aylmer Bourke Lambert (1761-1842), distinguished English botanist, vice-president of the Linnean Society of London [Sir James Clark Ross (1800-1862), Antarctic explorer]
Publication details: 
?Friday Eveng. 4th. April [no year or place].?
£50.00

See his entry, and that of Ross, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo, on first leaf of bifolium. Aged and worn, with small sections torn away at top corners, damaging the first letter of the text. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to ?Captn. Ross.? Neatly written in an elegant hand with a good firm signature. Unusually punctuated. The letter presumably relates to botanical illustrations made during Ross?s Antarctic explorations, from 1839 onwards. Reads: ?My Dear Sir / There are some friends of mine Lord Mountnorris & his Sister & The King & Queen of New Zealand.

[Sir Sidney Gerald Burrard (1860-1943), Surveyor General of India.] Large printed coloured map of ?Tibet and Adjacent Countries?, during the First World War.

Author: 
?Tibet and Adjacent Countries?: Sir Sidney Gerald Burrard (1860-1943), Surveyor General of India; Survey of India
Publication details: 
?Compiled under the direction of Colonel Sir S. G. Burrard, K.C.S.I., R.E., F.R.S., Surveyor General of India, 1917?, ?Helizincographed at the Survey of India Offices, Dehra Dun.?
£560.00

The original item. On one side of a piece of a piece of paper roughly 70 x 100 cm, folded into a 10.5 x 15.5 cm packet of fifty panels. An attractive item, but in need of some attention: on brittle and discoloured paper, with several closed tears. The map was the work of Col. H. B. Hudson. A significant map, still cited in the Sino-Indian border dispute. For the background see 'Two Important Maps from the Survey of India', Geographical Journa, October 1915. First published in 1914, but the only copy of this 1917 version located in the National Library of Australia.

[The Earl of Shrewsbury [Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 19th Earl of Shrewsbury, as Viscount Ingestre], Conservative politician.] Autograph Note Signed to ‘Mr Rogers’, regarding the sending of a corrected list ‘to Mr. Parkers’.

Author: 
The Earl of Shrewsbury [Charles Chetwynd-Talbot (1830-1877), 19th Earl of Shrewsbury] (Viscount Ingestre, 1849-1868), Conservative politician
Publication details: 
‘June 15th / Wednesday’; ‘Direct Vist. Ingestre / 1st. Life Guards / Military Camp / Chobham Common’.
£40.00

Shrewsbury was Disraeli’s Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms from 1875 to his death. 1p, 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded three times for postage. With traces of wax from mounting at corners of blank reverse. Reads: ‘Mr. Rogers be so good as to correct enclosed list & take it to Mr. Parker immediately you have corrected it / - Yours truly / Ingestre / Tell them you have corrected it.’

[Stuart Poole [Reginald Stuart Poole], numismatist and Egyptologist.] Signed Secretarial Note, on behalf of the British Museum, declining to purchase ‘the coin of Egbert’.

Author: 
Stuart Poole [Reginald Stuart Poole] (1832-1895), numismatist and Egyptologist, Keeper of the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum
Publication details: 
7 March 1885; on embossed British Museum letterhead.
£45.00

1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, with slight wear at foot of gutter. Folded once for postage. The signature ‘Reginald Stuart Poole’ is large and expansive. The text, in another hand, reads: ‘Sir, / I regret to say that I cannot entertain the purchase of the coin of Egbert which you showed me the other day’.

[Lawrence Sail, British poet.] Small archive of twenty-seven items, including seventeen printed poetry keepsakes, copies of three of his collections (two with signature of the poet Patric Dickinson), an Autograph Letter Signed, Autograph Cards Signed

Author: 
Lawrence Sail (b. 1942), contemporary British Poet [Patric Dickinson (1914-1994), poet, and his mistress Sarah Emmeline Hamilton]
Sail
Publication details: 
Between 1984 and 2018. Several from Devon (Tiverton and Exeter).
£1,500.00
Sail

From the papers of Sarah Emmeline Hamilton, whose extensive collection of letters from her lover the poet Patric Hamilton is offered separately. Sail is a widely-respected poet. He has presented the BBC Radio 3 programme 'Poetry Now' and 'Time for Verse' on BBC Radio 4.

[Logan Pearsall Smith, American-born British essayist and literary critic associated with the Bloomsbury Group.] Autograph Letter in the third person regarding the dinner of the Royal Literary Fund.

Author: 
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946), American-born British essayist and literary critic associated with the Bloomsbury Group
Publication details: 
14 June 1921. On letterhead of 11 St Leonard’s Terrace, Chelsea [London].
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Written in the year in which Smith made his one return to America after becoming a British citizen in 1913. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. On grey paper. Reads: ‘Mr. L. Pearsall Smith regrets that he will be away from London on July 6th & will not be able to attend the Dinner of the Royal Literary Fund on that date.’

[Harry Plunket Greene, Anglo-Irish baritone associated with Elgar and Vaughan Williams.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding an engagement.

Author: 
Harry Plunket Greene (1865-1936), Anglo-Irish baritone associated with Elgar and Vaughan Williams
Publication details: 
11 October 1927. On letterhead of 65 Holland Park Road, Kensington W14 [London].
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘H. P. Greene’. Truly atrocious handwriting. Apparently addressed to ‘Dear Miss Salt’, and beginning: ‘I’ll be proud.’ He gives a date which will ‘suit me best’, and asks to be informed ‘if there is anything special [?] like [?]’.

[Alfred Parsons, landscape painter and garden designer.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Miss Lewis'

Author: 
Alfred Parsons [Alfred William Parsons] (1847-1920), landscape painter, illustrator, and garden designer
Publication details: 
24 January [no year]. On letterhead of 54 Bedford Gardens, Kensington, W. [London]
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once.Addressed to 'Dear Miss Lewis' and with good firm signature 'Alfred Parsons'. He will be very pleased to dine with her the following Friday, '& dance one set of Lancers after; I feel much complimented at being asked with the young people'.

[The Fall of Fort Bowyer to the British, following the Battle of New Orleans, 1815.] Contemporary Manuscript Copy of Autograph Despatch from Major John Lambert to Earl Bathurst, describing the action.

Author: 
Sir John Lambert (1772-1847), British Army general in the Napoleonic Wars [Henry Bathurst (1762-1834), 3rd Earl Bathurst; Battle of New Orleans and Fall of Fort Bowyer, 1815]
Publication details: 
'Head Quarters Isle Dauphine | February 14th. 1815.' [On paper with Golding & Snelgrove watermark dated 1811.]
£450.00

3pp, foolscap 8vo. On laid paper with watermark: 'GOLDING | & | SNELGROVE | 1811'. Aged and worn, with closed tears along folds, but with text complete and clear. The document includes two passages written in red ink which has faded but is still legible. The background to the present letter is given in Lambert's entry in the Oxford DNB: 'On 4 June 1813 Lambert was promoted major-general, and was appointed to a brigade of the 6th division. [?] Having been sent to America, he joined the army under Sir Edward Pakenham below New Orleans on 6 January 1815, with the 7th and 43rd foot regiments.

[Laurence Whistler, engraver etc] Five black and white photographs numbered L.W. 30 to L.W.34 on reverse of a glass goblet ornately etched by Whistler for Mark Bonham Carter.

Author: 
Laurence Whistler, [Sir Alan Charles Laurence Whistler CBE (21 January 1912 – 19 December 2000) British glass engraver and poet.]
whistler
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but 1946-7.
£175.00
whistler

Dimensions six inches by eight. Four of the photographs very good, the other good, but with staining in one corner (capable of professional cleaning). Good, clear, professional images against a black background. The goblet was commissioned by Bonham Carter from Whistler as a wedding present to the present queen of England on her marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh. The body is etched with intricate images and the words 'Elizabeth | so be it ever, joy and peace. | And mutual love give you increase, | That your posterity may grow | In fame, as long as seas do flow.

[Frederick Spencer Gore] Anonymous pencil drawing of him painting at an easel.

Author: 
Frederick Spencer Gore [(26 May 1878 – 27 March 1914) was a British painter of landscapes, music-hall scenes and interiors, usually with single figures.]
Frederick Spencer Gore
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£250.00
Frederick Spencer Gore

English Camden Town Group Painter (1878-1914). Dimensions seven inches by ten inches. Grubby, but in good condition. From the Mark Bonham Carter collection. Captioned 'Spencer Gore | Freddy', with an arrow pointing to impressionistic representation of figure, nine inches high, of the artist in a suit, with high-collared shirt, holding a palette in his left hand and with his right hand outstretched and painting onto a canvas. Around the figure dabs of watercolour and a representation of a foot. Crude drawing of seascape on reverse. Together with scrap of paper reading 'MR.

['Death has taken a heavy toll': Sir Frank Dicksee, Victorian artist, President of the Royal Academy.] Autograph Letter Signed to the widow of fellow-Royal Academician John Macallan Swan, accepting on behalf of the RA committee the gift of a bust.

Author: 
Frank Dicksee [Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee] (1853-1928), Victorian artist, President of the Royal Academy [Mary Anne Swan (née Rankin), wife of John Macallan Swan (1847-1910), RA, painter and sculptor
Publication details: 
10 May 1926; on letterhead of Greville House, 3 Greville Place, Maida Vale, NW6 [London].
£60.00

See his entry, and Swan's, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Seventeen stylish lines with bold signature. On first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed to 'Dear Mrs Swan' and signed 'Frank Dicksee'. Her letter gave him great pleasure and he has just had the opportunity of placing her 'very kind offer before the Council [of the Royal Academy]'. 'I need hardly tell you they are delighted to accept this valuable gift.

[Baron von Bunsen [Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen], Prussian Ambassador to the Court of St James’s.] Autograph Letter Signed and Autograph Note Signed to Lady Theresa Villiers, the letter with reference to a young child's party.

Author: 
Baron von Bunsen [Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen] (1791-1860), Prussian Ambassador to Court of St James’s [Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), author]
Publication details: 
ANS: ‘4 Carlton Terrace [London] / Tuesday 24.’ ALS: ‘C. T. Thursday / 25’. Neither item has the full date.
£56.00

Written while Bunsen was Ambassador in London, 1841-1854. The recipient Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865) was the sister of the Liberal Foreign Secretary the 4th Earl of Clarendon, and successively the wife of the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842) and the Liberal politician Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), all of whom also have entries in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, on pieces of gilt-edged paper, folded for postage. Bunsen is writing from part of what was known as ‘Prussia House’. ANS (‘Tuesday 24.’): 1p, 32mo.

[Sir John Bowring, fourth Governor of Hong Kong.] Playful Autograph Letter Signed to Lady Theresa Villiers, explaining how on receipt of her dinner invitation he wrote to her brother by mistake.

Author: 
Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), fourth Governor of Hong Kong, traveller, writer and economist [Lady Theresa Villiers (1775-1856), wife of George Villiers (1759–1827), son of Earl of Clarendon]
Publication details: 
‘1 Queen Square West [London] / 4 April 1836’.
£150.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 5pp, 16mo, on two bifoliums of gilt-edged laid paper. In very good condition, lightly aged and folded once for postage. Signed ‘John Bowring’. Written in playful, mock-heroic style. Begins: ‘Many, many days ago my dear Mrs Villiers, did I put sackcloth on my shoulders & pile ashes on my head anent a very wicked sin of omission, in which I was peccant towards you - you who I humbly trust in your great goodness will fling over me the mantle of your forgiving charity’.

[Sir Henry Ellis, Principal Librarian at the British Museum.] Autograph Letter in the third person to Lady Theresa Lewis, informing her that he has information relating to Lady Catherine Gray.

Author: 
Sir Henry Ellis (1777-1869), Principal Librarian at the British Museum, 1827-1856 [Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), author]
Publication details: 
‘British Museum [London] / May 19. 1852’.
£90.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, with that of the recipient Lady [Maria] Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), who lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge with her second husband Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Bart, Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, her first husband having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. ‘Sir Henry Ellis presents his Compliments to Lady Theresa Lewis he has at last found the Letter, from the incumbent of Foxford, which gives the date of the Burial there of Lady Catherine Gray.

[Sir Henry Ellis, Principal Librarian at the British Museum.] Autograph Letter Signed to Sir George Cornewall Lewis, regarding a reader's ticket for Henry Christian, and sending information for the recipient's wife the author Lady Theresa Lewis.

Author: 
Sir Henry Ellis (1777-1869), Principal Librarian at the British Museum, 1827-1856 [Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Bart, Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer]
Publication details: 
‘British Museum [London] / April 15. 1853’.
£120.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo, on first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘Henry Ellis’ and addressed to ‘G. Cornewall Lewis Esq’. Begins: ‘My dear Sir / Mr Henry Christian will have a Card for our Reading Room sent to him this morning, and I will speak to Sir Frederic Madden to afford Mr. Christian the accommodation which he wishes to have in the MS.

[Sir Fenwick Williams [General Fenwick Williams], British Army officer - led the defence of Kars (Crimean War]; London Library] Autograph Letter Signed to Sir George Cornewall Lewis, asking him to support the election of E.H. Nolan as below.

Author: 
Sir Fenwick Williams [General Sir William Fenwick Williams] (1800-1883), British Army officer who led the defence of Kars during the Crimean War, born in Nova Scotia [Sir George Cornewall Lewis]
Publication details: 
‘Woolwich April 7th. 1857.’
£120.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘W F Williams’ and docketed by the recipient ‘Sir Fenwick Williams of Kars’. Written while Lewis was Chancellor of the Exchequer in Palmerston's government. Begins: ‘Dear Sir Cornewall, / I take the liberty of asking you for your influence for Dr. Nolan as Secretary & Librarian of the London Library’.

[Lord Macaulay [Thomas Babington Macaulay], great British historian.] Autograph Signature ('Macaulay') to address on envelope to Lady Theresa Lewis

Author: 
Lord Macaulay [Thomas Babington Macaulay] (1800-1859), great British historian, a leading proponent of the ‘Whig interpretation of history’, essayist and poet, Liberal politician [Lady Theresa Lewis]
Thomas Babington Macaula
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£45.00
Thomas Babington Macaula

See his long and appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, with that of the recipient Lady [Maria] Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), who lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge with her second husband Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart, her first husband having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). On front of 10.5 x 6.5 cm envelope. In fair condition, lightly aged, with the back flap torn at the tip. Reads: 'The / Lady Theresa Lewis / Kent House / Knightsbridge', with 'Macaulay' written below this at bottom left. See Image.

[J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane, distinguished editor of The Times.] Autograph Letter Signed to the Earl of Clarendon, introducing Wimpore Cooke, who is going out to China as Times special correspondent, and asks what 'course' should be 'pursued'.

Author: 
J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane (1817-1879)], editor of The Times, 1841-1877 [Lord Clarendon [George William Frederick Villiers (1800-1870), 4th Earl of Clarendon, Liberal Foreign Secretary]
Publication details: 
6 April [1859]. No place.
£75.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of a bifolium, the second docketed ‘Mr. Delane / April 6/59 / Introd. Mr Wimpore Cooke - Times Correspt in China -’. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Addressed to ‘The Earl of Clarendon’ and signed ‘John T. Delane’. Reads: ‘My dear Lord, / I should be much obliged if you would receive the bearer, Mr.

[Lord Macaulay [Thomas Babington Macaulay], great British historian.] Two Autograph Letters Signed and Autograph Note in third person to Lady Theresa Lewis, with Autograph envelope, including one letter written within sixteen days of his death.

Author: 
Lord Macaulay [Thomas Babington Macaulay] (1800-1859), great British historian, a leading proponent of the ‘Whig interpretation of history’, essayist and poet, Liberal politician [Lady Theresa Lewis]
Thomas Babington Macaula
Publication details: 
ONE: ALS, ‘Albany [London] July 6. 1853’. TWO: AL, ‘Holly Lodge / December 8. 1859’. THREE: ALS, ‘Holly Lodge December 12. 1859’.
£450.00
Thomas Babington Macaula

See his long and appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, with that of the recipient Lady [Maria] Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), who lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge with her second husband Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart, her first husband having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). All items in good condition, lightly aged, with the letters folded for postage. ONE (6 July 1853): 1p, 12mo. ‘Dear Lady Theresa, / I will breakfast with you on Monday, and, in order to do so, will postpone my departure from town till the afternoon of that day. / Most truly yours, / T B Macaulay’.

[J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane, distinguished editor of The Times.] Autograph Note in the third person to Lady Theresa Lewis, declining a dinner engagement.

Author: 
J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane (1817-1879)], editor of The Times, 1841-1877 [Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), author]
Publication details: 
‘18 Serjeants Inn / December 8th.’ [no year, but between 1844 and 1863]
£45.00

See his entry, and hers, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Addressed to ‘The Lady Theresa Lewis’. Reads: ‘Mr Delane regrets sincerely that a previous engagement will prevent him from having the honour of waiting upon Sir G. Cornewall and Lady Theresa Lewis on Thursday the 13th. In 1844 Lady Theresa married her second husband, the future Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), her first having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister. (1800-1842)

[Henry Francis Cary, translator of Dante, poet, author and Assistant Librarian at the British Museum.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the novelist Thomas Henry Lister], expressing thanks for the placing of one of his sons in a good situation.

Author: 
Henry Francis Cary (1772-1844), translator of Dante, poet, author and Assistant Librarian at the British Museum [Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842), novelist]
Publication details: 
‘Brit. Museum. [London] / Decr 11th. 1837’.
£45.00

See Cary's entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. The recipient is not named, but the item is from the papers of Lady Maria Theresa Lewis, and the letter is written to her first husband, the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842), whose father Thomas Lister of Armitage Park was a childhood friend of Cary's (see his 1847 biography by his son).

[Baron von Bunsen [Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen], Prussian Ambassador to the Court of St James’s.] Autograph Letter Signed, in English, to the English Foreign Secretary Lord Clarendon, regarding a railway journey with Count Groeben.

Author: 
Baron von Bunsen [Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen] (1791-1860), Prussian Ambassador to Court of St James’s [Lord Clarendon [George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon]
Publication details: 
‘Prussia House [i.e. Prussian embassy, London] Monday’. [Annotated: ‘Chev Bunsen / March 1854’.]
£50.00

Written while Bunsen was Ambassador in London, 1841-1854. See the recipient's entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo, on the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip cut from second leaf, which is docketed ‘Chev Bunsen / March 1854 / Interieur’. The letter reads: ‘My dear Lord Clarendon / I shall not fail to be at the appointed time, to-morrow eleven o’clock, at the Railway Station, and bring Count Groeben with me (who is enchanted with your reception & concersation). / Every yours faithfully / Bunsen’.

[Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London.] Five Autograph Letters Signed (all ‘B. London’) to Thomas Maurice of the British Museum, two with detailed criticism of Maurice’s poem on Pitt the Younger.

Author: 
Beilby Porteus (1731-1809), Bishop of London [Thomas Maurice (1754-1824), Assistant Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum, Anglican cleric and oriental scholar]
Publication details: 
1798, 1800 (2), 1806 and 1807 (the last apparently a mistake for 1806). The first from St James’s Square, the last from Clifton, the others from Sundridge [Kent].
£250.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. The five items are in good condition, lightly aged, with each on a 4to bifolium, and all folded for postage. In a neat and attractive hand. The text of each letter is on the first leaf, and the first two letters are addressed by Porteus on the reverse of the second leaf, each with broken seals in red wax. In Letters Four and Five Porteus lays out his objections to Maurice’s ‘Elegy on the late Right Honourable William Pitt’, published in 1806 under the name ‘T. M.’ ONE (St James’s Square, 10 April 1898): 1p, 4to. Addressed to ‘Revd. Mr Maurice / No.

[Sir Adrian Boult, distinguished English conductor.] Autograph Signature 'Adrian C. Boult' on card.

Author: 
Sir Adrian Boult [Sir Adrian Cedric Boult] (1889-1983), distinguished English conductor, at the BBC and with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
[Sir Adrian Boult
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£30.00
[Sir Adrian Boult

See Michael Kennedy's assessment of Boult, in his entry in the Oxford DNB: 'In the music he admired most, Boult was often a great conductor; in the rest, an extremely conscientious one.' Good bold signature ('Adrian C. Boult') is centred on one side of an 11.5 x 9 cm piece of card. The signature and the space around it are clear, but the discoloured card has a smudge on it, and carries traces of previous mount on reverse. At foot of signed side, in pencil:Sir Adrian Boult - Conductor of the B.B.C.Orchestra London / Famous English Conductor'. See Image.

[‘I used it because I meant it’: Nicolas Bentley, writer, illustrator and cartoonist.] Typed Letter Signed to V. H. Collins, defending his use of the phrase ‘I am afraid’.

Author: 
Nicolas Bentley [born Nicholas Clerihew Bentley] (1907-1978), writer, illustrator and cartoonist [Vere Henry Collins]
Publication details: 
10 October 1955. On letterhead of Andre Deutsch Limited, Publishers, 12-14 Carlisle Street, Soho Square, London W1.
£50.00

See his entry by Ruari Maclean in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. With Bentley’s distinctive stylized signature ‘Nicolas Bentley’. After thanking him for his letter he writes (apparently with reference to a newspaper article): ‘I am sorry if in using the phrase “I am afraid” I ruffled your grammatical sensibilities. I used it because I meant it.

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