CENTURY

Two Autograph Letters Signed ('M Asquith' and 'Margot Asquith'), both to the Editor of the London Daily Graphic Harold Edward Lawton.

Author: 
Margot Asquith [Emma Alice Margaret Asquith] (1864-1945), Countess of Oxford and Asquith
Publication details: 
3 and 8 December 1920; the first on letterhead of 44 Bedford Square, London W.C.1, and the second on letterhead of The Wharf, Sutton Courtney, Berkshire.
£100.00

Both items written in pencil and good, on lightly aged paper, with their stamped and postmarked envelopes addressed by Asquith. Both envelopes with traces of brown paper mount adhering to reverse, and both docketed by the Graphic's editor 'To me Harold Lawton'. Letter One (12mo, 4 pp, headed 'Private'): Amusingly outraged letter regarding a visit by 'two gentlemen' of whom Asquith 'had no sort of knowledge'. Graphic journalists, they assured Asquith 'that nothing wd. be written about me without my seeing it first [last five words underlined in red]'.

Autograph Signature ('H. Martineau') on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), English writer and journalist
Publication details: 
26 December [no year]; Ambleside.
£45.00

Irregularly-shaped (like an 'L') piece of paper, cut from the head of a letter with a mourning border. Dimensions (very roughly) 4 and 3 cm high and 7 cm wide. Good, with minor traces of two tissue mounts adhering to reverse. The following written vertically across three lines of writing: 'to all your family, & I am, dear Sir, truly yours | [signed] H. Martineau'. The remains of the three lines acoss which the above is written read: '<...> dear Sir | <...> I am | <....> ur sister <...>'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Costaz') to 'Monsieur Dupont' and his son.

Author: 
Baron Louis Costaz (1767-1842), French mathematician and engineer
Publication details: 
19 October 1841; Mousseau.
£75.00

12mo, 1 p, 12 lines. Inviting 'M.M. Dupont, père et fils' to help him eat 'le civet d'un lievre qui a eu la Bêtise de se laisser tuer par une femme du hameau du Mousseau'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. de Freycinet') to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet (1828-1923), 43rd Prime Minister of France, 1879-1880
Publication details: 
7 July 1860; Bordeaux.
£85.00

12mo, 1 p, 20 lines. On grey paper, good, with a line of light offsetting from another document on the blank reverse. He wanted to read the work he has been sent before writing to acknowledge its receipt. 'Je suis trop peu de chose pour qu'un compliment de moi vous soit sensible'. He awaits the reprint with impatience, and regrets not having received a copy sooner. As for the introduction, he does not see how it could be changed. 'Ce que vous y dites sera toujours vrai et est aussi nouveau qu'il y a 19 ans'. The form is what one would expect 'd'un littérateur'.

Autograph Letter to 'Monsieur Delacroix'.

Author: 
Michel Alcan (1811-1877), 'ingénieur-professeur au Conservatoire des arts et métiers' [Ernest Stamm; Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)?]
Publication details: 
13 February 1860; Paris.
£28.00

4to, 1 p, 8 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper. Small indentation from paperclip in margin. Reads 'Monsieur Alcan prie Monsieur Delacroix de remettre au porteur le Testament (tissé) de Louis XVI, dont il a besoin pour le cours de ce soir au conservatoire des Arts et metier. | le preparateur du cours | Ernest Stamm | Paris le 13 fevrier 1860'. Loosely inserted in blue paper wraps with slip of an entry for the letter from a French autograph catalogue, misattributing it to Stamm.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John W Burgon') to 'D[ear] L.'

Author: 
John William Burgon (1813–1888), Dean of Chichester and biblical scholar
Publication details: 
Wed[nesda]y [no date]; on letterhead of the Lower House of Convocation, Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster, S.W.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good on lightly aged paper. Folded twice. Traces of previous mount adhering to reverse of blank second leaf of bifolium. The recipient 'cannot be more conservative' than Burgon himself. 'But remember - it is the interpretation of the Rubric in question which is causing us all this difficulty.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George Stephen') to 'My dear Valentine'.

Author: 
Sir George Stephen (1794-1879), English abolitionist, lawyer and author
Publication details: 
22 August 1844; 17 Kings Arms Yard [London].
£85.00

Landscape 8vo (roughly 12 x 20 cm), 1 p, 8 lines. On creased and lightly aged paper. Text clear and entire. Stephen is afraid that Valentine's 'poor protegée will not [...] get much out of her claim!' Stephen cannot help her 'because litigation in a colony can only be conducted by a solicitor resident within it, and bad as we are reputed to be at home, they are far worse in the Colonies!' However he has 'written a strong professional letter for her that may perchance obtain an answer'.

Calling Card with Autograph invitation on it to 'Mon cher docteur'.

Author: 
Paul Baudry [Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry] (1828-1886), French painter
Publication details: 
Samedi 16h 1/2' [no date].
£100.00

The calling card is roughly 6 x 9.5 cm, and reads 'Paul Baudry, | Membre de l'Institut. | 56, rue Notre Dame des Champs'. Around this Baudry has written 'Mon cher docteur | Venez s. v. p. voir ma petite avant votre déjeuner Vous me ferez plaisir. | Samedi 16h 1/2'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Peter Clare, Secretary.') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Peter Clare, Secretary, The Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester [John Dalton; John James Tayler; Eaton Hodgkinson; John Eddowes Bowman]
Publication details: 
18 September 1839; 'Society's Rooms George Street Manchester'.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p, 10 lines. Forwarding a copy of a resolution passed by a meeting of the Society's Council on 17 September. The five line transcription of the resolution reads: 'Resolved That the following Gentlemen form the Printing Committee for the present year. Dr. Dalton [John Dalton (1766-1844), chemist], Rev. John James Tayler, Peter Clare, Eaton Hodgkinson [(1789-1861), engineer], John Davies & John Eddowes Bowman [botanist].'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Sédillot, professeur d'histoire, Secrètaire du Collège de France') in French to 'Monsieur Le Maire' [of the XIe arrondissement of Paris].

Author: 
Louis Pierre Eugène Amélie Sédillot (1808-1875), French orientalist
Publication details: 
12 January 1849; on letterhead of the Collège de France.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. Good, on aged paper worn at extremities. Text clear and entire. Gives details of his placement in 1837 in the 'cadre de reforme de la Garde Nationale', and of the registration of the decision by the Mayor. 'Cette décision [...] m'est réclamée par le nouveau Sergent major de la compagnie, M. Alger, et je viens vous prier de m'en faire délivrer une copie dûment légalisée.'

Autograph Letter Signed 'Wm Fermor' to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
William Fermor (c.1738-1806) of Tusmore, Oxfordshire
Publication details: 
3 February 1803; Tusmore.
£38.00

4to, 2 pp, 14 lines of text. On aged and creased paper, with traces of cream paper mount adhering at foot of reverse. Showing the grammatical indifference of the English eighteenth-century upper classes. '[...] nothing but indisposition shall prevent my attendance at the meeting you was to good as to inform me that is to take place on Monday next of all the Catholicks of great Britain'. He is 'ill with a violent Cold sore Throat and fever' and doubts whether he will be 'well enough to undertake the journey to Town so soon'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('henri Fournel') to the Parisian publisher and bookseller Duprat.

Author: 
Henri-Jérôme-Marie Fournel (1799-1876), French civil engineer, geologist and disciple of Saint-Simon [Algeria]
Publication details: 
4 August 1861; 'rue de la Chaussée d’Antin 58 bis', Paris.
£56.00

16mo (13 x 10.5 cm), 1 p, 8 lines of text. Good. Ordering a geographical work and referring (obscurely) to words with an arab flavour (hard to read).

Autograph Letter Signed to Canon Knowles

Author: 
Henry Hayman (1823-1904) [Canon Edward Hadarezer Knowles (c.1823-1899); Rugby School; Matthew Holbeche Bloxam]
Publication details: 
3 December 1875; on printed letterhead of the Rectory, Aldingham, Ulverston.
£85.00

12mo, 1 p, 8 lines. With mourning border. Good, on aged paper, with small closed tear at head neatly repaired on reverse with archival tape. Blank second leaf of bifolium stained from previous mounting. Printed as part of the letterhead at top of page are two lines giving Hayman's terms as a private tutor. (Begins 'The Rev. H. HAYMAN, D.D., ex-Head Master of Rugby, prepares Pupils for the Universities, &c.') Hayman writes to say that he has mislaid the letter from the 'Secry Archl Socy [Matthew Holbeche Bloxam (1805-1888), Secretary of the Oxford Architectural Society]'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Frank O. Salisbury') to Mrs Shirley Slocombe.

Author: 
Frank O. Salisbury (1874-1962), English portrait painter [Francis Owen Salisbury; Shirley Slocombe (c.1873-1906)]
Publication details: 
17 May 1936; on letterhead of Sarum Close, West Heath Road, Hampstead, London, N.W.3.
£56.00

8vo, 1 p, 14 lines. On lightly aged paper, with 9 cm closed tear (affecting a few words, but not the signature) neatly repaired on reverse with archival tape. A letter of condolence on the death of Mrs Slocombe's husband, 'after his long illness'. Salisbury is 'sure he must have had a very courageous spirit to the end - I remember it so well at the Academy Schools'. He suggests a firm that might be willing to buy 'the canvases etc you mention'. The letter links two artists who studied together at the Royal Academy Schools, and also establishes the date of Slocombe's death as 1906.

Autograph Manuscript headed 'Proposed Porson Scholarship is open to Freshmen only - Examination in the October term, exclusively Classical. | Objections to the Grace for accepting this Foundation.'

Author: 
William Gilson Humphry [sometimes misspelt 'Humphrey'] (1815-1886), biblical scholar, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
Publication details: 
21 October 1846; Trinity College, Cambridge.
£85.00

4to (26.5 x 22 cm), 2 pp, 30 lines of text. On discoloured and lightly creased and stained paper, with some chipping to extremities, but with text clear and entire.

Autograph Letter in the third person to 'Mr Twining'.

Author: 
Richard Westmacott (1799-1872), English sculptor
Publication details: 
31 January 1862; 1 Kensington Gate.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp, 18 lines. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. 'Mr. Westmacott presents his Compts and has to acknowledge Mr Twinings polite letter'. Its delivery has been delayed 'owing to its incorrect address', 'Mr W. having left Wilton <& Co.?>. (and quitted the practice of his profession) for some years'. As for 'Engravings and Photographs' of Westmacott's works, 'very few were made'. Most of these were 'ill done', although he does name one with which he was satisfied. Consequently Westmacott cannot 'assist Mr. Twining in his object'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Forshall') to Bishop Coleridge.

Author: 
Josiah Forshall (1795-1863), Keeper of Manuscripts and Secretary of the British Museum [William Hart Coleridge (1789-1849), bishop of Barbados and the Leeward Islands]
Publication details: 
B[ritish]. M[useum]. Oct: 2. 1848.'
£35.00

12mo: 2 pp. 11 lines of text. The Bishop's note has reached him 'just as I am about to set out for Cambridge to spend the week there'. When he returns he will 'search for any papers we may have relative to Dr. Walker'. He will let him 'know the result of my enquiries'.

Autograph Draft of Letter to his publishers Messrs Petter & Galpin [George William Petter and Thomas Dixon Galpin, associates of John Cassell].

Author: 
George Cruikshank (1792-1878), English graphic artist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£85.00

12mo (18 x 11 cm): 1 p. 15 lines of text. On aged paper with one light stain at centre. Corner on reverse tipped in onto card mount. No signature. Introducing 'Miss Napier who has just returned from the Cape of Good Hope - She has one or two M.SS which she wishes to submit to your notice [...] you will kindly assist the lady in her literary efforts'. Miss Napier's address is given as '4 Beech View Villas, South Penge Park | Penge Surrey SE.' It is perhaps significant that Sir George Thomas Napier (1784-1855) was Governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 1837 to 1843.

Autograph Note Signed ('Dorothy Nevill') to 'Mr <Descou?>'.

Author: 
Lady Dorothy Nevill [Lady Dorothy Fanny Nevill, née Walpole] (1826-1913), hostess and horticulturist
Publication details: 
Friday 18th' [no date]; on embossed letterhead of Dangstein, Petersfield.
£28.00

12mo: 1 p. 8 lines of text. On aged paper somewhat grubby around signature at foot. Asks when he will be 'able to come to us to meet the d[uke] of Wellington'. They are 'at liberty any time between the 4th and 11th of January'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('M. F. T.') to his printer Thomas Brettell, 25 Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.

Author: 
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889), English poet [P. T. Barnum; John Leech; Thomas Brettell; Henry William Pickersgill]
Publication details: 
Undated, but docketed 'Jan. 31 1851'.
£75.00

12mo: 2 pp. 28 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, with unobtrusive small spike hole and traces of mounts adhering to four corners. Interesting animated letter between a Victorian author and his printer. Relates to Tupper's 'A hymn for All Nations; translated into thirty languages; nearly fifty versions; the music composed expressly by S. Sebastian Wesley.' (1851). Asks his printer to 'Attend to Hymn as within' (not present). 'We cannot help all this trouble'. Tupper has written to Dr Gavassi, but has had no answer: 'get Rossetti's as soon as you can.

Bill, in French, for work 'imprime pour le Citoyen Duprat, par Crapelet' [i.e. printing 'Memoire sur la reunion de l'artillerie et du genie, adresse au premier consul de la republique francaise' by 'A.A.'

Author: 
Charles Crapelet (1762-1809), French printer based in Paris, father of the printer Georges-Adrien Crapelet [Jean-Louis Duprat, Professeur a l'Ecole centrale du departement du Tarn]
Publication details: 
9 Nivose an 9e [30 December 1800]
£100.00

On one side of piece of laid paper roughly 16 x 19.5 cm. Good, though lightly aged, and with a few small pin holes in one corner (not affecting text). 12 lines. Headed 'imprime pour le Citoyen Duprat, par Crapelet, 9 Nivose an 9e'. The first of four entries reads 'Memoire sur la reunion de l'artillerie & du Genie [published in Paris in 1800 by Duprat], contenant cinq feuilles & demie in-8o. Cicero, tirees a 500 exempl. a raison de 24th la feuille'. Second entry gives cost of 'Remaniement de toutes les feuilles & corrections extraordinaires'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Cor<dier>'), 'A Monsieur <Jukeur?> opticien - rue de Conde Paris'.

Author: 
Joseph Cordier (1775-1849), French engineer, in charge of work on the Simplon Pass in 1800
Publication details: 
Without date or place [Paris].
£45.00

12mo bifolium: 1 p. 11 lines of text. Address and docketing on second leaf. Good, but with 1 cm hole in first leaf of bifolium, possibly caused by breaking open of blue wafer, which still adheres. Hole causing loss to two words, including latter part of signature. Asks the recipient 'de remettre a Mr. Pousin conducteur des ponts et chaussees, un double demi metre en Cuivre et un metre en cuivre avec quatre petites roulettes pointilles'. He will pay for the order in a few days time.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Carl Haag') to Mrs Grant Morris.

Author: 
Johann Carl Haag (1820-1915), Bavarian watercolour painter who settled in England and became a leading orientalist
Publication details: 
7 November 1884; on letterhead of Ida Villa, Lyndhurst Road, Hampstead, London N.W.
£38.00

8vo, 1 p, 8 lines. Folded twice. Good, on lightly discoloured paper. Informing the Morrises of 'our safe arrival', and thanking them for 'the very amiable hospitality we have enjoyed'. 'Mrs. Haag in this moment feels a little the fatigue of the journey but will ere long use a leisure hour to write to you.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos. H. Wyatt') to the connoisseur and print collector the Rev. Charles Henry Middleton (1828-1915); with manuscript 'resolution'.

Author: 
Thomas Henry Wyatt (1807-1880), English architect
Publication details: 
19 May 1881; on embossed letterhead of the Art Students' Home, 4 & 5 Brunswick Square, London W.C.
£100.00

12mo, 2 pp, letter of 8 lines, resolution of 9 lines. Good, on lightly spotted paper with small pin holes to top inner corner. He is appending 'a copy of a resolution agreed to at a Meeting of Committee held this afternoon at No 1 Station St., the Baroness Burdett-Coutts presiding'. The resolution, on the recto of the second leaf of the bifolium, thanks Middleton, 'for services rendered to the Art Student Home, & for the constant interest he has displayed in advancing its welfare'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Richard. O. Gross') to K. W. Luckhurst, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Richard Oliver Gross (1882-1964), English-born New Zealand sculptor
Publication details: 
20 June 1949; on his letterhead from 7 Marie Avenue, Hillsborough, Auckland, New Zealand.
£38.00

4to, 1 p, 8 lines. Lightly creased and with a little smudging from a carbon and some minor paperclip staining (none of which affects the signature). He is sending 'a short article [not present] - "Art in the Post War World", and a copy of an address to "The Auckland Society of Arts." ' He believes 'that countries like New Zealand, cut off from the inspiration and example of what is best in European Art, are prone to be dazzled by Materialistic Efficiency; even when linked with the best technical flavourings through Art in industry.'

Autographs and Manuscripts. Catalogue of a Selection of Important Historical, Literary and other Autographs, being the second portion of a Collection for Sale.

Author: 
M. M. Holloway, London autograph dealer [autographs; sale catalogues]
Publication details: 
London: M. M. Holloway, 25 Bedford Street, Strand, W.C. 1862.
£60.00

Octavo: 52 pp. Stitched and unbound. Good, if a tad grubby. In alphabetical order from Queen Adelaide to the Duchess of York, but lotted 236 to 553. Tastefully printed, and including letters of Charles I, Coleridge, Dr Johnson, Samuel Richardson, Rossini, Sir Walter Scott, Laurence Sterne and Horace Walpole.

Autograph Note Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Jonathan Mawson Denwood (born c.1853?; died c.1931?), English writer in the dialect of his native Cumbria
Publication details: 
72 Kirkgate, Cockermouth; 8 August 1931.
£30.00

One page, quarto. Good, on lightly aged paper. Some offsetting and smudging from Denwood's folding of letter. Reads '72 Kirkgate | Cockermouth | Aug 8 - 1931 | Jonathan. Mawson. Denwood | Dear Sir, | I send you autograph. I cannot write further At the moment I can scarcely hold a pen.'

Autograph Note Signed ('Geo: Macdonald') to unnamed male correspondent [the autograph collector Rev. E. J. A. Davies?]

Author: 
Sir George Macdonald (1862-1940), numismatist, classical scholar, archaeologist and civil servant
Publication details: 
13 March 1931; on embossed letterhead '17 LEARMOUTH GARDENS | EDINBURGH'.
£20.00

One page, 12mo. Very good, with a little light spotting at foot. 'Dear Sir, | I suppose it will suffice if I sign myself | Yours faithfully | Geo: Macdonald'. Docketed in pencil at foot.

[Catalogue 550] A Selection of Books, Manuscripts, Engravings and Autograph Letters remarkable for their Interest & Rarity, being the five hundredth catalogue issued by Maggs Bros [...].

Author: 
Maggs Brothers [booksellers' catalogues]
Publication details: 
London: Maggs Bros, 34 & 35 Conduit Street, W. 1928.
£100.00

[viii] 237 pp., fol.m, original grey and red printed wraps, numerous plates and illustrations in text, some staining of cover around spine, a few pencil markings, top of spine damaged, mainly good condition. It includes Cortes, "Carta de Relacion" (1522), other important Americana, and the first edition of "Don Quixote".

Autograph Note Signed.

Author: 
Charles Warner (Charles John Lickfold, 1846-1909), English actor
Publication details: 
1902; date not stated.
£10.00

One page, roughly four and a half inches by seven wide. Grubby, and with one inch closed tear at foot, caused by removal from mount, traces of which, and of another autograph adhere to reverse. Reads ' "How good it is to live, even at the worst" | "Christ in Hades" by Stephen Phillips | [signed] Charles Warner | 1902'. Small neat green circle containing number in bottom right-hand corner.

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