CENTURY

See Gould’s entry in the Oxford DNB, with that of Lady Lyte’s husband. The Lytes were Somerset neighbours of Gould. 1p, 12mo. In good condition. He is glad to hear that ‘Mr Logsdail has done the drawing for you for he would be able to do far more justice to it than I could possibly have achieved’. On the occasions when he is called upon to ‘put sentiment into a cartoon’ he is ‘always conscious of failure and it is well to know one’s limitations’.

See Gould's entry in the Oxford DNB, with those of Newnes and Hobhouse. All eleven items are 12mo and signed ‘F Carruthers Gould’. Some show evidence of previous mounting. The collection is in good overall condition. As assistant editor of the Westminster Gazette he thanks Mrs Elizabeth Lee for her ‘suggestion about an article on the German Theatre’; and Macleod Yearsley for his ‘sketch of Macrurus’ (‘I already had the creature in my mind as the likeness is certainly a striking one’).

See both their entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition. He has ‘just read with much grateful pleasure’ the ‘very kindly reference’ to him in her ‘delightful book’ (presumably her second volume of reminiscences, ‘Leaves from the Notebooks of Lady Dorothy Nevill’, 1907). He is ‘just in the middle of it and enjoying it keenly’. The only fault he can find is that he will soon come to the end of it. It deserves great success and he hopes she will ‘give us more reminiscences’.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border (her mother had died the previous December). In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of paper to which the item was glued still adhering to reverse of second leaf. Having been informed by her sister ‘Miss Kingsley’ (her elder sister Rose) that Combe is ‘kind enough to wish for my autograph’, she has ‘much pleasure in sending it you - but I wish my pen was a better one, more befitting this serious occasion!’

Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Excessively scarce, with COPAC only listing one copy (at the British Library) of both items. ONE: 'An Irish Cradle Song. Words by W. B. Yeats. From Poems by W. B. Yeats, published by T. Fisher Unwin'. [1914.] 5 + [1]pp., folio. Title page carries the gaelic motto: Goth yani me von gilli beg, | N heur ve thu more a creena. TWO: 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree. Words by W. B. Yeats'. [1917.] 5 + [1]pp., folio. Illustration of tree on bank of lake on front cover.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Clearly and firmly written. The letter would appear to concern an individual who is threatening to resign his membership of the Athenaeum Club, and ends with reference to proxy voting for new members. Hughes begins by reporting that he has 'already written to the good but peppery & impulsive Dr. of whom I am as fond as you are'.

The recipient is Lady Ann Cullum (1807-1875), widow of Sir Thomas Gery Cullum (1777-1855) of Hardwick House, Bury St Edmunds. 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The salutation of the letter ('My dear Lady Cullum') is in English, the rest in French. Written at a turbulent period in Guizot's life, following the Revolution in 1848, with the overthrow of the monarchy and its ministry of which he himself was head.

172pp., 16mo (10 x 6.5 cm.). In original green leather quarter-binding, with marbled endpapers and label on front cover: 'No 1 | DECEMBER | 1837 | 1838'. Aged and worn, with the contents of the volume detached from the binding, and the signatures loose through breaking of the stitching. In pencil beneath the binder's ticket on the front pastedown: 'Hogarth | 10 Powis Place', with this address continuing at the foot of the first page: 'Gt Ormond St'.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering along one edge. From the celebrated manuscript collection of Richard Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton). In 1787 Didot published Florian's 'Mélanges de poésie et de littérature'. A courtly and characteristic response to a request for information, reading: 'Mr. de florian a l'honneur de souhaiter le bon jour a monsieur Firmin. [a contemporary hand glosses this as 'Didot'] il arrive de la Campagne, et ne peut lui donner aucun détail sur cequ'il [sic] demande. demain il s'en informera, ou priera qu'on s'en informe.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. On aged paper, with punch hole through both leaves at head, small closed cut along bottom edge of first leaf, and with paper and part of another letter (from an album) glued onto the reverse of the second leaf. Folded once. The signature 'M. Massenet' is explained in Massenet's obituary in the Musical Times, 1 September 1912, which speaks of 'the composer's known antipathy to the name Jules […] He preferred to be called “M. Massenet” simply'. The recipient of this enthusiastic letter is not named.

7pp, 4to. On two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged, with the two bifoliums attached to one another and to a stub from mount. From the celebrated manuscript collection of Richard Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton). The government minister addressed in the letter is not named, but is clearly the historian François Guizot, who was Prime Minister of France, 1847-1848. A carefully composed and neatly and closely written letter.

1p, 12mo. Seventeen lines of closely written text. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, laid down on a leaf from an album. The recipient is not named, but is addressed as 'Monsieur le Comte'. The letter concerns the count's 'ami et protégé' 'M. Leharivel' [author of 'Grammaire Francaise Pasigraphique, Simplifiee Et Regularisee, Pour Servir de Base Fondamentale; Et Anecdotes, Et Contes Historiques (1839) ].

The Association des Artistes Musiciens was founded by the traveller and author Baron Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor (1789-1879), and existed between 1843 and 1868. Its aims were to improve the status of musicians, to provide a pension fund and relief, and to promote the art of music. Over the years the Association's committee contained eminent personalities inclulding Berlioz, Liszt, Meyerbeer, Auber, Thalberg, Zimmerman, Herz and Érard.

All signed ‘George C: Oke’. At the time of writing Oke was Assistant Clerk to the Lord Mayor, a position he had held since 1855; in 1864 he would assume the Chief Clerkship. For details of the recipient, barrister and F.R.S, elder brother of Sir Bartle Frere and nephew of Canning’s friend the satirist John Hookham Frere, see the Law Times, 31 December 1887. The four letters total 10pp, 12mo, all on letterheads with engraved arms of the City of London. All in good condition; very lightly aged; with folds. Closely and neatly written.

See Knox’s entry in the Oxford DNB, along with those of his father Edmund Arbuthnott Knox, his brothers Ronald, Dillwyn and Wilfred, his wife the ‘Mary Poppins’ illustrator Mary Shepard (daughter of Ernest Shepard) and his daughter the novelist Penelope Fitzgerald. At the time the present material was composed Knox had been involved with Punch for more than four decades (1904-1948), holding the editorship for the last sixteen, with the magazines circulation rising to a peak of almost 200,000 as he approached his retirement.

The context is explained in Hamilton's entry in the Oxford DNB: 'Anthony Hamilton joined his brother George in France in 1667, and was given a captain's commission in the French army. In 1671 he and his younger brother Richard joined a regiment of foot which George raised in Ireland for the service of Louis XIV. They served in the Franco-Dutch War of 1672–8.' On 12 x 19 cm piece of vellum. In good condition, with spike hole and bottom corners snipped. Entire document in French.

1p, 8vo. On bifolium endorsed in two hands on reverse of second leaf, one reading: 'Papier d'antoine Joignar anglois recu Le 29e. Fever. 1676'. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with stub from mount adhering. Beneath Hamilton's signature at the foot of the document is a fair impression of his seal in red wax. The document reads: 'Nous le Sieur d'Hamilton Capn.

LETTER: 3pp, 4to. Bifolium addressed on reverse of second leaf, with Saint Quentin postmark, 'A Monsieur | Monsieur Mathias | pour inspecteur des Douanes.' in good condition, neatly written, with repair to corner cut off in breaking of the wafer, and with stub from mount adhering. 43 lines of closely-written text. A warm letter of good length, addressed to 'mon cher Camarade'. The handwriting is difficult.

The three letters are in good condition, lightly aged and worn, with minor evidence of previous mounting in an album. ONE: 24 February 1806. 1p, 4to. Signed 'Thomas Gisborne.' The subject of the letter is Woodhouse's translation of the Apocalypse, prefixed by 'a dissertation on the divine origin of the book', published the previous year. Gisborne writes that on his 'return from Leicestershire' the previous Friday, he found Woodhouse's 'very obliging present'.

Alistair Sooke, on the BBC website, makes the case that 'Meredith Frampton is the forgotten genius of British art'. See Frampton's entry in the Oxford DNB, and also those of Codner and of Frampton's father Sir George Frampton, who executed the celebrated statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (not modelled on his son, who was eighteen when it was made). 1p, 4to, in fair condition, aged and worn. Folded once. Writing to 'My dear Codner', he apologises for 'keeping you up till such a late hour last night'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'My dear Lord, | I have fixed the Oath's Bills &c for Tuesday July 9. | Believe me | faithfully Yours | Kimberley'.

Maschwitz wrote the lyrics to 'A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square' and 'These Foolish Things', and was nominated for an oscar for co-writing the screenplay of 'Goodbye, Mr Chips'. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Twenty-nine lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Maschwitz begins by congratulating him 'on a really enthralling book! Loved every page of it!' With reference to Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, he explains that the previous day he 'had a talk with old Dennis Grayson who with Mrs Corey Wright is one of Tree's executors.

Frank on 7 x 13 cm panel cut from front of envelope. In good condition, lightly aged, laid down on part of leaf from album, with the reverse carrying part of the frank to a letter from another unidentified individual, with free postmark from 1826. Byron's frank has the customary red-ink postmark at top right ('FREE | 8 DE 8 | 1826'), and is laid out by him in the customary fashion: 'Portsmouth December Seven | 1826 | The Honble. Mrs. Collingwood | Hawkhurst | Kent'. Byron's signature 'Byron.', at bottom left, is only underlined, and not enclosed within the two parallel lines as required.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Thirty lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Part of the second leaf of the bifolium, detached, is endorsed 'Duke of Hamilton 21 March 1822'. The recipient's identity is presumed from the reference in the letter to 'Mrs Robison'. He thanks him for his 'obliging note' and 'the drawing of the [Kullicum?] for smoaking segars', which is a 'very kind attention on your part'. As he is '[f]earfull lest some accident should happen', he has 'desired that the box may not be forwarded to London'.

256pp., 12mo. With frontispiece engraving and vignette on title. In original brown cloth binding, with blind-stamped decorative pattern on the boards, and title and design on the spine. Ownership inscription of 'Arthur Baxter | Runcorn | 1861' on piece of paper laid down on front pastedown. A tight copy, on stained paper (particularly the last few leaves) and aged paper, in worn binding with gilt almost dulled. An interesting production, reminiscent of previous Minerva Press publications, and looking ahead to the yellow-back.

For more information on the Kauffman family, see Alexander Harris's 'Biographical History of Lancaster County' (1872), pp.332-335. The family were Mennonites, and originated in Hesse. The most notable member was affluent farmer and bank president Abraham Cassel Kauffman (1799-1886), a member of the Pennsylvania legislature for the 1835, 1837 and 1843 sessions. 18pp., 8vo. Unbound. On five loose bifoliums (with remains of stitching still present). The leaves of one bifolium are separated from one another, and the order of the pages is probably disturbed.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. Since 2017 she has been depicted on the Scottish ten pound note. On 2.5 x 8.5 cm slip of paper, cut from letter. In good condition, lightly aged. Laid down on 4 x 9.5 cm piece of paper. Reads 'Yours truly | Mary Somerville'.

2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. A daughter from Lady Derby's first marriage was married to the Earl of Galloway, from whose seat Derby writes. Addressed to 'G. [sic] Norbury. Esq.' Having received the letter of the unnamed male recipient, he feels he 'must decline to give my name as patron of the now proposed society of water colour painters in Liverpool: not because I do not approve of the formation of such a society, but because your invitation to join it is the first intimation I have received of any such project being in contemplation'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of yellow paper mount adhering to the blank reverse. Reads: 'Mr & Mrs. Bohn present their compliments to the Mayor of Liverpool and Mrs. Hubback, and have much pleasure in accepting their polite invitation for the 15th. proxo.'

[24]pp, 12mo. Stapled programme, in shiny covers. Strip torn away from back cover, and with staples slightly rusted, otherwise in fair condition. Large signature 'Ivor Novello' diagonally across title on front cover: 'Richard D. Rose | presents | Ivor Novello | in | I Lived With You | A comedy in three acts | by | Ivor Novello'. An illustrated 'magazine' programme, containing articles and advertisements. No copy on OCLC WorldCat. From the papers of Novello's friend and biographer, the theatre historian W. J.