CENTURY

1p, 16mo. On 14 x 11 cm piece of paper, with margins apparently cut down. Aged, and with slight damage to two words of text caused by removal from mount.At the time of writing Faucit's successful career had been interrupted by the recurrence of a lung condition, necessitating recuperation at a seaside resort. She has evidently asked Talfourd to contribute to an autograph album, soliciting the following response: 'Mr.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with remains of stub adhering to edge on reverse. Folded twice. He begins by apologising that his 'occupations during the winter' have prevented him from seeing the unnamed recipient. If he is 'disengaged next Friday', Napier will be happy to see him 'at dinner at six o'clock, to meet a small party'. Laid down at the foot of the last page is a newspaper cutting of an article titled 'Death of Professor Napier'.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. She writes that she will be 'happy to sing the following songs on the 16th inst', and lists pieces by Meyerbeer, Linley and Mendelsohn, as well as 'Scotch song “Bonnie Dundee”'. In a postscript she writes: 'After tomorrow may I trouble you to address me at Dilstone [i.e. Dilston, Northumberland]'. Endorsed on second leaf: 'Sans date | Miss Charlotte H. Dolby | Will be happy to sing the within mentioned songs &c'.

See E. A. H. Webb, 'History of the 12th (The Suffolk) Regiment, 1685-1913' (1914). Picton was the uncle of 'the illustrious Picton', Lt-Gen. Sir Thomas Picton (1758-1815), who was his sole executor and residuary legatee. The year of Picton's birth is variously reported, but the Monthly Magazine, December 1811, is among several sources reporting his death in Bond Street at the age of 87. 4pp, folio. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and with closed tears along the three fold lines. Endorsed on reverse of second leaf: '12th.

1p, 12mo. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Miss C. Fox'. In fair condition, on aged paper. Folded twice. From the context it would seem that Buckler was acting as the recipient's painting master. Begins: 'Madam | The little Girl which I intended as a Model for you this afternoon has not arrived (on account of the weather no doubt).' As a consequence he asks her to 'excuse my attendance today'. He will 'call and fix another day as soon as I have seen her'.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. For information regarding this renowned firm of silversmiths, which possessed the royal warrant and mounted a sumptuous display at the Great Exhibition, see Norman Mosley Penzer, 'Paul Storr, 1771-1844, Silversmith and Goldsmith' (1954), and John Culme, 'Directory of Gold and Silversmiths' (2000). The nature of the '”Australian” implement' which is the subject of the letter is unclear, but information on Hunt's partner's connection with Australia is to be found in L. W.

1p, 12mo. Bifolium. Addressed on reverse of the second leaf, with broken seal in red wax, 'To / | S. C. Hall Esqre | 59 Sloane Street'. In fair condition, on aged paper. Folded by Blessington into a diamond-shaped packet. Reads: 'Saturday Evening. | Lady Blessingtons Compts. To Mr Hall, and requests that he will call on her, as soon as may suit his convenience, as she wishes to consult him, about having an Enquiry executed.'

LETTER: ALS 'To Dr Alexander Miles F.R.C.S.E.' 13 July 1897. 1p, 4to. Signed 'James Lumsden (late of Nether Hailes) | now – 34 Royal Park Terrace | Edinburgh', with postscript signed in initials. Written on the blank reverse of the second leaf of a bifolium advertisement for Lumsden's 'The Battles of Dunbar and Prestonpans, and other selected poems' (1896), on which Lumsden's address is given as 34 Royal Park Terrace, Edinburgh. Aged and worn, with closed tears along fold line. A long letter, one of many similar which Lumsden wrote in his distress.

20pp., 4to. Stapled into card wraps printed in blue and red. In fair condition, aged and worn, with vertical crease and rusted staples. The front inside wrap carries an 'Introductory Note' (including the claim: 'Half-an-hour's daily practice will produce material results in a very short time.') Labels and stamp of the Board of Education Library. The cover is illustrated with an engraving of two hands emerging from mountains and icebergs and shaking across the waters, above which are the Union Flag and two ensigns (Australia and Canada?), captioned 'Semper Fidelis'.

Printed on one side of a 21 x 9 cm slip of watermarked laid paper. Aged and creased. Headed: 'Dedicated | to | Samuel Mucklebackit, Esq., | (Otherwise James Lumsden, of 34 Royal Park Terrace, Edinburgh), | by | Sir Robert Thorburn, K.C.M.G., | Ex-Premier of Newfoundland, | From | “Somewhere far abroad, where sailors gang to fish for cod.”' Place and date at bottom left.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with labels from mount adhering. Folded twice. The last four lines of the letter, and the name of the recipient (a fellow-practioner), have been deleted, and a newspaper notice of Prout's death has been laid down over this. An interesting letter, casting light on medical consultation and co-operation in Early Victorian London. The letter begins: 'Sir, | Your patient Mr Brown, in the absence of Dr Hodgkin, [the celebrated pathologist Thomas Hodgkin] authorised me to open your letter to Dr. H. containing some particulars of Mr B's case.

4pp, 12mo. On four loose leaves. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with minor traces of grey paper mount along edges on blank reverses. The poem is titled 'The Dream of Fine Editors | (after the dinner to J. N. Dunn. April 23rd. 1897)'. (At the time of the dinner the Scottish journalist James Nicol Dunn (1856-1919) was on the verge of being appointed editor of the Morning Post, a position he would hold from May 1897 to January 1905.) There is no record of the poem having been published, and it is likely to have been written for after-dinner recitation only.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight traces of glue from mount adhering to edge on reverse of second leaf. Folded twice. An interesting letter, casting light on publication practices in Victorian London, with reference to a successful female author. Mrs Gascoigne asks Schoberl advice regarding the publication of her book 'Spencer's Cross; or, The Manor House. A Tale for Young People. By the author of "Belgravia"', which would be published by Charles Westerton in 1854. The letter begins: 'Mrs. Gascoigne presents her compliments to Mr.

1p, landscape 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn, laid down on part of a leaf from an album. The letter begins in lighthearted fashion, but soon turns sombre, with a list of Rickman's friends who have recently died. Reads: 'My dear Sir! Truth will out – The lady has been trying Bargain Tea all entire at 8s/. - this pleases me – so look to it! - I am confined to my room not so ill in health but I have lost great friends – Mrs. Hobson my best, dead – Mrs Thos. Rickman, dead – Mr. Gray dead, & some living ones have flown off, & all this cuts me up! - God bless you, & yours! | Clio'.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. With the cover of the letter's envelope, addressed to H. A. Bright at Trinity Collrge, Cambridge. Both letter and cover in fair condition, lightly aged and worn.

The recipient was a brother of the geologist and inventor Robert Were Fox the Younger (1789-1877), whose magnetic dip compass, constructed in the previous year, is the 'instrument' referred to at the end of the letter. (Fox's compass was used by Sir James Clark Ross on his Antarctic expedition, and was later used to discover the position of the South magnetic pole.) 1p, 4to. In fair condition, aged and creased, with traces of paper mount adhering to one edge, and repair to a closed tear with archival tape. Several folds.

See Moxon's entry in the Oxford DNB, which describes his association with William Wordsworth as 'arguably his most important publishing relationship'. The present poem was published as 'The Two Streams' in the 'Literary Souvenir' of Alaric Watts in 1830, a year before Moxon published his first volume of Wordsworth's verse. The present item is 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, and laid down on a leaf removed from an album. Folded three times. Entirely in Moxon's autograph, titled 'Sonnet', and signed at the end 'Edward Moxon | London Jan. 5th | 1847'.

The letter is 1p, 12mo, and is accompanied by the covering 8vo leaf, addressed to 'John Atkins Esqre | Duke Street | Westminster', with a second signature for franking. The covering leaf is endorsed: 'Admiralty August 21 1806 | Adml. Markham concerning Miles Burn that it would be impossible to get him reinstated'. Both letter and covering leaf in good condition, lightly aged and worn, with fold lines. Markham could hardly be more decisive.

2pp, folio. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded three times. The recipient is not named, but is clearly a book illustrator, and the letter provides an interesting view of the practices of book illustrators and engravers in Victorian London. Whymper begins by stating that he is sorry to have missed his 'Call', and to have been 'equally unfortunate this afternoon', when he left at his house 'Two pieces of wood & a little book I want you (if convent [sic]) to make me a Front[ispiece]. for by Thursday Morng.

1p, 4to. Written in pencil on a piece of tissue paper, stamped in one corner with leaf number 675. Aged and wrinkled, with fraying to edges, but text clear and complete. Folded twice. A scarce survival, such thin paper, used for security reasons, not faring well in the passage of time. The signature is Kemp's, the rest of the document being in a secretarial hand. An interesting document – which would seem to indicate that the British were employing a more conciliatory approach following Emily Hobhouse's revelations in her June 1901 report on British concentration camps.

A very nice association between two central figures in Victorian book illustration. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium addressed on reverse of second leaf, with Penny Red stamp and three postmarks, to 'B Forster [sic] Esqr | Cavendish Villa | Carlton Hill | St Johns Wood'. Endorsed with date. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mount to one edge.

Four items from the papers of Joseph Charles Parkinson (1833-1908), journalist, civil servant and social reformer, contributor to the Daily News, All the Year Round, Temple Bar, and associate of Dickens and Wilkie Collins. The material relates to Parkinson's book 'The Ocean Telegraph to India: A Narrative and a Diary' (1870). The four items are laid down on a leaf removed from an album, with typed explanatory notes at the head of both pages. ONE: ALS (signed 'James Anderson') from Anderson to Parkinson, 24 August 1865. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium.

Farren's entry in the Oxford DNB concludes by describing him as 'a theatrical sophisticate, equally at home in period comedy and modern plays; he was, besides, one of the finest actors of his century'. From around 1821 Farren lived with the actress Mrs Faucit (Harriet Elizabeth Savill, née Diddear, 1789-1857), with whom he had two sons. An excellent item, casting vivid light on the Olympic Theatre of Madame Vestris and J. R. Planché in its late-Georgian heyday.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Endorsed by the unnamed recipient on the reverse of the second leaf. The subject of the letter, 'Mr Maule', was presumably a relation of Jardine's, whose mother's maiden name was Maule. Begins: 'Dear Sir, I received your parcel this morning & was prepared to start Tomorrow (Friday) when the Evening Mail brought me the intelligence of the Dangerous illness of Mr.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and lightly creased. Folded twice. Addressed 'To the Editor of the Courant'. Having been made Recorder of Hull in 1852, Warren begins his letter from that place: 'Sir, | Some friend has sent to me your paper of Thursday, last, containing a very kindly notice on my late Charge to the Grand Jury here.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Written by Hastings in his capacity as 'President' of the Worcestershire Natural History Society, and addressed to 'Sir Thos Phillips [sic] Bart. | Middle Hill'. A circular letter, neatly written out in a secretarial hand, with Hastings adding no more than his signature.

Tindal is notable for defending Queen Caroline in her 1820 adultery trial, and for introducing the special verdict 'Not Guilty by reason of insanity', in the case of Daniel M'Naghten. The letter is undated, but Tindal states that it was a written a week after the death of Rev. John Kirk, Rector of Thwing, which took place on 6 November 1827 (see Kirk's death notice, Gent. Mag., November 1827). 3pp., 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn. Folded four times. Tindal begins his letter: 'My dear Lord Chancellor, | I am requested by my friend, the Revd. T.

ESTC R21335, which states: 'Attributed to George Jeffreys. Cf. BM.' 1p, folio. Aged and worn, with fraying to edges, but with text clear and entire. At top right, in pencil, in an eighteenth-century hand, 'Dupl' (i.e. duplicate). The heading reads: 'THE | Lord Chancellor's | PETITION | To His Highness the | Prince of Orange, | On His Entrance into LONDON.' Beneath rule at foot: 'LONDON, Printed for S. M. 1688.' For the context, see Jeffreys' entry in the Oxford DNB.

2pp, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. A very good and informative letter. Written from the A. J. C. Ranch, which Van Druten had purchased with his former lover Carter Lodge (now his business manager) and the British actress Auriol Lee. Van Druten left his interest in the ranch to Lodge, together with the rights to his work, including the play discussed here, 'I am a Camera', an adapatation of Christopher Isherwood's stories. (For the relationship between Van Druten and Isherwood, see Peter Parker's biography of the latter.) This entitled Lodge to income from the film 'Cabaret'.