CHANCERY

Mackworth was a flamboyant character, but whatever his flaws he played a major and innovative role in energising Welsh industry in the late Stuart period. For information on him and his dubious ventures, see his entries in the Oxford DNB (where his first name is spelt 'Humphry') and the Dictionary of Welsh Biography (where it is spelt 'Humphrey').

1p, 8vo. On bifolium addressed on verso of second leaf to 'Mr. Erskine'. In good condition, lightly aged. Autograph jeu d'esprit, signed at foot 'J. Jekyll. | June 30th. 1800'. A short poem reading: 'Tell Mrs. Crewe | I envy You. | But sit on Lu- | nacy. || Yet Mrs. Crewe | will think I'm stu | pid in my lu | -cid Intervals.' Jekyll's entry in the Oxford DNB concludes, perhaps unkindly: 'If he is remembered by later generations, it is chiefly as a wit. It has to be said, however, that his wit, which consisted in large measure of excruciating puns, has not lasted well.'

1p., folio. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, with the neat, controlled signature of 'Richard Royston' at the foot, with that of 'Jo Smyther' above it. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with two seals cut from the first leaf. The document was produced in the Chancery suit 'Kensey ads Smythyer': there is a note by 'Heydon' of the Court on the reverse of the first leaf, and the following docketing – written at different points in different hands – on the reverse of the second: 'Mr.

On one side of a 42 x 33 cm. piece of watermarked laid paper. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with Gyles's seal torn away from the bottom right-hand corner. Signatories' names at bottom right: 'J: Whishaw [seal in red wax] | F Gyles'. Witnesses' names at bottom left: 'Rob: Wadeson | Jno. Jackson Cursitor's Street'. Three embossed tax stamps to left-hand margin. Headed: 'All Matters adjusted to Midsummer 1735 inclusive', followed by two columns of accounts, that on the left headed 'Mr. ffisher hath paid Since that time to wit', and that on the right headed 'Mr.

1p., 8vo. On aged and worn paper, with chipping to extremities (and around signature). Laid out in the customary fashion, with printed text completed in manuscript. Thurston is described as 'Accomptt General to ye Court of Chancery Appointed to <?> for ye Assignee of Fra: Raquet', receiving £10 from an annuity. Signed at foot by the witness, 'E Clarke'.

On 17 x 18.5cm. piece of paper. In fair condition, on aged paper. The signature (beneath the words '4 Sept. 1728 | Recd in full', in another hand) is on the reverse of part of a printed Treasury document, completed in manuscript, recording payment to 'Francis Cudworth Masham Esqr. Accountant General to the Court of Chancery', 'in Repayment of Loan on the Seventeenth 4s. Aid, Ano 1727'.

7 + [1]pp., 12mo. Stitched. On aged and grubby paper. Second page reads: 'NOTE. | Clients wishing to make use of the volumes in this list, are requested to apply to the Sale-Room Clerk, to whom all books should be returned when finished with. | HODGSON & CO. | 115, Chancery Lane. | August, 1908.' The works are all in English and date from the late nineteenth century onwards. They range from 'Abbott (T. K.) Catalogue of Fifteenth-Century Books in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin 1905' to 'Wright (C. T. Hagberg) Catalogue of the London Library, St. James's Square 1903'.

27pp., small 4to. In vellum-paper wraps with decorative cover printed in red and brown. With six plates: two collotypes (portraits of Edmund Hodgson and Henry Hill Hodgson) and four black and white photographs: 'Exterior of Premises, 115, Chancery Lane', 'The Auction Room', 'Compiling a Catalogue (First Floor Room)' and 'Unpacking a Library (Basement)'. Title-page in red and black. In fair condition, internally good, on aged and worn paper, lacking free endpapers. A characteristically-tasteful production by the Chiswick Press. Now scarce.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly-aged. 'Sir F Palgrave' in another hand at the head. Reads: 'My dear Sir | I enclose a note for Hooker but not knowing your particular object it is rather vague | Yrs truly | F. Palgrave'.

14pp., small 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper, in ruled notebook, in worn black morocco binding, with marbled endpapers, and the following stamped in gilt on the front cover: 'The Right Honble John Manners | Earl of Hardwicke deceased | Inventory of Heirlooms'.

xii + 56 pp., 12mo. Disbound. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Presentation inscription on half-title: 'W. W. Hull Esq | With the Authors | Respects'. Uncommon: four copies on COPAC (not counting the 'electronic resource' ones).

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Palgrave begins: 'My dear Inglis/ | I have had such avalanches [last word underlined] of business - and most of a confidential nature - that I have really been unable to write to you. By confidential business I mean business of a class which I cannot open to mhy clerks - and what must be either copied by my own hands or at home - If it had not been for Fanny Brown in addition to her sister I do not know what I should have done'.

76pp., cr. 8vo, unbound and stabbed as issued, top edge of first page/title chipped with faint foxing and other minor damage, back cover (also with printed title) partly dusted, item mainly in good condition. Inscribed at the top of the title, faintly, "Received from Mr. Freshfield [presumably the lawyer/MP, JJW Freshfield (DNB)] | 23 Oct. 1862 | [GH?]". This proposed text has been annotated (not extensively) in an unknown hand, and has some differences from the later published version.

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Sixty-one lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Docketed 'William Burrit [sic] & Hawes | Charles Palmer | Mar 15 & May 52 Recd'. Reminding Barret (or Burrit) of a letter written by Palmer from America two or three years previously, which he answered on behalf of the Heir at Law Society.

12mo, 3 pp. Thirty-three lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of mount on reverse of second leaf, which is docketed 'C. Fane to G. Joy | 19 Augt. 1844'. A significant and interesting letter, on a topic later tackled by Dickens in 'Bleak House', by a judge who was an active member of the Law Amendment Society, and whose decisions, according to his entry in the Oxford DNB, 'were frequently the subject of comment', although 'very few of his judgments were reversed on appeal'.

Item One: Manuscript of requisitions by Farrant the purchaser's solicitors Ashurst, Morris, Crisp & Co of 17 Throgmorton Avenue, London E.C. Dated 31 July 1895. Titled 'Requisition Title [and Replies] | Trustees of Archer Burton Estate to R. E. Farrant | 3 [corrected to '2'] Park Square West'. Three pages and covering page, on one side each of four leaves each 41.5 x 34 cm. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged and grubby paper.

Dimensions roughly eight inches by five and a half. Very good on aged paper. All but top edge rough. One page, blank reverse.

Three pages, 12mo. In good condition, but with the name of the recipient scored through. Judge (born c. 1832), and son of Sir James Bacon (1798-1895), the last of the pre-1875 Vice-Chancellors. A late reply to a request for information for an article on snuffboxes for The Windsor Magazine. 'I have no snuffboxes I suppose somebody suggested our name but I have never been a collector and my father [the late Ex Vice Chancellor] who took snuff always used the commonest of boxes.' The name of the recipient has been scored through.