CLAIMANT

[Victorian fraud: Philip Bliss, Registrar of the University of Oxford; William Okill, agent for Thomas Hudson, claimant to the Dukedom of Devonshire.] Unsigned Autograph notes by Bliss, on Autograph Letter Signed to him by Okill.

Author:

Philip Bliss (1787-1857), Registrar of the University of Oxford and Principal of St Mary Hall, antiquary; William Okill of Liverpool, agent for Thomas Hudson, claimant to the Dukedom of Devonshire

Publication details:

ONE (Okill's ALS): '2 Duke Street / Liverpool 30th. June 1848'. TWO (Bliss's Unsigned Autograph notes): Without date or place.

£200.00

This forgotten case of identity fraud predates the celebrated Titchborne case by more than a decade.

Keywords:

[‘The Tichborne Claimant’: the soi-disant Sir Roger Charles Doughty-Tichborne, held to be an imposter named Arthur Orton.] Signed Autograph inscription as ‘R. C. D. Tichborne’, with Signed Autograph inscription by Major-General Arthur Phelps.

Author:

‘The Tichborne Claimant’ (d.1898): the soi-disant Sir Roger Charles Doughty-Tichborne (b.1829), held to be an imposter named Arthur Orton (b.1834); Major-General Arthur Phelps (1837-1920), Indian Army

Publication details:

Inscription by the Tichborne Claimant dated 6 March 1893. Inscription by Phelps dated 9 December 1890.

£160.00

The Tichborne Case was very possibly the greatest scandal of Victorian England. See the entry for ‘Tichborne claimant’, with subheading for ‘Arthur Orton’ in the Oxford DNB. Trained as a civil engineer, Major-General Arthur Phelps (1837-1920), civil engineer, was a prominent homeopath, anti-vaccinationist, and anti-vivisectionist, who promoted his views as proprietor and editor of the Citizen newspaper. Each inscription is on one side of a single 11.5 x 18.5 cm piece of gilt-edged wove paper, presumably extracted from an autograph album.

Keywords:

[Prince Philippe d’Orléans, Comte de Paris, Orléanist claimant to the French throne as King Louis Philippe II or Philippe VII.] Autograph Note in English, in the third person, to the novelist George Meredith.

Author:

Prince Philippe d’Orléans, Comte de Paris (Louis Philippe Albert (1838-1894), Count of Paris], Orléanist pretender to the throne of France from 1848 as King Louis Philippe II or Philippe VII

Publication details:

‘Claremont 31/5/63’. 31 May 1863; Claremont House, Esher, Surrey.

£100.00

From the autograph album of the novelist George Meredith's daughter Marie Eveleen (Mariette; 1871-1933), later the wife of Henry Parkman Sturgis (1847-1929), American-born banker and Liberal politician. Queen Victoria lent Claremont House to the Count of Paris’s father Louis-Phillipe, after his abdication and flight from France. On one side of an 11 x 7.5 cm piece of grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Written in a neat hand, it reads: ‘With the compliments of the Count de Paris and his thanks for the books send [sic] by Mr. Meredith. / Claremont 31/5/63’.

Keywords:

Fifteen Autograph Letters Signed from artist and poet Bowyer Nichols to his aunt Emily Mary Nichols, daughter-in-law of John Bowyer Nichols, with dozens of sketches and caricatures in letters and on 24 pieces of paper.

Author:

Bowyer Nichols [John Bowyer Buchanan Nichols] (1859-1939), English artist and author [his aunt Emily Mary Nichols (nee Ade), wife of Robert Cradock Nichols, son of John Bowyer Nichols]

Publication details:

The letters mostly from Southgate House, Winchester, Eagle House, Wimbledon, Winchester College; dating from between 1871 and 1875.

£500.00

All items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letters total 49pp, 16mo and 8vo.. All are complete except the last, which lacks the last part. They are liberally adorned with sketches. Mostly addressed to 'My dear Aunty' and signed in a variety of ways, from 'J. Bowyer B. Nichols' to 'BBN'. The first letter, dated 4 December 1871, sets the tone, showing Bowyer Nichols to be a precocious and spirited twelve-year-old. It begins: 'Will you send me, if you can find it, that poem about Sally Porter and Charlie Church?

Keywords:

Eighteen Autograph Letters Signed from artist and poet Bowyer Nichols [John Bowyer Buchanan Nichols] to his aunt Emily Mary Nichols, daughter-in-law of John Bowyer Nichols, with dozens of sketches and caricatures in letters and on 27 pieces of paper.

Author:

Bowyer Nichols [John Bowyer Buchanan Nichols] (1859-1939), English artist and author [his aunt Emily Mary Nichols (nee Ade), wife of Robert Cradock Nichols, son of John Bowyer Nichols]

Publication details:

The letters mostly from Southgate House, Winchester (11), Eagle House, Wimbledon (4), Winchester College (2); dating from between 1871 and 1875.

£1,800.00

All items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letters total 33pp., 12mo; and 31pp, 16mo; with nine on 12mo bifoliums, seven on 16mo bifoliums and two on single 16mo leaves. Nine are on Southgate House letterheads, and two on Winchester College letterheads. All are complete except the last, which lacks the last part. Mostly addressed to 'My dear Aunty' and signed in a variety of ways, from 'J. Bowyer B. Nichols' to 'BBN'. The first letter, dated 4 December 1871, sets the tone, showing Bowyer Nichols to be a precocious and spirited twelve-year-old.

Keywords:

CLAIMANT

[Victorian fraud: Philip Bliss, Registrar of the University of Oxford; William Okill, agent for Thomas Hudson, claimant to the Dukedom of Devonshire.] Unsigned Autograph notes by Bliss, on Autograph Letter Signed to him by Okill.

[‘The Tichborne Claimant’: the soi-disant Sir Roger Charles Doughty-Tichborne, held to be an imposter named Arthur Orton.] Signed Autograph inscription as ‘R. C. D. Tichborne’, with Signed Autograph inscription by Major-General Arthur Phelps.

[Prince Philippe d’Orléans, Comte de Paris, Orléanist claimant to the French throne as King Louis Philippe II or Philippe VII.] Autograph Note in English, in the third person, to the novelist George Meredith.

Fifteen Autograph Letters Signed from artist and poet Bowyer Nichols to his aunt Emily Mary Nichols, daughter-in-law of John Bowyer Nichols, with dozens of sketches and caricatures in letters and on 24 pieces of paper.

Eighteen Autograph Letters Signed from artist and poet Bowyer Nichols [John Bowyer Buchanan Nichols] to his aunt Emily Mary Nichols, daughter-in-law of John Bowyer Nichols, with dozens of sketches and caricatures in letters and on 27 pieces of paper.

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