COACHING

[John Fawcett, actor and playwright.] Autograph Letter Signed ('John Fawcett'), as Treasurer of the Covent Garden Theatrical Fund, to 'C Perkins Esq', regarding money 'intended for the Widow Paulo', and the sending of account books.

Author: 
John Fawcett (1769-1837), actor and playwright associated with the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden
Publication details: 
'Botley Southampton | (The proper way to direct to me) | 9 Sepr 1835'.
£50.00

1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight wear at head repaired on reverse with archival tape. The context of the letter is explained in Fawcett's entry in the Oxford DNB: 'In September 1829 Fawcett was superseded in the management of Covent Garden […] the theatre in which he had been a main prop for thirty-nine years. With a salary of £100 a year allowed him as treasurer and trustee of the Covent Garden Theatrical Fund he retired to a cottage at Botley, near Southampton.' The letter begins: 'Some weeks back I enclos'd you a draft for £10 intended for the Widow Paulo.

[ J. Stelfox Gee, Manchester philatelist. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Stelfox Gee') to 'Autolycus', regarding a document concerning 'the Manchester Mail Coach in 1805'.

Author: 
J. Stelfox Gee [ James Stelfox Gee ], philatelist [ H. Verity & Sons Limited, 67 Mosley Street, Manchester ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of H. Verity & Sons Limited, 67 Mosley Street, Manchester. 19 May 1924.
£45.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. He is sending 'the two accounts or whatever you like to call them for the Manchester Mail Coach in 1805', but 'cannot make out exactly what they are beyond being a monthly return of the takings and division of profits of the running of the Machester to Derby Coach for August 1805'.

[Colonel Edward Corbett, Conservative Member of Parliament.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Edwd Corbett') [to his publisher Richard Bentley?], discussing tables on mail coaches in his book 'An Old Coachman's Chatter'. With proofs of the tables.

Author: 
Colonel Edward Corbett (1817-1895) of Longnor Hall, Shropshire, Conservative Member of Parliament [Richard Bentley]
Publication details: 
'Longnor' [Longnor Hall, Shropshire]. 4 June 1890.
£220.00

The two items relate to the book 'An Old Coachman's Chatter with Some Practical Remarks on Driving. By a Semi-Professional. Edward Corbett, Colonel late Shropshire Militia.'(London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1890). Both the letter and the proofs are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. LETTER: 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. 34 lines of text in a particularly difficult hand. He will endeavour to 'throw all the light' he can on the subjects mentioned in his correspondent's letter, beginning:: 'I think the time between Cape Curig & Holyhead must be correct.

[Nineteenth-century coach building.] Lithographed handbill advertisement for 'Wright's Patent Drag' (i.e. brake for a horse-drawn coach), with two illustrations by Baddeley, and four testimonials. With accompanying engraving.

Author: 
[Wright's Patent Drag (the Proprietor, No. 22 Church Street, Soho [subsequently 138 Holborn Bars]), London [Baddeley, engraver; nineteenth-century coach building; Victorian carriages; transport]
Publication details: 
'Royal Pier Hotel, Ryde, | July 25th, 1842.' ['Office of the Proprietor, No. 22 Church Street, Soho, London' , amended in manuscript to '138 Holborn Bars']
£180.00

Text: 2pp., foolscap 8vo (35 x 20.5cm.). Engraving: 12 x 16cm with corners clipped. Both items in fair condition, on aged paper. The text is cropped at the head, through a royal crest, and has rounded corners at the head and trimmed corners at the foot. The engraving has traces of grey paper mount on reverse. The text has lithograph illustrations of two side-views of four-wheel carriages with the drag applied, beneath the cropped crest and above the title 'WRIGHT'S PATENT DRAG.' Text consists of around 60 lines in copperplate.

The Traveller's Oracle; Or, Maxims for Locomotion: Containing Precepts for Promoting the Pleasures and Hints for Preserving the Health of Travellers. [Part II: 'By John Jervis, An Old Coachman.] [Including sheet music of eight songs by Kitchiner.]

Author: 
William Kitchiner ['John Jervis, An Old Coachman.']
Publication details: 
London: Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street. Second Edition, 1827. [London: Printed by J. Moyes, Took's Court, Chancery Lane.] [Sheet music engraved by Sidney Hall, Bury Street, Bloomsbury.]
£300.00

2 vols, 12mo. Vol.1: viii + 264 pp. Vol.2: viii + 336 pp. Complete, with all the engravings of sheet music listed in the contents (vol.1: five two-page plates and one four-page plate, with one more piece of music 'printed with the letterpress'; vol.2: one two-page plate). Both volumes good and tight, on lightly-aged and spotted paper. In worn contemporary half-calf binding, marbled boards, with the first volume rebacked. Each volume with bookplate of Frederic Perkins, Chipstead Place, Kent.

Autograph Letter in the third person to Messrs A. & C. Black, 4 Soho Square, London [publishers of 'Who's Who'].

Author: 
Freiherr Adolph von Deichmann (1831-1907) [Baron Deichmann], German banker and anglophile 'four-in-hand' coaching enthusiast
Publication details: 
8 October 1900; on letterhead of Schloss Bendeleben [Germany].
£38.00

8vo: 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged laid paper with slight chipping and glue stain at head (not affecting text). A formal letter written in English in the third person. He asks them to send 'another form [for him to write his entry in 'Who's Who'] to be filled up [...] The first one sent was mislaid on leaving London'. Deichman was the subject of a 'Spy' cartoon ('Vanity Fair', 14 May 1903: 'He wears curious hats'), in which he is shown driving a coach.

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