COTTON

[William Roger Paton, Scottish classical scholar, translator of the Greek Anthology.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘W. R. Paton’) [to the editor of the Academy], regarding the reviewing of a book by Salomon Reinach.

Author: 
W. R. Paton [William Roger Paton] (1857-1921), Scottish classical scholar, translator of the Greek Anthology [James Sutherland Cotton (1847-1918), editor of the Academy, London; Salomon Reinach]
Publication details: 
25 August 1891; Grandholme, Aberdeen.
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with spike hole to one corner. Folded once. From the context the recipient is clearly James S. Cotton, editor of the Academy. He explains that ‘Mr S. Reinach’ (the French archaeologist Salomon Reinach, 1858-1932) recently wrote to him to say that he would send him ‘a copy of his book Chroniques d’Orient if I would review it. I said I would with pleasure review it somewhere. Yesterday the book reached me addressed to me (probably owing to some mistake of the publishers) as “redacteur de l’Academy”’.

[George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough ('the Profligate Duke'), bibliophile.] Autograph Note of Admittance to 'Blenheim Palace and Gardens', signed 'Marlborough', for 'Dr. Cotton', i.e. Rev. Dr Horace Salusbury Cotton, Ordinary of Newgate

Author: 
George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough ['the Profligate Duke'] (1766-1840), until 1817 styled Marquis of Blandford, bibliophile [Horace Salusbury Cotton (c.1774-1846), Ordinary of Newgate]
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£100.00

The Duke was Winston Churchill's great-great-grandfather. His library at Whiteknights Park was celebrated, and his purchase of the Valdarfer Boccaccio at the 1811 Roxburghe sale was the spur to the formation of the Roxburghe Club. Like the Duke, Cotton was a notable collector of books and autographs. He was generally considered a faintly-ridiculous figure, and condemned men were said to die 'with Cotton in their ears'. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Reads 'Admit Dr.

[ Lord Combermere, soldier and diplomat whose ghost is said to haunt Combermere Abbey. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Combermere') to 'Wm. <Stranger?> Esq', regarding the political views of Bertie Williams Wynn and his desire to join the Carlton Club.

Author: 
Lord Combermere [ Field Marshal Stapleton Cotton (1773-1865), 1st Viscount Combermere ], soldier and diplomat, successively Commander in Chief in Ireland and India [ Combermere Abbey, Cheshire ]
Publication details: 
Combermere Abbey [ Cheshire ]. 25 February 1858.
£40.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn. He writes to inform him that 'Mr Bertie Williams Wynn's political views are strictly Conservative & in accordance with those entertained by the great body of the Carlton Club'. Wnn is 'still anxious to become a Member of the Club', and Combermere gives his Shropshire address.

[ Sir Eric Ashton Carpenter, President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce. ] 77 speeches and papers by him, with related material, on industrial and economic topics, including material relating to a 1952 Trade Mission to South Africa and Rhodesia.

Author: 
Sir Eric A. Carpenter [ Sir Eric Ashton Carpenter ] (1896-1973), President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, banker and industrialist [ Williams Deacon's Bank; South Africa; Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) ]
Publication details: 
Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Lancashire, and other organisations. Almost all 1944 and 1956.
£500.00

Carpenter, who was knighted in 1951, 'For services as President, Manchester Chamber of Commerce', was a leading Manchester industrialist and banker. Among the numerous positions listed in his entry in Who Was Who, he was for 40 years the chairman and managing director of the Manchester cotton manufacturers Greg Brothers & Co., and for 21 years a director of Williams Deacon's Bank (serving as chairman for 12 years), a leading member of the Cotton and Rayon Merchants' Association, the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, and the International Chamber of Commerce.

[ The Lancashire Cotton Famine, 1861-1865. ] Autograph Letter from 'John Whittaker | "A Lancashire Lad."' to J. B. Langley

Author: 
John Whittaker of Wigan, journalist [ pseudonym 'A Lancashire Lad' ] [ The Lancashire Cotton Famine, 1861-1865; Wigan Standard newspaper ]
Publication details: 
'"Standard" Office | Wigan | May 27th. 1862.'
£150.00

For the background to this letter see William Otto Henderson, 'The Lancashire Cotton Famine 1861-65' (1934) and Angela V. John, 'By the Sweat of their Brow' (2013). Between 14 April and 16 October 1862 Whittaker published a dozen letters on the 'Lancashire Distress' in the London Times, under the pseudonym of 'A Lancashire Lad'. Edwin Waugh, in his 'Home Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk During the Cotton Famine' (1867), describes Whittaker as 'one of the first writers whose appeals through the press drew serious attention to the great distress in Lancashire during the Cotton Famine.

[ Beatrice Irene Magraw, children's author as "B.I. Magraw". ] Collection of personal papers, including autobiographical account, an article, newspaper cuttings, portrait photograph, publicity material, letters from Richard Church and Norman Fulton.

Author: 
Beatrice Irene Magraw [ B. I. Magraw, born Beatrice Irene May ] (c.1888-1970), author, wife of Charles Magraw (d.1973), deputy headmaster, Bishop Cotton School, Simla [ Richard Church; Norman Fulton ]
Publication details: 
London and Bristol. Between the 1930s and 1960.
£350.00

Eleven items, in good overall condition. ONE: Autograph biographical account, on form headed 'National Service'. 4pp., folio. Bifolium. Includes personal and academic details, details of publications and political views. As her 'Literary Pseudonym she gives '(occasionally) "MARY PADESON". She has, she states, no academic qualifications, 'But read economics in youth (Society of Oxford Home Students) Ill-health prevented continuance of studies & examination'.

Printed 'Clarion Pamphlet, No. 11.': 'Lecture on Agriculture. Read before the Balloon Society of London on February 3rd, 1893.'

Author: 
Sir A. Cotton, Madras Engineers [ Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton (1803-1899); The Clarion Newspaper Company, London ]
Publication details: 
Third Edition, with Appendices. Pubnlished by the "Clarion" Newspaper Company, Limited, 72, Fleet Street, E.C. 1896.
£65.00

32pp., 12mo. In faded green printed wraps with full title and advertisements. Disbound. In good condition, on aged high-acidity paper in brittle slightly-chipped wraps. The first edition was published in 1893 in Dorking by R. J. Clark. This third edition includes new material in seven appendices, pp.19-32, beginning with 'Results in 1893 - A year of drought.' Now scarce.

Printed 'Particulars and Conditions of Sale of the Freehold Landed Estate known as "Landwade Hall," [....]'

Author: 
[ Alexander Cotton of Landwade Hall, Camrbidgeshire; Sir Richard Harington of Ridlington ] Cheffins, auctioneer, Saffron Walden, Essex
Publication details: 
Mr. Cheffins, On Friday, June 8th, 1900, At the Auction Mart, Tokenhouse Yard, London, E.C. [ W. Thompson, Printer, Market Place, Saffron Walden. ]
£120.00

Victoria County History, Cambridgeshire, Volume 10, describes how, on the death in 1812 of Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, Landwade Manor 'passed to his son Sir St. Vincent Cotton who came of age in 1822. In 1850 he sold Landwade to Alexander Cotton, probably his younger brother (b. 1804).

[ Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott. ] Autograph Card Signed ('Alfred Emmott') to 'Holdsworth', undertaking to present a petition to the House of Commons.

Author: 
Alfred Emmott (1858-1926), 1st Baron Emmott, Oldham cotton magnate and Liberal politician
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Horton, Chipping Sodbury. 9 April 1904.
£28.00

In good condition, with slight crease to one corner. Informing him that he will be 'very glad to present your petition when the House re-opens'.

[ William Lawrence Balls, botanist. ] Ten Typed Letters Signed (all 'W Lawrence Balls') to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts

Author: 
William Lawrence Balls (1882-1960), FRS, botanist who specialised in cotton technology [ the Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doublers' Association, Limited, Manchester; Royal Society of Arts, London ]
Publication details: 
All on letterheads of the Fine Cotton Spinners' & Doublers' Association, Limited, St. James's Square, Manchester. Two from 1917 and eight from 1918.
£100.00

The ten letters total 4pp., landscape 8vo, and 6pp., 4to. The collection in good condition, lightly aged and worn. With stamps and annotations of the Royal Society of Arts. The correspondence relates to a lecture given by him by invitation, and its subsequent publication in the Society's journal. He originally suggests that it be titled 'The Application of Science to economic purposes, with illustrations from the Cotton Trade', thinking that it would 'attract people outside cotton circles', but is persuaded to alter this to 'Examples of Applied Science in the Cotton Industry'.

[Alfred Emmott. Liberal. ] Five Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Alfred Emmott'), one discussing the 'moral effect of military training'; with ALS from his brother George, on his time at the Quaker school, Kendal; all to C. J. Holdsworth of Wilmslow.

Author: 
Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott (1858-1926), Liberal Member of Parliament for Oldham and cotton magnate [ Charles James Holdsworth; Stramongate School, Kendal; Quakers; Society of Friends ]
Publication details: 
AE's five letters on letterheads of 30 Ennismore Gardens, S.W. [ London ] (3); and Spring Bank, Oldham (2); four of them from between 1905 and 1907, the other undated. GHE's letter on letterhead of 35 Grosvenor Road, Claughton, Birkenhead; 1903.
£125.00

The six items, totalling 9pp., are in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, George H. Emmott's letter having slight wear at head. The recipient was Charles J. Holdsworth of Sunnyside, Wilmslow, Cheshire.

Notebook containing a manuscript account of a visit to North America by a cotton broker acting for the Liverpool branch of the Manchester firm Reiss Brothers, with details of mills and merchants, recorded while trying to establish a hedging business.

Author: 
[Reiss Brothers, cotton merchants of Manchester and Liverpool, England; textiles industry in Canada and the United States of America; transatlantic trade]
Publication details: 
United States (New York and Boston) and Canada (Toronto and Montreal). 24 December 1938 to 10 February 1939.
£450.00

70pp., 12mo, in ruled notebook, with the main text on 51 rectos, 17 facing pages carrying notes, mostly in pencil, and 2pp. of memoranda at the other end of the notebook. In very good condition, in attractive gilt-tooled red morocco red leather binding, with all edges gilt and marbled endpapers. The first page headed 'Visit to U.S. Canada Dec.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. Powell-Cotton') from Antoinette Powell-Cotton, discussing the 'specimens from Angola' in her father Major P. H. G. Powell-Cotton's collection (the Quex Museum at Birchington) with the anthropologist J. H. Driberg.

Author: 
Antoinette Powell-Cotton (1913-1997), daughter of Major P. H. G. Powell-Cotton (1866-1940), founder of the Quex Museum, Birchington, Kent [Jack Herbert Driberg (1888-1946), social anthropologist]
Publication details: 
25 Craven Road, London, W2. 29 January [1930s].
£65.00

Antoinette (Tony) Powell-Cotton was the daughter of Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton (1866-1940), explorer, naturalist, founder in 1896 of the Quex Museum (the Powell-Cotton collection), at Birchington, Kent. 3pp., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with a couple of minor damp stains to the first leaf of two. She writes that her family have just spoken to Professor Herskovits [the American anthropologist Melville Jean Herskovits (1895-1963)], 'and he gave us a message that you would like to see our specimens from Angola'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F. Anstey') from the humorist Thomas Anstey Guthrie to the Editor of 'The Academy', responding to a request for comment on a list of suggested members for an 'Academy of Letters'.

Author: 
F. Anstey [Thomas Anstey Guthrie] (1856-1934), humorist [James Sutherland Cotton (1847-1918), editor of the 'Academy', 1896-1903]
Autograph Letter Signed ('F. Anstey') from the humorist Thomas Anstey Guthrie
Publication details: 
8 November 1897; on lettehead of 16 Duke Street Mansions, Grosvenor Square, London.
£56.00
Autograph Letter Signed ('F. Anstey') from the humorist Thomas Anstey Guthrie

12mo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Marked up for publication, with the first sentence deleted. On aged and stained paper. He 'can only say that your list seems to me as representative as any that could be drawn up', and that he does not 'feel in a position to offer any criticism upon it'. The edited version of Anstey's letter appeared with others in 'The Academy' in November 1897, in a piece with the opening sentence: 'We have received a large correspondence in response to our request for comment on the list of suggested members for an ACADEMY OF LETTERS published last week.'

[Printed report, 1906.] Report on Safe-Guards for the Prevention of Accidents in the Manufacture of Cotton. By H. S. Richmond, One of His Majesty's Superintending Inspectors of Factories. Presented to both Houses of Parliament. [With 28 plates.]

Author: 
H. S. Richmond [British parliamentary report into the prevention of accidents in cotton mills, 1906]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for His Majesty's Stationery Office, by Darling & Son, Ltd, London. 1906.
£75.00

Folio, 22 pp, followed by 28 full-page plates of equipment designed to increase safety in the mills. Stitched. In original blue printed wraps. Text and plates clear and complete. Internally good, on aged paper. Wraps worn and chipped. Wraps with stamp and withdrawn stamp of University of Hull. No copy on COPAC or WorldCat.

Auction Catalogue of the sale of a textile collection, a Mercer's Stock.

Author: 
[Mary Hawkes]
Publication details: 
[Ringwood], 1834
£450.00

Items relating to Mary Hawkes (d.1834) of East Close House, Christchurch, Hampshire, including an auction catalogue of the sale of the textile stock of a member of the Levett family of mercers, a poster for the same auction, and a copy of Mrs Hawkes's willAn interesting collection of material. Catalogues of textiles auctions are extremely uncommon for this period, and a significant one, priced in manuscript like Item Two, with associated material placing it in context, must be all but unique.

Autograph Letter Signed to John William Stuart, on the occasion of his brother Benjamin Whitworth's death.

Author: 
Robert Whitworth, philanthropist [Benjamin Whitworth (1816-1893), Liberal M.P. for Drogheda, Manchester cotton merchant; Whitby Lifeboat; temperance; Sunday observance]
Publication details: 
2 October 1893. 14 Brown Street, Manchester.
£95.00

8vo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Sixty-eight lines of text. Complete and legible, but damaged: grubby and creased, with short closed tears and small hole at gutter. Interesting and informative letter. Stuart's message of condolence on Benjamin Whitworth's death is one of many which 'have been very acceptable more especially to his widow who has been laid aside so long with bad health, his daughters have been quite worn out'. Describes how his brother's health 'began to break down after a slight attack of paralysis some two or three years ago when at John Brown & Co Ld.

Three (Secretarial) Notes Signed to J. Arthur Hutton, of the British Cotton Growing Association. And corrected draft giving conclusions of a meting.

Author: 
[A.J. Balfour] Arthur James Balfour, sometime Prime Minister
Publication details: 
[Addresses include 10 Downing Street (1905)], 1892-1906
£125.00

Six pages, 8vo, some edges dusty but mainly good condition. (1892) He can't leave the House of Commons at 5 o'clock. (March 1905) Thanks Hutton for a copy of the Proceedings at the Banquet of the British Cotton Growing Association, and for references in it to Balfour's contributions to the "movement". (Nov. 1905) Thanks for a copy of the Second Annual Report of the British Cotton Growing Association, and is pleased with the movement's progress. With: A memo (a pencilled note explains), on 13 Jan. 1903, "drawn up by McNiel & corrected by Mr Balfour".

Autograph Letter Signed ('H S Cotton') to William Upcott (1779-1845), Secretary of the London Institution and autograph collector.

Author: 
Rev. Horace Salusbury Cotton (c.1774-1846), Ordinary of Newgate Prison and autograph collector
Publication details: 
20 August 1830; place not stated.
£150.00

One page, octavo. Very good. Docketed at head 'Ordinary of Newgate', and with small fragment of printed slip laid down in top left-hand corner (not affecting text). Reads 'My dear Sir, | A friend of mine lays claim to the Arrandale Peerage & estates - do you happen to possess any documents of any kind which can throw light upon the subject & assist him in the prosecution of his claims - He claims I believe from Lord John Johnstone who was in Newgate for Treason about the year 1700, but was never convicted - Yrs. very truly | H S Cotton'. Addressed to 'William Upcott Esq.

Typed letter signed and one typed note signed, both to Sewell Stokes,

Author: 
Karel Reisz
Publication details: 
1971 and 1972, both with letterhead 15 Chalcot Gardens, England's Lane.
£100.00

Film director (1926-), husband of the actress Wendy Hiller (1912-). The note, 9 December, 1971, one page, 4to. "Here is David's response to my cry for help. Could you read it and give me a ring suggesting what should be done next. And please send David's letter back to me. The photo of the poster is, of course, yours." Signed "Karel". The letter, 10 November 1972, one page, 4to. "How nice to have your note. Yes, indeed, I am sending Mother out to work again! What's more with Tony!

manuscript by James H Midgley of Eden Grove S. Walden: 'Some act: of the early ways of our little Bessie. | Mary Elizabeth Midgley. | born on Good Friday 11TH of 4TH MoTH.. 1879.'

Author: 
Midgley family of Liverpool
Publication details: 
8pp, small 8vo, following 28pp of 'Weekly Statement of the Prices, Sales, Stocks &c. of Cotton in Liverpool' covering the years 1849-57
£150.00

The Midgley family were notable Lancastrian Quaker industrialists (cf. the Midgley Reference Library in the John Rylands University Library Manchester). Touching and detailed account ('at about 8.20? PM our little Darling was born - she soon told us she had a good pair of lungs') of the author's daughter's early years, preceded by a painstaking tabulation of the figures for the cotton market in fourteen columns ruled with red lines and spread over two pages. In a ruled notebook halfbound in green leather and with marbled boards. Heavily rubbed at extremities but sound and tight.

Autograph note signed to Sir John Cam Hobhouse (1786-1869, later Baron Broughton), President of the Board of Control,

Author: 
Sir Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere
Publication details: 
4 June 1847, Belgrave Square.
£50.00

General (1773-1865), who distinguished himself as commander of the allied cavalry in the Peninsular War. One page, 8vo. "Although Captn: Martin did not serve under my Command in India, I venture to forward to you his Memorial, and trust you will take an opportunity of bringing his claim under the gracious & favourable consideration of Her Majesty - I have the honor to be / Sir / Yr. most obt. Hble: Sert: / Combermere. Genl. / late commr: in Chief / in India". Paper ruckled, and with glue stains from previous mounting. With biographical cutting adhering to head of recto.

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