Verney Lovett Cameron (1844-1894), African explorer, the first European to cross equatorial Africa from sea to sea [Croydon; lawn tennis]
Publication details:
9 December 1887. Kwinhata, Espom Road, Croydon.
£250.00
See Cameron's entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Having traversed the African continent from East to West in 1875 (the first European to do so), Cameron now turns his attention to the establishment of tennis club in Croydon. He has received a letter 'from Mr. Jaques about the tennis ground. The fencing is nearly finished and he seems in a hurry'. There is a problem however: lack of members.
[ Nicolas Sarony & Co., New Bond Street, London; Sir Alan Cobham; Imperial Airways; British aviation; Croydon Aerodrome; Amsterdam, Holland ]
Publication details:
Issued by Nicolas Sarony & Co., New Bond Sreet, London, W.1. [ 1928 ]
£100.00
A charming and evocative production. Cards in very good condition; album in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Initial note: 'This Travel Album is issued without charge to hold a complete set of twenty-five "A Day on the Airway" pictures, as issued with all packings of Sarony Virginia Cigarettes, plain or cork tipped.' The album comprises eight pages printed in black and green, on thick paper, stitched into black card wraps. Embossed on the front cover in faded gold is the title and an illustration of the plane (an Imperial Airways 'Argosy') flying in clouds.
Walter Wallis, A.R.C.A. (Lond.) Chairman of the Society for the year 1899-1900, Head Master, School of Art, Croydon [Society of Art Masters, London]
Publication details:
London: Printed by J. B. Nichols & Sons, Parliament Mansions, Orchard Street, Victoria Street. 1901.
£60.00
16pp., 8vo. Stitched. In grey printed wraps. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with creasing to wraps and front cover crossed through in red ink. Shelfmarks, stamp and label of the Board of Education Reference Library, London. Scarce: no copies on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.
Mark Antony Lower (1813-1876), English antiquary and local historian, founder member of the Sussex Archaeological Society [John Wickham Flower (1807-1873), Croydon geologist and archaeologist]
Publication details:
27 April and 9 November 1865; on letterheads of St Anne's House, Lewes, Sussex.
£125.00
Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Letter One (27 April 1865): 12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Seventeen lines. He is sorry not to have been able to accept Flower's hospitality: 'Let us hope to meet about Whitsuntide for the pilgrimage to Firle'. He is eager for information for his 'Sussex Worthies'. 'My eldest dau[ghte]r's marriage & the starting of my eldest son on his professional career cost money, & every 30s. [subscription) will help.' Letter Two (9 November 1865): 12mo, 1 p. 13 lines. He has received the 30s.
Alfred Marden Nicoll; Louis Schabel [Croydon, Surrey], watchmaker.
Publication details:
Mortgage dated 3 April 1891; Surrender dated 6 May 1898.
£56.00
Seven pages. On four skins of vellum, each roughly eleven inches by nine wide. Attached with green ribbon, and with various stamps and two wax seals. Good: lightly aged and creased. The premises are at 77 and 79 North End, Croydon.
Album, half-leather, worn, folio. The Guardbook of black and white illustrations from the Croydon Advertiser, c. 50 items, most c. 8 x 10", some folding, mainly Croydon subjects and neighbourhood, clear images in good condition, some by A. Penniall.
These illustrations are marvellously evocative of the period before Croydon was ruined architecturally. Suitable for framing. They are photographic, in black and white, and approximately 7 inches by 9 1/2 inches, on sheets of paper approximately 10 1/2 inches by 13. Dusty and with a little spotting but in good condition overall. Captions read: 'NORTHERN END OF MIDDLE ROW'; 'HIGH STREET FROM WHITGIFT'S HOSPITAL'; 'BUTCHER ROW, SURREY STREET'; 'MIDDLE ROW, LOOKING SOUTH'; 'THE TOWN HALL, 1890'; 'INTERIOR OF THE TOWN HALL.
