DEVON

[Sir Thomas Dyke Acland.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos. Dyke Acland') to an unnamed recipient, explaining how he has ceased to make charitable payments to the widow of an artist 'labouring under loss or decay of sight'.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland (1787-1871), successively Conservative Member of Parliament for Devonshire and North Devon
Publication details: 
From the Waterloo Hotel, on his crested letterhead. 10 June 1863.
£56.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight traces of glue from mount along one edge. A hurried letter, illegible at points. 'You will see the name of yr. respectable at the end of the enclosed Petition from My Own Hand. She has no right to refer to me for any further knowledge of herself and her husband, or his position of art - than that of my having understood him to be an artist in a state of much distress, labouring under loss or decay of sight, & that I for some years I might almost , I gave him occasional relief.

[Printed pamphlet.] Poems from the Diary of a V. A. D. By Carrie Portelly.

Author: 
Carrie Portelly (1893-1966), V.A.D., of Buckfast, Devon [Voluntary Aid Detachment; field nurse; nursing]
Publication details: 
Printed by Edwin Trim & Co. Ltd. Wimbledon S.W.19. Undated, but individual poems dated between September 1938 and October 1942.
£150.00

[1] + 38pp., 12mo. Stapled into brown printed wraps, with the title and printer's slug on the cover, which also carries the price of two shillings and sixpence. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Introductory note reads: 'These few pages refer to war-time troubles at home and in hospital, and other people's love laments. C.P.' Unpretentious poetry, giving an insight into the work of a V.A.D.

Autograph Manuscript Signed ('Montague Smith') by Edward Montague Smith [later Sir Edward Montague Smith], Member of Parliament for Truro, giving his legal opinion on a property dispute for Thomas B. Knight of Lime Street, London, and Cox of Honiton.

Author: 
Sir Montague Smith [Sir Montague Edward Smith, PC, QC] (1806-1891), British barrister and judge, one of the last Justices of the Court of Common Pleas, and Conservative MP for Truro, 1859-1865
Publication details: 
Temple [Inns of Court, London]. 9 December 1862.
£150.00

1p., 4to (31 x 32 cm). 26 lines, signed at end 'Montague Smith | Temple | 9 Dec 1862'. In fair condition, on lighly-aged paper, with minor damp damage to one edge. Docketed on reverse '1862 | Case for the Opinion of Mr. Montague Smith', with 'Took 3 Gu[ine]as' (Smith's fee) and initials in another hand. At foot, in a third hand: 'Thomas B. Knight | 34 Lime Street | City. E.6.', and beneath this, in a fourth 'Cox | Honiton'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('S. Prout') from the painter Samuel Prout to the Secretary of the Athenaeum, Edward Magrath, an abject letter, describing his 'woeful plight' and complaining that he is 'out of mind'.

Author: 
Samuel Prout (1783-1852), English watercolour artist [Edward Magrath (1799-1856), Secretary, Athenaeum, Pall Mall; Dominic Charles Colnaghi (1790-1879), London printseller]
Publication details: 
Bedford Terrace, Clapham Rise. Postmarked 29 April 1836.
£220.00

2pp., 4to. 29 lines of text. Bifolium. In very good condition, on lightly-aged mourning paper, with broken black wax seal. Reverse of second leaf addressed to 'E Magrath Esq | Athenaeum | Pall Mall'. The letter begins: 'Yes, Truth, (as you say) is better than a thousand apologies. | From the Evng I was last in town (when I met your respected & kind friend Mr. J.

Autograph Letter Signed from the novelist Eden Phillpotts to an unnamed woman, discussing the handling of socialism in his 1926 play (with his daughter Adelaide) 'Yellow Sands', as well as his own political views, sympathetic to Italian Fascism.

Author: 
Eden Phillpotts (1862-1960), English novelist, strongly associated with Dartmoor, Devon, his daughter Mary Adelaide Eden Phillpotts [later Ross] (1896-1993)
Publication details: 
Torquay, Devon. 4 May 1927.
£95.00

2pp., 4to. 41 lines. In fair condition, on aged paper. He begins by stating that 'Yellow Sands' 'only touches social questions by the accident of the plot. Socialism is a word the definition of which no two people appear to agree about. Ask a dozen Socialists what they understand by their faith & they will each tell you something different.' The opinions depicted in the play are both 'clear' and 'foggy', 'but it is [in] no sense propagandist - I hate propaganda in art.' He goes on to discuss his own views: 'I am not a socialist.

Signed Autograph legal opinion of Sir George Jessel ('G. Jessel'), regarding an 1849 action regarding the 'Title to Haskins Orchard in Payhembury Devon' between Elizabeth Harbin Gooddin, John Gooddin, Mrs Wain.

Author: 
Sir George Jessel (1824-1883), English judge and Liberal Member of Parliament, Master of the Rolls from 1873 to 1883, the first Jew to achieve high judicial office [Goodden family, Payhembury, Devon]
Publication details: 
'G. Jessel | 5 Stone Buildings | Lincoln's Inn | 26 Feby 1849'.
£450.00

Folio, 3 pp. On two pieces of paper, 33 x 41 cm. 84 lines. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged and lightly-discoloured paper. The reverse of the last leaf is docketed '1848 | Abstract of the Title to Haskins Orchard in Payhembury Devon'. The upper part of the first page carries the last part of a deed of covenant, transcribed in another hand, with a query in the left-hand margin in Jessel's autograph, initialed by him. Beneath this, and continuing to the end of the third page, is Jessel's opinion, beginning 'I have perused this abstract on behalf of Mrs.

A Letter to the Right Honorable the Lord Brougham and Vaux, &c. &c. &c. On the late Decision of the Earldom of Devon.

Author: 
T. C. B.' [Thomas Christopher Banks; Henry Peter Brougham, Lord Brougham and Vaux; the Earl of Devon]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for J. Wilson, 19, Great May's Buildings, St. Martin's Lane. 1831. [G. Norman, Printer, Maiden Lane, Covent-Garden.]
£120.00

8vo: 24 pp. Stitched as issued. Inscribed at the head of the title-page 'For Mr Walpole'. Text clear and entire. Good, on foxed paper, with one dog-eared corner. A couple of manuscript annotations, one in the form of a footnote, and one correction, whether by the inscriber or recipient unclear. The author defends his claim that he 'cannot believe otherwise, than had the claimant to the Devon Peerage been an humble individual, less affluent, and less powerfully connected, he would not have succeeded in his claim'. Scarce: the only copies on COPAC at the Durham and the British Library.

Handbill advertisement for 'A Sermon, on behalf of the Home Missionary Society', to be preached by 'The Rev. John Thomas, Minister of the New Chapel, Highgate.' Contemporary manuscript for printing, on London Missionary Society, on reverse.

Author: 
Rev. John Thomas, Minister of the New Chapel, Highgate [the Home Missionary Society; London Missionary Society; Somerset Auxiliary Missionary Society; William Bragg, Printer, Cheapside, Taunton]
Publication details: 
Undated [circa 1830]. Printer unnamed [William Bragg, Printer, Cheapside, Taunton, Devon].
£56.00

From a collection of material relating to William Bragg, Printer, of Cheapside, Taunton, Devon. Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, 22 x 27.5 cm. Grubby and lightly creased, with central spike hole, slight wear and loss to extremities, and 5 cm closed tear. Text clear and entire. Twelve lines of printed text, in a variety of types and point sizes, reading 'A Sermon, on behalf of the Home Missionary Society, will be preached at Paul's Meeting, Taunton, On Friday Evening, April 14, 1826. By The Rev. John Thomas, Minister of the New Chapel, Highgate.

Handbill, amended in manuscript for reprinting, beginning 'Taunton Branch Missionary Society, In aid of the London Missionary Society, instituted 1795.'

Author: 
William Bragg, Printer, Cheapside, Taunton, Devon [London Missionary Society; Taunton Branch Missionary Society; Wivelscombe]
Publication details: 
Dated October 29th. 1826. | W. Bragg, Printer, Cheapside, Taunton.'
£95.00

On both sides of a piece of wove paper, roughly 23 x 18 cm. On lightly discoloured and creased paper, with central spike hole affecting two words. Two manuscript changes in ink on the recto: 'TAUNTON' amended to 'Wivelscombe' and the twenty-one names of the Society's officers cancelled. A handful of changes, in ink and pencil, on reverse. Mainly taken up with ten 'Principles and Regulations'. Seven-line footnote in small print on recto, concerning a 'FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE'. BBTI lists William Bragg as active in Taunton before 1830.

Circular letter, printed in facsimile of Wellington's handwriting; dated, addressed, and with the gaps filled in in Wellington's hand to Robert Aberdein.

Author: 
Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), 1st Duke of Wellington, Anglo-Irish soldier and politician, the vanquisher of Napoleon Bonaparte [Robert Henry Aberdein (died 1860), Coroner for East Devon]
Publication details: 
31 July 1851; London.
£80.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good. Folded twice and with the blank verso of the second leaf of the bifolium a little grubby. A formal letter in the third person, declining to present a petition to the House of Lords, on the grounds that 'The Duke has no relation whatever with [Honiton]'. The date, and the words 'Mr Aberdein', 'Honiton', ', which he retains' and 'Robert Aberdein Esq' are in Wellington's hand.

Autograph Note Signed ('Henry Newbolt') to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Henry John Newbolt (1862-1938), English poet and novelist
Publication details: 
16 July 1907; on letterhead 'ST. GILES'S MOUNT, WINCHESTER.'
£30.00

One page, 12mo. Neatly mounted on card. Nine-line biographical newspaper cutting neatly laid down at foot. Ten lines from another newspaper cutting, relating to Madame Patti, at head. Reads 'Dear madam | I thank you for your flattering letter and subscribe myself, as you wish, | Yours truly | Henry Newbolt'.

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Eden Phillpots
Publication details: 
February 1928; no place.
£15.00

English novelist, poet and dramatist (1862-1960), noted for his works on Devon. On piece of paper, 3 inches by 4 1/2. In good condition, and attached to a piece of blue card docketed with list of Phillpots works. Distinctive and attractive signature, 'Eden Philpotts | Feb: 1928'.

A collection.

Author: 
British Army.
Publication details: 
1901
£100.00

(British Army: Ist Volunteer Rifle Battalion (Devon) in 1901). A small collection of letters and printed ephemera relating to the Ist Volunteer Rifle Battalion, Exeter, comprising: ALS, 2pp., 8vo, William C.Richards to Colonel Sir Dudley Duckworth-King, 17 Sept.

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