EARL

4to: 1 p. 7 lines of text. Docketed on the reverse. Good, on lightly aged paper. That day he went to the Admiralty 'in hopes of meeting Lord Sandwich in order to recommend Mr Paterson [later Admiral Charles William Paterson] to his good will', but he did not see him. When he does, he will 'certainly say everything in that young Gentlemans favor', and he will 'say the same to Lord Howe if I can catch sight of him'. 'Our last news from America are not unfavorable in some respects.'

Both items in good condition, on aged paper. Complete Letter (12 September 1908): 12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium with mourning border. He thanks Gop [Goss?] for the 'letter of great length extended exclamation marks but otherwise agreeable & genial'. Howard 'can understand that vowing to keep silence the next best thing is to write to someone'. Gop's 'instinct is sound': Howard has 'abandoned Presque Isle which is a 12 hrs journey from here'. Gives a date for his return to Manchester.

An interesting collection, with some revealing comments within the correspondence. All six items are laid down on a folio leaf of pink paper removed from an autograph album. All clear and complete, in good condition on aged paper, with the Feversham letter somewhat grubby. The handbill (12mo, 1 p), on behalf of the Committee for the Blamire Memorial, and in the names of Henry Londsdale and Henry Dobinson, is headed 'BLAMIRE MEMORIAL', and dated 'Carlisle, Oct. 7th, 1862.' It reports the resolutions of a meeting held on 4 October 1862.

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper. He would have answered Sedgwick's letter punctually, had he been able to help him. 'But I have not only no notes for the Walton Convalescent Institution of my own available, but I have been (before your application) desirous of obtaining one for a young man known to me personally, and have not (as yet) succeeded in the object.' He hopes to send him 'a letter about hymns in the course of this autumn'. [Palmer edited a selection.]

8vo bifolium (leaf dimensions 30 x 18 cm): 4 pp. Fair, on aged paper with slight wear to extremities, and minor damage to the area around the breaking of the black wax seal, which adheres, with a clear impression of a crest, to the reverse of the second leaf. Damage to a couple of words: otherwise text clear and complete. Circular 'F' postmark in red ink. Docketed. An impassioned, anguished letter, long and unguarded, and unusual in the valuable light it casts on the state of West Indian colonial affairs.

12mo: 3 pp. Bifoilum. Thirty-six lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with several pin holes, light spotting, and a 1 cm closed tear along a fold. A lighthearted epistle, beginning 'Dear Everard, Dear Everard | The Cistercians make an awful mistake in giving free meals. My Charity-organisation Society temperament rises in wrath: if they wd only apply the labour test for an hour or less - but free meals! I have watched the moral ravages of free meals and feel more strongly abt that kind of thing than about Home rule or Mediaeval Brases.

4to, 1 p, 17 lines. He 'deeply appreciate[s] the spirit undlying the contents' of Cavangh's letter, which he found waiting for him on his return the day before 'after attending our beloved late King's Funeral'. 'As you say, the sword and scabbard must have belonged to my great Grandfather, the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, who was Prime Minister during theh Crimea War by the express command of Queen Victoria. He accepted the Premiership on the condition that he should be allowed to resign at the conclusion of the war.' Suggests a meeting in Aberdeen.

Scottish soldier and diplomat (1755-1843). Four pages, octavo. Good, though grubby on discoloured paper, and a little frayed about the edges. Concerns 'the Subject of Issues which are made by the Barrack Department in North Britain to the Forces stationed in this Part of the United Kingdom, but which are not sanctioned by The King's Warrant'. '[...] | I conceive the Establishment of Regimental Schools to be highly conducive to the good of His Majesty's Service, and peculiarly so in the case of 2d.

Scottish aristocrat (1789-1858). Sharp (1781-1849) was an antiquary of some note. Three pages, 12mo. In poor condition: folded twice and with considerable staining along the folds. Attached, by verso of second leaf of bifoliate, to larger piece of paper.

12mo (roughly 16.5 x 9.5 cm): 24 pp. Good, on aged paper, with slightly dogeared corners. No stitching or stapling binding the leaves together. An attractive production, more sophisticated than is usual with a chapbook. Crisply printed in small type. Title enclosed within a decorative border and containing vignette of the royal coat of arms. Headed, in a small neat contemporary hand, 'Purchased at Whitby. | 30 Aug 1862'. The poem 'Lines on the Fate of Lord Derwentwater' (pp.18-19, 24 lines in six stanzas) begins 'How mournful feeble Nature's tone, | When Dilston Hall appears;'.

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.

In three columns of small type on one side of a piece of unwatermarked wove paper, dimensions 39.5 x 29 cm. Text clear and complete, on aged and lightly creased paper. Four short closed tears at the extremities of folds. An unusual production, docketed in pencil in a contemporary hand at the head: 'These letters were written by Baker, Consul out in the Principalities & a great protege of Gladstone'. Begins 'We have been favoured with a copy of a remarkable letter addressed to the Premier by an old friend of his father's.

Octavo: 29 + [2] pp. Unbound, stabbed and stitched. Slightly dogeared, on grubby, lightly-spotted paper. Loss to top right-hand corner of title-leaf (not affecting text). Two pages of advertisements at rear, headed 'Important pamphlets, etc. Recently published by James Ridgway, Piccadilly.'

12mo: 2 pp. Eleven lines of text. A bifolium, docketed on the otherwise-blank second leaf '8 June 1830 | Ld. Ellenborough'. Good: lightly spotted and with traces of grey paper mount adhering to edge on reverse of second leaf. He is enclosing a letter (not present) 'from Keene' (docketed [by Astell?] ('Kearney.)', and possibly the watercolourist W. H. Kearney). 'I must not enter into a Correspondence with him and he asks nothing definite.' Asks Astell to 'consider the matter' and to let him know his opinion on the coming Saturday.

12mo bifolium. Ellenborough's letter (15 lines of text) occupies the first leaf; with the pencil draft of Gough's reply (also 15 lines), with additions and deletions, on the recto of the second leaf. Very good, with traces of grey paper mount adhering in a thin strip to the reverse of the second leaf. Ellenborough will 'afford' Nichols 'every facility for the making of tracings from the Tiles at Southam'. If Nichols will let him know when he is coming he will 'make it a point to be here'. Suggests that Nichols might come 'after Church, about 2 o'clock, on Sunday next'.

On a piece of paper roughly 4 x 7 cm. Very good, on slightly discoloured paper. Reads '<...> 34 years of His Maies <...> | [signed] Arlington'. The second of the two versions of Arlington's signature reproduced by Rawlins ('Five Hundred Years of British Autographs', p.63, no.8). Arlington was the first 'A' in the CABAL ministry, the name made up of the initials of the five privy councillors who conducted Charles II's government after the fall of Clarendon in 1667: Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley and Lauderdale.

8vo: 36 pp. Stitched. In original grey wraps. Text clear and entire on aged and spotted paper, with staining to first leaf. Wraps heavily stained and worn. Title written out in a modern hand on front wrap. Scarce. Four copies on COPAC: at the British Library, Bodleian, Cambridge and Durham. According to one source the subject concerns 'the author's dispute with Lord Rous, later Earl of Stradbroke, regarding his right to the living of Doddington; includes correspondence with Rous'.

Two pages. Dimensions of paper fourteen and a half inches by nine inches. Aged and stained, with fraying to extremities and some loss to one corner (not affecting text). Order to 'deliver and pay of such his Majesty's Treasure as remains in your Charge unto John Earl of Dunmore or his Assigns the Sum of Two hundred and Fifty Pounds', on Dunmore's 'Annuity or yearly Pension of One Thousand Pounds as one of the Gentlemen of his Majesty's Bedchamber'. With signatures of 'Winnington', 'G Earle' and <?>. Docketed 'Mr. Yorke I pray pay this Order out of Addl.

TWO COPIES, both octavo: iv + 158 pages. Several collotype plates, several in red and gold. In original green printed Sotheby wraps. Both items sound internally, with some wear to the wraps. One item has extensive pencil annotations to the front wraps, and the other has a few ink marks to the reverse, with minor wear to the last couple of leaves. Both catalogues partially priced with some names by the London booksellers Myers & Co. of New Bond Street, one on the second day of the sale and the other on the fifth.

12mo, 2 pp. Good, with minor staining and head, and traces of previous mount to blank second leaf of bifolium. He is sorry to learn that the 'Private Secretary, Mr. Harold Roberts' has rheumatic fever, 'a most painful disease' which 'usually lasts some time'. 'The poor lad will get over it, and ere long be quite himself again'. Lady Roberts is sending the boy 'some flowers'. When he is 'stronger, and would care to read', Roberts will send him 'a copy of my "Forty-one years in India".'

12mo, 1 p, 11 lines. Good, with thin strip of discoloration along the outer edge. He is grateful to Hodgson 'for thinking of me'. Nothing would give Clarendon greater pleasure 'than to meet the Members of the Booksellers Provid[en]t Institution at Abbot's Langley', but unfortunately he has to go to London that Friday morning 'in order to keep some engagements that I have made on Saturday'.

Erskine, who died in 1806, was the grandson of the 27th Earl of Mar. 3 pages, 8vo. In very good condition. The letter, addressed to 'your Excellency', concerns 'The Honble. Captain Cunningham who had resigned a Troop of Dragoons on the Irish Establishment to go upon Service with the same rank in my unfortunate Regiment of Swiss Chasseurs'.

On piece of paper roughly 1.5 x 7.5 cm. Closely cropped underlined signature 'London=Derry:'.

Both items written in pencil and good, on lightly aged paper, with their stamped and postmarked envelopes addressed by Asquith. Both envelopes with traces of brown paper mount adhering to reverse, and both docketed by the Graphic's editor 'To me Harold Lawton'. Letter One (12mo, 4 pp, headed 'Private'): Amusingly outraged letter regarding a visit by 'two gentlemen' of whom Asquith 'had no sort of knowledge'. Graphic journalists, they assured Asquith 'that nothing wd. be written about me without my seeing it first [last five words underlined in red]'.

Two pages, 12mo. Very good. A formal letter written in the third person. 'Lord Liverpool presents his compliments to Mr. Barker and in answer to your [sic] letter regrets that his father has been dead two years and therefore he cannot comply with Mr. Barker's request for his signature.'

On one side of a piece of laid paper, with pot watermark, 26 x 20 cm. On sound, crisp paper, heavily foxed, and with slight wear to extremities, and remains of previous mounting at corners of reverse. Two small oval stains beneath text, and small clipping from autograph dealer's catalogue laid down in bottom left-hand corner. Firm signature. Fifteen lines of text beneath two-line date in Latin.

On piece of paper roughly 2 x 3.5 cm. Discoloured, and with traces of glue from previous mounting on reverse. Slight loss to one corner and tiny closed tear at head. Attractive calligraphic signature, with tall, closely-spaced, vertically elongated letters. Top loops of initial 'J' trimmed.

Folio: sixteen leaves on laid paper. Unbound and stabbed, with two staples (now rusted) added subsequently. Good, with first leaf lightly discoloured. Title-leaf, and text on next fifteen paginated 1131-1159.

12mo: 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Headed 'Private' and addressed to 'My dear Henry'. Describes Lennox (a close friend of Benjamin Disraeli) as 'a sanguine man'. 'If you thought as I do of the result of the "hundred days" between the present time and the trial of strength in Dec. you would hardly care to move.' He has 'heard nothing from Disraeli of his intentions about the Irish office', but if the opportunity arises he will do what he can to help Lennox. In 1866 Stanley had become Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in his father's third administration.

General (c.1656-1730) and Governor of Gibraltar, married to Catherine Sedley, mistress of James II (see item# ). One leaf, dimensions roughly seven inches by ten and a half. Printed text with manuscript additions on recto; docketed on verso. Good, but grubby, and with slight repair to head. Receipt 'of the Honourable [Lord ffitzharding]' (corrected from 'James Vernon Esq'); One of the Four Tellers of the Receipt of Her Majesty's Exchequer', of eighty pounds for twenty-four months interest on £500 lent by Portmore and 'My Ld Kent' on 14 August 1704. Signed 'Portmore'.