ENGLAND

[‘A Princess instead of a Queen’: Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury, as Dean of Windsor and Queen Victoria’s domestic chaplain.] Long Autograph Card Signed and Secretarial Letter Signed, both to Canon Jacob, the card regarding a royal visit.

Author: 
Randall Davidson [Randall Thomas Davidson, Baron Davidson of Lambeth] (1848-1930), Archbishop of Canterbury [Philip Jacob (1804-1884), Archdeacon of Winchester]
Publication details: 
Secretarial Letter of 28 May 1887; Autograph Card of 18 July 1887. Both on letterhead of the Deanery, Windsor Castle.
£90.00

In 1883 Queen Victoria appointed Davidson Dean of Windsor and her domestic chaplain. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged; the letter folded for postage. Both addressed to ‘My dear Jacob’ and both signed ‘Randall T Davidson’. ONE: Autograph Card Signed. Marked ‘Private’. Eighteen lines of text, covering both sides. Begins: ‘I talked the whole matter over so fully last night with Sir H.

[Lord Vere Beauclerk, Senior Naval Lord at the Admiralty and Member of Parliament.] Autograph Signature (‘Vere’) to Exchequer receipt for £30. With signature of witnesses Henry Woodall and ‘Ogborn’.

Author: 
Lord Vere Beauclerk [latterly Lord Vere (Vere Beauclerk, Baron Vere of Hanworth)] (1699-1781), Royal Navy officer, Senior Naval Lord at the Admiralty and Member of Parliament ; Henry Woodall; Ogborn
Vere
Publication details: 
3 May 1750. [His Majesty's Exchequer, London.]
£65.00
Vere

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. The signature (‘Vere’) is good and bold, at the bottom right of the document, as is that of first witness Henry Woodall (‘Hez Woodall’), but there is slight loss at the beginning of the signature of the second witness ‘[...] Ogborn’, and the left side of the document has been torn away also causing loss to printed text, and there is wear and pitting along the top and left edge. The customary printed document, completed in manuscript. 1p, 8vo.

[Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley, England cricket captain in the first Ashes series against Australia.] 15 manuscript items of banking correspondence between Darnley (8 signed items), his attorneys Wadeson & Malleson (6) and bankers Coutts & Co (1).

Author: 
Ivo Bligh (1859-1927), 8th Earl of Darnley, England cricket captain in the first ever Ashes series against Australia, 1882-3; his attorneys Wadeson & Malleson, London; his bankers Coutts & Co, London
Publication details: 
All items from 1901. The Earl of Darnley, Cobham Hall, Gravesend, Kent; Coutts & Co, 59 Strand, London, WC; Malleson & Co, 7 Devonshire Square, Bishopsgate Without, London, EC.
£420.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The correspondence dates from the year 1901, Bligh having acceded to the earldom on the death of his elder brother Edward on 31 October 1900, and the material consists of what is probably the first set of banking instructions, mainly relating to his ‘accession account’, with recipients of payments ranging from the Dowager Countess to Rochester Golf Club. 10pp, foolscap 8vo; 2pp, 4to; 10pp, 12mo. The fifteen items range in size from foolscap 8vo to 12mo. Four items (letters to Coutts from Wadeson & Malleson) are typed and the rest are in manuscript.

[Oxford University Press: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, London.] Prospectus, in the form of an illustrated printed pamphlet, for ‘The Oxford Bible for Teachers’.

Author: 
[Oxford University Press] Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, London; The Oxford Bible for Teachers [Church of England, Authorized and Revised Versions]
Publication details: 
No date [circa 1893]. London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, E.C.
£100.00

A nice piece of OUP ephemera, and a memorial to the lost art of letterpress printing. Stitched pamphlet of 24pp, 12mo. Wraps not called for. In good condition, lightly aged, with outer pages a little grubby. A couple of sources help establish the date: on p.13 it is announced that ‘the most recent discoveries, especially in Egypt, have been inserted, down to March, 1893’, and the second of the ‘Extracts from Opinions’, pp.21-23, from ‘Nature’, dates from 5 October 1893.

[William Yarrell, zoologist.] Autograph Signature (‘Wm. Yarrell.’) as ‘Treasurer’ (of the Entomological or Linnean Society).

Author: 
William Yarrell (1784-1856), eminent English zoologist, author of standard reference works on British fishes (1836) and birds (1843), treasurer of the Entomological Society and the Linnean Society
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 11 x 7.5 cm piece of paper, cut from a printed document. The signature is large, bold and undamaged, on heavily-worn paper with several instances of damage, laid down on a piece of card. The printed text reads: ‘[...] / I [have] the honour to be, / Sir, / Your most obedient / and very humble Servant, / [Autograph Signature ‘Wm. Yarrell’] / Treasurer.’

[Anthrax in Blackburn, 1893.] Printed ‘Notice to Farmers, Butchers & Others’ by ‘Robert E. Fox, Town Clerk’ of the County Borough of Blackburn, on the ‘Danger of handling Carcases of Animals infected with Anthrax’.

Author: 
[Anthrax in Blackburn, 1893.] Robert E. Fox, Town Clerk of the County Borough of Blackburn
Publication details: 
‘Town Hall, Blackburn, / July, 1893.’
£65.00

On one side of 21 x 33 cm piece of wove paper. Somewhat creased, with one dogeared corner and a closed tear neatly repaired on reverse with archival tape, but in good overall condition. A typical piece of late-Victorian corporate typography. Headed (all in capitals): ‘County Borough of Blackburn. / Danger of handling / Carcases of Animals infected / with Anthrax.

[Sir William Beveridge, C. E. R. Sherrington and the Railway Research Service.] Forty-one items of correspondence regarding accommodation, staff, and administrative matters, including some to and from Beveridge as Director of the LSE.

Author: 
William Henry Beveridge [Lord Beveridge], economist; C. E. R. Sherrington [Charles Ely Rose Sherrington]; Railway Research Service, LSE; Sir Josiah Stamp; Robert Bell, Assistant General Manager, LNER
Publication details: 
Material dating from 1929. [Railway Research Service, initially at The London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), Houghton Street, Aldwych, London, WC2, and latterly of 4 Cowley Street.]
£1,500.00

41 items from the papers of the railway economist C. E. R. Sherrington [Charles Ely Rose Sherrington] (1897-1973). Sherrington was the son of the Nobel-prize winning physiologist Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (1857-1952). Having served in France with the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and the Railway Transport Establishment of the British Expeditionary Force, Sherrington was lecturer in Economics and Transportation at Cornell University from 1922 to 1924. Returning to Britain, he was Secretary of the Railway Research Service from 1924 to 1962.

[‘The Ultimate All-Rounder’: C. B. Fry, one of the greatest of English cricketers.] Autograph Signature from Typed Letter written as Honorary Director of the training ship Mercury..

Author: 
C. B. Fry [Charles Burgess Fry] (1872-1956), one of the greatest of English cricketers, sportsman, scholar, journalist
Fry
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£35.00
Fry

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that he has ‘strong claims to be regarded as the greatest sporting all-rounder of his or any era since’. (Neville Cardus counted him ‘among the most fully developed and representative Englishmen of his period’.) It also seems that in 1920 he was offered the chance of becoming king of Albania. His grave at Repton is inscribed: ‘Cricketer, scholar, athlete, Author – The Ultimate All-rounder’.

[‘Take no notice of the error’: John Fielder Mackarness, Bishop of Oxford.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘J. F. Oxon:’) to ‘Mr Hutchison’, setting forth his position on the question of incest between ‘aged people’.

Author: 
John Fielder Mackarness (1820-1889), Bishop of Oxford [Rev. Robert Hutchison (c.1845-1919), ]
Publication details: 
7 March 1877; on embossed letterhead of Cuddesdon Palace, Wheatley, Oxon.
£90.00

An interesting letter, revealing the nuanced position of a liberal cleric on a difficult question. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Signed ‘J. F. Oxon:’. Text clear and entire, on creased and worn paper, with two short closed tears at edges. Folded twice for postage. Minuted (by the recipient) at top of first page: ‘I read this at the Cler[ical]. meeting - (part of it)’.

[James Prince Lee, first Anglican Bishop of Manchester.] Autograph Letter Signed, thanking Canon Richson of Manchester Cathedral for a pamphlet, praising him, and referring to the ‘School of Art.’

Author: 
James Prince Lee (1804-1869), first Anglican Bishop of Manchester [Charles Richson (1806-1874), Canon of Manchester Cathedral, educational reformer]
Publication details: 
18 December 1861; on his embossed armorial letterhead of Elizabeth Hall, Manchester.
£45.00

See both men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to ‘Revd Canon Richson’ and ‘Revd and Dear Sir’, and signed ‘J. P. Manchester.’ He thanks him for his pamphlet, stating that it will have his full attention, and praising Richson as ‘thoroughly conversant with education’. Being under the impression that Richson is ‘connected with the School of Art’, he is ‘sending the enclosed as I received it’.

[Father Ignatius of Jesus, O.S.B. [Rev. Joseph Leycester Lyne], Anglican Benedictine monk.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘old & faithful a spiritual Child’, thanking her for her ‘kind offer of hospitality’.

Author: 
Father Ignatius of Jesus, O.S.B. [Rev. Joseph Leycester Lyne (1837-1908)], Anglican Benedictine monk in Norwich and south Wales
Publication details: 
5 October 1905; on letterhead of Hentland Vicarage, Ross-on-Wye.
£120.00

See the entry for this ‘charismatic preacher and flamboyant individual’ (referred to several times in Kilvert’s diary) in the Oxford DNB, which states that, having been dispossessed out of his property and forced to dissolve his monastery in Norwich, in 1869 he was able, with the support of a wealthy benefactor, to purchase a property at Capel-y-ffin in the Black Mountains, south Wales, where he built Llanthony Abbey. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. The letter is headed ‘Jesus Only.’ It begins: ‘My dear daughter in Jesus.

[Religious Tract Society, London.] Seventeen uncommon printed tracts, variously in poetry and prose, including ‘Give it up? - No, never! or, The History of John Brook’ and ‘The Two Colliers; or, The Power of Religion in the Hour of Danger.’

Author: 
Religious Tract Society, London; W. Clowes and Sons; A. Applegarth; J. and C. Evans; J. Davis
Publication details: 
None dated (1820s and 1830s). All 17 titles sold by The Religious Tract Society, at the Depository, 56 Paternoster-row, London. A total of seven with three London printers: W. Clowes and Sons; A. Applegarth; J. and C. Evans. (J. Davis, bookseller.)
£250.00

Seventeen items, each 12mo, 8pp. All uncommon, and two (7 and 17 below) not listed on WorldCat or JISC LHD. All disbound and stabbed as issued. The collection in fair overall condition: some creasing and wear, and a few items discolored. Item 14 with grey staining to front cover. The first item with no illustration; the other sixteen each with a vignette on the front page. One item (4) with a second illustration in text. Item 2 with device of the RTS on the final page.

[Robert Machray, Anglican Archbishop of Rupert’s Land.] Autograph Letter Signed to his friend ‘Conoin’, written within days of his consecration at Lambeth, and just before his departure for Canada.

Author: 
Robert Machray (1831-1904), Scottish-born Anglican Archbishop of Rupert’s Land, Canada, 1865-1904 [Conoin]
Publication details: 
Harrogate [England]. 8 July 1865.
£150.00

Written within days of his consecration at Lambeth on 24 June 1865. See his entries in the Oxford DNB and Dictionary of Canadian Biography. The former states that his diocese ‘covered 2 million square miles of territory, with headquarters at Winnipeg, then a hamlet with a population of 150. To assist him in the administration of the diocese he had only eighteen clergymen. In 1866 he made a difficult tour of inspection of the Native American missions’. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Signed ‘R. Rupert’sLand’ and addressed to ‘My dear Covoin’. With embossed letterhead featuring a bishop’s mitre.

[Edward Garrard Marsh, poet and clergyman.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding communications to the Maidstone Clerical Society.

Author: 
Edward Garrard Marsh (1783-1862), English poet and Anglican clergyman, son of the composer John Marsh, and associate of William Blake and William Hayley [Maidstone Clerical Society]
Publication details: 
9 February 1853; Aylesford.
£75.00

See his father’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2p, 12mo. Neatly written over 26 lines. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘E. G. Marsh’. Recipient not named (‘My dear Sir’). He explains that, having happened on the previous day to be in the chair ‘at the monthly meeting of our clerical society in Maidstone’, he was present when the recipient’s ‘two letters to Dr. Maitland’ were presented, and is requested to convey the meeting’s gratitude, not only for the letters, but for his history of Rome, ‘received by them on a former occasion’.

[Chapman Cohen, English freethinker.] Printed pamphlet titled ‘God and Man. An Essay in Common Sense and Natural Morality. By Chapman Cohen.’

Author: 
Chapman Cohen (1868-1954), English freethinker
Publication details: 
London: The Pioneer Press, 61 Farringdon Street, E.C. 4. 1918.
£30.00

Only two copies of any edition of this title on JISC: at the BL and Glasgow University. Cohen’s obituary in The Times describes him as ‘outstanding as a forthright, witty and courteous debater and lecturer’. This item is 30pp, 12mo. Stitched into wraps with title printed on the front and publicity material on the other three sides. Internally in good condition, lightly aged, in slightly spotted and worn wraps.

[Henry Alford, Dean of Canterbury and biblical scholar.] Autograph Letter Signed, declaring that he knows nothing about sailors.

Author: 
Henry Alford (1810-1871), Dean of Canterbury and biblical scholar
Publication details: 
7 April 1866. No place.
£38.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. The recipient is not named. In good condition, folded for postage. Amusingly succinct. Begins: ‘Dear Sir / You could not possibly have applied to a worse person than myself about sailors. I know nothing about them, & cannot conceive what can have caused the application. / I am / dear Sir / truly yours / Henry Alford’.

[‘There are so many applicants to General Garibaldi for his Autograph’.] Autograph Letter Signed from Henry Wright, private secretary to the Duke of Sutherland, to autograph-hunter J. Jordan, conveying the Duke’s refusal to ‘trouble the General’.

Author: 
Henry Wright, private secretary to the 3rd Duke of Sutherland [George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower; Viscount Trentham; Earl Gower; Marquis of Stafford] (1828-1892) [Giuseppe Garibaldi]
Publication details: 
17 April 1864. Stafford House [London].
£90.00

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘J. Jordan Esq’ and signed ‘Henry Wright’. The Duke hosted Garibaldi’s 1864 visit to Britain, which caused quite a stir. The present item is an object-lesson in the wording of a tactful refusal: ‘Sir. / The Duke of Sutherland desires me to say that there are so many applicants to General Garibaldi for his Autograph that he (The Duke) himself who has many personal friends who also wish for it, has not ventured to trouble the General - He therefore must, but with reluctance, refuse your request.

[‘The most remarkable pulpit orator of his time’: James Parsons of York, Congregational minister.] Autograph Letter Signed to Rev. J. Rawlinson, discussing his ‘intended retirement from my Pastorate in York’.

Author: 
James Parsons (1799-1877) of York, Congregational minister, son of the preacher Edward Parsons (1762-1833)
Publication details: 
20 July 1870. High Harrogate [Yorkshire].
£90.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which characterizes him as ‘the most remarkable pulpit orator of his time’, and that of his father. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Somewhat aged and with the recto of the first leaf grubby, but with text clear and complete, with thirty-three lines of text in Parsons’ close and neat hand. Signed ‘James Parsons’ and addressed to ‘Revd. J. Rawlinson’. He ‘must, reluctantly, decline to comply’ with Rawlinson’s request. He wonders whether he has ‘seen, or heard of an announcement in “the Leeds Mercury” with reference to my intended retirement from my Pastorate in York’.

[‘Missionary to the World’: Joseph Wolff, Jewish-German traveller and Church of England Vicar of Isle Brewers, Somerset.] Autograph Letter Signed attempting to clear up a confusion over agreeing a date.

Author: 
Joseph Wolff (1795-1862), traveller and Christian ‘Missionary to the World’, of Jewish-German origin, Vicar of Isle Brewers, Somerset, and father of Conservative politician Henry Drummond Wolff
Publication details: 
26 December 1851; Isle Brewers [Somerset].
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly creased and discoloured paper. Folded three time. Signed ‘Joseph Wolff’ and addressed to ‘My very dear Sir’. The letter concerns a confusion over a planned date, due to one of the recipient’s letters miscarrying and the other being received only ‘this moment’, and after his return from Norfolk. ‘I am most heartily grieved that unforeseen Parochial business of my own Parish will prevent me from leaving it before the 23d January. I therefore beg you to let me know when it will be convenient for you.’

[Agnes Strickland (1796-1874), Victorian historian.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Agnes Strickland / Historian of the Queens of England and Queens of Scotland’), stating her requirements for lodgings in Warwick during the ‘Archaeological Meeting’.

Author: 
Agnes Strickland (1796-1874), Victorian historian and poet, whose best-known work is 'The Queens of England'
Publication details: 
20 July 1864; [Ipswich].
£90.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium In fair condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering to the inner margin of the recto, and obscuring a few words of text. The male recipient is not named: the letter is signed ‘Agnes Strickland / Historian of the Queens of England and Queens of Scotland’. By the advice of the publisher, Daldy, she is enquiring after ‘quiet comfortable lodgings at Warwick next Monday 25th till Tuesday August 2nd during the Archaeological Meeting in your antient historical town at which I have promised to be sent’.

[‘The Vagrant, Criminal, and Inebriate Classes’: Wilson Carlile (‘The Chief’), Prebendary of St Paul’s Cathedral and Founder of the Church Army.] Autograph Letter Signed, asking W. S. De Winton for assistance in helping persons to a ‘fresh start’.

Author: 
Wilson Carlile [‘The Chief’] (1847-1942), Anglican evangelist, founder in 1882 of the Church Army and Prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral [Wilfred Seymour De Winton of Haverfordwest]
Publication details: 
5 May 1896; on leterhead of 130 Edgeware Road, London W.
£220.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The Church Army, still active today, was founded in 1882 as a Church of England equivalent to the Methodists’ Salvation Army. From the papers of the recipient Wilfred Seymour De Winton of Haverfordwest. 3pp, 12mo. On a bifolium of grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘W Carlile / Hon. Chief Sec.’ To the left of the signature, in the bottom-left of the recto of the second leaf, is a purple ink stamp of the following: ‘WRITTEN BY ONE OF OUR POOR STRUGGLING LABOUR HOME BROTHERS’.

[Peter Gellhorn, conductor, composer and pianist.] Autograph Note Signed to ‘Mr. Dean’, regarding a photograph of himself.

Author: 
Peter Gellhorn [born born Hans Fritz Gellhorn] (1912-2004), German conductor, composer and pianist who settled in London, connected with Glyndebourne, Covent Garden, BBC, Royal College of Music
Publication details: 
3 February 1975; 33 Leinster Avenue, London SW14.
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Reads: ‘Dear Mr. Dean, / According to your request, I enclose a signed photo of myself for your collection. / With best wishes, / Yours sincerely, / Peter Gellhorn.’

[‘To a great extent you will have to make your own tools‘: Max Müller, Oxford's first Professor of Comparative Philology.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Borlase’, advising him on works to consult in the study of ‘modern Irish’.

Author: 
Max Müller [Friedrich Max Müller; Muller] (1823-1900), Sanskrit scholar and philologist in England, born in Germany, Oxford's first Professor of Comparative Philology [Borlase]
Publication details: 
26 May [no year]. On letterhead of Parks End, Oxford.
£56.00

See his long and appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, concluding with the praise of his ‘pioneering achievements, especially in the fields of Vedic studies and comparative philology’. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two small water spots causing negiligible smudging (nowhere near signature). Folded twice. Signed ‘Max Müller’ and addressed to ‘Mr. Borlase’. The only book he can recommend to him is ‘Zeuss, Grammatica Celtica, of which a new edition has just been published by Ebel. There are several Grammars of modern Irish: I have one by Bourke.

[Jean Louis Rieu, Commissioner in Sind.] Autograph Letter Signed, providing a reference for ‘Mr. Bhojraj M. Bhambhani’, son of his acquaintance ‘Mr. Mansing Ramsing’, Honorary Magistrate and ‘most loyal subject’.

Author: 
Jean Louis Rieu (1872-1964), Commissioner in Sind between 1920 and 1925 [The Raj; British India; Bhojraj M. Bhambhani, son of Mansing Ramsing, and grandson of Diwan Ramsing]
Publication details: 
1 July 1922; on his letterhead as the Commissioner in Sind, Government House, Karachi.
£90.00

Rieu was the son of Charles Pierre Henri Rieu (1820-1902) of Geneva, Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts at the British Museum, and elder brother of Emile Victor Rieu (1887-1972), both of whom have DNB entries. In 1947 he had privately printed (as’J. L. R.’) a ‘Chronicle of the Rieu Family now settled in England’. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. Signed ‘J. L Rieu / Commissioner in Sind’. An nice sidelight on the workings of the Raj. He has been asked for a letter by ‘Mr. Mansing Ramsing’, on behalf of his son ‘Mr. Bhojraj M.

[Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol College, Oxford, and editor of Plato.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Lucas’ [the future Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas], regarding tutoring Lord Herbrand Russell [the future Duke of Bedford].

Author: 
Benjamin Jowett (1817-1893), Master of Balliol College, Oxford, editor of Plato, theologian and reforming university administrator [Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas; Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford]
Publication details: 
29 March 1878; Balliol College [Oxford].
£60.00

The 1880 'Balliol Masque' indicates Jowett's standing, and the pronunciation of his name: 'First come I. My name is Jowett. | There's no knowledge but I know it. | I am Master of this College, | What I don't know isn't knowledge.' See Jowett’s entry, and those of Lucas and Russell, in the Oxford DNB, which states regarding Jowett that by the end of his life he had become ‘synonymous with Balliol, which he turned into the leading college in the first university in the United Kingdom at the height of its world power’. 1p, 12mo. In good condition. Folded twice.

[Canon Barnett [Samuel Augustus Barnett], clergyman and social reformer who founded Toynbee Hall.] Autograph Letter Signed, asking ‘Maud’ to send violet leaves three times a week to William Tourell, who is dying of cancer.

Author: 
Canon Barnett [Samuel Augustus Barnett] (1844-1913), Church of England cleric and social reformer who founded the East End university settlement Toynbee Hall [East London Shoeblack Brigade]
Publication details: 
8 June 1902; on letterhead of St. Jude’s Cottage, Spaniard’s Road, Hampstead Heath, N.W. [London]
£56.00

Barnett’s entry in the Oxford DNB accepts his ‘greatness’ and discusses its nature. 1p, 16mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The subject of this letter is William Tourell, Superintendent of the East London Shoeblack Brigade, a charity of which Barnett was treasurer. The letter begins: ‘Dear Maud. / My Friend Towrell [sic] is dying of cancer. He is taking violet leaves & somehow the disease seems arrested. The doctor says he had better go on taking these leaves as they may be doing good’.

[‘I was aiding the poor in speaking so frankly to the rich’: Anthony Wilson Thorold, successively Bishop of Rochester and Winchester.] Long Autograph Letter Signed criticising the middle and upper classes for excluding the poor from churches.

Author: 
A. W. Thorold [Anthony Wilson Thorold] (1825-1895), successively Bishop of Rochester and Winchester, who recruited Isabella Gilmore to revive the female diaconate in the Anglican Communion
Publication details: 
6 January 1863; 16 Bedford Square [London]. On his embossed armorial letterhead.
£56.00

An interesting and empassioned letter, highlighting one aspect of the debate over the class inequalities present in mid-Victorian England. See Thorold’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 8pp, 12mo. On two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Signed ‘A. W. Thorold’. The recipient is not named. He begins by stating that his speech at Islington lasted twenty-five minutes, as opposed to the report in the journal he has sent him, which ‘could be easily spoken in two’, and does not give a ‘fair notion of its point and aim’.

[Lieut-Col. John Stuart Bligh, 6th Earl Darnley, amateur cricketer.] Autograph Note Signed, giving ‘Mr. F. York’ permission to ‘take some photographic views’ of Cobham Hall, Gravesend. With stamped envelope, addressed in Autograph.

Author: 
Lieut-Col. John Stuart Bligh, 6th Earl of Darnley [formerly Lord Clifton] (1827-1896), amateur cricketer, father of the England captain Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley [F. York, London photographer]
Publication details: 
5 September 1868. On embossed letterhead of Cobham Hall, Gravesend.
£50.00

See his son Ivo Bligh’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Sir: / You are welcome to take some photographic views of this place: - you will please to ask to see the Houseeeper when you come. / I remain / Yours faithy / Darnley’. In worn envelope, self-stamped with pink penny stamp and two postmarks, one from Gravesend. Addressed in Autograph by Darnley to ‘Mr. F. York / Alfred Villa / Lancaster Road / Notting Hill London W.’

[Herbert Edward Ryle, as Bishop of Winchester.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Herbert. E. Winton:’) to ‘Mr. de Winton’, praising his ‘investigation’, which will ‘avert the indignation of the Northerners’.

Author: 
Herbert Edward Ryle (1856-1925), successively Dean of Westminster, Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Winchester; biblical scholar
Publication details: 
30 September 1905. On letterhead of Farnham Castle, Surrey.
£28.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and with slight creasing to one edge. Folded once. In his view de Winton’s ‘investigation will certainly successfully appease Lord Cross, & avert the indignation of the Northerners. It certainly most satisfactorily justifies your suggestion.’ He ends in the hope that ‘we are now fairly well advanced towards the completion of our Scheme.’

[Helen D. Willard, Curator, Harvard Theatre Collection.] Autograph Letter Signed and Autograph Card Signed to London bookseller Andrew Block, regarding visits to ‘beloved England’; the letter with reference to Arthur Colby Sprague.

Author: 
Helen D. Willard [Helen Delano Willard] (1905-1979), Curator, Harvard Theatre Collection [Andrew Block, London bookseller.]
Publication details: 
LETTER: 31 May 1963; on letterhead of the Harvard College Library, Theatre Collection, Cambridge, Mass. CARD: 16 June 1965; on letterhead of Harvard College Library, with ‘Theatre Collection’ in Willard’s autograph.
£45.00

The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. Both addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Block’. LETTER: 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Signed ‘Helen D. Willard’. She is hoping to be able to see him in London the following month. ‘I called in you [sic] briefly last year, then got swept up into many activities that kept me from returning to browse.’ She has a very pleasant memory of their conversation.

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