ENGLISH

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. Docketted in pencil in a contemporary hand: ?1853 [sic] / Duke of Wellingtons funeral? (on 18 November 1852). Signed ?W: Bovill?. Begins with reference to the family business (corn factors) in Milford Lane, City of London: ?My dearest Wife. / I have just seen George & find that there is the large bed room at the top of the house in Milford Lane unoccupied & we can have it - they can arrange something for the two boys & I dare say Mr.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of tape from mount adhering to the blank second leaf. Folded for postage. Undated, but docketted ?18 April / 1857 / About ?Cologne Singers.?? Reads: ?Dear William. - All the songs are clear, and if you send they will be given to the musicians. If it is not convenient to send, drop me a line, and I will send to you. / Very tly yrs / J. Oxenford?. Oxenford provided a number of translations of German works for musical accompaniment.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, and Antony Chessell?s 2009 biography of Hayward (subtitled ?one of the Two Best Read Men in England? - the other was Macaulay). 1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The recipient is not named. Reads: ?It is now nearly three weeks since I heard from you. What is the cause. / I send you the Morning Post with a long review of my book. / All goes well with me. / Ever yours / A Hayward?.

Printed on unwatermarked tissue paper. Dimensions of paper roughly seven and a half centimeters by eleven and a half. A very good copy of a frail and ephemeral item. An attractive illustration by Fraser of an ivy-clad wall memorial topped by a cherub encloses the following 'There are Published | I. Farewell to the Faeries, by Richard Corbett. | II. Three Poems, by Kenneth Hare. | Decorated and Published by C. Lovat Fraser, and can be obtained from Everard Meynell, 46 Museum Street, W.C. | [short rule] | Price SIXPENCE each, net.' See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Wilfred Scawen Blunt’s assessment was brutal: ‘It is strange his poetry should be such poor stuff, and stranger still that he should imagine it immortal.’ And it is ironic that Austin may not have even written the lines for which he is now principally remembered, on the illness of the Prince of Wales: ‘Flashed from his bed the electric message came | He is not better, he is much the same’. 1p, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium of good watermarked wove paper.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Friswell was described by Tennyson as ‘the would-be poet, / Friswell, Pisswell - a liar and a twaddler’. 1p, 16mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Fourteen lines of text. Addressed to ‘Messrs Virtue & Co.’ Signed ‘J. Hain Friswell’. Begins: ‘Gentlemen, / Many thanks for your fine print of the Chandos Portrait of Shakspere which I will notice in the P. C.

1p, 12mo. On thin paper. In good condition, lightly aged, in trimmed and spotted windowpane mount. Good bold signature ‘Fanny Brough.’ Addressed to ‘Revd. J. C. [Westly?]’. She has ‘much pleasure’ in sending him ‘the autograph’, and will do her best to get him ‘a few others which may be interesting to send out to you’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The Swanboroughs were a significant Victorian theatrical dynasty, and the absence of any member of the family from the same work is puzzling. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and lightly worn paper, with traces of glue and strip of tape from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Mr. Swanborough’ and signed ‘Fanny Stirling’.

See his entry and Blewitt’s in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, on lightly aged laid paper, with thin strip of tape from mount on reverse of second leaf. Thirty-seven lines of text. Addressed to ‘Octavian Blewitt Esq.’ and signed ‘G. L. M. Strauss’. He begins by describing his situation: ‘I venture to solicit your kind friendly advice.

2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Thirty-nine lines, closely written. Signed ‘Gilbert Thomas’. He begins by thanking him ‘most warmly for your letter and the most kind and generous review to hand this morning.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of tape from mount adhering to reverse of second leaf and small pin holes to one corner. With two folds. Thirty-nine lines of text. The handwriting is a paradox; neat but difficult to decipher. Addressed to ‘My dear Mlle de [Schmidt?]’ and signed ‘Charles Lever’. He begins by claiming that the speed with which he accepted her ‘most kind & cordial invitation’ for her daughter is the best proof he can give of the value he attaches to it ‘& the sincere satisfaction it affords me’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. LETTER: 3pp, 12mo. Thirty-one lines. Bifolium. In fair condition, with slight staining at foot of first leaf, and traces of glue from mount on blank reverse of second leaf. In an elongated and somewhat opaque hand. Begins: ‘My dear Mrs. Hicks / I was exceedingly sorry to hear that Mr. Hicks had met with an accident on the day you left.’ What follows is hard to decipher, until she writes ‘I have much pleasure in forwarding to you the address of Jackson & Graham. It is No. 35-36 Oxford St.’ She praises ‘the selection he has of patterns’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Wilfred Scawen Blunt’s assessment was brutal: ‘It is strange his poetry should be such poor stuff, and stranger still that he should imagine it immortal.’ And it is ironic that Austin may not have even written the lines for which he is now principally remembered, on the illness of the Prince of Wales: ‘Flashed from his bed the electric message came | He is not better, he is much the same’. 1p, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium of good watermarked wove paper.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. ONE: ALS to Bagnall. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Reads: ‘Dear Mr. Bagnall. / How very kind of you to write me such a charming letter. I did appreciate all you said – thank you very much / Sincerely yrs / Sybil Thorndike’. TWO: ACS addressed to ‘Victor Jones Esq. / 83. Ravenhurst Road. / Harborne. / Birmingham.’ Signed ‘Sybil Thorndike.’ Aged and discoloured, with address side lightly stained. She is not sure whether she thanked him for his ‘sweet letter & card for Xmas -it was such a very kind thought & I must seem ungracious!

See the entry what was wrote about him in the Oxford DNB. The archives of the recipient, Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), are now housed in the library at Yale. All four items signed ‘Ernest Gowers’ ONE: ALS, 27 June 1952. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, worn and spotted, with pin holes to one corner and short closed tear at edge of one of the two folds. Begins: ‘By all means. The more I look into your book the more I realise how true what I said was.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. On 15.5 x 5.5 cm slip of paper, cut from an autograph album. In good condition, lightly aged, with some show-through from the writing on the reverse. Reads ‘To Minna May / With my love / “Auntie” Gladys / Gladys Cooper / 1935’. See Image.The writing rises slightly across the page, and a small section at the bottom of the initial ‘G’ and the ‘y’ of ‘Gladys’ have been trimmed away. On the reverse is the following, in an unidentified hand: ‘Philatelic Minna May / Came to lunch with me today: / took my box of stamps away, / Says she’ll bring ’em back – some day!

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A 17.5 x 9.5 cm rectangle of grey paper, torn from the conclusion of a letter, evidently in response to a request for an autograph. In good condition, lightly aged, with central vertical fold. Reads: ‘[…] part or else the picture will be gone. / Yours sincerely / F Brangwyn’. The ‘F’ of the signature is more lightly inked than the rest. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The archives of the recipient are at Yale. Addressed to ‘Vere H. Collins Esq.’ and signed ‘Frank Swinnerton’. Written in Swinnerton’s distinctive minuscule hand. The central part of the letter has smudging from another letter lightly blotted over it (not near the signature), otherwise in good condition, lightly aged, and folded twice. He thanks him for sending a copy of his book ‘One Word and Another’. He has ‘already glanced through the book; but we have visitors here, with children, and I am writing an urgent article under great difficulties’.

See Kennington’s entry in the Oxford DNB. All six items in good condition, lightly aged. Previously pinned together, with Kennington’s letters folded for postage, and all three are 1p, 8vo, and signed ‘Eric Kennington’. ONE: Kennington ALS, 11 June 1956. Having conferred with Ackroyd’s clerk ‘Mr. Osborne’, he explains that he cannot give his attention to the portrait until September.

See her entry, and those of Robey and her husband, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. With two folds. Addressed to ‘Geo Robey. Esq. C.B.E.’ and signed ‘Margaret Lloyd George.’ She gives details of a concert she is having at Downing Street the following month, ‘in aid of the Electrical Industries Association’, and has been asked by its committee to ‘invite your kindly assistance’.

See the entries for Mrs Maurice’s sister Octavia Hill and their mother Caroline Southwood Hill in the Oxford DNB. Book: viii + 77 + [1]. 12mo. Errata slip between pp.56 and 57. In original green cloth, gilt. Good copy, lightly aged and worn, in original green cloth binding gilt. Bookplate of Queen’s College, London, on front paste-down, stamped ‘WITHDRAWN’. Presentation inscription on recto of front free endpaper: ‘Queens College Library / Presented by Mrs C. S. Maurice / 1931’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with curling to inner edge. Central vertical fold. She thanks her for writing about ‘Broome Stages’, and is glad she enjoyed it. ‘You are quite right, it is a pleasure and an encouragement to hear that a book makes friends.’ She concludes, ‘Yes, I suppose the name did come from the Church: it gave me the idea, but it was pure chance, there is no association.’

Despite criticism for his supposedly sexist humour, Hill’s work was admired by men from the novelist Anthony Burgess to Michael Jackson and Burt Reynolds. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged, with light traces of glue from mount on reverse. An 8.5 x 14 cm photographic print, carrying an 8.5 x 10.5 cm black and white head and shoulders shot of a smirking Hill, staring fixedly at the viewer in black top. Inscribed in light ink in the blank patch beneath the image: ‘To Eric / Cheers! / Benny Hill’.

A successful member of an English artistic family. See the Oxford DNB entries on his father Joseph Severn (who nursed John Keats in Rome in his final illness) and sister Mary Newton. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of glue from mount to inner margin, and details typed at head. Folded once. Reads: ‘Dear Mrs FitzSimon / I have much pleasure in sending an autograph of my dear friend Sir F. Leighton. I send also the portrait of Keats. It is photogravure by Hollyer from one of my father’s pictures / Yours sincerely / Walter Severn’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium, the verso of the second leaf addressed, with two postmarks, to 'Mrs. William Smith / Park Street / Westminster'. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Annotations in pencil in a modern hand. He begins by apologising for not being able to 'come to your party on Monday', as he was 'forced to go to Bed[.] I always knock up the 2d or 3d Week of London - There is nothing in this World so fatiguing, and horrible as pleasure -'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 9 x 11 cm piece of Whatman wove paper. Somewhat worn and creased, with a small nick to one edge, and slight damage from erasure of note on reverse. Folded. Reads ‘Dear Sr / many thanks / yours truly / Sydney Smith / May 11 1844.’

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. Good firm attractive signature ‘John Betjeman.’On irregularly-shaped corner (approximately 9 x 7 cm) torn from a letter on cartridge paper. Reads ‘[...] pho[...] / [...]ed to se[...] / [...] author in this [...] / never be too hope[...] / [...]urs faithfully, / [...]HELL-MEX and B. P. LIMITED. / [signed] John Betjeman. / [...]urn of post unless otherwise stated’. Perhaps something to do with Shell Guides(?)See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. Good firm signature ‘John Betjeman’ on 9 x 3 cm slip of paper. Laid down at the foot of one side of a 12mo leaf (extracted from an edition of his poems), at the foot of the Betjeman poem ‘Henley-on-Thames’. On the reverse, paginated 24, is his poem ‘East Anglian Bathe’. See Imagew

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, but lightly discoloured, with a large rectangle of sunning covering most of the lower part, and a neat crease at bottom right (not affecting the signature, which is partially sunned). Annotated in pencil by a later hand on the reverse. Betjeman’s handwriting is bad, so the following reading is tentative. ‘Dear Lady Jones, / I meant to write to you long ere this to tell you how grateful I was to you & Sir Roderick [Jones, her husband] for letting us [house?] this prize in your capacious drawing room.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Wilkie was in a good position to assist Waagen, who was touring England making notes on significant art collections, for use in his ‘Kunstwerke und Künstler in England und Paris’ (3 vols, Berlin, 1837–39), which formed the basis for his influential ‘The Treasures of Art in Great Britain’ (translated by Lady Eastlake, 4 vols, London, 1854 and 1857). Wilkie had strong connections with Wellington. His 1822 painting ‘The Chelsea Pensioners reading the Waterloo Dispatch’ had been commissioned by the Duke, and was sold to him for the unheard-of sum of 1,200 guineas.