ENGLISH

1p., 4to. In good condition, on aged paper, laid down on a grey-paper mount. The letter is addressed 'Gentlemen'. In the first paragraph he explains that having received their letter, he sent 'Dr Clarkes Plates [...] to the Writing Engravers but have not as yet received them back'. He has sent the bearer of the present letter to find out when they will be done, and he has been told to tell them the answer he receives. The second paragraph reveals that the bearer of the letter is himself an engraver: 'I understand that he applied to you for the engraving of one of your Portrait Plates.

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper with damp stain along one edge. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Mr. Scott'. He is sending 'by Bearer 4 sorts of french paper, 2 sheets of each, which you will be so good as to see that it is properly prepared before it is used - The grand Eagle with the watermarks will require a great deal of brushing with a hard brush as I think that many of the specks will brush off they being chiefly superficial'.

2pp., 16mo. Bifolium. 21 lines of text. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. As Doubleday has not 'sent the last', he has 'done your 3rd Cut of "glorious Apollo" from the print alone endeavouring to give the antique style as faithfully as I could.' He thanks him for his 'bit about the "archaic" term', and is certain 'that that [last word underlined] - like many other derivations from Greek & Latin roots, are most frequently used improperly[. T]he taste for hard words is certainly on the increase among all classes - from the advertising tailor upwards.'

1p., 4to. In good conditon, on aged paper. He begins: 'As both the pictures you bought are to be taken without the frames, I can't take upon me to displace them, without either you or the Artists were present, and more especially Mr. Daniell's, which is framed in a particular way.' Consequently he will keep the paintings, till either the recipient or artists take them away, 'and give me a proper discharge for them'. He ends with his hours of attendance.

1p., 12mo. 16 lines of text. Good, lightly-aged and laid down on a piece of grey paper. The letter begins: 'Dear Madam | I feel quite young again at the idea of the pleasure you promise me, & can assure you, with great Truth, that I shall be happy to be introduced to the young Lady you mention, with whom I am already more than half enamoured: - report speaks so highly of her manifold attractions.' He has such confidence in 'Mr. Price's skill & care as a driver' that he would like accept her offer of a seat in his gig. He ends with his 'best Complimts. to Miss Freston'.

Both letters in very good condition, neatly written out on lightly-aged paper. ONE: 2pp., 4to.

1p., 4to. In good condition, on aged paper, with wafer. Addressed on reverse to 'William Jerdan Esqr. | Brompton'. The letter reads: 'My dear Sir, | A particular friend of Vandyk [sic] has hastily drawn up the enclosed. you have made what use of them you require, perhaps our friend Watts would like to see them.'

2pp., 8vo. In good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper.

14pp., 4to. In exercise book with green printed wraps. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. The first page carries the title 'The Element', with the words 'Peter Levi S.J. | Nov. '57-Jan. '58' in the top right-hand corner. With occasional light corrections. The second poem ('Out of shaking') has the directions: 'No title & no commas', and the last but one ('Unfinished Elegy'), which is the longest at 4pp., is annotated: 'There ought to be three parts or possibly four.

2pp., foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. A fair copy of a twenty-eight line poem, arranged in seven four-line stanzas. Signed at end 'P. L. | December 1960.' The first stanza reads 'Rain-threaded gull-wheeling bell-clamorous air, | by wind shifted, by smoke lightly weighted, | in which sirens beautifully despair, | no monumnet crumbles uncelebrated,'. The poem ends with a simile of 'Adam when he woke: | stood for a moment as if he had been blind, | and bent suddenly over Eve, and spoke.' There is no indication that the poem has been published.

1p., 12mo. On aged and worn wove paper. Headed with the royal crest and title 'The Patriot's Hymn.' Twenty-one lines arranged in three verses, numbered I to III. Printer's slug beneath swelled short rule at foot of page. The printer is possibly the Edward Bayley stated by BBTI to have been active in Macclesfield between 1788 and 1825. The absence of the long s, and the use of wove paper, suggest nineteenth-century publication before 1830, and probably during the Regency period.

One page each, obl. 12mo, good condition. (1992) He has to disappoint her. He receives "a constant stream of requests for appearances, lectures, utorials, charity fun runs, mixed in with pleas for book reviews, the reading of unpublished manuscriipts, help[ to find an agent,help to get published, etc. Heart-touching as these requests are, I fel I really have to stick to my guns and decline if I am to get any work done for myself.

Two pages each, 12mo, good condition. [1955] He apologises for being late in telling her how enjoyable he found her luncheon party. "Whatever they were like when they arrived and at least two (I don't include myself) had been rather under the weather - your guests all went off as radiant as glow-worms." Further thanks and joyful remembrances; [1971] A shakier hand, he expresses his pleasure at his visit "except for one thing - which was seeing poor Philip afficted.

One page, 4to, good condition. "Thanks for your letter. I'm afraid that my reading days are long over - too busy - Sorry! Thanks for the invitation."

The Oxford DNB entry on Sir Walter Besant states that, 'Concerned to cultivate better understanding with North America, Besant worked in the last two years of his life for the Atlantic Union.' In fact it was Besant who founded the club in 1900, with Conan Doyle and others, with the object, according to The Times, 22 February 1900, 'of drawing together the various English-speaking peoples and strengthening the bonds of union by the formation of ties of personal friendship among individual members'.

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight traces of glue from mount on reverse, which is docketed 'Phillips the Portrait Painter'. The note reads: 'Dear Sir | Your Picture is now varnished & ready to be sent away. Pray be so good as to favour me with the Direction for the Case'.

1p., 12mo. Good, on aged paper, with traces of grey paper mount adhering to the reverse. Reads: 'Gentlemen | I shall be much obliged by your forwarding the wine to me immediately with an account of your expences - | Your obedt servt | Tho Denman | 50 Russell Square | March 17. 1831'.

2pp., 12mo. In envelope addressed by Stirling to 'C Lonsdale Esqre. | Bond Street'. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. 'Mrs. Stirling does not know how to thank Mr. Londsdale for his great kindness - not only now but always shewn to her by him. Mrs. Stirling remembers that she has the full store of the Midsummer Nights' [sic] Dream belonging to Mr. Lonsdale but she is warned by Mr. Lonsdale's Messenger that she must not now stop to thank Mr. Lonsdale fully, as she would wish.'

One page, 12mo, bifolium, good condition. "Edinburgh University Free Trade Union | I am much obliged to you and your Committee for your kind invitation to the platform on the occasion of Lord Hugh Cecil's address. I greatly regret that I am unable to be present, as I have promised to address one of the Edinburgh University Societies on the evening of October 21st. | With best wishes for the success of the meeting [...]"

4pp., 12mo. 65 lines of text. Bifolium. In fair condition: on aged paper with one dogeared corner. He begins by apologising for not returning her manuscript sooner: 'what with my Doctorate exam: and other things, I have been specially busy'. Having been 'completely through the MSS' he lists those he likes best: 'the Rhapsodies (especially No. 1 - also No. 5 and No. 3 - especially the opening subject of No. 5).

1p., 4to (22.5 x 18cm). On laid paper. In fair condition, aged and with slight chipping. The sketches are crude but attractive, headed with a line of three girls in black stockings and petticoats shaking a leg, with the phrase 'The poppy' in the top left-hand corner, and a line of girls at the foot, with an oriental male figure with cane in the background, captioned 'Mamma's Alabama Coon'. Two sketches of the 'Shepherdess' at bottom right, with usual broad-brimmed hat and crook. Hattie Starr's 'Little Alabama Coon' took London by storm in 1894.

ALS, on letterhead of 4 Whitehall Court, London; 'Tuesday' [1924], in envelope, 2pp., 8vo. 'You know all sorts of useful things - can you tell me of any way of getting in touch with Mary Ansell - Mary Barrie - Mary Cannan - Mary? here my knowledge stops. [...] Are you "sitting under" Bernard Shaw evening after evening - as I believe is said of preachers? I am going to begin my course on Friday.'

ALS, on letterhead of 28 Mallord Street, Chelsea; 11 March 1923. Regarding an invitation, he cannot 'promise to come' as he is 'going to America very soon and in consequence my time is very crowded; - in addition, I am preparing for an exhibition at the end of the month'. With note by MG concerning the Lynd's home at 32 Queen's Gate.

1p., 4to. On a piece of watermarked laid paper. Aged, and with chipping and loss along the fold lines, which have been repaired on the reverse with (nineteenth-century?) tape. The words 'Cromwells Protector' in a later hand at the head of the reverse, which is otherwise blank. Accompanied by a autograph transcript (3pp., foolscap 8vo) by Beamont, 'Copied from the original Mar. 15, 1878', and an Autograph Letter (2pp., 12mo) from him to 'Miss Blackburne', on letterhead of Orford Hall, Warrington, also dated 15 March 1878. Beamont begins his letter: 'I return your paper with a transcript.

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of glue from mount on blank reverse. He informs Walford that he is returning 'the notes of my career having made some slight alterations'. He suggests that it would be 'well for me to compare the proof with the drafts'.

1p., 4to. In good condition, on a lightly aged and worn leaf removed from an album. The poem is twenty lines long, arranged in five four-line stanzas. The first stanza reads 'Dear Sister, Christian Heroine! | Stranger to me thy form & voice - | I venerate that zeal of thine, | And while I blush, for thee rejoice'. The second stanza is somewhat heretical: 'Nor Male nor Female is in Him | Who Born of Woman, both hath sav'd: | She conquers every terror grim, - | She thousand deaths for Him has brav'd!' The third stanza begins: '"A woman slew him:" Gideon'ss son'.

2pp., 4to. Bifolium. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with minor evidence of previous mounting. Apparently addressing an autograph hunter, she writes: 'I beg to forward you a specimen of my "pothooks and hangers" trusting you will "admire" if you honestly can. Believe I have pleasure in gratifying your request and am with truth my dear | Ever yours faithfully | Eliza Cook'. The poem, also signed 'Eliza Cook', is four lines long, beginning 'That stroke indeed would deeply gash'. There is no indication that the poem was published.

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter is addressed to 'T. Hellier Denselow Esq.', but the accompanying envelope (with stamp and postmark) is addressed by him to 'D. [sic] Hellier Denselow Esqre | 137 Hurlingham Road | London S.W.' Owen thanks Denselow 'for all the nice things in your letter', adding that he is 'glad you like the sketches. I do myself occasionally - not often.' Denselow would himself appear to have been a commercial artist, with a studio in Gunnersbury Lane in west London.

1p., 4to. On laid paper watermarked 'G & R TURNER | 1829'. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Docketed on the reverse 'Bayley [sic] | 1830' and 'By Thomas Haynes Bayly, Poet | Author of "I'd be a butterfly etc etc'. The poem is sixteen lines long, and begins: 'My own Love! my true Love! here's health & joy to you Love, | A happy year without a tear & sweet smiles not a few Love! | Of all my anniversaries, I prize your Birth day best.

2pp., 8vo. Neatly written out on two leaves of laid paper with watermark of Caxton Superfine Vellum. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The poem consists of twenty-eight lines arranged in seven four-line stanzas, the first reading: 'On lake and fell the loud rains beat, | And August closes rough and rude.