ENGLISH

Autograph Signature of the novelist Gilbert Frankau, cut from letter.

Author: 
Gilbert Frankau (1884-1952), popular British novelist
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£23.00

On 12 x 21 cm rectangle, cut from the base of a 4to leaf. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with part of the card mount adhering to the reverse. A firm flowing signature which reads: 'Yours sincerely | Gilbert Frankau'.

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.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E Duncan') from the engraver and watercolour painter Edward Duncan, inviting John Paget to a meeting of the Chalcographic Society at his house.

Author: 
Edward Duncan (1803-1882), English engraver and watercolour painter [The Chalcographic Society; John Paget]
Publication details: 
110 Adelaide Road, Haverstock Hill. 17 August 1863.
£65.00

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with a couple of small spots of glue from mount. Numbered in another hand at the foot of the second page. He writes: 'The Chalcographic Soicety meet at my house on Friday evening next 21st inst | If you can favor me with your company on that evening it will give me great pleasure.' For information about the Chalcographic Society, founded in 1807, see Dennis M. Read's biography of 'R. H. Cromek' (2011).

Autograph Letter Signed ('H: B: Fielding') from Henry Borron Fielding, inviting the recipient to join the Earl of Burlington, Earl Stanhope and Professor Owen as trustees on presentation of his herbarium and library to London Royal Botanical Society.

Author: 
Henry Borron Fielding (1805-1851), botanist [Fielding Herbarium, University of Oxford; London Royal Botanical Society; Earl of Burlington; Earl Stanhope; Sir Richard Owen; James De Carl Sowerby]
Publication details: 
Bolton Lodge, Lancaster. 6 January 1842.
£180.00

2pp., 12mo. 29 lines. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of previous mounting, and the annotation '13/19' in a contemporary hand. A significant letter relating to an important collection. Fielding bequeathed his herbarium and botanical library to the University of Oxford where, as the Oxford DNB explains, they formed for many years 'one of the key resources for the study of botany'.

Autograph Letter Signed from Mrs Mary Bayly, describing to 'Mrs. Barrow' the ill-health that prevents her from accepting her invitation to take part in 'Temperance Work'.

Author: 
Mrs Mary Bayly, missionary; founder of 'Mothers' Society', 1853, author of 'Ragged Homes and How to mend them' (1859), temperance campaigner with her husband Captain George Bayly of Trinity House
Publication details: 
5 Kempshott Road, Streatham Common. 15 February [no year].
£45.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of glue from mount. It would give her 'very much pleasure' to accept the invitation 'to join you & other dear workers in the Temperance Work you are planning for April, but I am sorry to say at present I am quite liad aside from all work'. She describes how she has been ill since the previous October.

Autograph Letter Signed from the poet Stephen Phillips to 'Mr Greenwood' [the journalist James Greenwood?]

Author: 
Stephen Phillips (1864-1915), English poet, playwright and actor [James Greenwood (c.1835-1927)]
Publication details: 
Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middlesex. Undated.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged grey paper, with slight chipping at one corner. The letter accompanies a copy of an unnamed play, which Phillips hopes will interest Greenwood. 'I will stand or fall by it. I have learnt so much from your criticism (more indeed than from any one) that I should hope that you might continue possibly that line of such sane and helpful criticism which I have learned to look for from "the onlooker".' He concludes by declaring that there is no one to whom he is sending the book 'with greater pleasure'.

Holograph essay by the Nantwych antiquary T. W. Jones, entitled 'Notices of Richard Brathwayte and his Works.' Accompanied by an Autograph Letter Signed ('T: W: Jones.') from Jones to Rev. Henry Green, regarding Brathwaite.

Author: 
T. W. Jones, Attorney at Law, Barker Street, Nantwich, antiquary [Rev. Henry Green; Richard Brathwaite [Brathwait; Brathwayte; Brathwayt] (1587-1673), English poet, Shakespeare contemporary]
Publication details: 
Holograph essay dated 'T. W. J. | June 1866.' Letter: Barker Street, Nantwich. 3 July 1866.
£400.00

Both essay and letter on aged and brittle paper, with some chipping to extremities (not affecting text). Both are written in a tight, close hand. The letter: 2pp., 12mo.

Autograph draft of a circular letter by the comedian Tommy Trinder urging Equity members to vote in favour of Sunday opening in a wartime ballot on that question. With a typescript of the circular, and a printed facsimile of Trinder's signature.

Author: 
Tommy Trinder [Thomas Edward Trinder] (1909-1989), English stage, screen and radio comedian with the catchphrase 'You lucky people!' [C.A.S.T., Campaign of Actors for Sunday Theatres, 1943]
Publication details: 
Undated [1943].
£120.00

The three items are stapled to one another, in good condition on lightly-aged paper. The first item is the typescript, which is 1p., 4to. It is addressed to 'Dear Brother Artist,' and begins: 'You will possibly be rather surprised to receive a letter from me, but after having spent most of my life in the Provinces, I now find myself landed in London. I am surprised at the amount of discussion and activity that takes place here regarding the "politics" of the theatre - and realise how you in the Provinces are apt to get left out.

Material mainly relating to the Second World War and the Battle of Britain, from the papers of Flying Office Robert French Helm, Royal Air Force, including autograph material, photographs, tables.

Author: 
Flying Officer Robert French Helm (1913-1995), Royal Air Force [The Battle of Britain]
Publication details: 
The photographs date from the 1940s; the rest of the material circa 1960.
£400.00

Helm's promotion on 3 September 1940 to the rank of Flying Officer (41020) is recorded in the London Gazette, 15 October 1940. After the war he joined the International Civil Aviation Authority, working in Iran and Zambia, and was elected to the Membership of the Institute of Navigation, Royal Geological Society, in 1971. A total of 59pp., 8vo, of pencil notes and tables by Helm, relating to the RAF in the Second World War, with 6 original photographs.

Autograph Signature of the actor Charles Kean, brother of Edmund Kean.

Author: 
Charles Kean [Charles John Kean] (1811-1868), Irish actor, brother of Edmund Kean (1787-1833)
Publication details: 
Aster House [New York]. 9 June 1846.
£23.00

A good, firm signature, written on one side of a rectangle torn from the base of a letter, roughly 15 x 20cm. Aged and little creased. Written while Kean was on an American theatrical tour, the fragment reads 'I remain, | Yours truly | [signed] Charles Kean | Aster House | 9th. June | 1846.' In pencil on the reverse: 'Presented by A. Bassler'.

Typed Letter Signed from the Anglo-Jewish novelist Emanuel Litvinoff, thanking Derek Stanford for a review, and discussing the novelist Angus Wilson ('one of the few writers to whom I've written a fan letter') and short story writing.

Author: 
Emanuel Litvinoff (19150-2011), Anglo-Jewish novelist [Derek Stanford (1918-2008), Anglo-Jewish author and critic; Angus Wilson (1913-1991), English novelist]
Publication details: 
36 Byron Court, Mecklenburgh Square, London. 2 July 1973.
£165.00

1p., 4to. He thanks Stanford for sending 'the carbon' of his 'warm review' of Litvinoff's novel ('A Death out of Season'). He missed the article and the note Stanford wrote 'about my autobiographical sequence' in the Scotsman, but is now iinterested to see from the review that Stanford is 'nursing the idea of a 'Forties memoir. Amazingly, few of us have written about the decade. I shall be getting around to it one day also, I hope.

Ten manuscript business letters, seven in English and two in French, from six different British wine merchants, to the French cognac house Messrs. Otard Dupuy & Co., placing orders, reporting news of the Brandy trade in Britain and shipping.

Author: 
[Messrs. Otard Dupuy & Co, French cognac house founded in 1795 by Jean-Baptiste Antoine Otard [later with Léon and Jean Dupuy], based in the Château des Valois (Château de Cognac), Cognac, Charente]
Publication details: 
From Aberdeen, Exeter, London, Liverpool , Stockton, Sunderland. Between 1828 and 1859.
£250.00

The ten items total 19pp., 4to. Each is a bifolium, with the address and postmarks on the reverse of the second leaf. Each is docketed by Otard Dupuy. All ten are in excellent condition, on lightly-aged paper. The six firms are: Bevan & Smith, Liverpool, two letters (both 1850); Christopher Bushell & Co., Liverpool (1859); John Currie, two letters, both in French: London (1828) and Stockton (1828); A. Leveau, three letters: Aberdeen (1849), Exeter (1850) and Sunderland (1850); William Strachan & Co, London (1828); George Wildes & Co., London (1828).

Autograph Letter Signed ('Chauncey B. Tinker') from the Boswell scholar Chauncey Brewster Tinker, Professor of English Literature at Yale University, concerning the proposed presentation of a manuscript by Charles McCamie of West Virginia.

Author: 
Chauncey Brewster Tinker (1876-1963), Professor of English Literature at Yale University, and authority on James Boswell and Doctor Samuel Johnson
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Yale College Department of English. 8 October 1924.
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. With stamped and postmarked envelope, addressed by Tinker to 'Chas. Mc.Carnie, Esqr., | Natl. Bank of W. V. Bldg, | Wheeling, W. V.' Tinker considers that 'The MSS.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Ellenborough') from Lord Ellenborough to John Forbes Royle, commending his 'Essay on the Productive Resource of India'.

Author: 
Edward Law (1790-1871), 1st Earl of Ellenborough, Tory politician and Governor-General of India between 1842 and 1844 [John Forbes Royle (1799-1858), English botanist, born in India]
Publication details: 
Grosvenor Place, London. 1 January 1841.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. He begins: 'I have just received your work on the productive resources of India for which I beg to offer you my best thanks.' The subject has always been to him 'one of the deepest interest', and he rejoices that 'a gentleman of your knowledge has directed his attention to it'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Louisa Parr') from the Victorian novelist Mrs Louisa Sarah Ann Parr (pseudonym 'Mrs. Olinthus Lobb'), regarding the translation into French by the neice of the unnamed female recipient of her novel 'Dorothy Fox'.

Author: 
Louisa Sarah Ann Parr [née Taylor] (c.1848-1903), Victorian novelist under the pseudonym 'Mrs. Olinthus Lobb'
Publication details: 
18 Upper Phillimore Place, Kensington. 27 July 1872.
£40.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium, with leaf dimensions 18 x 11cm. The letter appears complete, in good condition on lightly-aged paper, but a rectangle of about 5.5 x 11cm. (perhaps carrying the recipient's name) has been torn from the bottom of the second leaf.

Printed satirical circular 'To the Ratepayers of this Borough', from 'Wm. Buster, Junr.', concerning his supposed election as a Poor Law Guardian.

Author: 
'Wm. Buster, Junr.', pseudonym [English Poor Law Guardians]
Publication details: 
'Dated, May 1, 1851, Castle Villian.'
£95.00

1p., 12mo. In small type. On aged and creased paper. Signed in type: 'Beggar and Flames! | Gentlemen, | If I am not your Bum Bailiffe, [sic] | For any dirty work, | WM. BUSTER, JUNR.' The circumstances surrounding this spoof are unclear. It begins: 'In fact, I feel it a duty devolving upon me, to return you my sincere thanks for the honour you have done me, in electing me one of your Guardians.' The next paragraph concerns 'the slanderous assertion, which certain persons have industriously circulated, detractive of this honour, in fact, that I am the nominee of my own workman'.

'Premiere edition' of mimeographed English school magazine by 'les garcons de 3R', all in French, titled 'EPATANT!'

Author: 
'Les Redacteurs (A.M.P., W.R.W., P.E.R.)' and 'les garcons de 3R'
Publication details: 
July 1960.
£30.00

2pp., foolscap 8vo. Good on two leaves of lightly-aged paper attached with rusty staple. Opening note reads 'Voici la première édition de ce journal. Là-dedans les garçons de 3R ont écrit pour vous beaucoup de choses interessantes. Le titre EPATANT! signifie "smashing"! Esperons que vous le trouverez vraiment épatant!' Crossword and short articles by M. Adams, P. Robinson and W. Winfield.

Printed trade catalogue of 'Stayte' pocket and wrist watches, 'Abby bracelets', and other items, by the Birmingham jewellers Adolph Scott Ltd, containing numerous illustrations in black and white and colour.

Author: 
Adolph Scott Ltd., Birmingham jewellers [clocks and watches; trade catalogues]
Publication details: 
Adolph Scott Ltd., 24, 25 & 26, Gt. Hampton St., Birmingham.
£130.00

44pp., 4to. In original grey wraps, with coloured illustration by 'Scott' of a Restoration lady by a sundial and the word 'Watches' on front cover. In good condition, lightly-aged with slight rusting to staples. The catalogue is printed on art paper, without indication of date or publisher, but with a label printed in red from Adolph Scott Ltd, tipped in at the front, stating that 'Prices in this list are subject to 50 per cent.

Manuscript Memorandum of Agreement between J. Hain Friswell and the London publisher Henry S. King, setting out the terms of publication of Friswell's 'The Better Self'. Signed 'J. Hain Friswell'.

Author: 
James Hain Friswell (1825-1878), English essayist and novelist [Henry S. King & Co., publishers, 65 Cornhill, London]
Publication details: 
22 October 1874.
£56.00

1p., foolscap 8vo. On laid paper, with red embossed tax stamp in top left-hand corner. In fair condition, lightly-aged. The memorandum is seventeen lines long, and begins: 'Memorandum of an Agreement made this twenty second day of October One thousand eight hundred and seventy four. Between Mr J. Hain Friswell of Fair House, Bexley Heath, Kent, of the one part and Messrs. Henry S. King & Co. of 65 Cornhill London publishers of the other part. | The said Mr J. Hain Friswell has written a Work entitled "The better self" which he herby assigns to Messrs. Henry S.

Printed handbill anti-Catholic poem by Mary Frances Tupper of Albury, titled 'The Ritualists, Beware! They are Fooling Thee.'

Author: 
Mary Frances Tupper, daughter of the poet Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889) [the Middle Hill Press of Sir Thomas Phillipps]
Tupper
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [Cheltenham: Middle Hill Press, 1870.]
£50.00
Tupper

On one side of a piece of wove paper, 15.5 x 9.5 cm. In fair condition, on aged paper, with one creased corner and a small nick at the head. The drop-head title is in capitals, with the second line having only the opening quotation marks (before the initial word 'BEWARE'). The poem is 29 lines long, with three seven-line stanzas followed by an eight-line one. At the foot of the poem: 'Albury. Mary Frances Tupper.' The first stanza reads 'The stamp of Rome is on their heart, | Take care! take care! | They play the Jesuits' crafty part, | Beware! beware!

Autograph Letter Signed from the novelist Michael Sadleir to the diplomat Ernest Frederick Gye, congratulating him on his posting to Tangier.

Author: 
Michael Sadleir [born Michael Sadler] (1888-1957), English novelist and director of the publishers Constable & Co. [Ernest Frederick Gye (1879-1955), diplomat, son of Ernest Gye and Dame Emma Albani]
Sadleir
Publication details: 
On letterhead of [the offices of the publishers Constable & Co.,] 10-12 Orange St, London. 1 March 1933.
£32.00
Sadleir

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'dear Ernest'. Marked by Gye 'Ansd.' He is sending Gye 'a word of congratulations on the august appointment to Tangier'. He apologises that he cannot be 'part of the celebration on March 23'. He concludes: 'I hope you are pleased and that everything will prosper. | No answer required of course'.

Autograph Letter Signed "H L Bulwer", diplomat and writer, to "Hamilton" about a cook for his residence in Spain..

Author: 
Henry L. Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer GCB, PC (1801–1872), Liberal politician, diplomat, traveller, and writer.
Publication details: 
18 June [c.1843 when he took up a diplomatic post in Spain]
£80.00

One page, 8vo, slightly crumpled and stained but text clear and complete, as follows: I remember that at Brussels there used to be female cooks who knew french and english cooking, could you find me one which knoiws well the english way [...] I should be glad to have one who could cook my dinner in regular english style with puddings, tarts, etc etc? I [want?] a quiet honest woman to whom I can confide the care of the small house I have at Aranjuez - the wages are indifferent. | Write to me if such a person is to be found and excuse the trouble I give you [...].

Autograph Letter Signed ('Richd. Morris') from the philologist Rev. Richard Morris, Headmaster of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, to J. T. Baron of Blackburn, giving publication details of two of his works.

Author: 
Rev. Richard Morris (1833-1894), English philologist, Headmaster of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, 1875-1888
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, Wood Green, London. 10 June 1882.
£60.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good on lightly-aged paper. In original envelope, with stamp and postmarks, addressed by Morris to Baron at 18 Griffin Street, Witton, Blackburn. Morris begins by giving details of the availability of his 'Etymology of Local Names' and 'Historical Outlines', before informing Baron (a brazen autograph hunter) that he does not know 'Wm. Morris' Address, but a letter addressed to him & sent to his publisher would be forwarded'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Benjamin Britten') and Typed Letter Signed ('Ben') from the composer Benjamin Britten to the publisher Hans Juda, with seven other items including an Autograph Card Signed from Britten's secretary Jeremy Cullum.

Author: 
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), English composer [Hans Juda [Hans Peter Juda] (1904-1975), art collector, publisher of the magazine 'The Ambassador']
Publication details: 
Britten's and Cullum's letters from The Red House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The nine items dating from 1962, 1964 and 1965.
£280.00

The nine items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Items One, Three and Four, from 1962, and stapled together, as are the other six items, dating from 1964-5. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed ('Benjamin Britten') from Britten to Juda. On letterhead of The Red House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. 25 July 1962. Responding to Item Three below, Britten thanks Juda for 'sending the magnificent book on Graham Sutherland', which Britten is 'very glad indeed to have'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Eduardo Paolozzi') from the Scottish sculptor Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi to Hans Brill, expressing interest in a proposition, and suggesting a meeting to discuss it.

Author: 
Eduardo Paolozzi [Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi] (1924-2005), Scottish sculptor [Hans Brill (1930-2001), librarian, art teacher and collector]
Publication details: 
107 Dovehouse Street, London. 13 May 1994.
£180.00

1p., 8vo. Good, on lightly-creased paper. He writes that he was 'very interested' to get Brill's letter. 'I will certainly work on something: I have many ideas, and you will probably be able to select something from what I will show you.' He suggests 'a drink at the Chelsea Arts Club one evening? I now have an answering machine, so you can leave a message there - or even with Monica at the College'.

Autograph Leytter Signed L.F. Salzman, economist, to Robert Lynd, essayist and Irish Nationalist.

Author: 
Louis Francis Salzman (1878-1971), British economic historian.
Publication details: 
14 Brookside, Cambridge; 19 August [1928
£200.00

ALS, 14 Brookside, Cambridge; 19 August [1928], 2pp., 12mo. Written on returning the proofs of two articles. 'I see you have cut out my proof of the early intrusion of the Friar Tuck element into the Robin Hood cycle: - the only piece of information in the article which a student could not easily find elsewhere! However, I don't suppose any students will bother about any part of these articles except the Bibliographies, so it probably doesn't matter.' He continues with a few scholarly points.

Autograph Leytter Signed Max Plowman to Robert Lynd, essayist anfd Irish Nationlist.

Author: 
Max Plowman (1883-1941), author.
Publication details: 
Letterhead of Lochnagar, Bycullah Park, Enfield; 17 December 191
£75.00

ALS, on letterhead of Lochnagar, Bycullah Park, Enfield; 17 December 1912, 3pp., 12mo. He thanks him for the 'letter & all its encouragement [...] The book represents rather under a year's work at verse & I only hope I shall not someday have to wish it had never been other than firelight.

Keywords:

Printed 'Property Plot' for a production of Ralph Lumley's 'Throrough-Bred' by 'Mr. J. L. Toole's Company', with stage manager's 'Call' sheet for 'Thoroughbred' by 'Mr. Edward A. Coventry & Mr. John R. Collins' Company'.

Publication details: 
Neither item with date or place. [First item: London: Toole's Theatre, 1893.]
£180.00

The production to which the first item relates was Toole's last before being forced by gout to retire from the London stage. Both items in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper; the first with short closed tear at head. Both printed on one side only. Item One: 33 x 21 cm. Headed 'Mr. J. L. Toole's Company. | THOROUGH-BRED. | PROPERTY PLOT.' Listing, under 'Stage' and 'Hand', all the props needed for the three acts, the last (and shortest) entry reading '[ACT III.] HAND. | Field glasses, cases. Race cards for all. Letter (WILHELMINA). Set of bones (TOSH). Coins (all). 2 tambourines.

Typed Note Signed from the novelist Naomi Mitchison to 'Miss Steele', asking her to forward a letter.

Author: 
Naomi Mitchison [Naomi Mary Margaret Mitchison, née Haldane], Lady Mitchison (1897-1999), novelist and social activist [The Bournemouth Little Theatre Club, founded 1919]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of River Court, Hammersmith Mall, W6. 12 December 1932.
£40.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She writes that she is enclosing a letter, which she would like sent on 'to the Manager of the Bournemouth Little Theatre Club if you will, as I do not know the address'.

Syndicate content