ENGLISH

Autograph Letter Signed ('R. Brimley Johnson') [to Swan Sonnenschein], proposing a work for publication, and outlining his literary achievements.

Author: 
R. Brimley Johnson [Reginald Brimley Johnson] (1867-1932), English author and editor [Swan Sonnenschein, London publishers]
Publication details: 
19 February 1893; on embossed letterhead of Llandaff House, Cambridge.
£65.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He was introduced to the recipient 'by Mr. Philip Malleson of Croydon, when I wanted to send an Essay to The Albemarle'. Asks if he 'might be disposed to let me write a volume on Jane Austen or Leigh Hunt for your Dilettante Library', Austen being 'specially before the public just now'. He has edited Austen's novels and two 'well received' volumes of selections from Hunt for 'Mr. Dent's Temple Library'. 'If you do not care to arrange for either of these authors I would suggest Miss Burney[,] Hazlitt or T. L. Peacock.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Martin Armstrong') to Thorpe.

Author: 
Martin Armstrong [Martin Donisthorpe Armstrong] (1882-1974), English novelist and poet [Thomas Thorp, Guildford bookseller]
Publication details: 
15 January 1933; Sutton, Pulborough, Sussex, on cancelled letterhead of 37 Great Ormond Street, London.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Giving the details of three titles from Thorp's 'large catalogue' which he hopes are still available (one is ticked in pencil and the other two marked as sold). 'Also can you let me have a cheap copy of John Masefield's "Sea Life in The Time of Nelson" and J. R. Hutchinson's "The Press Gang Afloat & Ashore." Publishers and prices of both items are noted in pencil, with 'Cheque Noted' in margin.

Autograph Note Signed ('George A Lawrence') to unnamed publisher [Tinsley?].

Author: 
George A. Lawrence [George Alfred Lawrence] (1827-1876), English novelist
Publication details: 
Undated. On monogrammed letterhead of 25 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, London.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Six lines. Mourning border. Text clear and complete. Aged, creased and a little grubby. Asking to be sent '4 copies of "The Butterfly", if ready', and if not to be told 'when it will be'. Lawrence published his 'Breaking a Butterfly; Or Blanche Ellerslie's Ending' anonymously by Tinsley in 1869.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George A Lawrence') to an unnamed publisher [George Routledge?].

Author: 
George A. Lawrence [George Alfred Lawrence] (1827-1876), English novelist [Miss Caulfield; George Routledge]
Publication details: 
22 March 1858; Plymouth.
£35.00

16mo (leaf dimensions 13 x 10 cm), 3 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and lightly creased paper with small closed tear in margin (not affecting text). He has been asked by 'Miss Caulfield' to 'perform the ceremony of "introduction" with a view to your publishing (if you approved of it) a work she has lately written [...] <"Janet de Rinzy?">'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos: Day') to 'Edmund Taylor Esqe | Castle Yard Windsor | Berkshire', including original unpublished forty-line manuscript poem by Day entitled 'Lines address'd to Windsor', in which he has 'spit his spite' on the town.

Author: 
Thomas Day [Edmund Taylor; Windsor, Berkshire; Oxford Street; Georgian London; John Romney?; Matthew Cotes Wyatt?]
Publication details: 
25 March 1810; Oxford Street.
£40.00

The work of a cultured and witty man, but not by the author of 'Sandford and Merton', who died in 1789. While possible authors include the 'Mr. Thomas Day, solicitor, Woburn, Bedfordshire', whose death at the age of 47 on 18 February 1824 was reported in The Times (5 March 1824), and the Thomas Day who lived around this time at Montague Street, Russell Square, the most likely candidate, considering the references to 'Romney' and 'Wyatt' is the Thomas of 'DAY William, and Thomas Day, of No. 95, Gracechurch-street, in the city of London, oilmen', who went bankrupt in 1841.

Autograph Note Signed ('Henry Newbolt') to Routledge.

Author: 
Sir Henry Newbolt (1862-1938), English poet [George Routledge & Sons, publishers]
Publication details: 
13 October 1906; on letterhead of 23, Earl's Terrace, Kensington, W.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Thanking them for the cheque, and returning the 'form of permission to reprint the four poems, signed' (not present).

Autograph Card Signed ('H C Beeching') to Messrs Swan Sonnenschein & Co., publishers.

Author: 
Henry Charles Beeching (1859-1919), Dean of Norwich and author
Publication details: 
Postmarked 21 June 1905; on letterhead '3, Little Cloisters, Westminster.'
£23.00

Plain card, roughly 8.5 x 11 cm. Five lines of text. A little grubby, but good. Asking for his manuscript, so that he can 'correct the proof of the Introduction to Crashaw. It was written so many years ago that I can't always recall what I wrote'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Lewis Melville') to Messrs George Routledge & Sons, Ltd.

Author: 
Lewis Melville' [Lewis S. Benjamin (1874-1932)], English author and actor
Publication details: 
5 August 1903; 1 Doughty Street, Mecklenburgh Square, W.C., on cancelled letterhead of the Weekly Dispatch.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. 7 lines of closely-written text. Clear and complete. On aged and slightly-grubby paper. He has received their letter regarding his 'Life of Thackeray', and appreciates 'the reason for your delay in deciding whether or no to issue a cheap edition. Undoubtedly the inclusion of my book in a series would benefit us both, & I hope Mr Lee may be able to make me an offer.'

Seven original aerial propaganda leaflets dropped by Bomber Command (six over Germany; one over France), 1939-1945; with copies of a further two (in German). All nine items with accompanying contemporary typewritten translations by W. A. Green.

Author: 
British propaganda leaflets dropped on Germany and France by Bomber Command, 1939-1945 [World War Two; Psywar; Political Warfare Executive]
Publication details: 
1939 to 1945.
£220.00

Seven scarce examples of English Second World War propaganda, six aimed at Germany and the last at France. Ephemeral and scarce. The seven are clear and complete, on lightly-aged paper with occasional minor rust spotting. Each consists of two pages printed on a leaf 21 x 13.5 cm, except for Five, the dimensions of which are 21 x 13 cm. Five (red and black) is the only item not printed simply in black and white. All seven in German, except Seven, which is in French. All translations in typescript and on A4 leaves.

Four printed leaflets relating to the English League for the Taxation of Land Values.

Author: 
The English League for the Taxation of Land Values [Frederick Verinder (1858-1948), General Secretary]
Publication details: 
All circa 1903. All 'Printed by Page & Pratt, Ltd., 22 St Andrew St., E.C.' [London].
£250.00

All four items clear and complete, on aged paper with wear to the extremities of item one. Item One: 'Leaflet No. 1. English League for the Taxation of Land Values. Statement of Principles.' 12mo, 4 pp, on unbound bifolium. Headings include 'Objects of the League', 'Meaning of Land Values', 'The Taxation of Land Values would be just', 'The Taxation of Land Values would promote general prosperity and remove social evils'. Item Two: '[...] No. 3. The Taxation of Land Values: What it would do. 12mo leaflet, 2 pp.

Typed Letter Signed ('G. N. S. Hunt') to Mrs Steward of Beckenham, Kent.

Author: 
G. N. S. Hunt [Geoffrey Hunt] [Oxford University Press; Geoffrey Cumberlege; Amen Corner; Christ Church, Newgate Street]
Publication details: 
2 December 1955; on Oxford University Press letterhead (Amen House, London).
£28.00

4to: 1 page. Twenty-one lines of text. Good, on creased and lightly-aged paper. An impressively-considered letter, declining Mrs Steward's manuscript 'I had rather be a Doorkeeper'. 'As you point out, Christ Church, Newgate Street, is a near neighbour of Amen House, and its ruins are a pathetic sight.

Large advertising board, bearing a 'SPECIMEN PLATE' ('The Shadow of Death': 'Holman Hunt, Pinx. The Art Journal. Goupilgravure.'), for 'The Life and Work of W. Holman Hunt. By Archdeacon Farrar.'

Author: 
William Holman Hunt; Archdeacon Frederic William Farrar [Dean Farrar; Pre-Raphaelite; The Art Journal; Alice Meynell; J. S. Virtue & Co. Ltd.; Goupilgravure]
Publication details: 
[1893.] 'London: J. S. Virtue & Co. Ltd.' [The Art Journal.]
£85.00

Printed on one side of a piece of cream paper, roughly 33.5 x 25.5 cm. Laid down on card. Clear and complete, with a good impression of the plate (22.5 x 17.5 cm), on lightly-aged, grubby paper, with slight wear to extremities. Presumably produced for display in a shop window. The title ('THE LIFE AND WORK OF | W. HOLMAN HUNT. | BY ARCHDEACON FARRAR.') at head, and 'SPECIMEN PLATE.' at foot, in large orange letters; the rest printed in black. Beneath the plate: 'THE SHADOW OF DEATH. | BY PERMISSION OF MESSRS. T. AGNEW & SONS. | LONDON: J. S. VIRTUE & CO.

Typed Note Signed ('Phillips Oppenheim') to Lawrence Mack, editor of Everybody's Weekly.

Author: 
E. Phillips Oppenheim (1866-1946) [Lawrence Mack; Everybody's Weekly]
Publication details: 
26 April 1928; on letterhead of Villa Deveron, Cagnes, Alpes-Maritmes, France.
£56.00

8vo: 1 p. Good, on lightly-creased paper, with a faint 4cm pink stain in the right-hand margin. Reads 'Many thanks for the copy of your interesting paper, and the kindly reference to my novel.'

A Catalogue of New & Popular Works, And of Books for Children, Suitable for Presents, Sunday School Libraries, and Prizes.

Author: 
E. P. Dutton & Co., publishers, New York [book catalogue; children's books; juvenile]
Publication details: 
[October 1881] New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 713, Broadway. Griffith & Farran, St. Paul's Churchyard, London.
£30.00

12mo. 32 pages. Unbound. On browned high-acidity paper. Loss to margins of first and last leaves, but text clear and complete, save for the dating in bottom left-hand corner of the title: <...> 8. 81. Cancelling all previous Editions of this Catalogue.' Line in blue pen around the words 'for Children' in the title, and pencil markings (by a child) to p.30. Circular engraving beneath title captioned 'Goldsmith introduced to Newbery by Dr.

Typed Note Signed to Stanley Unwin.

Author: 
Arnold Bennett (1867-1931), English novelist [Sir Stanley Unwin (1884-1968), publisher]
Publication details: 
9 December 1930; 97 Chiltern Court, Clarence Gate, NW1.
£65.00

4to, 1 p. Four lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight staining from paperclip in top left-hand corner. He thanks him for his 'very interesting letter': 'The photograph shows an agreeable, and perhaps distinguished building. I return the picture thereof, and wish you every success therein.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('von Bülow'), in English, to 'Jon Shelly Esq | Yarmouth'.

Author: 
Heinrich Ulrich Wilhelm von Bulow [von Bülow; von Buelow] (1791-1846), Baron von Bulow, Prussian Minister in London, 1827-1845; and Wilhelm von Humboldt's son-in-law
Publication details: 
2 October 1825; Hull [Kingston upon Hull].
£56.00

4to: 3 pp. A bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Thin strip of brown paper mount still adhering in inner margin of reverse of second leaf. Forty-six lines of text, clear and complete. A small square of paper, bearing Von Bulow's red wax seal (with clear impression) has been cut away from the second leaf and neatly placed beneath the signature. Address, with circular Hull postmark in black ink, on reverse of second leaf.

Receipt, signed 'B Nichols, 25 Parliament Street', for a guinea subscription to Forby's 'Vocabulary'. Countersigned by Fletcher.

Author: 
John Bowyer Nichols and Son, Printers and Booksellers; John Kitson; Simon Wilkin, Norwich bookseller; Josiah Fletcher, Norwich bookbinder [The Gentleman's Magazine]
Publication details: 
11 December 1829. On printed company letterhead.
£25.00

On one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 10.5 x 17.5 cm. Good. Printed in top left-hand corner: 'To J. B. Nichols and Son. Printers and Booksellers. 25, Parliament Street, Westminster. ***Office, 10, King Street, Westminster.' Asks that the 'Subscription to Forby's Vocabulary 1 1 0' be paid to him or to 'Mr Wilkin, Bookseller, herewith'. Countsigned crosswise 'Received for S. Wilkin | [signed] Josiah Fletcher | Jan 25/30'. Docketed on reverse. BBTI has Wilkin as a bookseller in Norwich from before 1821 to 1830; and Fletcher as a binder and printer there from around 1820 to 1835.

Janus, Lake Sonnets, etc. and other Poems.

Author: 
David Holt [William Pickering, London bookseller; the Aldine Press; Charles Whittingham, printer; the Chiswick Press]
Publication details: 
London: William Pickering, Piccadilly. George Bell, Fleet Street. 1853. ['C. Whittingham, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane.']
£56.00

12mo: viii + 207 pp. Advertisement and printer's slug on reverse of last leaf. Additional sepia engraved title ('T. Letherbrow. Del. W. Morton. Sc. Manchr.') with illustration depicting a stern-looking woman (one of the fates?) holding a bobbin of thread. By her side a cherub with a lyre and a large, incongruous metal cog. In original blind-stamped green cloth binding. A tight copy, lightly foxed and aged, in faded binding with slight wear and a small stain to the front board. Ownership stamp of Florence Armaghdale on front free endpaper. Last two leaves opened clumsily. Scarce.

Five illustrated handbills: 'Adam & Eve in Paradise'; 'The Sun of Righteousness', 'A Supposed Conference between a King and a Christian', 'The Rose of Sharon' and 'The Last Day! "Prepare to meet thy God.' Christ coming to Judge the World.'

Author: 
James Catnach, broadsheet printer, 2 Monmouth Court, Seven Dials, London [ephemera; handbills; broadsides; Victorian printing]
Publication details: 
All undated and printed by James Catnach, 2 Monmouth-Court, Seven Dials.
£500.00

Each of the five items printed on one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 50 x 37 mm. All five good, on aged and lightly-spotted paper, with text and illustrations clear and entire, and with some wear, chipping and short closed tears to the edges. Each item with a central vertical fold. All five items with ornately decorated titles, and all of a devotional nature. Item One: 'Adam & Eve in Paradise.' ('Printed by J.

Autograph Letter Signed (with accent: 'Hugh de Sélincourt') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Hugh de Sélincourt [Hugh de Selincourt] (1878-1951), English journalist and author
Publication details: 
3 December [1916]; 12 Hill Road, St. John's Wood, N.W.
£35.00

4to: 1 p. Fourteen lines of text. Aged and worn, with closed tears along the fold lines, but with text clear and complete. He thanks his correspondent for the letter ('It is always a great delight to me to know that people like my work.') and gives details of where the 'little book I published on "Pride of Body" ' can be purchased. Ends with the details of his 'new novel "A Soldier of Life" ': 'I mention it, as you say it is difficult for you to get hold of books and I should like you to read it.'

Autograph Letter Signed to Helen Frances Church [née Bennett].

Author: 
Robert Scott (1811-1887), Dean of Rochester, lexicographer [Liddell & Scott's Greek-English Lexicon; Richard William Church (1815-1890), Dean of St Paul's]
Publication details: 
23 July 1875. Deanery of Rochester.
£30.00

12mo, 2 pp. Fourteen lines of text. He has put her 'memorandum' with 'the others of a like kind', and does not doubt that he will 'be able to vote for your Orphan Boy -'. The Scotts are 'on the point of escaping to Folkestone', and hopes that Mrs Church is 'going to some place which [will] do you all much good'. Sends kind regards to Mrs Church '& the Dean'.

The Seven Pilgrims: An Allegory. Published by Request.

Author: 
Rev. Frederic Charles Skey, M.A. [vicar of Weare, Somerset; Yarmouth; provincial printing]
Publication details: 
Yarmouth: Printed by George Nall, 182, King Street. 1860.
£150.00

12mo: 16 pp. Unbound. Stitched as issued. Aged and a little dogeared. From the Skey family archives, and inscribed by the author at the head of the title 'For my dear Mother.' A prose allegory, in small print, beginning, 'I thought there was an island whose rough craggy sides were lashed by the unwearying ocean.' Excessively scarce: no copy on COPAC or WorldCat. Skey was vicar of Weare for forty-five years, until his death at the age of 83.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J A Froude') to Adolphus.

Author: 
James Anthony Froude (1818-1894), English historian [John Leycester Adolphus (c.1794-1862), barrister and writer]
Publication details: 
12 November [no year, but before 1863]. On embossed letterhead of 8 Clifton Place, Hyde Park, London.
£35.00

12mo: 2 pp. Sixteen lines of text. Good. He is 'very anxious to be introduced' at the Literary Society and 'to take advantage of [Adolphus's] kindness in proposing' him. Gives reasons for not having attending any of the Society's dinners.

Autograph Letter Signed to Wheatley.

Author: 
Edwin Norris (1795-1872), linguist and Assyriologist [Henry Benjamin Wheatley (1838-1917), bibliographer, editor and London topographer; Frederick James Furnivall]
Publication details: 
17 August 1865. Brompton.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. Thirteen lines of text. Good. The letter possibly relates to Furnivall's Early English Text Society, founded in 1865. He is enclosing a Post Office Order for a guinea, but, as he 'said to Mr Furnivall last year', he does not consider himself a subscriber, 'wishing to reserve the right of withdrawal in case of finding it inconvenient to pay, which will certainly be the case when I give up my official position'. Nevertheless asks Wheatley to remind him 'when the time comes for collection'.

Prospectus for Keynes's 'William Pickering, Publisher. A Memoir & a Hand-list of his Editions.'

Author: 
Geoffrey Keynes; The Fleuron [William Pickering; The Chiswick Press]
Publication details: 
1924. 'London . MCMXXIV | At the office of THE FLEURON'. ['London: Chiswick Press.']
£18.00

Quarto (25.5 x 19 cm) bifolium. Attractively-printed on watermarked laid paper. Unbound. Foxed and lightly-creased. Two short 0.5 cm buff strips of cloth from mount neatly adhering to the margin of the reverse of the second leaf. 'PERENNIS ET FRAGRANS.' enclosed within engraved wreath on title. Eighteen-line prospectus for the work on reverse of first leaf, with the recto of the second carrying a full-page facsimile of the title of Pickering's 1844 edition of John Merbecke's 1550 'The Book of Common Prayer Noted', printed in red and black. Printer's slug on reverse of second leaf.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Justin Mc.Carthy') to 'F. H. Hill Esq'.

Author: 
Justin McCarthy (1830-1912), Irish politician and writer [Frank Harrison Hill (1830-1910)], editor of the Daily News]
Publication details: 
6 February 1872, on letterhead of 48 Gower Street, Bedford Square, W.C. [London.]
£56.00

12mo: 1 p. Fourteen lines of text, neatly and closely written. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. 1 cm closed tear to a margin (not affecting text). He accepts Hill's proposal 'with regard to the Parliamentary leaders of the Daily News'. He hopes the 'condition [...] as to notice of termination [...] will prove as much of a formality without consequence as certain claims for "consequential damages" '.

Handbill poem entitled 'After Fifty Years! | September 20, 1874.' With Hall's autograph signature ('S. C. Hall').

Author: 
Samuel Carter Hall [S. C. Hall] (1800-1889), journalist, editor and author
Publication details: 
Date not stated [1874?]. At foot: 'M. W. & CO., ENT. STA. HALL.'
£56.00

Attractively produced on a piece of thin card, dimensions 17 x 11 cm. The recto of the card has a shiny, light-blue coating, on which the text and design is printed in gold and bronze. The verso is blank and white. Very good, with minor damage to the blank reverse caused by removal from mount. The poem, of thirty-one lines, is enclosed within a grecian-style border. A tender poem addressed to his wife, and reviewing their years together, beginning 'YES!

Short Poems and Sacred Verses. Third Series.

Author: 
A. S. [minor Victorian poetry; nineteenth-century devotional verse]
Publication details: 
London: 1895. [Printed for Private Circulation.]' [London: G. E. Waters, Printer, 97, Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, W.'
£100.00

12mo: iv + 164 pp. In original green cloth, with the title in gilt on the front cover. All edges gilt. Slightly foxed. Good and tight, in lightly worn cloth. A curious collection, with the index of first lines containing such entries as 'Sweet Edgbaston bells' [this poem dated 1844], 'Dear Varinka', ' 'Twas a boy in a cut-off jacket' and 'They call me little Trottie'. All three series are excessively scarce. The only copy of this third series on COPAC is in the British Library, and the only copy on WorldCat in California.

Liberal League Publications, No. 124. Hints on Successful Farming for Mr. Chamberlain and other Protectionist Farmers.

Author: 
Liberal League Publications [Westminster Gazette; Protectionism; Joseph Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer]
Publication details: 
Westminster Gazette, January 30th, 1904.' ['Published by the Liberal League, 34, Victoria St., S.W., and printed by Wightman & Co., Ltd., 43, Essex Street, Strand, W.C., and Regency Street, Westminster, S.W.']
£20.00

On both sides of a piece of wove paper, dimensions 21.5 x 14 cm. On browned high-acidity paper, lightly creased and with closed tears to the margins. Text clear and complete. Begins 'One of the best and most effective statements of the farmer's case against Protection was that made by Mr. Legh, of Adlington Hall, one of the oldest Conservative landowners in Cheshire, at a Free Trade meeting at Adlington.' The headings are 'About Butter', 'About Cheese', 'About Corn', 'About Pigs' and 'About the Farmer's Bill'.

Two issues of 'The Literary Fly'.

Author: 
[Sir Herbert Croft (1751-1815), editor] 'The Literary Fly' [Christopher Etherington, bookseller, printer and typefounder, No. 25, St. Paul's Church-Yard]
Publication details: 
Number 13: 10 April 1779. Number 14: 17 April 1779. 'Printed and Published by Etherington, at No 25, opposite the South Door of St. Paul's'.
£100.00

Both issues 8vo (roughly 30.5 x 19.5 cm), 6 pp (each a loose leaf in a bifolium). Both printed on brittle watermarked laid paper. Both unbound, and stabbed as issued, and both on aged and chipped paper, but with the text clear and entire. Each issue with the title in an expansive calligraphic design. The full slug, at the bottom of the last page of both issues, reads: 'Printed and Published by ETHERINGTON, at No 25, opposite the South Door of St. Paul's (where Letters, post-paid, to the LITERARY FLY will be received).

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