ENGLISH

Poems of Rural Life in Common English.

Author: 
William Barnes [Dorset dialect poetry]
Publication details: 
London: Macmillan and Co. 1868. [London: Printed by Spottiswoode and Co., New-Street Square and Parliament Street.]
£65.00

First edition. 8vo: xii + 200 + [iv] pp. (the last four pages an unpaginated publisher's catalogue). In original blue cloth, gilt. Fair, tight copy, on lightly-aged paper, with some spotting to endpapers. Binding with dulled spine and minor spotting. Bookplate of the Rev. English Crooks. Binders ticket ('BOUND BY BURN & CO.') to rear pastedown. Half-title reads 'RURAL POEMS'. The 'translation' of the three collections beginning with 'Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect' (1844).

Coloured engraving: 'Copy of the Transparency exhibited at Ackermann's Repository of Arts, During the Illuminations of the 5th and 6th of November, 1813, In Honour of the Splendid Victories obtained by The Allies over the Armies of France, at Leipsic

Author: 
Thomas Rowlandson [Rudolph Ackermann, Repository of Arts, Strand, London; Napoleon Bonaparte; Regency caricature]
Publication details: 
Date, place and publisher not stated. [London: R. Ackermann, 1813.]
£250.00

On a piece of good wove paper, roughly 415 x 260 mm. Dimensions of engraving 180 x 220 mm. On aged paper and with the margins of the leaf trimmed. Laid down along the right hand margin runs a strip of blue paper, 30 x 410 mm, which it may be possible for a professional restorer to remove. This edges the border of the print (which is clear and entire) and overlaps a few letters of the text. Neatly coloured in sombre tones.

The Art of Poetry, Written in French by The Sieur de Boileau. In Four Canto's. Made English By Sir William Soames, Since Revis'd by John Dryden, Esq;

Author: 
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux; Sir William Soames; John Dryden; Henry Hills junior, London printer
Publication details: 
London: Printed and Sold by H. Hills, in Black-fryars near the Water-side. 1710.
£400.00

12mo: 40 pp. Disbound. Good, on lightly aged paper. Contemporary ownership inscription of 'William Francklyn" on title-page. This edition is scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at Liverpool.

Typed Letter Signed to Rev. J. W. Thompson, "Brockenhurst", Birmingham Road, Walsall, Staffs.

Author: 
Philip Unwin, cousin of Sir Stanley Unwin (1884-1968) [George Allen & Unwin Ltd, publishers; Sir Stanley Unwin]
Publication details: 
20 August 1931; on letterhead of George Allen & Unwin Ltd, Publishers and Exporters.
£45.00

4to, 2 pp. Thirty-two lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. A tactful letter in response to an enquiry concerning the possibility of employment as a translator of Dutch publications. Unwins 'very seldom have occasion to translate from Dutch, but we should always be glad to give consideration to any important Dutch book which you were able to bring to our attention'. He suggests times when Thompson might be able to meet Stanley Unwin, who is travelling on the continent.

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 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 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 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.'

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'.

Two Deeds Indented (Indentures), relating to the purchase by Guy of various Yorkshire estates, and the sale by him of the same to Sir Cyril Wyche.

Author: 
Henry Guy (bap.1631 d.1711) of Tring, politician and courtier [Yorkshire topography; Sir Cyril Wyche; Richard Lightfoot; Francis, Lord Hawley; Sir Charles Harbord; Sir William Howard; Sir John Talbot]
Publication details: 
Indentures of 18 July 1672 and 11 March 1674; receipt of 12 August 1672; particular of 18 July 1672.
£450.00

INDENTURE OF 1672: 'ex[ecute]d. by Rich: Lighfoot Clerk to ye Trustees', on one side each of two large vellum skins. Wear at folds, affecting the occasional word or phrase. Docketed on grubby reverse of first skin. Borders in red, and with attractive hand-drawn Royal Crest within large initial at head. 'Betwene the right honourable ffrancis Lord Hawley Sr. Charles Harbord Knight his majesties Surveyor generall Sr. William Howard of Tandridge in the County of Surrey Knight Sr.

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.

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.'

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.

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.

Kisses, being an English translation in Verse of the Basia of Joannes Secundus Nicolaïus of the Hague, Accompanied with the original Latin Text; to which is added An Essay on the Life and Writings of Secundus.

Author: 
Joannes Secundus Nicolaius [John Lodge, engraver; Thomas Davies, Bookseller to the Royal Academy, Russell Street, Covent Garden]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for T. Davies, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden, Bookseller to the Royal Academy; and sold by J. Bew, in Paternoster-Row. 1775.
£56.00

8vo: 224 pp. Errata on last page. Frontispiece and portrait of the author on p.65 by Lodge. In original brown calf binding, with red label with 'Kisses of Secundus' in gilt, on spine. A tight copy, with the flyleaves becoming detached, the frontispiece foxed and with a closed tear at the head of the hinge, and a 4mm ink stain spreading upwards along the leaves along the bottom edge. Elegantly printed, with a four-page preface by the unnamed translator, followed by a 32-page 'Essay on the Life and Writings of Secundus'.The poems are on the versos, with the translations on the facing rectos.

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.

Handbill headed 'An Account of a Grand Fete at St. Ives, On 23rd of April, 1702, in honor of Queen Anne's Coronation; Taken from a Manuscript Book compiled by Edmund Pettis, at the time.'

Author: 
Joseph Harris [St Ives, Cornwall; printed ephemera; handbill]
Publication details: 
Note by Harris at foot dated 'St. Ives, 29th June, 1814.'; 'CROFT PRINTER, &c. ST. IVES.'
£150.00

On one side of a piece of wove paper, dimensions roughly 365 x 255 mm. Laid down on a larger leaf. Lightly creased and a little spotted, but good overall, and with the text entirely legible. The upper part of the item consists of the quotation from Pettis's manuscript book, consisting of nineteen lines in single column and twenty-six lines in double column. It begins 'The day was usher'd in with Ringing, Music, and Versing from door to door. At Eleven o'Clock a Cavalcade was formed in the Court Yard, West of the Church, which made a gallant appearance, in manner and form following'.

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'.

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 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'.

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.'

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