ENGLISH

The four items, all on aged and lightly spotted paper, are attached by four rusty staples. One (five pages, octavo): In reply to the firm's inquiry regarding 'the prevention of rising spaces in Monotype', Marshall states that, instead of giving information, he 'would rather send you the method and you try it out and prove for yourself its value, then pay me afterwards'.

One page, 16mo. Good. Six lines. He may be 'giving some lectures in London shortly'. 'If I could make it worth my while to deliver them at some of the leading provincial towns, I might possibly arrange to do so. Therefore any information you could give me on the subject, I should be only too happy to have'.

Two pages, 16mo. Very good. Twenty-two lines, attractively written in purple ink beneath a letterhead printed in bright red. With postmarked envelope, addressed in autograph and carrying a penny stamp. He thanks her for sending him a copy of her book 'The Luck of John Seaton'. 'It reached me down in the country where, strange to say, I was already half way through it. I bought it at the railway station & had not arrived at the name of the author, when I received your letter. They ought to always put the name on the cover.' He enjoyed the story 'from beginning to end'.

One page, 12 x 9 cms. Rust stain from paperclip and strip of offset discolouration. In purple ink. A recent letter to Harmsworth was sent to the wrong address. He has 'another letter of Yates's [Edmund Yates (1831-1894), journalist and writer?], better than the one of which you had a copy'. Wonders whether Harmsworth wishes 'to make use of it'. Would also like to know whether 'shares in "Answers" [Harmsworth's magazine 'Answers to Correspondents']' can 'be got through a broker in the ordinary way'.

ITEM ONE (note, one page, 12mo, 3 December 1871, remains of grey paper mount adhering to verso of blank second leaf of bifolium): Apologises for sending a undated note: 'I daresay you can manage to fix at about what period it was written'. ITEM TWO (note, one page, 8vo, 12 December 1872, on creased, aged paper): Declining a dinner invitation. ITEM THREE (letter, one page, 8vo, 21 November 1873, on aged paper heavily chipped at head and foot): He has just described Draper's paper to Blanchard, who 'thinks it just the very thing they want. They like to have dates.

One page, 12mo. Very good on lightly aged paper. Difficult hand. He is sending 'one number of the Magazine which was mislaid', together with 'a book of the . The is very cold & , the <?>, to have a late Spring.'

Good, on lightly aged paper. Rust stains from paperclips on one leaf. Five pages of typescripts on five quarto leaves. The first page gives the contents, and the rest are covering pages with a few words of instructions (e.g. 'PREFACE | (To be prepared after revising first proofs)' and 'APPENDIX --- Authenticity........ | To follow with Bibliography and Indexes.' The proof slip, printed and with pencil insertions, is one page, on a leaf roughly eight inches by four and a half.

On one side of the card. Dimensions, 8.5 x 11 cms. Very good. Neat inscription reading 'For Charles Wilson | with Alec Waugh's best wishes | July. 31. 1948 /.'

One one side of a piece of laid paper, 26.5 x 21 cms. Aged and creased, with chipping to extremities and staining on reverse from repair to one of two closed tears. Thirty-six lines, with facsimile of Housman's signature at foot. An appeal for 'money for the Library - your Library'. Somewhat poignant, considering the present neglected state of the British library service. '[...] The question is - do you want to give money to your Library? [...] But, for my own part, I ask - why, why Libraries? What are they for? What there do you read?

Both items one page, octavo, and on aged and creased paper. Regarding Lucas's selection from Parker's works, 'Detached links; extracts from the Writings and Discourses of Joseph Parker' (Richard D. Dickinson, 1873). LETTER ONE: Thanks Lucas for his 'kind note', but does not 'see how the suggestion it conveys can be realized. I am afraid you would find it difficult to get a publisher.' Advises Lucas 'not to pursue the idea any further'. LETTER TWO: In a shaky hand explains that he is 'so poorly just now that I cannot give any phot[ographe]r. a sitting.

Eight pages, quarto. Unbound and stitched on six leaves. Good, with recto of first leaf and verso of last somewhat more aged. With company and tax stamps. 'Mortgage, [a leasehold plot of land and messuage Numbered 26 in Barker Street Oldham in the County of Lancaster to secure £450 and interest.' Typewritten acknowledgment of payment, 25 February 1929, signed by company secretary W. Harvey and director J. Brown.

Two pages, 12mo. On gray paper. Good, though lightly ruckled and aged. He thanks her for the 'information about the silk', and accepts her invitation. He haad intended to call on her the day before, but was prevented by the weather.

Two pages, on letterhead of roughly 13.5 x 17.5 cms. He has sent a wire accepting the 'kind invitation'. '[A]s you can imagine we are rehearsing all day and every day at the present [...] The only thing thaht could stop me being with you is that we are, I understand, to record the "Fanny" music for a long-playing record on that Saturday'.

Four pages, 12mo. Very good, on lightly aged paper, with minor traces of two mounts adhering to verso of second leaf of bifolium. Praises 'the excellent Sermon'. 'You will doubtless have a difficult work at Rossall, but every term will render it less difficult' [...] One can't ask for a greater blessing than difficult work when it is also - as yours is & will be - entirely hopeful & immensely useful.

Forty-four pages, octavo, with two-page leaf of addenda loosely inserted. Four pages illustrating seventeen pictorial covers on art paper. In printed card wraps. A worn and creased copy of an influential catalogue, issued at a time when, as the introduction points out 'catalogues devoted to detective fiction [were] something of a rarity in the book trade'.

On thin laid paper roughly two and three-quarter inches by three and three-quarter inches wide. Good clean image, on aged paper with slight wear in bottom left-hand corner. Enclosed by a border. Reads, in a variety of hands, 'Thomas Payne | BOOKSELLER, | Near the South Sea House | BISHOPSGATE-STREET | LONDON. | Sells all Sorts of Stationary [sic] Wares.' According to BBTI the Thomas Payne who was at this address in 1750 may possibly be the eminent bookseller Thomas Payne I (1719-99) of the Mews Gate.

One page, on paper roughly seven inches by eight wide. Good, on lightly creased paper. Stamped with date. He thanks his correspondent for 'the typed list'. Headed 'Memorandum from | GEORGE GREGORY, Book Merchant, Library Buyer and Exporter, | The Imperial Book Store, | 5 and 5a ARGYLE STREET, BATH. | Out-of-Print and Rare, or Out-of-the-Way Books sought for and reported promptly, with option of purchase. Send me your List of Wants. | Licensed Valuer. Stock well classified in Thirty Rooms. Libraries Purchased. | Bankers: UNION OF LONDON & SMITHS BANK, LTD., BATH.

Clowes is an eminent firm of English printers, founded in London in 1803, and still thriving in Suffolk. The twelve typed letters are each one page, quarto, on the firm's Duke Street letterhead. The autograph letter is one page, 12mo, with mourning border. The collection in good condition overall, with a few items aged and lightly creased. Most items docketed and bearing the Society's stamp. All items except the circular signed by 'W A Clowes', who (he informs Wood in his first letter) has taken over from his cousin, Captain W. C.

Roughly twelve and half inches by nine and a quarter. Neatly mounted on piece of cream paper, with surrounding ink rules. Good, with some ruckling and wear to corners. Characteristically arresting arrangement of type. Reads: 'CAUTION. | THE ONLY CORRECT COPY | OF DONIZETTI'S OPERA | THE FAVOURITE | AS PERFORMED IN ENGLISH AT THE | THEATRE ROYAL DRURY LANE, | IS PUBLISHED BY | JEFFERYS AND CO.

The collection as a whole is in good condition, although lightly creased in places and somewhat dusty and aged. All items have unobtrusive pinholes, and Item Seven has fraying and closed tears to extremities. An interesting correspondence casting light on publishing practices at the turn of the nineteenth century. ITEMS ONE TO FIVE: 12mo letters from Lucas's solicitors Field, Roscoe & Co., each on the firm's letterhead, to the 'Receiver and Manager appointed to carry on [Richards'] business', H. C. K. Stileman, dated 9, 11, 18 and 21 March, and 1 April 1905.

On good thick wove paper, roughly six and a quarter inches by four and three-quarters wide. Dimensions of plate indentation five inches by three wide. Good, on aged and lightly-foxed paper, left edge irregular indicating extraction. A very attractive card, carrying an engraving of a sylvan scene giving a very good idea of Sandon's qualities. Reads, in a variety of hands, 'EVERY | Description | OF | ENGRAVING & PRINTING | Neatly executed. | [vignette] | HENRY SANDON, | 60, Wellington Street, Goswell Street, | London.' Sandon does not feature in BBTI. is he real?

Two pages, on a rough-edged leaf approximately seven inches by four. Good, though aged and a lightly stained. A highly interesting list of twenty-seven titles by a radical publisher. Several works relating to Robert Wedderburn and Thomas Davison. Also 'The Cast-Iron Parson', 'A Peep after Hell' and 'GREAT GORGY: giving a Humourous Description of his Journey to Westminster, on Giff, the Ch-lor's Grey Mare'. Ends 'The Trade Supplied with all the Popular Works of the Day. | Printing & Bookbinding | NEATLY AND EXPEDITIOUSLY EXECUTED. | NEWSPAPERS SERVED IN TOWN AND COUNTRY.

On wove paper roughly eleven inches by seven and three-quarters; dimensions of print roughly seven inches by four and a half. Image clear and unaffected, on paper aged and creased, with some staining to extremities. Smith's monogram in bottom left-hand corner. The figure is formally dressed, in frock-coat and stockings, with his hat tucked under his left arm. Clearly a portrait, but of whom is uncertain: it is not among the six works by Smith catalogued by the National Portrait Gallery. A charming evocation of print culture in the early part of the nineteenth century.

Two pages, on leaf roughly eight and a half inches by five. Very good, with three stab holes along one margin. Headed 'NEW COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS, [...] This Day is published'.

Dimensions of paper roughly twelve inches by ten; dimensions of print roughly nine and a half inches by seven and a half. A good clear impression, on aged, creased paper, of a striking illustration showing a portly and sleek Asperne, beautifully turned out in Freemason's robes and paraphernalia, holding a leather-bound book, and seated in an ornately carved wooden chair with the Freemasons' eye in a triangle at its head. Captioned 'Mr James Asperne | BOOKSELLER, CORNHILL, | Past Master of the FOUNDATION LODGE NO. 96 And St. Peter's No.. 249 | P.S.D. of the LODGE of Antiquity No.

One page. On leaf roughly nine and a half inches by seven wide. Aged, with frayed edges, and with slight loss to head, affecting decorative border, and extensive loss at foot, involving several lines of text. Begins 'G. BURBAGE, PRINTER, BOOKSELLER and STATIONER; ON THE LONG ROW, NOTTINGHAM, TAKES this Method to acquaint the PUBLIC, that he has just laid in an entire new Assortment of STATIONARY [sic] GOODS, - Also a neat COLLECTION of PAPER HANGINGS for ROOMS, CEILINGS and STAIR CASES: [...]'.

all octavo, in worn nineteenth-century binding, with front hinge loose, lacking spine. New endpapers. All items good, on aged paper with occasional foxing. An invaluable collection, providing a snapshot of secondhand bookselling in provincial Victorian England within an extremely short timescale. Several of the booksellers are not represented in the British Library collection, and others are only represented by catalogues of a later date. Of note are the two catalogues published by Sotheran's Manchester arm, the existence of which is not mentioned in Andrew Block's 'Short History' (1933).

Paper dimensions roughly fifteen inches by ten and a half wide; print dimensions twelve inches by seven and a quarter wide. Good clear image with border a little dusty and aged. Full-length image of a dour Panizzi standing at a desk holding a book. Page of letterpress on separate leaf of same dimensions, containing spirited account ['he sought refuge in Switzerland, but he was expelled discreditably from that country, [...] Keeper of the Printed Books [...] the man in all Europe most competent to fill it.

Dimensions of paper roughly eight and a half inches by six and a half wide. Illustration roughly five and a half inches by five wide. Good on slightly aged and creased paper. A grey-haired Gregory, fashionably dressed in striped waistcoat and cravat, and wearing a white apron, stares at the viewer while holding a book in his left hand and writing its details in a ledger with a quill in his right hand. BBTI gives Robert Loder's trading dates as 1822-39, and Gregory's as 1793-1851.

Dimensions roughly six inches by three and a half. Wormed (but only affecting two letters of text) on aged paper. One page, blank reverse. Wood cut at head, roughly one and a quarter inches square, illustrating a leather-bound book with clasps. Thirty-three lines of text, beginning 'At the Bible in Newgate-street, over against the Blue-Coat Hospital Gate.