FIRST

Pencil sketch of George Washington's home Mount Vernon by 'G E Blenkins', with leaf from the orange tree planted by Washington, and explanatory Autograph Note by Blenkins.

Author: 
Mount Vernon, Virginia home of George Washington, first United States President [George Eleazar Blenkins (d.1894), Assistant Surgeon, Grenadier Guards, and Member of the Royal College of Surgeons?]
Washington
Publication details: 
Sketch made and leaf taken by Blenkins on a visit to Mount Vernon, Virginia, in 1840.
£450.00
Washington

While only a rough pencil sketch, the drawing is an attractive one, landscape on a piece of wove paper, 20 x 25 cm, with 'JESSUPS' watermark. In good condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper, folded into a packet for postage, with remains of red wafer. Beneath the drawing, in ink in a shaky contemporary hand: 'Lawn view from the backs of Mount Vernon | This is from the Orange Tree planted by himself.' The reverse carries the following note: 'I made the enclosed rough sketch of Mount Vernon the residence of Genl.

Mimeographed typed British Salonica Army concert party programme: '738 M.T. Company A.S.C. Programme. Slip Your Clutch. A Revue In Three Acts by 2nd Lt. J. A. Lincoln Reed.'

Author: 
2nd Lt J. A. Lincoln Reed [Captain George Malleson Butt (1880-1936) of the Army Service Corps; British Salonica Army; Balkans]
Publication details: 
[British Salonica Army; Balkans.] 1917.
£40.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. Mimeographed typescript in purple ink. In fair condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. Title page reads: '738 M. T. Company A. S. C. | 1917 | Programme. | Slip your Clutch. | A Revue | In Three Acts | by | 2nd Lt. J. A. Lincoln Reed.' The second page carries a 'Synopsis of Scenery': 'Act I A Village Green in Blightly | Act II Scene I - Mikra Bay | Scene II - Serres Road | Act III Interior of the Follies Bergeres Night Cafe Salonique (out of bounds)'. Also the announcement: 'The entire production by members of 738 MET.

[Small archive] First World War Relief from Mrs A. M. Driberg to Allied Prisoners of War: Food Parcels to PoW

Author: 
[Amy Driberg, mother of Tom Driberg; Food Parcels]
Publication details: 
1915-1918,
£400.00

A collection including an autograph notebook, photographs, receipts, circulars, received by Mrs Amy Mary Irving Driberg (d.1939) [née Bell], of Uckfield Lodge, Crowborough, wife of J.J.S. Driberg, and mother of Labour politician Tom Driberg (Baron Bradwell) (1905-76), in connection with her efforts on behalf of allied prisoners of war. An interesting and informative collection, casting light on a generally-overlooked aspect of the Great War. In good overall condition, on lightly-aged paper.ONE. Notebook in the autograph of Mrs A. M.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. H. Rose') from the English historian John Holland Rose, writing, while on active service in France with the British Expeditionary Force, to Alfred Tresidder Sheppard to commend his latest novel.

Author: 
J. H. Rose [John Holland Rose] (1855-1942), English historian best-known for his biography of Napoleon Bonaparte, Reader in Modern History, Cambridge University [Alfred Tresidder Sheppard (1871-1947)]
Publication details: 
On Y.M.C.A. letterhead, 'On Active Service | With the British Expeditionary Force', 15 September 1917.
£65.00

2pp., 4to. 53 lines. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of previous mounting at head, and a light and unobtrusive water stain. The letter is headed by Rose 'Y.M.C.A. B.A.P.O.2 B.E.F. France'. Regarding Sheppard's recently-published 'Quest of Ledgar Dunstan', Rose writes: 'You have a wonderfully keen mental eye which sees everything with extraordinary sharpness, & you have a literary hand which etches with just & delicate touch. The book is also one of singular intensity of feeling which carries the reader along fascinated & thrilled.

Three albums filled with English and German manuscript memoranda, newspaper cuttings and mimeographed reports, relating to the Great War and 1898-1909 periods, assembled by an Anglo-German stockbroker in the City of London.

Author: 
[an Anglo-German stockbroker in the City of London during the Great War and 1898-1909 periods]
Publication details: 
Manuscript album, in German, 1898 to 1909, with label of a Hamburg stationer. Two other albums from 1917, with labels of London stationers.
£1,500.00

The three items come from the papers of an Anglo-German City of London stockbroker, with Item One, below, indicating that he was based in Germany between 1898 and 1909, and that he had moved to England by 1917. A major point of interest is the fact that the material has been assembled by an educated, intelligent and well-informed individual with good knowledge of both German and English economic realities, at a time of high conflict between the two nations. ONE: 94pp., folio. In black cloth quarter-binding with brown marbled boards, and label of W. Harneit, Hamburg. Consisting of 88pp.

Hamlet [first edition of vol. II, inscribed by Miller].

Author: 
Henry Miller and Michael Fraenkel [Carrefour Press]
Publication details: 
Carrefour, 92 Horatio Street, New York City. May, 1941. [Printed in Mexico.]
£280.00

Vol. II: 8vo, 465 pp., good condition. Inscription on fly-leaf: 'To | Guy Repp | from | [signed] Henry Miller | 3/4/42'. With R. J. Stanewick's ownership inscription in pencil on reverse of front wrap. (Miller signatures from this period are uncommon. The recipient Guy Repp was an actor associated in the 1930s with Orson Welles's Mercury Theater of the Air, who also featured in 'Citizen Kane'.) Internally tight and sound on aged paper, in worn and chipped wraps, with broken spines.. A few light pencil underlinings (by Stanewick?). The second volume is scarcer than the first.

Printed programme of a performance by the First World War British Army 33rd Division Concert Party 'The Shrapnels', titled 'The First attempt at Pantomime in France | To avoid confusion we name it | The Babes in the W (censored)'.

Author: 
'Corporal James Flint, Glasgow Highlanders' ['The Shrapnels' Concert Party of the 33rd Division of the British Army in the First World War]
Publication details: 
Slug: 'Béthune. - Imprimerie H. DAVID.' 'Initial Performance Wednesday 22nd Dec. 1915 and every evening until further notice'.
£80.00

4pp., 4to. Bifolium. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper. An excessively scarce piece of First World War ephemera, with the only copy traced at the Imperial War Museum.

Autograph Letter Signed, in English, from a French interpreter ('M. Daller'?), informing Brig.-General Herbert Cecil Potter of the King's Regiment (Liverpool) that he has been ordered to join 'the Yankee Army'. With two initialled notes by Potter.

Author: 
[Brigadier-General Herbert Cecil Potter (1875-1964), CB, CMG, DSO, of the King's Regiment (Liverpool)]
Publication details: 
No place. 25 September 1917.
£65.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter is written in pencil, and begins: 'Sir, | I am awfully sorry to say that I have just been ordered to report tomorrow to G. H. Q. where I shall very probably receive the order to go to the Yankee Army. | I am really very sorry to leave you without having even been able to present to you my respects and my thanks for the kindness you have always shown to me during the time I have been attached to this brigade which is now exactly a year ago.

Printed First World War circular from the 'British Repatriation Committee Lucerne, Organisation for the Assistance and Return of British Subjects', with form filled in by 'Mr & Mrs R. Haward Ives', giving 'reasons for urgency'.

Author: 
British Repatriation Committee Lucerne, Organisation for the Assistance and Return of British Subjects [Richard Haward Ives, Assistant Secretary, Essex and Suffolk Equitable Fire Insurance Society]
Publication details: 
Circular dated 'Schweizerhof Hotel, Lucerne, 13th August 1914.'
£56.00

1p., 4to., with vertical perforation dividing the circular (upper part) from the form (lower part). Fair, on lightly-aged and creased paper. The fourteen-line circular begins: 'It is appreciated that every British Subject wishes to return at once, but all will not be able to get in the first train. | The British Committee will have to select the order of going by the various degrees of urgency. [...] Persons in Government service, men going to mobilisation, and persons in distress, have special claims to priority.' The form, completed in pencil by 'Mr & Mrs R.

Autograph draft by Thomas George Baring, 1st Earl Northbrook, of a speech delivered by him, as First Lord of the Admiralty at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, Guildhall, 1883.

Author: 
Thomas George Baring (1826-1904), 1st Earl of Northbrook, Liberal politician; Viceroy of India, 1872-1876; First Lord of the Admiralty, 1880-1885
Publication details: 
On embossed Admiralty letterhead. [1883.]
£90.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In pencil. Lightly-aged and worn. In pencil, with deletions and emendations. Docketed in another hand on reverse of second leaf: 'MS. speech delivered at Guildhall Banquet by Lord Northbrook, First Lord of Admiralty - 9th Novr. 1883.' And with the following in the second hand at the head of the first page: 'Lord Northbrook's Speech - Nov. 9. 1883 at Guildhall'. A very short speech, well reported in The Times of 10 November 1883.

Eleven issues of 'O.B.C. (Old Boys' Corps) Magazine'. With sheet music of the 'Double-Double Cold Platoon. A Dolorous Dittie' , written by 'Blank File', composed by 'Left Incline'. Also two loose plans of 'Wembley Camp' and north and south district.

Publication details: 
'Printed and Published (for the Old Boys' Corps) by JOHN PROCTOR, at 33, 34, & 35, Fish Street Hill in the City of London.' Between 1914 and 1916.
£450.00

The eleven issues are: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15. Each issue is 32pp., small 4to, with a further 4pp. of plates on two leaves, and numerous illustrations in text. The last six issues, from no.7 (June 1915) to no. 15 (June to October 1916) are in fair condition, in their original worn printed wraps; the first five are in poorer condition, with issues 1 and 2 lacking wraps and with stained outer pages, and issue 3 with the covers loose and separated from one another; in addition, issue 2 has a jagged closed tear to the first leaf.

[Printed handbill.] Military and Naval Forces. Married or Single. Conscripts or Volunteers | Which and Why?'

Publication details: 
'Printed for and Published by ARNOLD LUPTON, 7, Victoria Street, S.W.' 31 December 1915.
£125.00

10pp., 12mo. Stapled and unbound as issued. Worn and stained, but with contents complete. Signed in type at end: 'ARNOLD LUPTON.

Typed Letters Signed from Frank E. Wright, President, and W. T. Adair, Vice President and General Manager, Syndicate Publishing Company, New York, to Sydney Walton (later Lloyd George's spin doctor), on his employment in the firm's London office.

Author: 
Frank E. Wright, President, Syndicate Publishing Company, New York; W. T. Adair, Vice President and General Manager [Sydney Walton (1882-1964), journalist and spin doctor]
Publication details: 
Both on letterheads of the Syndicate Publishing Company, New York. Adair's letter: 2 December 1914. Wright's letter: 30 March 1915.
£280.00

The letters provide a fascinating insight into the development of the transatlantic publishing industry. They are closely typed with single spacing, and both centre around Walton's employment situation and his complaints about the sending over from America of 'Mr. Russell', about whose 'absolute worthlessness to the business' he complains. Adair's letter: 2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper.

1910 manuscript diary of the purser of, first, HMS Cornwall (with much golf played) and, second, SS Balmoral Castle, describing the Duke of Connaught's voyage to the Union of South Africa, to open its first Parliament on behalf of King George V.

Author: 
[Purser's diary, Royal Navy Armoured Cruiser HMS Cornwall and SS Balmoral Castle; Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn; opening of first Parliament of the Union of South Africa, 1910; golf]
Publication details: 
19 January to 28 December 1910.
£850.00

99pp., in 'Army & Navy Octavo Scribbling Diary (with a week on an opening) for 1910'. Good, on aged paper, in worn boards, with some preliminary leaves torn out, and a few childish scrawls by Irene and Pauline Knott (grandchildren of the author?) at beginning and end (not affecting text) . The author is intelligent and well-educated, pious and with a keen interest in sport, but there are few clues regarding his identity: his family is from Staines, and he trained at the Royal Naval College, Osborne. The itineraries of the two ships mentioned in this diary are as follows.

Typed Letter Signed ('John Simon') from the British Chancellor of the Exchequer John Simon to J. J. Smith, regarding the exemption from military service of the only sons of widows.

Author: 
John Simon [John Allsebrook Simon] (1873-1954), 1st Viscount Simon, British politician, beginning as a Liberal and ending a Conservative, who served as Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor
Publication details: 
14 Great College Street, Westminster. 16 February 1916.
£120.00

1p., 8vo. Fair, on aged and lightly-worn paper. The letter begins: 'If the only son of a widow, upon whose earnings the mother depends, does not volunteer, he will, if unmarried, and of military age, be entitled to appeal for exemption from the Military Service Act. Mr. Walter Long expressly stated in the House of Commons that it was the intention of the authorities to exempt such cases.' Simon goes on to discuss the position of 'the Local Tribunal', and to point out the position of those who attest. He has added in pen: 'Appeal must be made before March 2nd'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Tho Wilde') from the Solicitor General Sir Thomas Wilde to an unnamed individual, on 'The Lithgon Case'.

Author: 
Thomas Wilde, first Baron Truro (1782-1855), Lord Chancellor
Publication details: 
Dover Street; 9 January [1841].
£120.00

3pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged and worn paper. Wilde explains that he had previously written regarding the case, but 'by some accident the Letter has been mislaid (I believe) among my mass of papers, and I therefore fear it may not have reached you as I cannot learn who among the Servants dispatched it'.

Five items, including a notebook, containing manuscript notes taken during the Second World War by a member of the First Quartermaster's Department, Royal Marines, Plymouth.

Author: 
First Quartermaster's Department, Royal Marines, Plymouth [Jean B. Maclachlan, Mount House, Hartley, Plymouth.]
Publication details: 
Circa 1943. [First Quartermaster's Department, Royal Marines, Plymouth.]
£205.00

Five manuscript items, all in the same pencil hand. The name and address of Jean B. Maclachlan written twice on Item One indicates the identity of the notetaker. All texts clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper (but see slight damage to Item Two). Item One: Manuscript notebook. 12mo, 61 pp. Stapled. In original blue wraps, 'SUPPLIED FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE'. Repeatedly and untidily stamped in red ink on front cover 'PLYMOUTH', with 'CAPTAIN, R.M. | ASSISTANT PAYMASTER' and 'ROYAL MARINES | PLYMOUTH'.

Autograph Card Signed ('George Hamilton') from the Conservative politician Lord George Hamilton to 'Mr. Constable'.

Author: 
Lord George Hamilton (1845-1927), Secretary of State for India, 1895-1903, and First Lord of the Admiralty, 1885-1886 and 1886-1892
Lord George Hamilton
Publication details: 
15 December 1903; on letterhead of 17 Montagu Street, Portman Square, London.
£38.00
Lord George Hamilton

On both sides of the card, which is not addressed, having fitted inside an envelope. Aged, but with text clear and complete. Inviting Constable to play golf with him at Littlehampton. He can be there at 12.28 pm. 'I go to Coates on Friday'.

Autograph Letter Signed C. Patmore, with addressed envelope, to the Blackburn poet John Thomas Baron ('Jack O'Anns')

Author: 
Coventry Patmore (1823-96), poet
Publication details: 
Hastings, 5 Dec. 1881.
£120.00

One page, 12mo, bifolium, fold marks, good condition. Tamarton [sic for Tamerton] Church Tower & other Poems are now included in a volume called 'Amelia and other Poems.' It is published by Geo. Bell & Co. York Stret, Covent Garden. I do not know Mr Palgarve's address, but a letter to Macmillan & Co, his publisher would reach him.

Two Typed Letters Signed "E.W. Moir", Comptroller of Munitions Inventions, to The Secretary, Royal Society of Arts

Author: 
[Ernest Wm Moir] E.W. Moir, Comptroller of Munitions Inventions
Publication details: 
Ministry of Munitions, Princes Street, Westminster, [London], SW, 4 and 7 Oct. 1915.
£125.00

Total 3pp., folio, fold marks, good condition. He asks the Scretary of the RSA to "draw the attention" of members to "to the fact that the Munitions Inventions Department, which ...

Five coloured posters by Australian artist Ellis Silas, each in the style of a frieze or panorama, depicting eleven 'British' explorers, from the Cabot brothers to Captain Oates, before scenic backgrounds.

Author: 
Ellis Silas (1883-1972), Anglo-Australian artist, official war artist with ANZAC forces in the First World War [British poster art]
Ellis Silas (1883-1972), Anglo-Australian artist
Publication details: 
[1930s? Place and publisher not stated.]
£250.00
Ellis Silas (1883-1972), Anglo-Australian artist

The five posters, presumably produced for the classroom, are scarce, with no reference to them on the internet or elsewhere. They are attractively painted in a bold and vivid panoramic frieze style. Each carries a single illustration showing two (counting the Cabot brothers as one) explorers in front of groups of men, with a merged background behind them.

Two Typed Letters Signed ('Ernest Hatch') from Sir Ernest Hatch to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Ernest Hatch [Sir Ernest Frederic George Hatch] (1859-1927), British Conservative politician
Two Typed Letters Signed ('Ernest Hatch') from Sir Ernest Hatch
Publication details: 
Both 1915, and both on letterhead of the Government Commissioner for Belgian Refugees, London.
£38.00
Two Typed Letters Signed ('Ernest Hatch') from Sir Ernest Hatch

Both good, on aged paper. Both docketed and with the Society's stamp. ONE: 14 October 1915. Folio, 1 p. Regarding a 'special examination in English, for Belgian refugees'. TWO: 21 October 1915. 4to, 1 p. Headed 'Examination for Belgians in the English Language'.

[Corrected Galley Proofs] Twenty Years After - The Minor Pleasures of War

Author: 
Ernest Dunlop Swinton, soldier, inventor and historian of the First World War, etc.
Ernest Dunlop Swinton, soldier, inventor and historian
Publication details: 
Stamped '19 Aug 1937 First 14' ["Twenty Years After2 published in 2 vols, 1936-1938].
£135.00
Ernest Dunlop Swinton, soldier, inventor and historian

Corrected Galleys, five pages. c.67 x 16cm, some marking, mainly good condition, corrected relatively lightly in MS. possibly by two hands, presumably including the author, and in ink and pencil, some corrections qualitative. Corrections include omissions of words (the word "very" is excised on at least three occasions), additions of letters, change to lower case, added punctuation, etc.

[Pamphlet; offprint] Our Food-Supply in Time of War.

Author: 
Rear-Admiral C.C. Penrose Fitzgerald
Our Food-Supply in Time of War.
Publication details: 
William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1903
£56.00
Our Food-Supply in Time of War.

Reprinted from Blackwood's Magazine. 16pp., printed wraps, good condition.

Three printed reports of meetings held at the Council House, Chichester, of the West Sussex branch of the British 'War Agricultural Committee' (two from 1915 and one from 1916) and one report from the 'War Agricultural Executive Committee'.

Author: 
[Herbert Padwick, Chairman, War Agricultural Committee, West Sussex Branch; First World War; British farming; women and agriculture]
Publication details: 
The three 'War Agricultural Committee' reports: 16 November and 22 December 1915, and 9 February 1916. 'War Agricultural Executive Committee' report: 29 January 1917. All meetings held at the Council House, Chichester [West Sussex Committee].
£350.00

All four items clear and complete, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Item One: Report of WAC meeting of 16 November 1915. Folio, 6 pp. Includes 'Reports from District Sub-Committees' and section on 'Enlistment as to Skilled Agricultural Labourers'. Also section on 'Women's County Committee'. Item Two: Report of WAC meeting of 22 December 1915. Folio, 4 pp. Sections on 'Instruction in milking to women' and 'Employment of women on farm work'. Signed in type as Chairman by Padwick. Item Three: Report of WAC meeting of 9 February 1916. Folio, 4 pp. Signed in type as Chairman by Padwick.

Typed transcripts of a number of First World War documents, including copies of Sir John French's despatches on the Retreat from Mons, and the Battles of the Marne and of Aisne, as well as communications from French, Joffre and Sir Edward Grey.

Author: 
[Transcripts of First World War documents by Sir John French, Sir Edward Grey, General Joseph Joffre and others]
Publication details: 
Undated. The original documents dating from between 28 July 1914 and 2 January 1915.
£450.00

Folio, 38 pp; and 4to, 22 pp. Trade source stated that this material was found in a file marked War Office, suggesting official file copies. All documents clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. All foreign documents translated into English. The main documents are Sir John French's Despatch on the Retreat from Mons, 7 September 1914 (folio, 10 pp); French's Despatch on the Battle of the Marne, 17 September 1914 (folio, 5 pp); French's Despatch on the Battle of the Aisne, 8 October 1914 (folio, 12 pp); Joffre's General Instruction No. 1, 8 August [1914] (folio, 4 pp).

Anonymous Manuscript, apparently unpublished, docketed: 'Copie of a Letter to Sr Philip Warwick [secretary to King Charles I] assisting at the Treatie at the Isle of Wight Oct: 17th 1648', written a few months before the king's trial and execution.

Author: 
[Sir Philip Warwick (1609-1683), secretary to King Charles I; Isle of Wight, 1648; English Civil War]
Sir Philip Warwick (1609-1683), secretary to King Charles I
Publication details: 
[Seventeenth-century. Docketed date of copied document 17 October 1648.]
£650.00
Sir Philip Warwick (1609-1683), secretary to King Charles I

Folio, 3 pp. Bifolium. Printed on laid, watermarked paper. Around thirty-four lines to the page. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with loss to one corner (not affecting text). Reverse of second leaf docketed, and with thin strip from mount adhering at fold. Written in a neat seventeenth-century hand, with a number of emendations (including a deletion of three lines) suggesting that this copy was made by the anonymous author himself.

Printed notice from the General Manager of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway's Managing Committee, headed 'Government Control of Railways. Free conveyance of traffic carried on behalf of the Admiralty or War Office'.

Author: 
Francis H. Dent, General Manager, South Eastern and Chatham Railway's Managing Committee [First World War; British Army; Royal Navy; War Office; Admiralty]
South Eastern and Chatham Railway. Printed Notice
Publication details: 
[London.] Dated in print 10 October 1916.
£95.00
South Eastern and Chatham Railway. Printed Notice

Folio, 1 p. Thirty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and creased paper, with spike-hole at head, with 'ack[nowledge]d 3/10/16' in manuscript. Giving instructions regarding the means by which 'all consignments conveyed by Passenger or Goods Trains over controlled Companies' Lines on behalf of the Admiralty or War Office, [...] be invoiced without charges'. 'The above instructions will also apply to Traffic with Irish Ports when conveyed by Controlled Companies' Steamboats.'

Twenty-six items of ephemera relating to the 1st Battalion The Rifle Brigade, and Peter Kirwan-Taylor, designer of the Lotus Elite car, and assembled during his service in the Brigade as a Lieutenant.

Author: 
Lieutenant Peter Robin Kirwan-Taylor, 1st Battalion The Rifle Brigade (b.1930, designer of the Lotus Elite car) [British Army; military]
Twenty-six items of ephemera relating to the 1st Battalion The Rifle Brigade
Publication details: 
Between 1949 and 1952.
£100.00
Twenty-six items of ephemera relating to the 1st Battalion The Rifle Brigade

Texts of all items clear and complete. The collection on aged paper, with occasional wear and creasing. Includes Kirwan-Taylor's 'Range Barrier Pass Certificate', his 'Combined Leave Pass and Railway Ticket'; an 'Application for a Game Licence in the British Zone of Germany' by him; his 'Final Clearance Certificate.

Interim Report of the Central Committee on Women's Employment

Author: 
Central Committee on Women's Employment
Publication details: 
London: HMSO, `915.
£56.00

42pp., folio, unbound as issued, stabbed, some marking of titlepage, contents fair, ex lib with small stamps on title.

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