FORTESCUE

[‘I may yet be a burden to the Royal Literary Fund’: Sir John Fortescue, military historian and Royal Librarian at Windsor.] Autograph Letter Signed, joking about his lack of success as an author while sending £5 to the Fund’s chairman Lord Curzon.

Author: 
Sir John Fortescue [Sir John William Fortescue] (1859-1933), military historian, Royal Librarian at Windsor Castle [Lord Curzon [George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston]; Royal Literary Fund]
Publication details: 
28 March 1913; on Windsor Castle letterhead.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘Dear Curzon, / I have sent, with great pleasure, a fiver to the Literary Fund in honour of your chairmanship; but not [last word underlined] as a successful man of letters.’ He explains that had he been dependant on his books for a livelihood, he would ‘long ago have starved, and, by the Grace of the present Government, I may yet be a burden to the Royal Literary Fund.’ Curzon has minuted the letter at the head of the first page: ‘Hon J Fortescue £5’.

18 Autograph Letters Signed from Captain Hon. Sir Seymour John Fortescue, Equerry-in-Waiting to the Prince of Wales [the future King Edward VII], to 'Lady Edith', filled with English high society and horse- racing news and gossip.

Author: 
Captain Hon. Sir Seymour John Fortescue (1856-1942), Equerry-in-Waiting to King Edward VII, 1893-1910
Publication details: 
On the following letterheads: 23 Dover Street, London (5); Royal Yacht Osborne; H.M.S. Renown, Mediterranean; The Grove, Watford; 22, Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, Paris; Place Vendôme, Paris; Hôtel Weimar, Marienbad; Turf Club, Piccadilly. 1894-1899.
£850.00

18 long letters, totalling 106pp., 4to, and 2pp., 8vo. Fourteen signed 'Seymour Fortescue' and four 'Seymour F'. Three with the year stated by Fortescue, ten others dated in pencil in another hand. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. For biographical information about Fortescue, see the end of this entry.

Seven Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir James Fortescue Flannery, 1st Baronet
Publication details: 
1924-5; typed letters on letterhead of Flannery, Baggallay & Johnson, Ltd., consulting engineers; autograph letter on letterhead of the Grand Hotel, Harrowgate.
£150.00

Ulster unionist politician and civil engineer (1851-1943). The collection is in very good condition. The seven typed letters are quarto and the autograph letter 12mo. All signed 'J. Fortescue Flannery', mostly docketed and carrying the Society's stamp. Mainly concerns the delivery and publication of a 'Paper on Diesel Engines'. 2 February 1925: 'I note with great interest that you expect a large and influential attendance on the 11th inst.' 5 February 1925: 'it occurs to me that the name of the Rt. Hon. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu K.C.I.E.

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