GREAT

Autograph Note Signed "Chris. Hodgson" to the Rev. R.H. Barham, minor canon of St Paul's and author of the "Ingoldsby Legends".. With the text for a memorial stone.

Author: 
Christopher Hodgson, "Chapter Clerk", Secretary of Queen Anne's Bounty [
Publication details: 
Bounty Office, Great Deans Yard, 26 November 1824.
£100.00

Two pages (of a bifolium), folio, one page with the ANS, the other with the text for the memorial stone, grubby, fold marks, text clear and complete. Hodson informs Barham that he is "desired by the Dean & Chapter of St Paul's to inform you that they give permission to the Parishioners of St Gregory to put down a plain flat stone in front of the West Entrance of St. Pauls in the manner proposed by them". The text is in Hodgson's hand and consists of a series of statements about Churches destroyed or damaged by the Great Fire of London of 1666.

Five items relating to the appointment of Special Constables, 'in consequence of the unsettled state of the Metropolis', including a signed warrant appointing Cater a Special Constable, as 'a tumult or riot may be reasonably apprehended'.

Author: 
William Charles Cater, hatter, 56 Pall Mall, London [Parish of St James, Westminster; Riot Act; Chartism; Chartists; 1848]
Publication details: 
The five items produced between March and June 1848. One of them printed by T. Brettell, Rupert Street, Haymarket.
£350.00

A collection of items indicating the panic felt by the bourgeoisie around the time of the Great Chartism Meeting on Kennington Common, 10 April 1848. Items Two to Five are laid down on a piece of grey paper removed from a scrapbook. Item One: Printed warrant signed by two magistrates, appointing Cater a Special Constable, it appearing, 'upon the oath of a credible witness, that a tumult or riot may be reasonably apprehended'. On one side of a piece of laid paper roughly 320 x 210 mm. Watermarked 'W H FELLOWS 1847'.

Seven-page advertisement, written by Cobbett, and headed 'This Day is published, Cobbett's Annual Register, Vol. I. From January to June, 1802.'

Author: 
William Cobbett [Cox, Son, and Baylis, Great Queen Street]
Publication details: 
Dated 'Pall Mall. | October 11th, 1802. } W. COBBETT.' ['Printed by Cox, Son, and Baylis, Great Queen Street.']
£100.00

8vo: 8 pp. Unbound. Stabbed as issued. Very good, on rough-edged wove paper. The seven-page advertisement, signed in type by Cobbett, is succeeded by a page headed 'New Books, published by COBBETT and MORGAN'. (Eight titles are listed.) The advertisement is a personal address from Cobbett, the second paragraph casting valuable light on his motives and intentions: 'When I first undertook the Register, I was fully persuaded, that the plan, which, indeed, I had long thought of, was well calculated to ensure a wide circulation, and to produce an extensive as well as a lasting effect.

The Declaration Of his Highnesse Prince Charles, To All His Majesties loving Subjects, concerning the grounds and ends of His present Engagement upon the Fleet in the Downs. With His Highnesse Letter to The Lord Major, Aldermen, [...].

Author: 
King Charles II of Great Britain [The Downs Mutiny, 1648; King Charles I; the English Civil War; Oliver Cromwell; Royal Navy]
Publication details: 
London: ['Printed in the Yeare, 1648.']
£220.00

Title continues: '[...] Aldermen, and Common Councell of the City of London.' 4to: 8 pp, paginated [ii] + 6. Trimmed (leaf dimensions roughly 165 x 135 mm) causing loss of the last line of text (the publication details beneath the word 'LONDON') on the title. Stitched as issued. Unbound. In poor condition, on aged, spotted and creased paper, with chipping to extremities and with the lower part of the last leaf torn away causing loss of around a dozen lines of text. A few lines in a contemporary hand on the first couple of leaves.

Souvenir of the Visit of the King of Spain to England', printed as napkin or handkerchief on tissue paper, illustrated, and with coloured border.

Author: 
Burgess, William & Co., London printers [King Alfonso XIII of Spain; King Edward VII of the United Kingdom; typography; typographical]
Publication details: 
[1905] 'Burgess William & Co., Printers, 12, Mansell Street, Aldgate, London City.'
£200.00

An unusual, scarce and frail survival. Printed on one side of a piece of tissue paper, roughly 35 cm square. Surprisingly well preserved: heavily creased, with some wear to extremities, one small hole (not affecting text or image) and one closed tear of approximately 4 cm to coloured border.

Autograph Letter Signed, in French, to the Paris bookseller Paul Daffis.

Author: 
Eugène Flachat (1802-1873), French civil engineer who worked on the first French passenger railway (Paris-Le Pecq, 1837), on the Paris-Rouen line and the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, 1851 [steam engines]
Publication details: 
26/02/59
£85.00

12mo: 1 p. Fifteen lines of text. Good, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Minor foxing. Difficult hand. Begins 'Je voudrais avoir cette année la collection des Documents parlementaire qui seront distribué au corps legislatif. | Autrefois j'étais abonné pour une petite somme [...]'.

Secretarial note in French, signed by Flachat.

Author: 
Eugène Flachat (1802-1873), French civil engineer who worked on the first French passenger railway (Paris-Le Pecq, 1837), on the Paris-Rouen line and the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, 1851 [steam engines]
Publication details: 
23 February 1856; Paris.
£56.00

12mo: 1 p. Good, on lightly creased paper. Reads 'Je remets à Mr Pulin, porteur de la présente, la lettre de Mr Savoye pour l'aider à retirer les exemplaires des médailles et les diplômes donnés à MM les Membres du Jury.' Presumably relating to the awarding of prizes at an industrial exhibition.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Laurence W. Meynell') to 'Miss Card'.

Author: 
Laurence Meynell [Laurence Walter Meynell] (1899-1989), English children's writer
Publication details: 
19 April 1937; on letterhead of Lime Tree Cottage, Great Kingshill, Buckinghamshire.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. Creased, and with an unobtrusive 1 cm closed tear. He thanks her for her 'charming letter of appreciation'. He is delighted that she 'so enjoyed' 'The Door' ['The Door in the Wall' (1937)]: 'a similar story (or rather one dealing with Phillip Markham & Baikie) will be appearing in the autumn probably in early October'. 'It always cheers an author up to know that he has pleased his readers - & if they do him the good turn of recommending his book to their friends he is vastly obliged!'

Three Typed Letters Signed (all 'J T. Walker'), and one Autograph Note, to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts. Together with 19 newspaper cuttings relating to unions and strikes in Australia.

Author: 
James Thomas Walker (1841-1923), Australian banker, born in Scotland [unions and strikes in Australia; William Morris Hughes (1862-1952), Prime Minister of Australia; Wharf Labourers Union]
Publication details: 
Two letters of 16 March 1916 and one of 24 March 1916; all three on letterhead of Yaralla Chambers, 109 Pitt Street, Sydney; autograph note of 21 March 1916, from Sydney, New South Wales.
£180.00

The letters and note are good, on lightly aged paper; the third letter with closed tear at foot of both leaves, affecting Walker's signature. Two of the three letters are docketed and bear the Society's stamp. The cuttings good on aged high-acidity paper. Letter One (4to, 1 p): He cannot afford the Society's subscription, due to 'the immensely increased taxation by the Federal Government, and by the State Governments in N.S. Wales and Queensland (not to mention donations to various War Funds)'.

Wood engraving entitled 'GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, DUBLIN, 1853. | [...] DRAWN BY GILBERT, FROM DESIGNS BY J. MAHONY, ESQ.] [ENGRAVED BY H. LINTON AND G. PEARSON.'

Author: 
The Great Industrial Exhibition, Dublin, 1853 [William Dargan (1799-1867); Sir John Benson (1812-74), architect; Sir John Gilbert (1817-97), J. Mahony; Henry Linton, and George Pearson, engravers]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [circa 1853].
£250.00

Attractive image roughly eleven inches by ten wide, captioned 'VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, DUBLIN - OPENED MAY 12, 1853.' On piece of paper roughly fourteen and a half inches by eleven. Good on light-foxed aged paper with two neat vertical folds (perhaps indicating removal from a book). At foot of page list of twelve measurements of the 'PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS OF THE BUILDING', from 'Main Frontage' to 'Width of Outer Gallery'.

12 Typed Letters Signed (all 'W Barnard Faraday') to Sir Henry Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, and his colleague G. K. Menzies.

Author: 
Wilfred Barnard Faraday (1874-1953), economist and aeronautics expert [Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain]
Publication details: 
3 February 1917 to 11 October 1918; all but two on letterheads of the Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain.
£100.00

One of the letters is 4to, 2 pp; ten are 4to, 1 p; and one is foolscap, 1 p. The collection is in good condition, on lightly aged paper. Many of the letters are docketed and most bear the Society's dated stamp. Written in the capacity of Secretary of the Aeronautical Society, and editor of its 'Official Organ - The Aeronautical Journal'. Topics include the hiring of the Royal Society's hall for two series of talks to the Aeronautical Society. Faraday also discusses the details of a lecture by 'Mr.

Catalogue of an Interesting Collection of Autograph Letters, selected from the Portfolios of Several Distinguished Amateurs [...] Family of George the Third [...] Some curious Shaksperian Papers [...] Oxford, Cambridge, Eton, and Winchester Scholars.

Author: 
Puttick and Simpson, London auctioneers [autographs; sale catalogues; Shakespeare; George Washington]
Publication details: 
Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, Auctioneers of Literary Property and Works of Art, At their House, No. 47, Leicester Square, W.C.; 23 March 1864.
£80.00

Octavo: ii + 51 + [1] pp. Stitched and unbound. Grubby, and with loss to final leaf, affecting a couple of lots and an advertisement, from removal of label. 521 lots. Postmarked penny red postage stamp. Letters of Burns, Byron, Coleridge, Frederick the Great, Haydn, Rousseau, Voltaire. The high point of the sale undoubtedly three letters from George Washington to Sir Edward Newenham.

Typed Letter Signed ('Walter Runciman') to L. P. Jacks.

Author: 
Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford (1870-1949), English Liberal politician [paper making; the book trade; publishing]
Publication details: 
21 February 1916; on letterhead of the Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W.
£56.00

12mo, 3 pp, 35 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, and with a thin strip from mount adhering at head of blank verso of second leaf of bifolium. Discusses 'the restriction on the importation of paper and paper making materials', imposed 'with the object of securing more tonnage space in incoming vessels'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Dawson Turner from his daughter Elizabeth ('E. Palgrave').

Author: 
Elizabeth Palgrave (nee Turner, 1799-1852), wife of Sir Francis Palgrave (1788-1861) [Dawson Turner]
Publication details: 
[Docketed by Turner 'Hampstead 21st June 1848.']
£80.00

One page, octavo. Good, on aged paper with some loss to extremities repaired with archival tape. Fifteen lines of text clear and complete. On learning of Dawson Turner's celebrated collection of autographs from her son, Elizabeth Palgrave's 'kind old neighbour' Lady Bentham asked her 'some questions which led to the enclosed note & the letters I send' (none present).

Autograph Signature ('Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe'), written for autograph hunter J. H. Hall.

Author: 
Stratford Canning, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe (1786-1880), English diplomat
Publication details: 
Without place or date (but after his ennoblement in 1852).
£28.00

On piece of paper, 11 x 17.5 cm. Lightly creased, and with a little spotting at head. Reads 'Autograph | of | Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe | given to Mr J. H. Hall | at his request.' It is curious that Canning should have thought it necessary to emphasize that the autograph was not unsolicited.

Autograph Signature ('H Legge') on fragment of document.

Author: 
Hon. Henry Bilson-Legge (1708-1764), Treasurer of the Navy, 1749-1754
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

Dimensions of paper roughly 4 x 6.5 cm. Good, although with slight wear at left and small part of loop at beginning of signature crossing over a printed vertical line. Docketed in pencil 'Lord Treasurer'.

A Catalogue of Engraved Portraits, English and foreign, together with a Collection of Miscellaneous Prints, the greatest portion accompanied with concise biographical and descriptive notices. Part V. London.

Author: 
A. Nicholls, London printseller ('Upwards of 25 years Assistant to Messrs. Evans of 1, Great Queen Street, and 403, Strand.') [prints; engravings]
Publication details: 
London: A. Nicholls, 5 Green Street, Leicester Square, W.C. [no date, but post 1848] ['A. Munro, Printer, New Yard, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.']
£85.00

Octavo: 16 pp. Stitched and unbound. Grubby and a tad creased. Items, in alphabetical order from H (beginning with the Earl of Hardwick) to J (ending with Dorothy Jordan), with a few miscellaneous items on the last page, numbered 3002 to 3837. Interesting for the information it provides about minor English celebrities ('3651 JACKSON, Joseph, letter founder, nat. Old-street, 1733, res. Cock-lane and Dorset-street, London, ob.

Twelve Typed Letters and one Autograph Letter relating to the printing of the 'Society of Arts Journal', addressed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood and George Kenneth Menzies, Secretaries, Royal Society of Arts, together with one printed circular.

Author: 
[PRINTING: FIRST WORLD WAR]William Archibald Clowes (1866-1937), Chairman, William Clowes & Sons Ltd, English printers
Publication details: 
10 August 1915 to 23 November 1917.
£500.00

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.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
William Whitaker (1836-1925), British geologist, the 'father of English hydrogeology' [GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN]
Publication details: 
1 January 1867; East Molesey, Kingston, Surrey, on embossed letterhead of the Geological Survey of Great Britain.
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo. Very good, with the merest spotting at head. He 'will be at West Drayton by the train due there nearest to 4 o'clock'. He has no time-table to hand, 'but shall see one at Jermyn St. to-morrow'.

Special Railway Supplement.

Author: 
The Financial Times [Railway; Railways]
Publication details: 
London; 1 January 1923.
£56.00

Thirty-six broadsheet pages. On aged paper, with chipping to extremities and first and last leaves detached, but with text clear and entire. Articles on 'The Four New Railways', with photographs, by Sir Herbert Walker, Felix J. C. Pole, Arthur Watson and R. L. Wedgwood. Other articles include 'Electrification - The Metropolitan's Experience' by R. H. Selbie, 'Railways - Their Position and Prospects' by Sir Sam Fry, 'Railway Rates under the New Regime' by Sir W. M. Acworth and 'Finance of British Railways' by W. J. Stevens.

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. D.') to 'E. W.'

Author: 
Taffrail' (Commander Henry Taprell Dorling,1883-1968), British sailor and author
Publication details: 
18 December [no year], on letterhead 'FROM CAPTAIN TAPRELL DORLING, D.S.O., R.N. | MARLINGS, | WOKING. | TEL: 981.'
£35.00

Two pages, 12mo. Very good on lightly-foxed blue paper. He has sent his correspondent's letter to the naval correspondent of The Times, and hopes 'that some good may come of it.' Would like to receive 'any more snippets you have from time to time. I didn't know, for instance, that the racing whaler had Sussex until the other day, otherwise I should have tried to make a song about it!' Sends seasons greetings, and wishes him the 'Best of luck'.

Printed Receipt, with Manuscript Insertions, Signed by the 2nd Marquess, for rent on two Mayfair properties.

Author: 
Richard Grosvenor (1795-1869), 2nd Marquess of Westminster [Grosvenor Estate Office; Mayfair; Richard Jones]
Grosvenor
Publication details: 
Grosvenor Estate Office, 9 Davies Street, Grosvenor Square; 30 March 1849.
£45.00
Grosvenor

One page. Roughly nine inches by four. Aged and creased, with one small closed tear and one spike hole (neither affecting text, which is clear and complete). An attractive document, embossed with a government one shilling stamp, and bearing the Westminster coat of arms, supported by two dogs, engraved by Warrington, 27 Strand, in top left-hand corner. Reads (MS additions in square brackets): '[Imp: Hopkinson] | Grosvenor Estate Office, | 9, Davies Street, Grosvenor Square | Received the [March 30th] 184[9] of [Richard Jones Esqr.

Autograph Letter Signed to J.T.J. Hewlett, author of "Peter Priggins" and other books.

Author: 
C.L. Gruneisen.
Publication details: 
1845
£85.00

C. L. Gruneisen (DNB), journalist, music critic, editor of the Great Gun. He explores the possibility that the author of Peter Priggins might write for the Great Gun, explaining his policy and agreeing "in Masonic confidence" to give him the names of the principal contributors.(Presumably these names were sent by George Alder above.) According to DNB, Gruneisen edited the Great Gun from 16 Nov. to 28 June 1845, prob. the life of this weekly. (Copy in British Library Newspaper Library.) WITH: Mrs. C.L.

Autograph Letter Signed to J.T.J. Hewlett, author of "Peter Priggins" and others.

Author: 
George Alder.
Publication details: 
[1844?].
£50.00

George Alder (1; [1844?]) discusses the nature of a "new periodical" for which he hopes Hewlett will write (prob. the short-lived "Great Gun" - see Bell (#3128) and Gruneisen below), naming potential fellow-contributors in confidence. Originally from a larger archive, the residue of which is described in #3157 (Hewlett's papers), this and other items appear in my ABE inventory in book id#s 3124-3156.

One Autograph Letter Signed to J.T.J. Hewlett, author of "Peter Priggins" and other books.

Author: 
William Edwards.
Publication details: 
1845
£45.00

[William] Edwards, possibly the proprietor of the Great Gun mentioned by Robert Bell (above #3128)), Mrs Gruneisen (with husband #3134), and in Diaries (J.T.J. Hewlett below). He accepts a Bill of Exchange and discusses it. Originally from a larger archive, the residue of which is described in #3157 (Hewlett's papers), this and other items appear in my ABE inventory in book id#s 3124-3156.

Autograph Letters Signed (x 4) to (Charles) Buxton

Author: 
William E. Baxter.
Publication details: 
11 July-29 Aug. 1885
£250.00

Traveller in Spain and elsewhere, and author. 2-4pp., 8vo. He discusses extensively his work on "a Handbook on Russia & Great Britain in Central Asia", giving a resume of chapters and asking for copies to be sent to various places. "No question is more important at present". FOUR ITEMS,

Draft or copy of apparently unpublished letter, in secretarial hand, to his son the Prince of Wales (later George IV).

Author: 
George III, King of England
Publication details: 
Hampton Court 10th Sept: 1797'.
£600.00

Two pages. Paper dimensions approximately seven and a half inches by twelve. An important and highly dramatic document, relating to the Prince's treatment of his wife Caroline of Brunswick in the period following the birth of their only child Princess Charlotte Augusta, with reference to the tensions caused by the Prince's Whig connections. 'GR' at both head and end of document. Begins 'The Propositions which you have Lately made in your Letters of your Particular Regard to me, are so Contradictory to all your actions, that I cannot suffer my Self to be Imposed on by ym.

Autograph Letter Signed to Robert Rising.

Author: 
John Preston Neale
Publication details: 
Bennett Street Blackfriars | Sept. 19th. 1828.'
£200.00

Architectural draughtsman (1780-1847). Three pages, quarto. Good, but heavily folded and with some loss to second leaf of bifoliate from breaking of red wax seal, the remains of which still adhere. Addressed, with postmarks, on verso of second leaf of bifoliate 'Robt. Rising Esq | Horsey. | To the Care of Robert Cory Junr Esq | Yarmouth'. Rising, of Horsey Hall, was a Norfolk landowner, and Cory (1776-1840) an antiquary. A long and interesting letter. He regrets that he has been unable to spend 'a few happy hours with you and of doing justice to the Chief Magistrate of that Gt.

Autograph Letter Signed, Autograph Note, and newspaper article.

Author: 
GEORGE BOOTH HEMING [Goldsmiths' Company; Daily Graphic]
Publication details: 
The note 10 January 1918 and the letter 14 January 1918; both on letterheads of Heming & Co., 28 Conduit St.
£28.00

Mayor of Westminster (1858-1938), and prominent member of the Goldsmiths' Company, for whom he established an annual competition for craftsmen and schools in London. All items very good. Both manuscript items bearing the Society's stamp and the note also docketed. THE LETTER (one page, 12mo): 'I shall certainly try to be at the meeting on Feby 27th & will speak if opportunity arises - also will call upon you someday either this or next week.' Signed 'G. Booth Heming'. THE NOTE (one page, 12mo): 'With G.

Typed letter signed by Gibson, together with printed copy of the League's thirty-sixth annual report, and unsigned carbon copies of reply from the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
THE LEAGUE OF REMEMBRANCE [Mrs E. H. Gibson (Myra Macindoe Gibson)]
Publication details: 
Gibson's letter, 31 May 1957, on League of Remembrance letterhead; carbon of reply, 3 June 1957. Report printed by 'THE GARDEN CITY PRESS LTD., LETCHWORTH, HERTS.'
£45.00

Mrs Gibson, whose husband was Vice-Chairman of the League, died in 1966. Her letter (one page, quarto, very good apart from rust stain from paperclip) explains that the League is 'at present in temporary premises' and 'without accommodation for its Annual General Meeting' in November ('Her Grace the Duchess of Beaufort is to preside.'), and asks if 'your Society of its kindness, could find it possible to lend a room for the Meeting'. Points out that 'this organisation is over 40 years old', and asks for details of hiring fee. Signed 'Myra Gibson'.

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