HAND

[Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate.] Autograph Card Signed to Geoffrey Parsons, regarding the publication of his poetry book 'Peter's Progress' and a 'H[odder] & S[toughton]' 'ordeal'.

Author: 
Cecil Day-Lewis [C. Day-Lewis] (1904-1972), Anglo-Irish poet and British Poet Laureate who also wrote crime fiction under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake [Geoffrey Parsons (1910-1987), poet]
Publication details: 
30 September 1953; 'from Mrs. [last word deleted] C. Day-Lewis, 96 Campden Hill Road, W.8. [London]'
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is presumably the lyricist Peter Claremont Parsons. Plain postcard, apart from letterhead. In good condition, lightly aged. Image on request.Postmarked (from Paddington), stamped and addressed to ‘Geoffrey Parsons esq. / 22 Westbourne Park Road / W.2’. Small signature: ‘C. D. L.’ Reads: ‘Many thanks for Peter’s Progress. [Parson’s poetry book, published that year by Hand & Flower] I’ve read it with great pleasure & amusement, & fallen foul of little except ‘legacies’ rhyming with exegesis. My memory of those H. & S.

[Oriental Customs and Manners, as viewed in Georgian England.] Two original hand-coloured copperplate engravings, both published in London by John Joseph Stockdale, and both ‘A Freschi sculpsit’: ‘INDIAN INK’ and ‘MONKEYS GATHERING TEA.’

Author: 
Andrea Freschi (1774-1815), Italian engraver active in London [John Joseph Stockdale (c.1770-1847), London publisher and pornographer [Oriental customs and manners]
Publication details: 
One of the two ‘Pubd. 25 April 1812 by I. I. Stockdale [i.e. John Joseph Stockdale], 41 Pall Mall’. The other from same period.
£40.00

Two attractive small original hand-coloured copperplate engravings. Both in good condition, lightly aged, and each with slight traces of previous mount on blank reverse. ONE: Captioned at foot ‘A Freschi sculpsit | MONKEYS GATHERING TEA. | Pubd. 25 April 1812 by H. Stockdale, 41 Pall Mall’. Portrait: 10.5 x 17.5 cm. Depicts a Chinese man beneath a tree taking leaves from a monkey on the ground, whilst three other monkeys in the tree collect more leaves. TWO: Captioned at foot ‘A Freschi sculpsit | INDIAN INK.’ No place or date. Landscape: 17.5 x 10.5 cm. Depicts three men preparing the ink.

[ Nineteenth-century Boston children's book with hand-coloured illustrations by Chandler and Duran. ] The Delectable Historie of the Cat and the Rabbits.

Author: 
'G. W. Cottrell, Publisher, Bookseller, Stationer, and Valentine Dealer, No. 36 Cornhill, Boston' [ Chandler and Duran, Massachussetts ]
Publication details: 
Boston: G. W. Cottrell, Publisher. ('Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by CHANDLER & DURAN, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachussetts.')
£220.00

29pp., small 4to. Stitched into card covers. Internally in fair condition, in aged and worn covers repaired along the spine with brown tape. There are eleven hand-coloured engravings: one on the cover, a frontispiece, two vignettes (at the beginning and end of the poem) and seven full-page illustrations in the body of the poem (six of them with blank reverses). The cover illustration, frontispiece, and all but two of the full-page engravings are attributed to Chandler and Duran.

[ London bookseller's trade card. ] Unusual and attractive trade card of M. A. Harvey, 'Book & Printseller', with handcoloured engraving of three youngsters looking at his name and address, which are placed on an easel.

Author: 
M. A. Harvey, Book & Printseller, 11 Red Lion Passage, Red Lion Street, Holborn, London
Publication details: 
M. A. Harvey, 11 Red Lion Passage, Red Lion Street, Holborn [ London ]. No date [ 1920s? ]
£30.00

On one side of 7 x 11 cm piece of card. In good condition, lightly-aged. An unusual and attractive piece of London booktrade ephemera. The whole design, including the text, is engraved, and is in the style of a children's book illustration. With the text represented on a piece of board placed on an easel, around which three children crowd. On the left is a girl in a red dress, with yellow bonnet and umbrella, beside her is a louche individual in a yellow and orange checked suit, and to the right is a zouave, with red hat, holding a paintbrush and palette.

A Christian Philanthropist. A Sketch of the Life of Mr. Daniel Hand, and of His Benefaction to the American Missionary Association, for the Education of Colored People in the Southern States of America. [With manuscript 'Memo. of Hand Genealogy' etc]

Author: 
[George A. Wilcox of Detroit; Daniel Hand (1801-1891) of Madison, Connecticut, Christian philanthropist, benefactor of the American Missionary Association]
Publication details: 
Rooms of the American Missionary Association, 56 Reade Street, New York. 1889.
£150.00

31 + [1] pp., small 4to. With frontispiece engraved portrait of Hand. In original cream printed wraps, with 'DANIEL HAND.' printed on front cover in brown ink. In good condition, lightly-aged and worn. Presentation inscription at head of front cover: 'for Mrs. Evans - | with Compliments of G. A. Wilcox | Detroit.' Eight copies at American libraries on OCLC WorldCat, and the only copy on COPAC at the British Library. The manuscript, in Wilcox's hand, is 3pp., 12mo, on bifolium 1880s letterhead of the Hotel Metropole, London.

Le Bon Anglais Text de Roger Boutet de Monvel. Images de Guy Arnoux.

Author: 
Roger Boutet de Monvel; Guy Arnoux (1886-1951), French illustrator
Publication details: 
Chez Devambez 43 boulevard Malesherbes à Paris.
£165.00

Landscape 12mo (leaf dimensions 12 x 16 cm): 27 pp. Stitched with no jacket as issued. Covers a little grubby, but a good copy of a scarce item. Title page and twelve delightful full-page pochoir illustrations by Arnoux, all hand-coloured: 'En temps de Paix', 'Premier contact', 'Le sous-lieutenant', 'Les Indiens', 'Black-Watch', 'Le capitaine et l'infirmiere', 'Les Irlandais', 'Le Major', 'La Mascotte', 'Ship ahoy!!', 'Le bon Ecossais' and 'God save the King'.

Typed Letter, signed by 'C B', 'per W. & G. Foyle, Ltd, to C. F. Bradshaw, headmaster of the Council School at Cresswell, Worksop, Derbyshire.

Author: 
Foyles Bookshop [W. & G. Foyle Ltd of 119-125 Charing Cross Road, London booksellers]
Publication details: 
18 March 1939; on 'W & G FOYLE LTD' letterhead.
£22.00

4to, 1 p. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper with minor rust stain from paperclip at head. Letterhead, in light and dark blue, featuring globe and the mottos 'BOOKSELLERS TO THE WORLD' and 'STOCK OF NEARLY THREE MILLION VOLUMES'. Thirteen lines of text. Bradshaw is clearly unhappy at the price asked for a copy of Cox's 'Memorials of Old Derbyshire'. 'The writer would point out that we received six reports regarding this book from various clients, but in no case at a price allowing us to quote below 15/-.

French broadside celebrating the accession of 'Napoléon III, Empereur des Français.', containing a biography, a panegyric poem, and a handcoloured engraved portrait.

Author: 
Pellerin, Imprimeur-Libraire, à Epinal, Vosges, France [Napoléon III, Empereur des Français]
Publication details: 
[1852.] 'Fabrique de PELLERIN, Imprimeur-Libraire, à EPINAL.' [Vosges, France]
£250.00

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, dimensions roughly 65 x 41.5 cm. Within a ruled border. On lightly aged paper, with chipping and slight loss to extremities. Three closed tears (two of them affecting the portrait) have been repaired on the reverse with archival tape. Text entirely legible and portrait clear, bright and without loss. The full-length portrait (31 x 25 cm), crudely coloured in yellow, red and blue, depicts the Emperor, in full regalia, standing in a sumptuous throne room. Sixty-six line biography, arranged in two columns.

Five hand-coloured prints of French actors performing in French and Italian plays at the Comédie Française in the eighteenth century.

Author: 
Robert Sayer of Fleet Street, London printseller [theatrical prints; Comédie Française; Bellecour; Marie Favart, Trial, Clerval; Laurette]
Publication details: 
All five prints 'Publish'd by Robt. Sayer, No. 53 Fleet Street London, as the Act directs, 1st. Septr. 1772.'
£200.00

Each of the five on a piece of good laid paper, roughly 15 cm square. Wide margins, with indentation of plate 9.5 x 8 cm. All five good, with occasional light creasing to margins. The second and third items more aged that the others, but all good and suitable for framing. Delicately engraved and skillfully coloured. Item One: 'Mr. Bellecour. 3 Comed. Franc. Le Joueur. dans la Comédie du même nom.' Item Two: '19 Comed. Franc. Michau et Henri. dans la Partie de Chasse d'Henri IV. Qu'êtes-vous? allons, qu'êtes-vous?' Item Three: 'Made. Favart. 22 Coméd. Ital. La Vieille.

Handcoloured engraving, 'Etched by W Heath', 'From a Sketch by Paul <Sevinre?>', of 'Alexander Emperor of Russia'.

Author: 
William Heath, engraver; Richard Lambe, printseller, Gracechurch Street, London [Alexander I, Emperor of Russia]
Publication details: 
Undated [circa 1814?]. 'Published by R. Lambe, Gracechurch Street.'
£250.00

305 mm high and 225 mm wide. The print has been trimmed, with the top corners cut away to give the print the appearance of an arched window. A strip, 35 mm high, at the foot contains the caption, with the bottom right-hand corner damaged (not affecting print) by removal from backing. A good crisp impression, on lightly-aged paper, the only faults being loss to the sky above the Emperor as a result of the trimming of the top corners, and a couple of spots of glue to the sky.

Autograph Letter in the third person to Messrs A. & C. Black, 4 Soho Square, London [publishers of 'Who's Who'].

Author: 
Freiherr Adolph von Deichmann (1831-1907) [Baron Deichmann], German banker and anglophile 'four-in-hand' coaching enthusiast
Publication details: 
8 October 1900; on letterhead of Schloss Bendeleben [Germany].
£38.00

8vo: 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged laid paper with slight chipping and glue stain at head (not affecting text). A formal letter written in English in the third person. He asks them to send 'another form [for him to write his entry in 'Who's Who'] to be filled up [...] The first one sent was mislaid on leaving London'. Deichman was the subject of a 'Spy' cartoon ('Vanity Fair', 14 May 1903: 'He wears curious hats'), in which he is shown driving a coach.

Syndicate content