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.

[ Hand-coloured series of images ] "Phenomena of Nature"

Author: 
[ "Whimper"; Josiah Wood Whymper ]
Publication details: 
London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; S. Bentley, printer, [1846 ]
£800.00

Thirty plates Illustrative of Natural Phenomena, with a short description annexed to each hand-coloured plate, 4to, 35 x 28cm, hf.bound, green cloth, black cf corners and sp., worn, gt bands on spine, 30 engraved plates with fine original hand colour (some spotted, one with small closed tear not affecting text), MS. list of images on verso of front free endpaper, with attractive MS. title "Phenomena of Nature"on recto of second free endpaper, images mostly by Whymper if not all.

[ 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.

[Inscribed first edition.] Poems by A. Romney Green.

Author: 
A. Romney Green [Arthur Romney Green (d.1945); C. Curtis; The Astolat Press Guildford; R. Brimley Johnson [Reginald Brimley Johnson] (1867-1932), journalist and editor]
Publication details: 
A. C. Curtis | The Astolat Press Guildford | Brimley Johnson | London Office | MDCCCCI' [1901].
£150.00

vii + 96pp., 8vo. In grey cloth binding, with title printed on cover and spine. Internally good, on lightly-aged paper (with minor discoloration in three openings from pressed flowers), in worn and discoloured binding. Title-leaf printed in red and black (including publisher's device on title-page). On reverse of title: 'Seven copies of this edition on Japanese vellum and 500 on handmade only for sale printed by hand at the Astolat Press Guildford and there published November nineteen hundred & one.' Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: 'E. M. H. | from A. R. G. | 14 Dec.

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.

[Printed book.] Rational Stenography; or, Short-Hand Made Easy, In a few familiar Lessons, founded on the Principles of the late John Byrom, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. With numerous improvements. By the Rev. J. Nightingale.

Author: 
Rev. J. Nightingale, Author of "A Comparative View of Mavor's and Byrom's Systems," and of several Works of History and general Science, &c. [Joseph Nightingale (1775-1824); John Byrom (1692-1763)]
Publication details: 
London: J. Robins and Co. Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. 1823. [J. Robins and Co. Albion Press, London.]
£150.00

40 + 3 + 4 pp., 12mo. With frontispiece, and three plates on one fold-out strip. In original grey printed wraps (giving the price as 2s 6d). In good condition, on lightly-aged and spotted paper, in worn wraps. Excellent frontispiece portrait, with tissue guard, captioned 'Rev. Joseph Nightingale. | Drawn by Shoosmith - Engraved by R. Roffe. | Published by J. Robins & Co. London. Feby. 1. 1824.' Six-page preface, dated 'Southwark Square, 1823.' Three plates on one fold-out strip, facing p.12.

Hand-coloured steel engraving by S. Cousen from painting by W. H. Bartlett of a river view of Albany, New York

Author: 
William Henry Bartlett (1809-1854), English landscape painter; John Cousen (1804-1880), engraver [Albany, New York]
Publication details: 
From the book 'The History of the United States of North America' (New York: Virtue & Yorston, 1855-1856).
£28.00

11 x 17.5 cm., with the original margin of the print, with caption, trimmed away, and the engraving laid down on a piece of 24.5 x 30.5 card. From the papers of Marie de Grasse, Lady Evans, wife of Sir Francis Henry Evans, and originally Marie de Grasse Smith, daughter of Hon. Samuel Smith of Albany, New York. In pencil on the mount: 'Albany 1837.'

Calligraphic manuscript titled 'Menander | 345?-293 B.C. | Translations by various hands selected from "From the Greek" edited by T. F. Higham and C. M. Bowra', containing translations by C. M. Bowra, Lord Byron and Gilbert Murray.

Author: 
Anonymous [Sir Maurice Bowra (1869-1947); T. F. Higham [Thomas Farrant Higham] (1890-1975); George Gordon Noel (1788-1824), Lord Byron; Gilbert Murray (1866-1957); Menander]
Publication details: 
Without date and place, but after 1943.
£120.00

7pp., 4to. On three bifoliums and two single leaves of watermarked laid paper, all loose, with the bifoliums placed inside one another and the single leaves inserted after the title. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Written out in black ink, with the titles in red ink, in an excellent uncial hand. The five translations are 'My Own, my Native Land' and 'The Family Dinner-Party', both by Bowra; 'This World is all a Fleeting Show' and 'This defileth a Man', both by Murray; and 'Whom the Gods love', by Byron.

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.

Original hand-coloured print, with key, showing 'A View of the Balloon of Mr. Sadler's ascending, With him and Captain Paget of the Royal Navy from the Gardens of the Mermaid Tavern at Hackney on Monday Aug 12 1811'.

Author: 
[James Sadler (1753-1828), balloonist; the Mermaid Tavern, Hackney; balloons; ballooning]
Publication details: 
[Circa 1811.]
£500.00

Originally on a piece of paper roughly 405 x 315 mm, with the dimensions of the print roughly 295 x 250 mm. In poor condition: torn and stained and laid down on a piece of thin card, and with the extremities of the margins chipped. Loss to top-left and bottom-right corners. The loss to the top corner includes a corner of the print (roughly 40 x 20 mm), but this only features the sky. A scarce item, with the caption continuing 'The Balloon ascended at 3 O clock in the afternoon and descended safe near Tilbury Fort in Essex at 20 Minutes past four'.

Almanach Dramatischer Spiele zur geselligen Unterhaltung auf dem Lande von A. von Kotzebue. Zweiter Jahrgang. [with 6 hand-coloured plates]

Author: 
August von Kotzebue [G. M. Kraus, artist]
Publication details: 
1804. Berlin bei F. T. de La Garde.
£200.00

12mo (leaf and plate dimensions 115 x 80 mm): [ii] + 247 pp + 6 hand-coloured engravings. Good, on lightly aged and spotted paper, in heavily worn original boards, with ink stain on back board. The plays included are: [1] Das Urtheil des Paris; [2] Die Tochter Pharaonis; [3] Ruebezahl; [4] Incognito; [5] Die Uhr und die Mandeltorte; [6] Sultan Bimbambum. Engraved title and six whimsical hand-coloured engravings by Mueller from the designs of the Frankfurt artist G. M.

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.

Printed handbill headed 'TABLES TURNED; | OR THE | Tories reduced to the Workhouse, | Being the First Examination of Paupert before the Commissioners of the New Poor Law'

Author: 
POOR LAW
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but circa 1834; printed by 'BIRT, Printer, 39, Great St. An- | drew St. Seven Dials. [London]'.
£100.00

In 3 columns on a sheet of thin unwatermarked wove paper, 10 inches by 7. Creased and grubby, but in good condition overall. Lightly attached at head to a sheet of paper. Satirical report of examination of a Beadle, Bob Orange Peel [Sir Robert Peel], Old Nosey [Wellington?], Cumberland Griffin from Kew [?], Jack Cobley [?], Winchester Rat (a mayor) [?], Sailor Bill [William IV], and Madame Addle-head [?].

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