HENRY

[Sir Ernest Gowers, author of the guide to correct English usage ‘Plain Words’.] Three Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter Signed to fellow-grammarian V. H. Collins, discussing a crux and the perils of being an authority in the field.

Author: 
Sir Ernest Gowers [Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers] (1880-1966), author of the guide to correct English usage ‘Plain Words’, and the revision of Fowler’s ‘Modern English Usage’ [V. H. Collins, grammarian]
Publication details: 
Autograph Letters: 27 June 1952, 27 March 1954 and 16 March 1955. Typed Letter Signed: 29 July 1953. All four items on letterhead of Rondle Wood, Liphook, Hants.
£120.00

See the entry what was wrote about him in the Oxford DNB. The archives of the recipient, Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), are now housed in the library at Yale. All four items signed ‘Ernest Gowers’ ONE: ALS, 27 June 1952. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, worn and spotted, with pin holes to one corner and short closed tear at edge of one of the two folds. Begins: ‘By all means. The more I look into your book the more I realise how true what I said was.

[Lawrence of Arabia: unpublished personal recollections of Henry Williamson, author of ‘Tarka the Otter’.] Autograph Typescript by Williamson, with one Autograph Manuscript emendation, of passage from memoir.

Author: 
Henry Williamson (1895-1977), novelist, author of ‘Tarka the Otter’ [T. E. Lawrence [Thomas Edward Lawrence; ‘Lawrence of Arabia’] (1888-1935), author of ‘The Seven Pillars of Wisdom’]
Publication details: 
No date or place. (1930s or 1940s?)
£150.00

From the Henry Williamson papers. The present text does not feature in Williamson’s 1941 memoir of Lawrence ‘Genius of Friendship’, and appears to be unpublished. (According to Williamson’s entry in the Oxford DNB, the publication in 1927 of ‘Tarka the Otter’ ‘attracted the attention of T. E. Lawrence, whose letter of praise started a correspondence and friendship between the two.

[Frank Swinnerton, English novelist and critic.] Autograph Letter Signed, thanking the grammarian Vere Henry Collins for a copy of his book ‘One Word and Another’.

Author: 
Frank Swinnerton [Frank Arthur Swinnerton] (1884-1982), English novelist and critic [V. H. Collins [Vere Henry Collins] (1872-1966), writer and grammarian]
Publication details: 
28 March 1954. On letterhead of Old Tokefield, Cranleigh, Surrey.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The archives of the recipient are at Yale. Addressed to ‘Vere H. Collins Esq.’ and signed ‘Frank Swinnerton’. Written in Swinnerton’s distinctive minuscule hand. The central part of the letter has smudging from another letter lightly blotted over it (not near the signature), otherwise in good condition, lightly aged, and folded twice. He thanks him for sending a copy of his book ‘One Word and Another’. He has ‘already glanced through the book; but we have visitors here, with children, and I am writing an urgent article under great difficulties’.

[W. H. Hudson [William Henry Hudson; Guillermo Enrique Hudson], American-Argentine author, naturalist and ornithologist, who settled in England.] Autograph Signature and inscription.

Author: 
W. H. Hudson [William Henry Hudson; Guillermo Enrique Hudson] (1841-1922), American-Argentine author, naturalist and ornithologist, who settled in England
Publication details: 
27 June 1920. No place.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On a 17.5 x 12 cm piece of ruled paper, laid down on a piece of card. The high-acidity paper is browned, otherwise in good condition, with small nick to one edge. The signature ‘W. H. Hudson / June 27. ’20’ is beneath two lines written in a foreign language, a tentative reading of which is ‘Te semiron mulei moy / To dariau tis viden’. See Image.

[The Peace with Ireland Council (London), 1921.] Printed handbill titled ‘The Voice of the Churches on Ireland’.

Author: 
The Peace with Ireland Council, London, founded by Lord Henry Cavendish Bentinck, with Basil Williams as treasurer and Margaret Buckmaster as honorary secretary
Publication details: 
[1921.] Published by the Peace with Ireland Council, 30a Queen Anne’s Chambers, Westminster, S.W.1 and printed by the Caledonian Press Ltd., 74 Swinton Street, Gray’s Inn Road, W.C.1.
£80.00

The Peace with Ireland Council was founded in November 1920 by Lord Henry Cavendish Bentinck, following a meeting at the House of Commons by a group concerned at the deteriorating situation in Ireland following the introduction of the Black and Tans, and spurred on by the treatment of former MP Annan Bryce and his wife Violet. Among those involved were the historian Basil Williams, who acted as treasurer, and the suffragette Margaret Buckmaster (daughter of Lord Buckmaster) who served as honorary secretary. From the Sylvia and Robert Lynd papers.

[The Peace with Ireland Council (London) and the Black and Tans, 1921.] Printed handbill titled ‘Irish Reprisals / Auxiliary Divisions Record / Indictment by Sir John Simon / To the Editor of The Times’.

Author: 
Sir John Simon; The Peace with Ireland Council, London, founded by Lord Henry Cavendish Bentinck, with Basil Williams as treasurer and Margaret Buckmaster as honorary secretary [The Black and Tans]
Publication details: 
[1921.] Published by the Peace with Ireland Council, 30 Queen Anne’s Chambers, S.W.1; and printed by the Caledonian Press Ltd. (T. U.) 74 Swinton Street, London, W.C.1.
£80.00

The Peace with Ireland Council was founded in November 1920 by Lord Henry Cavendish Bentinck, following a meeting at the House of Commons by a group concerned at the deteriorating situation in Ireland following the introduction of the Black and Tans, and spurred on by the treatment of former MP Annan Bryce and his wife Violet. Among those involved were the historian Basil Williams, who acted as treasurer, and the suffragette Margaret Buckmaster (daughter of Lord Buckmaster) who served as honorary secretary. From the Sylvia and Robert Lynd papers.

[Patrick Pearse [Pádraic Pearse], Irish national hero, shot by the British after the Easter Rising of 1916.] Review slip by his Dublin publishers Maunsel & Co., for his posthumous ‘The Story of a Success’.

Author: 
Patrick Pearse [Patrick Henry Pearse; Pádraig Pearse; Pádraic Pearse; Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais] (1879–1916), Irish national hero, poet, nationalist shot by the British after the Easter Rising of 1916
Publication details: 
Dated 15 November 1917 (for book to be published 19 November 1917). Maunsel & Co., Limited, 50 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin.
£50.00

From the papers of Sylvia and Robert Lynd. A scarce piece of Pearse ephemera: no other copy traced. 1p, 12mo. On a piece of discoloured laid paper, worn, with crease to one corner. The full title of the book, which was edited by Desmond Ryan, was ‘The story of a success, being a record of St. Enda's College, September 1908 to Easter 1916’.

[Sir Henry Newbolt, poet and writer, author of the anthology-piece 'Drake's Drum'.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs. Lord' describing how he deals with correspondence.

Author: 
Sir Henry Newbolt [ Sir Henry John Newbolt ] (1862-1938), poet, novelist and historian, author of the patriotic anthology-piece 'Drake's Drum'
Publication details: 
27 September 1912. On letterhead of Netherhampton House, Salisbury.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Lightly aged and worn. With central horizontal and vertical crease for postage, each quarter with double pinholes at the centre (from attachment of an enclosure?). Signature unaffected (it starts close to vertical crease). Reads: 'Dear Mrs. Lord / With the greatest pleasure - and with ten thousand apologies. I thought I had answered long ago. But letters lie in heaps in my tray & on my table - everywhere! and I carry them about in bags labelled carefully Unanswered until I dare no longer look inside.

[Sir Henry Newbolt, poet and writer, author of the anthology-piece 'Drake's Drum'.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs. Lord' describing how he deals with correspondence.

Author: 
Sir Henry Newbolt [ Sir Henry John Newbolt ] (1862-1938), poet, novelist and historian, author of the patriotic anthology-piece 'Drake's Drum'
Publication details: 
27 September 1912. On letterhead of Netherhampton House, Salisbury.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Lightly aged and worn. With central horizontal and vertical crease for postage, each quarter with double pinholes at the centre (from attachment of an enclosure?). Signature unaffected (it starts close to vertical crease). Reads: 'Dear Mrs. Lord / With the greatest pleasure - and with ten thousand apologies. I thought I had answered long ago. But letters lie in heaps in my tray & on my table - everywhere! and I carry them about in bags labelled carefully Unanswered until I dare no longer look inside.

[William Jay, Congregational divine and noted preacher at the Argyle Chapel in Bath.] Autograph Note Signed to 'Mr Godwin' [Bath bookseller Henry Godwin], regarding the binding of his books. With order for the books, presumably in Godwin's hand.

Author: 
William Jay (1769-1853), Congregational divine, religious writer and preacher at the Argyle Chapel in Bath, praised by Sheridan for his oratorical skills [Henry Godwin, Bath bookseller]
Publication details: 
No date or place. [Bath.]
£25.00

ay is said to have preached nearly a thousand sermons before the age of twenty-one. On 11 x 8.5 cm piece of paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, but with patches of sunning. At the head of the page is the order for the books, presumably in Godwin's hand: 'A Volume of Crabbe's Works - to bind / 2 Vols to match it'. Beneath this is Jay's heavily-inked response: 'Will Mr Godwin leave the ordering of the binding till I see him? / Wm Jay'. Scan on application.

[‘She is not so really great as we hoped’: Charles Manby, civil engineer, involved in managing Adelphi and Haymarket theatres, London.] Copy Letter to Frederick Hodgson, criticising Fanny Kemble and discussing arrangement with Frederick Henry Yates.

Author: 
Charles Manby (1804-84), civil engineer [Fanny Kemble (1809-93), actress; Frederick Henry Yates (1797-1842), actor; Frederick Hodgson (1795-1854), politician; Adelphi and Haymarket theatres, London]
Publication details: 
Great George Street [London]. 8 November 1841.
£45.00

Manby’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that ‘His interests ranged beyond the engineering world, and for many years he was involved in the management of the Adelphi and Haymarket theatres.’ Manuscript copy letter. 2pp, 4to. Thirty-three lines of neat text. Addressed to ‘Frederick Hodgson Esqre. M.P.’ Ends: ‘I am Dear Sir / Your very faithfully / Charles Manby’.On first leaf of bifolium. Reverse of second leaf docketted: ‘Copy C Manby to F Hodgson Esqr / Scarbro - Novr 8. 1841’ (the letter does not contain any reference to Scarborough). In fair condition, creased and lightly aged. Folded once.

[British Guiana and Sir Henry Barkly, 1850.] Nine pages of cuttings from The Times and the Globe, by ‘NIGER’ - identified herein as Sir James Robert Carmichael - and ‘Jacob Omnium’ (Matthew James Higgins), on Governor Barkly and slavery.

Author: 
British Guiana; Sir James Carmichael-Smyth (1779-1838), governor; Sir James Robert Carmichael (1817-1883); Sir Henry Barkly (1815-98), governor; Matthew James Higgins ('Jacob Omnium') (1810-68)
Smyth
Publication details: 
The Times and the Globe, London. Four letters by 'NIGER' to the Globe dated 29 and 30 January, 9 February and 2 March 1850. Four letters to The Times (two apiece from 'NIGER' and 'JACOB OMNIUM'), dated in October and November [1850].
£280.00
Smyth

A contemporary manuscript note to the present item reveals for the first time the identity of ‘Niger’, one of the two correspondents of whose letters it consists. (And minor manuscript corrections to the last of the four letters would seem to suggest the involvement of the author.) This is Sir James Robert Carmichael (1817-1883), 2nd Bart, who was intimately connected with British Guiana through his father Sir James Carmichael-Smyth (1779-1838).

[Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1840.] Certificate of Morton Grove Mansel, signed by Sir George Scovell, Gov.; Thomas William Taylor, Lt Gov.; Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge; Sir Thomas Bradford; Sir William Henry Clinton; Sir John Gardiner.

Author: 
Sandhurst, Royal Military College; Sir George Scovell, Gov.; Thomas William Taylor, Lt Gov.; Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge; Sir Thomas Bradford; Sir William Henry Clinton; Sir John Gardiner
Sandhurst
Publication details: 
'At a Collegiate Board, held for the Half Yearly Public Examinations, on the 4th. & 5th of Novr. 1840.' [Royal Military College, Sandhurst.]
£280.00
Sandhurst

A large, attractive printed certificate, somewhat in the style of an early Victorian public notice, with heavily leaded font. Printed in black on one side of a 32 x 41 cm piece of cream vellum paper. Discoloured and ruckled from having been rolled up, but in good overall condition, and highly suitable (once flattened out) for framing. At bottom left, signatures of six ‘Commissioners, and Members of the Board’, one above the other: ‘Adolphus Fieldmarshal / W. H. Clinton / Thomas Bradford A Gnl / J Gardiner DAG / G Scovell Govr. M. Genl. / T W Taylor Col: Lt Governor’.

[G.F. Watts, painter and sculptor; Rothschild] Autograph Note Signed G.F. Watts to Dear Baroness [Juliana, wife of Baron Mayer de Rothschild] co9ncerning his portrait of Miss [Hannah] de Rothschild later married to the Earl of Rosebery

Author: 
G.F. Watts [George Frederic Watts (1817 – 1904) painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement.]
Publication details: 
Little Holland House, 5 Feb. 1873.
£250.00

One page, 12mo, fold marks, good condition. Dear Baroness | I will send the picture as you dsire & shall be ready to finish Miss de Rothschild when convenient to her to sit.Note: a. A particularly significant portrait was of the 23 year old Hannah de Rothschild painted in 1874, four years before her marriage to Lord Rosebery. The small portrait (it was only 10×12) gave Lord Rosebery such pleasure that, after Hannah’s early death in 1890, he told Watts that he carried it wherever he moved as he could not bear to be parted from it; b.

[Earl Grey [Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey], Liberal politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to Tom Taylor, editor of Punch, praising a performance of his play ‘The Ticket-of-Leave Man’.

Author: 
Earl Grey [Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey], Secretary of State for War in two Liberal administrations [Tom Taylor (1817-1880), playwright and editor of Punch]
Publication details: 
2 June [no year, but 1863, and on paper watermarked with that date]; on letterhead of 13 Carlton House Terrace.
£65.00

See the entry for Grey and Taylor in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Begins: ‘Dear Mr Taylor - / I am just come home from seeing “the ticket of leave man,” & before I go to bed I must thank you for an evening of very great enjoyment.’ It pleased him ‘to see so good a play, not taken from the French, but really English, [the play was in fact adapted from the French] & teaching the public what is true instead of encouraging a popular delusion of the day’.

[Henry Livings, working-class Lancastrian playwright, screenwriter and actor.] Typed Letter Signed to Paul Furness, discussing the pubs he has frequented.

Author: 
Henry Livings (1929-1998), working-class Lancastrian playwright, screenwriter and actor in the first 'Carry On' film and the 'Coronation Street' television series
Publication details: 
Undated [1982 or 1983]. 49 Grains Road, Delph, ‘via Oldham’ [Lancashire].
£80.00

Livings’s entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that his farces ‘convey serious truths’ with ‘both a dazzling comic flair and an unexpected force and profundity that is heightened by his use of colloquial language’. 1p, foolscap 8vo. Twenty-two lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with four light ink underlinings. Signed ‘Yours, / Henry Livings’. One of a number of letters to Furness by writers, responding to his enquiry about socialist authors and British pubs.

[' the beginning of confusion & will end in chaos': Cardinal Manning [Henry Edward Manning], Roman Catholic prelate, second Archbishop of Westminster.] Conclusion of Autograph Letter Signed ('Henry. E C. Archbp'), with reference to women in politics

Author: 
Cardinal Manning [Henry Edward Manning] (1808-1892), Roman Catholic prelate; second Archbishop of Westminster, 1865-1892
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Twenty-six lines of text, in a close and disciplined hand. Signed 'Henry. E C. Archbp'. In fair condition, lightly aged, with small dap of light red ink at head of last page. Folded once. Begins: 'the Guardians of the Poor. Not a Catholic Child would they give up 24 years ago. Now all the 33 Boards give us our Children, & give us their maintenance out of the Rates. They Visit our Schools and are perfectly content: & we are on the fairest & friendliest terms.

[Charles Philip Yorke, Tory politician, Home Secretary.] Autograph Signature, as Paymaster-General and Secretary at War, to printed form filled in by a secretary, placing Captain Henry Shelley, 20th Regiment of Foot, on half pay.

Author: 
Charles Philip Yorke, Tory politician, Home Secretary and Minister at War [Captain Henry Shelley, 20th Regiment of Foot; British Army]
Publication details: 
16 August 1803; War Office [Whitehall].
£56.00

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, aged and worn, with small piece of paper torn away at foot of page, resulting in some loss of text of slug, also wear and a few nicks at head and a stain to one edge. Good firm signature ‘C Yorke’ and its surroundings unaffected. A printed form letter, signed by Yorke as ‘Right Honble. the Pay-Master General, / &c. &c. &c.’, and completed in a secretarial hand, and addressed to ‘Gentlemen’.

[W. G. Wills [William Gorman Wills], Irish playwright and painter.] Autograph Letter Signed to Tom Taylor, fellow-playwright and ‘Punch’ editor, recommending Walter John Knewstub, Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s assistant.

Author: 
W. G. Wills [William Gorman Wills (1828-1891)], Irish playwright and painter [Tom Taylor (1817-1880), playwright, Punch editor; Walter John Knewstub (1831-1906), assistant to Dante Gabriel Rossetti]
Publication details: 
‘76 Fulham Rd / Brompton [London] / May 4 - 77 [1877]’.
£56.00

See his entry and Taylor’s in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Sixteen lines of closely-written text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘My dear Mr. Taylor / Would you allow me to introduce a friend of mine Mr. Knewstube to you.

[Lord Carnarvon: Henry Herbert, 3rd Earl of Carnarvon.] Autograph Letter in the Third Person, thanking Mrs Page for papers on the boundaries of Highclere, and commiserating with her on the death of Colonel Page.

Author: 
Lord Carnarvon [Henry John George Herbert, 3rd Earl of Carnarvon (1800-1849)], English nobleman, Tory politician and traveller, owner of Highclere Castle, Hampshire [Colonel Page]
Publication details: 
‘43. Grosvenor Sq / July 2. 1835.’ [London]
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Folded four times. Begins: ‘Lord Carnarvon presents his Compliments to Mrs. Page and is extremely obliged by her polite attention in sending him the Papers relating to the boundaries of Highclere - Burghclere, and Woodhay Parishes, which he has no doubt will prove extremely useful to him’. He has ‘many apologies to make for not sooner acknowledging the receipt of the Papers, but he has been for some time past incessantly occupied in attending the Committee on the Gt.

[General Sir J.G. Maxwell, Commander-in-Chief in Ireland during the 1916 Easter Rising.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr. Peverley Dodd', with regard to the etiquette for an engagement in Malta by the Duke of Connaught.

Author: 
General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell (1859-1929) British Army officer, Commander-in-Chief in Ireland during 1916 Easter Rising and its aftermath [Rev. Henry Peverley Dodd (1875-1938), army chaplain]
Publication details: 
‘The Palace / Malta / March 24.’ [1908] On letterhead of the High Commissioner, Mediterranean.
£220.00

The context of the letter is explained in Maxwell’s entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘In the autumn of 1902 Maxwell was chosen by the duke of Connaught, then acting commander-in-chief in Ireland, as his chief staff officer at Dublin. There he remained until May 1904, when Connaught became inspector-general of the forces, and Maxwell followed him to London.

[‘Bill Nye’, pen name of E. W. Nye [Edgar Wilson Nye], humorist and editor of the Laramie Boomerang.] Two Autograph Letters Signed, the first [to Grant Reid] regarding a publicity photograph, the second to Henry Van der Weyde authorizing it.

Author: 
‘Bill Nye’, pen name of the humorist E. W. Nye [Edgar Wilson Nye] (1850-1896), founder and editor of the Laramie Boomerang [Henry Van der Weyde (1838-1924), Dutch-born London portrait photograper]
Publication details: 
Both 25 November 1895. The first from Arden, North Carolina, USA, the second also from ‘America’.
£56.00

The two items are in good condition, lightly aged, and both folded for postage. Both 1p, 12mo. ONE (evidently to Grant Reid, editor of the Northern Figaro, Aberdeen): Signed ‘E. W. Nye’. Recipient not named. ‘My dear Sir / Your favor of the 9- asking for a photograph to be used in your admirable publication is just received.

[Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, diplomat and brother of novelist Lord Lytton.] Autograph Letter Signed to assistant of New Bond Street bookseller John Andrews, disputing the account and describing another mistake.

Author: 
Sir Henry Bulwer [William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer] (1801-1872), Liberal politician, British Ambassador to United States and other countries [John Andrews, bookseller]
Publication details: 
No date or place, but certainly after February 1839, and from the smudged postmark apparently 1842. From France?
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. (BBTI has John Andrews with bookshop and circulating library at 167 New Bond Street from before 1831 to 1857.) 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Extracted from an album, and with the gutter strengthened with archival tape. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. As a piece of business correspondence has a spike hole through the centre of both leaves, unfortunately also through the ?H? of the signature ?H L Bulmer?, which is little more than a scrawl, with corkscrew paraphe.

[Gerald Massey, poet, spiritualist and Egyptologist.] Autograph Letter Signed to Alfred Miles, taking him to task for his selection of his poems for an anthology, and demanding 'a hand in the selection'.

Author: 
Gerald Massey (1828-1907), poet, spiritualist and discredited Egyptologist [Alfred Henry Miles (1848-1929)
Publication details: 
20 April [no year, but on paper watermarked 1887]; New Southgate.
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Addressed to 'Alfred Miles Esqre.' and with good bold signature 'Gerald Massey'. Begins: 'Dear Sir / You are quite at liberty to quote from my poems - but I shd. like to have a hand in the selection. / In a collection so large as you contemplate there ought to be nothing but one's best.' If he were to edit such a work he would 'make all living authors so choose their own poems. Sir Richard Grenville is the only one of those you mention that I shd.

[Henry Reeve, editor of the Edinburgh Review for four decades.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the publisher Alexander Macmillan] regarding books he intends to review by Lady Godon Duff and J. R. Seeley.

Author: 
Henry Reeve (1813-1895), editor of the Edinburgh Review from 1855 to his death, Registrar of the Privy Council, 1843-1887 [Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896), publisher]
Publication details: 
11 May 1866. On embossed letterhead of the Privy Council Office [Whitehall].
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The recipient (‘Dear Sir’) is not named, but is presumably Alexander Macmillan (see Oxford DNB), the publisher of the two books referred to in the letter, which he seems to have sent for review. The letter is signed ‘H Reeve’. Folded for postage. He begins by thanking him for sending copies of ‘Lady Duff Gordon’s Letters [from Egypt]’ and ‘Ecce Homo’ [‘a survey of the life and work of Jesus Christ’ by J. R. Seeley], which he has ‘already read with great interest’.

[First Canadian First W.W. flying ace: Redford Mulock] [Air Commodore Redford Henry Mulock], aviator.] Autograph Letter Signed, supplying a 'signature' to ‘Gibson’, while referring to their time together at Westgate 'in the early months of 1915'.

Author: 
First Canadian flying ace of the First World War, and the first in the Royal Naval Air Service: Redford Mulock [Air Commodore Redford Henry Mulock (1886-1961), CBE, DSO & Bar], aviator [Gibson]
Publication details: 
‘July 22. 29 [1929] / Winnipeg / Canada’.
£120.00

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, but with the blank reverses of the two leaves both carrying traces of glue from previous mounting, and slight damage and loss at the foot of both. Good firm signature. Reads: ‘Dear Gibson - / I have just received your note asking for my signature. I think you were at Westgate in the early months of 1915 when I was. I wonder how you are getting on these days. I do hope that the scouts are all right and going strong & that you yourself are in the best of health & spirits / Yours very Sincerely. / Red. H. Mulock.’ See Image.

[Harry Furniss, Punch cartoonist.] Autograph Letter Signed to the editor of The Connoisseur Marion Spielmann, arranging a visit.

Author: 
Harry Furniss [Henry Furniss, pseud. Lika Joko] (1854-1925), Anglo-Irish Punch cartoonist, illustrator of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Sylvie and Bruno’ [Marion Spielmann, editor of The Connoisseur]
Publication details: 
‘Wednesday’, on 1880s letterhead of the Clef Club, Birmingham.
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of mount on blank reverse. Folded once. Addressed to ‘My dear Spielmann’ and signed ‘Harry Furniss’. He asks if Spielmann is ‘at home on Sundays’, as he will be in town between Saturday and might be able to ‘look in for a minute sometime but I’ll not say exactly when’. ‘I’ll have so much to do, but probably it will be sometime in the morning before noon. / Leave all till then. / You don’t say how you are’. Postscript: ‘Lectures going very well’ (last two words underlined four times).

[Spenser Wilkinson, military historian, the first Chichele Professor of Military History at Oxford University.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Bryan' regarding a meeting with 'Col. [A. G. A.] Durand'.

Author: 
Spenser Wilkinson [Henry Spenser Wilkinson] (1853-1937), military historian, the first Chichele Professor of Military History at Oxford University [Colonel A. G. A. Durand of the Hunza-Nagar Campaign]
Publication details: 
2 January 1901; 99 Oakley St. S.W. [London] On letterhead of the Morning Post, 246 Strand, W.C. [London].
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of brown paper mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘Spenser Wilkinson.’ Begins: ‘Dear Mr. Bryan, / I am glad to hear from you again, for you seemed lost. My wife went to Beauchamp Place long ago to call on Mr. Bryan but found that you had left & could not learn your address.’ He accepts with pleasure the invitation to lunch with him and Colonel Durand, ‘whose book I read with much interest’.

[Thomas Binney, Congregational minister known as the ‘Archbishop of Nonconformity’.] The first part only of an Autograph Letter, discussing his writing a preface for a work by ‘the blind eloquent American’ [William Henry Milburn].

Author: 
Thomas Binney [Thomas Benney] (1798-1874), Congregational minister known as the ‘Archbishop of Nonconformity’ [William Henry Milburn (1823-1903), ‘the blind preacher’]
Publication details: 
‘Walworth [London] / Octr 31. 1856’.
£40.00

See Binney’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. The present item is only the first part of the letter, and hence unsigned, but the author is undoubtedly Binney (the text ends with a reference to ‘my preface to Dr Cheever’s “Incidents & Memories of the Christian Life,” published by Collins of Glasgow’). In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. The recipient is not named, but the subject of the letter is a proposal for Binney to prepare for English publication a work by ‘the blind eloquent American’ (i.e. William Henry Milburn).

[Geoffrey Langdale Bickersteth, Italianist and Professor of English at Aberdeen University.] Three Autograph Letters Signed to his old headmaster at Charterhouse 'Dr. Rendall’, with reference to Dante, Marlborough College, Josef Schick, E. A. Wilson.

Author: 
Geoffrey Langdale Bickersteth (1884-1974), translator of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’, Professor of English, Aberdeen University [Gerald Henry Rendall (1851-1945), Shakespearian scholar]
Publication details: 
ONE: 11 July 1913; on letterhead of The College, Marlborough. TWO: 27 January 1914; Amalienstrasse 44A/II, Munich. THREE: 7 February 1933; on letterhead of 4 St John’s Terrace, Glasgow, W2.
£180.00

Three excellent letters, written to his old headmaster at Charterhouse. Bickersteth’s papers are at Aberdeen, and with those of his family at the Bodleian. See the Oxford DNB entry for his brother Julian Bickersteth (1885-1962). Three long letters, every page fully filled with text neatly written in a close hand. The three items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE (11 July 1913): 4pp, 12mo, with additional cross writing on the first three. Bifolium. Begins by thanking him for his book, clearly Rendall’s ‘A Hero of the Antarctic’, about the ornithologist and explorer E. A.

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