HENRY

A marvellously evocative collection, giving a clear picture of the consequences of a profligate youth in the Oxford of Lewis Carroll (Biscoe would have been well-acquainted with Dodgson as a Fellow of Christ Church at his time there). Not only does the collection provide a large number of itemised tradesmen's bills, receipts and correspondence, for everything from confectionery, cigars, wine, boating, billiards and tennis, to hats, coats, shoes and the doing-up of Biscoe's rooms, but it also shows the efforts of his father, Rev.

Part of printed Exchequer receipt, on one side of 18 x 17.5 cm piece of paper, titled 'Sir Henry Furnese Bar. in Repayment of Loan on the Twelfth 4s. Aid, Anno 1709.' In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. On the reverse, in a clerk's hand: 'I doe hereby Assigne and transfer all my Right Title and Interest of the within order and talley thereto belonging to the Right Honble. John Lord Hervey or his Assigns'. Signed 'Henry Furnese', and beneath this, in the hand of Lord Hervey (he was created Earl of Bristol in 1714): 'June 15 1710 | Recd the Contents | Hervey'.

On 5.5 x 12.5 cm strip torn from the foot of a letter. In good condition, lightly aged. Beneath the typed words 'Sincerely yours,' is the firm bold signature 'Sinclair Lewis'.

Cream card, blank on one side. No address or stamp. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Dr Lankester, some days since I asked you to an 8 re Apl. 1. I hope you can come | Lord Avebury & others are come [sic] | Kindly let me know | yours truly | H Thompson'.

[2] + 23 + [1]pp., 8vo. Disbound wthout covers. In good condition, lightly aged. 'Notice' on page preceding main text includes the following referemce to the American Civil War: 'If the British Empire can be justified in its sway over the three kingdoms, and its dependencies, or the American Union over the Southern States, then far more surely may the right of the Pontiffs be maintained by the same arguments. The only difference I know is, that we and the Americans have bayonets of our own. The Pontiffs are unarmed.

151pp., 8vo. Disbound without covers. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper.

48pp., 8vo. Stitched and disbound. In fair condition, lightly aged, but with the spine strengthened with stitching in white thread. Now uncommon.

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Liddell's elegant signature, together with text in another hand. Reads: 'Vinerian Scholarship | This is to certify that Mr Richard Harington Bachelor of Arts Student of Christ Church in the University of Oxford has resided there and kept forty two days. | Henry G Liddell, | Dean of Christ Church, Oxon | Christ Church | October 31st. 1859.' From the Harington family papers.

A son of the Earl of Minto, Elliot (hereafter GSE) was Russell's brother-in-law and one of his two executors. The events described in the present collection occurred while GSE was living with Russell, who was then Home Secretary, as his private secretary; and the controversy is over the claim that the replacement of Sir James Hudson as Italian ambassador by GSE's brother, the future Sir Henry Elliot (1817-1907), was an 'act of nepotism' on the part of Russell.

Thirteen items from the Harington family papers. Sir Richard Harington of Ridlington, 12th Baronet, was educated at Eton and Christ College, Cambridge. Called to the Bar in 1886, he practised as a barrister on the Oxford Circuit before taking up an appointment as a Puisne Judge in the High Court of Justice at Fort William in Bengal in 1899, serving in that capacity until returning home in 1913. In later years he acted as Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Herefordshire. The collection is in fair condition, aged and worn.

5pp., 12mo. On two bifoliums. With the Society's oval Adelphi date stamp. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight rust-staining from paperclip. She begins by asking if 'there would be any difficulty in my examining Barry's paintings at the Adelphi, & taking a few notes on them. | My old friend & my husband's colleague at the British Museum, Mr.

1p., on 24 x 16cm. piece of paper. The first part of the document reads: 'Recorded 24 Decembr 1701 | Received of the Lord ffitcharding three hundred pounds part of an Order of ten thousand two hundred pounds out of the 4½ P Cents for Secrett Service'. Below this, in the right-hand margin, Ferne has written: 'Three Hundred Pounds | Hen: Ferne | ple of 10200 | Pr Secret Service | 22 Decr. 1701'. At the foot of the page, in another hand: 'Witness. | Rd: Porter'.

1p., 8vo.. On aged and worn paper, with damage to edges. Laid out in the customary fashion, with printed text completed in manuscript. The document records the receipt of £50 on an annuity, but the manuscript parts are hurriedly written by the witness '<?> Burton', and difficult to decipher.

1p., 8vo. Good firm signature, undamaged, at foot of aged and damaged document. Laid out in the customary style, with printed text (headed 'Annuities, 3700l. per Week.') completed in manuscript. Recording a payment of £100 on an annuity to Palmerston, who is acting as an assignee. Signature of witness 'J Eedes' at foot. Palmerston's signature, written within a few months of his death, is a little shaky.

3pp., 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition. Year not given, but with '1859' in a contemporary hand at top-right of first page. The recipient is not named, but the letter is from the papers of Sir George Scharf. It begins: 'I remember your saying in the course of last winter you would be glad an [sic] opportunity of coming to see me, & what little I have to shew you. | I conclude the Portrait Gallery as well as <?> Institutions admits of some holidays at this season'. Consequently he suggests a time when the recipient might 'spend a few days' at Bowood, if his 'engagements admit'.

1p., 12mo. With mourning border. Reads: 'Dear Lord Stanhope | I am most unfortunately compelled to go into the country this evening, or I should not have failed to have attended the meeting of the trustees of the Nat. Portrait Gallery. | Very truly yours | Somers.' It was Stanhope who had been mainly responsible for the foundation of the National Portrait Gallery in 1856.

Complete magazine: 16pp., folio. In good condition, on lightly-aged high-acidity paper. Three-quarters of the magazine is devoted to a catalogue by the publisher.

Moffatt is an interesting minor figure. In a 1924 piece titled 'Brief History of the Failsworth Pole', Rev. James Smith writes: 'The Jacobins' Club Library was kept in a room next to that in which Ben Brierley was born, and old John Moffatt, tailor, of "Crockey Hall," opposite the Pole, had charge of the Library'. Smith quotes lines which he considers 'remarkable for their patriotism', noting: 'He must have been a mild sort of Jacobin.' A total of sixteen pages, on eight leaves.

1p., on 24 x 16cm. piece of paper cut from Customs' ledger. The first part of the document reads: 'Recorded 24 Decembr 1701 | Received of the Lord ffitcharding three hundred pounds part of an Order of ten thousand two hundred pounds out of the 4½ P Cents for Secrett Service'. Below this, in the right-hand margin, Ferne has written: 'Three Hundred Pounds | Hen: Ferne | ple of 10200 | Pr Secret Service | 22 Decr. 1701'. At the foot of the page, in another hand: 'Witness. | Rd: Porter'.

There is no indication that either of the two papers was ever published. Wells's 1935 book, 'Perspective in early Chinese Painting' is considered the first Western treatment of the subject. The three items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: Typescript of 'The Auditory Element in some Chinese Landscape Paintings'. 6pp., with three plates (i.e. black and white photographs laid down on three leaves with typed credits). Bound up in a folder of orange card, with title and Wells's details on cover in his hand.

62pp., 4to (comprising 45pp. in manuscript, and 17pp. in typescript). In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Numerous emendations and corrections throughout. Draft notes towards the piece cover 21pp., on loose leaves, with the completed text (both in manuscript and typescript) on leaves held together with a brass stud. Written in the pleasing style highlighted in Christian's obituary in The Times, 28 October 1938: 'not only admirable history, but also, owing to the many humorous flashes which illuminate them, excellent light reading'.

The 14 letters total 72pp. The collection is in good condition, lightly aged. Most items docketed and with the Society's stamp. The correspondence relates to Society business, from a strongly Anglo-Indian viewpoint. Letters of 26 May and 2 June 1913 are each 12pp. Long, and concern the relative merits of Indian colonial official Sir William Lee-Warner (1846-1914) and the geographer Sir Thomas Holdich (1843-1929), to be chairman of the Society.

Both items in good condition, on grey-paper bifoliums, the first with the Society's stamp and both docketed. ONE: 25 January 1901. 1p., 12mo. Concerning the binding up of his copies of the Society's journal, and the supply of missing parts. TWO: 12 June 1901. 3pp., 12mo. Concerning his 'promised letter' for 'Friday's Journal': 'I cannot hope to have a proof sent me, but if you accept the letter & should be correcting a proof yourself & would, when ordering a proof, order a spare copy for me to see at your office, I shd. be greatly obliged & wd. call in tomorrow afternoon to look through it'.

(The title ends: '[...] the said title, honour, and dignity.') 52pp., folio. With large fold-out 'Pedigree of the Barony of Barnard'. In brown printed paper covers with red ribbon spine. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, in worn and chipped wraps. Mainly consisting of 'Proofs to be adduced in support of the case of Henry De Vere Vane, claiming to be Baron Barnard of Barnard Castle, on his claim to the said peerage'. and an appendix in five parts. On the death in 1890 of the 4th Duke of Cleveland, the line of succession to the dukedom was left unclear.

The Patent Office - now the Intellectual Property Office - was established by the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852, which simplified the procedure for obtaining patents of invention and reduced costs. In 1883 another Act of Parliament brought into being the office of Comptroller General of Patents, with, according to the National Archives, 'a staff of patent examiners to carry out a limited form of examination; mainly to ensure that the specification described the invention properly, but without any investigation into novelty'.

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. 47 lines of text, with emendations. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Begins (spelling and capitalization uncorrected): 'Memm. | August 10 1780 It is this Day hearby agreed betwen Richd. Price of knebworth in hartfordshire on the behalf of Richard warburton Lytton Esqr. and Henry Eve of Barnish Roothing in Essex on his Own behalf as fallows vizt.

The manuscript is closely-written over 80pp., 4to, in green cloth, and is interleaved with the twenty leaves of Peet's printed bibliography from the 1910 edition of Mumby's book (paginated 431-470), to which it does not correspond, with only a small amount of the information in the manuscript also in Peet's bibliography. It contains a mass of material not present in Peet's bibliography, and has the main list followed by entries under the following headings: 'Booksellers' Portraits', 'Tokens', 'Petitions & Memorials', 'Charities', 'Magazine Articles', 'Book Labels' and 'Copyright'.

Both letters are on bifoliums, and both on aged paper, with damp and rust staining. ONE: 7 October 1887. 2pp., 12mo. Blackwoods the publishers have forwarded to him Langbridge's 'letter asking for permission to quote three passages from George Eliot's works in a book of "Readings" which you are preparing', and he has 'great pleasure in according you the desired permission'. TWO: 12 March 1888. 3pp., 12mo. With mourning border. He is 'very glad' to have Langbridge's 'full and thoroughly satisfactory explanation'.

105 items of correspondence, in French, in various formats (mainly 8vo). In good condition on lightly-aged paper. Each text clear and complete. The whole contained in a grey paper folder with 'Juillet 1818' on the front wrap. Each item unobtrusively numbered in neat red pencil. Featuring a wide range of the correspondents, as few write more than once. Occasional letters docketed. Accompanied by a modern abstract by a French-speaker, reflecting the difficulty of the various hands contained in the collection.

105 pp, in contemporary 4to notebook; started at both ends, with 53 pp at one, and 52 pp at the other. Quarter-bound in brown calf, marbled boards. Aged, in worn binding with a few loose leaves, but fair, and with text clear and complete. Ticket of 'Gotelee, Bookseller Printer and Stationer, Oakingham' on front pastedown. In two hands, the first considerably neater than the other, writing 18 pp of patrons (23 to a page), beginning with 'His Grace the Duke of Manchester Kimbolton Castle Hants', and featuring Sir E. Page Turner Bart Battleden House Woburn'.