HOUSE

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage and with an unobtrusive crease to one corner (not near signature). Reads: ‘Sir / A meeting of the Standard Commission will be held at Sir John Lubbock’s Bank, St. Mildred’s Court, Mansion house Street, on Thursday Feb 11, at 11 o’clock in the forenoon, when your attendance is particularly requested. / I am, Sir, / Your obedient servant / G B Airy’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The programme is 8pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with minor rust to staples. The cover consists of the royal crest printed in red, and the rest in black: ‘ROYAL OPERA HOUSE / COVENT GARDEN’ above the crest, and ‘THE SADLER’S WELLS / BALLET / 1947’ below it. At an angle across the centre of the page, in blue ink, is the large signature ‘Margot Fonteyn’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Outer sides somewhat grubby, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed ‘Dear Sir’ and signed ‘Devonshire’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Philip Dosse (1925-1980), proprietor of Hansom Books, publishers of several arts magazines. Presumably acknowledging payment for a review in ‘Books and Bookmen’. On plain ‘House of Commons’ postcard. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with crease to one corner going through the final flourish of Grimond’s signature. Reads: ‘4 Aug / Many thanks for cheque for £20 already acknowledged / J Grimond’.

This collection of 113 items, dating from the middle of the eighteenth century, relates to a notable London landmark. Until the end of the nineteenth century the Old South Sea House, headquarters of the South Sea Company (Company of Merchants Trading to the South Seas and other Parts of America), stood on the corner of Threadneedle Street and Bishopsgate Street. A young Charles Lamb worked here for nearly six months in 1792, and wrote the first of the ‘Essays of Elia’ about the place.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Removed from album, and closely trimmed, having been cut down to 9 x 7 cm, with corners cropped. Lightly aged, with one fold for postage. In neat close hand, reads: ‘My dear Lady Burdett / I am very sorry indeed that an Engagement from which I cannot release myself will deprive me of so great a pleasure. Yours ever / S Rogers.’ See image

1p, landscape 12mo. Aged, worn and lightly discoloured. Laid down on larger leaf removed from an album. The text, all in Randolph’s hand, reads: ‘Pay to Jaqueline [sic] P. Taylor or bearer Fifty four Dollars 84 Cents / John Randolph of Roanoke / Decr. 22d. 1829. / To the Cashier of the Bank of Virginia’. Despite the name Jacqueline P. Taylor of Richmond City, Virginia, was male. See image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. According to Anne Williamson’s 1995 biography, Williamson decided on the spot to purchase the farm at Bank House, Botesdale, Suffolk, when his car broke down across the road from it in July 1945. The purchase price was £1700. Five years later he decided that the farm ‘could be honourably sold and he could become a full-time writer again’. It was sold in September 1950 for £2,600, although, as Anne Williamson notes, and the present item makes clear, a higher price had previously been considered. The present item is a 3pp, 4to.

A nice piece of Sherborne ephemera, in unusually good condition. Between 1855 and 1860 Ransam House had been used to board boys from Sherborne School. ‘The Sherborne Academy’ to which the present card refers was run by John Kidd (c.1834-1891), FRAS, MCP, at Ransam between the end of 1861 and 1868, when it reverted to Sherborne School. The present item is printed in black ink on both sides of a x cm piece of white card. In very good condition, lightly aged.

10 + [1]pp, foolscap 8vo. Customary title printed at right angles on back cover, for folding into a packet. Disbound. Text complete, but printed on aged high-acidity paper, with chipping to extremities. Front page headed 'Miscellaneous. No. 2 (1890).' No physical copy on COPAC or WorldCat, only online reproductions.

The present collection reflects the state of Kipling’s India during the high summer of the Raj. At the end of 1884 Lord Dufferin replaced the Earl of Ripon as Viceroy, and apart from a period of seven months between June of 1885 and January of 1886, when Lord Salisbury and the Conservatives were in power following the death of General Gordon, and Lord Randolph Churchill was Secretary of State, Gladstone and the Liberals were in power.

As the Great Depression hit Gibbons found himself over-extended, and was forced into bankruptcy. The present item is scarce. The only copy on JISC is at the Paul Mellon Centre Library. 68pp, 8vo. In grey printed wraps, and with purchase slip tipped in. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. At head of title-page: ‘By Direction of Lieut.-Col. SIR WALTER GIBBONS, K.B.E., D.L. Following the Sale of the Freehold, and the proposed conversion of the Property into high-class Residential Flats.’ ‘Conditions of Sale’ on reverse of title. 974 lots.

See the two men’s obituaries in The Times. 1p, 12mo. With thin mourning border. On aged and creased paper, with nicks and closed tears to edges, and slight loss at one corner. Folded twice. He is enclosing a programme for ‘Foundations of Music / Tuesday, March 26th’, ‘in which you are taking part’. He gives the time for ‘The rehearsal and balance test’. ‘Both transmission and rehearsal at Broadcasting House.’

For Lady Craven's colourful life see her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Folded four times. Begins: 'Mr. Thomas, I will thank you to send my Carriage by a Western Waggon, immediately here - directed to Hr. S. Highness The Margravine of Anspach Brandenburg house, near Hammersmith, and I hope as I have waited so long for it that it will be a well seasond [sic] Carriage - & reasonable in Price, which if it is, and finish'd to my Satisfaction, you may depend ont that it will not be the last by many which you will make'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, on lightly discoloured paper, with thin neat strip from windowpane mount adhering to edges. Sixteen lines in a neat and stylish hand. Signed ‘T. Crofton Croker’. The recipient is not named, but is clearly John Bowyer Nichols, editor of the Gentleman’s Magazine, in whose number for April 1839 appeared an article, with engraving, by ‘E. I. C.’, on ‘Winchester House, Broad-street, London.’ Croker begins his letter: ‘My dear Sir, / I return E. I. C’s account of Winchester House.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is not in the best of condition: it is aged and creased (including dog-eared corner on which the signature ‘Camden’ is written), with contemporary repair to two long tears by the laying down on the blank reverse of strips from a contemporary manuscript. Docketed on the otherwise blank second leaf: ‘25th July 1824 / Marquis Camden’.

See her own entry in the Oxford DNB, as a ‘political wife’, and that of Yonge, whose ‘Unknown to History: A Story of the Captivity of Mary of Scotland’ was published in 1882. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Signed ‘G Salisbury’ and addressed to ‘Miss Yonge’. In good condition, with negligible remnants of windowpane mount adhering at edges. ‘One of the original casket letters was found at Hatfield some years ago by Dr Brewer who was then looking over the papers on behalf of the Record Office to which he belonged - Also a copy of another - of the same date.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing, a year and a half before his death, Horner was Member of Parliament for St. Mawes in Cornwall. 1p, 4to. Eighteen lines, neatly written. Addressed to ‘My dear Harrison’ and signed ‘Fra Horner.’ In good condition, lightly aged, with negligible remnants of windowpane mount adhering at edges of blank reverse. Folded for postage. He has received both of Harrison’s letters, and is ‘particularly obliged’ to him for ‘sending the copy of Stephen’s communication.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On a leaf of grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. The recipient was studying at the Royal Academy Schools. Begins: ‘Dear Miss Towgood / Thanks for your letter and enclosed statement by Mr Percy Young.’ He asks to be sent ‘the names of the authors of the various “Cartoons” and “Creswick”’, so that he may have all his material ‘ready for the Council on Tuesday next’. He intended to ask her for the names in ‘the Schools’ (of the Royal Academy at Burlington House), ‘but a sudden attack of Influenza confines me to my room by the Doctor’s order’.

The East India Company has come under renewed scrutiny in recent years as ‘the world’s first multinational’: an early model of the acquisition of hegemony by means of transnational non-governmental corporations. 2pp, foolscap 8vo. On bifolium of thick laid paper, whose head has been cut into the customary wave. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into the customary packet. On the recto of the first leaf is the long printed form ‘Indenture’ with blank parts completed in manuscript. Red wax seal under paper at bottom right.

It seems extraordinary that they were able to pull this off during wartime restrictions, and Dickens would have relished the shabby-genteelness of it. The menu is shakily printed in a faded blue on a 10 x 16.5 cm piece of cream card, with rounded edges. At foot: ‘Holborn Restaurant 7th February 1942’. The menu is headed: ‘THE DICKENS FELLOWSHIP / 130th Anniversary of the / Birthday of Charles Dickens / Chairman: WALTER DEXTER, Vice-President / Speakers: HUMPHREY HOUSE, JAMES AGATE’.

See Oman’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Each letter 1p, 12mo. Each folded once. All three in good condition, lightly aged. The correspondence concerns Harlow’s proposal, according to the letter of 2 June 1937, ‘that All Souls College should present to the Rhodes House Library the comparatively few yearly numbers of the Cape Parliamentary proceedings 1875-1910 which are not already in either the Bodleian or the Rhodes House shelves - keeping for the College the residuence, a broken set of about 200 volumes’.

Information regarding this major figure in British history is not far to seek. On 11.5 x 5.5 cm panel cut from front of envelope. In fair condition, with a few traces of glue at centre and short closed tear to right-hand edge; none of this anywhere near the signature. The letter is addressed in another hand: ‘The Solicitor General / Hackwood Park / Basingstoke’, with last word deleted. Signed in the customary manner at bottom left: ‘W E Gladstone’. Basingstoke postmark in blue, and cropped frank in red. See image.

Hughes began as a journalist, writing the popular column ‘Sub Rosa’ in the Morning Leader, before descending from the Press Gallery onto the floor of the House of Commons. However short, the present item gives a faint echo of the verve for which he was renowned as a backbencher and after-dinner speaker. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘Spencer Leigh Hughes’. Reads: ‘Dear Armstrong / Another lunatic! There are many about. I was lecturing in Scotland recently & had quite an ovation when I talked about the “British” parliament.’

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. Lurid claims of three-in-a-bed adulteries put a paid to Dilke’s political ambitions (he had been touted as a future prime minister), and rendered him the butt of musical hall jokes. 16mo, 2pp. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and folded once. ‘Dear Bourke / If you are in the House at 2 o’clock to-day I propose to ask you when the Greek Papers which were promised yesterday in the House of Lords are likely to be distributed to members of the House of Commons / Yrs. very truly, / Charles W.

See Dilke’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Lurid claims of three-in-a-bed adulteries put a paid to his political ambitions (he had been touted as a future prime minister), and rendered him the butt of musical hall jokes. The recipient is not named. On one side of a plain 11.5 x 9 cm postcard. In fair condition, lightly aged, with the two right-hand corners creased.

Written while his brother Maximilian II was on the throne. (Following Maximilian’s death in 1864 Bavaria would be ruled by the celebrated ‘mad king’, Adalbert’s nephew Ludwig II.) The recipient is Lady Ann Cullum (1807-1875), widow of Rev. Sir Thomas Gery Cullum (1777-1855), 8th Baronet, of Hardwick House, Bury St Edmunds, who is referred to as ‘botanist and antiquary’ in his eponymous father’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. Thirty-six lines, neatly and closely written. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice.

See their entries in the Oxford DNB. Castle was a pioneer for woman in British politics and a champion of the welfare state; and Ashley, said to have been the first totally deaf democratic representative in the world, was a campaigner for the rights of the disabled.. Both items in good condition. The ANS is on a 16mo leaf of pink paper. On one side: ‘To Pip / who has lightened our load and brightened our lives for so many years. / Bless you! / Barbara Castle / 11. 7. 73.’ On the other: ‘To PIP THE POPular / With every good wish / Jack Ashley / P.S. And lots and lots of fun. / JA’.

4to, 1 p. Nine lines. Text clear and complete. On bifolium of paper watermarked 'J WHATMAN | 1855'. Aged and lightly-stained. Reads 'I have the Honor to inform you that Parliament having been called to meet on Thursday the 3d of December Business of great Importance will then immediately be brought forward, and I trust that it may be consistent with your Convenience to attend in your Place in the House of Commons on that Day'. From the papers of James Wyld (1812-1887), cartographer and Member of Parliament for Bodmin.

See Beveridge’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Humberstone was a prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. The five items are in good condition, lightly aged. All five signed ‘W H Beveridge’. ONE: 29 June 1933; The London School of Economics and Political Science, Aldwych, London. 1p, 4to. Folded twice. Thanking him for his book on ‘the Bloomsbury Site’. He does not agree with his ‘objection to Holden’s design (so far as I can judge I think it is very remarkable and very fine)’, but thinks that ‘the stirring up of discussion and interest in the matter is a good thing’.