HOUSES

See his entry, and that of his father the civil engineer, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On separate letterheads. The recipient is not named and there is no salutation (though the letter is complete). Signed ‘Brassey’. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘I have two maxims for [hourly?] use. / I do the little I can do and leave the rest to thee / What thou livest live well. The rest commit to Heaven / Nor should the last message of the greatest sailor since the world began ever be forgotten / England expects that every man this day will do his duty’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The identity of the recipient is unclear. Written on one side of a small (12 x 9.5 cm) plain card. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with one vertical crease. Reads: ‘Dear Walter / Enclosed is, as you may see, addressed to Speaker Court. I opened it & think it may be for Miss Erskine. If not, will you send it on to Lady Ilbert. Nothing is known of it here. / Yours sincerely / James W Lowther’. Lady Ilbert was wife of the Clerk of the Commons, Sir Courtenay Ilbert, from whose papers the item derives.

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’.

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.

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.

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.

Fragment of letter in Gladstone’s autograph, with his signature, on both sides of 10 x 6 cm rectangle. In good condition, with one vertical fold. Five lines on recto read: ‘<...> It was most kind of you to send me the delightful pearl studs - & to write so friendly a letter. Lady Paget gave me a set’. Recto reads: ‘<...> & preserve your kind thought | With many thanks to you & Mrs Robson | Always | W E Gladstone’. See image.

Folio, [ii] + 39 + [i]. Stitched. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with slight staining to fore-edge. Title-page bearing stamp and withdrawal stamp of the University of Hull.

Folio, [ii] + 39 + [i]. Stitched. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with slight staining to fore-edge. Title-page bearing stamp and withdrawal stamp of the University of Hull.

An interesting collection of material relating to the preparations for the historic first Secret Session in the House of Lords, from the papers of Neville Digby Bosworth Smith (1886-1964) of the Privy Council Office. The material dates from the five days preceding 25 April 1916, when the House of Lords having voted in favour of the measure, it held a secret session to debate a motion regarding conscription following the passing of the Military Services Act 1916. (For a contemporary account of the parallel proceedings in the other house, see Sir C. P.

5.5 x 10 cm piece of paper, cut from the front of an envelope. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Immediate | The | Lord Archbishop of Canterbury | W Gladstone'. The signature is in the customary place, in the bottom left-hand corner.

A total of 12pp, 12mo. On bifoliums. All addressed to 'Dear Shuttleworth'. In good condition, lightly aged. A curious feature of the four letters is that the handwriting of each differs from the others. ONE: 7 April 1880. Trevelyan condoles with Shuttleworth, who has lost his Hastings seat in the General Election. He states that he is 'so heartily disgusted' with Shuttleworth's constituents, adding 'The loss, most temporary I feel sure, to the House will be very sensible, and I shall sorely miss you as a friend.

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with negligible traces from mount adhering to corners on blank reverse. A nice piece of Cambridge University ephemera. A crisply-printed circular, addressed to 'SIR', evidently sent to the electors for the University of Cambridge. Seventeen lines of text. He explains that when he first 'heard of the death of our late Representative, Mr.

On both sides of a 37 x 24 cm piece of paper (i.e. half a 'pinched post' folio leaf), with 1806 fleur-de-lys watermark. Folded twice, to make eight 24 x 9 cm panels (four on each side), in seven of which Perceval has written his notes in a close and neat hand. The eighth panel forms the outside of the folded paper, and on this Perceval has written 'Parliamentary | Miscellaneous'. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn.

On one side of 7 x 11.5 cm piece of watermarked laid paper, cut from the letter's envelope, in his bol hand. In fair condition, though somewhat ruckled and aged. Entirely in O'Donnell's hand, and laid out in the customary fashion, with the signature 'Daniel O Connell' between two lines at bottom left. Addressed: 'Dublin December Sixteen [corrected by O'Connell 'eighteen | D O C'] | 1834 | Messs Cox & Co | Army Agents | Craigs Court | London'.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. She asks Adams to inform her 'what day has been fixed for the Committee in the Vane Estate Bill' (in which she clearly has a family interest), continuing: 'When the Duke of Marlborough saw Mr Adam with Lord Redesdale last night he understood that Tuesday next was the day on which he was to be present in order to give his consent to the Bill; he has since heard from Mr. Wagstaff to say that Friday or the following Monday will be the earliest day on which the Bill can be committed.

6 + [1]pp., folio. Side stitched and unbound. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with light staining at foot of first page. The contents of the document are given as follows: '1. - Account of Sums advanced, for Public Services, from the Civil List Revenues, pursuant to Addresses, not being part of its Ordinary Expenditure. | 2. - Account of Sums advanced, for Public Services, from the Civil List Revenues, not being part of its Ordinary Expenditure. | 3.

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Franked on reverse of second leaf, with broken seal in red wax, to the firm of London solicitors 'Mess. Platt & Hall | New Boswell Court | Carey Street', with Halls signature ('B Hall' between two horizontal lines) at bottom left. The letter itself reads: 'Gentlemen/ | I have just received a letter from Mess: Prothero & Philipps who state that you will call here to know my intention respecting the Petition presented against my return.

A good firm signature, appended to a document in another hand, simply reading: 'Admit the Bearer to the House of Commons'. The illegible address and date are in the same hand. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount on blank reverse.

1p., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Obtrusive stamp at head giving the date of receipt as 28 November 1979, with this date queried in ink. Benn's signature underlined by the recipient in thin red ink. Reads: 'Dear Mrs Kingham: | Forgive the delay. | My life-style is that of a very hard-working M.P. with a wife who teaches & writes & 4 children educated at comprehensive schools. | You shouldn't believe the rubbish you read in the press.'

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'J. [sic] Blackburn Esq'. Reads: 'My dear Sir, | If this Address & the reply of Her Majesty has not already appeared in the Globe, perhaps you will insert it.' Le Marchant was Clerk of the House of Commons from 1850 to 1871.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded twice. He states that he has 'no intention at present of writing or publishing any reminsicences', having always 'held a very strong view against the modern system of gentlemen who have been employed in official & confidential positions rushing into print the moment they have left their situations.' For Lowther's career see his entry in the Oxford DNB. In 1921 he retired as speaker, on being created Viscount Ullswater and appointed GCB.

34 + [1]pp., foolscap 8vo. Stitched and unbound, for folding into the customary packet ,with secondary title lengthwise on reverse of final leaf. On aged, worn and chipped paper, with small section torn away from outer margin of first leaf.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, tipped-in onto part of a page from an album. He begins by stating that he is returning a 'paper altered and corrected'. He goes on: 'We have had some warm work at the H[ouse]: of Commons of late'. (Percy had been appointed Superintendent of Ventilation of the Houses of Parliament in 1865. Percy is 'working very hard at my 3d volume, a large portion of which is in type'.

From the papers of Sir Edward Marshall Hall. The rosette, diameter 13cm., has a ruffled border of two layers of red silk, and a Conservative blue interior, diameter 7cm., with two 13 x 5.5cm. ribbons of red silk hanging down. Embroidered on the rosette in thick gold thread: 'EAST TOXTETH | M H'. Safety pin on reverse. In good condition, still bright, lightly aged and worn. Such items would have been produced by London military tailors like Gieves and Hawkes.

38 + [1]pp., folio. Disbound. In fair condition, on aged paper, with the first leaf chipped and frayed at edges. Repaginated with a stamp 119-158. Kilmainham Hospital was a home for retired soldiers along the lines of Les Invalides, and much of the material in this paper consists of correspondence of Secretaries of State for War John Cam Hobhouse and Edward Ellice. The volume is a response to Hobhouse's proposal 'to bring into one building, and under one management, the several establishments of the in-pensioners of Chelsea and of Kilmainham hospitals.

On 3 x 11 cm slip of paper. In fair condition, lightly aged. Cut from the end of a letter. Good firm signature. Reads: 'Yours faithfully | Charles Barry'.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and ruckled paper. He invites him to pay him a four-day visit at Brock Park, 'to meet many of your Liberal friends'. Note: Tomline had his observatory at Orwell Park, hence a neighbour of Ransome's (Orwell House).

1p., landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly-aged, with minor traces of glue from mount on reverse. With a large firm signature, the text reads: 'Admit the Bearer to the Gallery of the House of Lords | Byron. | Monday | March 7th 1846'.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter, addressed to an unnamed recipient, begins: 'My dear Sir | Before I quitted Office I communicated to the Court of directors the Draft of an Insolvent Bill & some letters on the subject which I had received from the Judges in India, together with a request that they might be laid before you for your opinion & observations.' He should like the opportunity to talk over the subject with him, as he considers himself 'pledged to bring the measure forward [in the House of Commons]' with the approval of the present Board.