INDIA

In one of the present letters Hay signs himself as ‘Retired Behar Indigo planter’, and the material provides an knowledgeable commentry on the colonial textiles industry at the beginning of the First World War. Some of the material was printed in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. The recipient George Kenneth Menzies (1869-1954) was Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts between 1917 and 1935. A total of 21pp, 4to. Each bears the stamp of the RSA, some with manuscript docketting.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. (In his Who’s Who entry he stated that he was ‘author of a great number of papers and articles in the Journals of Scientific Societies’.) 1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. With stamp and manuscript docketting of the RSA. He writes: ‘In 1900 (I think) I gave a lecture on Round About the Andamans & Nicobars published in vol XLVIII. If you have a separate copy left I shall be glad if you can send me one on payment / from Yrs trly / R. C. Temple’.

The recipient is clearly not the American politician Joseph Lanier Williams (1810-1865), but rather an editor of Beveridge’s history of India at Blackie’s. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, but with diagonal crease at bottom right going through Beveridge’s signature. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Joseph L. Williams Esqr’ and signed ‘Henry Beveridge’. He begins by undertaking to ‘attend to the matters’ mentioned in Williams’s note.

See her husband’s entry, and those of her father the Earl of Durham, and Sir Cuthbert Sharp, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with small closed tear to blank area at foot of second leaf. Folded for postage. Laid down on leaf removed from album. Begins: ‘Lady Mary Lambton presents her Compliments to Sir Cuthbert Sharp, and begs to express her grateful sense of the kind message, conveyed to her through Mrs. Brodie, concerning Sir C. Sharps small pamphlet -’.

The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The present item is 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded for postage. Signed 'J. Vijaya T'.

Eleven documents, all foolscap, possibly relating to property. The tax stamps carried by nine of the items, and presence on the two others of a Rajasthan State stamp suggest that they date from the early years of Indian independence. Nine are bifoliums, each with punch-holed large blue oval design of the ‘Court Fee Stamp / Jaipur Government / Four Annas’ taking up much of the upper part of the recto of the first page. These documents are also blind stamped, upside down on the reverse of the second leaf, with an oval ‘Four Annas’ stamp of the ‘Jeypoor Treasury’.

The Bengal Nagpur Railway Company was formed in 1887 and continued until 1952, when it merged with the East Indian Railway Company to form the Eastern Railway. The present item is 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. Printed in small type, in double column. In good condition, lightly aged, with one central vertical fold. Excessively scarce: no other copy traced, either on WorldCat, JISC, or ViaLibri.. The business of the meeting includes ‘receiving the Directors’ Report and Audited Statements of Accounts and Balance Sheet to 30th June, 1906, and the Auditors’ Report thereon’.

Five galley-proofs of articles written during the high-point of the Raj by leading Victorian journalist in India W. Martin Wood (editor of the Times of India, founder and editor of the Bombay Review). Ephemeral items, creased and worn, but with text clear and entire. ONE: Headed ‘ALLEN’S INDIAN MAIL / THE LATE MR. EDWARD BROOME, C.E. / Mr. M. Martin Wood writes to us as follows: -’. Sixty-two lines in small print follow, beginning: ‘Some little time back your “Domestic Occurrences” contained the name of Mr.

Two galley-proofs of articles by leading Victorian journalist in India W. Martin Wood (editor of the Times of India, founder and editor of the Bombay Review). Ephemeral items, creased and worn, but with text clear and entire. ONE: Headed ‘ALLEN’S INDIAN MAIL / THE LATE MR. EDWARD BROOME, C.E. / Mr. M. Martin Wood writes to us as follows: -’. Sixty-two lines in small print follow, beginning: ‘Some little time back your “Domestic Occurrences” contained the name of Mr. Edward Broome, Civil Engineer, as having died at Southport, something under 60 years of age.

Ten scarce pieces of printed British Indian ephemera: no other copies of any of them having been traced. The ten items, which range from 8vo to 16mo, are attached to one another through punch holes by a tag. In fair overall condition, aged and worn, with rust staining from staples, and some evidence of damp to the final items (described below). ONE: Bifolium leaflet. 4pp, 8vo. Headed: ‘Indian National Council of Y.M.C.A.’s. / Indian Students’ Union & Hostel. / February 4th, 1920 - February 4th, 1921.’ A ‘brief report’ of the year’s work.

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.

Singh was deposed by the British in 1889, with accusations of misgovernment, disloyal dealings with the Russian Empire, and a plot to murder his brothers and the British Resident, but as this was deemed contrary to the 1846 Treaty of Amritsar he was reinstated, but with a new ruling council was forced upon him, under the supervision of the Resident. Two slips of paper cut from a letter for display in an album. Both somewhat discoloured and a little ruckled. All the writing is in the same ink, but it is not clear whether the text of the letter is in a secretarial hand.

Weld and Vaughan both have entries in the Oxford DNB. The notice is printed in copperplate on the recto of the first leaf of a 4to bifolium. In fair condition, aged and lightly worn, with short closed tear to one edge, and slight damage to the second leaf from the cutting of the seal, which is present on the verso, with a good impression, in red wax, together with two postmarks and the address, in Weld’s hand, to ‘W. Vaughan Esq - [F.R.S.] / 70 Fenchurch Street / [Royal Society.]’ The notice, signed ‘C. R.

From the papers of W. J. Macqueen-Pope (see his entry in the Oxford DNB). Addressed in autograph to MP care of the BBC, and then forwarded to his office, 359 Strand. Pencil annotation by MP. On one side of an unillustrated postmarked printed British ‘Indian Postage’ air mail card with Indian postage stamp. In good condition, aged and lightly-worn. Also in Singh’s autograph is the salutation to ‘Dear Pope’ and the valediction ‘Your sincere / St Nihal Singh ST NIHAL SINGH’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin neat strip from windowpane mount adhering to edges. Folded twice for postage. Twenty-four hands of text in secretary hand, addressed to ‘W. A. Lock Esqre’, and signed in autograph ‘Sir C Trevelyan’. He thanks him for his ‘very interesting Letter’, and hopes he will ‘never think it necessary to make any excuse for writing to me [other such?]’. He has asked ‘Mr. Farr’ for ‘any observations he might have to offer on the early part of it; and his answer is enclosed’ (not present).

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Written lengthwise on back of 11.5 x 7.5 printed card. The side of the card with Roberts’s autograph is discoloured but in fair condition, but there is slight loss along the inner margin of the printed side, resulting in some loss of text. Roberts’ autograph reads: ‘I give my vote / Fred. Roberts. / India / 14th. April 1888.’ The printed text states that Caroline Constance Williams, aged 8 years, was the daughter of Band-Sergt.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The ‘Congress’ she is referring to in the letter is the 1869 Bristol Social Science Congress. 1p, 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Dear Miss Thompson / It gave me pleasure to see you at the Congress I feel sure you will have heard much here which will stimulate you to further work. / I enclose you my carte as a remembrance. / Yours truly / Mary Carpenter. -’

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.

Rieu was the son of Charles Pierre Henri Rieu (1820-1902) of Geneva, Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts at the British Museum, and elder brother of Emile Victor Rieu (1887-1972), both of whom have DNB entries. In 1947 he had privately printed (as’J. L. R.’) a ‘Chronicle of the Rieu Family now settled in England’. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. Signed ‘J. L Rieu / Commissioner in Sind’. An nice sidelight on the workings of the Raj. He has been asked for a letter by ‘Mr. Mansing Ramsing’, on behalf of his son ‘Mr. Bhojraj M.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 11pp, 12mo, with three of the pages written lengthwise. On three bifoliums. In good condition, folded once. The hurried loose handwriting of this long letter presents a considerable challenge: even the signature (‘Geo Birdwood.’? ‘Gen Birdwood.’?) and the name of the recipient (‘Fagan’?) are doubtful. The letter begins with a reference to the ‘extract from Lady Dorothy Nevills - Reminiscences - given in the cutting from the Globe of yesterday enclosed in your kind note of today’.

Two interesting items from the period leading up to the American Civil War. Both items are scarce: no other copy of either traced. In good condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript.Both printed in copperplate font. ONE: Printed ‘Circular’ dated from Downing Street, 16 October 1850. Headed in manuscript ‘Colonial Emigrants from United States’. In manuscript at end (not in Grey’s hand) ‘/sd/ Grey’. 2pp, 8vo. Paginated in manuscript 239-240.

According to her entry in the Oxford DNB, Eliza Lynn Linton moved to Malvern in 1895. (See also Temple’s Oxford DNB entry.) 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Sixty-six lines of closely-written text. The two leaves of the bifolium have been separated, and re-attached with archival tape; resulting in slight loss to some text on the third page, otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Signed ‘(Mrs.) E. Lynn Linton’. While he may not recall that she had the honour of being introduced to him by ‘Mr.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, with slight discoloration along central fold. Large bold signature ‘Napier’. Addressed to ‘The Honble. George Elliott’, with salutation to ‘My dear Elliott’. As he does not know where Elliott’s sister Lady Dunfermline is ‘residing at this moment’, he is placing in Elliott’s hands ‘for transmission’ a letter from the wife of the Turkish ambassador at the Hague. He expresses to Elliott’s family his sympathy at the loss of their father.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, on the first leaf of a bifolium, the blank second of which carries traces of mount. Folded twice. Begins: ‘My dear FitzGerald / I thank you very much for your obliging note - and I rejoice greatly that you have obtained for Capt Macgregor this mark of favor and distinction. India has no better soldier, nor has any political agent, placed in trying circumstances, shewn a better nerve or a sounder discretion’. FitzGerald’s ‘just notice of him’ will be ‘well appreciated’ by others.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged, with paper from mount on reverse. Folded once. On 6 x 10 cm piece of paper, cut from conclusion of letter. Good firm signature. Reads: ‘[...] European troops / [...] quartered them. / Yours sincerely / Elphinstone’. See image.

See the entries for Beresford and Temple in the Oxford DNB (in an unfortunate omission, Ramsay - ‘The King of Kumaon’ - is not represented in that work). 3pp, 12mo. Ruckled, with second leaf laid down on a piece of card, and damage along the gutter repaired with archival tape. Twenty-nine lines of text. Signed ‘Charles Beresford’. He has received ‘a long explanatory letter from General Sir Henry Ramsey [sic] containing the explanation of a grievance by which he has lost £300 a year since 1884.

See the entries for the two men in the Oxford DNB, as well as that of the subject of the letter, Sir Richard Temple’s eldest son Captain Richard Carnac Temple (1850-1931), the future second baronet. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Aged, with the gutter repaired with archival tape, and the reverse of the second leaf adhering to part of its mount. Headed ‘Private’ and addressed to ‘Dear Sir Richard’.

See Napier’s entry, and that of his sister Maria’s husband John Gellibrand Hubbard (1805-1889), 1st Baron Addington, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and discoloured, with small closed tear to a crease. Part of letter torn away on opening, and now under small black wax seal (good impression of crest with letter N). Folded four times. Addressed, with three postmarks, on reverse of second leaf, to ‘The Rt Honble | The Lady Napier | Kew Green’. Minuted by Lady Napier: 'Cambridge Novr. 1838’. 64 lines of neatly-written text.

A neat item, providing an insight into the great statesman’s mercantile roots. See his entry in the Oxford DNB, together with those of his father the first baronet (Lancashire calico printer and politician) and the recipient Scott. 2pp, 4to. On watermarked laid paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. The recipient is named as ‘David Scott Esqr’.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium, folded once. In good condition. 29 lines of text. He thanks her for her kindness, ‘in the midst of your great sorrow’, in writing to inform the Robertses of her husband’s death. ‘We have often talked of you both, and wondered where you were living.’ He had thought it was ‘somewhere in the valley of the Thames, at least I thought you told me so when last I met you both walking in Regent Street - some 10 years ago’. After a brief comment on Tierney’s ill health, he recalls how ‘He, Alfred Torrens, and I sat next to each other at Mills School.