IRELAND

[William IV, King of the United Kingdom.] Autograph Signature (as Duke of Clarence) on frank addressed by him to Dr Carmichael Smith.

Author: 
William IV (1765-1837), King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1830-1837 (previously Duke of Clarence)
Publication details: 
4 December [no year]; London.
£45.00

See the entry for the ‘Sailor King’ in the Oxford DNB. On 12 x 7 cm piece of paper, cut from the cover of a frank. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight smudging and a small patch of light discoloration at centre (away from signature). Set out in customary fashion, and addressed by the future king (with the year cropped): ‘London. December fourth [...] / Dr: Carmichael Smith / M. D. / Upper [?] / Near Staines / Middlesex’. Firm signature at bottom left, with slight smudging to loops of the initial ‘C’: ‘Clarence’. See Image.

[William Smith O'Brien, Irish nationalist, a leader of the Young Ireland movement, deported to Van Diemen's Land by the British.] Autograph Signature and valediction on part of a letter.

Author: 
William Smith O'Brien [Liam Mac Gabhann Ó Briain] (1803-64), Irish nationalist Member of British Parliament, a leader of Young Ireland movement, convicted of sedition and deported to Van Diemen's Land
William S OBrien
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£30.00
William S OBrien

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Slip of paper, roughly 8 x 4.5 cm, cut from a letter. In fair condition, on lightly aged and discoloured paper, with several vertical postage folds. On one side good clear signature and valediction: ‘I remain, dear Sir / Faithfully Yours / William S OBrien’. On the other side, tantalizingly: ‘[...] part of England what [...] | [...] not her all to obtai[n] [...] | [...] sense of justice - [...]’

[Samuel Carter Hall, editor of the Art Journal.] Autograph Letter Signed, setting out terms with regard to work on newspaper advertising.

Author: 
Samuel Carter Hall [S. C. Hall] (1800-1889), Anglo-Irish journalist and author, editor of the Art Journal
Publication details: 
1 July 1878 on letterhead of Avenue Villa, 50 Holland Street, Kensington. W. [London]
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. Fourteen lines. The recipient is not named. Written in a large loose hand, rendering the following reading tentative. In fair condition, lighty aged and worn, with minor traces of grey paper mount on reverse. Reads: ‘Dear Sir.

[Lord Longford [General William Lygon Pakenham, 4th Earl of Longford]. Autograph Signature, as Under-Secretary of State for War, to document in secretarial hand, regarding the Army Chaplains' Bill.

Author: 
Lord Longford [General William Lygon Pakenham (1819-1887), 4th Earl of Longford], Anglo-Irish soldier and Conservative politician, Under-Secretary of State for War [Army Chaplain's Bill]
Lord Longford
Publication details: 
'War Office [Whitehall] 29 June 1868'. On embossed letterhead of the War Office [Whitehall].
£80.00
Lord Longford

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, foolscap 8vo, on recto of first leaf of bifolium. Docketted in customary style, lengthwise on reverse of second leaf: ‘Earl of Longford / War Office 29 June 68 / Army Chaplain’s Bill’. Addressed to ‘John Graham Esq / &c &c / 3 Westminster Chambers’. Small tight signature 'Longford', good and uncrowded, on creased and worn paper. Folded into packet. The rest of the document is written hurriedly in the under-secretary’s hand.

[‘Ulster Scot’ [Rev. J. C. F. Hood, Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General to the Forces.]] Newspaper cutting of letter to The Times from Hood, with Manuscript Letter from ‘Ulster Scot’ thanking him, and note [from W. Vance Packman] disputing facts.

Author: 
‘Ulster Scot’ [Rev. John Charles Fulton Hood (1884-1964), Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General to the Forces, husband of harpist Helen Patuffa Kennedy-Fraser; W. Vance Packman]
Publication details: 
Letter (‘Postmark: Belfast’) dated 30 October 1929. Newspaper cutting of Hood’s letter to The Times dated 28 October 1929. Undated anonymous note from 19 Sutton Court Road, Chiswick, London.
£150.00

Hood was married to the harpist Helen Patuffa Kennedy-Fraser (1889-1967), daughter of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857-1930), the celebrated collector and singer of Hebridean songs. The two items are in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Manuscript Letter Signed by ‘Ulster Scot.’ 1p, 8vo. Begins: ‘Dear Rev Sir / Glad to see you took up the “cudgels” on behalf of the “Ulster Scot.”’ The writer of the letter considers that the part played by this group ‘in building industry &c.’ was surpassed by their efforts ‘in cristainising [sic] and civilising the nations of the world’.

[Sean O'Casey] Autograph Letter Signed 'Sean O'Casey' to Miss Sheila Lynd, daughter of Robert Lynd, essayist, his letter of condolence

Author: 
Sean O'Casey, playwright
O'Casey
Publication details: 
[Printed heading] Tingrith, Station Road, Totnes, Devon, 9 Dec. 1949.
£500.00
O'Casey

Two pages, oblong 12mo, pencil markings, grubby in parts, text clear and complete.Down with a touch of Influenza, busy with letters & work, I'd no time to answer you. I hadn't time to think of any article. I've written Peace messages to Moscow, New Yor, Paris, Plymouth & Melbourne; so, you see, I've not been standing idle in the market place. | I was very, very sorry to hear of your father's (Bob) death. All in all, he was a grand generous lad. Too fond of Ulster, maybe, but none the worse of that same. | My sympathy to you, dear lass.

[James Grattan, Irish M.P.] Autograph Letter Signed, almost illegibly, J Grattan to Frederick Page, writer on Poor Law and poverty, and known to visit southern Ireland

Author: 
James Grattan [M.P. Co. Wicklow; see historyofparliamentonline for details].
Publication details: 
22 [Bolton St?]. July 6 182[2?].
£120.00

Two pages, cr. 8vo, bifolium, good condition, a challenging script. I return you many thanks for the 2 pamphlets of yours which I received & should have written to you before now but I only got your letter this day. | I have read them of rather one of them & have derived very useful information from your [work?] as well as the work of others on the subject which I shall certainly bring before the House [of Parliament] in [?] or other Early [?] session. I go to Ireland in a few days, & [???] & pay a visit to that Country in which you take an interest.

[Michael McCartan, Irish nationalist MP in the British Parliament.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Miss Burgess', looking forward to the freedom of Ireland, and attacking 'Toryism' in Norwich.

Author: 
Michael McCartan (1851-1902), Irish nationalist, MP with the Irish Parliamentary Party in the British Parliament, anti-Parnellite
Publication details: 
23 August 1889. 5 Hopefield Terrace, Belfast [Ulster].
£120.00

3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Forty-eight lines of text. Addressed to 'Miss Burgess[,] Norwich' and with smudged signature 'Michael McCartan'.

[Arthur O?Connor [Arthur Conner; Arthur Condorcet-O?Connor], Irish nationalist and polemicist, one of the United Irishmen.] Autograph Signature and valediction cut from letter.

Author: 
Arthur O?Connor [born Arthur Conner; latterly Arthur Condorcet-O?Connor] (1763-1852), Irish nationalist and polemicist, United Irishman who settled in France after seeking assistance from Napoleon
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£30.00

Lord Longueville's once-celebrated judgement was that 'of all bad men he is the worst'. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the collection of Irish nationalist autographs of Miss Burgess of Norwich. On a neat piece of cream paper, 7 x 3 cm. In good condition, lightly aged. Nothing on the reverse. Reads: ?Faithfully yours / Arthur O?Connor.?

[Fanny Parnell [Frances Isabel Parnell], sister of the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell.] Contemporary manuscript copy of her poem ?Post Mortem? (?Shall mine eyes behold thy glory, O my country??).

Author: 
Fanny Parnell [Frances Isabel Parnell] (1848-1882), sister of the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell
Publication details: 
Undated, but on paper with watermark ?J Dollard / IRISH MANUFACTURE?, hence late Victorian or Edwardian, as Dollard was a printer and stationer in Dublin during that period. (Dating supported by provenance.)
Upon request

See her entry and her brother?s in the Oxford DNB. The item is from the collection of Irish nationalist autographs assembled by Miss Burgess of Norfolk in the 1890s, who has endorsed one leaf in her distinctive hand ? ?Post Mortem? / By Fanny Parnell?. Undated. 3pp, 4to. On two leaves of paper with Dollard watermark. Poem of twenty-eight lines, in seven stanzas, titled ?Post Mortem?. From a comparison with a letter in the National Library of Ireland certainly not in Fanny Parnell?s hand. A fair copy, with one mistake (corrected) confirming transcription: ?loveliness? for ?loneliness?.

[Parnell's 'bodyguard and aide-de-camp': Henry Harrison MP MC, member of the Irish Parliamentary Party.] Autograph Letter Signed, written within months of the death of Charles Stewart Parnell, on behalf of his widow Katharine ('Kitty O'Shea').

Author: 
Henry Harrison (1867-1954), close confidant of Charles Stewart Parnell and his wife Katharine (?Kitty O?Shea?), Irish Parliamentary Party MP in British House of Commons, decorated British Army captain
Publication details: 
19 December 1891; 10 Walsingham Terrace, West Brighton.
£100.00

Parnell had died around ten weeks before, on 6 October 1891. See Harrison's entry in the Oxford DNB: 'After the party broke in two in December 1890, Harrison campaigned with his chief in Ireland, constituting himself a bodyguard and aide-de-camp. After Parnell's death in October 1891 Harrison, young though he was, hastened to Brighton to put his services at the disposal of Parnell's widow. It was then that he heard from her a very different account of the circumstances surrounding her divorce from that given in court.

[?One in name, one in fame / Are the Sea-divided Gaels.?: Alexander Martin Sullivan, Irish nationalist politician and author.] Autograph Signature with poetic quotation.

Author: 
Alexander Martin Sullivan (1829-1884), Irish nationalist politician and author, member of the British parliament, younger brother of Timothy Daniel Sullivan
Publication details: 
?St Patricks Day / 1884?.
£100.00

See his entry, and that of his elder brother, in the Oxford DNB. From the collection of Irish nationalist autographs of Miss Burgess of Norwich. On 16.5 x 7.5 cm piece of paper, cut down from a larger document. In fair condition, lightly aged and spotted. Folded three times. Written in a large bold hand: ? ?One in name, one in fame / Are the Sea-divided Gaels.? / A. M. Sullivan / St Patricks Day / 1884?. See Image.

[Alfred Webb [Alfred John Webb], Anglo-Irish Quaker nationalist, Irish Parliamentary Party MP in the British Parliament.] Autograph Letter signed to 'Miss Burgess' [of Norwich], listing and discussing Irish autographs he has procured.

Author: 
Alfred Webb [Alfred John Webb] (1834-1908), Anglo-Irish Quaker nationalist, anti-imperialist and anti-racist, Irish Parliamentary Party MP in the British parliament and Dublin printer
Publication details: 
18 January 1890. Lisnabin, Dartry-park, Rathmines, Dublin [Ireland].
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is from a collection of Irish nationalist autographs assembled by Miss Burgess of Norwich. 1p, 8vo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded for postage. Addressed 'To Miss Burgess' and signed 'Alfred Webb'. Date and location in another hand, the rest in Webb's autograph. Begins: 'Dear Madam, / Those autos. you have of our MP's are some of which I have most. Unfortunately others you want I have only of a private character, & I do not like cutting off the signatures.' He is sending those of J. E.

[Harry Plunket Greene, Anglo-Irish baritone associated with Elgar and Vaughan Williams.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding an engagement.

Author: 
Harry Plunket Greene (1865-1936), Anglo-Irish baritone associated with Elgar and Vaughan Williams
Publication details: 
11 October 1927. On letterhead of 65 Holland Park Road, Kensington W14 [London].
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘H. P. Greene’. Truly atrocious handwriting. Apparently addressed to ‘Dear Miss Salt’, and beginning: ‘I’ll be proud.’ He gives a date which will ‘suit me best’, and asks to be informed ‘if there is anything special [?] like [?]’.

[Female suffrage; printed pamphlet.] On the Forfeiture of Property by Married Women. [Reprinted, by kind permission, from the FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW, for the Committee in support of MR. RUSSELL GURNEY'S MARRIED WOMEN'S PROPERTY BILL.] With an Appendix.

Author: 
Arthur Hobhouse, Q.C. [Alexander Ireland, Manchester printer; Rt Hon. Russell Gurney, QC, MP] [women's suffrage; Victorian feminism]
Publication details: 
Manchester: A. Ireland & Co., Printers, Pall Mall. 1870.
£80.00

16pp., 8vo. In good condition, lightly-aged, no wraps, disbound. Several copies on COPAC, none of this edition on market currently.

[John Wilson Croker, Anglo-Irish politician and author.] Autograph Letter Signed to John Gibson Lockhart, asking him to make an enquiry to Miss Mary Berry regarding Horace Walpole.

Author: 
John Wilson Croker (1780-1857), Anglo-Irish politician and author [John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854), Scottish author and editor, biographer of his father-in-law Sir Walter Scott; Horace Walpole]
Publication details: 
‘W. M. [West Molsey, Surrey] 19 May 49.’ [1849]
£120.00

See his entry in the History of Parliament, and his and Lockhart’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, with thin strip of dried adhesive from mount along one edge, and tiny bit of loss at foot beneath the signature. Folded for postage.

[Joseph D'Arcy Sirr, Irish antiquary.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Sir Henry', discussing antiquarian information relating to his living of Yoxford in Suffolk.

Author: 
Joseph D’Arcy Sirr (1794-1868), Irish antiquary, vicar of Yoxford in Suffolk, son of Henry Charles Sirr (c.1764-1841), Mayor of Dublin who killed Lord Edward Fitzgerald during the 1798 Irish rebellion
Publication details: 
1 August 1845. Yoxford [Suffolk].
£120.00

See his entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography, and his father’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 72 lines, closely written. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Addressed to ‘My dear Sir Henry’ and signed ‘Joseph D’Arcy Sirr’. In response to an invitation to write, there are ‘two or three points’ on which Sirr would seek information. These relate to what appears to be a mistake by ‘Mr Davy’ on publishing a manuscript regarding ‘Lady C. Grey’ who is buried at Yoxford. He is also ‘enclosing [not present] a curious copy of a MS made for me, but wh.

[Nassau William Senior, English political economist notorious for his supposed callousness during the Irish Potato Famine.] Autograph Signature (‘N W Senior’) to envelope addressed by him to ‘The / Lady Theresa Lewis / Kent House’.

Author: 
Nassau William Senior (1790-1864), English political economist notorious for his supposed callousness during the Irish Potato Famine
Nassau William Senior
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£100.00
Nassau William Senior

The claim that Benjamin Jowett reported Senior as saying that ‘the famine of 1848 in Ireland would not kill more than a million people, and that would scarcely be enough to do much good’ appears to have been made up by Cecil Woodham-Smith. It is certainly not mentioned in Senior’s entry in the Oxford DNB, along with the entry for the recipient Lady (Maria) Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), who lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge with her second husband Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart, her first husband having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842).

Copy of the Irish Republican newspaper 'Sinn Féin', from the papers of Robert Lynd, and with the main article on the front page ('Idealism in Irish Politics') written by him under the signature 'Riobard ua Floinn'

Author: 
Riobard ua Floinn [Robert Lynd] (1979-1949), Irish essayist [Sinn Féin]
Publication details: 
'Printed for the SINN FEIN Printing and Publishing Company, Limited, by An Clo-Cumann, Teo., 68-71 Great Strand Street, in the City of Dublin, and Published at the Office, 17 Fownes Street'. 6 February 1909.
£250.00

4pp., folio. Broadsheet bifolium. On aged high-acidity paper, folded once vertically, and once horizontally, and with wear along the fold lines and crease. Lynd's article is the main one on the front page, covering 80 and a half column inches across all seven columns. The article begins: 'Among the many conflicting views which the English have of the Irish character, two are, perhaps, more popular than the rest. One - the sturdy Saxon view - is that we are a gay and generous people, the drink-dispensers of the world, amiable buffoons, a race of eloquent and lying beggars.

Copy of the Irish Republican newspaper 'Sinn Féin', from the papers of Robert Lynd, and with the main article on the front page ('Literature and Politics') written by him under the signature 'Riobard ua Floinn'

Author: 
Riobard ua Floinn [Robert Lynd] (1979-1949), Irish essayist [Sinn Féin]
Publication details: 
'Printed for the SINN FEIN Printing and Publishing Company, Limited, by An Clo-Cumann, Teo., 68-71 Great Strand Street, in the City of Dublin, and Published at the Office, 17 Fownes Street'. 27 February 1909.
£220.00

4pp., folio. Broadsheet bifolium. On aged high-acidity paper, folded once vertically, and once horizontally, and with wear along the fold lines. Lynd's article is the main one on the front page, covering 74 column inches across five of the seven columns. The article begins: 'I do not know what exactly can have been in my mind when I gave Literature and Politics to the secretary of the Irish Literary Society of London as the subject of a paper I had promised to deliver.

Copy of the Irish Republican newspaper 'Sinn Féin', from the papers of Robert Lynd, and possibly containing an article by him.

Author: 
Riobard ua Floinn [Robert Lynd] (1979-1949), Irish essayist [Sinn Féin]
Publication details: 
'Printed for the Sinn Fein Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd., by Devereux, Newth and Co., 49 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin, and published by the Sinn Fein Company at the same address.' 27 July 1912.
£150.00

8pp., folio. On aged and creased high-acidity paper, with closed tears and chipping. The two articles most likely to be the work of Lynd are 'The Viceregal Microbe' on pp.2-3, and 'The Future of the Language Movement' on p.2; both are anonymous.

[Sir Thomas Wyse, British Ambassador to Greece and husband of Napoleon's niece Princess Letizia Bonaparte.] Autograph Signature to valediction of a letter.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Wyse (1791-1862), Anglo-Irish diplomat, British Ambassador to Greece, husband of Napoleon's niece Princess Letizia Bonaparte
Sir Thomas Wyse
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£450.00
Sir Thomas Wyse

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 10.5 x 5 cm strip of paper, with thin mourning border, cut from the end of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with thin strip of glue from mount to one edge, and thin strip of paper laid down on reverse, with manuscript note 'Sir Thomas Wyse, Minister to Greece'. Strong stylish signature to valediction reading: 'I beg you to believe me / My Dear Lord / Sincerely Yrs. / Thos. Wyse'. Fragment of letter on reverse: '[...] truly at his discretion to go on [...]'.

[Lord Bryce (James Bryce), Liberal politician, jurist and British Ambassador to United States.] Three Autograph Letters Signed to 'Ross' (the future Sir W. D. Ross), on East End philanthropy, Oxford, and the war.

Author: 
Lord Bryce [James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce] (1838-1922), Ulster-born Liberal politician, jurist, British Ambassador to United States [Sir William David Ross (1877-1981), Oxford Vice-Chancellor]
Publication details: 
1914, 1915 and 1917. The second on letterhead of Hindleap, Forest Row, Sussex; the third on embossed letterhead of the House of Lords.
£150.00

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. The three items are in good condition, lightly aged and worn; the second is lightly spotted. Each is folded once. All three signed 'Bryce'. ONE: 13 February 1914. No place. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Begins: 'My dear Ross / I should like [to] help in so good a cause, but cannot possibly venture to make any promise for a date so distant as Nov. next. It would be a tempting of Providence as we say in Scotland.' He is not even certain whether he will be in England then, 'and there is nothing one has more to avoid than the breaking of promises'.

[King George VI [as Prince Albert].] Printed post card of portrait photograph by Olive Edis (Mrs Galsworthy), with [facsimile?] signature ‘Albert’.

Author: 
King George VI [as Prince Albert]; Olive Edis (Mrs Galsworthy) (1876-1955), photographer
King George VI [as Prince Albert)
Publication details: 
[Part of a photoshoot by Olive Edis, England, 1920.]
£90.00
King George VI [as Prince Albert)

A very nice print in grey tones. Landscape: 7.5 x 13 cm. With the words ‘POST CARD’ printed on the reverse. Image in very good condition; traces of black paper mount adhering to the reverse. A head and shoulders shot of the future king, taken from the left, with right shoulder slightly forwards, face turned to the right and eyes staring vacantly ahead over the viewer’s right shoulder. Clean-shaven with parting on left; arms folded across chest, smartly attired in double-breasted check lounge suit with white shirt and ‘oriental-knot’ tie.

[Lord Grenfell [Francis Wallace Grenfell], British Army soldier, Governor of Malta, Commander-in-Chief, Ireland.] Autograph Signature (‘Francis Grenfell / Maj Genl’) cut from a letter for an autograph hunter.

Author: 
Lord Grenfell [Field Marshal Francis Wallace Grenfell, 1st Baron Grenfell (1841-1925)], British Army soldier, victor at Suakin and Toski in Mahdist War; Governor of Malta; Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
Lord Grenfell
Publication details: 
16 April 1892. No place.
£45.00
Lord Grenfell

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 13 x 6.5 cm piece of thin paper, apparently cut from the end of a letter for an autograph hunter. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, folded twice. Reads: ‘Francis Grenfell / Maj Genl / April 16 / 1892.’ See image.

[Irishman in the Royal Navy, 1825.] Two documents regarding the estate of Lieut. James Peter O’Ferrall of HMS Revenge: Letters of Administration and Power of Attorney, the later signed by the father Hugh O’Ferrall MD.

Author: 
[Irishman in the Royal Navy, 1825] Lieut. James Peter O’Ferrall of HMS Revenge, son of Hugh O’Ferrall, MD
rishman in the Royal Navy
Publication details: 
Letters of Administration dated 15 November 1825 ('Extracted by R: E Pownall Proctor Doctors Commons'). Power of Attorney, 21 November 1825.
£120.00
rishman in the Royal Navy

Both items in fair condition, with age and wear. ONE: Letters of Administration, 15 November 1825. Printed on square of parchment, with embossed seal appended and usual tax stamps. Completed in manuscript with regard to ‘Hugh O’Ferrall the natural and lawful Father of James Peter O’Ferrall late a Lieutenant belonging to His Majesty’s Ship Revenge at Sea Bachelor deceased’, whose estate is ‘Sworn Under One Hundred Pounds.’ Signed by three deputy registrars.

[R. Lloyd Praeger, Irish naturalist and author, Librarian of the Royal Irish Academy.] Autograph Signature to document acknowleding receipt by the Academy of Mrs C. Littow Falkiner’s ‘Essays relating to Ireland’.

Author: 
R. Lloyd Praeger [Robert Lloyd Praeger], Irish naturalist and author, Librarian of the Royal Irish Academy
Publication details: 
10 November 1909. Dublin, headed with device of the Royal Irish Academy.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged paper with slight nicks to one edge. Folded four times. A good, firm signature, as ‘Librarian of the Academy’, to a printed form completed in another hand, headed with a reproduction of the Academy’s seal. Reads (manuscript text in square brackets): ‘DUBLIN, [November 10] 19[09] / SIR [Madam] / I AM DIRECTED BY THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY TO THANK HYOU FOR THE UNDERMENTIONED DONATION, AND TO ASSURE YOU THAT THE ACADEMY APPRECIATES THIS MARK OF CONSIDERATION.

[John Dillon, Irish nationalist politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to the daughter of the novelist George Meredith, announcing his plans for a trip to Australia.

Author: 
John Dillon (1851-1927), Irish nationalist politician, Member of the British Parliament and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, originally a follower of Charles Stewart Parnell [George Meredith]
Publication details: 
15 February [1889]. On letterhead of 2 North Great George’s Street, Dublin.
£220.00

Dillon's entry in the Oxford DNB states that on 6 March 1889 he ‘sailed for Australia to solicit contributions; he also toured New Zealand, and returned to Ireland via the United States in late April 1890. His mission raised about £33,000’. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Addressed to ‘My dear Miss Meredith’ and signed ‘Yours very Sincerely / John Dillon’. In fair condition, lightly aged, with very light transfer of ink from another letter (from blotting pad?) onto third leaf, including signature. Folded for postage.

[Geraldine McEwan, distinguished English actress on stage, screen and television.] Autograph Inscription Signed to menu for Gallery First Nighters? Club luncheon in honour of Prunella Scales and Timothy West.

Author: 
Geraldine McEwan [born Geraldine McKeown] (1932-2015), distinguished English actress on stage screen and television [Timothy West and Prunella Scales; The Gallery First Nighters? Club]
McEwan
Publication details: 
Luncheon by the Gallery First Nighters? Club on 24 April 1994, at the London Marriott Hotel.
£120.00
McEwan

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. A nice item, printed on shiny card. Bifolium folding to 21 x 14.5 cm. In good condition, lightly aged. On the front is a photograph of Scales and West by Jane Bohn. On reverse of first leaf is the menu, on recto of second the ?Toast List?, and the verso of the second a list of officers. McEwan?s inscription, in a good firm hand is at top left of the menu. It reads: ?With Best Wishes / Geraldine / McEwan?. From the papers of Kenneth Sephton. See Image.

[Marsden Squares: William Marsden, orientalist and numismatist, First Secretary to the Admiralty who broke the news of Trafalgar.] Autograph Signature to printed Admiralty 'Circular' directing ships' captains to send information on 'Coasts and Ports'

Author: 
William Marsden (1754-1836), Anglo-Irish orientalist, numismatist, and linguist, and Royal Navy official, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, 1795-1804, First Secretary, 1804-7 [Marsden Square mapping]
Publication details: 
London. ’ 'Printed by G. Roberts, Admiralty Office.' Undated, but issued during Marsden's tenure as First Secretary, 1804-7.
£320.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. The present document is an interesting artefact in the history of data collection: Marsden’s important innovation, the system of information-gathering known as ‘Marsden Squares’ or ‘Marsden Square mapping’. 1p, folio. Discoloration and wear along inner edge, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. All printed, except for Marsden’s firm signature.

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