Ismail

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient A. M. Broadley was widely-regarded as an expert on the middle east. The year before the present letter, he had represented Ahmed Urabi after an uprising in Egypt, earning himself 10,000 guineas and the nickname ?Broadley Pasha?. At the time of writing he was acting as English agent and legal adviser of the ex-Khedive Ismail, who had been deposed in 1879 and was living near Naples (although at the time of writing he was clearly in London). 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of tape from mount adhering to second leaf.

2 pp, 12mo. 18 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Begins 'Its Alberta <(Songfeld)?> who is at 2 Lowndes Street not the undersigned - Are these cards en rêgle? [sic]' A pencil note by the recipient at the head of the first page reads 'Sent 2 June to Sumner Pl: card returned - answer does not live there.' Refers to 'Sumner Place' and 'the Coming Ball'. He wishes 'the Powers - which they aren't by the by - had let our fat friend Ismail alone just tightening the bit a little'.

Irish war correspondent. 2pp., 8vo. He produces some badinage about an invitation card, then comments on the situation in Egypt: "I wish the Powers - which they aren't by the by - had let our fat friend Ismail [Pasha] alone just tightening the bit a little & and then there would be none of this darkness over the land of Egypt . . . ", concluding with jocular mis-spellings of "poetical".