JOHN

First issue of 'John Nichols's Metropolitan Advertiser'.

Author: 
John Nichols, printer, The Milton Press, Strand [The Metropolitan Advertiser]
Publication details: 
No. 1. 7 January 1836. 'Printed at the Milton Press, 9, Chandos Street, Strand, by John Nichols.'
£225.00

4to, 4 pp. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and grubby paper. Engraving of beehive, with motto, beneath title. Given away 'GRATIS'. Begins with a prospectus for what is described as 'a new medium of communicating with the public', concluding, 'for the inconsiderable sum of 5s. an Advertiser may give publicity to his business in FIVE THOUSAND respectable channels inaccessible to every other advertising medium hitherto established'. The rest of the first page carries 'ADVICE TO A YOUNG TRADESMAN' by 'AN OLD TRADESMAN'.

Socialism in Song. An Appreciation of William Morris's "Chants for Socialists. Together with an Introductory Essay on Poetry and Politics.

Author: 
J. Bruce Glasier [John Bruce Glasier (1859-1920)] [William Morris; The National Labour Press]
Publication details: 
Manchester: The National Labour Press, Ltd. [1919.]
£85.00

12mo: xiv + 32 pp. In original grey printed wraps. Internally sound and tight on aged paper. Wraps worn and grubby, with slight staining to spine. Eight copies on COPAC, but only three at deposit libraries (Oxford, NLS and the BL).

Wyndham Lewis and Vorticism. The Tate Gallery. 6 July - 19 August 1956.

Author: 
Wyndham Lewis [Tate Gallery, 1956; Sir John Rothenstein]
Publication details: 
London: Tate Gallery, 1956.
£45.00

4to: 36 pp + 12 pp of prints on art paper. Stapled. In striking original printed red card wraps. With A4 addendum leaf loosely inserted. Good, with light stain to bottom outer corner. Important two-page introduction by Lewis, reviewing his career, followed by three-page essay by Rothenstein on 'Wyndham Lewis and Vorticism'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Eric A. Walker') to Bower.

Author: 
Eric A. Walker [Eric Anderson Walker] (1886-1976), first holder of the King George V Chair in History at the University of Cape Town, South Africa [Sir Graham John Bower]
Publication details: 
30 June 1927; on University of Cape Town letterhead.
£50.00

4to, 2 pp. Thirty-nine lines of text. Clear and complete. Neatly and closely written. Begins by discussing two books recommended by Bower: Otto Hammann's 'World Policy of Germany' and a work by Sir Francis Younghusband. Hammann's book 'confirms what Sir Sidney Lee writes about the Kaiser's telegram'; he is pleased that Younghusband's, which he has not yet read, contradicts the story that 'Lord Ripon was prepared for such drastic measures'. He has been 'correcting the proofs of the 600-page history of South Africa which I undertook to write for Longmans Green five or six years ago'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to Osbert Burdett, both on the subject of his study of the novels of the Dutch writer 'Maarten Maartens'.

Author: 
Norreys Jephson O'Conor (1890-1964), Irish-American poet [Osbert Burdett; 'Maarten Maartens']
Publication details: 
18 and 21 November 1930; both on letterheads of 31 Edwardes Square, Kensington, W8.
£95.00

Both letters 4to, 2 pp. Both texts clear and complete, and both in fair condition, with dog-eared corners. In the first letter O'Conor writes that he has 'heard from Miss Maartens', and that he is sending 'Dr van Maanen's' study of the author. 'Miss Maartens suggests that you and I might meet, which appeals greatly to me, for I enjoyed your review of the Maarten Maartens letters and have also heard about you from my friend John Gould Fletcher.' Gives a time when 'Miss Maartens is coming to the London Library to read some Dutch' for him, and he suggests that Burdett join them.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wilfrid Lawson') to 'Mr. Hudson', with reference to Sunday observance.

Author: 
Sir Wilfrid Lawson of Brayton (1829-1906), British Liberal politician and temperance campaigner
Publication details: 
14 March 1900; 135 Sloane Street, SW.
£35.00

12mo, 4 pp. Text clear and complete. In fair condition, worn and a little grubby. He thanks him for having 'written so fully'. He will 'wait for a day or two ere looking far', as he is 'rather exercised in my mind on one or two parts'. 'I remember - or try to remember - this injunction - 'do nothing rashly'. He is sending 'some lines' by 'Sir John Kenaway - a sound old evangelical Tory', 'in favor of Sunday closing in Monmouthshire'.

On new tables of the moon's parallax, to be substituted for those of Burckhardt.

Author: 
John Couch Adams
Publication details: 
London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode. Without date, but docketed in pencil as an offprint 'From Nautical Almanac 1856'.
£105.00

English astronomer (1819-92) whose mathematical prediction of the existence of Neptune anticipated Le Verrier's discovery of that planet. Octavo. Unbound. Ten leaves and one blank. Paginated [35]-53. Very good. Five pages of text (35-9), four tables (pp.40-3) and a set of 'Tables containing the corrections to be applied to the values of the moon's equatorial horizontal parallax given in the nautical almanacs 1840-1855, in order to make them agree with those calculated from Mr. Adams' tables.' (pp.46-53). One small closed tear to antepenultimate leaf.

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
John Hullah [John Pyke Hullah] (1812-1884), English composer and music teacher
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£20.00

Cut from a letter. On small rectangle of light-grey paper, roughly 2 x 4 cm. Fair, on aged paper with thin light strip of glue staining along top edge. Neat firm signature, underlined and overlined, reading 'John Hullah'.

Autograph Signature ('John Dillon').

Author: 
John Dillon (1851-1927), Irish politian, Parnellite Member of Parliament for County Tipperary, Home Rule activist and land reform agitator
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£23.00

On piece of paper roughly 5.5 x 11.5 cm. Cut away from a letter for an autograph hunter. Laid down on a piece of paper removed from an album. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Reads '<...> | Yours sincerely | John Dillon'.

Autograph Signature ('Roger Keyes').

Author: 
Sir Roger Keyes [Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes] (1872-1945), British naval officer
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

On a leaf of pink paper (roughly 16 x 20 cm) removed from an autograph album. Firm signature, 6 cm long, with the initial 'R' blotted by Keyes. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The page bearing the signature is headed, in another hand, 'Famous Men Military and Naval'.

Autograph Signature ('J Arthur Thomson').

Author: 
J. Arthur Thomson [Sir John Arthur Thomson] (1861-1933), Scottish naturalist and author whose writings sought to reconcile science and religion
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£18.00

On slip of paper, roughly 2.5 x 10 cm, cut from a letter for an autograph hunter. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Reads 'Yours sincerely | J Arthur Thomson'.

Autograph Signature ('Albert Chevalier') with quotation from his song 'Our Bazaar'.

Author: 
Albert Chevalier [Albert Onésime Britannicus Gwathveoyd Louis Chevalier] (1861-1923), comedian and actor
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£35.00

On a piece of paper 6 x 14 cm. Laid down on part of leaf from autograph album. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Evidently in response to a request for an autograph. Good firm signature, with looped underlining. Reads: ' "We take the compositions as they are" | "Our Bazaar" | [signed] Albert Chevalier'. Chevalier's song 'Our Bazaar' was hugely popular. The published version (1894) gives the authors as Chevalier and Brian Daley, but the British Library ascribes it to John Charles Bond Andrews.

To Mr. Law. ['One of thirty copies reprinted from the original edition in the Library of Worcester College, Oxford.']

Author: 
Allan Ramsay. [Worcester College, Oxford; Oxford University Press; John Law; South Sea Bubble]
Publication details: 
[1924.] [With facsimile of title of the original anonymous Edinburgh edition of 1720.]
£125.00

Folio pamphlet: 8 pp. In brown wraps with 'TO MR. LAW. BY ALLAN RAMSAY.' on the front wrap and the publication details on its reverse. On aged and lightly-creased paper, in worn, creased wraps. Nicely printed, with the long s, at the University Press. Originally published anonymously in 1720. Facsimile of title ('EDINBURGH: Printed for the AUTHOR at the Mercury, opposite to Niddrey's-Wynd, MDCCXX.'). A scarce (unattributed) Oxford University Press item: of the thirty copies COPAC lists four: at the British Library, Oxford, Cambridge and the National Library of Scotland.

Steel-engraving by Finden, from a painting by Pickersgill, of 'Mr. Murray, Publisher of Lord Byron's Works.'

Author: 
John Murray (1778-1843), British publisher; Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875), English portrait painter; Edward Francis Finden (1791-1857), English engraver; Charles Tilt, English publisher
Publication details: 
Painted by H. W. Pickersgill, R.A. Engraved by E. Finden. [...] London, Published 1833, by C. Tilt, 86, Fleet Street.'
£56.00

India paper engraving (dimensions c. 22 x 16 cms) neatly laid down on piece of wove paper c. 29 x 22 cms. Very good, with the slightest spotting, and with minor creasing and staining to the extremities of the mount. A pensive Murray sits in an armchair, reading a manuscript.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to 'Dear France'.

Author: 
Edgar Jepson [Edgar Alfred Jepson] (1863-1938), English writer of detective fiction, sometimes under the name 'R. Edison Page'
Publication details: 
Letter One: 17 May 1907; Hillfarance, Elm Road, Wembley. Letter Two: 29 June 1907; 23 Bath Road, Bedford Park. London W.
£95.00

Both items in fair condition, on lightly-aged and foxed paper. Letter One: 12mo (15 x 10 cm), 1 p. He thanks him 'for the Tickets': 'we are looking forward to seeing you act. I shall be very pleased to come to smoke a cigarette after the first act off the Duel.' ('The Duel' was produced at the Garrick Theatre, London, in 1907.) Letter Two: 12mo, 2 pp. He thanks him 'for the excellent evening you gave me at The Coronet the other night. | The Incubus is an admirable play, and admirably acted.' He hopes France 'had a good week of it': 'I told innumerable people not to miss it.'

Autograph Note Signed ('J H Gurney') to Messrs Hertslet & Scott, No 31 Norfolk Street, Strand, London.

Author: 
John Henry Gurney (1819-1819), banker and ornithologist
Publication details: 
31 July 1840; Norwich.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. With 1 cm vertical closed tear at foot of each leaf. Addressed, with postmarks, on the reverse of the second leaf, which is docketed '31. July 1840. | Gurney & Co. that Mrs E. Lofty resides at Hethersett near Norwich -'. Reads 'Respected friends | We believe that the lady for whose address you enquire in yr favor of the 29th Inst resides at Hethersett near this city'. Gurney joined the family business at the age of seventeen.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. Cohen') to Walters.

Author: 
Chapman Cohen (1868-1954), Editor of 'The Freethinker' [John Cuming Walters (1863-1933), Editor, Manchester City News]
Publication details: 
2 May 1919; on letterhead of 'The Freethinker'.
£75.00

4to, 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Thirty-seven lines of text. He finds himself 'very much in accord' with the views expressed by Walters in his address on 'The New Religion'. His 'chief difference' is 'a dislike to the use of the word "Religion." It has, to me, associations that are certain to rob it of all good.' As a 'working term', in Cohen's view, it lacks 'satisfactory power'. 'However, the great thing seems to me to keep churches & individuals on the move.

Under Southern Skies. A series of articles conveying the impressions of the writer during the course of a visit to Australia and New Zealand as a member of the Imperial Press Conference, 1925.

Author: 
J. W. Dafoe [John Wesley Dafoe], Editor-in-Chief, Manitoba Free Press [Australia; New Zealand]
Publication details: 
Winnipeg, Canada: The Free Press. ['Reprinted in order as they appeared from day to day on the editorial page of the Manitoba Free Press, November, 1925'.]
£85.00

8vo: [iv] + 43 pp. Stapled pamphlet. Inscribed at head of title 'With regards | J W Dafoe'. Text clear and complete. On grubby, aged paper, with wear to outer leaves. An introduction explains that of the seventeen articles, 'the first seven [...] are merely comments on certain aspects of the New Zealand scene as they appeared to a passer-by', while 'the ten articles devoted to Australia deal with the same subject from various angles. They constitute an attempt at a study of Australia's political developments in the social and economic field.' No copy in the British Library or on COPAC.

The Deportation of the Norfolk Islanders to the Derwent in 1808. I. The Settlement of Norfolk Island. II. The Deportation to the Derwent.

Author: 
Jack Backhouse Walker [Norfolk Island deportation, 1808; Derwent; Tasmania; Van Diemen's Land]
Publication details: 
Tasmania: William Grahame, Jun., Government Printer, Hobart. 1895.
£75.00

12mo: 26 pp. In original printed wraps. Stapled pamphlet. Unopened. The only copies on COPAC at the British Library and Oxford. For more information about Walker (1841-1899) see his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Catalogue of Engravings, Etchings by the Best Masters, Including Mezzotint and Other Portraits [...] Views of Oxford by Loggan, Vertue, Burke and Turner.

Author: 
John Chaundy, printseller and picture dealer [Ye Olde Picture Shoppe, 49 Broad Street, Oxford]
Publication details: 
[1860s?] On sale At Ye Olde Picture Shoppe (Opposite the Sheldonian Theatre), 49, Broad Street, Oxford, by John Chaundy, Carver, Gilder, Picture Framer and Herald Painter. [Dryden Press: J. Davy & Sons, 137, Long Acre, London, W.C.]
£300.00

12mo, 61 pp. In original brown printed wraps. Engraving of Sheldonian Theatre on front, otherwise the item is not illustrated. 2864 items, ranging from '1 AARON, Rev. born 1695, engraved by Vertue. 5s 6d' to '2864 Zonelli (Anton. Maria) after Joan. Anton. Faldoni, Man blowing Horn, with hounds. 5s'. Fair, on aged paper, with a few leaves dogeared, in worn wraps chipped at extremities, and with 4.5 cm closed tear at foot of spine. Presentation inscription at head of front wrap: 'R. G. Bartelot. from Fredk. Bennett'.

The Arrow. W. B. Yeats Commemoration Number.

Author: 
Edmund Dulac, Oliver St. John Gogarty, John Masefield, Lennox Robinson, William Rothenstein, Max Beerbohm, contributors [The Abbey Theatre, Dublin; W. B. Yeats; Irish literature]
Publication details: 
Summer 1939. Published by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. [Wood Printing Works, Ltd., Dublin.]
£50.00

4to, 24 pp. With four pages of illustrations (by J. B. Yeats, Charles Shannon, Sean O'Sullivan, Max Beerbohm and Edmund Dulac). Stapled. In original grey printed wraps. Aged and dog-eared, in worn wraps. The introduction, by 'L. R.', explains that 'THE ARROW is an occasional, a very occasional, publication by the Abbey Theatre. Only four numbers of it have appeared, two in 1906, one in 1907, 1908 and 1909.' Essays by John Masefield ('William Butler Yeats'), F. R.

Dana. An Irish Magazine of Independent Thought.

Author: 
Stephen Gwynn, Edward Dowden, George Moore, F. Hugh O'Donnell, John Eglinton, Hon. W. Gibson, contributors [Irish literature; Ireland]
Publication details: 
No.3. July 1904. Publishers: Hodges, Figgis & Co., Ltd. Grafton Street, Dublin; David Nutt, 57-59 Long Acre, London, W.C.
£50.00

12mo, 32 pp (paginated 65-96). Stapled. In original grey printed wraps. On aged and foxed paper, in worn wraps. Closed tears to last leaf and back wrap, which carries tape from postage. Contains 'The Policy of the Irish Party' by Stephen Gwynn, 'A Sunday in July (Poem)' by 'Professor Dowden', 'Moods and Memories, IV' by George Moore, 'The Facts of the Churchbuilding Question in Ireland' by F. Hugh O'Donnell, 'On Going to Church' by John Eglinton, 'On the Possibility of a Thought Revival in Ireland' and 'Hon. W. Gibson'.

Letter, headed 'Copy', in contemporary hand, from 'X.' to 'Mr. Editor' [of Punch].

Author: 
Punch, or The London Charivari' [Mark Lemon (1809-1870), editor; John Leech; Charles Kean; William Williams (1788-1865), Radical M.P. for Lambeth]
Publication details: 
01/05/59
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Watermarked 'TOWGOOD'S | SUPER FINE | 1859'. Eighty-seven lines of text. Text clear and complete on aged and grubby paper. With little hope of influencing the editor of Punch, the author feels compelled to 'write and tell you what I and many others think about your Publication and the malignant spite you display towards individuals who happen to incur your wrath'. This 'malignity', he feels, 'must be derived from that murderous old ruffian from whom your publication takes its name, and which alone prevents it being an influential publication.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Bernard Partridge.') to 'Miss Smith'.

Author: 
Bernard Partridge [Sir John Bernard Partridge] (1861-1945), English cartoonist and illustrator, best-known for his work for 'Punch'
Publication details: 
24 January 1897 ('M.dccc.xc.vij: | jan: xxiv.'); on letterhead of 11 Marlborough Road, St John's Wood, [London] N.W.
£56.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Attractive red letterhead, in the Arts and Crafts style. The writings she referred to in a previous letter have not come. 'You probably forgot to enclose them. I expect to read some of the papers in the days when I look in the P[all]. M[all]. G[azette].' He asks her to give him 'an idea of what the publisher proposes to spend on the illustrations, and also the size of them, and the style - pen & ink, or "wash".' He has heard news of her 'from Welsh, Ethel Johnson's husband, who is with me at the Haymarket'.

List of the Annual Volumes of the Ray Society. From their Commencement, in 1844, to December, 1901.

Author: 
The Ray Society [John Ray; natural history]
Publication details: 
[1901?] Printed by Adlard and Son, Bartholomew Close, E.C.; 20, Hanover Square, W. and Dorking.
£28.00

8vo: 16 pp. Stapled pamphlet. Nothing other than the title printed on the first leaf. Text paginated [19] to 31, with publisher's slug on reverse of last leaf. On aged and creased paper, with 6 cm closed tear at central crease of outer bifolium. No copies of this title on COPAC or WorldCat.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C J Mathews') to Hollingshead.

Author: 
C. J. Mathews [Charles James Mathews] (1803-1878), son of Charles Mathews, English actor and playwright [John Hollingshead (1827-1904), English journalist and theatre manager]
Publication details: 
23 November 1865; 25 Pelham Crescent, London.
£38.00

12mo, 1 p. Fair, on aged paper, with traces of previous mount adhering to the corners of the blank reverse. Of course Hollingshead should 'wait till the last night of "used up" ' before writing to Mathews, who has 'hunted up Buckstone - hunted up Turpin - but in vain. Not a box to be had'. He has sent 'the best I could get': '3 Dress Circle to Mrs Smiles with "Mr Hollingshead's best compliments." '. In a postscript states that if Hollingshead wants 'a box for the "Overland Route" before the last night' he will be 'too happy'. 'There is always a run on last nights.'

Frank, with signature ('J Lawrence'), seal, and autograph address to Northcote

Author: 
John Laird Mair Lawrence (1811-1879), 1st Baron Lawrence, Viceroy of India from 1864 to 1869 [Sir Stafford Northcote]
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£23.00

Cut from an envelope into a 'T' shape, with the front panel bearing the address and signature roughly 8.5 x 22.5 cm, forming the cross stroke, and the area from the back of the letter bearing the seal, cut into a roughly 6.5 x 5.5 cm rectangle, hanging down from this like the vertical stroke of the letter. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Reads 'To the Right Honorable, | Sir Stafford Northcote, Bart | Secretary of State for India | London | J Lawrence'. The circular red wax seal is 3.5 cm in diameter.

Autograph Letter Signed to Messrs Charles Cox & Son, Royal Marine Agency Office, Buckingham Street, Strand, London.

Author: 
Major John Lodington, Royal Marines, Aide-de-Camp to the Governor of Dominica, the Earl of Huntingdon [Hans Francis Hastings (1779-1828), 12th Earl of Huntingdon; Windward Islands; West Indian]
Publication details: 
12 and 13 February 1824; Roseau, Dominica.
£250.00

8vo bifolium (leaf dimensions 30 x 18 cm): 4 pp. Fair, on aged paper with slight wear to extremities, and minor damage to the area around the breaking of the black wax seal, which adheres, with a clear impression of a crest, to the reverse of the second leaf. Damage to a couple of words: otherwise text clear and complete. Circular 'F' postmark in red ink. Docketed. An impassioned, anguished letter, long and unguarded, and unusual in the valuable light it casts on the state of West Indian colonial affairs.

Autograph Letter Signed ('N Card. Wiseman'), in French, to 'Mons Castermann, Editeur, Tournai'.

Author: 
Cardinal Wiseman [Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman] (1802-1865)
Publication details: 
16 August 1856; Brussells.
£56.00

12mo: 1 p. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, with the address, with postmark, on the reverse of the second. On brittle, aged paper. The letter has been neatly folded three times, and there are a few closed tears along the crease lines, including one through the initial 'N' of the signature. Wiseman thanks Castermann for the copy he has sent of 'votre nouvelle édition en Français de "Fabiola". Not only is the 'execution typographique de l'ouvrage' deserving of his praise, but also the translation, which leaves nothing to be desired.

Mezzotint engraving [of Orde-Powlett], 'Painted by G. Romney' and 'Engraved by In Jones'.

Author: 
Thomas Orde-Powlett, 1st Baron Bolton (1746-1807), British politician; George Romney (1734-1802), artist; John Jones (1745?-97), engraver
Publication details: 
[London; 'Pubd as the Act directs July 6 1786'.]
£200.00

National Portrait Gallery no: NPG D913 (only acquired in 1966). Dimensions of paper roughly nineteen and a half inches by fourteen wide. Dimensions of print roughly seventeen and a half inches by thirteen and three-quarters wide. Backed by a piece of cream card. Heavily aged and spotted, and with one small worm hole. Slight loss to lower right-hand corner, not affecting print. Closed tears to mount. Apparently printed before the name, and very likely a proof.

Syndicate content