JOHN

[‘The rudest man in Britain’ reduced to tears: Gilbert Harding, radio and television personality.] Producer Hugh Burnett's corrected proof of typescript of Harding’s celebrated interview with John Freeman in the BBC TV series 'Face to Face'.

Author: 
Gilbert Harding [Gilbert Charles Harding] (1907-1960), irascible British radio and television personality [John Freeman, interviewer on BBC programme ‘Face to Face’; Hugh Burnett]
Publication details: 
Undated, but BBC interview broadcast on 18 September 1960, and this item prepared for publication in 1964.
£75.00

The present item is producer Hugh Burnett's own copy, from his papers, of the transcript of John Freeman's interview with Harding, broadcast in the groundbreaking BBC television series 'Face to Face' on 18 September 1960, a few weeks before Harding’s death on 16 November 1960. Harding’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that, ‘in radio programmes such as The Brains Trust and Twenty Questions, and on television in What's my Line?, Harding became a great popular figure, especially of television in which he was probably the best-known performer in the country.

[‘I have never felt more like chucking my hand in’: Jack Warner, English actor.] Typed Letter Signed to W. J. Macqueen-Pope (‘Popie’), regarding a bad bout of the flu, with signed publicity photograph in the part of Dixon of Dock Green.

Author: 
Jack Warner [Horace John Waters] (1895-1981), English actor who played PC George Dixon in film ‘The Blue Lamp’ and TV series ‘Dixon of Dock Green’ [W. J. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian]
Dixon
Publication details: 
19 November 1957. 9 Courtfield Mews, Courtfield Road, SW5 [London]. On his letterhead.
£60.00
Dixon

See the entries for Warner and Macqueen-Pope in the Oxford DNB. Such was the popularity of Warner’s portrayal of George Dixon, that the Queen told him it had become part of ‘the British way of life’, and he was carried to his grave by six real officers from Paddington Green Police Station. LETTER: 1p, 4to. Folded twice. In good condition, lightly aged. Signature ‘Jack.’ and salutation to ‘My dear Popie’ in Warner’s hand; the rest typed. Letterhead with his name. He is sending ‘the long promised photos’, delayed because he ‘had to get some new prints of the “pipe” one.

[John Masefield, Poet Laureate.] Autograph Card, ordering a book from a booksellers’ list.

Author: 
John Masefield (1878-1967), Poet Laureate and author
Masefield
Publication details: 
Pinbury Park, Cirencester. No date.
£80.00
Masefield

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. In the following transcript, the parts in Masefield’s autograph are in square brackets, and the first printed sentence (‘I [...] letter.’) has been scored through: ‘PINBURY PARK, / CIRENCESTER. / Dear [Sirs,] / I thank you for you letter. / [I shall be obliged if you will send me No 98 of your list / Du Maurier. Trilby / London, 1895.] / With all good wishes, / Yours sincerely, / John Masefield.’ (Note that this ‘signature’ is printed.) See image.

[The National Association for Freedom, London.] Publicity pamphlet and membership application form.

Author: 
The National Association for Freedom, libertarian pressure group set up in London in 1975 by Viscount De L'Isle, Norris McWhirter, Ross McWhirter and John Gouriet; now called the Freedom Association
Publication details: 
The National Association for Freedom, 500 Chesham House 30/32 Warwick Street, London W1R 5RD. No date (dating from between 1975 and late 1978).
£180.00

A scarce piece of political ephemera, from the turbulent days of 1970s Britain. The only other copy traced at the British Library, where it is tentatively dated to 1977.

[Sir Edward Parry [Sir Edward Abbott Parry], judge and dramatist.] Autograph Signature to cutting of newspaper article by him on ‘Brach of Promise / The Law, the Lady, and Sex Equality’.

Author: 
Sir Edward Parry [Sir Edward Abbott Parry] (1863–1943), judge and dramatist
Publication details: 
Dated by Parry to April 1930.
£30.00

See the account of his life in the entry for his father the serjeant-at-law John Humffreys Parry (1816-1880) in the Oxford DNB. Signed ‘faithfully yours / Edward Parry / April . 1930’, across the headline of a 22 x 21 cm. cutting of a newspaper article, with text in three columns, the headline reading: ‘BREACH OF PROMISE / THE LAW, THE LADY, AND SEX EQUALITY/ By His Honour SIR EDWARD PARRY’. In good condition, on browning high-acidity paper. Folded once and with one crease. Begins: ‘Marriage is not the gilt-edged security that it was. Its stock is not rising.

[John Oxenford, playwright, translator and theatre critic of The Times.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the editor of the Athenaeum], expressing thanks for a ‘very handsome and prominent notice’ of the ‘German Tales’ he has written with C. A. Feiling.

Author: 
John Oxenford (1812-1877), playwright, translator and theatre critic of The Times, promoter of Schopenhauer and Richard Wagner [the Athenaeum, London; C. A. Feiling]
Publication details: 
10 December 1844. 12 Birchin Lane [London].
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On brittle, discoloured paper, cropped at foot. Signed (‘J. Oxenford’). The recipient is not named, but is clearly the editor of the Athenaeum. Reads: ‘Sir/- / In the name of Mr. C. A. Feiling and myself, I beg leave to thank you for the very handsome and prominent notice of our “German Tales” which appeared in the Athenaeum of the 30th. ult. - You will confer a further obligation by letting the gentleman who wrote the article [know] how much we feel indebted to his kindness.’

[John Pye, line engraver.] Autograph Letter Signed, offering the artist William Carpenter his vote ‘at the forthcoming election for Sec[re]t[ar]y of the Artists’ Annuity Fund'.

Author: 
John Pye (1782-1874), line engraver, praised by Turner, promoter of professional associations and co-operative movements [William Carpenter (1818-1899), painter; Artists’ Annuity Fund, London]
Pye
Publication details: 
21 June 1839. 42 Cirencester Place, Fitzroy Square. [London]
£180.00
Pye

Pye was an active figure in nineteenth-century British art. According to his entry in the Oxford DNB he was the engravers’ ‘best spokesman’, hoping ‘to raise the fortunes, status, and public profile of engravers by means of professional association and co-operation’. He was the author of a number of works, including 'Patronage of British Art' (1845). His collection of prints after Turner was acquired by the British Museum in 1869, and the proofs of Turner's ‘Liber Studiorum’ followed in 1870. His notebooks are in British Library.

[Sir Frederick Lugard [Lord Lugard], Governor of Hong Kong, Governor-General of Nigeria.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Lugard’) to ‘Dickinson’ (Lord Dickinson), regarding ‘Kenya settlers’ and a matter of ‘British honour’.

Author: 
Sir Frederick Lugard [Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard; Lord Lugard] (1858-1945), soldier, explorer, Governor of Hong Kong, first Governor-General of Nigeria [Sir Willoughby Dickinson]
Publication details: 
5 January 1933. On letterhead of Little Parkhurst, Abinger Common, near Dorking, Surrey.
£100.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Lord Dickinson [Sir Willoughby Dickinson] (1859-1943), was a Liberal and then Labour politician and early advocate of the League of Nations.1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with short nick to one edge. Folded twice. He thanks him for the morning’s note, and is ‘adopting your suggestion to put down a Motion in the Lords’. He hopes that Dickinson will ‘add the weight of your name and influence in a letter to the Times’. He would like ‘the League of Nations Union would take the matter up’.

[‘I have no desire to be a marked man’: Lord Simon, Liberal politician.] Two Typed Letters Signed to T. Lloyd Humberstone, on an ‘adverse vote’ at the National Liberal Club, and on prerogative, Parliamentary representation and ‘old Universities’.

Author: 
Lord Simon [John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon] (1873-1954), Liberal Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Chancellor [Thomas Lloyd Humberstone, educationist]
Publication details: 
17 January and 8 November 1948. Both on government letterheads.
£75.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient, the educationist Thomas Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957), was a prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. Both items in fair condition, on lightly aged paper, the second with slight loss along one edge due to removal from mount. Both signed ‘Simon’. ONE: 17 January 1948. 1p, 12mo. Folded once. ‘I do not for a moment believe that the adverse vote carried at a depleted meeting of the General Committee represents the broad view of the Club [clearly the National Liberal Club] as a whole, but I have to take things as I find them.

[Henry Harper, Anglican Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Hë Christchurch’) to Rev. T. Scudamore Cunningham of Lymm, Cheshire, describing the terms and requirements for a New Zealand curacy.

Author: 
Henry Harper [Henry John Chitty Harper] (1804-1893), Anglican cleric, successively Chaplain of Eton College, Bishop of Christchurch and Primate of New Zealand [Rev. Thomas Scudamore Cunningham]
NZ
Publication details: 
12 December 1882. On his episcopal letterhead of Bishops Court, Christchurch, and headed by him 'New Zealand'.
£180.00
NZ

Harper was the first Anglican Bishop of Christchurch and the first Primate of New Zealand, and he oversaw the building of the ill-fated cathedral at Christchurch. See his entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. The signature appears to read ‘Hë [for ‘Henricus’?] Christchurch’, and the letter is addressed to ‘Rev. T. Scudamore Cunningham / Lymm Cheshire’. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. Fifty-seven lines of closely and neatly written text.

[‘I may yet be a burden to the Royal Literary Fund’: Sir John Fortescue, military historian and Royal Librarian at Windsor.] Autograph Letter Signed, joking about his lack of success as an author while sending £5 to the Fund’s chairman Lord Curzon.

Author: 
Sir John Fortescue [Sir John William Fortescue] (1859-1933), military historian, Royal Librarian at Windsor Castle [Lord Curzon [George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston]; Royal Literary Fund]
Publication details: 
28 March 1913; on Windsor Castle letterhead.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘Dear Curzon, / I have sent, with great pleasure, a fiver to the Literary Fund in honour of your chairmanship; but not [last word underlined] as a successful man of letters.’ He explains that had he been dependant on his books for a livelihood, he would ‘long ago have starved, and, by the Grace of the present Government, I may yet be a burden to the Royal Literary Fund.’ Curzon has minuted the letter at the head of the first page: ‘Hon J Fortescue £5’.

[Lord Thomson of Fleet, Fleet Street press baron.] Producer Hugh Burnett's copy of typescript of Thomson’s interview with John Freeman in the BBC TV series 'Face to Face', marked up for publication.

Author: 
Lord Thomson of Fleet [Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet] (1894-1976), Canadian-born British newspaper proprietor, one of the Fleet Street press barons [Hugh Burnett; BBC; John Freeman]
Publication details: 
Undated, but BBC interview broadcast on 4 February 1962, and this item prepared for publication in 1964.
£50.00

The present item is producer Hugh Burnett's own copy, from his papers, of the transcript of John Freeman's interview with Thomson, broadcast in the groundbreaking BBC series 'Face to Face' on 4 February 1962. This single-spaced typed transcript was produced for inclusion in Burnett's book 'Face to Face / Edited and introduced by Hugh Burnett' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1964), and is marked up with printing instructions in pencil and red ink, with a few proof corrections in green ink. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Emphasizing Thomson’s unthreatening ordinariness.

[Lord Derby disassociates himself from John Stuart Mill.] Autograph Letter in the third person [to Matthew Arnold], expressing a willingness to join in ‘any mark of respect’, as long as it does not imply ‘an agreement in Mr Mill’s political opinions'

Author: 
Lord Derby [Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby] (1826-1893), Conservative politician who served as Foreign Secretary and Colonial Secretary [John Stuart Mill; Matthew Arnold]
Publication details: 
13 May 1873; 23 St James’s Square [London].
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Mill had died on 8 May, and in his 2018 biography, Timothy Larsen gives an account of the controversy over the efforts to have buried in Westminister Abbey. (In any event by his own desire Helen Taylor had her husband buried at Avignon.) 2pp, 12mo. With thin mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded three times.

[John Parsons Earwaker, Cheshire antiquary.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘J. P. Earwaker.’) to genealogist T. E. Strangwayes, regarding the activities of the Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society.

Author: 
J. P. Earwaker [John Parsons Earwaker] (1847-1895), Cheshire antiquary [Thomas Edward Strangwayes; Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society]
Publication details: 
24 November 1894; on his (Welsh) letterhead as Honorary Secretary of the Record Society for the publication of Original Documents in Lancashire & Cheshire.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Strangwayes published his ‘Materials for a Genealogical History of the House of Strangwayes sometime of Strangwayes Hall, in the County of Lancaster’ in two parts, 1894 and 1895. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount laid down along inner and outer top edges. With large bold signature. He explains that Strangwayes’ name was sent to him by ‘Mr Ryland’ a few weeks before, but he has delayed in replying, having been ‘laid up all this month’.

[John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), novelist and poet.] Envelope addressed by Powys in Autograph to his London bookseller G. L. Lewin, with his name and address written by him on the reverse.

Author: 
John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), novelist and poet [George Lionel Lewin (1890-1970), bookseller of Great Russell Street, London]
Publication details: 
'From / J. C. Powys / Corwen / Merioneth / N. Wales'. Oxford postmark dated 13 August 1941.
£35.00

An evocative artefact of the interesting connection between Powys and the man who supplied him with the books for his translation of Rabelais. Writing on 24 September 1940, in 'Letters to Sea-Eagle', Powys gives a lengthy account of 'Our Jew Book-Pedlar' and the bombing by the Germans of his Russell Street address.

[Lieutenant-General Sir John Hope, one of Wellington’s commanders in the Peninsular War.] Autograph Signature as Commander in Chief, Scotland: ‘John Hope / M. Genl. Commdg / in N. B.’

Author: 
Lieutenant-General Sir John Hope (1765-1836), Scottish soldier, British Army officer, one of Wellington’s commanders in the Peninsular War; Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, 1816-1819
Publication details: 
[Between 1816 and 1819; Scotland.]
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Between 1816 and 1819 Hope held the post of Major General Commanding in North Britain (i.e. Commander-in-Chief in Scotland). On 9.5 x 4 cm slip of wove paper, presumably the valediction cut from a letter. In good condition, lightly aged, with the reverse bearing a thin strip of grey paper from mount along thin strip at head. Reads: ‘John Hope / M. Genl. Commdg / in N. B.’ See image.

[‘Christopher Marie St John’ [Christabel Gertrude Marshall], author and suffragist in menage à trois with Edith Craig and Clare Atwood.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Christopher St. John.’), proposing an article to ‘Mr Walbrook’ of the Pall Mall Gazette

Author: 
‘Christopher Marie St John’, assumed name of Christabel Gertrude Marshall (1871-1960), author and campaigner for women’s suffrage, who lived in a ménage à trois with Edith Craig and Clare Atwood
Publication details: 
27 December 1913; 31 Bedford Street, Strand [London].
£120.00

The subject of the present letter is, as Marshall’s entry in the Oxford DNB explains, her ‘translation of a play by the first female dramatist, Hrotsvit. ‘Paphnutius’ was given a world première by Craig for the Pioneer Players in January 1914.’ The recipient, Henry Mackinnon Walbrook (1865-1941), was the drama critic of the Pall Mall Gazette. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, on dusty discoloured paper, with slight rust spotting from paperclip.

[John Tyndall, distinguished Anglo-Irish physicist.] Autograph Letter Signed to John Symonds, reluctantly declining a dinner invitation, and praising Lady Morrison’s effect on one ‘whose intellectual side has won general renown’.

Author: 
John Tyndall (1820-1893), Anglo-Irish physicist [John Symonds of the Corporation of London]
Publication details: 
1 November [no year]. On embossed letterhead of the Royal Institution of Great Britain [London].
£95.00

See Tyndall’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Written in purple ink with bold flowing signature. Addressed to ‘John Symonds Esq’ (in the 1870s Symonds was Chairman of the Library Committee of the Corporation of London). Reads: ‘My dear Sir / Most willingly would I permit your friendly letter to draw me towards you to day. But I am bound with a chain. / I was glad to learn that Lady Morrison was your niece. She is obviously drawing out the inherent tenderness of a nature whose intellectual side has won general renown.

[Sims Reeves, English operatic tenor.] Autograph Note Signed (‘J. Sims Reeves’) in response to a request for an autograph.

Author: 
Sims Reeves [John Sims Reeves] (1821-1900), English operatic tenor
Reeves
Publication details: 
June 1872. On letterhead with monogram of his initials, and address Grange Mount, Upper Norwood.
£56.00
Reeves

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Even towards the end of his life Bernard Shaw could remark that ‘he can still leave the next best tenor in England an immeasurable distance behind’. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of mount to inner margin. Folded once. Very nice embossed letterhead, printed in gold, brown, green and red, with bird perched on top of a treble clef, entwined with foliage and a twisted branch in the shape of the ‘R’ of ‘Reeves’. Reads: ‘Sir / This autograph with pleasure, according to your request / Yours faithfully / June 1872 / J. Sims Reeves’.

[John Lawrence Toole, comic actor and theatre manager.] Autograph Letter Signed to David Cunningham, referring to the ‘terrible blow’ of the death of his wife and daughter, and enclosing a photographic postcard of Toole in the character of ‘The Don’.

Author: 
John Lawrence Toole (1830-1906), English comic actor, a consummate farceur, championed by Charles Dickens, and proprietor of Toole’s Theatre in London’s Charing Cross
Toole
Publication details: 
1 March 1889; 44 Maida Vale, London W. The card is undated: ‘“Ink Photo.” Sprague & Co. London.’
£120.00
Toole

Toole’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes how ‘Toole was desolate, and his health broke’, after the Tooles’ twenty-two year-old daughter Florence died from typhoid fever on in November 1888, contracted a week before when visiting her parents who were performing at Cork. Her mother, Toole’s wife Susan, died three and a half months later, in February 1889. Both letter and card are in good condition. They are enclosed in a grubby envelop, with stamp and postmarks, addressed to ‘David Cunningham Esq / Belmont / Antrim / Ireland’. Letter and envelope have thick mourning border. ONE: ALS.

[André Deutsch, Hungarian-born British publisher, the original of John Le Carré’s ‘Toby Esterhase’.] Typed Letter Signed to Louis B. Frewer, Keeper of Rhodes House Library, Oxford, commenting on an ‘amusing’ postcard featuring Herr von Papen.

Author: 
André Deutsch (1917-2000), Hungarian-born British publisher, the original of John Le Carré’s ‘Toby Esterhase’
Publication details: 
3 July 1952; on letterhead of Andre [sic] Deutsch Limited Publishers, 12 Thayer Street, Manchester Square, London W1.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. Folded twice. Signed ‘André Deutsch’ (but note that there is no accent to the name on the letterhead). He thanks him for his letter, and hope that ‘the enclosed postcard [not present] will be of some help. It is rather an amusing one, as Herr von Papen gives a literal translation of the German expression for the appendix’. Here Deutsch adds in autograph: ‘(Physical).’ He ends by stating that he is enclosing ‘a copy of our list for your information’ (also not present).

[Lord Elphinstone [John Elphinstone, 13th Lord Elphinstone], Governor of Madras and Bombay.] Autograph Signature (‘Elphinstone’) and valediction to letter.

Author: 
Lord Elphinstone [John Elphinstone, 13th Lord Elphinstone] (1807-1860), Scottish soldier, Conservative politician and colonial administrator, successively Governor of Madras and Bombay
Elphinstone
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£25.00
Elphinstone

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.

[St Andrews University, Kate Kennedy Day 1871.] Victorian photographic print of illustration depicting nine St Andrews Professors, one of them said to be John Stuart Mill, in fantastic revels.

Author: 
[St Andrews University, Fife, Scotland: Kate Kennedy Day 1871; John Stuart Mill]
St Andrews
Publication details: 
Victorian photographic print of illustration ‘signed’ ‘Kate Kennedy pinxit / 1871’.
£90.00
St Andrews

The tradition of this annual day of revels at Scotland's oldest university St Andrews is said to date back to the fifteenth century and is said to commemorate the visits of a lady Katharine Kennedy to her uncle, Bishop Kennedy of St Andrews, every Spring. 9 x 5 cm sepia photographic print of illustration, laid down on 10.5 x 6 cm piece of card, and clearly made in the nineteenth century. In fair condition, lightly aged. As part of the print, at bottom right: ‘Kate Kennedy pinxit / 1871’.

[Irving Wardle, theatre critic.] Autograph Letter Signed to Gerald Wynne-Rushton, giving advice on offering a play, with reference to a letter he has received from Emyr Humphreys, producer of BBC TV production of Saunders Lewis’s ‘Siwan’.

Author: 
Irving Wardle [John Irving Wardle] (born 1929), theatre critic and champion of Harold Pinter [Gerald Wynne-Rushton (1894-), Catholic writer]
Publication details: 
16 March [no year, but between 1960 and 1963]; on letterhead of the Observer, London.
£45.00

Wardle worked as Kenneth Tynan’s deputy on the Observer between 1959 and 1963. Wynne-Rushton had published a play titled ‘The Gull’s Way’ in 1930, and a book on the papacy for Catholic publishers Burns, Oates and Washburne two years later. 2pp, 4to. In fair condition, folded three times, with wear and loss along one fold line of the second leaf, resulting in loss of a few words of text. Signed ‘Irving Wardle’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Rushton’, identified as G. W. Wynne-Rushton by associated correspondence.

[Admiral Jellicoe, Commander of the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland.] Autograph Note Signed (‘J’) to ‘Col Crosfield’, regarding a ‘sad case’ which needs to be ‘taken up by Mr Webb’. With explanatory note in another hand.

Author: 
Admiral Jellicoe [Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe] (1859-1935), commander of Grand Fleet at Battle of Jutland
Jellicoe
Publication details: 
No date or place [circa 1928, according to accompanying note].
£90.00
Jellicoe

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 14.5 x 6 cm rectangle of air mail paper, cut from the head of a letter, on which Jellicoe’s note is clearly a comment. In good condition, lightly aged, folded once. Typed at foot of slip: ‘Thomas Butler - Meadow Cottage, Bank Road, Dawly, Salop.’ Above this, towards the right, Jellicoe writes in a close hand: ‘Col Crosfield / This is a sad case, & seems “attributable”. Can the case be taken up by Mr Webb.

[Richard Ingrams, journalist, founder of ‘Private Eye’ and the ‘Oldie’.] Autograph Card Signed to ‘Mr Kinnane’ (manuscript dealer John A. Kinnane), regarding ‘the interesting Cobbett item’, an Elgar postcard, and his interest in G. K. Chesterton.

Author: 
Richard Ingrams [Richard Reid Ingrams] (born 1937), journalist and author, co-founder and second editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye, and founder and editor of The Oldie [John A. Kinnane]
Publication details: 
24 February 1984; on his letterhead, Forge House, Aldworth, near Reading.
£25.00

On both sides of a 14.5 x 10.5 cm plain postcard. In good condition, with large firm signature ‘Richard Ingrams’. He thanks him for ‘the interesting Cobbett item’ and would like ‘your Elgar postcard’ if available. Ends: ‘Enclose cheque. Cobbett always welcome. Also G. K. Chesterton.’ Ingram had published an anthology of Cobbett in 1974, and would publish a biography of him in 2005, and a book on Chesterton in 2021.

[John Henry Robinson, RA, eminent line engraver noted for his portraits.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘J. H. Robinson’) to ‘Mr Cooke’ (the artist Edward William Cooke), on personal matters including Conrad Cooke’s health, and plans to meet.

Author: 
John Henry Robinson [J. H. Robinson] (c.1796-1871), RA, eminent line engraver noted for his portraits [Edward William Cooke (1811-1880), artist; his son Conrad William Cooke (1843-1926), engineer]
Publication details: 
16 April 1864; New Grove, Petworth [Surrey].
£65.00

See the entries for Robinson and Cooke in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, folded twice. Addressed to ‘My dear Mr Cooke’. Cooke’s ‘friendly note’ about the time he ‘proposed setting out for Deal’ was received on the Thursday, and the Robinsons are ‘glad indeed to hear that your dear Mother is again restored to her usual health’. The Robinsons think that ‘change of occupation & fresh air together, may have the desired effect both as regards yourself & your son Conrad’.

[John Herman Merivale, poet and friend of Lord Byron.] Signature for autograph hunter: ‘John Herman Merivale’.

Author: 
John Herman Merivale (1779-1844), poet, lawyer, author and literary scholar, friend of Lord Byron
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£30.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 16 x 10 cm rectangle cut from leaf of an autograph album. In good condition, on wove paper, lightly aged and creased. Nothing on the leaf apart from the signature ‘John Herman Merivale’, with the helpful addition ‘(Dead)’ in a near-contemporary hand beside it.

[‘The Pentateuch [...] is throughout a mere fiction’. John William Colenso, Bishop of Natal, puts the case that will result in excommunication.] Long and substantial Autograph Letter Signed (‘J. W. Natal.’) to ‘Scudamore’, explaining his position.

Author: 
John William Colenso (1814-1883), controversial Bishop of Natal, subject of ‘The Colenso Case’, excommunicated from the Church of England [Rev. H. C. Scudamore; Robert Gray, Bishop of Cape Town]
Publication details: 
19 August 1862; Fowey, Cornwall.
£380.00

Colenso’s enormous significance in the history of Victorian theology and ideas is reflected by a long entry by Peter Hinchcliff in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

[John Richard Magrath, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘J R Magrath | Vice Chancellor’) to Henry Jenner of the British Museum, reporting on the results of his assistance regarding the extension of the Bodleian.

Author: 
J. R. Magrath [John Richard Magrath] (1839-1930), Provost of the Queen’s College, Oxford, 1878-1930; Vice-Chancellor of the University, 1894-98 [Henry Jenner (1848-1934), British Museum librarian]
Publication details: 
9 November 1896; on letterhead of Queen’s College, Oxford.
£80.00

See the entries for writer and recipient in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, folded once. In envelope (with Oxford crest on flap), with stamp and two postmarks, addressed by Magrath to ‘Henry Jenner Esq / British Museum / London E.C.’ From ‘a communication I have received from Madan’ (Falconer Madan, Bodley’s Librarian) he gathers that Jenner ‘would be interested to know the results of the kind assistance you gave a Committee of the Hebdomadal Council in May in the matter of the extension of the Bodleian Library’.

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