LEAR

[Sir Theodore Martin, Scottish poet and author.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mrs. Thomas’, discussing the Duke of Wellington’s mode of pronunciation, elementary education, King Lear and Shakespeare scholar H. H. Furness.

Author: 
Sir Theodore Martin (1816-1909), Scottish poet and author, husband of actress Helena Faucit [Duke of Wellington; Horace Howard Furness; William Shakespeare]
Publication details: 
18 November 1893. The Hotel, Sidmouth.
£180.00

A good letter, not the least of whose interest lies in the fact that it provides first-hand information about the Duke of Wellington. See Martin’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘Dear Mrs. Thomas, / Your variant of the King Lear story will, I am sure, delight Mr. Furness. Unfortunately King Lear has already been dealt with by him. It forms one volume of his magnificent Edition. But he loves every thing that concerns old England.

[Croquet in the Raj.] Anonymous nineteenth-century manuscript poem titled ‘Lines on a picture of “Croquet at Materan” [Matheran hill station] by a Cynic.’ With cartoon of bewhiskered man behind mask of comedy.

Author: 
Croquet in the Raj [Matheran hill station; British India; Edward Lear (1812-1888)]
Croquet in the Raj
Croquet in the Raj
Publication details: 
No date (mid-Victorian). On ‘J WHATMAN’ laid paper.
£180.00
Croquet in the Raj
Croquet in the Raj

Although there is no clear connection, the present unpublished poem dates from around the same time as Edward Lear was drawing watercolours in the place referred to in it. Vidya Dehejia’s‘Impossible Picturesqueness / Edward Lear’s Indian Watercolours, 1873-1875’ (1989) describes how Lear visited ‘The two small hill-stations of Matheran and Mahabaleshwar near Bombay’. Of the former Lear wrote: ‘Matheran by the bye, has most probably been the original Eden - I don’t mean the first Lord Auckland, - but Paradise -’.

[Edward Lear, Victorian nonsense poet and artist.] Autograph Signature cut from letter.

Author: 
Edward Lear (1812-1888), nonsense poet and populariser of the Limerick, artist, author
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£75.00

On slip of grey paper, roughly 4 x 13.5 cm. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of paper from mount adhering to the blank reverse. With two unobtrusive vertical fold lines. Reads: 'Kindest regards | Yours sincerely | Edward Lear.'

[Philip Hofer, book collector and curator at the Houghton Library, Harvard University.] Autograph Letter Signed and Typed Note Signed to Stephen Harrison, regarding his collection of drawings by Edward Lear

Author: 
Philip Hofer (1898-1984), book collector and founder of the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts in the Houghton Library of Harvard University [Stephen Harrison; Edward Lear]
Publication details: 
Both on letterheads of The Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Autograph letter dated 19 October 1966. Typed note dated 28 November 1966.
£100.00

See Hofer's obituary in the New York Times, 12 October 1984, in which it is stated that 'Mr. Hofer, who was secretary of the Fogg Museum at Harvard for 12 years, was a recognized book collector focusing on 18th-century German, Iberian and Italian publications. Mr. Hofer put together an Italian book collection considered the finest outside Italy. | Konrad Oberhuber, professor of fine arts at Harvard, said of Mr. Hofer: ''He was one of the most farsighted collectors that Harvard ever had. [...]”'. Two airmail letters, both in good condition.

[ Edward Lear, artist and writer of nonsense verse. ] Autograph Signature ('Edwd Lear.').

Author: 
Edward Lear (1812-1888), artist and author, famed for his nonsense verse
Lear
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£80.00
Lear

On 2 x 6cm strip of paper, cut from a letter. In good condition, lightly aged. A good firm signature, underlined, with the tiniest part of the head of the loop of the iniitial 'E' of 'Edwd' has been shaved off.

[Printed bookseller's catalogue.] Frederick Warne & Co's List of New & Recent Publications. Season 1900-1901.

Author: 
[Frederick Warne & Co, 15 Bedford St., Strand, London; catalogue of children's books, 1900-1901]
Publication details: 
London: 15 Bedford St. Strand. [1900.]
£90.00

16pp., in illustrated wraps with the outer covers printed in green and brown, and three more pages of advertisements on insides and back cover. Bifoliate order form (4pp., 12mo) loosely inserted. The old stalwarts John Ruskin, Kate Greenaway, Walter Crane, Edward Lear, jumbled together with newer titles such as 'Gobbo-Bobo, The Two-Eyed Griffin', 'Prince Cheery-Heart' and 'The Bunkum Book. A Tale of Topsy Turvy Land'. Sadly no mention of Beatrix Potter ("Peter Rabbit" published 1902.). Scarce: no copy on OCLC WorldCat or COPAC.

Syndicate content