LEICESTER

[George Smith of Leicester, Victorian social reformer and campaigner against child labour.] Autograph Letter Signed to Edward Walford

Author: 
George Smith (1831-1895) of Leicester, manager of the Whitwick Colliery Company Tileries, Leicestershire, Victorian social reformer and campaigner against child labour [Edward Walford (1823-1897)]
Publication details: 
'Coalville / Leicester / July 10 1878'.
£35.00

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Edw Walford Esq M.A’ and signed ‘George Smith’. The handwriting is somewhat opaque, rendering the following transcription tentative. He begins by thanking him for sending a cutting ‘from the “Gossip of the Clubs” ’, before continuing: ‘In consequence of the opposition there is still against me in the Brick & tile trade, the amount of time & Correspondence [it takes?] is [?] with the [?] of the act, I find it anything but [?] to get along.

[Thomas Cook, travel agent.] Autograph Note Signed to lithographic illustration of his ?Leicester Temperance Hall and Hotel / Designed by J. Medland Esq., Gloucester?.

Author: 
Thomas Cook (1808-1892), travel agent; Leicester Temperance Hall and Hotel, designed by James Medland (1808-1894), County Surveyor for Gloucestershire
Cook
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but docketed in another hand on the reverse, including years 1866 and 1867.
£50.00
Cook

See Cook?s entry in the Oxford DNB. His temperance hall and hotel illustrated here, were built in 1853. The hall was demolished in the 1960s, to be replaced by a building typical of those that blight Leicester in 2011; the council gave permission for the hotel to be demolished to make way for another monstrosity. Sepia lithograph printed in landscape on 20 x 13 cm leaf of laid paper, extracted from a book or pamphlet. Attractive illustration of an imposing structure, with those that flank it, and people and coaches in the foreground.

[Sir Edward Baines, editor of the Leeds Mercury and Liberal MP.] Autograph Letter Signed to James Silk Buckingham, regarding whether the latter’s son might lecture in Yorkshire, and Buckingham’s ‘immense service’ to ‘the Total Abstinence cause’.

Author: 
Sir Edward Baines (1800-1890), editor of Leeds Mercury, Liberal Member of Parliament, nonconformist, abolitionist [James Silk Buckingham (1786-1855); his son Leicester Silk Buckingham (1825-1867)]
Publication details: 
15 March 1853; Leeds.
£65.00

An interesting letter linking two similar individuals (like Baines, Buckingham had also served as a Yorkshire Member of Parliament, in his case for Sheffield as a radical between and 1835; and both men were newspaper proprietors). See the entries for Baines, with those for Buckingham and his son, in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Addressed to ‘J. S. Buckingham, Esq’ and signed ‘Edw Baines’. He begins by saying that he will try and promote Buckingham’s ‘son’s introduction to this part of the country, as a Lecturer’. (According to L.

[ LEICESTER TIGERS; Rugby Union ] Two albums of newspaper clippings and handwritten notes recording the games of Leicester Tigers

Author: 
[ LEICESTER TIGERS ]
Publication details: 
Seasons 1922-23 AND 1930-31.
£120.00

Two albums giving full details of the above seasons for Leicester Tigers, including fixture list (with all details to Won or Lost); Try scorers (with number) and other records (e.g. Converted goals); newspaper clippings of team sheets for home fixtures (only) with newspaper pictures of the action. Presented neatly with headings.

[Richard Bentley, London publisher.] Autograph Letter Signed to Leicester Buckingham, regarding his 'Life of Mary Queen of Scots'.

Author: 
Richard Bentley (1794-1871), London publisher for whom Charles Dickens edited 'Bentley's Miscellany' [Leicester Silk Buckingham (1825-1867), dramatist and author]
Publication details: 
New Burlington Street [London]. 11 May 1855.
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to 'Leicester Buckingham Esq'. Bentley writes that the matter of Buckingham's life of Mary Queen of Scots is 'just now brought to [his] attention'. 'If you are passing this way any day between 12 and 2 o'C you will be sure to find me, or my son, who will be able to discuss the subject with you'. He finds that he 'paid to Mr Wageman for a copy of the Miniature of the Queen executed for yuou at your desire, £3 . 3. 0', and asks to be sent this.

['Coke of Norfolk': Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, politician and agricultural reformer.] Autograph Signature ('T W Coke') as frank on letter to William Barth of Yarmouth.

Author: 
'Coke of Norfolk': Thomas William Coke (1754-1842), 1st Earl of Leicester, also known as Coke of Holkham, British politician and agricultural reformer
Publication details: 
'Holkham. Aug. Twenty Third | 1830 -'.
£25.00

On 14 x 12 cm section cut from front panel of envelope. In fair condition, lightly aged. Cropped postmark at head. Laid out in the customary fashioni, and reading: 'Holkham. Augt. Twenty Third | 1830 - | Willm. Barth Esq | Yarmouth | Norfolk | T W Coke'. Manuscript note at foot in another nineteenth-century hand: 'Mr. Coke, M.P. of Holkham Norfolk - afterwards 1st. Earl of Leicester'.

[ Charles John Vaughan, Headmaster of Harrow School and Dean of Llandaff. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('C. J. Vaughan'), regarding a payment received by him from 'Rustal's Charity'.

Author: 
Charles John Vaughan (1816-1897), Headmaster of Harrow School, Master of the Temple, Dean of Llandaff, President of University College, Cardiff
Publication details: 
Leicester. 15 July 1842.
£45.00

1p., 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. He found the recipient's 'kind letter' on his return home, and thanks him for it and for his 'good offices in procuring me the payment from Rustal's Charity'. He asks him to communicate his best thanks to the Trustees, 'at the next opportunity which may occur'.

[ 'Coke of Norfolk' (Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester). ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos Wilm Coke'), giving advice regarding his tenants, with reference to the Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire.

Author: 
'Coke of Norfolk' [ Thomas William Coke (1754-1842), 1st Earl of Leicester ] (6 May 1754 – 30 June 1842), British politician and agricultural reformer at Holkham Hall
Publication details: 
Holkham [ Holkham Hall, Norfolk ]. 31 July 1815
£45.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. Docketed on reverse of second leaf 'Mr Coke of Holkham'. 33 lines of text. Coke's handwriting is atrocious. Phrases which can be made out are: '[...] to comply with my tenants wishes [...] to supply them with good [...] I should recommend [....] this is the best advice I can give you. | From the Member for Oxfordshire, [...] but he has it in such abundance [...]'.

[ Printed volume. ] A Brief History of Boys' Journals | With interesting facts about the writers of boys' stories. [ 'The Old Boys' Books' on cover. Printed handbill advertisement for the 'Old Boy's Book Club' pasted in at rear. ]

Author: 
Ralph Rollington [ John J. Wilson, Secretary, The Old Boy's Book Club', Liverpool; Harold Simpson, Leicester periodical dealer ]
Publication details: 
H. Simpson, Grove Road, Leicester. Appendix by 'H. S.' dated 'Leicester, July, 1913.'
£50.00

111 + [1]pp., 8vo. Frontispiece and eight plates. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, in worn grey printed wraps, with light staining to front cover and slight loss at head of spine. Rollington's account begins: 'Some enthusiastic old readers of Boys' Journals of nearly forty years ago have asked me to write a brief history of the rise and fall of Boys' Papers during that period. | I can speak from experience, for I have been the proprietor of four Boys' Journals, and have written many boys stories.' Pasted inside the back cover is a full-page advertisement, by 'JOHN J.

Manuscript account book of the estates of Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson of Charlton House, titled 'Account of Payments Allowances and Expenditures for the Charlton Woolwich and Leicester Estates | From Christmas 1797'.

Author: 
[Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson (1774-1821), 7th Baronet, of Charlton House; Woolwich and Charlton in Kent; Leicestershire]
Publication details: 
[Woolwich and Charlton.] Covering the period between 1797 and 1804.
£180.00

36pp., 12mo. In worn calf-bound account book. In good internal condition, on aged paper; detached from the worn leather binding, and with the front free endpaper (bearing the title) loose. Label pasted to front cover reads: 'Accounts | G. B. R. | Charlton | Woolwich | Leicestershire | 1797 to 1804'. The volume is the work of Wilson (who acquired the estates in 1798 on the death of his father) or of his land agent. Paginated by the writer to 64, and with the accounts for 'Land Tax paid and allowed' on pp.1-7, for 'Cash paid & allowed for' on pp.11-23, and 'Cash paid & allowed for.

[ Dr Edward Loftus Geall, phrenologist. ] Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'E. L. Geall'), one written on back of his pamphlet 'Some Objections to Phrenology Answered'. With a handbill advertisement for his Leicester Institute of Mental Science.

Author: 
Dr. Edward Loftus Geall, phrenologist, Principal of the Leicester Institute of Mental Science
Publication details: 
[ Leicester Institute of Mental Health. ] 53 Cromer Street, Leicester. Two of the letters from 1954 and one from 1955. The pamphlet by the Cobden Press, Leicester. [ 1953 ].
£200.00

The collection is in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Geall's pamphlet is 12pp., 12mo, and stapled. The only copies on OCLC WorldCat at Harvard Medical School and Cape Town. The back page carries a letter by Geall to an unnamed individual [ Marcus Adams ], dated 17 January 1954. The handbill advertisement for the Leicester Institute of Mental Science is 4pp., 12mo., on a bifolium. The other two letters, each on Geall's letterhead, are both 1p., 4to.

[ Lord De Tabley, Victorian poet. ] Autograph Letter Signed and Autograph Note Signed (both 'De Tabley') to 'Herbert', both regarding a 'breakfast club' at the recipient's house.

Author: 
John Warren, Lord De Tabley [ John Byrne Leicester Warren, 3rd Baron De Tabley ] (1835-1895), poet, numismatist and botanist
Publication details: 
Both from 62 Elm Park Road, Chelsea, SW [ London ]. 3 July 1892 and 18 April 1894.
£80.00

ONE: Letter. 1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He cannot attend the breakfast club, as he is to be best man to a friend in Wimbledon at that time. He is 'rather too old for the character but all his other friends are married'. He would 'prefer the chat but, alas, it cant be managed'. TWO: Note. 1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper with slight damage at foot. He regrets that, being out of town, he will be unable to 'join the breakfast club' at the recipient's house.

[Printed pamphlet.] Secular Responsibility.

Author: 
George Jacob Holyoake [ Secularism in Victorian England ]
Publication details: 
London: Trubner, 60, Paternoster Row. 1873. [ Ward & Sons, Printers, &c., Wellington-street, Leicester. ]
£56.00

15pp., 12mo. Disbound and without covers. In good condition, lightly-aged. Now uncommon.

[ Sale catalogue, with pencil annotations. ] Catalogue of an Exhibition of a Unique Collection of Autograph Letters of Famous Painters.

Author: 
The Leicester Galleries, Leicester Square, London; Charles Whittingham & Co., The Chiswick Press, London
Publication details: 
Ernest Brown & Phillips, The Leicester Galleries, Leicester Square, London. March, 1912. Printed by Charles Whittingham and Co., The Chiswick Press, London.
£100.00

Medium-length unpaginated volume, 16mo. With ten fold-out plates (Perugino, Raphael, Giulio Clovio, Paolo Veronese, Rubens, Nicolas Poussin, Jean Marc Nattier, Thomas Gainsborough, Raeburn, Francois Millet). In printed wraps. On aged and worn paper, in heavily worn wraps. 118 items, well described, with prices.

[ S. G. Soal, mathematician and psychical researcher. ] Typed Letter Signed ('S. G. Soal | (S. G. SOAL DSc)') to J. G. Gillman, Vicar of St Andrews, Leicester, regarding Soal's BBC talk 'Seeing into Future Time', concerning 'precognitive telepathy'.

Author: 
S. G. Soal [Samuel George Soal] (1889-1975), British mathematician and psychical researcher
Publication details: 
Scratton Lodge, 21 Priory Crescent, Prittlewell, Essex. 4 August 1945.
£100.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with slight damage to corners caused by removal from an album. 'The successful subject referred to in the talk was Mr. Basil Shackleton, a London photographer. On an average he would get about eight cards correct out of every twenty five, compared with a chance expectation of only five. When this occurs consistently over a very large number of trials, the odds soon pile up.' Gillman's summary is 'correct as far as it goes'.

[James Thompson, proprietor and editor of the 'Leicester Chronicle'.] Autograph Letter Signed to the printer and antiquary John Gough Nichols, regarding a Camden Society report, Sir Bernard Burke and a subscription edition by 'Mr Potter'.

Author: 
James Thompson (1817-1877), county historian and editor and proprietor of the 'Leicester Chronicle' [John Gough Nichols (1806-1873), printer and antiquary and editor of the Gentleman's Magazine]
Publication details: 
Chronicle Office, Leicester. 20 May 1856.
£75.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He begins: 'You would see that we found room for an extract from the Camden Society report in last week's Chronicle'. He asks Nichol to 'find space for the enclosed letter in the Gentleman's Magazine'. He is 'acquainted with the pedigree in question', but does not think that 'Sir Bernard Burke's statements are in all cases to bee relied upon'. The letter continues: 'I do not know whether you are in Mr Potter's secrets.

[Pamphlet.] Travel as a Factor in Education. (Presidential Address, delivered before the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society on October 6th, 1902, and re-printed from the Transactions of the Society, Vol. VII., Part III., January, 1903.)

Author: 
Rev. J. H. Molesworth [Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society]
Publication details: 
Leicester: Thornley and Waddington, Victoria Press, Bowling Green Street. [1903.]
£60.00

15pp., 12mo. Stapled. In blue printed wraps. With stamps, shelfmark and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library, otherwise in good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

[Victorian poor law.] Manuscript volume titled 'An Assessment For the Relief of the Poor Of the Parish of East Langton In the County of Leicester. And for other Purposes chargeable thereon According to Law'.

Author: 
[The Parish of East Langton in the County of Leicester; Poor Law]
Publication details: 
[East Langton, Leicestershire.] 'Made this 26th. Day of April 1841. After the Note of Sixpence in the Pound'. Continued to 18 July 1843.
£280.00

99pp., landscape 8vo. In heavily-worn original black-cloth quarter-binding, with remains of marbled paper on boards. The volume consists of ten quarterly sections, each signed by the churchwarden and overseers, and signed off by two justices of the peace. The first assessment (26 April 1841) records 43 occupiers, and the last (18 July 1843) 55. Each opening is a complete printed form, with 16 columns covering the two pages. In the following example of an entry, the manuscript is given in square brackets: No.

Unpublished holograph poem (signed 'J. F. Hollings') by the Leicester poet and local historian James Francis Hollings, entitled 'Edgehill', regarding the English Civil War battle, 1642.

Author: 
James Francis Hollings (1806-1862), poet and local historian, President of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society [Leicestershire; English Civil War; Battle of Edgehill, 1642;]
Publication details: 
Without place place or place, on paper with watermarked date 1831. [Leicester, 1830s?]
£220.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. On wove paper watermarked 'R TASSELL | 1831'. 56 lines, arranged in seven eight-line stanzas. Presentable, despite wear and age, closed tears along crease lines, and traces of yellow-paper mount on blank reverse of second leaf. There is no sign that this item was ever published, which is surprising, as it is a superior effort, written with some conviction, the subject being one on which Hollings was regarded as an authority.

Manuscript 'Blue Paper' certificate addressed to George, Earl of Leicester, proposing Edward Wedlake Brayley for election to the Society of Antiquaries of London, signed by Maxwell Garthshore, J. P. Malcolm, Rev. Mark Noble and Samuel Foart Simmon.

Author: 
Maxwell Garthshore; James Peller Malcolm; Rev. Mark Noble; Samuel Foart Simmons, all four Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London [Edward Wedlake Brayley, English topographer]
Publication details: 
[Undated, watermark 1806]
£65.00

1p., foolscap 8vo. On wove paper watermarked 'G R | 1806'. Aged, and with fraying to extremities, with closed tears through three of the signatures, unobtrusively repaired on the reverse with archival tape. Presumably a draft or second copy, as the original must be among the papers of the Society of Antiquaries. The document reads: 'To the Right Hon. George Earl of Leicester, | President of the Society of Antiquaries. | My Lord, | We whose names are hereunto subscribed request leave to signify to your lordship that Edward-Wedlake [sic] Brayley, Esq.

Autograph Letter Signed ('De Tabley') from the poet John Byrne Leicester Warren, Baron De Tabley [Lord De Tabley], to Mrs Kate A. Wright of Birmingham, giving her permission to include five of his poems in an anthology.

Author: 
John Byrne Leicester Warren, 3rd Baron De Tabley [Lord De Tabley] (1835-1895), English poet, numismatist, botanist and authority on bookplates
Publication details: 
62 Elm Park Rd, Chelsea. 20 June 1893.
£80.00

1p., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. In envelope addressed by De Tabley to 'Mrs. Kate. A. Wright. | Monona House | Small Heath | Birmingham.' In reply to her letter of 18 June, he states that he will have pleasure in permitting her to 'insert the five pieces' which she enumerates in her 'forthcoming Collection of Poems and Ballads of the Nineteenth Century'. Kate A. Wright's 'Dainty Poems of the Nineteenth Century' was published in Birmingham in 1895. The titles of the five poems are given in another contemporary hand [Mrs Wright's?] on the reverse of the second leaf.

[Printed pamphlet.] Catalogue. Landscapes in Oil and Water-colour by Ethelbert White. A New Carving, "Lazarus" and other Recent Sculpture by Jacob Epstein.

Author: 
[Ernest Brown & Phillips Ltd, The Leicester Galleries, Leicester Square, London; Ethelbert White; Jacob Epstein]
Catalogue. Landscapes in Oil and Water-colour by Ethelbert White.
Publication details: 
March 1950; Claridge, Lewis & Jordan Ltd., 68-70 Wardour Street, W.1. [London]
£56.00
Catalogue. Landscapes in Oil and Water-colour by Ethelbert White.

16mo, 8 pp. On art paper. In yellow printed wraps printed in orange. Good, with minor spotting around staples. Thirty-six items by White on pp.2-5, preceded by a biographical note. Twenty-five items by Epstein on pp.6-7, headed by 'LAZARUS (Carving in Hopton Wood stone)'. Scarce: only two copies on COPAC, and none on viaLibri.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E. Napier') from Lieutenant-Colonel E. Elers Napier to his bookseller [George Routledge?], concerning his 'theory as to the "Sources of the Nile"'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E. Napier') from Lieutenant-Colonel E. Elers Napier
Publication details: 
24 May 1853; Newport, Isle of Wight.
£185.00
Autograph Letter Signed ('E. Napier') from Lieutenant-Colonel E. Elers Napier

Folio, 1 p. Twenty-three lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. His mother Lady Napier, who went to town the previous day, has 'taken charge of the 2 Vols of the Athenaeum' his correspondent sent him. 'Lady Napier has promised to call herself at Leicester Square & deliver the books to you'. If he should be in when she calls, Napier asks him to 'explain to her my theory as to the "Sources of the Nile", briefly embodied in the accompanying paper'.

Extensive manuscript catalogue of 'Leicestershire Biography & Bibliography', compiled in 1935 by R. B. Halliday of Great Glen [i.e. the Leicester bookseller Bernard Halliday].

Author: 
R. B. Halliday [the Leicester bookseller Bernard Halliday] of Great Glen, Leicestershire [William Barton (c.1598-1678), Vicar of St Martins; Leicestershire stationers and printers]
Publication details: 
Dated 'R B Halliday | Great Glenn [i.e. Great Glen, Leicestershire] | 1935'.
£420.00

4to, [ii] + 71 pp, with numerous leaves of additional manuscript and typescript material loosely inserted, as well as laid down. A few cuttings and extracts from printed works, as well as a Typed Letter Signed (17 March 1937) to Halliday from Ralph M. Williams of Yale, describing himself as 'interested in securing books, manuscripts, or other documents by or about the eighteenth century poet John Dyer'. Neatly written out in pencil and pen, on watermarked wove paper, in sturdy buckram binding. Internally in excellent condition, tight and clean, in worn binding with staining to front board.

Substantial legal diaries, for the years 1906 and 1912, written in a variety of anonymous hands, for a firm of provincial solicitors, Bray & Price, based in the Leicestershire area.

Author: 
[Leicestershire lawyers; Harry Bray; provincial]
Publication details: 
Leicestershire; 1906 and 1912.
£400.00

Uniformly bound in worn half-calf, marbled boards, black label, gilt. Internally good and tight, on aged paper, with all texts clear and complete. The 1906 diary is titled 'Waterlow Bros. & Layton's Legal Diary and Almanac for 1906'. The diary proper is 316 pp long, sandwiched in the middle of the printed almanac (866 pp). References throughout to the Leicestershire area: Nuneaton, Monks Kirby, Earl Shilton and other places. Clients include the Stoney Stanton Co-operative Society and the Female Provident Society.

Autograph Letter Signed to William Smith, bookseller and printseller, 24 Lisle Street, Leicester Square, London.

Author: 
Sir Cuthbert Sharp (1781-1849), historian of Hartlepool
Publication details: 
18 November 1826; Sunderland.
£75.00

12mo bifolium: 2 pp. On laid paper, with strip from previous mount in right-hand margin of recto of first leaf. Good, with a little wear at gutter, and slight damage (not affecting text) to second leaf from breaking open of red wax seal, parts of which still adhere. Twenty-two lines of text, clear and entire. Smith's uncle 'Mr ' is 'very glad to hear that you are well & desires to be remembered'. Asks if Smith has 'ever found me a portrait of Sr yet'.

Letters to Eminent Hands; to wit Andrew Lang, Bret Hart, Edna Lyall, F. Anstey, George Moore, Grant Allen, Phil Robinson, Rhoda Broughton, Robt. Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, W. S. Gilbert.

Author: 
i' [iota] (Joseph William Gleeson White, 1851-1898), English writer on art and founder of the 'Studio' magazine [Art Workers Guild; Arts and Crafts Movement]
Publication details: 
Derby, Leicester, and Nottingham: Frank Murray, 1892.
£180.00

Small 8vo. Pages: x + 74. In original cream printed wraps. One of two hundred copies of the 'Small Paper edition'. In the 'Moray Library'. Internally sound and clean. Light spotting and wear to wraps. Minor foxing to endpapers. Trenchant observations on an interesting selection of late-Victorian authors.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Aunt Emily'.

Author: 
John Byrne Leicester Warren, 3rd Baron de Tabley
Publication details: 
67 Onslow Square; 27 June 1874.
£75.00

English aristocrat (1835-95), poet, numismatist, archaeologist, writer on natural history, etc. Two pages, 12mo. Good, but with blank verso of second leaf of bifoliate adhering to docketed remains of leaf from autograph album. Had he not been 'so busy that I hardly knew where to turn' he would have answered the letter 'on the subject of the seal' sooner.

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