letter

[Sir Aston Webb, RA, who worked on Buckingham Palace, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Admiralty Arch.] Two responses to congratulations: one an Autograph Note Signed to Walter Spiers, the other an Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Baldwin’.

Author: 
Sir Aston Webb (1849-1930), RA, who worked on Buckingham Palace, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Admiralty Arch
Publication details: 
ONE (ANS to Spiers): 27 March 1899; 1 Hanover Terrace, Ladbroke Square. TWO (ALS to Baldwin): 20 June 1903; on Hanover Square letterhead.
£90.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, on grey paper, with central horizontal fold. Each signed ‘Aston Webb’. ONE: ANS to ‘Dear Walter Spiers’, 27 March 1899. 1p, 16mo. Thanking him for his congratulations on his election. TWO: ALS to ‘Dear Mr Baldwin’, 20 June 1903. 1p, 12mo. After thanking him for his congratulation he continues: ‘We had a most delightful dinner with you the other evening.’

[William Warde Fowler, historian and ornithologist, tutor at Lincoln College, Oxford.] Typed Letter Signed to ‘Bridge’, discussing 'the diminution of corn-growing' and an ornithological excursion.

Author: 
William Warde Fowler (1827-1941), classical historian and ornithologist, tutor at Lincoln Colege, Oxford
Publication details: 
‘Kingham, April 13 1913’.
£80.00

Fowler’s entry in the DNB states that he resigned his tutorship in 1910, when he ‘retired to Kingham, where, since 1873, he had enjoyed a country home and entertained his pupils. From 1899 he lived there with his sister Alice’. On both sides of what was an 8vo leaf, the lower part of which has been torn away, leaving a piece roughly 20 cm square, with 26 typed lines and the autograph valediction, in a large bold hand, ‘Yours sincerely / W. Warde Fowler’. Aged and worn, but with the remaining text clear. A nice letter, combining Fowler’s main interests.

[Tsar Nicholas I (visit to England)][Undeciphered signature] Autograph Letter Signed (name not deciphered - see Image] to unknown barge owner, about Grand Duke Nicholas's (later Tsar Nicholas) wish to see The Docks (West India Docks etc.)

Author: 
[Tsar Nicholas I (visit to England)][Undeciphered signature]
Publication details: 
Stratford Place, 6 July [1816?]. See Image.
£320.00

Three pages,12mo, bifolium, corner marked, mainly good condition. Text: The Grand Duke is desirous to see the Docks [underlined] on Wednesday, & we thought the best way of peforming it would be in going there by water. | Could we therefore have your Barge on that day - when [underlined] should we embark & at what o'clock [phrase underlined] - for the tide.

[Robert Torrens; South Australia; Torrens River; economist] Autograph Letter Signed Robt Torrens to Edwd Wakefield (foundation of S.Australia - see note below) about presenting his An Essay on the External Corn Trade (Hatchard. 1815.)'

Author: 
Robert Torrens FRS (1780 – 1864), Royal Marines officer, political economist, part-owner of the influential Globe newspaper, and a prolific writer [also see notes involving South Australia below]
Torrens
Publication details: 
61 Wells Street, Oxford Street, 30 June 1815
£600.00
Torrens

Note: a. He also chaired the board of the London-based South Australian Colonisation Commission created by the South Australia Act 1834 to oversee the new colony of South Australia. He also chaired the board of the London-based South Australian Colonisation Commission created by the South Australia Act 1834 to oversee the new colony of South Australia, before the colony went bankrupt and he was sacked in 1841.

[Sir Fenwick Williams [General Fenwick Williams], British Army officer - led the defence of Kars (Crimean War]; London Library] Autograph Letter Signed to Sir George Cornewall Lewis, asking him to support the election of E.H. Nolan as below.

Author: 
Sir Fenwick Williams [General Sir William Fenwick Williams] (1800-1883), British Army officer who led the defence of Kars during the Crimean War, born in Nova Scotia [Sir George Cornewall Lewis]
Publication details: 
‘Woolwich April 7th. 1857.’
£120.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘W F Williams’ and docketed by the recipient ‘Sir Fenwick Williams of Kars’. Written while Lewis was Chancellor of the Exchequer in Palmerston's government. Begins: ‘Dear Sir Cornewall, / I take the liberty of asking you for your influence for Dr. Nolan as Secretary & Librarian of the London Library’.

[Frederic Chamier, novelist] ANS to Harvey

Author: 
Frederic Chamier
Publication details: 
21 Dec. 1844
£45.00

Nautical novelist (1796-1870). 8vo, expressing his condolences at the death of Kemp (probably G.M. Kemp, architect of the Scott Memorial).

[Henry Legge, E. Bouverie, and another, of the Navy Office; Mary Ross, Woman Shipbuilder] Secretarial Letter Signed by Henry Legge, E. Bouverie and another of the Navy Office about a plan sent to Mary Ross for fitting an orlop to ships in her Yard.

Author: 
Henry Legge, E. Bouverie, and another (name not construed) of the Navy Office.
Publication details: 
Navy Office, 30 May 1809.
£220.00

One page, folio, bifolium, edges marked, fold marks, some staining, small hole (seal removed), text clear and complete. Addressed to Mrs Ross | Rochester, On HM Service. Text: We sent you last evening, by the Coach, a plan for fitting the orlop of a 74 Gunship, to which We desire you will conform in fitting His Majesty's Ships Vigo and Stirling Castle, acknowledging the receipt of it. | We are | Your affectionate Friends | [SIGNED] [undeciphered name], H. Legge | E Bouverie. Note: Mary Ross (Wikipedia): Mary Ross [...] was an English shipbuilder.

[Henry Legge, E. Bouverie, and another, of the Navy Office; Mary Ross, Woman Shipbuilder] Secretarial Letter Signed by Henry Legge, E. Bouverie and another of the Navy Office about a plan sent to Mary Ross for fitting an orlop to ships in her Yard.

Author: 
Henry Legge, E. Bouverie, and another (name not construed) of the Navy Office.
Publication details: 
Navy Office, 30 May 1809.
£220.00

One page, folio, bifolium, edges marked, fold marks, some staining, small hole (seal removed), text clear and complete. Addressed to Mrs Ross | Rochester, On HM Service. Text: We sent you last evening, by the Coach, a plan for fitting the orlop of a 74 Gunship, to which We desire you will conform in fitting His Majesty's Ships Vigo and Stirling Castle, acknowledging the receipt of it. | We are | Your affectionate Friends | [SIGNED] [undeciphered name], H. Legge | E Bouverie. Note: Mary Ross (Wikipedia): Mary Ross (18th-century – 1847) was an English shipbuilder.

[Joseph h. Choate, lawyer and diplomat]] Autograph Letter Signed Joseph H. Choate to George Meredith, novelist and poet., asking Meredith for a centennial tribute to the American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Author: 
Joseph H. Choate [Joseph Hodges Choate (1832 – 1917) American lawyer and diplomat].
Publication details: 
[Embossed address] American Embassy, London, 3 May 1904.
£280.00

Four pages, 12mo, bifolium, some marks but mainly good condition. Text: Dear Mr. Meredith, | I am going to ask you (if your health and time permit) to do me and many of my countrymen a great favor. | The Centennial of the birth of Nathaniel Hawthorne comes on the 4th.

[General Andrew F. Barnard; Waterloo] Substantial Autograph Letter Signed A F Barnard to Wilson

Author: 
A.F. Barnard [General Sir Andrew Francis Barnard (1773 – 1855) Irish British Army officer.]
Publication details: 
Sudbury, 6 January 1841
£220.00

Four pages, 12mo, bifolium, fold marks, some minor blotching, mainly good condition. Text: Many thanks [...] | I think one or possibly two Eagles [Standards] were found in the Coira by the Peasantry some time after the affair of Foz de Arouce but Lord J Somerset can give you accurate information on the subject.

[Hugh Cudlipp, Lord Cudlipp, as Managing Editor of the Sunday Express.] Typed Letter Signed to theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope, regarding the changes to be made to an article, ‘with the usual skill of the Sunday Express’.

Author: 
Hugh Cudlipp [Hubert Kinsman Cudlipp; Lord Cudlipp] (1913-1998), Welsh journalist, influential editor of Fleet Street title the Daily Mirror [Walter James Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian]
Publication details: 
16 November 1951; on letterhead of the 'Sunday Express', Fleet Street, London.
£35.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. 1p, 12mo. Signed (as Managing Editor of the Sunday Express) ‘Hugh’ and addressed to ‘Dear Popie’. The article will start, as he explained on the telephone, ‘with the death scene. / Here is the galley proof - uncorrected, so do not worry about literals. / We may also have to reduce the length a little, but it will be done with the usual skill of the Sunday Express’.

[Catchpenny; Spoof?; Miss Faithfull; Employment and Emigration of Women] Autograph Letter Signed E.S. Faithfull to unnamed correspondent (Madam) saying how working class women are better provided for than the educated classes.

Author: 
E.M. Faithfull [pseud.?][Miss Faithfull]
Publication details: 
[Printed Heading] several lines (SEE IMAGE and text below) concluding Sole Office: 136 Regent Street, W. | London, 18 February 1887.
£220.00

Two pages, 12mo, remnants of tipping in process, good condition. Printed heading commences: English and Foreign Educational, Industrial, Commercial, Plain Work, Benevolent and Emigration Institute for the Employment of Women. Conducted by Miss FAITHFULL [...........] See IMAGE for the (substantial) rest. Text: All my sympathies I must say are given to the homeless & destitute of the educated classes'[.] [T]hey are so utterly friendless. The working classes have untold benefits.

[Stephen King-Hall; Friends of Hansard; Hansard Society] Circular Letter sent to Friend[s] of Hansard with what looks like a stamped signature of Stephen King-Hall. See image

Author: 
Stephen King-Hall [William Stephen Richard King-Hall, Baron King-Hall of Headley (1893 -1966), naval officer, writer, politician and playwright, member of parliament for Ormskirk from 1939 to 1945.]
Hansard
Publication details: 
[Printed heading] The Friends of Hansard, War-time address: | 804 Hood | Dolphin Square | London, S.W.!, [Date handwritten] 18.5.44. With list of Officers inc. Margaret Bond and King-Hall himself.
£220.00
Hansard

Typed (cyclostyled or similar?) Letter Signed as above, three pages, 12mo. very good condition, apart from small rusty hole where formerly stapled.

[Thomas Babington Macaulay, historian] Autograph Letter to John sadly robbed of its signature by persons unknown, but concerning the contemporary success of his History, and other interesting matters.

Author: 
Thomas Babington Macaulay [Ist Baron Macaulay, (1800 – 1859), historian and Whig politician].
Macaulay
Publication details: 
Albany, 23 Oct.1849
£100.00
Macaulay

Formerly a four-page bifolium, but half a page cut off presumably including the signature, poor condition, with crude repair to a tear, but text clear and readable though the handwriting is a scrawl. A margin has been added, and the words Lord Macaulay. See Image of first page. Text: He thanks him for his letter. I have read it with much interest and pleasure. What you say of the Northern peasantry confirms the opinion which I have always held about them.

[Admiral Willian Sidney Smith; Paris Imprisonment] COPY Letter to Lady Camelford (his aunt) in detail about his imprisonment in Paris. Smith's name mispelt (Sydney)

Author: 
Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith (1764-1840), British maritime hero of whom Napoleon exclaimed 'That man made me miss my destiny'
Smith
Publication details: 
[Headed] Copy of a Letter to Lady Camelford, Tower of the Temple, Paris, 27 August 1796.
£500.00
Smith

One page, folio, good condition, laid down on part of an album page (verso has a newspaper clipping about Wilson, the Pedestrian c.1815 - possibly some indication of when the Copy Letter was made). Text: My dear Aunt, | The recollection of my Situation must occasionally present itself to my Friends with redoubled anxiety when brought to Mind by the Accounts from Paris of tumults at the prison doors, Assassinations within the Walls & the whole train of mischief which the Daemon of Sedition & discord is perpetually Waking in this ill fated City!

[Hugh Gaitskell, Labour politician] Typed Note Signed boldly Hugh Gaitskell to M.B. Bradshaw, Director, Art Exhibitions Bureau [...] permitting the exhibition of the Road to Tarbet, presumably a picture in Gaitskell's private collection.

Author: 
Hugh Gaitskell (1906-1963), sometime leader of the Labour Party.
Publication details: 
[House of Commons stamp] 23 June 1955.
£45.00

One page, 12mo, very good condition. He gives permission for 'Road to Tarbet' to be exhibited at Scarborough and Hull, on the understanding that you will take full responsibility for returning it to me in London when the Hull Exhibition ends.

[Helmut Gernsheim; photography] Typed Letter Signed Helmut Gernsheim to Ronald Horton responding to a request for Lantern Slides for a lecture, referring to his latest book, and appreciative of comments on his latest work.

Author: 
Helmut Gernsheim [Helmut Erich Robert Kuno Gernsheim (1913 – 1995), historian of photography, collector, and photographer.]
Gernsheim
Publication details: 
[Printed] 19 St. Edmunds Court, Regents Park, London, NW8, 28 October 1951. Docketed 14 Nov. 51 (presumably the reply date).
£220.00
Gernsheim

One page, 8vo, Note: Ronald Horton (1902–1981), Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, Brighton & Hove. See image. Text: I was very interested to hear about your forthcoming lecture of 'The inter-relationship of Art and Photography', but I am sorry I have not got any lantern slides at all.

[General Sir Charles Warren] Autograph Letter Signed Charles Warren to Major Coates, presumably Edward Coates, stockbroker and politician, giving a reference.

Author: 
General Sir Charles Warren, (1840 -1927) officer in the Royal Engineers, archaeologist (Holy Land), and police chief (Metropolitan Police) during the Jack the Ripper murders.
Publication details: 
[Embossed] 10 Wellington Crescent, Ramsgate, 13 April 1920.
£65.00

One page, 12mo, bifolium, fold mark, good condition. He has been asked ot gibe a reference for someone who is seeking employment wit you. A subaltern in the Ramsgate Company Church Lads Brigade which I commanded. Warren knew his family, but he has met him with his brother on many occasions and think that he is a respectable & presentable young man. See image.

[Hamo Thorneycroft, sculptor] Autograph Note Signed Hamo Thornycroft RA to The Secretary [V & A?] about his season ticket.

Author: 
Hamo Thornycroft [Sir William Hamo Thornycroft (1850 – 1925), sculptor, responsible for some of London's best-known statues].
Publication details: 
[Headed] 21 Melbury Road, Kensington, W., 31 May 1897.
£40.00

One page, 12mo, , small strip of tape from tipping in process remains on reverse, good condition. Text: F[ine] Art Section | [Printed address] | [V & A Exh.?] | Sir | I am an Exhibitor at the above (sculpture) but have not yet received my season ticket - to which I am entitled. Additional docketing in another hand, [?] 16.517 | Mr Gordon.

[Byam Shaw, painter] Autograph Note Signed Byam Shaw to Mrs A Beckett Terrell, author of 'Emancipation: the story of a girl who wanted a career', referring to a student at the School.

Author: 
Byam Shaw [John Byam Liston Shaw (1872 – 1919), painter, illustrator, designer and teacher]
Publication details: 
[Headed] 62 Addison Road, Kensington, W., 11 Oct. 1911.
£56.00

One page, 4to,good condition, a large bold hand. Text: Thanks you so much for your kind note. I thought Miss Chitty seemed distinctly clever & I hope she will get on all right at the School. Thank you so much for thinking of us.

[Rex Warner] Autograph Note Signed Rex Warner to a Mr. Ackroyd in response to congratulations on his Views of Attica just published.

Author: 
Rex Warner (1905 – 1986), classicist, writer, and translator.
Publication details: 
The Manor, Little Wittenham, Nr Abingdon, 24 Nov. 1950.
£56.00

One page, cr. 8vo, fold mark, small closed tear on fold, good condition. Very many thanks for writing to me about 'Views of Attica. It gives me great pleasure to know that people have enjoyed what one has enjoyed oneself. And you can imagine how difficult it is to describe [?] at all adequately. | I wish I'd known the country before this war.

[R.D. Laing] Substantial Typed Letter Signed Alec Jenner [Professor F.A. Jenner] to Dr. Laing [R.D. Laing] hoping to have further conversations and discussing a case of schizophrenia at length. WITH: Notes in Laing's hand.

Author: 
Professor F.A. Jenner [R.D. Laing (Ronald David Laing, Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illness)]
Laing
Publication details: 
[Headed] The University of Sheffield, Department of Psychiatry, The Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Road, Sheffield, S10 2JF, 9 May 1980
£250.00
Laing

Jenner Typed Letter Signed: Two pages, fol., fold marks, small closed tears on folds, ow good condition. He (and his team) would appreciate Laing's coming to dinner since they are starting to think about schizophrenia in something like the way you have seen it for a long time [...] In particular we are in the middle of what might be called humanistic studies of a mere handful of to us extremely interesting 'schizophrenic' persons.

[Sally Salminen, Finnish author] Typed Letter Signed Sally Salminen to the Rev. Cornelius Greenway of NY, showing appreciation for his comments on her first publication, Katrina (1936).

Author: 
Sally Salminen [Sally Alina Ingeborg Salminen (1906 -1976), author from Simskäla, the Åland Islands, Finland, nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times.]
Publication details: 
Saltvik, Aland, Finland, 21 April 1939.
£280.00

One page, 4to, fold marks,good condition. Text: [...] My late answer does not indicate lack of appreciation, although it must seem so. I am on the contrary deeply and sincerely grateful for your kindness of writing to me. Your letter reached me at a time when I needed encouragement and confidence more than anything else. I have during the last two years received many letters from appreciative readers of my book Katrina. But praise can sometimes cause suspicion and self-distrust, and that, I am afraid, is what it has done to me.

[ Clare Leighton; wood engraver ] Substantial Typed Letter Signed Clare Leighton to specialist bookseller, Barry Marks, responding comprehensively to questions about her activities, exhibitions of her work, whether she sells engravings, and so on.

Author: 
Clare Leighton [Clare Marie Veronica Leighton (1898–1989), English/American artist, writer and illustrator best known for her wood-engarvings
Publication details: 
Ash Swamp Road, Woodbury Co., 7 September 1977.
£350.00

One page, sm. folio, airmail, one small closed tear, good condition. Text: I was glad to get your letter of 8th August and must apologise for my delay in answering it. I was, just then, caught up into a confusion of work. | I telephoned Mr Leventhal (he doesnt live in Woodbury, but in Boston; howeyer, we are in touch) and he was delighted at his good fortune in acquiring a copy of my FARMER'S YEAR.

[ Lauri Wylie; playwright; Dinner for One; Der 90. Geburtstag ] Three Typed Letters Signed Lauri (2) and L. (1) AND one Autograph Letter Signed Lauri | LAURI WYLIE to theatre historian W. Macqueen-Pope, about theatre topics including his own writing.

Author: 
Lauri Wylie [Lauri Wylie (1880 – 1951), originally Maurice Laurence Samuelson Metzenberg, British actor and author, inc. the play Dinner for One (most frequently repeated TV programme ever).]
Publication details: 
All from Two Courtenay Towers | Hove 3, 13, 20, 27 August 1950 (typed letters) and 22 January 1951 (Holograph).
£250.00

Total 4pp., 4to, one with corner torn off, all a little battered but texts clear and complete. Letter One: He asks if anything can be done with [his] book, and discusses his re-writing another straight play. They don't seem to be able to stop me. I roughed it out during the war but have now done a lot to it. I think it's a winner! So does every one else who writes plays [further lighthearted comment on writing plays]. He asks finally whether Macqueen-Pope has any new books coming on. They seem to go down big.

Robins Millar; Canadian emigre in Scotland; Playwright ] Eleven, usually substantial, Typed Letters Signed Robins to theatre historian, W. Macqueen-Pope (Popie).

Author: 
Robins Millar, Robins Millar (1889-1968), emigre Canadian journalist, playwright, artist poet and writer.. based in Glasgow.
Publication details: 
9 Park Quadrant, Glasgow C 3, 27 September 1950-28 December 1953.
£450.00

Twelve TLSs, 1-3pp. each, total 27pp., 4to. His subjects are predictable: his plays, his portraits, the contemporary theatre, performances (Brigadoon etc), actors, films, art exhibition, personal matters (eg his wife's ill heath, children), his writing activities,Popie's works (showing enthusiasm), drawing and writing activities, visitors to Glasgow (Hannan Swaffer writing articles on Scotland), portrait he did of Popie, the life of Novello (ghost-written then done in earnest by Popie), Edinburgh Festival, anecdotes, suggestions for theatrical books, insider gossip, anecdotes, etc etc.

[Khama III, called Khama the Good, Kgosi (Chief) of the Bamangwato people of Botswana.] Autograph Signature ('Khama | Chief of Bamangwato'), with valediction to letter, in English.

Author: 
Khama III (c.1837–1923), called Khama the Good, Kgosi (Chief) of the Bamangwato people, grandfather of Sir Seretse Goitsebeng Maphiri Khama, first President of Botswana
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£250.00

Without date or place. Rectangle of thin paper, cut from the end of a letter, clearly in response to a request for an autograph. In fair condition, aged and creased. Reads: 'I am | Your friend, | Khama | Chief of Bamangwato'.

ALS, 2pp., 8vo, to an unnamed correspondent

Author: 
(John Tenniel) Bernard C. Green
Publication details: 
17 Nov. 1913
£35.00

(Tenniel) artist and cartoonist (18201914). Green has been asked by Tenniel, to write on his behalf. He explains that Tenniel is now blind and infirm. He [passses on the opinion that the artists their correspondent has named "all stood out in thier respective spheres, and were among the cleverest black & white artists of the century in their particular styles".

[Commander Stephen King-Hall's propaganda battle with Joseph Goebbels.] Printed pamphlet, in German, a letter from King-Hall to 'Lieber deutschen Leser', ridiculing Hitler, Goebbels and the Nazis. With contemporary English translation.

Author: 
Stephen King-Hall [William Stephen Richard King-Hall, Baron King-Hall] (1893-1966), writer, politician, naval officer, propagandist
Publication details: 
[London, 1939.] Letter dated from 162 Buckingham Palace Road, London, S.W.1. Slug: 'L.C.P. - 5404'.
£180.00

The present item is part of a propaganda battle between King-Hall and Goebbels. The only other copy of the item located is at the German National Library, King-Hall having 'contrived to infiltrate', as his Oxford DNB entry has it, this 'German version' of his 'King-Hall News Letter' to 'individuals in the Reich, provoking a vehement reaction from Goebbels and Hitler himself'. See also the article in Time magazine, 7 August 1939: 'Last week all Europe was excited about the propaganda battle between England's Commander Stephen King-Hall and Germany's Paul Joseph Goebbels (TIME, July 31).

[ Transjordan; Hussein of Jordan; Arab Legion; Manuscript ] Substantial Holograph Assessment (three autograph manuscripts) of King Husain [sic] in 1959

Author: 
Glubb Pasha [John Bagot Glubb soldier, scholar and author, who led and trained Transjordan's Arab Legion between 1939 and 1956 as its commanding general.]
Publication details: 
[ 1959 ]
£3,000.00

'If he survives he may well be a great man at 40':Glubb Pasha gives his assessment of King Hussein of Jordan in 1959Three autograph documents by 'Glubb Pasha', giving a detailed and perceptive assessment of the character and situation of his erstwhile master King Hussein of Jordan (1935-1999), written to assist John Freeman (1915-2014) in preparing the interview with King Hussein broadcast in the BBC series 'Face to Face' on 1 January 1960. From the papers of the programme's producer Hugh Burnett (1924-2011).

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