LITERATURE

Nine Typed Letters Signed, one Typed Note Signed and one Autograph Card Signed (all eleven 'Nicolette') from the author and artist Nicolette Devas to the military historian Antony Brett-James.

Author: 
Nicolette Devas [née Macnamara; other married name Shephard] (1911-1987), author and artist [Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), military historian and Sandhurst lecturer]
Nicolette Devas
Publication details: 
[1960-74?] All from West London. Card postmarked 11 October 1960, on cancelled letterhead of Anthony Devas, 12 Carlisle Square. Three items (none with year) on letterhead 18 Wetherby Gardens; seven (two from 1974) on letterhead 68 Limerston Street.
£550.00
Nicolette Devas

Apart from the card (12mo, 1 p), totalling 4to, 10 pp; 12mo, 2 pp. All items in good condition, with text clear and complete, on lightly-aged paper. All post-1960. Two of the eleven (20 January and 13 June 1974) are fully dated by Devas; another four have day and month. The card from 1960 is the earliest item; the three from Wetherby Gardens date from between this point and Devas's second marriage to Rupert Shephard in 1965, and the seven from Limerston Street from after the marriage. A good-natured correspondence, written in a chatty style.

Galley proofs of Damon Knight's 1962 anthology 'A Century of Science Fiction'.

Author: 
Damon Knight (1922-2002), American science-fiction writer and editor
Publication details: 
New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1962.
£350.00

126 galleys, numbered in type, each 60 x 15 cm, and containing the text of two pages. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, with fraying and light staining to some extremities. Red Simon and Schuster label, with typed publication date and price, on reverse of last leaf. Under seven headings from 'Robots' to 'Marvelous Inventions', and featuring the work of authors from Jules Verne to Brian W. Aldiss. Introduction and linking passages by Knight himself. Although present in the proofs, one story - 'The Mindworm' by C. M.

[Pamphlets; part issues] The Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham, pt I & II (of 12)

Author: 
George Markham Tweddell, author of Shakspear: His Times and Contemporaries
The Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham
Publication details: 
Stokesley: Published by the Author, 1864 (later published by John Russell Smith)..
£56.00
The Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham

Parts I & II (of 12 = Series 1), pp.40[6 advts]; 76[6 advts], original blue wraps, frayed and spotted, one wrap dulled, one corner of pages turned, pencil annotation on front covers (inc. library no.), library stamps (withdrawn from Newcastle University Library),

A Book of Counsels for Girls. Published under the direction of the Tract Committee.

Author: 
Mary Bell, Victorian novelist, author of 'By Northern Seas' (1897)
A Book of Counsels for Girls.
Publication details: 
London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. [1888.]
£125.00
A Book of Counsels for Girls.

12mo, 96 pp, followed by four-page SPCK catalogue (with first page listing works by the Rev. F. Bourdillon). Text clear and complete. In original olive cloth binding, gilt, stained with damp. Damp damage at rear leaving light staining to corners of last few leaves and catalogue, together with heavier damage to rear endpapers. Traces of Library label on front pastedown. Cloth faded, worn and stained. Bell explains in her preface that 'The poor are excellently well provided with all sorts of books of counsel and help.

Autograph Letter Signed "Percy Fitzgerald", author and critic, to [prob. A. Williams, "Liverpool Mercury"].

Author: 
Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald, (1834 - 1925), British author and critic, painter and sculptor.
Publication details: 
No place or date [1890s?].
£35.00

Two pages, 12mo, good condition, saying, "I was much obliged by your kind thought of sending me the critique - as well as taking the trouble - always a task - of copying it outIt seems to me to convey the intention of the [author?] exactly."

Autograph Note Signed "Willm Hazlitt", author-son of critic, William Hazlitt, to unknown correspondent.

Author: 
William Hazlitt , Jr (1811-1893), English author and translator.
Publication details: 
Chelsea, [London], 28 Jan. 1849.
£45.00

One page, 12mo, good condition. From a batch of letters, many of which are addressed to A. Williams of the "Liverpool Mercury", but no certain identification. Hazlitt says, "I send you sundry autographs, genuine as imported. I will not forget your wishes in this respect when other notable Manuscripts occur to me."

[Printed pamphlet.] England's Bards, 1864; or, The Three Poems which were awarded the one hundred guineas offered as prizes in the advertisement "Ho! For a Shakespeare!" which appeared about the time of Shakespeare's Tercentenary Anniversary.

Author: 
[The Manufacturers of Thomson's Crinolines; 'William Fulford'; 'Peter Quince'; William Shakespeare; Day and Son, Lithographers to the Queen; the Shakespeare Tercentenary Anniversary Celebrations]
England's Bards, 1864; or, The Three Poems
Publication details: 
London: Day and Son, Lithographers to the Queen, and to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, Gate Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1864.
£85.00
England's Bards, 1864; or, The Three Poems

8vo, 16 pp. Unbound. Evidence of previous stitching, but with no remains of thread,. Aged, worn, and with outer leaves somewhat dusty. Preface, dated 'London, June 1864', by 'THE MANUFACTURERS OF THOMSON'S CRINOLINES', states that the judges of the best of 'the immense number of manuscripts received' were 'B. Webster, Esq., J. Sterling Coyne, Esq., Andrew Halliday, Esq., George Rose, Esq., and Thos.

[Printed handbill.] New Version of the House that Jack Built. [Parallel texts, with the 'old version' in one column, and the 'new version', in circumfluous language, in another.]

Author: 
[Victorian parody of 'The House that Jack Built']
Victorian parody of 'The House that Jack Built']
Publication details: 
[Without date or place.] [Late Victorian?]
£125.00
Victorian parody of 'The House that Jack Built']

8vo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Fair, on thin aged paper, laid down on a sheet of backing. In small type, with the 'old version' of the nursery rhyme, in the left hand column, transformed into a 'new version' of 78 lines of prose in the right-hand column. The first line - 'This is the house that Jack built' - is changed into 'This is the domiciliary edifice erected by John.' The 'priest all shaven and shorn' becomes 'the ecclesiastical gentleman, the summit of whose pericranium was denuded of its natural covering'. Scarce: no copy in the British Library or on COPAC.

Contemporary and apparently unpublished typescript translation by L. A. Shiffner of 'The Battle of the Waves for Freedom' by Maxim Gorky [Gorki]. Headed 'Forbidden in Russia'. Made on behalf of Mrs Gill's Translating Office, Ludgate Hill, London.

Author: 
Maxim Gorky [L. A. Shiffner, translator, of Mrs R. V. Gill's Translating Office, Ludgate Circus, London]
 'The Battle of the Waves for Freedom' by Maxim Gorky
Publication details: 
[Circa 1910.] With stamp of 'Mrs. Gill, Translating Office, Ludgate Hill, London EC.'
£320.00
 'The Battle of the Waves for Freedom' by Maxim Gorky

The story on nine numbered 4to pages, with a covering page carrying the title: 'THE BATTLE OF THE WAVES FOR FREEDOM. | By Maxim Gorki.' On the rectos of ten 4to leaves, attached by a brass pin. Text clear and complete at 26 lines to the page. On worn, discoloured paper (watermarked 'CONQUEROR | LONDON'), with loss to extremities. Mrs Gill's purple oblong stamp in bottom left-hand corner of reverse of last leaf: 'Mrs.

[Pamphlet] Asinus Loquax; or, The Talking Donkey. A Pasquinade.

Author: 
'A Little Old Man'
Asinus Loquax; or, The Talking Donkey. A Pasquinade.
Publication details: 
Guildford: Printed by Billing and Sons, 1888.
£56.00
Asinus Loquax; or, The Talking Donkey. A Pasquinade.

24pp., 12mo, original red paper wraps, sl. chipping and staining, mainly good. From the personal library of Richard Bentley, sometime publisher, for whose House Billing did work. One copy listed on WorldCat, at the BL.

Four ink drawings, portraits in the style of Daniel Maclise's illustrations to William Maginn's 'Gallery of Illustrious Literary Characters' in Fraser's Magazine, and possibly depicting John Nichols, Theodore Hook, Percival Bankes and William Jerdan.

Author: 
[Daniel Maclise; William Maginn; John Nichols; Theodore Hook; William Jerdan; Percival Bankes; Count D'Orsay; David Moir; James Fraser]
Four ink drawings, portraits in the style of Daniel Maclise
Publication details: 
London; 1820s and 1830s?
£450.00
Four ink drawings, portraits in the style of Daniel Maclise

Fraser's Magazine launched in London in February 1830, and to begin with its most popular feature was Maginn's 'Gallery of Illustrious Literary Characters', with illlustrations by Maclise (collected in book form in 1873). The four portraits, all busts, are somewhat reminiscent of those in that work, but must be earlier if the identification of John Nichol, who died in 1828, is correct. The four are on separate pieces of paper, laid down 2 X 2 (with the four sitters looking inwards towards the centre of the page) on a leaf torn from an album.

[Pamphlet printed at Canterbury College of Art.] The story of the children who live at Willow Green told and illustrated by Rene Hummerstone.

Author: 
Rene Hummerstone [Canterbury College of Art]
Pamphlet printed at Canterbury College of Art
Publication details: 
Canterbury College of Art, 1951.
£75.00
Pamphlet printed at Canterbury College of Art

8vo, 17 pp. Stitched. In original grey wraps, printed in black red and dark and light green. Good, on lightly aged paper. A children's book, with attractive illustrations of children playing, either in red or green. Colophon reads: 'Compositors: D. Beech and J. Baker | Pressmen: G. V. Jones and G. Knott | The Illustrations are printed from the original lino-cuts.' Scarce: the only copy on COPAC at Cambridge.

Long manuscript of an early Victorian poem entitled 'The last of the Hohen Stauffens', divided into three sections: 'Italy', 'The Morning of the Execution' and 'The Execution'. With a number of emendations and deletions.

Author: 
[Anonymous Victorian poem ('Written for Dublin about 1843') titled 'The Last of the Hohen Stauffens', on the execution of Conradine, 1268.]
 Victorian poem entitled 'The last of the Hohen Stauffens'
Publication details: 
Undated, but on paper watermarked 1841, and docketed 'Written for Dublin about 1843'.
£125.00
 Victorian poem entitled 'The last of the Hohen Stauffens'

Folio, 11 pp. On the rectos of eleven leaves of Britannia paper watermarked 'W H FELLOWS | 1841'. Held together with string. Text clear and complete. In ink, with deletions and emendations in pencil. Good, on aged paper. Docketed on reverse of last leaf. The subject of the poem is the execution of Conradine in the market square in Naples, 29 October 1268. The first section (3 pp) begins 'Italia fair Italia unto thee, | Was beauty given twice with misery, | At once the loveliest and the loveliest clime, | Thou wert the seat of Empire, and of crime; [...]'.

[Privately printed volume.] Winchester, and a few other Compositions in Prose and Verse. [by Rev. Charles Townsend, Rector of Kingston-by-Sea, Sussex]

Author: 
[Charles Townsend, Rector of Kingston-by-Sea, Sussex]
Publication details: 
[Privately printed.] Winchester: James Robbins, College Street. 1835.
£350.00

Townsend was a member of the Holland House circle. Two of his poems were compared favourably with Wordsworth by J. G. Lockhart. 4to, 80 pp, followed by a manuscript leaf, paginated 81 and 82, with the poems 'Sonnet, On Viewing St Paul's from Blackfriar's Bridge' and 'Sonnet | Richmond late in the Evening'. In original brown cloth boards, worn, rebacked and repaired, with 'WINCHESTER.' in gilt on front. Internally sound and tight, on aged paper. Tipped on the recto of the front free endpaper is a presentation inscription: 'With the Authors | Kind regards:- | Jany: 30th: 1837'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('EVL') from E. V. Lucas to 'My dear <Reed?>', concerning his 'Shakespeare drawings'.

Author: 
E. V. Lucas [Edward Verrall Lucas] (1868-1938), author, authority on Charles Lamb, and chairman of the publishers Methuen & Co.
E. V. Lucas [Edward Verrall Lucas] (1868-1938), author
Publication details: 
Undated. On letterhead of the Savoy Hotel, London.
£56.00
E. V. Lucas [Edward Verrall Lucas] (1868-1938), author

12mo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Lucas's handwriting is not straightforward, and the recipient's name is unclear. His 'Shakespeare drawings' are 'first rate'. Lucas retires 'into private life again' on the Monday, when 'O. S.' returns.

Long unpublished autograph poem signed by Mrs Acton Tindal on the death of Bishop Samuel Wilberforce in 1873, beginning 'A jennet stumbled on a grassy knoll'.

Author: 
Mrs Acton Tindal [Henrietta Euphemia Harrison] (c.1817-1879), English poet [Bishop Samuel Wilberforce (1805-1873)]
Mrs Acton Tindal on the death of Bishop Samuel Wilberforce
Publication details: 
Signed at end 'Mrs. Acton Tindal - Manor House - Aylesbury'.
£100.00
Mrs Acton Tindal on the death of Bishop Samuel Wilberforce

Folio, 9 pp. Unpublished. Written in landscape, with the title ('Samuel Wilberforce - DD | Bishop of Winchester | July 19th. 1873') on the first leaf and the poem on the following eight. The leaves held together with pink string. On paper watermarked 'EDWIN PARR | DULCOTE MILLS | 1861'. Text clear and complete. The commencement sets the tone of the poem, fully worthy of its subject 'Soapy Sam': 'A jennet stumbled on a grassy knoll - | And without sound or sign | Passed from Time's foremost rank a peerless Soul - | A Chief by right divine.

[Pamphlet] The History of a Poor Black Widow; shewing How she grieved for the death of her Child, and the consequences of her doing so.

Author: 
[Legh Richmond]
The History of a Poor Black Widow;
Publication details: 
London: Printed by Augustus Applegath and Edward Cowper, Duke-street, Stamford-street; Sold by F. Collins, 56, Paternoster-row; and Evans and Sons, 42, Long-lane, Smithfield [London], no date [c.1830??]
£125.00
The History of a Poor Black Widow;

BLACK LITERATURE SLAVE AFRICAN

[Autograph Manuscript] A Little Romance of 'P.W.' ['P.W.' = Pearson's Weekly]

Author: 
William Le Queux, novelist
William Le Queux, novelist
Publication details: 
No date.
£350.00
William Le Queux, novelist

ARCTIC LAPLAND LAPPLAND LITERATURE SHORT STORY PERIODICAL

Autograph Reference Signed for Mr. J. Buzzacott. With his calling card

Author: 
Louis Zangwill, novelist and printer
Louis Zangwill, novelist and printer
Publication details: 
[headed] 24 Oxford Road, Kilburn, N.W., 19 Feb. 1894.
£56.00
Louis Zangwill, novelist and printer

One page, 12mo, good condition, saying Mr. J. Buzzacott was in my employment in the capacity of compositor (apprentice) at my printing works, 12 Wilson St., Finsbury, for about two years, and during the whole of that time was satisfactory with respect to conduct, work, & punctuality. He is a gentlemanly lad & I can recommend him. With Zangwill's calling card, name and address printed, adding With complements embracing his name.

Autograph Note Signed to Riverita Signora od Amica.

Author: 
Terenzio Mamiani, Italian Poet.
Terenzio Mamiani, Italian Poet.
Publication details: 
Coat of arms of the Ministero delli Istruzione, Rome 1883 in different hand.
£36.00
Terenzio Mamiani, Italian Poet.

One page, 12mo, good condition. See scan for contents.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to Sir R.L. Harmsworth about the publishing history of Little Goody Two Shoes. With part of a substantial letter from [F.Contes?] on the same subject

Author: 
P.J. Dobell, Antiquarian Bookseller
Publishing history of Little Goody Two Shoes
Publication details: 
[Headed] P.J. & A.E. Dobell, Sons of the late Bertram Dobell, Dealers in Books, Manuscripts and Autograph Letters, 8 Bruton Street, New Bond Street, London W1, 20 & 23 Jan. 1926.
£125.00
Publishing history of Little Goody Two Shoes

Three pages, 4to, good condition. Harmsworth has obviously consigned two copies of the History of Little Goody Two Shoes to Dobell for evaluation and Dobell is now returning them with a learned disquisition on the publishing history of the work. He discusses the advertising and other background of the Newbery imprint, speculation on the rights being sold to a syndicate of booksellers (explaining worsening quality of printing), speculation on the undated one being pirated. He cites a memorandum by a British Library principal Librarian, J.

[Printed Prospectus] The Satirist; or, Monthly Meteor.

Author: 
[Periodical; magazine]
The Satirist; or, Monthly Meteor.
Publication details: 
[Samuel Tipper, publisher, Leadenhall Street] T. Gillet, Printer, Wild-court
£55.00
The Satirist; or, Monthly Meteor.

Four pages, 8vo, sl. chipped and sunned but mainly good, stab-holes. It autlines plans and describes The Proprietors of the Satirist as a society of private gentlemen, whose literary connections are peculiarly extensive. They will follow the same spirited plan which fomerly distinguished the Antijacobin newspaper. Subjects to be Poetry, Literature, Theatre, Politics, etc. NoteThe Satirist survived 7 years re. CBEL (1807-1814)..

Redfield; or, A Visit to the Country. A Story for Children. With Four Illustrations by John Absolon. With letter from publisher with good content.

Author: 
Anon. [Mrs Parker Smith?]
Publication details: 
London: Bell & Daldy, 186, Fleet Street, 1858.
£480.00

90[6]pp., 8vo (six-page catalogue of Bell & Daldy's "New and Standard Publications" at end), in slipcase, green cloth in good condition, pattern in relief, gold motif of laurels surrounding the title, hinge strain at title/frontispiece, some speckling throughout, some pencilled underlining, and childish daubing of colour onto three of the illustrations. INSCRIBED as follows: "This book was written by my mother [letters crossd out] the stories read to me & Walter for our amusement in 1857-8 | J Parker Smith".

Autograph Note Signed to Rev. R. Best?], concerning takings from his lectures.

Author: 
Joseph Parker (1830-1902), English nonconformist divine, preacher, theologian and miscellaneous writer
Joseph Parker (1830-1902), English nonconformist divine
Publication details: 
Old Trafford, 24 October 1866.
£56.00
Joseph Parker (1830-1902), English nonconformist divine

One page, thirteen lines, 8vo, small closed tears, text clear and complete. "As I cannot continue my lectures on [? see scan], for some time to come I return a proportion of the balance of money collected in various towns. I have not taken one penny for my labours, but I propose to retain about one third of the balance [underlined] as there were innumerable etceteras about a work like mine. If any of the subscribers object to this, please let me know. - I enclose a cheque for £5." Best has listed 6 recipients of shares of this £5 on the verso of a conjoint leaf ,and with a small sum.

Attractive black and white pen portrait of the American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, with the artist's dated stylized signature mark, presumably executed to be engraved for a magazine such as the Illustrated London News.

Author: 
[Nathaniel Hawthorne; Illustrated London News]
Attractive black and white pen portrait of the American novelist Nathaniel Hawth
Publication details: 
[1926.]
£180.00
Attractive black and white pen portrait of the American novelist Nathaniel Hawth

Dimensions of paper 23 x 17 cm; dimensions of image c.16 x 10.5 cm. In fair condition on lightly-aged paper. Captioned at foot 'Nathaniel Hawthorne'. Head and shoulders illustration, with Hawthorne looking at the viewer with his head slightly towards his right shoulder. Placed in modern 34 x 26.5 cm cream card frame with gold and light-green border. Professionally executed in a traditional style. The artist's monogram, centred beneath the illustration, consists of a stalk topped by simple flower design, and with the date '26' at the foot.

Typed Note Signed by Carl Van Vechten to 'Miss Lucha', thanking her for a copy of the Gertrude Stein number of the Academic Observer.

Author: 
Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964), American author and literary executor of Gertrude Stein [Margaret Lucha; the Academic Observer]
Typed Note Signed by Carl Van Vechten
Publication details: 
15 April 1937; on Van Vechten's 101 Central Park West, New York, letterhead.
£150.00
Typed Note Signed by Carl Van Vechten

8vo, 1 p. Typed and signed in light-blue, beneath green letterhead, and with 'CARL VAN VECHTEN' 'watermark' at centre of page. Text clear and complete. On lightly aged paper, worn and dogeared at extremities. He thanks her for the copy of 'the Academic Observer (Gertrude Stein number) which intererested me so much that I am writing to ask if I may have another copy for a friend of mine, Please.' Autograph note explains that the 'friend' is one 'who also collects Steiniana'. Docketed in pencil on reverse: 'Miss Mallory | Keep this until I call - someday I will. | [signed] M. Lucha'.

Autograph Signature ('P. Francis:'), cut from letter, of Sir Philip Francis, the leading candidate for the authorship of the Letters of Junius.

Author: 
Sir Philip Francis (1740-1818), English politician and writer, the leading candidate for the authorship of the Letters of Junius
Autograph Signature ('P. Francis:'), cut from letter, of Sir Philip Francis
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£125.00
Autograph Signature ('P. Francis:'), cut from letter, of Sir Philip Francis

On piece of laid paper, 5.5 x 8 cm. Clear signature on lightly-aged and spotted paper. From the collection of James C. Webster, Secretary, Athenaeum Club, London, who has written, above the signature, 'Royal Society of L<...>', and beneath it, 'Sir Philip Francis | author of "Junius"'.

[sheet music] Carretera de Estepona (Highway to Estepona). Piano Solo.

Author: 
Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles, Carretera de Estepona
Publication details: 
1947. Contemporary Composers Series. Marks Edition, New York. [Copyright MCMXLVII by Edward B. Marks Music Corporation.]
£56.00
Paul Bowles, Carretera de Estepona

4to, 3 pp (paginated 3-7). Bifolium loose in grey wraps printed in red. Good, on lightly-aged paper with slight wear to spine.

[sheet music] Six Preludes for Piano.

Author: 
Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles, Six Preludes for Piano.
Publication details: 
1947. Mercury Music Corporation, New York, N.Y.
£28.00
Paul Bowles, Six Preludes for Piano.

4to, 12 pp. On six loose bifoliums. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor spotting on reverse of last leaf (page of advertisements).

[sheet music] Sonatina. For piano solo. Paul Bowles.

Author: 
Paul Bowles
Sonatina. For piano solo. Paul Bowles.
Publication details: 
1947. Elkan-Vogel Co., Inc., Philadelphia, Pa.
£56.00
Sonatina. For piano solo. Paul Bowles.

4to, 13 + [i] pp. On four loose bifoliums. On aged paper with small closed tears to spine and last leaf repaired with archival tape.

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