LITERATURE

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
P.G. Konody.
Publication details: 
26 York Terrace, N.W.1, 25 April 1933.
£95.00

Art critic. Two pages, 8vo, good condition. He informs his correspondent of his belief that S.H. Sime, illustrator and artist, is still alive [in fact died 1941 re. George Locke]. H e runs obver the main events of Sime's life getting a small fortune, starting life as a coal miner, "fantastic imagination", "Pick-me-up", art editor of "The Idler", collaboration with Arthur Lawrence, Dunsany books, blossome as a painter, retirement from "life and publicity, rappeared at the St George's Gallery. Konody then lost sight of him.

Autograph Note Signed to "Miss[?] Graham".

Author: 
Cosmo Hamilton.
Publication details: 
"The World," Limited, 1 York Street, Covent Garden, W.C., 10 March 1905.
£34.00

Author and dramatist. One page, 8vo, good condition, some corrections in Hamilton's hand. "This story is so good & rings so true a note that the title jars a little. May I ask you to be so kind as to give it another one & to call your characters by more ordinary names?"

Autograph Letter Signed to J.C. Loudon c/o Longman & Co., Paternoster Row, London".,

Author: 
Samuel Taylor.
Publication details: 
Whittington Stoke Ferry, 15 Nov. 1833.
£100.00

Four pages, 4to, fold marks, discoloration, some damage with minor loss of text.

Autograph Letter Signed to William <Miller?>.

Author: 
Ralph Straus [George Augustus Sala]
Publication details: 
12 February 1932; on letterhead '8E. Hyde Park Mansions, | N.W.1.'
£85.00

English writer (1882-1950). One page, quarto. Good, but lightly creased and dusty, and with minor spotting. Concerns the writer George Augustus Sala, about whom Straus would publish a book in 1942. He is grateful for the Sala letters, and encloses a cheque. 'I appreciate your good nature in letting me have them. [...] My own Sala collection is fairly, but not wholly, complete. I have no copy, for instance, of his pamphlet (1860 or 1862) on the Wimbledon Volunteer Rifle Meeting.

Autograph Letters Signed to Brougham from Canon Flemyng; and Autograph Card Signed to Brougham from his grandson Henry Brougham.

Author: 
Henry William Brougham, Dean of Lismore [Henry Brougham; Canon W. W. Flemyng]
Publication details: 
Brougham's card, 12 May 1904, on letterhead 'BROUGHAM HOUSE, | WELLINGTON COLLEGE STATION, | BERKS.' Flemyng's letter, 10 March 1906, on letterhead 'Coolfin, Portlaw, Co. Waterford'.
£56.00

Flemyng was a noted authority in the field of Irish lepidoptery, and published a number of papers on the subject between 1877 and 1919. Both items concern the Latin saying 'ne sutor ultra crepidam' or 'sutor ne supra crepidam judicaret'. HENRY BROUGHAM'S CARD: one page, five and a half inches by three and a half; addressed, with postmarked stamp, on reverse. Extremely grubby. Reads 'Dear Granpy | The Dictionary references to Sutor, ne supra crepidam (judicaret) are | PLINY 35, 10, 36, 85 | c.f. Val. Max. 8, 12, fin. | Papim is sending a few pansy-blossoms hoping you won't be jealous.

Fragment of Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs. Randolph'.

Author: 
James Hain Friswell
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£28.00

English novelist and miscellaneous writer (1825-78). Dimensions five inches by four and a half. Good. Mounted along one edge to piece of grey card. Cutting from Times, 15 March 1879, mounted on reverse of letter (giving Friswell's dates as 1827-79), and partly obscured by gum. Reads: '<...> I cannot say that the picture of life as you draw it is charming & only hope it is not true - illusions! | Your cursory remarks on us poor Men are written with a copper pen & sulphuric acid. Mr Randolph, who is of course the noble exception, must be delighted with them.

Autograph Letter Signed [to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts].

Author: 
Francis Brett Young [ADMIRALTY RESEARCH LABORATORY]
Publication details: 
29 October 1935; on letterhead of the 'Admiralty Research | Laboratory, | Teddington, Middlesex.'
£45.00

Novelist, short story writer and poet (1884-1954). Two pages, quarto. Very good, though dusty and with small staple holes to one corner. Docketed. Apologises for the late reply to the invitation to join the Society ('the oversight was due to the intervention of leave and other causes'). 'Though I am afraid that I shall not be able to avail myself to any great extent of the advantage offered by your Society, staff members of this Laboratory will doubtless be glad to attend your lectures as they have already done in the past.' Consequently he will offer himself for election. Signed 'F. B.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter

Author: 
Eleanor Catharine Price [E. C. Price]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by two and a half inches. Very good. Folded once (not affecting signature). From an autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of blue paper. Reads '[...] | It was a real pleasure | to see you again the other | day. | Yours afftely | E C Price -'. Docketed in pencil at foot.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Anna Brownell Jameson
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£20.00

Anglo-Irish author (1794-1860) and art critic. Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by two inches. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger sheet of paper. Reads '[...] Oxford Street London for the next 3 weeks - Ever yours truly & affecly - | Anna Jameson'. Docketed in pencil at foot '(Legendary Art etc) | Written to my Mother - S[arah]. E[lizabeth]. S[iddons]. M[air].'

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Edna Lyall (Ada Ellen Bayly)
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

English novelist (1857-1903). Paper dimensions roughly four and a quarter inches by two and a quarter inches. Very good, but grubby and with a few light glue stains. From autograph album and mounted on larger piece of light blue paper. Reads '[...] | it will save confidencce. | In gt. haste | Yrs. truly | A. E. Bayly.' Docketed '(Edna Lyall)' in pencil beneath signature.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Jean Morison [Mrs Jean Morison Campbell]
Publication details: 
Without date; on embossed letterhead 'MORISON HOUSE. | HETLAND. | RUTHWELL.'
£20.00

Scottish author. Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by one and a quarter. Very good, with some light glue staining. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of blue paper. Reads '[...] your welcome letter which | [...] | [...] your loving friend Jean M. C. Miller Morison'. Docketed in pencil 'Poet & Critic - "The Purpose of the Ages" etc'.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Edward Hugessen Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£28.00

Politician and children's writer (1829-1893). Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by two and a half. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of blue paper. Reads '[...] himself, & the flatterers to whose advice he has listened rather than to those who have not feared to tell him the truth - | Vy truly | Brabourne'. Docketed in pencil.

Autographed Note Signed to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Hugh Walpole
Publication details: 
30 May 1924; no place.
£23.00

New Zealand-born English author (1884-1941), best know for his series of 'Herries Chronicles'. Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by five inches. Folded once (not affecting signature). Mounted on larger piece of cream paper. From Autograph album. Reads 'With the best | wishes of | Hugh Walpole | May 30th. | 1924'.

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Lionel Arthur Tollemache
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

English aristocrat (1838-1919), author of 'Safe studies', 'Nuts and chestnuts', etc. etc. Paper dimensions roughly four inches by two inches. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of cream paper. Written in lilac pencil. Reads 'Lionel A Tollemache'. Docketed at foot in pencil.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Hall Caine
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£15.00

Manx novelist (1853-1931). Paper dimensions roughly three inches by one and a half. Very good. Reads 'Yours vy truly | Hall Caine'.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
William Black
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£22.00

Scottish novelist (1841-98). Paper dimensions roughly four inches by one and a half. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of cream paper. Reads 'Yours veryy faithfully | William Black.'

Autograph Letter Signed to a would-be contributor to "Aunt Judy's Magazine".

Author: 
Margaret Gatty.
Publication details: 
Ecclesfield, 11 August 1866.
£85.00

Children's Author and Editor. Two pages, 8vo, attached to slightly larger card (a page from an autograph album), good consition. Text: "I am much obliged to you for the offer of your tale, but think it better to return it as I am fully supplied at preset with material for my Magazine. Will you allow me to say that it strikes me as being better adapted for such a puvblication as the "Monthly Packet" which is intended for rather older readres than mine." DNB entry: "In May 1866 Mrs. Gatty established a monthly periodical for young people called ‘Aunt Judy's Magazine.’"

Typed Letter Signed to [Brian?] Mercer, [Secretary,?] Royal Society of Arts; together with a carbon of the Typed Letter to which it is a reply.

Author: 
Cecil Day-Lewis
Publication details: 
22 July [1961]; on letterhead '6 CROOMS HILL | GREENWICH | S. E. 10'; carbon of Mercer's letter dated 21 July 1961.
£65.00

British Poet Laureate (1904-72). Day-Lewis's letter, 1 page, 8vo. On grey paper. Good, but lightly creased and with a few staple holes. Thanks Mercer for the 'kind invitation'. 'I am afraid I could not manage to prepare the paper you suggest for January 24, since I have to be busy till near the end of this year on a play.' Suggests deferment to February or March. Signed 'C. Day Lewis'. Docketed by '' on 24 July 1961, 'We can offer other times, I think, in March.' and with 'Mar 21 | 2.30' beneath this in pencil.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
[ATHENAEUM] Charles Wentworth Dilke
Publication details: 
Sloane St - Sunday'; on paper with embossed crest.
£56.00

One page, 12mo. Very good. Neatly mounted on piece of orange paper. In Dilke's difficult hand. Concerns a 'Report': 'The only specific fact is that the misprints <?> cost to each of one shilling. [...] The enormous cost of about £12 per draft is to the Fund. How much the <?> cost to the <?> is not stated - <?> as 'almost too small to be noticed' - which is <?>. Why do they not publish the <?> expenditure. Then we should know what is the amount of an 'almost too small'. If you ever get an Acct with that fact set forth I should be glad to look at it.' Signed 'C W Dilke'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Martin Cawood.

Author: 
Charles Wentworth Dilke
Publication details: 
76 Sloane Street | May 26 1854'.
£45.00

Antiquary and critic (1789-1864), editor of the 'Athenaeum'. Cawood was a musician and composer. Two pages, 12mo. Black bordered. Verso of second leaf of bifoliate laid down onto larger piece of docketed grey paper. In good condition apart from some glue damage to right-hand margin of recto of first leaf (not affecting text). Difficult handwriting. 'I am much obliged to you for the "Notes on the Woollen Hair" which I have just found.

Autograph Note Signed to Dr [Edwin] Lankester.

Author: 
Charles Wentworth Dilke
Publication details: 
10 June 1860; on letterhead '76, Sloane Street SW.'
£35.00

Antiquary and critic (1789-1864), editor of the 'Athenaeum'. For Lankester (1814-74) see the Dictionary of National Biography. One page, 12mo. In good condition, mounted on a larger piece of docketed pink card. Difficult handwriting, presumably making payment for magazine contributions. 'On looking over your account I find that you have run off & that there is a balance due to you I therefore present a cheque for Ten Pounds by way of winding up the old year.' Signed 'C Wentworth Dilke'.

Typed Note Signed to 'Miss [Elizabeth] Harvey'.

Author: 
André Maurois
Publication details: 
10 June 1929; on letterhead '2, RUE BORGHÈSE | NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE'.
£35.00

Pseudonym of the French writer Émile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog (1885-1967), author of the first Penguin, 'Ariel'. One page, 4to. Folded three times. In good condition although creased. Signed in pencil. Written in French. He does not intend to translate 'Rouen' into English. It is not interesting enough for 'un public anglo-saxon'. He thanks her for the thought.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Alexander William Kinglake
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

English historian of the Crimean War (1809-91). On piece of paper roughly 4 1/2 inches by 1 1/4 inches. In very good condition. Remains of mounts adhering to blank verso. Reads '<...> be of use in making the collection. | I have the honour to be | Sirs | faithfully yours | A W Kinglake.'

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Joseph Hatton
Publication details: 
No place; December 1901.
£20.00

Piece of grey card, dimensions roughly 5 1/2 inches by 4 inches. In poor condition: grubby and discoloured, and crudely mounted on a piece of card. Novelist and journalist (1841-1907). Clearly in reply to a request for an autograph, Hatton has written, in a large hand, 'With pleasure - | Yours very truly | Joseph Hatton | Dec 1901'. Neatly docketed with a number '30' in a circle.

Photograph with manuscript inscription (prob. not Guitry's hand) on reverse 'Pour <h?>r. Her [sic] Barman de la Passable <ebr.?>'.

Author: 
Sacha Guitry
Publication details: 
1939
£35.00

French actor and dramatist (1885-1957). Dimensions roughly 7 inches by 9 inches. In good condition though somewhat grubby, with 'SACHA GUITRY in 1939' in manuscript written in white ink on Guitry's collar. A striking head and shoulders portrait, shot from below out of doors, of Guitry staring intently ahead and to the left. He wears a white panama hat with black band, a patterned tie, dark shirt and grey jacket with specks. Gum marks from previous mounting around edges of reverse.

Autograph Note Signed to R. S. McMinn.

Author: 
Edward Verrall Lucas
Publication details: 
41 Sloane St; no date, but postmarked 21 Sept 1920.
£25.00

English essayist and biographer (1868-1938). Plain postcard, dimensions roughly 4 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches. Grubby and smudged, with central vertical crease. Deleted printed letterhead '176, VICTORIA STREET, | (CORNER OF BUCKINGHAM PALACE ROAD.) | S.W.1.' Reads '41 Sloane St | Many thanks | E. V. Lucas'. Addressed by Lucas to 'R. S. McMinn Esq | 35 Birdhurst Rd | S. Croydon'.

Signed uncashed bank cheque payable to J. H. Thorpe.

Author: 
Edward Verrall Lucas
Publication details: 
Barclays Bank Limited | 366, STRAND, W.C.2.'; 12 July 1927.
£30.00

English essayist and biographer (1868-1938). Attractive printed cheque in black and blue ink on light blue paper: dimensions roughly 7 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches. The cheque is for sixpence, and a pencil note (presumably by Thorpe) on the reverse explains how it results from a lost wager: 'Bet | Whether Geo A Birmingham wrote a Gen[era]l knowledge book. | He did.'

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
George Payne Rainsford James [G.P.R. James]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£20.00

English novelist (1799-1860). On fragment of paper approximately 4 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches. In poor condition: creased and discoloured from previous mounting. Reads 'Your most faithful Servant, | G. P. R James'. Docketed on reverse 'March | - | Ap 28 | a 2 May'.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant [Mrs Oliphant]
Publication details: 
No place; 'Friday -'.
£25.00

Scottish novelist (1828-97). On piece of laid paper, dimensions roughly 4 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches, with mourning border. Paper discoloured and stained from previous mounting. Reads '[...] convenient? - It would be very good of you and enable us to have a double pleasure - With kind regards, believe me, | very truly yours | 'M. O. W. Oliphant | Friday -'.

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correspondent (a contributor to a periodical).

Author: 
William Beattie.
Publication details: 
13 Upper Berkeley St, Portman Square, Wednesday 7pm [no date].
£85.00

Writer and M.D. (DNB) Two pages, 12mo, good condition. "I return the proofs herwith. It is much improved by the Editorial Notes and will [?] in this moment in the M. & N. Gaz [ Naval & Military Gazette?] It was very kind of you to admit it so promptly - & I feel assured it will be much read in Paris. A note from the author (Paris 17th) says - "Several officers here in the main agreed with me (in conversation) & others have sincerely thanked me for opening their eyes.

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