MANUSCRIPT

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. It was in October of 1806 that a sixteen year-old Sinclair was arrested as a spy near Jena, and brought before Napoleon, who examined him and ordered his release. 1p, 16mo. On heavily aged, creased and worn paper with light staining above the signature, and strip torn away at bottom left. Addressed on reverse to 'The Editor of the / Mirror of Parliament.' Signed ‘George Sin Clair [sic]’. He thanks him for his kindness ‘in sending yesterday for a copy of the remarks which I made as to the [Prussian?] loan’.

See Terry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing Dr. W. J. Phillips was the organist at St Barnabas, Pimlico; he was unsuccessful in the present application, but was subsequently organist of the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court. See his entry in Humphreys and Evans, ‘Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland’ (1997). These two items are uniform on a total of three leaves of light paper. Both discoloured and worn, and folded three times. ONE: ALS from Terry to Phillips. 1p, 4to. He is ‘most pleased to have opportunity of supporting’ Phillips’s application.

The second of these ballads, 'Silver Threads Among the Gold', by the American Eben Eugene Rextord (1848-1916), was immensely popular on its release in 1873 with music by Hart Peas Danks (1834-1903). The earliest reference to the first ballad, 'Could you lend my mother a saucepan?' is in an 1885 number of 'All the Year Round'. The song is an absolute hoot, but its text is not to be found anywhere on the internet.

The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was founded through the efforts of local brewer Charles Edward Flower (1830-1892), after whose death its management was taken over by his brother Edgar Flower (1833-1903), also Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. On Edgar’s death these duties fell to his son Archibald Flower (1865-1950), several times mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon. The present correspondence concerns a gift to Shakespeare Memorial Association by the appropriately-named anatomist Evan Marlett Boddy.

Hodgson’s entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography omits to mention the fact that the territory named Eton Vale which he squatted with his brother Christopher Pemberton Hodgson (1821-1865), was taken by force from the Barunggam people, and that, as the brother recalled in 1848, ‘so many hundreds of these poor creatures’ were ‘sacrificed’ in the struggle over the territory. From the papers of Evan Marlett Boddy (c.1847-1934), who is presumably the recipient ‘Marcian’, author of the named ‘brochure’, published in Birmingham in 1901. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, folded once.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. On 12.5 x 3 cm slip of paper cut from letter. Aged and worn, with nick lost from left side, and remains of mount on reverse. Reads: ‘I remain / Yours very truly & affectionately / Sarah Trimmer’. See Image.

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. Frank cover, laid out in the customary fashion, on 12.5 x 7 cm panel cut from front of envelope. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper. Usual red frank postmark: ‘FREE / 29JA29 / 1831’. Reads: ‘London January twenty nine 1831 / Willm. Smith Esqr. / at Smith Wright’s Esqr / Kempston / Loughboro Notts / per / R Bernal’. See Image. On reverse, in contemporary hand: ‘R. Bernal. MP for Rochester / Chairman of the Committee / of the House of Commons / on the Reform Bill.’

Bailey’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes the ‘remarkable popularity’ of the second edition of Festus in America: ‘seventeen ‘editions’ of a version pirated in Boston were called for in the first nine years, and it was also reprinted numerous times in Philadelphia, Louisville, and New York. Bailey became something of a 'lion' for visiting Americans of the transcendental stamp’, with Hawthorne visiting in the 1850s. 1p, 8vo. On brittle woodpulp paper, now discoloured with chipping to edges (resulting in loss to the word ‘Festus’ at the head) and with closed tears to the two folds.

2pp, 4to. 41 lines, including postscript, in green ink. On aged and brittle air mail paper, with chipping and discoloration at the head, resulting in some loss to printed letterhead, but with text clear and entire. Addressed to ‘Mon cher ami’ and with valediction from ‘Ton très dévoué ami’. The recipient is unidentified, but would appear to have been a former colleague at the Russian legation in Tehran, Persia. Signed ‘Geo. S. Romanovsky’. He begins by thanking him for his congratulations. The recipient is right: ‘les choses ont changé’.

Launched at Frindsbury in 1811 as HMS Asia, played an active role in the War of 1812: in the bombardment Fort McHenry, and the attack on New Orleans, and sharing in the proceeds of the capture of the American vessels in the Battle of Lake Borgne in 1814. She was renamed HMS Alfred in 1819. By the time of this item she had been reduced to a 50-gun fourth rate Frigate. She was eventually broken up in 1865. 1p, small 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. On reverse: ‘Armament / of / H. M. Ship / Alfred’. The front page, in the same hand, is headed: ‘Armament of H. M.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Thirty-six lines of text, signed ‘Atholl’. Text complete (except for address of recipient), on grubby and worn paper. Folded three times. The letter has been trimmed at the foot, resulting in some loss to the address of the recipient, which appears to read ‘Captn Ross R. N. / 160 New Bond Street’. This is presumably the ‘Rayley, [sic] Captain, R.N. 160, Bond-street’, who in 1832 was listed among the proprietors of shares in London University. The Duke’s handwriting is execrable.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. Eighteen lines of typed text, under the heading ‘VISION AND SERVICE.’ Undated, but certainly written after 1918, since the document is responding to changes since ‘the pre-war world of yesterday’. The final reference to a ladder, echoes a passage in Leverhulme’s 1919 tract ‘The Six-hour Day and other Industrial Questions’. Large bold signature at bottom right: ‘Leverhulme’. The signature and its environs are in good condition, on a document of aged and worn paper, with tearing to a central horizontal fold repaired with archival tape.

The Cymru Estate in Dimbula was established in 1870. The invaluable ‘History of Ceylon Tea’ website only has data regarding the estate up to the year 1929. The present item provides a mass of statistical information for the years 1964 to 1972. It is entirely in manuscript, in several hands, and comprises 73pp, 16mo, written with portrait orientation in a 12.5 x 8 cm ruled notebook (with 69pp in blue and red ink at the front, and the other four pages in pencil at the back). In rough black cloth, with brown patterned endpapers, and cloth pencil-holder.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Autograph Signature and valediction to letter on 11 x 4.5 cm slip of paper: 'My dear Sir / Yours most truly / David Welsh'. In good condition on lightly-aged laid paper, with neat vertical fold. Tiny slip of paper with pencil note in contemporary hand laid down on blank space at left of slip.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. A long letter of eighty-seven lines, in a neat close hand. Signed ‘Edward S Byam’. The recipient is not identified.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, folio. Text clear and entire, on worn and grubby paper, with chipping to edges and slight loss to one corner, with one closed tear repaired with archival tape. Embossed tax stamps at head. Good firm signature at bottom right ‘David Dundas.’, beside small seal in red wax, with crumbling impression. At bottom left: ‘Signed Sealed and Delivered (being first duly stampt) in the Presence of us / John Landon / M King’. Downwards in left-hand margin: 'Entered in the Office for Auditing the Public Accounts the 9th of February 1797 / Thos Gibbes’.

These five items are part of a collection of correspondence (the rest is offered separately) relating to a supposed portrait of a young Percy Bysshe Shelley by George Romney, which was in a group of paintings donated to the Shakespeare Memorial Association by the appropriately-named anatomist Evan Marlett Boddy. (The Shelley portrait is reproduced in ‘The Magazine of Art’, 1901, with the caption ‘Reputed portrait of Shelley as a boy, by Romney. In the Shakespeare memorial, Stratford-on-Avon.’, in an article on ‘Portraits of Shelley at the National Portrait Gallery’, p.

Hood was married to the harpist Helen Patuffa Kennedy-Fraser (1889-1967), daughter of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857-1930), the celebrated collector and singer of Hebridean songs. The two items are in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Manuscript Letter Signed by 'Ulster Scot.' 1p, 8vo. Begins: ?Dear Rev Sir / Glad to see you took up the cudgels on behalf of the Ulster Scot.The writer of the letter considers that the part played by this group in building industry &c. was surpassed by their efforts in cristainising [sic] and civilising the nations of the world.

See his entry in the Encylopedia of New Zealand, and those of Muggeridge and Kingsmill in the Oxford DNB. Each item 1p, foolscap 8vo. Both addressed to ‘Dear Mr Muggeridge’. ONE (12 September 1955): In good condition, on air mail paper, lightly aged and creased. Signed in pencil with calligraphic squiggle. Begins: ‘I want to write something about Hugh Kingsmill. About 20 years ago we exchanged a few letters during a flare up in the Wilde-Douglas business at a time when Robert Sherard was busy fanning the flames and G. B. S.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, foolscap 8vo. Thirty lines of text. Signed ‘Stan Barstow’. One of a number of letters to Furness by writers, responding to his enquiry about socialist authors and British pubs. Barstow begins by discussing ‘The Fenton in Woodhouse Lane, Leeds’, which had ‘proximity to the BBC, where Alfred Bradley ran the radio drama studio.

See his entry, and Freeling’s, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. Aged and worn, with nicks and closed tears around the edges, but not near the valediction ‘Yours very faithfully / W: Manning.’ Addressed to ‘Francis Freeling, Esqr.’ Begins: ‘My dear Sir, / Your Letter of yesterday I have just received & am exceedingly obliged to you for the communication it contains - it is quite distressing to see the delusion which prevails in the public mind on this subject -’. He is ‘submitting the Extract of the Norwich paper sent by Mr.

See his entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Taylor's in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, and folded once. In worn envelope with Penny Red stamp and postmark, and slight loss around flap. The envelope was no doubt retained because it was addressed by Delaunay to 'Sir Tom Taylor / Lavender Sweet [sic] / Wandsworth'. A neatly laid written and laid out communication, addressed to ‘Cher Monsieur Taylor’ and signed ‘Yours truly / L Delaunay / de la Comedie française’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. For the context see Irina and Dmitri Gouzevitch, ‘Travelling interchanges between the Russian Empire and Western Europe / The Travels of Engineers during the First Half of the Nineteenth Century’, in Simões, Carneiro and Diogo eds, ‘Travels of Learning / A Geography of Science in Europe’ (Boston, 2003). 1p, 8vo. Nineteen lines of closely-written text. On aged and worn paper. The item has been torn away from a mount, resulting in damage to the two outer corners, with the area immediately to the right of the signature ‘St Helens’ lacking.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. Eighteen lines. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, on lightly aged paper. Folded once. Addressed to ‘Dear Ilbert’ and signed ‘James W Lowther’. He has ‘prepared a series of telegram [sic] to all the news agencies and to the Clerk of the Works at Westminster’, and will dispatch them as soon as he receives ‘any intimation from the P.M’. He has another telegram ready for the London Gazette. ‘I think we can reasonably expect that, with 48 hrs notice, all M Ps and the staff would have sufficient notice’.

A tenuous Titanic item: at the time of writing Simon, as solicitor-general, was representing the Board of Trade at the British enquiry into the sinking, at the address on the letterhead. See his entry and Ilbert's in the Oxford DNB. Joyce Violet Ilbert (1890-1957) was the youngest of Sir Courtenay's five daughters. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Written in pencil. Signed ‘John Ilbert’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. Sixteen lines of closely-written text. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with short closed tears along the five creases from the folding of the item into a packet. Docketed on the reverse of the leaf: ‘May 2d 1810 / Lord St Helens / Authy to charge Agency at the rate of 1 P Ct on Monies recovered on accot of Land Tax refunded to Foreign Ministers &cr.’ Signed St Helens.

See his entry, and that of his father the civil engineer, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On separate letterheads. The recipient is not named and there is no salutation (though the letter is complete). Signed ‘Brassey’. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘I have two maxims for [hourly?] use. / I do the little I can do and leave the rest to thee / What thou livest live well. The rest commit to Heaven / Nor should the last message of the greatest sailor since the world began ever be forgotten / England expects that every man this day will do his duty’.

Showing signs of the early stirrings of the Great Game. See Canning's entry, and that of Fitzgerald, in the Oxford DNB. At the time of the letter Canning was serving in his first governmental appointment, as Under-Secretary to Lord Aberdeen in the Foreign Office, in Peel’s administration, while Fitzgerald was President of the Board of Control. The ‘Baron Brunow’ referred to in the letter is Russian Ambassador in London, Philipp Graf von Brunnow (1797-1895). 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of a bifolium. Docketed on second leaf, ‘Lord Canning / respecting Baron Brunow Novr 11/41’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Twenty-three lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged, but with slight creasing at head of leaf. Folded twice. Financial calculations written lengthwise underneath signature, with light smudging.

A jaunty missive. Lady Eastlake and her husband have separate entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. Eighteen lines. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to 'Dear Mrs Ford' and signed 'Eliz Eastlake'. A 'kind friend in the country' is insisting on sending her 'early strawberries & grapes' and she asks Mrs Ford not to 'commit the extravagance of orderg any yourself, but trust to me to have the offering transferred to 123 Park Street'. She will be sending for the fruit at Euston Station around 2 o'clock on the Saturday, '& they shall be shortly after that with you'.