MANUSCRIPT

Autograph Letter Signed from the Scottish painter Thomas Faed inviting a fellow-painter to his studio, and expressing concern that his paintings may get 'massacred [...] in the hanging'.

Author: 
Thomas Faed (1826-1900), RSA, Scottish painter
Publication details: 
24a Cavendish Rd, St John's Wood [London]. 3 April [post 1876].
£80.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Watermarked 'JOYNSON | 1876'. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with minor staining from mount at foot of second leaf. Written in a hasty, untidy hand. The recipient appears to be 'My dear Hornby', 'Horley' or 'Howley'. Faed writes that he is 'slaving away chopping and changing sometimes worse and sometimes better (I hope) on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. 7th.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'T Gambier Parry') from Thomas Gambier Parry, to 'Mr. Moore' [B. T. Moore], regarding repairs to Tewkesbury Abbey, both lamenting that the paint he chose for the roof has turned to the colour of 'disgraceful mud'.

Author: 
Thomas Gambier Parry (1816-1888), benefactor and art collector [Benjamin Thomas Moore (d.1896), for 38 years churchwarden of Tewkesbury Abbey; Ven. Hemming Robeson]
Publication details: 
ONE: on letterhead of the United University Club, Pall Mall East, S.W. [London]. 8 February 1885. TWO: on letterhead of Highnam Court, Gloucester. 16 October [1885?].
£120.00

ONE: 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of glue from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Parry begins by exclaiming: 'What a grand example your activity at Tewkesbury is!' Whatever Moore means by 'the Construction of the Cloister walk - and other important business', Parry regrets that his 'obligations in London' will not allow him to join the Abbey Committee. He continues: 'I wish "bad times" did not put another thing out of my Power w[hic]h.

Printed handbill by Thomas Gibbons & Co, Bishopsgate St, headed '(Important) Accommodation', offering 'good Mercantile Bills of Exchange' for 'needy Manufacturers and Tradesmen', with manuscript letter to James Baldwin, Birmingham copperplate printer

Author: 
Thomas Gibbons & Co., 6 Great St Helens, Bishopsgate St, City of London, 'General Merchants, Agents, and Factors' [James Baldwin, copperplate printer, Birmingham and Sheffield; Freemasonry; Masonic]
Publication details: 
Addressed in manuscript from 6 Great St Helens, Bishopsgate St [City of London]. 8 October 1831.
£220.00

2pp., 4to. Printed in small type, with manuscript additions on both sides of the first leaf; addressed on the recto of the second leaf, with broken red wax seal: 'P. P. 9d | Mr Baldwin | Copper plate printer & | Birmingham | Sheffield | Oct 8th.' Great St Helens was a centre for firms concerned with bankruptcy and liquidation, and this interesting document offers banking services for 'needy Manufacturers and Tradesmen', with a use of Masonic imagery which is designed to reassure.

Nine Autograph Letters Signed from the poet Herbert Palmer to Rev. Harry Escott of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, editing a book of Escott's poetry, discussing Christian verse, and attacking T. S. Eliot, the Faber poets and modernism.

Author: 
Herbert Palmer [Herbert Edward Palmer] (1880-1961), English poet and critic [Rev. Harry Escott (1905-1987), MA, Congregational Minister at Rhynie, Aberdeenshire]
Publication details: 
All from 22 Batchwood View, St Albans, Hertfordshire. One from 1938, two from 1942, one from 1943, and the rest undated.
£280.00

Totalling 36pp., 4to. In fair condition, bound by Escott with brown paper into paper wraps, with the front wrap signed by Escott and bearing the typed label 'LETTERS from HERBERT PALMER on "Minstrels of Christ" and my second book of verse "Soar for Victory", amended in February 1948 to "Back to the Fountain."' An interesting correspondence, casting light on the workings of the mid-twentieth century publishing industry, from the point of view of a successful traditional poet strongly opposed to modernism.

Autograph Letter Signed from the writer Robert Innes-Smith, friend of British Union of Fascists leader Sir Oswald Mosley, to James Royston Clark, tried for treason at end of war as 'Number Two' broadcaster in Berlin to 'Lord Haw Haw' [William Joyce].

Author: 
Robert Innes-Smith, friend of Sir Oswald Mosley [British Union of Fascists; James Royston Clark (b.1923), son of Dorothy Eckersley, 'Number Two' to Nazi collaborator 'Lord Haw Haw', William Joyce]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The Old Vicarage, Swinburne Street, Derby. 20 March 2000.
£180.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He begins by enquiring whether the recipient is 'the J. R. Clark who appeared recently on TV', whom he 'would love to meet'. 'In 1934 my two aunts were in Germany and wrote letters home. They were keen Nazis and my older aunt met Goering & Goebbles. My grandparents and younger aunt were given luncheon by the Mussolinis when in Rome.' He was 'rivetted' by the television programme, as he was 'transcribing the letters sent to their mother by my aunts when the programme was broadcast'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Edward A Freeman') from the historian and politician Edward Augustus Freeman to the Staffordshire antiquary Rupert Simms, correcting his list of Freeman's books for Simms's 'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis'.

Author: 
Edward Augustus Freeman (1823-1892), English historian and Liberal politician [Rupert Simms (1853-1937), bookseller and Staffordshire antiquary
Publication details: 
Somerlease, Wells. 23 February 1884.
£130.00

Freeman's letter is on the last of five folio pages, each on a separate leaf, sent to him by Simms, giving, for correction, the proposed entry on Freeman in the future 'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis'. In fair condition, on aged paper. On the first page Simms has given a brief biographical description of Freeman; the middle three pages comprise a numbered list of twenty-three of Freeman's books, with dates, and the last page carries a rather optimistic request by Simms for information regarding 'Contribution to Periodicals, Magazines, &c. Giving Number a year of Serial - Pages occuppied - &c'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the 'actor-dramatist and film adapter' Forbes Dawson to the naval writer 'Bartimeus' [Captain Sir Lewis Anselmo da Costa Ricci], describing his credentials for adapting stories for film.

Author: 
Forbes Dawson (b.1866), English 'actor-dramatist and film adapter' ['Bartimeus' [Captain Sir Lewis Anselmo da Costa Ricci [in 1941 altered to Ritchie] (1886-1967)]
Publication details: 
On his letterhead, 15 Merton Hall Gardens, SW20. 14 August 1934.
£150.00

1p., 4to. On aged paper. Printed in block capitals at head of letter: 'Experienced actor-dramatist and film adapter. Author of plays and films produced in England and America. Expert in "Dramatic Construction" gained in years of practical experience on the stage, and in films. Adapts stories to the talking films, the bigger the story with opportunities of being developed on a large scale, the better.' Addressed to 'Commander L. A. da Costa Ricci | Naval & Military Club, | 94 Piccadilly | W'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Spottiswoode') from the scientist and Queen's Printer William Spottiswoode to Captain Washington [John Washington, Hydrographer to the Navy], regarding the difficulty of 'finding a Japanese scholar' and Washington's son.

Author: 
William Spottiswoode (1825-1883), mathematician, physicist, President of the Royal Society, and the Queen's Printer [Rear-Admiral John Washington (1800-1863), Hydrographer to the Navy]
Publication details: 
H. M. Printing Office. 21 March 1860.
£125.00

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. Fair, on aged paper. The letter begins: 'Maitland, Secretary of the Civil Service Commission, tells me that Mr Robertson was examined only in European subjects; or, to use his own expression, "as to his capacity for learning Japanese".' Maitland cannot help them 'in finding a Japanese scholar'. As Spottiswoode is 'always so glad to find any one interested in oriental subjects', he asks for 'an opportunity of becoming acquainted' with Washington's son.

ALS ('E. Meyrick Goulburn') from Rev. Edward Meyrick Goulburn, Dean of Norwich, to Rev. Dr Adam Sedgwick, FRS, Woodwardian Professor of Geology at Cambridge, regarding improvements to the canonry, and St Catharine's College, Cambridge.

Author: 
Edward Meyrick Goulburn (1818-1897), Dean of Norwich from 1866 to his death, and Headmaster of Rugby, 1849-1857 [Adam Sedgwick (1785-1873); St Catharine's College, Cambridge]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The Deanery, Norwich. 9 January 1873.
£220.00

4pp., 12mo. 51 lines of text. Bifolium. On aged paper. The context is explained by the fact that until 1927 one canonry in the cathedral establishment of Norwich was attached to the Mastership of St. Catharine's College. The letter begins: 'I have requested the Master of Catherine [sic] [Charles Kirkby Robinson] to read you two letters from Canon Nisbet, which will show you how very litle prospect there is of our getting permission from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to spend any part of the money gained by our sale of the Barracks in the improvement of our Canonry Houses.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'E P Loftus Brook') from Edgar Philip Loftus Brook, FSA, FRIBA, Hon. Sec. of the British Archaeological Association, to Norwich geologist and antiquary John Gunn, regarding membership and contributions of papers.

Author: 
Edgar Philip Loftus Brook (d.1895), FSA, FRIBA, Hon. Secretary of the British Archaeological Association [Rev. John Gunn (1801-1890), Norwich geologist and antiquary; Walter de Gray Birch (1842-1924)]
Publication details: 
The first from 37 Bedford Place, Russell Square, and the second from 19 Montagu Place, Bedford Square; both on letterheads of the British Archaeological Association. 11 September 1879 and 6 May 1880.
£80.00

Both letters 2pp., 12mo, on bifoliums. Both good, on lightly-aged paper. On both letterheads Brook has cancelled the printed address and the name of the Association's president. ONE: Regarding the renewal of Gunn's membership, 'the guinea entrance fee' being unnecessary in his case. 'I have also noted my enquiry if you will contribute a paper when convenient upon the Saxon works in your district. This will be very acceptable to us.' TWO: He has sent Gunn the proof of his 'interesting little paper with which you favoured us at Caistor'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Moncure D. Conway') from the freethinker Moncure Daniel Conway, Minister at South Place Chapel, to J. T. Baron of Blackburn, discussing his essay 'The Pound of Flesh' and enclosing a printed programme of lectures.

Author: 
Moncure D. Conway [Moncure Daniel Conway] (1832-1907), American-born Minister at South Place Chapel, Finsbury, London; Unitarian, abolitionist, supporter of women's suffrage, freethinker
Publication details: 
Letter: Inglewood, on letterhead of 'The Club, Bedford Park, Chiswick'. 3 July [1882]. Programme: South Place Chapel, Finsbury, London. July 1882.
£120.00

Both items good, on lightly-aged paper. LETTER: 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In envelope, with stamp and postmarks, addressed to Baron at 48 Griffin Street, Wilton, Blackburn. He writes that he has 'been trying in vain to find the Nineteenth Century containing my essay - The Pound of Flesh'. He is 'pretty sure - but not absolutely - that it was in the number for May 1880'. The 'paper' is 'much more completely given' in his book 'The Wandering Jew', and he is enclosing a copy of a programme with an advertisement for the latter and another of his books, 'Demonology'.

[Mimeographed catalogue of manuscripts of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.] List of Manuscripts in two Glazed Cupboards of Billiard Room. Hinchingbrooke. March 1930.

Author: 
[Catalogue of Hinchingbrooke manuscripts of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792)]
Publication details: 
March 1930.
£90.00

7pp., 4to. Attached with a brass stud. The six pages of the catalogue are in fair condition, on aged paper, the title leaf is dusty and spotted. The manuscripts listed in this catalogue are primarily of a political and diplomatic nature. They do not appear to correspond with those in the 'Hinchingbrooke Collecton' listed by Cambridgeshire County Record Office on the National Archives website, an entry which gives a useful account of their origins (mainly the stables at Hinchingbrooke).

Typed Letter Signed, in French, from Jacques Lerolle of Paris music publishers Rouart, Lerolle & Cie, to Henry Prunieres of 'La Revue Musicale', concerning the manuscript of 'Valse-improvisation sur le nom de Bach' by Francis Poulenc.

Author: 
Jacques Lerolle, of the French music publishers Rouart, Lerolle & Cie [Henry Prunieres of 'La Revue Musicale'; Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), French composer]
Publication details: 
On the letterhead of Rouart, Lerolle & Cie, Editeurs de Musique, Paris. 18 November 1932.
£75.00

1p., 4to. Fair, on aged and worn paper. He begins: 'M. POULENC vous a sans doute remis le paraître dans votre supplément et nous charge de vous demander de nous le renvoyer au plus tôt lorsque votre graveur n'en aura plus besoin.' He accepts that it is likely that the Revue will ask Poulenc to correct the proof.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Westland Marston') from the dramatist and critic John Westland Marston to John T. Baron of Blackburn, discussing his only novel, and his correspondence with Charles Dickens and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Author: 
John Westland Marston (1819-1890), English dramatist and critic, associated with the Pre-Raphaelites [John T. Baron of Blackburn; Charles Dickens; Dante Gabriel Rossetti; Ward and Lock]
Publication details: 
Both from 191 Euston Road, London. 19 August 1882 and 7 July 1883.
£180.00

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Both of them bifoliums with mourning borders; and both in their original envelopes, addressed by Marston, with stamp and postmarks. ONE: 4pp., 12mo. He begins by stating that he is gratified to find that his poems please Baron. 'The only novel I wrote, (it is more than 20 years ago) has I believe been long out of print. A comparatively short tale entitled "Family Credit" together with other sketches and essays (chiefly contributed to "Household Worlds' [sic] was published many years gone by Messr. Ward and Lock as the 1st.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Phil. R. Morris') from the marine artist Philip R. Morris [to S. C. Hall], discussing his difficulty in finding someone to propose him for the Royal Academy.

Author: 
Philip R. Morris [Philip Richard Morris] (1836-1902), English genre and marine artist [S. C. Hall [Samuel Carter Hall] (1800-1889), Anglo-Irish editor of the Art Journal; Royal Academy of Arts]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Junior Athenaeum Club, Piccadilly. 30 January 1874.
£60.00

4pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He gives his 'best thanks' for his correspondent's 'watchful kindness'. As his 'acquaintance with Academicians is very limited', he has 'not yet solicited any one to propose me at the R.A.', and he 'would gladly accept Mr. E. M. Ward's obliging offer - and think Mr. G. D. Leslie or Mr Dobson would second me'. He made 'such a mistake' the previous evening, by going to the Vestry Hall, Chelsea. He found, 'on reading the circular again how I had erred'.

Autograph Letter in the third person from Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, sending money for 'Mr. Mauld' to give to a 'young lady'.

Author: 
Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865), English artist and President of the Royal Academy
Publication details: 
7 Fitzroy Square, London. 28 October 1850.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, with slight discolouration from glue. Reads: 'Mr Eastlake presents his compliments to Mr. Mauld & begs to enclose a half sovereign for the young lady on whose behalf Mr. Mauld has applied to him. | 7. Fitzroy Square | Octr. 28. 1850.'

Autograph Note in the third person from Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, painter and President of the Royal Academy, to 'Mr Whitaker', giving ''Mr Millais' address'.

Author: 
Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865), English artist and President of the Royal Academy [Sir John Everett Millais]
Publication details: 
7 Fitzroy Square, London. 5 February 1863.
£65.00

1p., 12mo. Good, with the blank second leaf of the bifolium having slight staining from mount, and having laid down on it a newspaper cutting headed 'DEATH OF SIR C. EASTLAKE', docketd 'E & T Dec 26/65'. The note reads: 'Sir Chas Eastlake presents his compts. to Mr Whitaker & begs to inform him that Mr Millais' address is No. 7. Cromwell Place | Kensington. S.W. | 7. Fitzroy Sqr. (London) | Feby 5 1863.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. M Eldridge Jr') from the Philadelphia inventor William M. Eldridge to Valentine Mott of New York, responding to 'slanders', and claiming that police searches have revealed 'the authors of the cards and all the mischief'.

Author: 
William M. Eldridge of Philadelphia, inventor [Valentine Mott (1785-1865), American surgeon]
Publication details: 
Paris. 23 May 1836.
£180.00

3pp., 4to. 60 lines of text. Bifolium. Good, on aged paper. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Valentine Mott M.D. | 25 Park Place | New-York'; with three postmarks, one from Havre and another 'Forwarded by Lewis Rogers & Co.' (Mott was in Europe at the time of writing.) An tantalising letter, regarding an intriguing affair about which nothing else appears discoverable. Eldridge is sending 'a hand bill, 5000 of which have been circulated thro Paris and the towns in its vicinity'.

Autograph Letter Signed from Charles Gilpin, Liberal MP for Northampton, to James Wyld, MP for Bodmin, putting the position of the Poor Board in the case of 'Mr Mayall', Relieving Officer.

Author: 
Charles Gilpin (1815-1874), Liberal MP for Northampton and Quaker [James Wyld (1812-1887), MP for Bodmin and cartographer; Poor Board, Whitehall]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Poor Board, Whitehall. 31 October 1860.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. 25 lines. Fair, on aged paper, with a few ink spots caused by clumsy blotting. He has 'gone through the papers referring to the case' in which Wyld is 'kindly interested', and finds 'that the decision of the Board is in accordance with its uniform rule in similiar cases. | Mr. Mayall received his appointment as Relieving Officer on the express stipulation that he should reside in Bodmin'. Mayall's 'removal would have been objected to by this Board without any adverse representation from Guardians of the District'.

Autograph Letter in the third person from Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby, to the Secretary of the Royal Zoological Society [Philip Lutley Sclater], enquiring as to 'which steps are necessary to be taken' to become a member.

Author: 
Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby, British Conservative politician [Philip Lutley Sclater (1829-1913), Secretary, Zoological Society of London]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Knowlsey, Prescot. 10 November 1869.
£30.00

1p., 12mo. With mourning border. (On his father' sdeath in October Derby had acceded to the title.) The letter reads: 'Lord Derby presents his compliments to the secretary of the Royal Zoological Society, and beign desirous of becoming a member of that body, would be much obliged to the secretary if he would inform him which steps are necessary to be taken for that object.'

Long telegram to the British Legation in Reykjavik [from the Home Office in Whitehall] instructing them on position to take with the press depending on the result of the impending 'GERMAN AIROFFENSIVE CONTRABRITAIN' [i.e. the Blitz].

Author: 
[The British Legation, Reykjavik, Iceland; Icelandic; The Blitz, 1940; Rev. Dr John Charles Fulton Hood (1884-1964), editor of 'The Midnight Sun' newspaper]
Publication details: 
On 'Landssimi Islands' telegram form. From London to 'PRODROME REYKJAVIK' on 19 August 1940.
£320.00

From the papers of Rev. J. C. Fulton Hood who, having been Chief Chaplain British Forces in Norway in 1940, worked in Iceland between 1940 and 1941. A pencil note on the telegram (see below) refers to 'The Midnight Sun', the troops’ newspaper in Norway and Iceland which Hood founded and edited. He was made a Knight of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon in 1949. The telegram is in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, and bears an oval blue 'LANDSSIMINN' stamp. It is headed 'PRESSE PRODROME REYKJAVIK' ('Prodrome, Reykjavik' being the British Icelandic Legation's telegraph address).

Part of a Manuscript, review of John Chetwode Eustace's "Tour in Italy [London, 1813) (reviewed in Edinburgh Review, 1813)

Author: 
Henry Peter Brougham, Baron Brougham and Vaux, Lord Chancellor of England (1778-1868)
Publication details: 
[1813]
£280.00

Full article published in Edinburgh Review, vol.21, pp.378-424. Manuscript, two pages, 4to, trimmed at bottom with loss of text, with light corrections and additions, giving the text for pp.407-8, excluding two lengthy quotations from the book to which Brougham gives the reference only. The trimming had led to the loss of the passage from "In the Conservatorii or charity schools [...] He gives as an instance one Conservatorio where four hundred ... where four hundred...",apart from a few words (subject of pasage partly "repentant women" and vice in Naples).

Autograph Letter Signed ('John B. Inglis') from the book collector John Bellingham Inglis to Isaac Preston Cory of Caius College, Cambridge, about the superiority of his 'method of trisecting an angle' over that of 'Mr. Rowbotham' [John Rowbotham].

Author: 
John B. Inglis [John Bellingham Inglis] (1780-1870), book collector [Isaac Preston Cory (1801/2-1842), Hebrew Lecturer, Caius College, Cambridge, and writer on accountancy; John Rowbotham (1793-1846)]
Publication details: 
21 Upper Montagu St; 24 February 1836.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. 42 lines. Bifolium. Fair, on aged paper. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'I. P. Cory Esq'. The letter begins: 'A friend of mine Mr. Jackson having told Mr. Rowbotham [Ruskin's tutor John Rowbotham] that I had discovered a method of trisecting an angle that gentleman said he had done it himself, which I believe he has, upon the proposition you showed me - he says it was originally published by Professor Leslie'. Inglis considers that 'Mr. R. seems to have hit upon something he does not quite comprehend'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('S Smiles') from Samuel Smiles, author of 'Self-Help', to John T. Bacon of Blackburn , concerning a photograph of him by S. A. Walker of Regent Street, and his book 'Physical Education'.

Author: 
Samuel Smiles (1812-1904), Scottish writer and reformer, author of 'Self-Help' (1859) [John T. Bacon of Blackburn, Lancashire, autograph hunter; S. A. Walker of Regent's Street, London, photographer]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 8 Pembroke Gardens, Kensington W. 18 July 1882.
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In original stamped and postmarked envelope, addressed by Smiles. The 'last photographic likeness' of Smiles 'was taken by Mr S. A. Walker, 230 Regent Street W'. Smiles has 'no doubt' that Walker will let Bacon 'have a copy' (i.e. Bacon will not be getting a free copy from Smiles). Smiles's book 'Physical Education' was 'published by me no less than 44 years ago. It had a small sale, and is now quite out of print. Though pretty good at the time, there are now far better works on the subject.'

Autograph Note Signed ('Gorman Mahon') from the Irish nationalist Charles James Patrick Mahon ['the O'Gorman Mahon'] to 'Monsieur Mermet'.

Author: 
Charles James Patrick Mahon [known as the O'Gorman Mahon or James Patrick Mahon] (1800-1891), Irish nationalist journalist, barrister, and Member of Parliament, a supporter of O'Connell and Parnell
Publication details: 
Hotel D<?> [Paris?]; 23 April 1832.
£220.00

1p., 12mo. On aged and creased paper, with the second leaf of the bifolium (the lower part of which is torn away) carrying the address 'A Monsr | Monsieur. Mermet'. Reads: 'My Dear Mermet | I trust this will find you sufficiently well to enable you to come over here immediately on receipt of this from your's [sic] | [signed] Gorman Mahon | Monday Morg | 10 oClock A M. | April 23, 1832. | Hotel D<?>'.

Copy of Two Typed Letters from the London publisher Martin Secker to the Scots-Canadian author Frederick Niven, the first asking for 'one more chance' to publish his work. With typed copies of two of Niven's replies, the first extremely critical.

Author: 
Frederick Niven [Frederick John Niven] (1878-1944), Scots-Canadian writer [Martin Secker [Percy Martin Secker Klingender] (1882-1978), London publisher; J. B. Pinker, literary agent]
Publication details: 
Secker: both from Number Five, John Street, Adelphi; 26 and 28 February 1913. Niven: both from Holmleigh, Church Hill, Loughton, Essex; 27 February and 2 March 1913.
£280.00

Sent by Niven to his literary agent J. B. Pinker, whose date stamp is on the first of Secker's letters. All four items in fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Secker's first letter: 1p., 4to. He begins by praising 'Denny's display' [a window display of Niven's work in Denny's bookshop in the Strand]: 'I am wondering whether you managed to get the photograph into any of the papers. Shall I send it to the Bookman?' He continues: 'The sales [of Niven's novel The Porcelain Lady] up to date amount to 434 in England.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Ada Ellen Bayly / "Edna Lyall."') by the novelist Edna Lyall (real name Ada Ellen Bayly), on the part played by illustrations in novels.

Author: 
'Edna Lyall', pseudonym of the novelist Ada Ellen Bayly (1857-1903)
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 6 College Road, Eastbourne. 11 January 1893.
£90.00

2pp., 12mo. Fifteen lines. On bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. The male recipient is not named. She apologies that 'the crowd of Christmas engagements' has meant that his letter has gone unanswered until now. 'With regard to the question you ask, my feeling is that where an artist and an author can contrive to work well together illustrations are a decided improvement to novels. But it is most trying to an author to see his characters presented to the public in a way utterly unlike his own conception of them.' In her view it is 'clear gain' if a book can be 'well illustrated'.

Anonymous eighteenth-century Manuscript Poem titled 'How to pack a Lady's Portmanteau', with verse postscript, 'How to do a Gentlemans D[itt]o'.

Author: 
[Eighteenth-century poem titled 'How to pack a Lady's Portmanteau'; Georgian fashion; Hanoverian dress; clothes; clothing]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [late eighteenth century?].
£280.00

1p., 12mo. On one side of a piece of 18 x 10 cm paper, laid down on leaf removed from commonplace book, with a clue to provenance on the reverse, provided by the part of a family tree of James Carmichael laid down there, including 'Carmichael of Balmedy', 'Tho. Graeme of Balyowan' and 'Mr Ja. Smyth of Aitherny'. Fair, on aged paper. A delightful poem, apparently unpublished, and a valuable piece of social history, containing a couple of manuscript emendations.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Berry') from Agnes Berry, sister of the poet Mary Berry and friend of Horace Walpole, to the Berry sisters' landlady the Hon. Mrs George Lamb of Richmond, describing Mary Berry's ill health.

Author: 
Agnes Berry (1764-1852), sister and companion of the poet Mary Berry (1763-1852), and friend of Horace Walpole [Hon. Mrs George Lamb [Caroline 'Caro George' Lamb'] of Devonshire Cottage, Richmond]
Publication details: 
Curzon Street, London. 7 December [1840s?].
£90.00

2pp., 12mo. 30 lines. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She begins by explaining that it was 'by an entire mistake' that Mrs Lamb's money (presumably the rent for Devonshire Lodge, owned by Mrs Lamb) was not paid, and that the mistake is 'now cleared up, & the money is to be paid this very morning by Coutt's into your Banker's'. Her sister Mary is not able to pass on this information herself, as 'she has been for above a fortnight so very unwell as not to be able to write, or occupy herself in any way - a severe fit of & Influenza has confined her, & kept me in great agony about her'.

Typed Letters Signed from Frank E. Wright, President, and W. T. Adair, Vice President and General Manager, Syndicate Publishing Company, New York, to Sydney Walton (later Lloyd George's spin doctor), on his employment in the firm's London office.

Author: 
Frank E. Wright, President, Syndicate Publishing Company, New York; W. T. Adair, Vice President and General Manager [Sydney Walton (1882-1964), journalist and spin doctor]
Publication details: 
Both on letterheads of the Syndicate Publishing Company, New York. Adair's letter: 2 December 1914. Wright's letter: 30 March 1915.
£280.00

The letters provide a fascinating insight into the development of the transatlantic publishing industry. They are closely typed with single spacing, and both centre around Walton's employment situation and his complaints about the sending over from America of 'Mr. Russell', about whose 'absolute worthlessness to the business' he complains. Adair's letter: 2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper.

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