MANUSCRIPT

[William Knight, Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of St Andrews] Autograph Letter Signed to 'My dear Robert'

Author: 
William Knight [William Angus Knight] (1836-1916), Scottish author and editor, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of St Andrews
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the University Arms Hotel, Cambridge. 7 August 1902.
£90.00

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. In addition to the message he left for the recipient's guest 'as to Carnegie', he asks him to tell his father-in-law (the London parliamentary bookseller P. S. King?) 'that it will be a very great favour if he sends me, to glance over, those letters he spoke of'. He undertakes to 'return them at once', and gives his address in Aberdeenshire for August and September. He has 'called twice on the chance of seeing Mrs. Roberts to say Goodbye', and asks the recipient to 'say it for me, in kindly fashion'.

[William A'Court or à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury.] Autograph Letter Signed from Naples to Charles R. Broughton of the Foreign Office

Author: 
William à Court [A'Court] (1779-1860), 1st Baron Heytesbury, Envoy Extraordinary to Barbary States, Naples, Spain; Ambassador to Russia, Portugal; Lord Lieutenant of Ireland [Charles R. Broughton]
Publication details: 
Naples. 22 June 1815.
£220.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Charles R. Broughton Esqre | Foreign Office | London', and docketed by recipient on the same page 'Naples 22 June 1815 | Wm. Court | 12 July | A'. à Court has written 'Duplicate' in the top left-hand corner of the first page (he would have sent several copies of the letter in case one miscarried, but the fact that this is the one that was received by Broughton is evidenced by the docketing). In fair condition, on aged paper, with usual broken wafer.

[William Hurrell Mallock, novelist and conservative writer.] Two Autograph Letters Signed ('W. H. Mallock') to 'Lady Dorothy [Nevill]', with his short story 'Positivism on an Island: The New Paul and Virginia', extracted from the Contemporary Review.

Author: 
W. H. Mallock [William Hurrell Mallock] (1849-1923), novelist, journalist and conservative writer [Lady Dorothy Nevill (1826-1913), hostess]
Publication details: 
The two letters from L<airbeck?> Cottage, Keswick, Cumberland. 28 and 31 March 1878. The printed short story extracted from The Contemporary Review, London, vol.32, 1878.
£220.00

The present short story, based on Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's 1787 novel Paul et Virginie, was expanded into a novel published by Chatto & Windus in the same year, and is regarded as a significant example of the dystopian literature popular during the period. The three items are attached to one another along margins. All in good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Letter One (28 March 1898): 2pp., 12mo. He explains that he is hoping to send her a copy on the following day 'a copy of a new production of mine, which is to appear in the "Contemporary Review".

[P. S. King, London Parliamentary Bookseller.] 36 items from his papers, including correspondence from individuals including the Bishop of Chichester, Sir Charles Bowyer Adderley, Sir Edward Cholmley Dering, William Knight and other public figures.

Author: 
P. S. King [Philip Stephen King] (1819-1908), London Parliamentary Bookseller of 12 Bridge St, Westminster and other addresses[William Knight, Sir Charles Bowyer Adderley; Sir Edward Cholmley Dering]
Publication details: 
Mainly from London and Westminster. Dating from between 1855 and 1907.
£450.00

The notable London firm of P. S. King & Son, 'Publishers, Parliamentary and General Booksellers, Bookbinders and Printers', was in existence for more than a hundred years, having been established, according to its own account, in Parliament Street in 1819, and still active until 1941, when it became P. S. King and Staples, under which name it traded for around six years. (An advertisement for the Staples Press Limited in The Times, 14 February 1946, lists, among incorporated companies: 'P. S.

[Henri Cernuschi, Italo-French banker and collector.] Autograph Letter Signed to the London parliamentary bookseller Philip Stephen King, apologising for not being able to supply him with autographs, as his collection has been stolen 'toute entière'.

Author: 
Henri Cernuschi [Enrico Cernuschi] (1821-1896), Italo-French banker and collector, whose Paris mansion is now the Musée Cernuschi [Philip Stephen King (1819-1908), London parliamentary bookseller]
Publication details: 
On the letterhead of his Paris mansion at 7 Avenue Velasquez, Parc Monceau [now the Musée Cernuschi]. 29 April [c. 1889].
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on aged paper, with slight wear to one corner. Signed 'H. Cernuschi'. He begins by stating that from King's 'première lettre' he had recognised his handwriting. He apologises for not being able to comply with a request of King's: 'Je possédais une importante collection d'autographes - mais elle m'a été volee toute entière'. He concludes by instructing King to send to Westminster '600 copies de Bimetalism in England aand Abroad et 50 copies de mon Speech a Paris 1889'.

[Isabelle Bogelot, nineteenth-century French women's activist.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the London bookseller Philip Stephen King and his wife]

Author: 
Isabelle Bogelot (1838-1923), French activist, whose Oeuvre des Libérées de Saint-Lazare assisted former inmates of the Paris prison [Philip Stephen King (1819-1908), London parliamentary bookseller]
Publication details: 
4 rue Perrault [Paris]. 19 April 1886.
£90.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Not having had 'la facilté de profiter de la bonne recommendation de Miss Louisa Hardy', she writes a letter of recommendation for her son, who will be passing through London for a few days: 'c'est lui qui vous portera nos compliments et vous remercira des articles des journaux que vous m'avez fait parvenir et qu'il m'a traduit'.

[Chatto & Windus, London publishers.] Manuscript letter, signed on behalf of 'Chatto & Windus', to fellow London bookseller Philip Stephen King, declining the offer of a translation of Portuguese novelist Alexandre Herculano's 'O Monge de Cister'.

Author: 
Chatto & Windus [P. S. King [Philip Stephen King] (1819-1908), London Parliamentary Bookseller of 12 Bridge St, Westminster and other addresses; Alexandre Herculano (1810-1877), Portuguese writer]
Publication details: 
On the firm's letterhead at the 'Office of Belgravia of the Gentleman's Magazine & of "Academy Notes", 74 & 75 Piccadilly, London. 4 January 1878.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Tasteful letterhead including the firm's device within an oval, printed in sepia. In good condition: on aged and lightly-worn paper. King was the leading London parliamentary bookseller, and it is interesting to see him apparently offering a work of his own to other publishers. The letter reads: 'Dear Sir | We beg to acknowledge with thanks your offer of a translation of Herculano's "O Monge de Cister," which we much regret our inability to accept - our hands being very full just now, & all our arrangements for some time to come made.

[New Zealand; Maoris; Admiral David Robertson-Macdonald.] Autograph transcripts of 3 documents (defence of Kororarika, NZ, against an attack by 'natives' during the Flagstaff War). With 88 (eighty-eight) newspaper obituaries and other biographical matter.

Author: 
Admiral David Robertson-Macdonald (1817-1910), Scottish Royal Navy officer who served under six sovereigns [his son David Macdonald Robertson-Macdonald (1857-1919)]
Publication details: 
[Edinburgh, Scotland; Kororarika, Nelson and Auckland, New Zealand.] The transcripts, made by the Admiral towards the end of his life, from documents dating from 1845. The newspaper obituaries all dating from 1910. Other matter from 1918.
£450.00

At the outbreak of the Flagstaff War, Robertson-Macdonald was serving as Commander of HMS Hazard. On 11 March 1845 he was severely wounded while leading the defence of the town of Kororarika (now Russell) from 'the attack of an overwhelming body of natives', resulting in the loss of six of his men. The three transcripts that form Item One below relate to this action, and were presumably made out by the Admiral himself towards the end of his life, in a shaky hand and with a number of errors.

[Eric Gill, sculptor and typographer] Two Signed Letters (one 'Eric Gill' and the other 'Eric Gill osd') to Lawrence Hodson, both in the same secretarial hand, regarding a woodcut 'set of stations'.

Author: 
Eric Gill [Arthur Eric Rowton Gill] (1882-1940), British sculptor, artist and typographer [Lawrence William Hodson (1865-1934), art connoisseur; Father Bernard Delaney (1890-1959), OP]
Publication details: 
On letterheads of Ditchling Common, Sussex. 3 November 1920 and 10 March 1921.
£250.00

Both items in fair condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. The second letter addressed by the secretary on the reverse, with four torn stamps and postmarks, to 'Mr. Lawrence Hodson | Bradbourne Hall | Ashbourne | Derbyshire'. The 'set of stations' referred to in the first letter is likely to have been based on those executed by Gill in stone in Westminster Cathedral, and completed in 1918. Letter One (3 November 1920): 1p., 12mo.

[Ernest Walker, musicologist and composer.] Autograph Letter Signed, written while assistant organist at Balliol College, Oxford, advising 'Miss White' [Maude Valérie White?] on her musical compositions.

Author: 
Ernest Walker (1870-1949), English musicologist and composer, born in India, Assistant Organist at Balliol College, Oxford, 1891-1901 [to 'Miss White' [Maude Valérie White (1855-1937), composer]
Publication details: 
15 Ship Street, Oxford. 18 November 1898.
£120.00

4pp., 12mo. 65 lines of text. Bifolium. In fair condition: on aged paper with one dogeared corner. He begins by apologising for not returning her manuscript sooner: 'what with my Doctorate exam: and other things, I have been specially busy'. Having been 'completely through the MSS' he lists those he likes best: 'the Rhapsodies (especially No. 1 - also No. 5 and No. 3 - especially the opening subject of No. 5).

[E. J. Sullivan, English book illustrator.] Page of pencil sketches of girls dancing, captioned 'The poppy', 'Sheperdess' and 'Mamma's [sic] little Alabama Coon'.

Author: 
E. J. Sullivan [Edmund Joseph Sullivan] (1869-1933), English book illustrator
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [Circa 1894?]
£160.00

1p., 4to (22.5 x 18cm). On laid paper. In fair condition, aged and with slight chipping. The sketches are crude but attractive, headed with a line of three girls in black stockings and petticoats shaking a leg, with the phrase 'The poppy' in the top left-hand corner, and a line of girls at the foot, with an oriental male figure with cane in the background, captioned 'Mamma's Alabama Coon'. Two sketches of the 'Shepherdess' at bottom right, with usual broad-brimmed hat and crook. Hattie Starr's 'Little Alabama Coon' took London by storm in 1894.

[James Stevens Cox, antiquary and bookseller.] Two of his pamphlets, published by his Toucan Press: 'The Richard Curle Collection of the Works of Cicely Veronica Wedgwood' and 'Surrealism and the Coiffure'. With Richard Curle's monograph on Cox..

Author: 
[James Stevens Cox (1910-1997), antiquary, bookseller and proprietor of the Toucan Press; Richard Curle (1883-1968); surrealism; hairdressing]
Publication details: 
'The Richard Curle Collection': Published by J. Stevens Cox at the Toucan Press, Beaminster, Dorset, 1961. 'Surrealism and the Coiffure', 2nd edition, Toucan Press, Mount Durand, St Peter Port, Guernsey, C.I. 1977. Curle's monograph Stirling, 1962.
£220.00

The three items in good condition, with minor aging and the last two items lightly-creased. ONE: 'The Richard Curle Collection of the Works of Cicely Veronica Westwood'. Published by J. Stevens Cox at the Toucan Press, Beaminster, Dorset, 1961. 19pp., 16mo. In green printed wraps. Stapled. '65 copies printed'. Four-page introduction, in which Cox writes: 'I wish to emphasise, however, that, despite the amplitude of the muster, this is not a Bibliography.

Printed 'Memorandum on Programme of the Visit of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, K.G., to Sierra Leone on 6th & 7th April 1925.'

Author: 
Visit of the Prince of Wales [later King Edward VIII] to Sierra Leone, 1925 [Alexander Howard Ross (1880-1965), Commissioner, Southern Province of Sierra Leone, 1920-1928]
Publication details: 
[Freetown, Sierra Leone?] '437-150. 14-3-25. [i.e. 14 March 1925]'.
£220.00

21pp., 12mo. Printed with blue ink on cream paper. Saddle-stitched with blue ribbon, in light blue printed wraps. In fair condition, aged, worn and lightly creased. An interesting document, providing local information and casting light on the protocol of a Royal Visit. The document begins: '6th April. | I. 9.05 a.m. H.E. the Governor leaves Government House, accompanied by Staff, and drives to Government Wharf. | 9.10 a.m. The Governor, Mr. Basevi and Lieutenant Harrison embark on the Governor's Barge from the Eastern Jetty. By permission of Commander Geary Hill a launch from H.M.S.

Manuscript Interrogatories in a law suit over Colonel Nicholas Shuttleworth's alleged abuse of Richard Greene, with claims that he has beaten him, cheated his estate and taken his wife as mistress. With transcript and letter by William Beamont.

Author: 
William Beamont (c.1797-1889) of Orford Hall, antiquary and first Mayor of Warrington [Sir Nicholas Shuttleworth; Richard Greene [Grene]; Richard Green of St Martin's in the Fields]
Publication details: 
1653. Beamont's letter and transcript both 15 March 1878, the letter on letterhead of Orford Hall, Warrington.
£150.00

1p., 4to. On a piece of watermarked laid paper. Aged, and with chipping and loss along the fold lines, which have been repaired on the reverse with (nineteenth-century?) tape. The words 'Cromwells Protector' in a later hand at the head of the reverse, which is otherwise blank. Accompanied by a autograph transcript (3pp., foolscap 8vo) by Beamont, 'Copied from the original Mar. 15, 1878', and an Autograph Letter (2pp., 12mo) from him to 'Miss Blackburne', on letterhead of Orford Hall, Warrington, also dated 15 March 1878. Beamont begins his letter: 'I return your paper with a transcript.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('C Vaublanc') from the French Minister of the Interior the Comte de Vaublanc [to the English Member of Parliament John Blackburne], enclosing a facsimile of Queen Marie Antoinette's last letter by Pierre Picquet.

Author: 
Vincent-Marie Viénot, Comte de Vaublanc (1756-1845), French Minister of the Interior; Pierre Picquet, engraver; John Blackburne (1754-1833), MP for Lancashire, 1784-1830; Queen Marie Antoinette
Publication details: 
Vaublanc's letter from Paris, 13 April 1816. Picquet's engraving without date or place.
£250.00

The two items are in very good condition, on lightly aged paper. Item One: Secretarial Letter, in French, by 'C Vaublanc', Vincent-Marie Viénot, Count of Vaublanc (1756-1845), 'Le Ministre Secretaire d'Etat de L'Intérieur' [French Minister of the Interior]. Paris, 13 April 1816. He is sending the 'fac simile De la Lettre de notre Infortunée Reine', and in order to dispel any doubts as to authenticity has initialled the foot of the third page.

Eighteenth-century transcription of inscription relating to the Eleanor Cross, Geddington, Northamptonshire, filled with errors and describing its restoration in 1712. From the papers of John Blackburne of Orford Hall, Warrington.

Author: 
[Queen Eleanor of Castile, wife of King Edward I of England; Eleanor Cross, Geddington, Northamptonshire; John Blackburne (1694-1786) of Orford Hall, Warrington, naturalist and horticulturalist]
Publication details: 
Without place or date[1750s?].
£120.00

1p., landscape 12mo. On aged and lightly-creased laid paper ('PRO PATRIA' watermark), with chipping to extremities. On reverse, in another hand: 'At Northampton a Monument at the Inn'.

Manuscript inventory of 'Select Books' of drawings by the army officer and artist Lieut-Col. Robert Batty, with part of printed auction catalogue, containing his collection of paintings, priced.

Author: 
Lieut-Col. Robert Batty (1789-1848), English army officer and artist, son-in-law of John Barrow, Secretary of the Admiralty.
Publication details: 
Manuscript inventory: dated June 1919. Printed auction catalogue: Christie, Manson and Woods, London, 1887.
£150.00

Both items in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Item One: Pencil inventory of 'RB | Select Books' - i.e. volumes of drawings by Richard Batty, dated June 1919. 3pp., 8vo, with separate inventory on last page headed 'Book of Engravings | In Drawing Room'. Bifolium. The first item in the list of 'Select Books' reads 'no Cover 1817 April Lyons Genoa Florence Rome (May) to 24 June'. Last entry on p.3: '1832 IV, thick 26 Decr Dawlish & 23 Jany | Coaxden [sic] Hall May 23 | Chard Torquay (July) Plymouth Falmouth | Lands End St Michaels M[oun]t 15 July 1833'.

Autograph Journal of Johanna Maria Barrow, daughter of Sir John Barrow of Ulverston, describing her courtship by the soldier and artist Captain Robert Batty.

Author: 
Johanna Maria Batty (1800-1886), wife of the English army officer and artist Lieut-Col. Robert Batty (1789-1848), and daughter of Sir John Barrow (1764-1848)
Publication details: 
[Darley Dale and Dovedale, Derbyshire.] 31 July to 1821 and succeeding days.
£400.00

9pp., 12mo. In makeshift unbound pamphlet, made up of six bifoliums pinned together. In good condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. While short, the account is vivid, its first-person account of a whirlwind Regency romance evoking the inevitable comparison with Jane Austen. Written with the long s, the journal begins: 'On Monday July 31st.

Autograph Manuscript and two Typescripts of an article by the publisher F. J. H. Darton [Frederick Joseph Harvey Darton] entitled ''West One', on the foundation and history of Grafton Street in London.

Author: 
F. J. H. Darton [Frederick Joseph Harvey Darton] (1878-1936), English publisher and writer [Grafton Street, London; Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton (1683-1757)]
Publication details: 
[London; 1920s?]
£180.00

The three items are all in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight marking from rusty paperclips. Manuscript: 13pp., 4to. On 13 leaves, paginated 1-13. With a few emendations and corrections. The two typescripts, both well typed, have different layouts to one another. First (smaller) Typescript: 9pp., 4to. Second (larger) Typescript: Carbon copy. 9pp., 4to. The article begins: '"The iniquity of oblivion blindly scattereth her poppy . . .

Corrected Autograph Manuscript and Typescript of a chapter of a book by F. J. H. Darton [Frederick Joseph Harvey Darton] titled 'The Microcosm of England', on the London publisher Rudolph Ackermann, headed 'Aquatint collection draft'.

Author: 
F. J. H. Darton [Frederick Joseph Harvey Darton] (1878-1936), English publisher and writer [Rudolph Ackermann (1764-1834), London publisher, born in Saxony]
Publication details: 
[London, 1920s?]
£380.00

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight rust spotting. Manuscript: 12pp, 4to. On twelve leaves, paginated 1-12. With emendations and corrections. Note at head of page: 'Dates & title meant to be typical only: subject to revision from collection catalogue etc & to fit later details of book.' Also at head of page, in red pencil: 'Aquatint collection draft first chapter'. Manuscript: 9pp., 4to. On nine leaves attached with stud (last leaf loose).

Autograph Letter Signed ('Woide'), in French, from the oriental scholar and Assistant Librarian at the British Museum Charles Godfrey Woide [Karl Gottfried Woide], a letter of recommendation for the Swedish naturalist Nils Samuel Svederus.

Author: 
Charles Godfrey Woide [Karl Gottfried Woide] (1725-1790), Polish-born oriental scholar, Assistant Librarian at the British Museum from 1782 [Nils Samuel Swederus (1751-1833), Swedish naturalist]
Publication details: 
'a Londres au Museum Britannique ce 22 Febr. 1786' [At the British Museum, London. 22 February 1786.
£135.00

1p., 4to. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. A letter of recommendation for 'Mr Svederus, Chapellain du Roy de Suede, qui va a Paris pour quelques mois, et qui est recommandé au Ministre Suedois'. Woide explains that he became acquainted with Svederus during his stay in London, which lasted almost a whole year. He concludes by sending his regards to six individuals, beginning with 'Mr de Guines'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Beaverbrook') from the press baron Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, proprietor of the Daily Express, to the London bookseller Charles J. Sawyer, regarding 'the United States Tariff Act'.

Author: 
William Maxwell "Max" Aitken (1879-1964), 1st Baron Beaverbrook [Lord Beaverbrook], Anglo-Canadian press baron, proprietor of the Daily Express [Charles J. Sawyer, London bookseller]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Lord Beaverbrook's Office, 29 Bury Street, St James', SW1 [London]. 14 July 1930.
£60.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with strip from mount adhering at head of blank reverse. He thanks Sawyer for his letter: 'I am obliged to you for sending me the front page of the United States Tariff Act'. 'The Americans are out for their own prosperity all the time. I only wish our own Government would show the same propensity.' He addresses the letter to 'Chas. J. Sawyer, Esq., 12 & 13, Grafton Street, New Bond Street, W.1.

Autograph Letter Signed from 'W. Taylor' (the Swahili scholar Rev. William Ernest Taylor (1856-1927)?) to Sir Thomas Lynedoch Graham, regarding Sir Gordon Sprigg and the suspension of the Cape constitution.

Author: 
W. Taylor of Plumstead [Rev. William Ernest Taylor (1856-1927), Swahili scholar?] [Sir Thomas Lynedoch Graham (1860-1940); Cape Colony; South Africa; Lord Milner; Sir Gordon Sprigg]
Publication details: 
Plumstead. 12 June 1902.
£250.00

2pp., foolscap 8vo. 54 lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Addressed to 'The Hon. T. L. Graham, M.L.C., Prime Minister's Office, Cape Town.' Taylor begins by thanking Graham for his 'courteous letter' and is pleased to find that he has not been misunderstood. 'While siding with Dr. Smart it was on purely personal grounds that I wrote you. I cannot say that a number of your constituents differ from you; I do not know.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Willm. B Carpenter') from the English zoologist William Benjamin Carpenter, explaining to Rev. John Page Hopps why he cannot address a meeting.

Author: 
William Benjamin Carpenter (1813-1885), English physician, zoologist, physiologist, and Registrar of the University of London from 1856 to 1879 [Rev. John Page Hopps (1834-1911), spiritualist]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the University of London, Burlington Gardens, W. 17 February 1875.
£75.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper, tipped in onto a card mount. He explains that he is 'obliged to return to London immediately after the delivery of my Lecture in Glasgow', and so will not be able 'to address the audience you bring together'. If he is 'asked to take part in the Glasgow Science Lectures' the following year, he will bear Hopps's wish in mind. Hopps was both an evolutionist and spiritualist, while Carpenter considered the claims of spiritualism 'epidemic delusions'.

Autograph Letter, in the third person, from the Scottish politician and statistician Sir John Sinclair to London solicitor John Spottiswoode, regarding an inheritance claim pertaining to the Ratter family.

Author: 
Sir John Sinclair (1754-1835), 1st Baronet, Scottish politician and writer on finance and agriculture, who coined the word 'statistics' [John Spottiswoode (1743-1811), London solicitor; Ratter family]
Publication details: 
'Whitehall | Sundy Eveng' [May 1790].
£120.00

1p., 4to. On bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter is on the recto of the first leaf, with the address - 'John Spottiswoode Esq. | Sackville St' - on the reverse of the second, which is also docketed 'Sir John Sinclair | Whitehall May 1790'. The letter reads: 'Sir John Sinclair presents his Comps. to Mr Spottiswoode - He has examined the Letter sent to Mr Grant and thinks that the objections mentioned in it, do not require any delay in drawing up the Claim.

Autograph Note Signed ('Charles Fox')[ from the civil engineer and designer of the Crystal Palace] Sir Charles Fox to Edward Walford, regarding the proof of his entry in biograpahical dictionary.

Author: 
Sir Charles Fox (1810-1874), English civil engineer on railways and London's Crystal Palace [Edward Walford (1823-1897), journalist and biographer]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 8 New Street, Spring Gardens, London. 15 May 1867.
£120.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of glue from mount on blank reverse. He informs Walford that he is returning 'the notes of my career having made some slight alterations'. He suggests that it would be 'well for me to compare the proof with the drafts'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Fitzroy Maclean') from Sir Fitzroy Maclean, thanking the London bookseller R. E. B. Sawyer for giving his opinion of his botanical drawings.

Author: 
Sir Fitzroy Maclean (1911-1996), Scottish soldier and author best-known for 'Eastern Approaches' [R. E. B. Sawyer of the London booksellers Charles J. Sawyer & Co]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Strachur House, Argyll [Scotland]. 25 April 1978.
£120.00

1p., 12mo. On light-blue paper. In good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. He thanks Sawyer for his letter and enclosure, found on his return and read 'with the greatest interest'. 'It was extremely kind of you to come and look at my botanical drawings and I am most grateful for the information you have been able to give me. It was marvellous to be able to have the opinion of a real expert.'

Typed Letter Signed ('Arthur') from the science-fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke, sendng personal news to Arthur Bourne of the Academic Press Inc., including that he is 'happily retired with theh completion of my last and best novel.

Author: 
Sir Arthur C. Clarke [Sir Arthur Charles Clarke] (1917-2008), English science and science-fiction writer [Arthur Bourne of the Academic Press Inc, British science journalist]
Publication details: 
'Leslie's House', 25 Barnes Place, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka. 7 November 1978.
£150.00

1p., 12mo. Air mail letter on blue paper, addressed to Arthur Bourne, Academic Press Inc. (London) Ltd, 24-28 Oval Road, London, NW1 7DX, England. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Clarke begins by thanking Bourne for his letter, and informing him that he has 'sent a card of thank [sic] to Dr. Allan Cottey'. 'I am now happily retired with the completion of my last and best novel "The Fountains of Paradise" (Playboy January and February - HBJ; Gollancz, January). I expect to be back in England in August to attend the World S. F.

Autograph Letter, Signed 'Glencairn', presumably written by Sir Adam Fergusson of Kilkerran, claimant of the Earldom of Glencairn, to the Earl of Eglinton, offering to raise a volunteer company 'to serve within the district' of the Parish of Kilbride

Author: 
Sir Adam Fergusson (1733-1813) of Kilkerran [Earl of Glencairn; Hugh Montgomerie (1739-1819), 12th Earl of Eglinton, Lord Lieutenant, County of Ayr; Scottish militia; Kilbride, Ayrshire, Scotland]
Publication details: 
Kilmarnock [Scotland]. 28 July 1798.
£180.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged paper with loss to corners caused by removal from mount. Glencairn writes that with Eglinton's 'approbation' he offers 'to raise for His Majesties Service an Independant [sic] or Volunteer Company in the Parish of Kilbride Ayrshire Consisting of Sixty Men inclusive of non comissioned [sic] Officers Drums & Fifes or otherways as shall be deem'd most proper - upon the Same Footing and Regulations as other Independant [sic] or Volunteer Companys - and to serve within the District'.

Autograph Letter Signed from Polish refugee Dr Severin Wielobycki to an unnamed lady, enclosing a printed report of his brother Dionysius Wielobycki 's trial in Edinburgh for forging the will of Margaret Darling, headed 'Dr Wielobycki's Trial'.

Author: 
Severin Wielobycki (1793-1893) and his brother, Dionysius Wielobycki (1813-1882), Polish refugees who both trained as doctors in Edinburgh, before becoming homoeopaths [Isabella Darling]
Publication details: 
Letter: 55 Queen Street, Edinburgh. 26 January 1857. Newspaper report reprinted 'From the EDINBURGH NEWS of Saturday, Jan. 10, 1857.'
£180.00

Both items in fair condition, lightly-aged and worn. Severin Wielobycki's letter is 1p., 12mo. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. It reads: 'Dear Madam. | I am much delighted that you take interest in my brother; all friends of his are of the same opinion tat he has been treated very unjustly. I hope your influence will if not relieve him, at any rate shorten his horrible sentence. | I beg to enclose two copies of the document according to your request' (only one copy present). The report of 'Dr Wielobycki's Trial' is 1p., 4to, on grey paper, in two columns of small print.

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