MANUSCRIPT

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. Melmoth') from the writer William Melmoth the Younger to the attorney Joseph Sharpe

Author: 
William Melmoth the Younger (c.1710-1799), translator of Pliny and Cicero, and author of 'Fitzosborne's Letters' (1748, 1749)
Publication details: 
Bath; 15 January 1767.
£180.00

1 p, 4to. Nine lines, in a neat and close hand. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, and still tipped-in onto a leaf from an autograph album. Addressed, with two postmarks, on reverse of second leaf of bifolium, to 'Mr. Jos. Sharpe, | at his chambers in | Lincolns Inn | London'. He wrote to Sharpe five weeks previously, sending a lease for his perusal, 'and likewise to authorise you to deliver up my sister's plate upon Mr. Argile paying you ye. <?> I agreed to take.' If the latter matter is still unsettled, he instructs Sharpe to apply to Argile's attorney 'to settle it forthwith'.

Autograph Manuscript of the American actor and poet John Howard Payne, either an original poem or a translation, entitled 'Ode the Sixteenth. | The Herb Rue'.

Author: 
John Howard Payne (1791-1852), American actor and playwright, best-known for his song 'Home, Sweet Home'
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£165.00

2 pp, 4to. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with slight wear to extremities. On one leaf, with both sides ruled with red borders. In Payne's neat and distinctive hand, and attributed to him in pencil at head.

Autograph Signature of John Hunter, LLD, Professor of Humanity at the University of St Andrews, with accompanying note by Rev. Thomas Dick.

Author: 
John Hunter (1745-1837), Professor of Humanity, University of St Andrews, Fife, and classical scholar [Rev. Thomas Dick (1774-1857), writer on science]
Publication details: 
[February 1834]; St Andrews, Fife.
£56.00

On one side of piece of paper approximately 18 x 8.5 cm. Neatly placed in a windowpane mount of laid paper, 25 x 20 cm. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Written in a clear, firm hand: 'John Hunter LL.D. | Profr. of Humanity | St. Andrews. | Fife.' Beneath this, along the foot of the page, in a small hand (identified in note on mount as 'The writing of Dr Dick, author of "The Christian Philosopher &c'): 'Dr Hunter is about 90 years of age, and still retains his bodily & mental vigour | This Autograph was written in Feby. 1834. T. D.'

Mimeographed typescript history of a club for New York antiquarian booksellers, titled 'The Old Book Table | A Social Organisation | An Informal Record 1931-1970 | Lists of Officers & Members and of Guests of The Old Book Table | &c., &c.'

Author: 
The Old Book Table, club for New York antiquarian booksellers, founded 1931 [Ernest R. Gee; E. Byrne Hackett, Brick Row Bookshop; Frank R. Thoms (Thoms and Eron); Edgar H. Wells; Geoffrey J. L. Gomme]
Publication details: 
Undated [1971]. New York: The OBT [i.e. The Old Book Table].
£600.00

[iv] + 39 + 7 pp, with a further 17 pp loosely inserted at back (making a total of 67 pp), 4to. Good, in maroon plastic folder. Preface followed by list of 'Past Officers, Roster of Members, etc.', 'Chronology of The Old Book Table [1931-1970]' and 'Alphabetical List of Guests 1933-1970'. The loose leaves mainly consist of 'Extracts from the Minutes: 1931-1954'. The preface begins: 'Five members of the antiquarian booktrade in New York City met for a friendly dinner on the night of 9 January 1931. They were: Ernest R. Gee, a leading specialist in sporting and color plate books; E.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'T: Dibdin') from the playwright and song-writer Thomas Dibdin to his publisher John Whitaker of Button & Whitaker of St Paul's Churchyard, discussing work and finances; with an autograph cheque signed by Dibdin.

Author: 
Thomas Dibdin [Thomas John Dibdin] (1771-1841), dramatist, song-writer, author of pantomime 'Mother Goose' and song 'The Snug Little Island' [Button & Whitaker, music publishers, St Pauls Churchyard]
Publication details: 
The two letters: 'Weston Green 10th: July [1812]' and 'Johnsons Coffee House | Monday Evg: [July 1812]'. Cheque: 'London September 19th: 1817'.
£320.00

All three items are on stubs, within a card wallet. All good, on aged paper. Letter One: 'Weston Green 10th: July'. 1 p, 4to. On bifolium, with verso of second leaf addressed to 'Mr: Whitaker | St: Pauls Church Yard | London', with two postmarks (one 'KINGSTON - T | 12'), and docketed 'Mr; T.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm: Melmoth') to 'my very dear Sophia [Walters]', exhibiting a warmth unusual in one writing 'at the advanced Age of eighty five'.

Author: 
William Melmoth the Younger (c.1710-1799), translator of Pliny and Cicero, and author of 'Fitzosborne's Letters' (1748, 1749) [Sophia Walters]
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated. Docketed in a contemporary hand: '1798 Written at the advanced Age of eighty five [sic, for 88]'.
£180.00

1 p, landscape 12mo (18.5 x 11.5 cm). Eleven long lines in a small neat hand. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Tipped in onto a piece of paper, 21 x 13 cm. The reference to Melmoth's 'advanced Age' is at the foot of the page. Docketed on reverse in a contemporary hand: 'From Mr. Melmoth to Mrs. Walters'. Begins: 'Believe me, my very dear Sophia, I am so truely [sic] your obedient servant in every affectionate & friendly sense of those terms, that there is no office in which you can employ me I shd.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'A Henry Savage Landor') from the traveller Arthur Henry Savage Landor to 'Mr Roper' of Boston [the inventor Sylvester H. Roper?].

Author: 
Arnold Henry Savage Landor (1865-1924), English painter, explorer and writer, born in Florence, discoverer in Tibet of sources of Indus and Brahmaputra rivers [Sylvester H. Roper (1823-96) of Boston]
Publication details: 
First Letter: 'Saturday' [1 December 1888]; on lettherhead of the Somerset Club, Boston. Second Letter: 'Sunday' [6 January 1889]; 2 Walnut Street [Boston].
£165.00

Both items in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, each with slight trace of paper label at spine. Letter One: 3 pp, 12mo. Docketed at head of first page '1 Dec/88.' and 'The Explorer of Thibet [sic]'. He thanks him 'for the Card of the St Botolph Club' and will try to go there the following day. He has 'so many things to do' that he is not sure he will be able to stay there long. Letter Two: 4 pp, 12mo. Docketed beneath address '6 January 89.', and beneath signature 'The traveller in Thibet [sic]'. Thanking him for the 'note and cheque', and hoping that the sketch arrived safely.

Autograph Letter Signed from the writer and suffragist Augusta Webster to 'Mrs Picton'.

Author: 
Augusta Webster [née Julia Augusta Davies] (1837-1894), English poet, novelist and advocate of Women's Suffrage [her husband Thomas Webster (1832-1913), fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge]
Publication details: 
8 November 1867; Cambridge.
£180.00

4 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 89 lines. Text clear and complete. She begins by apologising for the delay in sending an autograph: 'In atonement I give you Anthony Trollope's signature, which perhaps you have not got.' Reports that they 'went to the Italian lakes this summer. We aimed at Venice but gave it up because of the cholera.' She regrets that the recipient's 'friends book & chart do not prosper. Mr Bowes (the Macmillan of the shop) thought the chart a good plan and likely to succeed, except that the size would be against it'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('B Price') from Bonamy Price, Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University, to 'My dear General' at Yale, following an 'American journey'.

Author: 
Bonamy Price (1807-1888), Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University, and Fellow of Worcester College [William Graham Sumner (1840-1910), Professor of Sociology, Yale University]
Publication details: 
2 March 1875; on letterhead of 2 Norham Gardens, Oxford.
£180.00

4 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 63 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Difficult hand. He thanks him for 'the Statistical Tables', admitting with 'some shame' that he needs 'an interpreter for part of the tables on page 68'. Describes the problem in detail, and discusses 'the sly remark that "the change is being made quite as abruptly as would be safe".

Autograph Manuscript of Captain Basil Hall, RN, FRS, cut from letter, and with his signature, giving his plans while in America.

Author: 
Captain Basil Hall (1788-1844), RN, FRS, naval officer, traveller and author, friend of Sir Walter Scott
Publication details: 
Note in contemporary hand reads 'From Washington - 13 Jan: 1828.'
£280.00

On one side of a piece of paper approximately 18.5 x 6.5 cm, neatly cut from a letter. Laid down on a piece of 22.5 x 28 cm paper, and with a border drawn around it. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'We have been most kindly & hospitably received by every body & I find such a variety of character & even of incident (of a political kind) that I rejoice exceedingly at having come here in the first instance. We still propose leaving this on the 1st. of Feby., Charleston on the 1st. of March, & New Orleans on the 1st.

Corrected Autograph Manuscript of part of Captain Thomas Mayne Reid's 1866 novel 'Afloat in the Forest'.

Author: 
Captain Thomas Mayne Reid (1818-1883), Irish-American novelist
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated [circa 1866].
£280.00

1 p, folio. On grey paper. Fair, on aged paper, with slight spotting and chipping to extremities affecting a few words of text. A whole page of the manuscript, numbered '9' and written entirely in Reid's hand, with a few minor emendations by him, from Chapter XXVI, 'Treed by an Alligator'. Begins with the reported speech: '"That would be anything but pleasant - perhaps more so [last word emended from 'unpleasant'] to those who are waiting for us, than to ourselves.

Autograph Note Signed ('Dion: Lardner') from Dr Dionysius Lardner, editor of the Cabinet Cyclopaedia, to W. S. Tuckerman of Boston; with original print of the drawing of 'The Editor of the "Cabinet Cyclopaedia"' by 'Alfred Croquill'.

Author: 
Dr Dionysius Lardner (1793-1859), Irish writer on science, editor of the Cabinet Cyclopaedia; 'Alfred Crowquill' [Alfred Henry Forrester (1804-1872)], English caricaturist
Publication details: 
Note: 30 October 1843; Boston. Print: undated.
£28.00

Note: 1 p, 4to. Addressed on reverse to 'W. S. Tuckerman Esq | Post Office | Boston', with red ink postmark and remains of red wax seal. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'Boston 30 Octr. 1843 | [name deleted] Esq | Sir | I have much pleasure in complying with the request conveyed in your letter of Saturdays date. | I remain yours very truly | [signed] Dion: Lardner'. Print: 11.5 x 17.5 cm (including 0.5 cm white border). In good condition, neatly laid down on piece of wove paper, 22.5 x 29 cm, with black ink border.

Autograph Letter Signed from Jane Hood, wife of the poet Thomas Hood, to 'Mrs Elliot', wife of the family doctor, Robert Elliot of Camberwell, containing news of the poet and his work, money troubles and family affairs, at the end of their lives.

Author: 
Jane Hood [née Jane Reynolds], (1791-1846), wife of the poet and humorist Thomas Hood (1799-1845)
Publication details: 
'Wednesday' [1844 or 1845); 'Devonshire Lodge | New Finchley Road | St Johns Wood'.
£280.00

4 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 73 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Hood returned to England from Ostend in 1840, moving into Devonshire Lodge after trying other lodgings. A fine letter, informative, energetic and moving. Jane begins by thanking Mrs Elliot for the 'kind present to my Tom [the couple's son Thomas Hood the younger (1835-1874)]': 'I only wish you could have seen the happy boy - how proud he was - and indeed is, of his new appearance - he sends his love & best thanks. I am sorry to say he does not yet write a readable letter'.

Four Typed Letters Signed from H. Hugh Harvey to the diplomat Frederick Ernest Gye, regarding gramophone recordings of Gye's mother Dame Emma Albani.

Author: 
H. Hugh Harvey, musicologist [Dame Emma Albani (1847-1930), Canadian soprano; her husband Ernest Gye (c.1848-1925) and son Frederick Gye (1879-1955)]
Publication details: 
11 and 19 September, and 6 and 27 October 1952; all four on his letterhead of 24 Wessex Gardens, Golders Green, London.
£350.00

Totalling 5 pp, 4to. All texts clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. He begins the first letter 'I am venturing to address you on the assumption that you are the son of the revered singer DAME EMMA ALBANI, and most sincerely trust that my letter may not come amiss.' Harvey is writing an article for Albani's centenary the following year 'for Sir Compton Mackenzie's magazine The Gramophone - for November, 1952' and is 'very anxious to obtain definite details of the two UNPUBLISHED Records which Madame ALBANI made for The Gramophone Company in 1904', of which he gives the details.

Calling card of 'Mrs. Byam Shaw [the artist Evelyn C. E. Shaw, born Evelyn Eunice Pyke-Nott].

Author: 
Evelyn C. E. Shaw (1870–1959) [born Evelyn Eunice Pyke-Nott], artist, wife of the painter Byam Shaw (1872-1919)
Publication details: 
Undated.
£38.00

Measuring 9 x 6 cm. With 'Mrs.. Byam Shaw' in larger type in centre, with '62, Addison Road, W.' in bottom left-hand corner, and '2nd. Wednesday &| 2nd. Thursday' diagonally in top left-hand corner. On aged paper, with the address '21 Wilton Street | S. W. 1 | Wednesday' in ink at head, and '88 Brook Green' in pencil on the reverse. A pencil name and telephone number ('Vic. 3583') have been erased.

Typed Letter Signed ('Hector Charlesworth') from the Canadian writer Hector Willoughby Charlesworth to the English diplomat Ernest Francis Gye, concerning Mme Albani, the latter's mother,

Author: 
Hector Charlesworth [Hector Willoughby Charlesworth] (1872-1945), Canadian writer [Dame Emma Albani (1847-1930), Canadian soprano; Ernest Frederick Gye (1879-1955), diplomat]
Publication details: 
On his Toronto letterhead; 1 June 1945.
£90.00

1 p, 4to. 20 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and creased paper. In response to a letter from Gye states that he did not hear Albani sing 'until her last two Canadian tours when she was approaching 50', when he 'thought her best in her singing of Mozart, which revealed her rare vocal finesse'. Charlesworth was told by the 'late Edwin R. Parkhurst, a Toronto music critic, 30 years my senior who had heard her frequently in his younger days in London', that 'these appearances gave no adequate idea of how glorious her voice had been in the seventies'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Boaden') from the playwright and biographer James Boaden to William Hayley, regarding an edition of Randolph's works 'honour'd by the handwriting of Pope'.

Author: 
James Boaden (1762-1839), biographer and playwright [William Hayley (1745-1820), poet and biographer, friend of William Cowper and patron of William Blake; Alexander Pope; Thomas Randolph]
Publication details: 
Warren Street, London; 30 April 1804.
£180.00

1 p, 4to. Bifolium. Sixteen lines, neatly written. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'W. Hayley Esqre.' He begins by thanking him for 'the kind memorial' (a volume of music?); the gift expresses Hayley's 'sense of common civility' and acquaints Boaden 'with a composer of great merit'. 'I tried the effect of his divine art yesterday, Sunday, and could not but wish to hear it from the organ at Chichester'. The rest of the letter concerns 'the subject of Randolph, and the copy of his works honour'd by the hand-writing of Pope'.

Signed Letter in secretarial hand from Sir William Brown, founder of the Liverpool Gallery of Inventions and Science, to chairman John Abraham, with printed 'Fifth Annual Report of the Committee, and Proceedings of the Aggregate Meeting [...] 1865.'

Author: 
John Abraham (1813-1881) of Clay & Abraham, pharmaceutical chemists, Chairman of the Liverpool Gallery of Inventions and Science [Sir William Brown (1784-1864) of Richmond Hill; Cuthbert Collingwood]
Publication details: 
Letter: Richmond Hill, Liverpool; 20 January 1863. Pamphlet: Liverpool: Printed by A. & D. Russell, Moorfields. 1865.
£120.00

ONE. Letter, signed 'Wm Brown'. 3 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 25 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is 'greatly disappointed' that, '[h]aving gone to the expense of building the Hall of Inventions & Science', 'the five Learned Societies' that 'induced' him 'to make that addition to the Library, have taken no effectual means to make it available for the purpose intended'. Brown 'promised £100 towards the fittings', and is sending a cheque for that amount.

A signed 'True Copy', in manuscript, of a letter of recommendation from Captain D. W. K. Barr, 'Pol[itical]: Ag[en]t Baghelkhund [Bagelkhand] & Superintendent of Rewah [Rewa]' to 'The First Assistant to the Agent Governor General for C. J. Indore'.

Author: 
Lieut-Col Sir David William Keith Barr (1846-1916), Indian Army [Surgeon Charles Lowdell; Bagelkhand; Baghelkhand]
Publication details: 
Letter, on Government of India letterhead, dated from the 'Baghelkhund [Bagelkhand; Baghelkhand] Agency, Sutua; 31 July 1883.
£80.00

3 pp, folio. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Supporting the application of 'Surgeon [Charles] Lowdell, Officiating Agency Surgeon Baghelkhund, [sic] applying for the Acting Appointment of Medical Officer in Charge Bhopal Battalion in the event of a vacancy occurring in October next'. Lowdell is holding his current post while Surgeon Goldsmith is on furlough, and on his return will be without an appointment. 'His duties in connection with the special charge of the young Maharaja have been difficult and have required the exercise of tact and patience.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H G Liddell') from Henry George Liddell, grandfather of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, to 'Dear Dundas', concerning the Abbotsford Subscription. With print of the 'Ape' cartoon of Liddell from 'Vanity Fair'.

Author: 
Rev. Henry George Liddell (1787-1872), father of the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, and grandfather of Alice Pleasance Liddell, on whom Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland was based [Sir Walter Scott]
Publication details: 
Letter: Ravensworth Castle; 2 February 1833. Print: Without date or place.
£150.00

Letter: 4 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 36 lines. Text clear and complete. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. He addresses him 'as Provisional Secretary to the Abbotsford Subscription Committee', to inform him that he has instructed his bankers in Newcastle to transmit forty pounds from his account to bankers in the Strand, 'to be added to the Abbotsford Fund - being the Amount collected in small sums between 1.£ & 1.s. by Mrs. Liddell in the town of Alnwick & vicinity'. She will forward a book of subscribers' names to the Committee.

Autograph Letter Signed from Sir Gerald Campbell ('Gerald Campbell') to Ernest Gye of the Foreign Office, on his posting to Tangier.

Author: 
Sir Gerald Campbell (1879-1964), British diplomat, Consul General to the United States, 1931-1938, and High Commissioner to Canada, 1938-1941 [Ernest Frederick Gye (1879-1955), diplomat]
Publication details: 
'New York', on H.M. Government letterhead; 11 January 1933.
£56.00

2 pp, 12mo. 18 lines. Text clear and complete. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Ernest'. The news that Gye has been posted to Damascus is 'exciting', although 'it will be funny & deserted - like to come home & not find you at the seat of custom'. Gye had spoken of going abroad, so he was not surprised, '& Lady Armstrong said recently that you were about to seek another field'. Regarding Gye's painting, he 'will have lots of interesting things to limn (that's a good word)'.

Autograph Letter Signed from Sir Gilbert Mackereth ('Gilbert Mackereth'), British Consul at Damascus, to Ernest Gye of the Foreign Office, on his posting to Tangier, and including a discussion of British artists there.

Author: 
Sir Gilbert Mackereth (1892-1962), British army officer and diplomat [Ernest Frederick Gye (1879-1955), diplomat; Damascus, Syria; Henry Bishop (1868-1939), RA, British artist]
Publication details: 
On letterheads of the British Consulate, Damascus; 21 January 1933.
£75.00

8 pp, 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Dear Ernest'. He begins by congratulating Gye on his promotion and 'on going to Tangier - a delightful spot'. It is however 'very sad' that Gye's 'guiding hand over our destinies will no longer be there in the Office'. He thanks Gye for his 'kindness' and 'sympathy': 'My path has lain along uneventful ways and it has been an untold solace to feel you did not despise those who had mearly [sic] to 'stand & wait''.

Eleven Autograph Letters Signed from the diplomat Sir William Alexander Smart to Ernest Frederick Gye of the Foreign Office, from New York, Saloncia, Beirut, Damascus, and five from Paris, with references to James Joyce, Sylvia Beach and Proust.

Author: 
Sir William Alexander Smart (1883-1962), British diplomat in the Levant and Egypt [Ernest Frederick Gye (1879-1955), diplomat; Sylvia Beach; James Joyce; Marcel Proust]
Publication details: 
Dating from between 1917 and 1926. One from New York (1917); one from Salonica (1919); five from Paris (one undated, the other four 1922); one from Beirut (1923); three from Damascus (1924, 1925 and 1926).
£650.00

Totalling 68 pp, comprising 50 pp, 12mo; 18 pp, 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Two signed 'W. A. Smart' and the others 'WAS.' All addressed to 'My dear Ernest'. Written in a spirited, chatty, and (for a diplomat) surprisingly indiscreet style, of which the beginning of the second letter (Salonica; 19 August 1919), concerning the appointment of Victor Vincent Cusden (1893-1980), gives a good example: 'Were you not content with condemning me to physical and financial ruin in this death-trap? Why, to add to my afflictions, did you send me this pathetic shop-boy?

Autograph Letter Signed ('D Forbes') from the orientalist Duncan Forbes to J. D. R. Robinson of the Asiatic Society, concerning his translation of the 'Bagh-o-Bahar', and the mental state of 'Anderson'.

Author: 
Duncan Forbes (1798-1868), Scottish orientalist and linguist, translator of Mir Amman's Urdu 'Bagh-o-Bahar, or Tales of the Four Darweshes'
Publication details: 
No place; 'Wednesday' [no date].
£120.00

3 pp, 12mo. 41 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper with a couple of closed tears. He is sending 'the trans. of the Baghobahan together with the Original', and trusts that Robinson will keep his promise 'and not detain it long'. Considers it fair that Robinson's friend 'should pay the carriage thereof from & to London'. 'The younger Stewart is to send me up a book of mine in about a week - the best way will be to send the Bagh along with it as it will be the same expence'. Suggest sending another book with 'the Bagh to Haileybury', rather than to Portman Square.

Manuscript 'Inventory of The Household Furniture and Effects at Stodham Park Liss Hants belonging to Capt B J. Marden December 16th 1920. Made for the Purpose of Fire Insurance.' [by G. Knight & Son, Auctioneers, Midhurst, Sussex]

Author: 
G. Knight & Son, auctioneers, Midhurst, Sussex [Captain Basil Jock Newton Marden (1893-1928) of Stodham Park, Liss, Hampshire]
Inventory of The Household Furniture and Effects at Stodham Park Liss Hants
Publication details: 
16 December 1920.
£350.00
Inventory of The Household Furniture and Effects at Stodham Park Liss Hants

236 pp, 8vo. In sturdily-bound landscape account book by Drake, Driver & Leaver of London, with black leather half-binding, green cloth boards, and marbled endpapers. Stamped in gilt on front board: 'INVENTORY. | G. KNIGHT & SON. | AUCTIONEER & VALUERS | HOUSE & ESTATE AGENTS | MIDHURST.' Good, on aged paper, in lightly-worn binding. Lined lengthwise across each two pages (like an oversized reporter's or policeman's notebook), each opening carrying a stamped number, and with the text on openings 1 to 119 of the 251 in the account book.

Autograph Letter Signed from Henry Murray of Sydney to his wife Mary Abraham's brother, with copy of long letter by him describing the 1859 South Seas shipwreck of his children on the Ellenita, Captain 'Bully' Hayes, and transcript from third letter.

Author: 
Henry Murray of Sydney [Captain William Henry 'Bully' Hayes (1827 or 1829-1877), American blackbirder and bigamist, 'the last of the Buccaneers'; Ellenita shipwreck, 1859; Mary Abraham (1808-18]
Autograph Letter Signed from Henry Murray of Sydney
Autograph Letter Signed from Henry Murray of Sydney
Publication details: 
Murray's letter to his wife's brother: 20 April 1864; Sydney, New South Wales. Copy of letter by Murray: 21 December 1865; 20 Norton Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales. Transcript: undated, on letterhead of Liverpool Polytechnic Society.
£250.00
Autograph Letter Signed from Henry Murray of Sydney
Autograph Letter Signed from Henry Murray of Sydney

From the papers of Alfred Clay Abraham (1853-1942), Liverpool pharmacist, and his daughter Emma Clarke Abraham (1850-1934) of Swarthmoor Hall, Ulverston. All items in fair condition, on aged paper, with texts clear and complete. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed from Henry Murray to his late wife Mary's brother. 8 pp, 12mo. On two bifoliums. Begins: 'Although a Stranger to you I perhaps need not apologise for the obtrusion of this communication upon you, when I inform you that I am the husband - or rather was the husband of your poor Sister Mary. for alas!

Signed copies of two long Typed Letters from James Agate to Montague Shearman, regarding the 'Controversy' surrounding Noel Coward's 1931 play 'Cavalcade', forwarded with two covering notes by Agate's secretary Alan 'Jock' Dent to E. F. Gye.

Author: 
James Agate (1877-1947), critic [Alan Dent [Alan 'Jock' Dent; Jock Dent] (1905-1978), journalist; Montague Shearman (1886-1940), art collector; Ernest Frederick Gye (1879-1955), diplomat; Noel Coward]
Signed copies of two long Typed Letters from James Agate
Publication details: 
The copies of Agate's letters to Shearman, 5 and 6 November 1931; Dent's notes to Gye of the same dates; all four items on letterheads of 25 Palace Court, London, W2.
£145.00
Signed copies of two long Typed Letters from James Agate

A total of 8 pp, 4to, all on Palace Court letterheads. Dent's notes both signed 'Jock Dent.', and the copies both signed 'James Agate'. Two important, energetic and vivid letters by Agate, totalling 6 pp, 4to, defending Coward's play and his position on 'the intellectual and the popular', against the 'pseudo-intelligentsia' of the barristers Shearman and 'Jack' St John Hutchinson (1884-1942).

Autograph Letter Signed ('W H Russell') from the journalist W. H. Russell to 'dear Spencer', mainly concerning the Urabi Revolt against Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt.

Author: 
W. H. Russell [William Howard Russell] (1820-1907), Irish journalist, war correspondent for The Times [Isma'il Pasha [Ismail the Magnificent] (1830-1895), Khedive of Egypt; Urabi Revolt]
Autograph Letter Signed ('W H Russell') from the journalist W. H. Russell
Publication details: 
4 June 1882; on letterhead of the Empire Club, 4 Grafton Street, Piccadilly, London.
£165.00
Autograph Letter Signed ('W H Russell') from the journalist W. H. Russell

2 pp, 12mo. 18 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Begins 'Its Alberta <(Songfeld)?> who is at 2 Lowndes Street not the undersigned - Are these cards en rêgle? [sic]' A pencil note by the recipient at the head of the first page reads 'Sent 2 June to Sumner Pl: card returned - answer does not live there.' Refers to 'Sumner Place' and 'the Coming Ball'. He wishes 'the Powers - which they aren't by the by - had let our fat friend Ismail alone just tightening the bit a little'.

Itemised manuscript accounts of an early eighteenth-century Derbyshire wine merchant, for customers including William Cavendish of Dovebridge, Thomas Stanhope, William Sacheverell, Reginald Cynder.

Author: 
[Accounts of an 18th-century Derbyshire winemerchant; William Cavendish of Dovebridge; Brook Boothby; Thomas Stanhope; William Sacheverell; the wine trade; vintners]
Early eighteenth-century Derbyshire wine merchant
Publication details: 
Derbyshire; between 12 July 1702 and 13 January 1711.
£1,250.00
Early eighteenth-century Derbyshire wine merchant

15 pp, narrow folio (14.5 x 38 cm), in the remains of a volume which has been reused and cut up (see below). Although aged and dogeared, the eight pages carrying the accounts are in reasonable condition, with all texts clear and complete, although the last leaf of the eight has the lower third cut away. In remains of original vellum binding, with '17 Maij j683' on front board. The pages are variously paginated in a contemporary hand between 245 and 274.

Autograph Note in the third person from the London auctioneer James Christie to the journalist Charles Molloy Westmacott, with signed receipt by Christie's warehouseman John Biddle for '69 Pictures'.

Author: 
James Christie the younger (1773-1831), London auctioneer and antiquary [Charles Molloy Westmacott (c.1786-1868), editor of 'The Age', half-brother of sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott (1775-1856)]
James Christie the younger (1773-1831), London auctioneer
Publication details: 
King Street; 14 February 1825.
£280.00
James Christie the younger (1773-1831), London auctioneer

1 p, 4to. On a bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf: 'Thursday at 11 O'Clock | Chas. Westmacott, Esqr., | 5, Clements Inn.' Fair, on creased and aged paper. Christie's note reads 'Mr Christie presents his Compts. to Mr. Westmacott. | with Mr. Westmacott's permission, the bearer of this Mr. Christie's warehouseman, will remove the Pictures to King St. | King St, | Monday Feb. 14 | 1825.' Beneath this, in another hand, Recd 69 Pictures | [signed] John Biddle'. Above Biddle's receipt, in a third hand, are the word 'Received' and 'Recd 69 [i.e. Christie & Manson?]' in pencil.

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