MERCER

[Sir Walter Mercer, Scottish orthopaedic surgeon.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Walter Mercer’), thanking ‘Dr Goodwin’ for ‘War Effort Canadian stamps’, praising the surgery of Goodwin’s colleagues, and finding things ‘pretty hectic’.

Author: 
Sir Walter Mercer (1890-1971), Scottish orthopaedic surgeon, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh who donated his collection of anatomical specimens to Surgeon's Hall in Edinburgh
Publication details: 
19 July 1945; on his letterhead (‘Consultations by Appointment’) of 'MR. WALTER MERCER', 12 Rothesay Terrace, Edinburgh 3.
£38.00

See Mercer’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 20 lines on both sides of a 12mo landscape letterhead. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Mercer has the proverbial handwriting of a doctor, rendering the present item somewhat difficult to read. He begins by thanking Goodwin for the ‘lovely surprise’ of ‘a packet of the War Effort Canadian stamps in mint condition’, which (illegible name) ‘didn’t get the length of Edinburgh as he has been called to the Pacific’.

[John Baldwin Buckstone, comedic actor and playwright.] Five Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Jno B Buckstone') to M. H. Simpson, lessee of the Theatre Royal, Birmingham, regarding arrangements, benefits, and Mrs Fitzwilliam.

Author: 
John Baldwin Buckstone (1802-1879), dramatist and actor-manager of Haymarket Theatre, London [Mercer Hampson Simpson (1801-1877), actor-manager, Theatre Royal, Birmingham; Mrs Fitzwilliam (1801-1854)]
Publication details: 
From the Adelphi and Haymarket in London, and the Theatre Royal in Liverpool. 20 August August 1839, [November 1839], 29 April [1840], 29 November 1842, and undated.
£320.00

See the appreciative entry on Buckstone by Donald Roy in the Dictionary of National Biography. Interesting and informative letters, shedding vivid light on the day-to-day workings of early-Victorian theatre, written by a leading London actor-manager and dramatist and sent to a provincial actor-manager, regarding the arrangement of engagements, benefits, and plays. Of particular interest is the fourth letter, which refers to Mrs Fitzwilliam [Fanny [Frances Elizabeth] Fitzwilliam, née Copeland] (1801-1854), with whom Buckstone toured New Orleans and the South, c. 1840-1841. Five items.

[ Sir Frederick Snow, structural engineer. ] Two Typed Letters, one Signed 'Fredck. S. Snow' and the other signed on his behalf, to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, with typed synopsis of a proposed paper on 'Steel or Concrete Structures'.

Author: 
Sir Frederick Snow [ Sir Frederick Sidney Snow ] (1899-1976), civil and structural engineer, overall designer for Gatwick Airport
Publication details: 
Both on letterhead of Frederick S. Snow & Partners, Consulting Engineers, Ross House, 144 Southwark Street, London. 28 February and 23 March 1964.
£90.00

Five items: Snow's two letters and carbons of three of Mercer's replies (5 and 25 March, and 24 June 1964). ONE: Typed Letter from Samson, signed on his behalf, to the Secretary (i.e. G. E. Mercer), Royal Society of Arts, 28 February 1964. 1p., folio. Confirming that he wishes to give a paper on 'The Relative Merits of the use of Steel or Concrete in Structures', 'with a number of slides showing comparisons of various materials'. At the foot of the page is a signed note from Mercer to Sampson, dated 2 March 1964: 'Do we want this?

[Charles Mercer.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to John Jackson, MP for Dover, the first, with account, regarding payments by the banker Sir William Forbes to Lord Keith and Miss Mercer Elphinstone, and the second regarding various payments.

Author: 
Charles Mercer [of Allan Park, Stirling?] [Sir John Jackson, 1st Baronet (1763-1820), Member of Parliament for Dover, 1806-1820; Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, 7th Baronet (1773-1828)]
Publication details: 
First Letter: Edinburgh. 3 August 1814. Second Letter: Hope Park, Edinburgh. 17 January 1815.
£200.00

Both letters 1p., 4to, and both addressed, with two postmarks, on the reverse, to 'John Jackson Esqr. M.P. | New Broad Street | London'. Both are docketted by Jackson. ONE: Headed by accounts of payments by Sir William Forbes and Messrs Robert Stein & Co, totalling £4600 14s 3d, against the shares of Lord Keith and 'Miss Mercer Elphinstone'. In the letter Mercer explains that Stein's share is for 'his Rent to Lord Keith'.

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