NAVAL

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 11 x 7 cm piece of grey paper, presumably cut from an album. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mount on reverse. Reads: ‘Try & trust will move mountains - / J. M. de Robeck / 1919’. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘W. L. Wyllie.’ He is sorry that he will be unable to avail himself of ‘the kind invitation to dinner sent me by the Master of the Salters Company’. He is starting for Norway on the last day of the month, and will not return until the end of July.

A scarce item. See Somerville's entry in the Oxford DNB, for the controversy, involving Churchill. 8pp, 8vo. With two plates of maps, the first a fold-out extending to the width of three pages. Stapled. In fair condition, on lightly worn and discoloured paper. In the customary double column. Begins, despite the date of the number, 'Wednesday, 5 May 1948 / Action between British and Italian Forces off Cape Spartivento on 27th November 1940. / The following Despatch was submitted to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on the 18th December, 1940, by Vice-Admiral Sir James F.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 10 x 7 cm piece of paper, cut down from letterhead. In good condition, lightly aged, with pin holes at top left. Clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'Yours very truly / W. W. Jacobs'. See scan

The War of Jenkin’s Ear had ended a few months before, and Daniel A. Baugh, ‘British Naval Administration in the Age of Walpole’ (Princeton, 1965) describes the sorry state into which the Navy Board had fallen at this point. 1p, foolscap 8vo. On recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, the verso of the second leaf being addressed ‘To / Mr Turnpenny / Navy Office’ and docketted ‘Com[missione]rs of Navy to Mr Turnpenny’. In poor condition and urgent need of archival repair. The laid and watermarked paper is flaking away, and part of text, including a couple of the signatures, is lacking.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A 10 x 3 cm slip of paper, cut from the end of a letter in response to a request for an autograph. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ‘Yours Sincerely / Percy Scott’. Beneath this, in contemporary hand, in pencil: ‘Admiral Sir Percy Scott (Terrible)’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, in which ‘deep professional commitment and mental toughness’ are said to be qualities whose possession he demonstrated ‘heroically’. On 8 x 5 cm piece of light blue-grey paper. Good large firm signature 'Beatty'. No other writing on page. In good condition, lightly aged.

A scarce item: no copies on WorldCat or JISC, nor at the Caird Library, National Martime Museum (though the latter does have a signed print of one of the illustrations). Twenty-six broadsheet pages, on news stock paper, in shiny paper covers printed in red, blue and brown. Filled with illustrations and topical advertisements for everything from corsetry to bicycles, from a full-page one on the inside front cover for ‘Brickwoods Jubilee Brew / 4d. per Small Bottle in Public Bars’, to one on the back cover reading ‘On Review / United Ales & Stout Are Supreme’.

This offprint is scarce. The only copy on WorldCat at the Caird Library of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. See Watt's entry in the Oxford DNB, which underlines his pre-eminence: 'At the battle of Jutland (31 May 1916) twenty-nine of the thirty-four British battleships and battle cruisers engaged were of Watts's design.' The item is an offprint from the Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects, vol. 61 (1919). 65 + [1]pp, 4to. Side-stapled, with no covers.

St Aubyn’s entry in the Oxford DNB makes no mention of Plymouth or the Royal Navy. 9pp, foolscap 8vo, on nine leaves of laid paper with fleur-de-lys watermark. In poor condition: an attempt has been made to burn the document, and the left-hand side of each leaf has been badly damaged, with much of it crumbled away in burnt flakes, and the surviving text badly marked on that side. The description on the outside of the packet states that the draft is ‘For the perusal of Mr. Jones’ (presumably St Aubin’s lawyer).

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states: ‘After the death of his first wife he married second, on 24 June 1933, Caroline Maud Abadie (1863–1948), the widow of General Sir Henry Richard Abadie; she was the daughter of Colonel Fanshawe Gostling, of the Royal Berkshire regiment.’ In addition to the two letters apiece from Sir Reginald and Lady Tupper, the material includes, as Item Five, a leaf carrying a 26-line postscript from Lady Tupper to a lost letter. All but Item Five below are on uniform 12mo leaves of grey paper.

[Copy, from the 'Barrack Office' at Chatham, printed ] 4to: 120 + [19] pp. The last 19 unpaginated pages comprise the appendix, divided into 18 parts. Text clear and complete. On aged and foxed paper. Original boards rebacked in leather, with title on spine and new free endpapers. Title-leaf carries no date or printing details. In manuscript scored through on reverse: 'Adjutants Office by order | [signed?] T. G. Gascoigne | Adjutant', with crude drawings.

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

1p, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, on watermarked laid paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased and chipped at edges. Folded twice. A printed form in a grid headed (with Bunting's autograph in square brackets): 'WEEKLY RETURN of the Sick and Wounded of His Majesty's [Sloop Comet] between [4th] Day of [September 1811] and the [11th.] Day of [September], employed in [at Sea]'. A grid of nine columns, from 'Disease' to 'Invalided' (subdivided into 'Harbour Duty' and 'Unserviceable'.

This is an extremely scarce item, not held by the Imperial War Museum, and significant for the five-page eye-witness account it contains (pp.29-33): ‘‘H.M.S. “Ardent” and the Jutland Action. / By A. M.’, i.e. Lieutenant-Commander Arthur Marsden, who was in command of the Ardent and one of only two survivors of its sinking. It is remarkable that he was allowed to disseminate such a candid account (for the perusal of naval cadets!) within months of the engagement. On cover: ‘The Britannia Magazine / Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. / Christmas, 1916.’ and printers’ slug.

Scarce. None of these four numbers is held by the Imperial War Museum. Motto: ‘Pro Rege et Patria.’ 4to and uniform, with covers of various shades of blue paper. Varying in length from 42pp (Easter 1946) to 64pp (Easter 1940). One number with grubby markings, but the four items in good overall condition, lightly worn and aged. The first perfect bound, the other three with slightly rusty staples. On the cover of each is an illustration by Bernard Partridge of Britannia scanning the sea from the White Cliffs of Dover. One copy with newspaper cutting loosely inserted.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, but with the blank reverses of the two leaves both carrying traces of glue from previous mounting, and slight damage and loss at the foot of both. Good firm signature. Reads: ‘Dear Gibson - / I have just received your note asking for my signature. I think you were at Westgate in the early months of 1915 when I was. I wonder how you are getting on these days. I do hope that the scouts are all right and going strong & that you yourself are in the best of health & spirits / Yours very Sincerely. / Red. H. Mulock.’ See Image.

See his entry, and that of his son, in the Oxford DNB. Hornby served as Superintendent of the Royal Naval Hospital and Victualling Yard at Plymouth between 1832 and 1838. This item is 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium with thin mourning border. Fifty lines, neatly and closely written. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight damage and a few closed tears around gutter. Folded for postage. Signed ‘Phipps Hornby’, and with recipient (‘My dear Sir’) unnamed. Pencil note giving note by recipient at head of first page, giving prices for butter and cheese ‘for the Year 1834’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Laid down by the four corners to piece of paper neatly cut down from a leaf of an album. Reads: 'Sir J. Barrow will thank Mr. Clowes to let him have the Art. on Egypt, as soon as set up, as he will have considerable alterations to make towards the

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On one side of a 9 x 12.5 cm piece of paper: formerly the first leaf of a bifolium card, the second leaf, which carried the actual book token, having been detached by perforation. In good condition, lightly aged, but with traces of mount at the corners of the reverse, which carries a colour reproduction of a painting by Leonard Richmond. The page with the inscription is a printed form, and Masefield has written 'For Grace.' and 'John Masefield. / August the 31st. 1956.' See Image.

1p, folio. On recto of the first leaf of a bifolium of watermarked laid paper. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight wear and spotting to the extremities. With ‘(L.S.)’ at top right and at the foot the slug ‘Printed by G. Roberts, Admiralty Office.’ Headed: ‘At the Court at St. James’s, / The 28th of May, 1800. / PRESENT, / The King’s Most Excellent Majesty / in Council.’ Thirty-four lines of text, including a twenty-three line transcription of an Admiralty memorandum, in smaller type.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is presumably the Captain Charles Napier (d.1849) of the Royal Artillery who ‘received eight wounds from the bursting of a shrapnel shell’ at Waterloo (see Dalton’s ‘Waterloo Roll Call’, p.194). 8pp, 4to. Closely and neatly written on two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged, but folded three times into a packet, and with some closed tears to the creases. Addressed ‘To Colonel Napier / Royal Artillery’ and with the valediction ‘I will now bid you adieu & subscribe myself / Yr very faithful Kinsman / Napier’.

He receives the briefest of obituaries in the Gentleman's Magazine, July 1840: 'May 10. At Exeter, aged 81, Col. Thomas Abernethie, K.H. on the retired list of the Royal Marines.' 3pp, 4to. Bifolium. On aged and discoloured paper, with the usual damage to the second leaf from the breaking of the seal. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with postmark, to ‘Messrs Cox & Son / 20 Bartletts Buildings / Holborn / London’. Signed ‘Thos. Abernethie’ and docketed ‘Maj: Abernethie / 16 March 1811’. Begins: ‘Gentlemen / I have requested a Cap.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo, on the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition. Folded once for postage. Addressed to 'Douglas A. Wenslow Esq'. Reads: 'Dear Sir / Many thanks for your kind letter. / Here is the Autograph / yours truly / W L Wyllie'.

See his entry, and that of Swan, in the Oxford DNB. From the Swan papers. On both sides of an 11.5 x 9 cm card. In good condition, lightly aged, and with faint ink line at foot. Signed 'W L Wyllie'. Begins: 'Dear Miss Swan / Very many thanks for sending me the copy of Cape St Vincent. It is quite fine I will try if I cannot steal a bit for my big picture.' He turns to a 'roll' which is 'not long enough to make a panorama', but which he hopes to be able to 'drive round and look at' when the weather is warmer.

Providing a good view of the day-to-day practicalities of Nelson's navy. Middleton was the nephew of Admiral Lord Barham. In 1795 he removed from the Lowestoffe to the Flora, serving under the Nelson off Genoa in support of the Austrian Army, and during July 1796 at the occupation of Porto Ferrajo. All three 1p, foolscap, and somewhat discoloured and worn, the first and last with chipping at head, but all with text entire.

Blackler’s papers are in the New Bedford Whaling Museum. 4pp, foolscap 8vo. Eighty lines of text, with last page written crosswise. On wove paper with stationer’s embossed mark. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper with light staining at edges. Text clear and entire. Begins: ‘Contract for building a Schooner made this day March 20th 1866 by and between Wm G.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. With mourning border. In fair condition, aged and worn, with remains of white 'star' wafer mounts adhering to the four corners. Beneath the underlined heading 'Note for Secretary' reads: 'The relative positions of Iris & Phoebe do not appear to agree in papers marked (2) and (4) in my letter. Please let me know which is right. / LB.' Presumably Iris and Phoebe were ships.

An interesting letter, dealings with the practicalities of the artist’s profession in late Victorian/Edwardian England. Hemy was regarded as the leading English marine artist of his generation, with his paintings often selling for in excess of a thousand pounds. With the proceeds he built a grand house which he named Churchfield in Falmouth. 2pp, 16mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. The recipient - presumably his agent - is not named and there is no salutation. Signed ‘C. Napier Hemy.’ Begins: ‘Thanks for cheque enclosed. for which I send over page formal receipt.

An interesting indicator of the economic impact of the continental blockade in the year of the Battle of Trafalgar. Roger Knight provides an excellent overview of the background to the present document in his ‘Convoys: The British Struggle against Napoleonic Europe and America’ (2022), and in particular the fifth chapter, which deals with North Sea Convoys between 1804 and 1812.