NAVAL

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. 1p, folio. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. On recto of first leaf of bifolium, the second leaf being blank, apart from one word of docketing in manuscript ‘Steady’.

See his long obituary in the Gentleman’s Magazine, December 1847. This letter, which concerns the prize money for the capture of the 36-gun Danish fifth-rater the Venus, captured by Dashwood at the Battle of Copenhagen, 1807. 2pp, 4to, on the first leaf of a bifolium, the reverse of the second leaf is addressed, with two postmarks, to ‘James Sykes Esqe / Arundle St / London’, and docketed ‘C. Dashwood / 16 Feb 1808 / Recd 17 do’. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight damage to second leaf from breaking open of the wafer. Folded for postage.

An excellent letter, describing the state of affairs in Sicily during the period of British occupation, 1806-1814. The recipient Sir Sidney Smith (see Oxford DNB) was second in command to Sir Edward Pellew, head of the Mediterranean squadron which included Bromley’s ship HMS America, a 76-gun third-rater, launched only three years before, in 1810. The present letter is written with the ship on the verge of a notable engagement (described in the European Magazine, March 1814, pp.245-247, quoting from the London Gazette). From Bromley’s entry by P. R.

See Gambier’s entry in the Oxford DNB. He served during capture of Charleston during American Revolutionary War, at the Glorious First of June, and commanded at Battle of Copenhagen and Battle of the Basque Roads. He was First Naval Lord, three times: 1795-1801, 1804-6 and 1807-8. Henslow was Surveyor to the Navy, 1784-1806, and Hope was Deputy Comptroller of the Navy, 1795-1801.

Bligh’s entry in the Oxford DNB does not note his service on HMS Wasp, to which he was appointed in October 1774. According to one authority the ship ‘saw service out of Passage, County Cork, Ireland from [November 1774]. In October 1775 [Bligh] brought sixty volunteers from Ireland into Plymouth, and in June 1776 sailed from Portsmouth to Plymouth with money for the dockyard artificers.

An interesting piece of Royal Navy and Napoleonic War ephemera, casting light on the implementation of Admiralty Prize Law. See the reference to the writer of this letter in the 1926 ‘Memorials of the family of Hurry of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and of America, Australia, and South Africa’: ‘Edmund Cobb [Hurry], born at Great Yarmouth, in 1762, admitted a freeman by birthright, 23rd of August, 1782. He settled as a merchant and banker, at Gosport, where he married a Miss Liddell.

Incomplete. Part only of Hollond's First Discourse, [32]pp. [unnumbered], 9 x 23cm, unbound, some stitching, some staining sl. obscuring text, initial text faint, but all legible. Distributed in MS The (incomplete text covers pp.[2]-32 of The Naval Record Society printed text, concluding expected from poor men under. Numerous textual variants eg. [Naval Records text beholding; MS. beholden]. Apparently few copies of the MS version survive (see Naval Record Society text, p.lxxxii). Note: HOLLOND or HOLLAND, JOHN (fl.

On slips of paper ranging in size from 6.5 x 2 cm to 9 x 4.5 cm. Laid down, three/two , on one side each of two 16 x 12 cm leaves, one white and the other grey, removed from an autograph album. In good condition, lightly aged. They are as follows (autograph text in square brackets). ONE: Sir Alexander Edward Bethell (1855-1932). ?[A E Bethell] / VICE-ADMIRAL COMMANDING / CHANNEL FLEET.? TWO: Sir George Le Clerc Egerton (1852-1940). ?spared. / [G le C Egerton] / ADMIRAL.? THREE: Sir Hedworth Meux [n? Lambton] (1856-1929).

On 11 x 5.5 cm piece of grey paper. Good firm signature, with emphatic underlining, apparently in response to request for an autograph. Reads: 'Richmond Hill / Ontario / Canada. / William Guy Carr / June 13th. 1939.'

The recipient Eileen Margaret Cond (1911-1984) was an enthusiastic collector of autographs, with the ability to draw a more than perfunctory response from her targets. 1p, 8vo. Good firm signature, 'William Guy Carr', above typed 'Wm. Guy Carr.' On lightly browned paper with nicks and short closed tears to extremities. His London publishers Hutchinsons have sent on her letter, and he is pleased to learn that she enjoyed her book, and is sending his autograph for her correction.

In this letter Tower describes his personal experience of the winning of the North Sea trophy by C. L. Salaman’s 35-ton yacht Dianthus. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper chipped at head. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘My dear Dick’ and signed ‘Beauchamp Tower’. A long letter with 105 lines of text. He begins by congratulating Harington ‘on getting an Indian judge ship which will enable you to marry, though I and all your other friends will be very sorry to lose you’.

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’. Beatty’s aggressive tactics at the Battle of Jutland are often contrasted with Jellicoe’s more cautious approach. After the explosion of the Indefatigable and the Queen Mary, with the loss of 1283 officers and men, he came out with the celebrated understatement, ‘There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Whatman watermark of 1838. Sixty-nine lines of text, addressed to ‘My dear Sir Charles’ and signed ‘Thomas Hastings’. Begins: ‘I have been thinking that the difficulty of giving mathematics instruction to the Lieuts of R[oyal]. M[arine]. A[rtillery].

Both items in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: Copy letter. 2pp., folio. On paper with watermark 'JOHN HOWARD | 1804'. Ends: 'To | Sir J. T. Duckworth K.B. | Vice Admiral of the White | &ca. &ca. &ca. | Given on board the Ocean off Cadiz | 12th. August 1806 | (signed) Collingwood | By Command of the Vice Admiral | (signed) W R Cosway | A Copy'.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Large signature ‘Charles Eden’; addressed to ‘My dear Fanny’. Year and month added in pencil in another hand. He thanks her for her kind letter ‘and its enclosure from my dear, kind, old friend Mrs Quilter’. He will visit her later, but at present he has ‘several melancholy duties to attend to which prevent my leaving London’. He is also ‘wanted at the Admiralty next week - altho’!

See his entry and that of Stuart in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 4to. On bifolium. Sixty-six lines of neatly-written text, signed ‘R Mends’ and addressed ‘To / The Honble Chas. Stuart / His Majestys Envoy / Lisbon’. A vivid and substantial historical document.

In addition to acting as editor of the works of his colleague James Clerk Maxwell, Niven was the teacher of one of the greatest mathematicians and philosophers of the twentieth century, Alfred North Whitehead. The item is from the papers of the presumed recipient, Mrs Evelyn Julia Allan of the Chelsea Red Cross. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Signed ‘W. D. Niven’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mrs Allen’. He was pleased to receive her letter, ‘reminding me of old times’, but he had not forgotten her, as he has ‘sometimes heard Dr. J. M Bruce speak about you & your family’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The recipient, whose name Jacobs gives as ‘D. H. Denselow Esq’, was the commercial artist and autograph hunter Douglas Harold Hellier-Denselow, whose studio was in Gunnersbury, West London. The note reads: ‘Dear Mr. Denselow / I am much obliged for your letter & its accompanying illustration. I shall not follow your example & affix my eye to my autograph / Yours very truly / W. W. Jacobs’.

Scarce: no other copy traced. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript 37. Printed ‘Circular’ dated from Downing Street, 16 December 1842. Headed in manuscript ‘Crime in the high Seas’. At bottom, in manuscript (not Stanley’s hand): ‘/sd/ Stanley’. Twenty-nine lines in copperplate font.

See Fry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Dickinson was an influential proponent of the League of Nations. The present item concerns the London Declaration concerning the Laws of Naval War, an international code of maritime law, following on from the second Hague Conference. Great Britain, as the world’s chief naval power, had felt that such a court should be governed by defined principles, and had convened an international concerence in London in 1908. The Declaration that was issued three years later comprised 71 articles. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once.

For information about this brave and gallant man, who offered himself to be hanged in place of his fellow officers during the Nore Mutiny, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The presence of these four items together may indicate a Victorian autograph dealer as the source, or perhaps a family member wishing to distribute keepsakes. Some with tantalizing fragments of surviving text. All four in good condition, some with fold lines. ONE: 14.5 x 6.5 cm. On one side: ‘[...] Ever your truly obliged and / Affectionate Friend / Edward O’Bryen’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, tall 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged; folded twice. In the following transcription the manuscript parts are in square brackets: ‘By Command of the Commissioners for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, &c.

The two translations, in the same original red leather notebook, totalling 226pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding. The first translation in the volume is a fair copy, without corrections, of a work published in French in 1823 as 'La V?rit? sur l'Incendie de Moscou; par le Comte Rostopchine' (Paris: Ponthieu). Neither Curling's nor any other English translation appears to have been published. The second translation (the printed version of which is the first of the two pamphlets) is heavily corrected, with seven pages of additions loosely inserted.

One page, cr. 8vo, grubby, fold marks, but text clear, as follows: I am very sorry it will not be in my power to be present at the quarterly General Board of the Royal Naval Asylum, as an Appointment has for some Time past been made for a Court of the Trinity Corporation to swear me in as an Elder Brother , on that day.

Presumably distributed in the streets (of London?) on the news of Nelson's victory. No other copy of the title has been traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or COPAC. Printed on one side of a 34 x 19.5 cm piece of paper, with cropped margins (text area 33 x 17.5 cm). The reverse of the leaf would appear to be blank, the leaf being laid down on a piece of grey paper removed from an album. Printed in double column, with a wavy vertical dividing rule down the middle, beneath the title 'Adm.

Two ALSs, four pages each (an expansive hand), 12mo, bifoliums, fold marks, good condition. LETTER ONE: I have sent you by Book Post an article on Griffons loss. | To show that I do not speak at random in this article, I should tell you that I have private letters from the Commodore ([Hornby?]) saying 'I wish you would hasten ... the supply of your Lamps. Griffons [see note below] loss bears on the subject.'...| I wrote in August begging that all vessels coming out here might be supplied with Colomb's lights. I find the [last?] comers are not so blessed.

1p, 8vo. On aged and worn paper. Attractive letterhead of the hotel and its surroundings. Addressed to 'My dear Willis'. Written in a shaky hand. Clearly writing in reference to his 1899 autobiography 'A Sailor's Life under Four Sovereigns', he states that he is glad that Willis is 'pleased with the book', and explains that he was 'suddenly driven' to Cannes 'by neuralgic pains'. He concludes: 'If I live to get back I should like to insert the Authors name in your Copy! Your sincere old friend | Harry Keppel'.

1p, 8vo. On aged and worn paper. Attractive letterhead of the hotel and its surroundings. Addressed to 'My dear Willis'. Written in a shaky hand. Clearly writing in reference to his 1899 autobiography 'A Sailor's Life under Four Sovereigns', he states that he is glad that Willis is 'pleased with the book', and explains that he was 'suddenly driven' to Cannes 'by neuralgic pains'. He concludes: 'If I live to get back I should like to insert the Authors name in your Copy! Your sincere old friend | Harry Keppel'.

[2] + 18pp, 8vo. In cream printed wraps, with duplication in green on cover of title-page, but without year. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with crease running next to the spine, slightly at an angle. This American Copyright printing - said to have been limited to 75 privately-distributed copies - was published 13 November 1931, and preceded the English publication (in The Story-Teller magazine, December 1931) by around a month. Stewart 596; Livingston 569. The rare American Copyright issue. Richards A399, Livingston 569, Stewart 596. Reprinted in 1932 in Limits and Renewals.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with a few light stains from mount. Folded once. Having seen the Times announcement of the birth of Cecil's son the previous Saturday, Jellicoe sends his 'Most hearty congratulations' on the birth of Cecil's son, and is 'so delighted that all is going so satisfactorily & that you can come to see us on the 14th.