NONCONFORMIST

[William Jay, Congregational divine and noted preacher at the Argyle Chapel in Bath.] Autograph Note Signed to 'Mr Godwin' [Bath bookseller Henry Godwin], regarding the binding of his books. With order for the books, presumably in Godwin's hand.

Author: 
William Jay (1769-1853), Congregational divine, religious writer and preacher at the Argyle Chapel in Bath, praised by Sheridan for his oratorical skills [Henry Godwin, Bath bookseller]
Publication details: 
No date or place. [Bath.]
£25.00

ay is said to have preached nearly a thousand sermons before the age of twenty-one. On 11 x 8.5 cm piece of paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, but with patches of sunning. At the head of the page is the order for the books, presumably in Godwin's hand: 'A Volume of Crabbe's Works - to bind / 2 Vols to match it'. Beneath this is Jay's heavily-inked response: 'Will Mr Godwin leave the ordering of the binding till I see him? / Wm Jay'. Scan on application.

[William Morley Punshon, Wesleyan methodist minister and public lecturer.] Autograph Signature and part of letter.

Author: 
William Morley Punshon (1824-1881), Wesleyan Methodist minister and public lecturer
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£20.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 12 x 5 cm piece of paper, cut from letter for an autograph hunter. In good condition, lightly aged. On one side: ‘With much esteem, / Believe me, my dear Sir / Yours ever Sincerely / W Morley Punshon’. On the other side: ‘[...] desire, of every part of the service but the Sermon & while we would not on [...]’ Annotated in pencil: ‘An eminent Wesleyan minister not long dead’. Scan on application.

[Joseph Lancaster, Quaker educationalist.] Printed ephemera: Handbill titled ‘ROYAL BENEVOLENCE.’, appealing for subscription to ‘a Fund to enable Schools in the country, for TEN THOUSAND POOR CHILDREN’.

Author: 
Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838), pioneering Quaker educationalist who advocated the monitorial system
Lancaster
Publication details: 
‘Free School, Borough Road, Southwark. / 19th of 3d Month, 1806.’
£220.00
Lancaster

A scarce and fragile item: the only copy traced on WorldCat and Jisc is held by the Society Friends (Quakers). Lancaster’s entry in the Oxford DNB, which sums up his achievements: ‘his name was to survive in English educational history as one of the foremost pioneers of mass schooling and effective teacher training in the early industrial era’. The handbill is printed on one side of a 15 x 19.5 cm leaf of thin wove paper. A fragile survival: lightly aged and worn, with a small hole and closed tear, but text clear and entire.

[Joseph Lancaster, Quaker educationalist.] Lengthy conclusion to Autograph Letter Signed to Elizabeth Clarke of Downham, explaining that the 'very sedentary' nature of 'the cause' has sent him to the country for an 'excursion'.

Author: 
Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838), pioneering Quaker educationalist who advocated the monitorial system [Zachary Clarke of Downham (d.1815), Norfolk]
Publication details: 
No date or place, but before Zachary Clarke's death in 1815.
£180.00

In the obituary of Zachary Clarke, husband of the recipient, in the Gentleman's Magazine for September 1815, it is stated that he also 'established a free school on Dr. Bell's system, and has since employed a teacher to superintend it'. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 8vo. Thirty-eight lines of text. The other leaf or leaves of the letter are missing. The cover leaf, addressed on reverse with two illegible postmarks, 'To / Elizabeth Clarke - / at Zachary Clarkes / Downham / Norfolk -'. Signed 'J. Lancaster'.

[B. H. Draper, Baptist hymn writer.] Autograph Letter Signed proposing to the nonconformist bookseller Josiah Conder an edition of Philip Henry’s sermons, from manuscripts, with reference to Sir John Bickerton Williams and John William Cunningham.

Author: 
B. H. Draper [Bourne Hall Draper] (1775-1843), hymn writer and Baptist minister [Josiah Conder (1789-1855), nonconformist bookseller; John Bickerton Williams; John William Cunningham; Philip Henry]
Publication details: 
‘Coseley, nr Bilstone, Staffordshire. / Dec. 20. 1815.’
£70.00

See his entry in the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, and Conder’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. On the first leaf of a bifolium, the second addressed on the reverse, with postmark, to ‘Mr. Josh. Conder, / Bookseller, / Bucklersbury, / London.’ In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, spiked, folded for postage, and with damage and slight loss to the second leaf from the breaking of the wafer. Begins: ‘Learning lately from my friend Mr. Williams of Shrewsbury, [the future Sir John Bickerton Williams (1792-1855)] that you had engaged with him for his MS.

[Sir Edward Baines, nonconformist newspaper editor and Liberal politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to Rev. H. R. Reynolds D.D., describing an encounter he has just had with the ailing Earl Russell [the former Lord John Russell] in the House of Lords

Author: 
Sir Edward Baines (1800-1890), nonconformist newspaper editor and Liberal MP [Rev. Henry Robert Reynolds (1825-1896), D.D., Congregational minister, President of Cheshunt College; Lord John Russell]
Publication details: 
‘Monday Evening’ [no date, but between 1861 and 1878]; on letterhead of the House of Commons [Westminster].
£56.00

See the entries for Baines and Reynolds in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘The Rev. H. R. Reynolds, D.D.’, and signed ‘Edw. Baines.’ The letter dates from between 1861, when Lord John Russell was created Earl Russell, and his death in 1878. Begins: ‘My very dear Friend, / I have just been shaking hands with Earl Russell. I was standing with the mob of M.

[ James Baldwin Brown, Congregational minister and author. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Baldwin Brown'), regarding the sending of a volume on his son's return.

Author: 
James Baldwin Brown (1820-1884), Congregational minister and author, noted for his liberal views
Publication details: 
5 The Paragon, Streatham Hill. 16 April [ no year ].
£40.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The male recipient is unnamed. He does not wish him to think that he is indifferent to his application for 'the Volume of <?> life which you have written for'. He continues: 'My Son has got it, and he is away from home. But he is returning shortly and I shall be able to send it to you'. Brown was Minister in Derby, in 1843; at Claylands Chapel, Clapham Road, in 1846; and at Brixton Independent Chapel, Brixton Road, from 1870 until his death.

[ Richard Slate of Preston, Congregational minister. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('R. Slate') to Samuel Walker Alliot, regarding collecting and exchanging of nonconformist letters, with printed notice listing wanted 'Wesleyan Presidents'.

Author: 
Richard Slate (1787-1867) of Preston, Congregational minister, biographical writer and temperance campaigner
Publication details: 
Autograph Letter: Preston [ Lancashire ], 25 November 1863. Printed text undated.
£250.00

For information on Slate, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is a 12mo bifolium, with the two-page autograph letter to Alliot on the first leaf, and the printed notice on the recto of the second. In good condition, lightly aged. He thanks Alliot and names the authors of three letters he would like, adding: 'I take it for granted they are letters similar to Dr. Buntings, which I have enclosed and not mere autographs. Walter Griffith's letter (which I will send when I hear from you) is quite equal to Dr. Bunting's but longer.

[ Richard Slate of Preston, Congregational minister. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('R. Slate') to Samuel Walker Alliot, regarding collecting and exchanging of nonconformist letters, with printed notice listing wanted 'Wesleyan Presidents'.

Author: 
Richard Slate (1787-1867) of Preston, Congregational minister, biographical writer and temperance campaigner
Publication details: 
Autograph Letter: Preston [ Lancashire ], 25 November 1863. Printed text undated.
£120.00

For information on Slate, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is a 12mo bifolium, with the two-page autograph letter to Alliot on the first leaf, and the printed notice on the recto of the second. In good condition, lightly aged. He thanks Alliot and names the authors of three letters he would like, adding: 'I take it for granted they are letters similar to Dr. Buntings, which I have enclosed and not mere autographs. Walter Griffith's letter (which I will send when I hear from you) is quite equal to Dr. Bunting's but longer.

[Printed pamphlet.] Extracts from The Registers of The Nonconformist Chapel at Dukinfield, co. Chester, kept by The Rev. Samuel Angier, 1677 to 1713. A Paper read before the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 24th February, 1881.

Author: 
J. P. Earwaker [Rev. Samuel Angier; the Nonconformist Chapel, Dukinfield, County Chester]
Publication details: 
For Private Circulation. Liverpool: T. Brakell, Printer, 58, Dale Street. 1882.
£120.00

28pp., 8vo. Disbound pamphlet. In good condition, on aged paper, with manuscript shelfmark at foot of title-page. Uncommon. No copies at the British Library or at Doctor Williams's Library, and only four copies traced on COPAC.

Autograph Manuscript of the poem 'The Thunder Storm', in the autograph of its author William Bourne Oliver Peabody.

Author: 
Rev. William Bourne Oliver Peabody (1799-1847), pastor of the Unitarian church in Springfield, Massachusetts, educated at Harvard and Cambridge Divinity School
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£100.00

2pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged paper. In pencil at head: 'Autograph of the Rev W. B. O. Peabody'. In ink in a contemporary hand, between the title and body of text: 'Autograph of Mr Peabody '. Twenty-four lines, arranged in three eight-line stanzas. The text presented here differs in certain respects from that printed in A. P. Putnam's 'Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith' (1875). In the present version the first stanza reads: 'Black the heaven is overcast! | Breathless is the sultry blast.

Autograph Note Signed to Rev. R. Best?], concerning takings from his lectures.

Author: 
Joseph Parker (1830-1902), English nonconformist divine, preacher, theologian and miscellaneous writer
Joseph Parker (1830-1902), English nonconformist divine
Publication details: 
Old Trafford, 24 October 1866.
£56.00
Joseph Parker (1830-1902), English nonconformist divine

One page, thirteen lines, 8vo, small closed tears, text clear and complete. "As I cannot continue my lectures on [? see scan], for some time to come I return a proportion of the balance of money collected in various towns. I have not taken one penny for my labours, but I propose to retain about one third of the balance [underlined] as there were innumerable etceteras about a work like mine. If any of the subscribers object to this, please let me know. - I enclose a cheque for £5." Best has listed 6 recipients of shares of this £5 on the verso of a conjoint leaf ,and with a small sum.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Edw. Baines') to 'Robt. <Scarbrow?>'.

Author: 
Sir Edward Baines [Edward Baines junior] (1800-1890), nonconformist English newspaper editor and Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
3 Queen Sq | 1st. June <year?>.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. In bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Difficult hand. He has not considered the question carefully, but his impression is that 'the Monopoly of the printing of the Holy Scriptures in Scotland and Ireland might cease by the Kings Printers not only without injuring but with benefit to the public'.

Autograph Signature ('H. Martineau') on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), English writer and journalist
Publication details: 
26 December [no year]; Ambleside.
£45.00

Irregularly-shaped (like an 'L') piece of paper, cut from the head of a letter with a mourning border. Dimensions (very roughly) 4 and 3 cm high and 7 cm wide. Good, with minor traces of two tissue mounts adhering to reverse. The following written vertically across three lines of writing: 'to all your family, & I am, dear Sir, truly yours | [signed] H. Martineau'. The remains of the three lines acoss which the above is written read: '<...> dear Sir | <...> I am | <....> ur sister <...>'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Joseph Procter.

Author: 
John Clayton, junior (1780-1865), Minister of Poultry Chapel, London
Publication details: 
29 December 1826; Devonshire Square.
£50.00

Four pages, 12mo. Very good, with strip of brown paper adhering at the head. Text clear and entire. A long letter, casting light on the effects on the English middle classes of the financial crisis of 1825. Clayton begins by thanking Procter for the 'card case'. He 'will gladly do any thing that may fall within [his] power, to assist the Associate Fund', but does not think that he can 'do much'. 'The times are such, that Cases of

Two Letters Signed, the first in a secretarial hand and the second in Autograph, to Rev. Joseph Lucas.

Author: 
Joseph Parker (1830-1902), English nonconformist divine, preacher, theologian and miscellaneous writer
Publication details: 
16 November 1827 and 7 March 1873; both on letterhead The Rosstrappe, Highbury New Park [London].
£80.00

Both items one page, octavo, and on aged and creased paper. Regarding Lucas's selection from Parker's works, 'Detached links; extracts from the Writings and Discourses of Joseph Parker' (Richard D. Dickinson, 1873). LETTER ONE: Thanks Lucas for his 'kind note', but does not 'see how the suggestion it conveys can be realized. I am afraid you would find it difficult to get a publisher.' Advises Lucas 'not to pursue the idea any further'. LETTER TWO: In a shaky hand explains that he is 'so poorly just now that I cannot give any phot[ographe]r. a sitting.

Syndicate content