NOVELIST

[Andrew Soutar, novelist.] To an unnamed recipient, informing him that he will be sending him a copy of his new novel, 'Some Fell Among Thorns'.

Author: 
Andrew Soutar (1879-1941), English author of approximately 50 novels
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Brooklyn, Ifield, Crawley, Sussex. 15 January 1931.
£45.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Written in purple ink. The letter reads: 'My dear Sir, | Here it is, for what it is worth. To-morrow, Jan 16, a new novel of mine, "Some Fell Among Thorns", should be published. I shall send you a copy & ask your acceptance of it. | Yours Sincerely | Andrew Soutar'. Soutar received a brief obituary in The Times, 25 November 1941.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sylvia Lynd, poet and novelist.

Author: 
John Galsworthy, novelist
Publication details: 
Bury House, Bury, nr Pulborough, Sussex; 12 Nov. 1932.
£45.00

ALS, Bury House, Bury, nr Pulborough, Sussex; 12 Nov. 1932, good condition. 'We have been wondering what those delightful little noises we've been hearing about the house, were.'

[Printed keepsake.] Poem by Austin Dobson, titled 'Henry Fielding. Unveiling by the United States Minister, the Hon. J. Russell Lowell, of the Bust in the Shire Hall, Taunton. Sculptor, Miss Margaret Thomas.'

Author: 
Austin Dobson [Henry Austin Dobson] (1840-1921), English poet and essayist [Henry Fielding, novelist; James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), essayist and American ambassador in London; Margaret Thomas]
Publication details: 
Place not stated [London?]. September 1883.
£135.00

4pp., 12mo. Paginated to 4. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. On laid paper watermarked 'A PIRIE & SONS | 1883'. Tastefully printed.

[Samuel Warren, Welsh novelist.] Autograph Signature, on an inscription to his father the Wesleyan Minister Dr Samuel Warren.

Author: 
Samuel Warren (1807-1877), Welsh novelist, barrister and MP, son of the Wesleyan Methodist minister of Dr Samuel Warren (1781-1862)
Publication details: 
No place. Dated 12 January 1850.
£56.00

The inscription is on the half-title leaf of Warren's anonymous 'A Letter to the Queen on a Late Court Martial' (1850). In fair condition on aged paper, with traces of previous mount adhering to the reverse. It reads: 'Rev. Dr. Warren | With his Son's love. | Samuel Warren. | 12th. Jany 1850.'

[Tighe Hopkins, novelist.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr. Case', presenting a copy of his 'Iron Mask'.

Author: 
Tighe Hopkins (1856-1919), novelist, journalist and authority on prison life and penal reform
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Frayn, Herne Bay [Kent]. 7 August 1902.
£45.00

2pp., 8vo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He asks him to accept a copy of the Tauchnitz edition of his 'Iron Mask', 'the only one I happen to have by me'. He continues: 'As you are kind enough to express an interest in work of mine, I may say that I expect to be in the West of Ireland next month in the interests of the Daily Chronicle - if you ever happen to see that paper - for which I am to write a special series of letters describing the present condition of that district.' For more on Hopkins see his obituary in The Times, 17 February 1919.

[William Pett Ridge, author.] Autograph Card Signed ('W. P. Ridge') to 'Miss Paget'.

Author: 
William Pett Ridge (1859-1930), English writer
Publication details: 
Letterhead of 24 Ampthill Square, London, NW. 'Thursday' [postmark 28 June 1906].
£25.00

In good condition, lightly-aged. Addressed to 'Miss Paget, | 28, Campden Hill Square | W.' Reads: 'I will look in this morning at the hour of coffee.'

['Francesca Marton' [Margaret Bellasis], historical novelist.] Typed Letter Signed ('Margaret Bellasis | "Francesca Marton') to 'Mr. Wiener', agreeing to give a talk to his 'Society' and discussing a BBC radio adapation of her work by Lance Sieveking

Author: 
Margaret Bellasis [Margaret Rosa Bellasis], historial novelist under the pseudonym 'Francesca Marton' [Lance Sieveking (1896-1972), English writer and BBC radio and television producer]
Publication details: 
"Pilot's Cottage", 35 Victoria Road, Deal, Kent. 2 March 1968.
£35.00

2pp., 12mo. 36 lines. She begins by accepting an invitation to give a talk to Wiener's 'Society', about which she has 'hears so much'. She is 'honoured to add my name to such a distinguished roll of speakers'. She next explains why she believes radio to be 'infinitely superior to TV'. She next turns to 'Mr. Sieveking's adaptation', which she considers 'very clever, as he had to leave out the descriptions which formed such an important part of the book. He allowed me to see and criticise all his scripts, too. I'm so glad you are liking the result. Isn't the signature-tune pleasing?

[Jessica Brett Young, widow of novelist Francis Brett Young.] Four Autograph Letters Signed to 'Mr Jackson', 'Manager, Heinemann & Cassell', discussing her husband's copyrights in an energetic style, with notes on the writing of 'My Brother Jonathan'

Author: 
Jessica Brett Young [née Hankinson], (1883-1970), wife of the English novelist Francis Brett Young (1884-1954)
Publication details: 
All four on letterheads of the Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town. Written in October and November 1967.
£200.00

The first three letters each 1p., 4to; and the fourth 2pp., 4to. In good condition, on aged and creased paper, with three of the four letters stapled together. Letter One: 13 October 1967. She writes 'for information about my position concerning my late husband's books, and my Biography of him which Heinemann's published in London in 1962'. The closing of the firm's Cape Town office has been a shock to her. Letter Two: 4 November 1967.

[Mary Cholmondeley.] Autograph Letter Signed to fellow-novelist Frances Mary Peard

Author: 
Mary Cholmondeley (1859-1925), English novelist [Frances Mary Peard (1835-1923), English novelist, author of more than forty books]
Publication details: 
Hendon. 29 January [no year].
£56.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with short closed tear at head of second leaf. She begins: 'I was so disturbed and disappointed when I came in on Tuesday to find I had missed you. And I believe you had been kind enough to call when we ought to be, and almost invariably are in - after 4.

[Frederick Forsyth] Two Typed Letters Signed "Frederick Forsyth" to Sally Worboyes, organiser and hostess of Fen Farm Arts Ltd (seminars for would-be writers)

Author: 
Frederick Forsyth, novelist
Publication details: 
[Headed notepaper] From the Office of Frederick Forsyth, East End Green Farm, Hertfordbury, Hertfordshire. SG14 2PD, 19 Oct. 1992 amd 7 Sept. 1993.
£100.00

One page each, obl. 12mo, good condition. (1992) He has to disappoint her. He receives "a constant stream of requests for appearances, lectures, utorials, charity fun runs, mixed in with pleas for book reviews, the reading of unpublished manuscriipts, help[ to find an agent,help to get published, etc. Heart-touching as these requests are, I fel I really have to stick to my guns and decline if I am to get any work done for myself.

[William Plomer] Two Autograph Letters Signed "William" and "William Plomer" to "Veronica" [C.V. Wedgwood, eminent historian].With Programme for The Memorial Service for Plomer. (1973)

Author: 
William Plomer South African-British author, novelist
Publication details: 
[Heade] Rossida, Stonefields, Rustington, Sussex, 30 Dec. 1955 AND [Also Headed] 43 Adastra Avenue, Hassocks,Susssex, 21 Aug. 1971.
£120.00

Two pages each, 12mo, good condition. [1955] He apologises for being late in telling her how enjoyable he found her luncheon party. "Whatever they were like when they arrived and at least two (I don't include myself) had been rather under the weather - your guests all went off as radiant as glow-worms." Further thanks and joyful remembrances; [1971] A shakier hand, he expresses his pleasure at his visit "except for one thing - which was seeing poor Philip afficted.

[Margaret Drabble] Autograph Note Signed 'Margaret Drabble' to Sally Worboyes, organiser and hostess of Fen Farm Arts Ltd (seminars for would-be writers)

Author: 
Margaret Drabble, novelist
Publication details: 
[Headed Notepaper] Margaret Drabble Holroyd, The Kiln, Porlock Weir, Minehead, Somerset, TA24 8PB, 28 Oct. 1993.
£35.00

One page, 4to, good condition. "Thanks for your letter. I'm afraid that my reading days are long over - too busy - Sorry! Thanks for the invitation."

Autograph Card Signed "P. Loti", French author ["to A . Chasserian", (publisher?)pencil note]

Author: 
Pierre Loti, French novelist
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£110.00

Card, 11.5 x 9cm, vestiges of laying down in corners of verso, good condition. "J'ai été obligé de changer mes petits places de voyage. Voulez-vous aussi chamger les votres et venir mercredi au lieu de Vendredi. |Amitié[ ...]"Note in another hand on verso: "Autograph of Pierre Loti, Académician, officier in the French Navy (real name Viaud) author of Pecheur d'Islande, Fantomes d'Orient, etc. | Given me by M. Arthur Chasserian to whom it was addressed, Decr/92."

Memorandum, signed twice by Rudyard Kipling, of a deposit made by him at the London City and Midland Bank Limited's Newgate branch, with corresponding receipt signed for the branch manager by J. H. Coulson.

Author: 
Rudyard Kipling [Joseph Rudyard Kipling] (1865-1936), English writer and poet; J. H. Coulson, Manager, London City and Midland Bank Limited, Newgate Street, London
Publication details: 
The London City and Midland Bank Limited, Newgate Branch [London]. Both documents dated 7 December 1910.
£250.00

The two documents were originally attached along a perforated line, and both bear the serial number 115476. Having been detached, they have been reattached by a strip of light brown paper. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Both are forms, printed in red and black, and both are filled in by Coulson, regarding a deposit by Kipling of '£500 (Five hundred pounds) Grand Trunk Pacific Branch Lines Co. First Mortgage Sterling Bonds' and '$2500 (Two thousand five hundred dollars) Northern New Brunswick & Seaboard Rly Co. 4% Gold Bonds'.

Part only of Autograph Letter Signed "Georgiana Fullerton".

Author: 
Georgiana Fullerton, novelist
Publication details: 
No place or date survives.
£25.00

Part of page, c.11 x 7.5, staining but surviviing text clear and complete as follows: "thy own, I remain Reverend Sir | Yours sincerely, | Georgiana Fullerton".

Typed Note Signed (in pink) "J Cartland" [ She has typed at top of letter "From: Miss Barbara Cartland, D. St. J."] to Mrs V. Ong, a fan.

Author: 
Barbara Cartland, romantic novelist
Publication details: 
[Printed heading] Camfield Place, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, 17 May 1983.
£120.00

One page, 8vo, good condition, thanking Mrs Ong for her letter and congratulating her on her fund-raising. She continues: " I am sending you my book 'Romantic Royal Marriages' which I have autographed for you. Last time it was auctioned it raised £50-oo so I do hope you do as well. | I am enclosing for you details of Selenium-ACE which really is amn amazing mineral, and after being cured of cancer I would certainly recommend that you take it."

Typed Letter Signed "Arthur" to "My dear Peggy"

Author: 
Arthur Hailey, Anglo-American novelist.
Publication details: 
[Printed heading] Lyford Cay, P.O. Box N-7776, Nassau, Bahamas, 30 October 1974.
£75.00

One page, 4to, good condition, initially giving family news and movements. "After you had all gone, it seemed strange to be in the house at Enfield, knowing I would never see mother again, and yet the place still spoke of her. However that changed quickly, and perhaps as well. The house was empty of furniture by Friday, and sold on Saturday. Only a few formalities remain, and those can be handled by mail." He suggests she might like a copy of a letter he wrote to his mother when her terminal illness "came to attention", which his mother had kept and obviously valued.

[Verse] Thought (Signed at end "Ann S. Stephens").

Author: 
Ann S. Stephens, American "dime" novelist.
Publication details: 
Washington, 29 June 1866.
£100.00

One page, 17.5 x 12cm, 8 lines, heavy grey paper, corner smudged, good condition. Title "Thought". "Give me thought - glorious thought [...] | To the sight of a flower; | Though it trembles and shrinks | From the touch of its thorn." Note: She was not known for her verse.

Autograph Signature of the British novelist Margaret Kennedy [Margaret Davies, Lady Davies].

Author: 
Margaret Kennedy [Margaret Davies, Lady Davies] (1896-1967), English novelist and playwright
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£20.00

On one side of a piece of 11 x 11 cm paper, cut from the bottom of a letter. In good condition, lightly-aged. Reads, all in Kennedy's hand: 'Yours sincerely | Margaret Kennedy'.

Manuscript Memorandum and Manuscript Receipt, both signed ('Mortimer Collins') by the poet and novelist Edward James Mortimer Collins, assigning copyrights of his works to the London publishers Henry S. King & Co.

Author: 
Mortimer Collins [Edward James Mortimer Collins] (1827-1876), English poet and novelist [Henry S. King & Co., 65 Cornhill, London publishers]
Publication details: 
Both dated from Knowl Hill, Twyford, Berks. 19 March 1872 and 14 December 1872.
£95.00

ONE (memorandum): Headed: 'Memorandum of an Agreement between Messrs: Henry S. King & Co: of 65 Cornhill London of the one part and Mortimer Collins Esqre. of Knowl Hill, Twyford, Berks of the other part.' 19 March 1872. 1p., folio. In fair condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Pencil annotations. Five stamps at head (four embossed and one ink).

Autograph Letter Signed ('M. Hewlett') from the novelist and poet Maurice Hewlett, complaining that he has been underpaid for two pieces of writing.

Author: 
Maurice Hewlett [Maurice Henry Hewlett] (1861-1923), novelist and poet
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Broad Chalke, Salisbury. 5 December 1922.
£45.00

1p., 16mo. Fair, on aged paper, laid down on piece of card. '1349' in blue pencil at head of page. The letter reads: 'Thank you for the cheque. He ought to have paid for two, as both appeared in November. | - | Yes, I have another copy of . | - | [signed] M. Hewlett'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Victorian novelist Ethel Bourne [to Rupert Simms, author of the 'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis'] explaining her reasons for publishing under the pseudonym 'Evelyn Burne'.

Author: 
Ethel Bourne, Victorian novelist under the pseudonym 'Evelyn Burne' [Rupert Simms (1853-1937), bookseller and author of the 'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis']
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Hilderstone Hall, Stone, Staffordshire. 18 May 1892.
£38.00

1p., 12mo. 10 lines. On bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She explains that her only publications up to that point are 'Stormbeaten and Weary' and 'Spectre Stricken' ('a Christmas Story'). 'I wish to remain unknown until I can write a book I consider sufficiently good to have my own name - for this reason I have called myself "Evelyn Burne".'

Typed Letter Signed from the Anglo-Jewish novelist Emanuel Litvinoff, thanking Derek Stanford for a review, and discussing the novelist Angus Wilson ('one of the few writers to whom I've written a fan letter') and short story writing.

Author: 
Emanuel Litvinoff (19150-2011), Anglo-Jewish novelist [Derek Stanford (1918-2008), Anglo-Jewish author and critic; Angus Wilson (1913-1991), English novelist]
Publication details: 
36 Byron Court, Mecklenburgh Square, London. 2 July 1973.
£165.00

1p., 4to. He thanks Stanford for sending 'the carbon' of his 'warm review' of Litvinoff's novel ('A Death out of Season'). He missed the article and the note Stanford wrote 'about my autobiographical sequence' in the Scotsman, but is now iinterested to see from the review that Stanford is 'nursing the idea of a 'Forties memoir. Amazingly, few of us have written about the decade. I shall be getting around to it one day also, I hope.

Autograph Letter Signed "Edward George Lytton Bulwer", to [Barbarina Lady Dacre], about her Poems (published 1821).

Author: 
Edward Bulwer Lytton, novelist
Publication details: 
Knebworth, Saturday morning [n.d. - pre-1844 when he became Bulwer-Lytton].
£120.00

One page, 8vo, laid down on another paper, fold marks and slightly crumpled, trimmed with loss of part of "K" of "Knebworth" only, otherwise text clear and complete. "It is with many thanks that Ireturn your Ladyship's Poems [...] I must differ from your Ladyship in the remark that 'Tragedy is not the field for female powers- I cannot help particualrly admiring the nobleness of the characters you have described, & the sentiments they atter are such as Man should utter.

Autograph Letter Signed Violet [Paget] to Robert Lynd, essayist and Irish Nationalist.

Author: 
Violet Paget ['Vernon Lee'] (1856-1935), author.
Publication details: 
Letterhead of 36 Chepstow Place, London; 24 September [1935
£150.00

ALS, on letterhead of 36 Chepstow Place, London; 24 September [1935], 2pp., 8vo. 'I have just come back from seeing Winifred Holtby in the nursing home where she is lying ill, & I fear there is no hope whatever for her. Her friends are very anxious that she shd. be adequately written about in the News Chronicle when the time […] & have asked me to ask you to see, if you wd.

The Popular Family Tales of Mrs. Craik

Author: 
[Mrs Craik]
Publication details: 
London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co (earliest published work in BL 1890).; Glasgow: Thomas D. Morison[after 1887, her year of death]
£350.00

430pp., 8vo, “Biographical Sketch,” unsigned, p. 5–6,bookplate (Presentation), bokseller's label (both inside front cover), very dark red smooth cloth, spine blocked in gold., sl. worn, corners bumped wear to edges of spine, eps foxed, pages stained (mainly sides), ow good. Copy in Parish Collection, Princeton; none listed on COPAC, WorldCat. or Woolf.

[Typed] Memorandum of an Agreement.... Signed "May Laffan", Irish novelist, agreementy with publishers, Henry S. KIng, concerning her novel "Hogan, M.P.".

Author: 
May Laffan [Hartley] (1849–1916), Irish novelist.
Publication details: 
[London], 26 April 1876
£150.00

One page, sm. fol., sl. chipped and damp-affected but text legible (see scan on my website).

[Manuscript] Memorandum of an Agreement [with Henry S. King, publisher, for her "new novel", 'Felicia'], signed "M. Betham-Edwards

Author: 
Matilda Betham-Edwards, novelist
Publication details: 
[London], 25 July 1873
£120.00

Two pages, sm. folio, fair condition, giving details of an advance and the holding of the copyright of "The Sylvesters" if they should decide not to go ahead and want their money back. Minor change apparently initialled "HSK" [= King].

Autograph Letter Signed ('S. Judd') from the American novelist Sylvester Judd, expressing a desire to write for Maria Weston Chapman's abolitionist gift book 'The Liberty Bell'.

Author: 
Sylvester Judd (1813-1853), American novelist, best-known for his book 'Margaret' (1845) ['The Liberty Bell',abolitionist gift book edited by Maria Weston Chapman (1806-1885)]
Publication details: 
Riverside, Augusta; 28 August 1851.
£180.00

1p., 4to. Good, on aged paper. The letter (possibly addressed to the book's publisher) reads 'My dear Sir, | It would give me great pleasure to write for the "Liberty Bell," but I dare not at this moment say I could prepare anything in the time you mention. | Yours truly | [signed] S. Judd.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. S. H. Pardoe') from the novelist Julia Pardoe to 'Mrs. Cooper', describing a 'severe accident' met with by her parents.

Author: 
Julia Pardoe [J. S. H. Pardoe; Julia Sophia Pardoe] (1804-1862), English novelist and poet, best-known for her accounts of her travels in the Ottoman Empire
Publication details: 
13 Upper Eaton Street, London; 'Wednesday' [no date, but before 1849].
£90.00

3pp., 16mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She begins: 'I am sure you wil grieve to hear that my dear Parents have met with a severe accident, altho', thank God! we have every cause to hope that there wil be no latent results. They were knocked down by a horse, in attempting to avoid an Omnibus: both are cut on the head, & Mama is much bruised in several places.' 'Quiet and care' will restore them, she trusts. Her mother has asked her to write, as it will be impossible for her parents to keep the dinner engagement with Mrs Cooper.

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