ORNITHOLOGY

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On a 17.5 x 12 cm piece of ruled paper, laid down on a piece of card. The high-acidity paper is browned, otherwise in good condition, with small nick to one edge. The signature ‘W. H. Hudson / June 27. ’20’ is beneath two lines written in a foreign language, a tentative reading of which is ‘Te semiron mulei moy / To dariau tis viden’. See Image.

Fowler’s entry in the DNB states that he resigned his tutorship in 1910, when he ‘retired to Kingham, where, since 1873, he had enjoyed a country home and entertained his pupils. From 1899 he lived there with his sister Alice’. On both sides of what was an 8vo leaf, the lower part of which has been torn away, leaving a piece roughly 20 cm square, with 26 typed lines and the autograph valediction, in a large bold hand, ‘Yours sincerely / W. Warde Fowler’. Aged and worn, but with the remaining text clear. A nice letter, combining Fowler’s main interests.

A good illustrated article on Groves and his boats is to be found in the magazine ‘The Gull’, March 2013, pp.19-26 (available online), emphasizing his ‘brilliant line drawings in British Seagull’s early post-war advertising’. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged. Neatly folded twice. Twenty typed lines beneath the heading ‘A Bird Sanctuary for Lymington.’ Some lines and passages lightly underlined in red pencil. Signed at foot by Groves, as ‘Organiser and (Sec: pro-tem)’. Begins: ‘An Important Meetings is to be held in / The Assembly Room. Angel Hotel. Lymington. / on / Friday.

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) The seven items are in good condition, though one of Denham’s letters has slight wear to one edge. All date from the same period. The four Denham letters total 5pp, foolscap 8vo; three are signed ‘Reg’ and the other ‘Reginald’; two are on his letterhead. The fully-dated Denham letter (8 June 1951) is the longest at 2pp, 8vo. Addressed to ‘My dear Mac’, he gives details of a visit he is paying to England to settle his late mother’s affairs (‘She was 83.’) He is also going to ‘confer with Edward Percy.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight spotting to margin. Folded three times. Good signature: ‘Peter Scott.’ Addressing himself to ‘Dear Squirrel’, he writes: ‘Yes, of course I will try to advise you on the right type of field glasses. I have used Ross 12 by 50 Stepsun for many years and have found it a very good glass for ornithological and also general use. I would strongly recommend it.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. A presentation copy of the 'Scientific Roll' has 'just come to hand, as I have been snowed in at this point for a long time': 'if my purse were only as willing as my spirit I would put the shoulder to the wheel with you. It is a splendid work, and I look for the remaining parts with great interest.' He ends by asking to be put down as a subscriber. Ramsay's 'Scientific Roll: A Bibliography, Guide and Index to Climate' appeared between 1880 and 1884, and 'Scientific Roll and Magazine of Systematized Notes' appeared between 1890 and 1900.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Forty-eight lines of text. Arnold's 'On the Indian Hills, or Coffee-Planting in Southern India' had been published in London earlier in the year, and Saunders writes that '[a]s an ornithologist' he has been 'much interested by the numerous allusions to the birds observed [...] but most of all by your remarks on the outward voyage (pp.101-3) on the gulls &c of the Red Sea'.

On 5.5 x 14 cm. strip of paper. Apparently written in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'I am much flattered by the demand | C L. Bonaparte' ('demand' being a mistake for 'request').

1p., 12mo. In very good condition. Large bold signature. 'Dear Sir | Thanks for your prompt remittance: I return the a/c duly accepted and remain | Dear Sir | Yours very truly | John Gould | Mr. J. E. Cornish'. Docketted at top left.

Receipt, part printed, part MS., 21 x 13cm, fold marks, good condition. A "Mr Cornish" has purchased Parts 17 & 18 of the Birds of Great Britain. Note; "The Birds of Great Britain" (1862–73).

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium (second leaf blank), good condition. "I very much regret that I am not well enough to be present at the unveiling of the statue of Huxley tomorrow, which I had been looking forward to see. I got a chill last Saturday when it was so hot & have had an abscess in the ear, which has just released itself, but it would not do to go out in the cold air [...]"

1p., 4to. In fair condition, aged and lightly-creased. The letterhead includes fourteen endorsements from newspapers in the left-hand margin, with Pike described as 'Author of the Birdland Books. | 100,000 copies sold.' Although bearing a genuine signature, the letter may be a circular. Pike is enclosing 'a copy of my Lecture Prospectus for next season' (not present). He goes on to discuss his 'new Lecture entitled: - "BIRDLAND CAMEOS"', before concluding: 'If your Society should decide to engage me, I can promise them a thoroughly interesting evening.'

All 4to, with the letters totalling 22 pp, and the list of 'Funghi, East Kent' of 15 pp. All items clear and complete. Three leaves with light staining (one with short closed tear), otherwise all in good condition, on aged paper. All three in envelopes (lacking stamps), addressed by Clifton and with his seal in red wax. ONE. 4 October 1889. 4to, 12 pp. Begins: 'It seems a long time since we had a ramble on the Cuxton and Ralling hills from Cobham, and when I killed a viper; and I have been much amused at the apparent incredulity of a brother B.O.U. at the Dumpton Park rarities!

12mo, 11 pp. Stitched and unbound. First and last leaves loose, otherwise in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper with grubby title. The section of 'Eggs of the Farne Islands' consists of fifteen entries on pp.8-9, from '1. Eider or St. Cuthbert's Duck (Somateria mollissima)' to '15.

4to, 1 p. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. With 1 cm vertical closed tear at foot of each leaf. Addressed, with postmarks, on the reverse of the second leaf, which is docketed '31. July 1840. | Gurney & Co. that Mrs E. Lofty resides at Hethersett near Norwich -'. Reads 'Respected friends | We believe that the lady for whose address you enquire in yr favor of the 29th Inst resides at Hethersett near this city'. Gurney joined the family business at the age of seventeen.

8vo: 2 pp. The 'idea is worth Consideration', but Blackwood 'can hardly see how any large sale cann be depended upon, so as to repay the expense of printing advertising &c.' Asks that Morris send him 'one sermon, to indicate style, length & to estimate cost'. Asks what size of paper should be used. Notices that Morris's works are 'principally on natural history'. Likes the idea of 'the <?> natural history', and 'will take an early opportunity of looking at it'. This notable London publisher is a surprising omission from BBTI.

44 pages. Folio. Unbound. In poor condition: first and last leaf fraying, torn and separated. An important document: a landmark in the history of environmentalism. The committee members were the Hon. E. S. Montagu (Under Secretary of State for India), Lord Lucas (Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture), Frank Elliott of the Home Office, E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Hugh S. Gladstone and the appropriately-named W. Eagle Clarke.