OXFORD

2pp, 12mo. On the rectos of the two leaves of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Begins: ‘Dear Mrs Ross. / We had the pleasure of having your daughter for tea yesterday & I hasten to tell you our pleasure in making her acquaintance. She is indeed charming & intelligent & bright; I am sure she will make the most of her stay here.

See Bullock's entry in the Oxford DNB. From the archives of Philip Dosse, proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of the ‘Seven Arts’ group of magazines, including ‘Books and Bookmen’ and ‘Plays and Players’. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly creased. Folded twice for postage.

See Richard Wollheim’s appreciative entry on Ayer in the Oxford DNB. From the archives of Philip Dosse, proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of the ‘Seven Arts’ group of magazines, including ‘Books and Bookmen’ and ‘Plays and Players’. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The three items are each 1p, small 4to. All three in good condition, each folded twice. All three signed ‘A. J. Ayer’, with typed name beneath, ‘Sir Alfred Ayer’.

Eight items from the papers of Stanley Thomas Cross, including six evocative pieces of Christ’s Hospital ephemera. Four of the items have some singing to extremities (in a couple of cases affecting a few words of text), otherwise the material is in fair condition. The material ranges in dimension from foolscap 8vo to 12mo. Items One to Five are printed circulars (each with the school crest) relating to the Christ’s Hospital admissions process, dating from 1894 and 1895, all from ‘R. L. Franks, Clerk’. ONE: 17 October 1894.

On a rectangular label, gummed on the reverse. In fair condition, on aged paper, with traces of paper adhering to the gummed side. The notice reads: 'The Librarian regrets that he has to inform you that owing to your breach of Stat. Cap. XLI 9a (Consumption of Edibles) he must forbid you the use of the Bodleian and Camera until the matter can be dealt with by the Curators. | Dr. H. Koeppler, | Magdalen College.'

Excellent affectionate and eloquent content, including a moving expression of the conventional Victorian view of Christmas. See Bright's entry in the Oxford DNB. A total of eight pages, six of which are closely written. Items One and Two addressed to ‘My dear Jacob’. Item Three is incomplete. ONE: ‘Univ Coll / Innocents Day 1866.’ 5pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Bright’s signature ‘W. Bright’ and the conclusion of the letter (i.e. the fifth page) are written crosswise at the head of the first page.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is not named, but the item is from the papers of Eileen Cond, an enthusiastic collector of autographs. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. In Blunden’s stylish hand the note simply reads: ‘[9 Woodstock Close / Oxford] / 1 April 1936 / Dear Madam / I append the autograph which you requested. / yours faithfully / Edmund Blunden.’

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, folded for postage. Recipient (‘Sir’) not named. Signed ‘A. C. Fraser’. He is ‘pleased to think that anything [he has] written has given pleasure’ to the recipient. ‘As yet my productions have been occasional & fragmentary, but I am now engaged in a larger work - an edition of Berkeley’s writings, for the Oxford Press.’ Postscript: ‘I have an article in the last (September) North British Review on Mill & Hamilton, & in the October Macmillans Magazine on the “Literary Life of Isaac Taylor”’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. This item is 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased and folded twice for postage. Signed ‘Stuart Hampshire’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The present item is 1p, small 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded.. Signed ‘Marghanita Laski’. She had no fears about the cheque for £50 he has sent: ‘I knew it would turn up.’ She thanks him for offering her ‘some reviewing.

A nice piece of OUP ephemera, and a memorial to the lost art of letterpress printing. Stitched pamphlet of 24pp, 12mo. Wraps not called for. In good condition, lightly aged, with outer pages a little grubby. A couple of sources help establish the date: on p.13 it is announced that ‘the most recent discoveries, especially in Egypt, have been inserted, down to March, 1893’, and the second of the ‘Extracts from Opinions’, pp.21-23, from ‘Nature’, dates from 5 October 1893.

See his long and appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, concluding with the praise of his ‘pioneering achievements, especially in the fields of Vedic studies and comparative philology’. 2pp, 12mo. Aged and discoloured, with hole at foot caused by removal from mount, causing loss to words ‘to show’. Addressed to ‘Dear Sir’ and signed ‘Max Müller’. Begins: ‘I am not a Servian scholar, and I know of no Servian Grammar except one by Wuk Stephanowitch, translated into German by Jacob Grimm.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that he has ‘strong claims to be regarded as the greatest sporting all-rounder of his or any era since’. (Neville Cardus counted him ‘among the most fully developed and representative Englishmen of his period’.) It also seems that in 1920 he was offered the chance of becoming king of Albania. His grave at Repton is inscribed: ‘Cricketer, scholar, athlete, Author – The Ultimate All-rounder’.

The circumstances surrounding this extraordinary original composition in Latin verse are obscure. See Phillips’s entry in the Oxford DNB, which notes that there was ‘an air of Proust’ about him, and quotes Oliver Brown’s description of him as ‘a stout man, immaculately dressed and heavily scented, who talked continuously while he looked at the pictures'. It may be that Phillips and the author of the poem had been educated together, or that they were members of the same club (the Athenaeum for example).

A scarce item, no other copy discovered on ViaLibri, WorldCat or JISC LHD. 4pp, 12mo. Paginated bifolium in small print. Aged and worn, with short closed tear in gutter. Folded twice.

An interesting letter, revealing the nuanced position of a liberal cleric on a difficult question. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Signed ‘J. F. Oxon:’. Text clear and entire, on creased and worn paper, with two short closed tears at edges. Folded twice for postage. Minuted (by the recipient) at top of first page: ‘I read this at the Cler[ical]. meeting - (part of it)’.

Beatrice Cecilia Harington was one of the two daughters of Rev. Dr Richard Harington (1800-1853), Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford. As children she and her sister Alice Margaret (1854-1901) were befriended by Lewis Carroll, who photographed them. Neither of the two girls married, but both were associated with the Settlement Movement in London's East End. Beatrice was the first Head of St. Margaret's House, Bethnal Green, which, according to her Times obituary, was 'the first church settlement for women in the capital'.

See Richard A. Cosgrove’s laudatory entry on him in the Oxford DNB, as well as that on Henry Goudy (1848-1921), Regius Professor of Civil Law (like Dicey, of All Souls). The recipient, Archibald Arthur Prankerd (1851-1926), of Worcester College, was also in the law faculty at Oxford. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded once for postage. Signed and underlined at foot in pencil ‘A V Dicey’. The letter, in a secretarial hand, reads: ‘Dear Prankerd, / This Dissertation will I think suffice. Please look it through & send it back to Goudy.

Short Biography by John Munro.Frederick James Furnivall A Volume of Personal Record with List of SubscribersRebound, hf-lea, rubbed, endpapers sl.

Material which, by its very nature, is extremely uncommon. Five items, three of them beautifully printed with the Fell Types. From the papers of King George V’s doctor Lord Dawson of Penn (see his entry in the Oxford DNB). Among those to whom degrees are conferred (all of whom receive the customary praise in florid Latin) are J. M. Barrie, Sir Henry Newbold, Dame Ethel Smity, Sir Austen Chamberlain and the Speaker of the Commons John Henry Whitley. The first three are printed with the Fell Types, and the first two and the fifth carry Johnson’s slug.

Material which, by its very nature, is extremely uncommon. Three items, two of which are beautifully printed with the Fell Types. Duplicates from the papers of King George V’s doctor Lord Dawson of Penn (see his entry in the Oxford DNB). Among those to whom degrees are conferred (all of whom receive the customary praise in florid Latin) are J. M. Barrie, Sir Henry Newbold, Dame Ethel Smythe, Sir Austen Chamberlain and the Speaker of the Commons John Henry Whitley. The first three are printed with the Fell Types, and the first two and the fifth carry Johnson’s slug.

One page, 16mo, in narrow frame of stiffer paper, good condition. My dear Sir | I am sorry but I did not know it was wanted so soon and have not written to Leipzig. I will write. [...] [P.S.] I suppose the Publisher who sell [sic] the Bodleian book will tell them I will wroite to them. Note: I have traced no publication of Tauchnitz's atributable to Pusey.

12mo, 53 + [iii] pp. Text clear and complete. Aged and worn, with loose original front cover, printed in green, remaining from the binding. Stamp of 'The Community of the Resurrection' on title-page. A few manuscript notes in light pencil. Scarce: five copies on COPAC, at the British Library, Oxford, Cambridge, the National Library of Scotland, and University of London, variously dated to 1909 and 1910.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, with those of Brougham and Goldwin Smith. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, with thin strip from windowpane mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf. Signed ‘O Gordon’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr Da [Qeue?]’. An interesting letter, full of content. He begins by thanking him for ‘Ld Broughams letter which I have disposed of as directed’.

'Oxford Forward' was the journal of the Labour Club in Oxford, which had 730 members in 1937. Eight sequential issues, with nos. 21 and 22 misnumbered for 3 and 5. [12 + 8 + 16 + 8 + 12 + 8 + 8 + 8 =] totalling 80pp., 4to. With illustrations and cartoons. In good condition, lightly aged, in green cloth binding lightly spotted with paint. Each number with the masthead in red, three issues also including the words 'Edition of University' in small print in the title. The front page of number 21 (7 May 1938) has 'ARMS FOR SPAIN' in large red letters at the foot.

'Oxford Forward' was the journal of the Labour Club in Oxford, which had 730 members in 1937. Eight sequential issues, with nos. 21 and 22 misnumbered for 3 and 5. [12 + 8 + 16 + 8 + 12 + 8 + 8 + 8 =] totalling 80pp., 4to. With illustrations and cartoons. In good condition, lightly aged, in green cloth binding lightly spotted with paint. Each number with the masthead in red, three issues also including the words 'Edition of University' in small print in the title. The front page of number 21 (7 May 1938) has 'ARMS FOR SPAIN' in large red letters at the foot.

See his entry, and that of his sister, in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Fifty-eight lines of text. Signed ‘James Martineau.’ On biofolium. In good condition, lightly aged and folded twice for postage. A very good letter, filled with matter. He begins by conceding that there is ‘ground for displeasure of some of my fellow-believers’ in his ‘paper in the “Christian Reformer”: ‘that the description it gives of the Unitarian modes of thought does not invariably fit to the more recent phases of feeling & conception’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged with patch of light sunning. Folded once. The recipient is not named. Reads: ‘Dear Madam / Forgive me for my delay in answering your letter. I have been laid up for a week or two with influenza & my correspondence has suffered in consequence. / And please believe that your words have given us sincere pleasure & that I am / Yours very faithfully / A. T. Quiller-Couch’. The hyphen in the signature is almost imperceptible. See image.

See his long and appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, concluding with the praise of his ‘pioneering achievements, especially in the fields of Vedic studies and comparative philology’. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two small water spots causing negiligible smudging (nowhere near signature). Folded twice. Signed ‘Max Müller’ and addressed to ‘Mr. Borlase’. The only book he can recommend to him is ‘Zeuss, Grammatica Celtica, of which a new edition has just been published by Ebel. There are several Grammars of modern Irish: I have one by Bourke.

An interesting letter, in which a knowledgeable contemporary gives an extremely critical opinion of Victorian restoration as it pertains to churches in Wales. Freeman’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes how in his youth he had contemplated a career as an architect, and as a historian he showed ‘an interest in field archaeology and architecture, with the ability to sketch buildings and their features’. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Signed ‘Edward A Freeman’.