PAYNE

See his entry, and that of Collier, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on worn and spotted paper. Folded twice for postage. The recipient is not named. Addressed to ‘Dear Sir’ and signed ‘C. M. Ingleby’. He offers ten pounds for ‘yr. copy of the Encycl: Metropolitana’, and will pay the carriage if he sends it. ‘I don’t actually want it: but its a good book, & I’ll give that as an investment.’ He will send a cheque, once he receives ‘a Post Card: with “yes” on it’. Ends: ‘Other matters in yr. excellent Catalogue I postpone.’

See the entries on Collier and Dilke in the Oxford DNB. The eight volumes of Collier?s edition of Shakespeare?s works were first published between 1842 and 1844, with the sonnets and other poems in the last volume. The Athenaeum carried a long review of vols.2 and 3 of Collier?s edition on 9 July 1842, and another dealing with the biographical element of the entire work on 2 March 1844. From this letter it is clear that Chasles intended to review the eighth and last volume containing the sonnets (and may well have done so). The present item is 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium.

1p, 12mo. On bifolium, addressed on the reverse of the second leaf, with the cardinal's seal in red wax to one corner, 'A Monsieur Payne'. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering to inner edge. Folded twice. In a close, neat hand, the letter reads: 'Le Cardinal Fesch fait ces compliments à Monsieur et à Madame Payne et les Félicites de leurs heureux Retour a Rome. | Le Cardinal est toujours visible vers midi mais il tachera de visiter les aimables voyageurs, à leurs auberge avant leur depart.

1p, 4to. In fair condition, aged and worn; laid down on part of a leaf removed from an album. Bathurst's name written in two nineteenth-century hands at the head. The letter was evidently written on receipt of an engraving of Captain George Nicholas Hardinge (1776-1813) of HMS St Fiorenzo, adopted son of George and Lucy Hardinge, who was killed in a naval action off the coast of Ceylon.

The four letters are in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Written in Payne's neat and mannered hand, and all four signed 'J Bertrand Payne'. For the background to the correspondence see Jim Cheshire's article 'The Fall of the House of Moxon', Victorian Poetry, Spring 2012. Payne was manager of the London publishing house Edward Moxon & Co., celebrated for their association with poets.

The three letters are in good condition, lightly aged. All three signerd 'J Bertrand Payne'. The first has a letterhead in red, the other two have a different letterhead in blue. Both designs feature exuberant monograms and lettering in Victorian Gothic type, which, together with Payne's exuberant handwriting (the last letter also being written in purple ink), accurately reflect the character of the man Tennyson angrily dismissed as 'peacock Payne'. Three excellent letters, the background to which is of interest.

The author of the text of the present volume, J. B. Payne, was manager of the book's publisher Moxon, and ruined the firm with his sumptuous editions, including one of Tennyson's 'Idylls of the King' with illustrations by Gustav Doré, which determined Tennyson to forbid future illustrated editions of his work. The market for the present volume would have been limited, and the cost of producing it so high, that it is hard to see how it can have covered its costs. [3] + 53pp., 4to. Each of the 56 pages is lithographed in black against a light-brown background, on thick art paper.

12mo, 134 pp each on one side of a ring-punched loose leaf, with the leaves attached by green thread within an original worn buckram binder with discoloured endpapers. The leaves themselves in good condition on lightly-aged paper; with those of the draft story ruled in red, and sometimes utilizing scrap paper (for example the blank reverses of prospectuses for Wright's books and scrap pages from Blake Society material).

Full title: 'Report of the Committee of the Society of Dilettanti, appointed by the Society to superintend the expedition lately sent by them to Greece and Ionia; containing an Abstract of the Voyage of the Mission, a List of the Materials collected by them, and a Plan to facilitate the Publication of those Materials.' At end of last page: 'Signed, by order of the Committee, | H. C. ENGLEFIELD, | Secretary.' [2] + 18pp., 4to. Stabbed, but with stitching gone.

Postcards, c.11 x 9cm, some smudging but mainly good condition, text clear and complete. Postcard One: "Dear Mr Wynne, | Very best thanks for your valued gift: a fine & distinguished poem."; Postcard 2: "[...] | The books can be got separately & there are cheap editions of those two books any bookseller can secure for you for 2/- & 2/6 each. | I'm afraid London has had enough of my plays. My daughter's paly is not about [?] folk." Two items,

4to, 1 p. Ten lines, edges a little damaged but text clear and complete, on flimsy paper. "You are welcome to the quotation from my school-boy story - if it is worth while. I could have wished, however, that in an anthology of serious prose you had given me credit as a serious writer & chosen something more interesting. With compliments [...]"

Both works first editions, and both in good condition, on aged paper. Bound together in late nineteenth-century red cloth half-binding, with marbled boards. Title on spine: 'COLLIER CONTROVERSY | H.R.H. | 1919'. Hamilton title in full: 'An Inquiry into the Genuineness of the Manuscript Corrections in Mr. J. Payne Collier's Annotated Shakspere, Folio, 1632; and of certain Shaksperian Documents likewise published by Mr. Collier'. [4] + 155pp., 4to. With frontispiece and two plates, one of them double-page. Collier title in full: 'Mr. J. Payne Collier's reply to Mr. N. E. S.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Having received the unnamed recipient's letter of the previous day, Northwick will be 'most happy to give effect to your wishes by granting free access to my Pictures to you, & your Daughter, whenever it may be convenient to you to call at Connaught Place'. If the recipient calls before noon Northwick will probably 'have the pleasure of shewing them to you', if he comes after noon, or Northwich 'shd. happen to be from home, my Servants shall receive directions to admit you to see the Paintings'.

2 pp, 4to. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with slight wear to extremities. On one leaf, with both sides ruled with red borders. In Payne's neat and distinctive hand, and attributed to him in pencil at head.

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. 32 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. In answer to a request for autographs, she has 'some duplicates somewhere, but tonight I send you only three cards', as she has 'no letters of Miss Yonge that I should like to part with'. She names the authors of the 'three signed postcards' (not present) as: James Payne ('Editor of Cornhill, author of many novels'), Charlotte Yonge and Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton.

On thin laid paper roughly two and three-quarter inches by three and three-quarter inches wide. Good clean image, on aged paper with slight wear in bottom left-hand corner. Enclosed by a border. Reads, in a variety of hands, 'Thomas Payne | BOOKSELLER, | Near the South Sea House | BISHOPSGATE-STREET | LONDON. | Sells all Sorts of Stationary [sic] Wares.' According to BBTI the Thomas Payne who was at this address in 1750 may possibly be the eminent bookseller Thomas Payne I (1719-99) of the Mews Gate.

28 pages, 8vo. 14 leaves, the last a blank. Paginated [1-3] 4-26 [1-2]. Unbound and stitched as issued. In very good condition though grubby and with one dogeared corner. Brief mention (p.7) of John Payne Collier's discovery of 'The life of Robin Goodfellow' in the library of the Earl of Ellesmere, and of 'Mr. Halliwell'. No copy in the British Library.