PEIRCE

[Noel Coward’s father Arthur Sabin Coward.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both ‘Arthur S. Coward’), respnding to a request from Sewell Stokes that he write ‘a special article about Noëls early days’.

Author: 
Arthur Sabin Coward (1856-1937), father of Noel Coward [Sir Noël Peirce Coward] (1899-1973), playwright and composer [Sewell Stokes (1902-1979), author and broadcaster]
Publication details: 
18 January and 20 February 1929; both from 111 Ebury St S.W.1. [London.]
£120.00

According to Noël Coward’s entry in the Oxford DNB, his family moved through the suburbs of south London, before finally setting in Ebury Street, where his mother Violet ‘acquired a boarding-house on the fringes of Belgravia’. The letters are written on the verge of the huge success of the revue ‘Bitter Sweet’ (1929). The recipient of these letters Sewell Stokes was an author and broadcaster who also worked as a probation officer and prison visitor, writing several works on the British penal system.

[Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton, Scottish physician.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Lauder Brunton') to 'Dr Peirce', i.e. Bedford Peirce, congratulating him on his appointment [as medical superintendent at the Retreat, York].

Author: 
Lauder Brunton [Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton, 1st Baronet] (1844-1916), Scottish physician [Bedford Peirce (1861-1932), physician]
Publication details: 
'Hotel de France | Argeles-Gazonst [sic]'. 29 October 1891.
£250.00

2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with ink quite faded, and thin strip of paper from mount adhering to the blank second leaf of the bifolium. Folded twice. He begins by expressing pleasure at Peirce's 'appointment' (as medical superintendent at the Retreat, York), also congratulating 'those with whom your duties will bring you in contact'. He thinks he is 'wise to take 6 months in Bethlem'. He asks him to 'look up my old friend Dr Ramsay' when he goes to York. Ramsay is 'a very fine fellow indeed' and Peirce will 'find it a pleasure to know him'.

[Karl Pearson, mathematician, biostatistician and eugenicist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Karl Pearson.') to 'Dr. Peirce', regarding 'Mrs Baker's death', ancestry and Professor Benjamin Osgood Peirce of Harvard.

Author: 
Karl Pearson (1857-1936), mathematician, biostatistician and eugenicist, pioneer in the field of mathematical statistics [Benjamin Osgood Peirce, Harvard Professor of Mathematics]
Publication details: 
7 Well Road, Hampstead; 11 November 1902.
£350.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. The letter begins with a reference to 'Mrs Baker's death'. Pearson and his wife 'had not realised the gravity of her illness', as they had recently seen her 'so well and fresh in spirit'. He wishes he had been able to accept Peirce's suggestion of 'putting me up for tonight' in order to be 'present tomorrow', but he is 'overdone and had work till 6 o'clock arranged for today, so that to come down by the night train tonight & track back tomorrow night have been more than I could safely attempt'.

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