PERCIVAL

[‘What a play!’: Percy Merriman, musician and songwriter, mainstay of the Roosters troupe of entertainers.] Autograph Letter Signed to theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope, recalling Sir George Alexander’s 1896 production of ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’.

Author: 
Percy Merriman [Percival Harry Merriman] (1882-1966), musician and songwriter with the Roosters troupe of entertainers, who began as a First World War concert party [Walter James Macqueen-Pope]
Publication details: 
14 October [no year, but before 1958]. On letterhead of ‘Percy Merriman / Lecturer and Entertainer / 37 Parliament Hill / London / N.W.3’.
£45.00

From the Macqueen-Pope papers (see his entry in the Oxford DNB). Merriman was accorded the honour of an episode of the BBC’s Desert Island Discs in 1964. 2pp, 12mo. Signed ‘Percy’ and addressed to ‘Dear Popie’. In good condition, lightly aged, with one dog-eared corner and folded twice for postage. Begins: ‘Am not of course seeking any publicity over your book on St. James Theatre [published in 1958] only wish I could help more. / You know of course Allan Ainsworth [sic, for ‘Aynesworth’] is alive the doyen of the Garrick Club! He played often with G[eorge]. A[lexander]. - in Pinero & Wilde.

[P. C. Wren, novelist, author of 'Beau Geste'.] Typed Letter Signed ('P C Wren') to 'Miss Mills', explaining that he is sending her his autograph 'on one of my own private book-plates'.

Author: 
P. C. Wren [Percival Christopher Wren] (1875-1941), writer of adventure fiction, best remembered for his novel 'Beau Geste'
Publication details: 
3 January 1928. On letterhead of the Royal Bath Hotel, Bournemouth.
£32.00

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded once. Her letter has been forwarded to him and he has 'much pleasure in sending you my autograph. In order to make it a little more personal, I am sending it on one of my own private book-plates.'

[John Johnstone, physician and biographer of Samuel Parr.] Autograph Letter Signed ('J Johnstone'), concurring with 'Mr Pott' (i.e. the surgeon Percivall Pott) on the treatment of the recipient's 'complaint'.

Author: 
John Johnstone (1768-1836), physician and biographer of his friend Samuel Parr, physician to the Birmingham general hospital [Percivall Pott (1714-1788), celebrated surgeon]
Publication details: 
Worcester; 6 Sept [1786].
£500.00

2pp, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to reverse of second leaf, which is endorsed 'Docr. Johnstone | 6 Sep. 1786'. The recipient is not named. Twenty-eight lines of text, beginning: 'Dr Sir | I got home tuesday night and sent my son over to Mr Pott, to let him know your wishes. He answered he was engaged every day to dinner, and could not fix any particular time to be at Malvern.

[ Lord Perry, first Chairman of the Ford Motor Company in Britain. ] Typed Letter Signed ('Perry.') to K. W. Luckhurst of the Royal Society of Arts, regarding an invitation to become a member.

Author: 
Percival Perry [ Percival Lea Dewhurst Perry ], 1st Baron Perry [ Lord Perry ] (1878-1956), English motor vehicle manufacturer, first Chairman of the Ford Motor Company in Britain
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 88 Regent Street, London, W.1. 23 October 1947.
£30.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Name in block capitals in red pencil and stamped date at head, with holes to one corner from stapling. The 'matter' of the invitation to Perry to join the Society has 'been delayed because I have been the victim of very distressing domestic illness'. He is sending the completed application, but explains that he has been 'ordered to winter abroad', and is 'leaving for the Bahamas within the month, and will not 'be back in England until the Spring of next year'.

[ Companion volumes illustrated by John Leech. ] 'The Comic Latin Grammar; A new and fracetious Introduction to the Latin Tongue' and 'The Comic English Grammar; A new and facetious Introduction to the English Tongue.'

Author: 
[ Percival Leigh (1813-1889), satirist and humorist, contributor to 'Punch' [ John Leech (1817-1864), illustrator and caricaturist; Charles Tilt and Richard Bentley, London booksellers ]
Publication details: 
'Latin Grammar': London: Charles Tilt, Fleet Street. 1840. [ Printed by T. H. Coe, Old Change, St. Paul's. ] 'English Grammar': London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1840. [ Printed by Samuel Bentley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane. ]
£100.00

Two good tight copies, on lightly aged paper, in worn original bindings with gilt decorations on front covers, with engravings on browning paper because of high acidity content. Both volumes with bookplate of Alan Angele and manuscript library shelf label. ONE: 'The Comic Latin Grammar'. 163 + [3]pp., 8vo. Eight engravings and numerous illustrations in text (the first engraving is positioned as frontispiece rather than at p.23 as specified).

[ Macleod Yearsley and the Thinker's Library. ] Copy of Yearsley's book 'The Folklore of Fairy-Tale' with extensive autograph emendations (two notes initialled 'M. Y.') and two proof specimens for intended republication in the Thinker's Library.

Author: 
Macleod Yearsley [ Percival Macleod Yearsley ] (1867-1951), surgeon, author, folklorist and eugenicist [ The Thinker's Library, published by Watts & Co. for the Rationalist Press Association, London ]
Publication details: 
Book: London: Watts & Co., Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, E.C.4. 1924. Specimen proofs by Richard Clay & Sons, Bungay, Suffolk: June and July 1936.
£280.00

The item provides an interesting insight into the editing process of the Thinker's Library, 140 volumes of which Watts & Co. published for the Rationalist Association between 1929 and 1951. The book is xiii + 240pp., 8vo, in red cloth binding, gilt. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight wear to one corner. A couple of leaves have been neatly torn out, evidently in the process of revision. Stamp of the Rationalist Press Association Ltd on reverse of title.

[Printed item in boards.] The Lyre of Ebor; The Fall of Belshazzar; Genius and Intemperance; and other Poems. By John Nicholson, Author of Airedale in Ancient Times, The Poacher, &c.

Author: 
John Nicholson (1790-1843) [Thomas Brayshaw (d.1931) of Settle; Percival F. Hinton (1896-1977)]
Publication details: 
London: Sold by Seeley and Son, 169, Fleet-street; and G. & E. Nicholson, Bradford. 1827.
£150.00

viii + 218 + [1]pp. In quarter-bound boards with blue-grey covers and buff spine. Ex Libris of Thomas Brayshaw and Percival F. Hinton on front pastedown, and ownership signature of 'Heber' (not the book collector Richard Heber) at head of title. 'Preface' on pp.iii-v, dated 'Bingley, July 28th, 1827.', followed by two-page table of contents, listing 25 poems. 'Notes' on pp.201-218, followed by a page of advertisements by G. & E. Nicholson.

[Offprint, inscribed to Mary Proctor, containing autograph note.] Detection of Venus' Rotation Period and of the Fundamental Physical Features of the Planet's Surface.

Author: 
Percival Lowell [Percival Lawrence Lowell (1855-1916), American astronomer] [Mary Proctor (1862-1957), American astronomer]
Publication details: 
'Reprint from Popular Astronomy'. 'Lowell Observatory, November, 1896.'
£450.00

5pp., 8vo, with five plates. Stitched. In brown printed wraps headed 'Compliments of the Author', with 'Reprint from Popular Astronomy' at foot. Heavily aged, in worn and stained wraps repaired with tape. At the head of the cover Lowell has written 'iss Mary E. Proctor'. Manuscript note in another hand (presumably Procter's) on cover: 'Contains a note in Lowell's own handwriting on page 2'. Lowell's autograph note on p.2, with slight loss due to trimming of the edges of the pamphlet, reads: 'For further story by me see Jan. '97 pular stronomy'.

[John Percival Day, Professor of Economics, McGill University, Montreal.] Six large notebooks, filled with autograph lectures on economic affairs and history, delivered at the Dundee School of Social Study and Training and McGill University, Montreal

Author: 
John Percival Day (1880-1949), Professor of Economics, McGill University, Montreal [University of St Andrews; University of London; Stephen Leacock]
Publication details: 
Dundee School of Social Study and Training (University of St Andrews), Scotland; McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Dating from between 1920 and 1942.
£2,500.00

A total of 1290 pages, in six 4to notebooks. Internally clean, on lightly aged paper, in worn and repaired bindings, with the back cover of one of the volumes loose. Day has signed three of the covers, and decorated the cover of one volume with the crests of three Universities: Montenegro, St Andrews and London. All the texts are carefully written out Day's neat, close hand, with tables and graphs, some titles in red ink, and occasional pencil annotations. A list of the contents of the six volumes ends this description.

[Pamphlet.] Report on Commercial Education. Presented to the Associated Chambers of Commerce. 1887.

Author: 
J. Percival; W. Summers; H. Felkin; J. B. Paton [Associated Chambers of Commerce]
Publication details: 
London: Isbister & Co., Ludgate Hill. [1887.] [Thomas Forman and Sons Printers, Nottingham.]
£120.00

52pp., 4to. Stapled. Aged and worn, with slight loss to fore-edge of title. With label, stamp and shelfmark of the Education Department Reference Library. Scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at Leeds.

Autograph Note Signed from John Blackburne of Orford Hall, Warrington, threatening John Percival with legal action if he does not hand over 'ye money you collected from my tenants in Risley'. With (Percival's?) itemised account of the money.

Author: 
John Blackburne (1694-1786) of Orford Hall, Warrington, naturalist and horticulturalist [John Percival; Risley, Lancashire]
Publication details: 
Blackburne's note dated from Orford, 28 May 1746. Later anonymous note to him dated 19 August 1756.
£180.00

Blackburne's note is 1p., landscape 12mo. The leaf on which it is written has a central vertical fold, with the reverse carrying the itemised account to the left, and the anonymous note to Blackburne to the right. On aged and damp-stained paper. Blackburne's note is blunt and to the point: 'Orford May 28. 1746 | John Percival | I expect that you pay me in a weeks time ye Money you collected from my tenants in Risley on acct. of the Militia or I shall order Mr Lancaster to sue you for it, without further notice | from | Your friend | J: Blackburne'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the satirist Percival Leigh to 'My dear Brooks' [fellow 'Punch' contributor Shirley Brooks], regarding his writing, the nature of the joke, the unsuitability of his Hampshire surroundings to literature, and other matters.

Author: 
Percival Leigh (1813–1889), satirist, the first writer to carve his name into the 'Punch' table [Charles William Shirley Brooks (1816-1874), editor of 'Punch' from 1870 to his death]
Publication details: 
Shirley Warren, near Southampton. 28 July 1865.
£120.00

4pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He considers the cut excellent, and is grateful to Brooks for having 'managed so well' with his article. 'Many such an article of mine has been sacrificed, though absolutely a pretty good one, and comparatively to that which stood in its place, superexcellent. But such is my luck. By the by, don't measure the quantity of all that I do by what appeareth.' He reports that 'Fred is much amused with the verses on the Queen's first baby. I said that there are two men here besides himself who understand a joke.

Kenya Colony. Camera Studies No. 1. ['By kind permission of Mr. Martin Johnson and Mr. A. Blayney Percival.']

Author: 
Martin Johnson; A. Blayney Percival [The East African Standard, Nairobi, Kenya Colony]
Kenya Colony. Camera Studies No. 1.
Publication details: 
[1920s?] 'Published, printed, and engraved by the East African Standard, Limited, Nairobi, Kenya Colony.
£185.00
Kenya Colony. Camera Studies No. 1.

4to, 27 pp. Stitched with red thread. In original buff wraps, printed in red and black, with photograph of a Masai woman tipped in on front cover. Fair: slightly dog-eared, in worn wraps, with ownership inscription on front wrap. Printed on twenty-six leaves of art paper. Consisting of a covering page of text and 24 pp of captioned black-and-white photographs, two to each page, with two pages of advertisements at rear. Photographs of wildlife and members of the Meru, Masai, Wakamba, Samburu, Turkana, Waikikuyu tribes. Printed on rectos only, except for last page.

Four ink drawings, portraits in the style of Daniel Maclise's illustrations to William Maginn's 'Gallery of Illustrious Literary Characters' in Fraser's Magazine, and possibly depicting John Nichols, Theodore Hook, Percival Bankes and William Jerdan.

Author: 
[Daniel Maclise; William Maginn; John Nichols; Theodore Hook; William Jerdan; Percival Bankes; Count D'Orsay; David Moir; James Fraser]
Four ink drawings, portraits in the style of Daniel Maclise
Publication details: 
London; 1820s and 1830s?
£450.00
Four ink drawings, portraits in the style of Daniel Maclise

Fraser's Magazine launched in London in February 1830, and to begin with its most popular feature was Maginn's 'Gallery of Illustrious Literary Characters', with illlustrations by Maclise (collected in book form in 1873). The four portraits, all busts, are somewhat reminiscent of those in that work, but must be earlier if the identification of John Nichol, who died in 1828, is correct. The four are on separate pieces of paper, laid down 2 X 2 (with the four sitters looking inwards towards the centre of the page) on a leaf torn from an album.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L. C. Purser') to the classical scholar John Percival Postgate (1853-1926).

Author: 
Louis Claude Purser (1854-1932), Classical scholar, President of the Royal Irish Academy, a fellow pupil of Oscar Wilde and close friend of Yeats's sister Lollie [Trinity College, Dublin]
Publication details: 
22 February 1915; 35 Trinity College, Dublin.
£80.00

4to, 1 p, 22 lines. On aged paper, with chipping at extremities neatly repaired with archival tape. Text clear and entire. He thanks him for his 'interesting paper', commenting on the 'Lucretian passage'. Postgate's 're-arrangement [...] is undoubtedly more attractive & logical than the ordinary arrangment, and as such I welcome it: but must we suppose always that artists do as well instinctively as they might if they had taken counsel?' 'Ex silentio I judge that all is well with you, as far as anything can be well for any of us these terrible times.

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