PLAYER

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Signed 'Oliver Lodge' in pencil at foot of 10 x 11 cm piece of paper, in which slits have been made for loose insertion of the cigarette card. The signature is clear and clean, but the paperr and card are spotted, and the paper is worn with border of discoloration made by tape. The caricature is in colour, by Alick P. F. Ritchie. No 38 out of 50 in a series titled 'Straight Line Caricatures', issued by John Player & Sons. Scan on application

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 10 x 12 cm leaf removed from an autograph album. He signs and dates floridly at the foot of the page: 'Austen Chamberlain / 4. 3. 27'. Slits have been cut into the leaf to loosely insert the cigarette card. In poor condition, worn and spotted, with border of discoloration (extending over the end of the signature) caused by tape. The caricature, in colour, by Alick P. F. Ritchie is No. 11 of 50 in the 'Straight Line Caricatures' series of cigarette cards by John Player & Sons.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. Howard was Auditor of Receipt from 1673 to his death. The document is damaged, with the lower part torn away, leaving an area 23cm high and the same wide, but with part of one lower corner torn away. The paper is aged, and there are chipping and closed tears to edges. Howard’s two signatures (both ‘Ro: Howard’) are both undamaged, and the item is of some interest. On the front is the printed form, completed in manuscript, with ‘Sr. Thomas Player in repaymt. of Loane./’ in manuscript in right-hand margin.

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Written in a clear and attractive hand. The recipient is not named. Begins: 'My dear & ever-honoured Friend! | Some business of great importance kept me nine days absent from this Capital. At my return I found your most obliging Letter of the 7th. instant, & was exceedingly delighted with your Kindness. You are indeed a matchless Nobleman.' He asks if the recipient is acquainted with Prince Charles of [Cunandia?], adding: 'I swear you knew the strangest varlet that ever was. It is pity.

Six substantial ledgers (the heaviest 37 x 41 x 8 cm, and the widest 39 x 52 x 3 cm), containing itemised accounts providing a mass of information regarding the tobacco industry and economic history in Ireland, and one of Dublin's notable employers, whose sales in the 1950s were in the tens of millions. (On 9 December 2004 the Irish Times described the closure of the plant as marking 'the end of an era'. The firm's first Dublin factory, at 56-75 Botanic Road, was constructed by G. & T. Crampton in 1923, and is now the Botanic Business Centre.

Politician and rugby player (DNB). The five letters all one page, 16mo, and each with two staple holes and in good condition. The autograph poem is on a printed bifoliate menu for the Cricket Society Spring Dinner (6 April 1962), 16mo, slightly discoloured. The letters relate to various Cricket Society Dinners. He agrees to attend the 1961 Spring Dinner at the Lords Tavern, but his private secretary P. Barling declines on his behalf an invitation to the autumn dinner as he is out of the country recovering from an operation.