POLITICS

Autograph Letter Signed ('Rt Shapld Carew') from Robert Shapland Carew, 1st Baron Carew, to an unnamed male recipient, describing his own and his family's parliamentary career.

Author: 
Robert Shapland Carew (1787-1856), 1st Baron Carew, Irish landowner and Whig politician
Autograph Letter Signed ('Rt Shapld Carew') from Robert Shapland Carew
Publication details: 
'London June 6 [no year].'
£65.00
Autograph Letter Signed ('Rt Shapld Carew') from Robert Shapland Carew

12mo, 2 pp. Twenty lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and lightly-creased paper, with short closed tear at head. Begins: 'My Father & Grand Father & Family represented the City of Waterford for nearly 100 years before the Union. My Father represented the County off Wexford in the Imperial Parliament in 1806.'

Typescript transcription of a 'Poem written by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone MP Christmas 1869 for contribution to The Coppice Courant which had however expired in January 1867.'

Author: 
[William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), Liberal prime minister; Sir Robert Joseph Phillimore (1810-1885), judge and Liberal MP]
Publication details: 
Undated transcription. The poem dated 'Christmas 1867.'
£125.00

Typescript (folio, 2 pp), with a couple of manuscript corrections. Fair, on aged paper, with light marks from a paperclip at head. Thirty-six line poem, in heroic couplets, with 'W E G. Christmas 1869' at end, beginning 'Happy the gamester, on whose earliest throw, | Grim Fortune frowns, and cuts his treasure low; | But hapless he, whom luck shall onward lure, | She only means to make his ruin sure.' Made for Sir Robert Joseph Phillimore, of the Courant, Henley on Thames, judge, Liberal MP and lifelong friend of Gladstone's.

Manuscript transcription by Lord Phillimore, of a 'Poem written by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone MP Christmas 1869 for contribution to "The Coppice Courant" which had however expired in January 1867.' With typescript.

Author: 
[William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), Liberal prime minister; Walter George Frank Phillimore (1845-1929), Baron Phillimore, Judge, ecclesiastical lawyer and international jurist]
William Ewart Gladstone
Publication details: 
Transcription undated, on Phillimore's letterhead of The Coppice, Henley on Thames. Typescript undated.
£325.00
William Ewart Gladstone

Phillimore's transcript: 12mo, 3 pp. On bifolium. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with mark from rusted paperclip at head. Thirty-six line poem, in heroic couplets, with 'W E G. Christmas 1869' at end. Typescript (folio, 2 pp), with a couple of manuscript corrections. Fair, on aged paper.

Signed Letter ('C. Bradlaugh'), in a secretary's hand, by the freethinker and Liberal Member of Parliament Charles Bradlaugh, to Frank Harris, editor of the Fortnightly Review.

Author: 
Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891), Liberal Member of Parliament for Northampton, freethinker and founder of the National Secular Society [Frank Harris (1856-1931), editor of the Fortnightly Review]
Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891), Liberal Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
8 January 1891; on letterhead of 20 Circus Road, St John's Wood, London.
£85.00
Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891), Liberal Member of Parliament

12mo, 1 p. Fifteen lines. Text clear and complete. Very good on lightly-aged paper. The valediction ('Yours sincerely | C. Bradlaugh') in Bradlaugh's hand, the rest in a secretary's. Addressed to 'F. Harris Esq'. Docketed by Harris: '18 or 20th of Feb. or March. Length unlimited: but more valuable short.' Bradlaugh is working on the article, but 'must not send it' before the report is presented to parliament, which Lord Derby assures him 'will be within fourteen days of the Reopening of the House'. He asks about length and deadline.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Pennsylvania politician Joel Barlow Sutherland to the soldier and playwright James Nelson Barker.

Author: 
Joel Barlow Sutherland (1792-1861), Jacksonian member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania [James Nelson Barker (1784-1858), soldier, playwright and politician]
Pennsylvania politician Joel Barlow Sutherland
Publication details: 
16 April 1833; Philadelphia.
£85.00
Pennsylvania politician Joel Barlow Sutherland

4to, 2 pp. Fourteen lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper neatly repaired with archival tape. Addressed to Barker as 'Collector &c'. Recommending the appointment of 'Colonel Freeman' as 'an Inspector of the Customs for the City of Philadelphia'. Freeman is 'a very active Democrat' and 'a very estimable man'. Should Barker appoint him, he will be 'gratifying the Democrats of the City of Philadelphia & will also oblige - | Yours truly | [signed] J B Sutherland'. In 1844 Sutherland himself received a similar letter from Edgar Allan Poe, recommending Robert Travers.

Autograph Signature ('Dudley Coutts Stuart') of Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart, husband of Princess Christine Bonaparte, and 'the friend of the Poles', on part of a letter.

Author: 
Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart (1803-1854), husband of Princess Christine Bonaparte (d. 1847), daughter of Lucien Bonaparte, and 'the friend of the Poles'
Autograph Signature ('Dudley Coutts Stuart') of Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00
Autograph Signature ('Dudley Coutts Stuart') of Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart

Square of paper, neatly torn from letter. Lightly-aged and creased. On one side firm signature ('Yrs truly | Dudley Coutts Stuart'), with docketting at foot ('Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart | "The friend of the Poles" -'). On reverse: '<...> a select Committee - A short time I obtained a return of a memorial presented him to the Court of Directors'.

Autograph Signature of George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon.

Author: 
George William Frederick Villiers (1800-1870), 4th Earl of Clarendon, British Liberal politician
Autograph Signature of George William Frederick Villiers
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00
Autograph Signature of George William Frederick Villiers

On a square of paper, circa 10 x 11.5 cm. Aged and lightly-creased. Evidently a reply to a request for an autograph. Bold signature, with the whole reading 'Your's faithfully | Clarendon'. Docketed with a few biographical details on reverse.

Autograph Signature ('P. Francis:'), cut from letter, of Sir Philip Francis, the leading candidate for the authorship of the Letters of Junius.

Author: 
Sir Philip Francis (1740-1818), English politician and writer, the leading candidate for the authorship of the Letters of Junius
Autograph Signature ('P. Francis:'), cut from letter, of Sir Philip Francis
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£125.00
Autograph Signature ('P. Francis:'), cut from letter, of Sir Philip Francis

On piece of laid paper, 5.5 x 8 cm. Clear signature on lightly-aged and spotted paper. From the collection of James C. Webster, Secretary, Athenaeum Club, London, who has written, above the signature, 'Royal Society of L<...>', and beneath it, 'Sir Philip Francis | author of "Junius"'.

Substantial collection of articles (mainly to the 'Glasgow Argus' and 'Wigtownshire Free Press') and other writing by William Durrant Cooper (1812-1875), antiquary, mainly political and much of it anonymous, collected by Durrant himself.

Author: 
William Durrant Cooper (1812-1875), antiquary
Publication details: 
Between 1842 and 1844.
£450.00

4to, 194 pp. (paginated by Cooper). In original calf half-binding, with marbled boards and endpapers. All texts clear and complete. On aged paper chipped at extremities, and coming away from binding, which has been covered in plastic. With Durrant's armorial bookplate, and signed 'Wm Durrant Cooper' on first page.

Autograph Letter Signed and franked (both 'Js Stuart Wortley') to the London booksellers Messrs Ridgeway.

Author: 
James Stuart-Wortley [James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie] (1776-1845), 1st Baron Wharncliffe, Conservative politician [James Ridgeway, Piccadilly bookseller]
Publication details: 
5 September 1835; Wortley.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. Bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of minor traces of stub adhering to one edge. Franked, with remains of red wax seal, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Messrs. Ridgeway | Piccadilly. | [signed] Js Stuart Wortley'. Giving instructions for the sending of newspapers to Wighill Park, Tadcaster, and to Wortley.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Eustace G Cecil') to 'Mr. Chittenden'.

Author: 
Lord Eustace Cecil [Lord Eustace Brownlow Henry Gascoyne-Cecil] (1834-1921), British Conservative politician
Publication details: 
10 October [no year]; on letterhead of Knowsley, Prescot.
£28.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Recomending shares in three companies of which he is chairman, before discussing personal matters. 'Evelyn is prospering as much as an expectant & comparatively briefless barrister can [...] Arthur Balfour is doing very well - & is holding his own - & more than his own - spite of misrepresentation - downright falsehood - & the tricks which politicians in these days seem so proud'. Laments the 'standard of morality', and apologises for the 'long sermon'.

Autograph Letter Signed to his brother.

Author: 
John Stuart Blackie (1809-1895), Scottish man of letters
Publication details: 
Oban; 8 August [no year].
£95.00

12mo, 4 pp, in a bifolium, with postscript on reverse of a Commercial Bank of Scotland 'Paid-in Slip'. Text clear and complete on aged and worn paper. Difficult hand. A fluent and energetic letter. Regarding the queries concerning 'Strasburg, and other words', 'the German Authorities which I fancy you consulted [...] are in my Edinburgh house'. He suggests writing to the London booksellers Williams & Norgate. He is glad to learn that 'Lockhart is turned a golfer.

Autograph Letter Signed by Wood to unnamed recipient, recalling the Manchester treason trial of Thomas Walker and five others, 1794.

Author: 
Ottiwell Wood, radical Manchester fustian manufacturer [Thomas Walker (1749-1817), Manchester radical; Treason Trial of 1794; Luddites; Luddism]
Publication details: 
8 January 1844; Edge hill.
£150.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Wood begins by recalling 'the savage bigotry and infuriate hostility of the Manchestr. Tories at the time you mention towards the liberals'. He does not think an attempt was made to put the Oath of Allegiance to those on the recipient's list. 'The lives of 6-8 men of high Character and standing in the Town were placed in jeopardy by the perjury of two Villains and they were tried at Lancaster for either Treason or Sedition. I think for the former.

Autograph Signature, removed from letter.

Author: 
William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), British Liberal Prime Minister
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

On piece of paper roughly 2.5 x 7.5 cm. Mounted on piece of 7.5 x 13 cm card. In fair condition, with both card and paper aged and slightly discoloured. Good firm underlined signature ('W E Gladstone'). The card carries the following caption, in a contemporary hand: 'Autograph of | The Right Honorable William Ewart Gladstone, M.P., | Premier Minister and | Chancellor of the Exchequer.'

Fragment of Autograph Letter to Palmer, with signature ('W E Gladstone') on frank.

Author: 
William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), British Liberal Prime Minister [Roundell Palmer (1812-1895), Earl of Selborne]
Publication details: 
20/07/35
£30.00

Part of a letter, cut away for an autograph collector, roughly 5.5 x 10.5 cm. The recto carries the franked address, trimmed close, reading 'London July twenty 1835. | Roundell Palmer Esq | Mixbury | Birmingham [corrected in another hand to 'Magdalen Colle | Oxford'], signed in bottom left-hand corner 'W E Gladstone'.

Autograph Letter Signed to [Dorothy] Owston-Booth.

Author: 
Ishbel Macdonald (1903-1982), hostess at Downing Street of her father the British Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald
Publication details: 
30 September 1936; on letterhead of Upper Frognal Lodge, Hampstead, NW3.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. On cream paper with letterhead printed in green. Fair, on lightly spotted and creased paper. She cannot make an appointment for an interview 'for various reasons [...] The chief reason being that I do not give interviews'. Owston-Booth was a contributor to the Windsor Magazine.

Financial Reform Tracts. Nos. 11 and 12. Speech of Sir Wm. Molesworth, Bart., M.P., in the House of Commons, on Tuesday, 25th July, 1848, On Colonial Expenditure and Government.

Author: 
Sir William Molesworth [The Financial Reform Association, Liverpool]
Publication details: 
[Financial Reform Association, Harrington Chambers, North John-street, Liverpool, March, 1849.] Printed at the Office of the "Standard of Freedom," 335, Strand, London.
£65.00

8vo: 32 pp. Pamphlet. Bound in modern marbled boards with paper label. Fair, on aged paper with top outer corner of last few leaves slightly dogeared and with reverse of last leaf a little grubby. An important speech, another edition of which exists, published by Ridgway in 1848. A reply by John Towne Danson was also published by Ridgway in 1848, going through two editions.

Autograph Letter in the third person to Buchan, regarding 'Mr. Pitt', 'his abilities and fortitude' and 'the dilemma' arising from 'the present situation'.

Author: 
Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford (1737-1793), politician and art collector [David Steuart Erskine, eleventh earl of Buchan (1742-1829), antiquary and reformer]
Publication details: 
8 February 1784; Oxford Street.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. On piece of watermarked laid paper. Thirteen lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on aged paper, with thin strip of stub adhering to blank reverse. Docketed at head, in a contemporary hand, '331 | Lord Camelford for fac simile'. Camelford was not at home when Buchan called, but he 'will take care that his Lordship's Letter shall be transmitted to Mr Pitt [his cousin William Pitt the younger?]'. Pitt 'will doubtless feel himself flatter'd with his Lordship's testimony in favour of his abilities and fortitude'.

Socialism in Song. An Appreciation of William Morris's "Chants for Socialists. Together with an Introductory Essay on Poetry and Politics.

Author: 
J. Bruce Glasier [John Bruce Glasier (1859-1920)] [William Morris; The National Labour Press]
Publication details: 
Manchester: The National Labour Press, Ltd. [1919.]
£85.00

12mo: xiv + 32 pp. In original grey printed wraps. Internally sound and tight on aged paper. Wraps worn and grubby, with slight staining to spine. Eight copies on COPAC, but only three at deposit libraries (Oxford, NLS and the BL).

Scrapbook, assembled and annotated by Pymm, containing newspaper cuttings, letters and other material relating to his wife's involvement in the 'Liberal Unionist Tea Party Scandal' of 1893.

Author: 
Henry Pymm [The Liberal Unionist Tea Party Scandal, Lambeth, 1893; Henry Morton Stanley]
Publication details: 
1893; London.
£225.00

The nature of this somewhat Pooterish 'scandal' is explained in one of the cuttings in the scrapbook: '[...] the Unionists of North Lambeth are making secret but strenuous efforts to insure the return of Mr. H. M. Stanley at the next election.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wilfrid Lawson') to 'Mr. Hudson', with reference to Sunday observance.

Author: 
Sir Wilfrid Lawson of Brayton (1829-1906), British Liberal politician and temperance campaigner
Publication details: 
14 March 1900; 135 Sloane Street, SW.
£35.00

12mo, 4 pp. Text clear and complete. In fair condition, worn and a little grubby. He thanks him for having 'written so fully'. He will 'wait for a day or two ere looking far', as he is 'rather exercised in my mind on one or two parts'. 'I remember - or try to remember - this injunction - 'do nothing rashly'. He is sending 'some lines' by 'Sir John Kenaway - a sound old evangelical Tory', 'in favor of Sunday closing in Monmouthshire'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Verney') to Rev. Charles William Tonyn (d.1805) of Radnage, Bucks.

Author: 
Ralph Verney (1714-1791), 2nd Earl Verney, politician
Publication details: 
12 April 1784; Curzon Street, London.
£200.00

8vo: 1 p. 7 lines of text. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with the address on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium, to which Verney's red wax seal adheres. A graceful letter of thanks. 'It gives me no small satisfaction to think that my general Conduct has hitherto merited your approbation.' Informs Tonyn of the date of the general election. Verney would lose his seat, and with it his immunity from prosecution for debt, forcing him to flee to France.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Harold Butler') to 'Harlech'.

Author: 
Harold Beresford Butler (1883-1951), Deputy Director (1920-1932) and Director (1932-8), International Labour Office; British Minister to USA (1942-6) [William Ormsby-Gore (1885-1964), Baron Harlech]
Publication details: 
11 June 1938; on letterhead (in English and French) of the International Labour Office, League of Nations.
£38.00

8vo, 2 pp. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is 'sorry' that Harlech has 'left the Colonial Office, upon which you have produced such a profound and salutary effect'. From the point of view of the I.L.O.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. Cohen') to Walters.

Author: 
Chapman Cohen (1868-1954), Editor of 'The Freethinker' [John Cuming Walters (1863-1933), Editor, Manchester City News]
Publication details: 
2 May 1919; on letterhead of 'The Freethinker'.
£75.00

4to, 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Thirty-seven lines of text. He finds himself 'very much in accord' with the views expressed by Walters in his address on 'The New Religion'. His 'chief difference' is 'a dislike to the use of the word "Religion." It has, to me, associations that are certain to rob it of all good.' As a 'working term', in Cohen's view, it lacks 'satisfactory power'. 'However, the great thing seems to me to keep churches & individuals on the move.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E. Watkin.') to the Rev. Edward Price.

Author: 
Sir Edward Watkin [Sir Edward William Watkin] (1819-1901) of Northenden, Victorian railway entrepreneur and politician
Publication details: 
31 October 1885; Northenden.
£75.00

12mo, 2 pp. On first leaf of a bifolium. Text clear and complete. On slightly grubby, aged and lightly-creased paper. As they are '[i]n the midst of the Elections, which we shall not finally get rid of till, perhaps, the middle of December', he is 'quite unable' to do as Price wishes. 'I could not condense what ought to be condensed, without a good deal of reference & reading taking time - which is scarcest of articles with me, at the moment'. The subject of recent biographies by J. N. Greaves ('The Last of the Railway Kings', 2008) and D. J.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Henry Norman') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Henry Norman (1858-1939), English journalist and Liberal politician (as editor of the Daily Chronicle) [Maurice Maeterlinck]
Publication details: 
22 March 1895; on letterhead of The Daily Chronicle, 12 Salisbury Square, Fleet Street.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Blank second leaf of bifolium bearing traces of previous mount. He is obligedfor the 'kind invitation to meet Maeterlinck. It will give me great pleasure to lunch with you at the National Liberal Club on Tuesday at 12.30.'

Autograph Signature ('Walter Runciman').

Author: 
Walter Runciman (1870-1949), 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford, English Liberal politician
Publication details: 
6 March 1911. On Board of Education card.
£20.00

On a piece of card roughly 9 x 11.5 cm. With embossed government crest of the Board of Education in the top left-hand corner. In fair condition, lightly-aged and with small triangular areas of discoloration to two opposing corners caused by previous mounting. Good bold signature, presumably sent in response to a request for an autograph. Reads '[signed] Walter Runciman. | 6 March | 1911.'

Verbatim report of the libel action Foster v. Beauchamp in the High Court of Justice, King's Bench Division, Royal Courts of Justice, before Mr Justice Darling and a special jury.

Author: 
[SUFFOLK LIBEL ACTION] North Suffolk Election, December, 1910.
Publication details: 
19 and 20 July 1911. 'Published by Arthur E. Hebbes, Election Agent, and Chief Conservative and Unionist Agent for the Northern or Lowestoft Division of the County of Suffolk, 88, London Road, Lowestoft.
£65.00

8vo. 94 pages. 2 pages facsimile of an electoral handbill. One fold-out plate. In poor condition. Damp stained, and in remains of repaired grey printed wraps. Paper browning. 'Printed by J. Rochford O'Driscoll, Printer, Dagmar House, Lowestoft.' The case for the plaintiff, Harry Seymour Foster, was led by the celebrated F. E. Smith (Later Earl of Birkenhead). The defendant was Edward (later Sir Edward) Beauchamp. The main cause of what the judge in summing-up described as 'a political action' was a letter by 'FISHERMAN' (i.e.

Signed Typescript ('Austen Chamberlain'), an address of thanks for his re-election as Rector of the University of Glasgow.

Author: 
Sir Austen Chamberlain [Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain] (1863-1937), English politician, Rector of the University of Glasgow
Publication details: 
Geneva, Sept. 14. 1926.'
£75.00

On one side of a foolscap (32.5 x 20 cm) page. Eighteen lines. On aged and foxed paper with chipping at head and foot. Chamberlain was Rector between 1925 and 1928.

Autograph Signature ('Beatrice Webb').

Author: 
Beatrice Webb (1858-1943) [Martha Beatrice Potter Webb], wife of Sydney Webb [The Fabian Society; Socialism]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

Good, bold signature on slip of laid paper (presumably cut from letter) roughly 3.5 x 11.5 cm. In good condition. Simply reads 'Beatrice Webb'.

Syndicate content