PRINTING

[Claude Lovat Fraser] Illustrated handbill for two of his publications.

Author: 
[CLAUD LOVAT FRASER]
Publication details: 
Without date or place [1916].
£55.00

Printed on unwatermarked tissue paper. Dimensions of paper roughly seven and a half centimeters by eleven and a half. A very good copy of a frail and ephemeral item. An attractive illustration by Fraser of an ivy-clad wall memorial topped by a cherub encloses the following 'There are Published | I. Farewell to the Faeries, by Richard Corbett. | II. Three Poems, by Kenneth Hare. | Decorated and Published by C. Lovat Fraser, and can be obtained from Everard Meynell, 46 Museum Street, W.C. | [short rule] | Price SIXPENCE each, net.' See Image.

[Sir Emery Walker, distinguished engraver and typographer; Coutts Bank.] Typed Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Wright', regarding 'proofs of the plan from Coutts' bank'.

Author: 
Sir Emery Walker (1851-1933), engraver and typographer
Publication details: 
7 December 1927; on letterhead of Emery Walker Limited, 16 Clifford’s Inn, Fleet Street, London, EC4.
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition. The letterhead describes the firm (‘formerly Walker and Cockerell’) as being ‘Process and General Engravers, Draughtsmen, Map Constructors Copper-plate Printers Collotypers and Photographers of Works of Art’. Signed ‘Emery Walker’. He is sending Wright ‘proofs of the plan from Coutts’ Bank’, and is sending a duplicate to ‘Mr. Fayle’, asking him ‘to let me have the lettering, that is, if he wishes on seeing the plan to vary it’. He is having ‘proofs of the title page from Messrs.

[Joseph Peter Thorp, journalist and typographer.] Two Autograph Letters Signed: one with personal news to Sir Evelyn Wrench (and with note by Wrench), the other to ‘Miss Wrench’, filled with information about printing.

Author: 
Joseph Peter Thorp (1873-1962), journalist and typographer [Sir Evelyn Wrench [Sir John Evelyn Leslie Wrench] (1882-1966), imperialist and biographer]
Publication details: 
ONE (to Sir Evelyn Wrench): 14 May 1954; on letterhead of The White Cottage, Portmeirion, Penrhyndeudraeth, N. Wales. TWO (to 'Miss Wrench'): Undated, but written shortly after One; from the White Cottage, Penrhyndeudraeth, N. Wales.
£120.00

Two good substantial letters, filled with personal and professional content. See the entries for Thorp and Wrench in the Oxford DNB. Both letters in brown ink in Thorps calligraphic hand. ONE (to Sir Evelyn Wrench): 2pp, 8vo. On cream paper with brown italic letterhead. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Signed ‘Peter’. Begins: ‘My dear Evelyn / We are going to make a great change in our way of life. For a long time I have felt that both physically & financially this house is beyond our strength.

[Andrew White Tuer, proprietor of the Leadenhall Press, London.] Autograph Card to Percy Fitzgerald, Anglo-Irish author and critic, painter and sculptor, regarding his 'London City Suburbs' which he has just published.

Author: 
Andrew White Tuer (1838-1900), proprietor of the Leadenhall Press, London [ 'Ye Leadenhalle Presse'] [Percy Fitzgerald (1830-1925)]
Tuer
Publication details: 
29 May 1893; on letterhead of 'The Leadenhall Press, Ltd: / 50, LEADENHALL STREET, LONDON, E.C.'
£56.00
Tuer

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On one side of a 12 x 7.5 cm post card. On brittle, discoloured card, with chipping to corners and some repair with archival tape. Self-printed with stamp, addressed, with postmark, to 'Percy Fitzgerald, Esq. / 37 St. George's Road / SW.' On other side, with letterhead in fancy type, regarding Fitzgerald's book 'London City Suburbs', which he has just published, reads: 'See todays & last Saturdays Daily Telegraph new no. (June) of Art Journal for notices L. C. Suburbs. Stamped at bottom right: 'The Leadenhall Press, Ltd:' See Image.

[The Curwen Press, Plaistow.] Two keepsakes: [Basil Harley, James Shurmer] ‘Unicornucopia: A study of the Natural History of the amazing Unicorns living at The Curwen Press’ and [Basil Harley, John Miles] ‘The Curwen Press / A Short History’.

Author: 
The Curwen Press, Plaistow [Basil Hurley, John Miles, James Shurmer]
Curwen
Publication details: 
Unicornucopia: Dated in text to 1973. 'Booklet designed by / James Shurmer / printed at / The Curwen Press / London E13 9HJ'. 'The Curwen Press / A Short History' with final section dated 'August 1970'.
£120.00
Curwen

Two attractive pieces of Curwen Press ephemera. 'Cornucopia' is scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only two copies on JISC at Lancaster and Aberystwyth. The 'Short History' is better represented. ONE: 'Cornucopia'. 12pp, landscape 12mo. Stapled into illustrated wraps. Printed in brown on cream paper. Booklet designed by James Shurmer, with text by Basil Harley. Many illustrations of unicorns arranged in eight 'plates'. Internally in good condition, but front cover grubby, and blank back cover stained. TWO: 'The Curwen Press / A Short History'. 39pp, small 4to.

[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, British naval hero.] Collection of contemporaneous material relating to him, including a range of related illustrations and magazine accounts, as well as manuscript poems and other matter.

Author: 
Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson; Admiral Lord Nelson], British naval hero whose victories include the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805, in which he died
Nelson
Publication details: 
Earliest item from 1799; several items from 1805. Mostly printed in London.
£850.00
Nelson

A nice collection, which both by its content and arrangement indicates the huge esteem in which Nelson was held. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, most items laid down on leaves of gilt-edged paper extracted from an album. Mostly 12mo. This description is arranged under fifteen numbered entries. The manuscript material is at No. 14. ONE: Engraving. ‘Plan of a MANSION HOUSE, proposed for Lord NELSON.’ ‘Gent[leman’s]. Mag[azine]. Feb. 1799. Pt. I. p.97’. Engraved by Longmate from Arthur Brown.

[Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson], British naval hero.] Collection of contemporaneous material relating to him, including a range of related illustrations and magazine accounts, as well as manuscript poems and other matter.

Author: 
Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson; Admiral Lord Nelson], British naval hero whose victories include the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805, in which he died
Nelson
Publication details: 
Earliest item from 1799; several items from 1805. Mostly printed in London.
£850.00
Nelson

A nice collection, which both by its content and arrangement indicates the huge esteem in which Nelson was held. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, most items laid down on leaves of gilt-edged paper extracted from an album. Mostly 12mo. This description is arranged under fifteen numbered entries. The manuscript material is at No. 14. ONE: Engraving. ‘Plan of a MANSION HOUSE, proposed for Lord NELSON.’ ‘Gent[leman’s]. Mag[azine]. Feb. 1799. Pt. I. p.97’. Engraved by Longmate from Arthur Brown.

[William Bodham Donne, Librarian, London Library, Examiner of Plays, Lord Chamberlain’s Office.] Printed offprint of synopsis of Royal Institution talk: ‘On the Works of Chaucer, considered as Historical Illustrations of England in the 14th Century.’

Author: 
W. B. Donne [William Bodham Donne] (1807-1882), journalist, Librarian of the London Library, Examiner of Plays in the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, friend of Edward FitzGerald [Royal Institution]
Publication details: 
'Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, April 25, 1856.' [London.]
£45.00

The present item differs from the version published on pp.248-254 of the ‘Notices of the Proceedings’, vol.2 (1854-1858), and no other copy has been traced. Drophead title: ‘Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, April 25, 1856. / Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Bart. D.C.L. F.R.S. Vice-President, in the Chair. / W. B. Donne, Esq. / On the Works of Chaucer, considered as Historical Illustrations of England in the 14th Century.’ 10pp, 16mo, paginated [1]-10. In very good condition, lightly aged. Stabbed as issued, with no wraps, and unopened. Begins: ‘MR.

[Edward Hubert Fitchew, artist & editor; Nelson] Autograph Letter Signed to Herbert Wrigley Wilson, discussing the printing of a book (‘Nelson and His Times’ by Beresford and Wilson, 1898). With two pages covered in notes in another hand (Wilson’s?).

Author: 
Edward Hubert Fitchew (1851-1934), artist and editor [Herbert Wrigley Wilson (1866-1940), journalist and naval historian; Her Majesty’s Printing Office, London]
Nelson
Publication details: 
10 January 1898. On letterhead of Her Majesty’s Printing Office, 6 Middle New Street, Fetter Lane, E.C. [London].
£220.00
Nelson

An interesting item, providing a sidelight into the process of Victorian scholarly editing and publication. Fitchew’s letter is 2pp, 4to, on the outer pages of a bifolium; the inner pages being filled with notes (citations?) in a minuscule hand, possibly the recipient’s. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, and folded for postage. Addressed to ‘H. W. Wilson’ and signed ‘E. H. Fitchew’. The letter begins: ‘Dear Mr. Wilson / I think it is possible we may want a little more letterpress, but probably not much. Up to end of pt. 7 we have used 82 slips.

[Scripophily and philately: Waterlow & Sons Limited of London, manufacturers of bank notes and stamps to the British Government.] Advertisement for the firm in the form of a fake bank note or other security.

Author: 
Waterlow & Sons Limited, London, established 1810, manufacturers of bank notes, bonds, stamps and all other high-class securities, postage stamp printers and contractors to the British Government
Waterlow
Publication details: 
[1930s.] Waterlow & Sons Limited, London.
£120.00
Waterlow

Engraved advertisement printed in dark blue, light blue and pink on both sides of 20 x 14 cm piece of unwatermarked wove paper. An amusing fake bank note or bond, designed to showcase the firm’s competency. The paper stock and layout are entirely consistent with the firm’s work. On one side, instead of a picture of a monarch or president, is the face of a rather imperious young woman (one of the directors’ wives?), together with a design featuring the fasces and motto ‘VIS UNITA FORTIOR’.

[Marcus Ward & Co., chromolithographic printers, London and Royal Ulster Works, Belfast.] 36 attractive chromolithographic prints of autumn leaves, each on a separate card, laid down in album by Marcus Ward & Co.

Author: 
Marcus Ward & Co., chromolithographic printers, London and Royal Ulster Works, Belfast [chromolithographs]
Marcus Ward
Marcus Ward2
Publication details: 
No date [1870s?]. In album with printed title-page of ‘London: Marcus Ward & Co., / And / Royal Ulster Works, Belfast.’
£350.00
Marcus Ward
Marcus Ward2

An attractive collection of chromolithographs, suited to display. The plates are all in good condition, laid down on the aged and sometimes damaged leaves of a small 4to (17 x 21 cm) album with good tight bevelled-edged binding in dark brown cloth, on which an embossed stylized pattern of foliage and two storks is printed in black with the word ‘ALBUM’ on the front cover and blind-stamped on the back cover. The album has an ornate title page, printed in red, with illustration of flowers, branches and a butterfly, together with the word ‘Album’ and publishers’ details.

[Salt-Hill Society, Burnham and Stoke, Buckinghamshire.] Large poster giving the 15 ‘Rules and Articles’, and listing those who agree with ‘the before-mentioned Articles’.

Author: 
Salt-Hill Society, (Instituted 1783) for the protection of Persons and Property from Felons & Thieves, Within the Hundreds of Burnham and Stoke, Buckingham; Edmund J. Craske, Treasurer [Eton College]
Publication details: 
Following ‘General Meeting, held at the Public Hall, Slough’, 3 March 1914. Printed by Spottiswoode and Co., Ltd., Eton College. [Buckinghamshire]
£56.00

A scarce item relating to provincial history and printing. A similar poster, from 1897, is offered separately, and is the only other item relating to the Salt-Hill Society present on ViaLibri. Large poster, printed on one side of 45 x 76 cm sheet of discoloured and brittle wove paper. The item is complete, but there are numerous long tears along the four fold lines (which might be easily repaired with archival tape).

[Oxford University Press: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, London.] Prospectus, in the form of an illustrated printed pamphlet, for ‘The Oxford Bible for Teachers’.

Author: 
[Oxford University Press] Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, London; The Oxford Bible for Teachers [Church of England, Authorized and Revised Versions]
Publication details: 
No date [circa 1893]. London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, E.C.
£100.00

A nice piece of OUP ephemera, and a memorial to the lost art of letterpress printing. Stitched pamphlet of 24pp, 12mo. Wraps not called for. In good condition, lightly aged, with outer pages a little grubby. A couple of sources help establish the date: on p.13 it is announced that ‘the most recent discoveries, especially in Egypt, have been inserted, down to March, 1893’, and the second of the ‘Extracts from Opinions’, pp.21-23, from ‘Nature’, dates from 5 October 1893.

[The South African Peace Council; 1960s anti-nuclear movement.] Carnet of 12 stamps (one missing) issued by the SAPC, with mottos ‘Outlaw Atomic Weapons’ and ‘One Year of Negotiation is better than one Day of War’.

Author: 
The South African Peace Council [1960s anti-nuclear movement; Hilda Bernstein (1915-2006) Marxist anti-apartheid campaigner]
Atom Bomb
Publication details: 
No date [early 1960s]. The South African Peace Council, P.O. Box 10528, Johannesburg.
£120.00
Atom Bomb

A nice piece of anti-nuclear war ephemera. A 19 x 6.75 cm block of perforated stamps with gum on reverse. The block originally had twelve stamps, but the one at top right is lacking. Printed in blue on white with a simple design of a dove with an olive branch in its mouth, encircled by the words 'THE SOUTH AFRICAN PEACE COUNCIL.' Stapled between two 19 x 6.75 pieces of paper: the one behind the stamps blank and grey, the one before the stamps being the cover, on which is printed: ‘OUTLAW ATOMIC WEAPONS / THE SOUTH AFRICAN PEACE COUNCIL / P.O.

[A. & C. Black, Edinburgh publishers, to Cambridge educationalist Oscar Browning.] Manuscript Letter, signed ‘A. &. C. Black’, granting Browning permission to use material from his Encyclopaedia Britannica articles in books on Dante and Goethe.

Author: 
A. & C. Black, Edinburgh and London publishers [Oscar Browning (1837-1923), Cambridge educationalist and historian]
Publication details: 
10 July 1891; on letterhead of A. & C. Black, 4, 5 and 6 Soho Square, London.
£45.00

See the entries in the Oxford DNB on Browning and firm’s founder Adam Black (1784-1874). 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded three times. Addressed to ‘Oscar Browning Esq’ and signed ‘A. &. C. Black’. The firm is replying to a note of Browning’s of 7 July 1891, ‘desiring our assent to the separate publication in book form of your Articles, from the Ency[lopaedi]a Brit[annic]a. on Dante & Goethe’. They ‘have pleasure in complying therewith, on the usual understanding that the sources of the articles is duly acknowledged & a copy of the book sent to us when published’.

[‘According to Cocker’: Edward Cocker, calligrapher, engraver and arithmetician.] Engraved calligraphic Copy Slip in his customary exquisite style, with text beginning ‘No Instrument of Musicke’.

Author: 
Edward Cocker [Edoardus Coccerius] (1631-1676), English calligrapher, engraver and arithmetician (‘Philomath’), whose name became proverbial because of a work of arithmetic attributed to him
Cocker
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [London, mid-seventeenth century.]
£220.00
Cocker

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. He published two dozen works on calligraphy, and Pepys described him as ‘the famous writing-master’, and employed him to engrave his slide rule, but it is as an arithmetician that he is remembered: two works published shortly after his death, purportedly from his manuscript, gave rise to the expression ‘according to Cocker’. It has not been established which one of Cocker’s works the present item comes from (his earliest, ‘Pen’s Experience’, is lost). In black ink on one side of a 17 x 11 cm piece of laid paper.

[Reading Cooperative Society Limited.] Large illustrated poster, in three colours, with 1913 ‘Members’ Calendar’ and information on the Society, from ‘Women’s Guild’ to ‘Artificial Teeth’.

Author: 
Reading Cooperative Society Limited [Co-operative Wholesale Society’s Printing Works, Longsight, Manchester]
Publication details: 
‘Members’ Calendar’ for 1913 [printed in 1912]. Co-operative Wholesale Society’s Printing Works, Longsight, Manchester.
£120.00

Reading Cooperative Society Limited came into existence in the 1860s, as ‘Reading Industrial Co-operative Society’. A nice piece of ephemera from the high-tide mark of the co-operative movement. No other copy has been traced. 50 x 68 cm. A striking and attractive production in six columns, printed in red, olive-green and grey-black, and black, with border of raspberry leaves, calendar split between the outer edges. Large illustration of ‘Llandudno and the Great Orme’ beneath the heading ‘Each for all, & all for each.

[World War One.] Handbill with ornate coloured decorative border, headed ‘ROLL OF HONOUR’, intended for ‘A Record of Friends and Relatives who answered the call of King and Country in the Great War: 1914-1915.’

Author: 
[World War One] Geo. Newnes Limited, London; Hudson & Kearns Limited, lithographic printers
Publication details: 
Circa 1915 or 1916. ‘Published by Geo. Newnes Ltd., Southampton St. Strand [London]’. Printer: ‘Hudson & Kearns, Ltd., London, Litho, London, S.E.’
£100.00

A nice piece of First World War ephemera, from the period of transition from volunteering to conscription. Newnes was a leading British publisher of the period, and the present item may have been inserted in one of its periodicals, which included ‘The Strand Magazine’, ‘Women’s Own’ and ‘John O’London’s Weekly’. It is printed on a leaf of good quality cream 4to wove paper, and was intended for completion. In fair condition, lightly aged, with light wear and creasing to extremities.

[Oxford degrees to J. M. Barrie, Ethel Smyth, Sir Henry Newbolt, Lord Dawson of Penn.] Material printed by the Clarendon Press relating to ‘Convocation / Encaenia, June 23, 1926 / The Right Hon. George, Viscount Cave, Chancellor / Presiding’.

Author: 
[Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press; John Johnson, Printer to the University; J. M. Barrie; Ethel Smyth; Sir Henry Newbolt; Lord Dawson of Penn]
Publication details: 
The University of Oxford, 1926. Oxford: John Johnson / Printer to the University.
£120.00

Material which, by its very nature, is extremely uncommon. Five items, three of them beautifully printed with the Fell Types. From the papers of King George V’s doctor Lord Dawson of Penn (see his entry in the Oxford DNB). Among those to whom degrees are conferred (all of whom receive the customary praise in florid Latin) are J. M. Barrie, Sir Henry Newbold, Dame Ethel Smity, Sir Austen Chamberlain and the Speaker of the Commons John Henry Whitley. The first three are printed with the Fell Types, and the first two and the fifth carry Johnson’s slug.

[Oxford degrees to J. M. Barrie, Ethel Smyth, Sir Henry Newbolt, Lord Dawson of Penn.] Material printed by the Clarendon Press relating to ‘Convocation / Encaenia, June 23, 1926 / The Right Hon. George, Viscount Cave, Chancellor / Presiding’.

Author: 
[Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press; John Johnson, Printer to the University; J. M. Barrie; Ethel Smyth; Sir Henry Newbolt; Lord Dawson of Penn]
Publication details: 
The University of Oxford, 1926. Oxford: John Johnson / Printer to the University.
£100.00

Material which, by its very nature, is extremely uncommon. Three items, two of which are beautifully printed with the Fell Types. Duplicates from the papers of King George V’s doctor Lord Dawson of Penn (see his entry in the Oxford DNB). Among those to whom degrees are conferred (all of whom receive the customary praise in florid Latin) are J. M. Barrie, Sir Henry Newbold, Dame Ethel Smythe, Sir Austen Chamberlain and the Speaker of the Commons John Henry Whitley. The first three are printed with the Fell Types, and the first two and the fifth carry Johnson’s slug.

[Michael Frankael, writer associated with Henry Miller.] Printed item: leaflet advertising his various publications, with ‘Press Opinions’ including Aldous Huxley, Havelock Ellis and Henry Miller.

Author: 
Michael Fraenkel (1896-1957), avant-garde writer and proprietor of the Carrefour Press, associated with Henry Miller
Publication details: 
No date [early 1940s]. Order from The Argus Book Shop, Chicago.
£50.00

6pp, 8vo: with three pages beside one another on each side of a strip that folds in on itself. In fair condition, on lightly worn and discoloured paper. Front page with ‘Michael Fraenkel’ and list of five publications: ‘Death Is Not Enough / (Essays in Active Negation) / Werther’s Younger Brother / (The Story of an Attitude) / Death In A Room / (Poems 1927-1930) / Bastard Death / (The Autobiography of an Idea) / Hamlet, Volumes I and II / with HENRY MILLER’.

[Michael Frankel, writer associated with Henry Miller.] Three printed items: prospectus for ‘Bastard Death’; leaflet advertising his publications, with press opinions and manuscript additions; invitation to a French Henry Miller exhibition.

Author: 
Michael Fraenkel (1896-1957), avant-garde writer and proprietor of the Carrefour Press, associated with Henry Miller
Publication details: 
ONE ('Bastard Death' prospectus): [1946.] Carrefour, 342 E. 19th Street, New York City. TWO (Advertisement for Fraenkel's publications): No date [early 1940s]. Order from The Argus Book Shop, Chicago. Three (Henry Miller exhibition invitation): 1994.
£180.00

ONE: Prospectus for ‘Bastard Death / The Autobiography of an Idea / By / Michael Fraenkel’. 4pp, small 4to. Bifolium leaflet with prospectus on recto of first leaf, ‘press proof’ on two central pages, and list of other works, with reviews, and order form on verso of second leaf. In fair condition, on lightly-creased browning wove paper. The prospectus begins: ‘This is an uncorrected press proof of the new limited edition of BASTARD DEATH, showing hand-set 12 point Cheltenham type, size and set-up of page, etc.

[Robert and Andrew Foulis.] Printed catalogue of ‘University of Glasgow / Robert and Andrew Foulis / An Exhibition in the Hunterian Museum / to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the British Record Association’.

Author: 
Robert and Andrew Foulis, printers and publishers of Glasgow, Scotland (‘the Elzevirs of the North’), with the Foulis Press [Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow]
Publication details: 
Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow. 10 to 29 March 1958.
£180.00

JISC records copies in five Scottish libraries, Birmingham University and the BL. Duplicated typescript. 50pp, 4to. Five-page introduction paginated, the rest not. Leaf of addenda loosely inserted. Printed on versos of leaves and stapled into buff paper wraps with title printed on the front. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The forty-four pages of the catalogue proper carry a total of 106 scholarly entries on exhibits.

[Typography.] Handsomely-printed address titled ‘The Romance of Printing / Address by R. A. Austen-Leigh, M.A. / At Stationers’ Hall, London, E.C.4.’

Author: 
R. A. Austen-Leigh, M.A. [Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh (1872-1961), printer and scholar; typography; Monotype; London School of Printing and Kindred Trades]
Publication details: 
Slug: ‘Monotype set and printed by students of the London School of Printing and Kindred Trades, 61, Stamford Street, London, S.E. Session 1926-27’.
£120.00

Of the five copies on JISC only that at the BL is from one of the deposit libraries. 21pp, 4to. Collotype of engraving of Caxton as frontispiece. Sewn into grey card wraps with Yapp-style edges and title repeated on cover. In good condition, lightly aged.

[‘I can’t really afford even a guinea for a book’: Hugh Williamson, Oxford University Press book designer.] Autograph Letter Signed to London bookseller Andrew Block, describing his collecting interests and constraints, and giving a wants list .

Author: 
Hugh Williamson (1918-1992), book designer with Oxford University Press and author on printing [Andrew Block, London bookseller]
Publication details: 
Undated; on letterhead of the Oxford University Press Warehouse and Trade Department, London.
£60.00

See Nicolas Barker’s typically-elegant obituary of Williamson in the Independent. 2pp, 4to. The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. On aged and worn paper; folded three times. Signed ‘Hugh Williamson:’ and addressed to ‘Mr Block’. Thirty-one lines in a close, calligraphic hand.

[Edmund Evans, Wood Engraver and Printer] Autograph Letter Signed Edmund Evans to Mr H. [Charron?]. about Charles Keene.

Author: 
Edmund Evans (1826-1905), wood engraver and colour printer who worked with Greenaway, Crane, Caldecott and others.
Publication details: 
[Printed] Witley, Surrey excised. [handwritten] 27 Victoria Road, Deal, 15 Sept. 1897.
£180.00

Four pages, 16mo, bifolium, some staining, closed tear on joint, but text clear and complete, as follows: I am sorry that I cannot give you the information about Charles Keene that you ask for. I know that he made some drawings on wood for me - for 'yellow backs' but forget what they were, remembering only some were for Bulwer Lytton's novels, nor do I remember the date, but it was when he had a large top room, over an Engineer's shop in the Strand, about opposite Norfolk Street, before he drew for 'Punch'.

[Florian [Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian], French poet and writer of romances and fables.] Autograph Letter in the third person to his printer Firmin Didot, regarding the latter's request for information regarding 'le véritable homo'.

Author: 
Florian [Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian] (1755-1794), French poet and writer of romances, author of fables and pastoral novels [Firmin Didot (1764-1836), Paris printer]
Publication details: 
22 July 1787. No place ['la Campagne'].
£350.00

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering along one edge. From the celebrated manuscript collection of Richard Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton). In 1787 Didot published Florian's 'Mélanges de poésie et de littérature'. A courtly and characteristic response to a request for information, reading: 'Mr. de florian a l'honneur de souhaiter le bon jour a monsieur Firmin. [a contemporary hand glosses this as 'Didot'] il arrive de la Campagne, et ne peut lui donner aucun détail sur cequ'il [sic] demande. demain il s'en informera, ou priera qu'on s'en informe.

[ Stanley Morison; typographer ] Autograph Note Signed Stanley Morison to Orlo [Williams], about the pain & agony of [...] long illness.

Author: 
Stanley Morison [(1889–1967), typographer, printing executive and historian of printing].
Publication details: 
[The Times stamp] 2 July 1953.
£56.00

One page, 12mo, good condition. Text: I read the notice with the deepest feeling of sympathy, knowing how extreme, desperate, has been the pain & agony of this long illness & separation; and I have perceived & marvelled at, the courage with which you have borne your burden, the end of which cannot yet have been reached. But you have the prayers of [...] Note: Orlo Williams is described in one book as a gentle and musical civl servant, member of a coterie attached to 'The Times' (Tom Burns, 'The Use of Memory: Publishing and Further Pursuits', p.123).

[Charles Wadsworth inscribes Rampant Lions Press book with his illustrations to poems on Robert Frost to Christopher Fry, also signed by author.] Seed Leaves | Homage to R. F. | Poetry by Richard Wilbur | Prints by Charles Wadsworth.

Author: 
Richard Wilbur; Charles Wadsworth; Richard R. Godine, Publisher, Boston; Will Carter, Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge [Christopher Fry; Robert Frost]
Publication details: 
David R. Godine, Publisher, Boston. [No 44 of '160 copies only designed and printed by Will Carter at the Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge, England'] 1974.
£150.00

Beautiful stitched pamphlet, with three gorgeous colour natural history prints by Wadsworth, comprising frontispiece and one other full-page print, and double-page print incorporating the words of the title. Near fine. Text unpaginated, printed on eleven pages, over eight leaves of green laid paper. Numbered 44 on the colophon, which carries the device of the Rampant Lions Press, and is signed 'Richard Wilbur' and 'Charles E.

[Archdeacon Coxe, historian, gives instructions to the parliamentary printer Luke Hansard.] Autograph Letter in the Third Person to 'Mr Hansard'

Author: 
Archdeacon Coxe [William Coxe, Archdeacon of Bemerton] (1748-1828), historian and Anglican cleric [Luke Hansard (1752-1828), London printer after whom publication of parliamentary debates is named]
Publication details: 
15 December 1805; Bath.
£60.00

2pp, 18mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with a couple of emendations. The subject is Coxe's 'History of the House of Austria', which was 'Printed by Luke Hansard and Sons, for T. Cadell and W. Davies, in the Strand'. The letter begins: 'Mr. Coxe wishes to keep back for a week or two sheet 3z, because he intends to divide the first Volume into two parts; and therefore desires Mr Hansard not to strike off that Sheet; and will trouble Mr Hansard to transfer the commencement of Ferdinand's reign from p 542.

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