PUBLISHER

[Printed item.] The History of Lady Godiva and Peeping Tom of Coventry, with a Description of St. Michael's Church, the Holy Trinity, and other Places of Worship, with numerous Local Illustrations. [...]

Author: 
[J. Tomkinson, Coventry publisher; Lady Godiva and Peeping Tom; the Coventry Cemetery]
Publication details: 
Fifth Edition. Coventry: Printed and published by J. Tomkinson, High Street, 1877.
£220.00

After '[...] with numerous local illustrations.' the title continues: 'To which is added a short account of The Coventry Cemetery, Waterworks, St. Mary's and Draper's Halls, School of Art, New Free Library, Bond's and Ford's Hospitals; also the History of Stoneleigh and Combe Abbeys, Kenilworth Castle, &c.' 48pp., small (15 x 12 cm) 4to. With fold-out frontispiece and nine engraved plates, including 'The Countess Lady Godiva riding through Coventry' and 'Peeping Tom of Coventry'. In green printed card wraps with red cloth spine.

Autograph Letter Signed "George Bentley", publisher to a "Mr. Welford", about autographs he will send.

Author: 
George Bentley, publisher (Richard Bentley & Son).
Publication details: 
G B [Printed], Upton, Slough, 13 Nov. 1882.
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium, slightly grubby, but mainly good, legible and complete. " I send a first instalment. The one of Miss Mitford is very characteristic of her, since she wrote more of her letters on little scraps of paper. The other two are from Fanny Kemble and Anthony Trollope." These three had works published by Richard Bentley & Son, and the letters he was sending were presumably from the Publishing Archive, now housed in the BL, Bodleian, Berg Collection, UCLA, Illinois, and elsewhere.

[Handbill/Prospectus] Bentley's London News. A New Weekly Paper

Author: 
[Richard Bentley & Son, Publishers]
Publication details: 
[Printed by] F. Bentley & Cpo., 4a Shoe Lane, Fleet STreet, London, [1869]
£75.00

One page, 8vo, goods condition. No. 1 to be published on 22 May [1869], promising "Original Information", leading articles bearing on "social happiness and political freedom, non-partisan, opposed to "every dangerous measure introduced in the name of Liberalism". This was presumably "Bentley's London News of commerce, agriculture, manufactures, etc." of which a copy of vol.1, no.1 is listed in the BL Catalogue. No other copy listed on COPAC or WorldCat. This prospectus is listed on neither (nor In Lake).

[Handbill] A circular letter inviting recipients to donate money for the benefit of Mr E. Rivenhall, of Bentley & Son.

Author: 
[Richard Bentley & Son, Publishers]
Publication details: 
October 1897.
£65.00

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium, some marking but text clear and complete. The letter explains the plight of 81 year old, E. Rivenhall in retirement (investment of his pension went wrong), naming the Committee which has been formed for the purpose of raising money for him. The Committee includes representatives from major publishing houses and others (OUP, Longmans, Cassell, Chatto & Windus, Macmillans, etc, and Zaehnsdorff). The removeable donation slip is still present and blank, requiring the name and addres of the donor, and a date.

[Offprint] Autumn Leaves. A Dinner with Mr. Bentley at Stationers' Hall.

Author: 
[Richard Bentley & Son, publishers] Anon.
Publication details: 
[Richard Bentley & Son, 1890]
£65.00

Offprint "From the 'Pall Mall Gazette' of October 22, 1890." Four pages, 8vo, bifolium, unbound, slight staining not affecting text, mainly good condition. An evocative account of a visit to a Trade Dinner held by the House of Bentley. No copy listed on COPAC or WorldCat.

Autograph Letter Signed from the London publisher John Murray the sixth ('John Grey Murray') to the diplomat Ernest Frederick Gye ['Dear Ernest Gye'], congratulating him on his posting to Tangier.

Author: 
John Murray the sixth [John Grey Murray; Jock Murray; John Arnaud Robin Grey Murray] (1909-1993), London publisher [Ernest Frederick Gye (1879-1955), diplomat, son of Ernest Gye and Dame Emma Albani]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of John Murray, 50 Albemarle Street, London. 9 January 1933.
£22.00

1p., 4to. Fair, on aged paper. He offers Gye his 'very best wishes' on his 'new appointment', adding: 'of course do not trouble to answer for this deserves none'.

Autograph Letter Signed from Emma Roberts, author of 'Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan', to William Jerdan, editor of the 'Literary Gazette'

Author: 
Emma Roberts (1791-1840), author and traveller in India [William Jerdan (1782-1869), editor of the 'Literary Gazette'; Rudolph Ackermann (1764-1834), London publisher]
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but between 1826 and 1829.
£280.00

1p., 8vo. 22 lines. Fair, on aged and worn paper. Addressed on reverse to 'William Jerdan Esqr | Grove House'. On wove paper watermarked 'G & R TURNER | 1826'. The letter can thus be dated from between 1826 and 1829, the year 'Ackermann's Repository of the Arts' ceased publication. Written in a difficult, hurried hand. She has received a letter from 'Mr Ackermann', saying that the package which Jerdan was 'kind enough to promise should go in your bag yesterday I having given it to you too late for the boy on Monday, has not reached him'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the New York publisher Henry Holt to 'Professor Platt' [Johnson Tuttle Platt of Yale Law School], enquiring as to the merits of a text book.

Author: 
Henry Holt (1840-1926), New York bookseller, publisher, editor and author [Professor Johnson Tuttle Platt (1844-1890) of Yale Law School]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 25 Bond Street, New York; 2 February 1876.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with short unobtrusive closed tear along crease line. Holt writes that he is mailing the book which they discussed. 'The specimen appears to contain a trifle over a quarter of the scheme. Whether the bulk would correspond to the theoretic divisions, you can guess better than I.' Holt presumes that 'glancing' at the book will interest Platt, and asks for 'an idea of it's [sic] probable use fulness and the extent of the class, whether practitioners or students, apt to be interested in it'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the publisher of 'The Athenaeum' John Francis, declining to buy back issues of the magazine from Miss Emily Cole of Teignmouth.

Author: 
John Francis (1811-1882), publisher of 'The Athenaeum', 1831-1882 [Miss Emily Cole (c.1819-1894) of Teignmouth, daughter of the lawyer and autograph collector Robert Cole, FSA]
John Francis (1811-1882), publisher of 'The Athenaeum'
Publication details: 
5 February 1875; on letterhead of the Athenaeum Office, 26 Wellington Street, Strand, London.
£45.00
John Francis (1811-1882), publisher of 'The Athenaeum'

12mo, 1 p. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. He is 'unable to make an offer for the back Vols of The Athenaeum - our stock in house being sufficient to meet demands'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Murray') from the London publisher John Murray IV to Colonel Spencer Childers, regarding his biography of his father the Liberal Chancellor Hugh Culling Eardley Childers.

Author: 
Sir John Murray IV (1851-1928), London publisher [Colonel Edmund Spencer Eardley Childers (1854-1919), son of Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827-96)]
Sir John Murray IV (1851-1928), London publisher
Publication details: 
April 1901; on letterhead of 50 Albemarle Street.
£56.00
Sir John Murray IV (1851-1928), London publisher

12mo, 4 pp. 40 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Spencer'. He is sorry to have missed Childers: 'I came back early on Sat: morning fairly driven home by the weather.' Reports that 'Better reviews of the book are now appearing Athenaeum - evidently by Dilke: Tablet: Pall Mall &c.' Thinks 'Clarke will use his influence with the Times', the idea that 'King' has done so being 'entirely out of the question'.

[Specimen copy for the Plates only] The Marchioness of Brinvilliers

Author: 
Albert Smith, illustrator John Leech
[Specimen copy for the Plates only] The Marchioness of Brinvilliers
Publication details: 
London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1886
£280.00
[Specimen copy for the Plates only] The Marchioness of Brinvilliers

pp.1-10 text, 15 detached plates with tissue-guards (as called for), text (concluding mid-sentence, bound in to grey-blue printed wraps, reinforced spine, 2 closed tear, chipped and sunned. Full quotation of title om front wrap: Specimen copy for the Plates only | The Marchioness of Brinvilliers | By | Albert Smith | Illustrated by John Leech | [Bentley insignia] | With fifteen spirited full-page Etchings on Steel, only once before printed from,* onthe first publication of the story, in its serial | form, about 1842. | *Besides twenty-seven impressions for the Leech Catalogue.

Autograph Note Signed to de Coverly.

Author: 
Michael Sadleir, Author, Publisher, Book Collector
Michael Sadleir, Author, Publisher, Book Collector
Publication details: 
[Headed] 10 Clareville Grove, [London] SW7, 7 Oct. 1932.
£56.00
Michael Sadleir, Author, Publisher, Book Collector

One page, 8vo, good condition. Somewhat mysterious but concerning a book or books by Herman Melville. Pardon me for not answering your kind note before. Although I cannot agree that you have received anything approaching an equivalent for your copy of Omoo, I am naturally very gratified that you are good enough to think differently . . .

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Francis [the source of the letter suggests Sacheverell Sitwell], concerning the supply of Trollope letters.

Author: 
Michael Sadleir, Author, Publisher, Book Collector.
Michael Sadleir, Author, Publisher, Book Collector.
Publication details: 
[Headed] Lower Througham, Stroud, Glos., 21 June 1936.
£135.00
Michael Sadleir, Author, Publisher, Book Collector.

Two pages, 8vo, good condition. A bookseller called Glaishier at Greenwich sent me a small Trollope letter to see to other day. It was in bad condition, but I think the signature was undamaged and if your friend only collects signatures it might be worth his asking to se this. | If, however, he wants a complete letter (as probably he does for an important collection) I think he might get one from Bernard Halliday [underlined], 1King Richards Road, Leicester or from Maggs Brothers [underlined with address]. Both these will be expensive.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J H Markland), to the printers 'Messrs Nichols & Son | 25 Parliament Sq.'' by the antiquary and book collector James Heywood Markland

Author: 
James Heywood Markland (1788-1864), antiquary and book collector [John Bowyer Nichols]
James Heywood Markland (1788-1864), antiquary and book collector
Publication details: 
Whitehall Place; 10 July 1834.
£56.00
James Heywood Markland (1788-1864), antiquary and book collector

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf. Fair, on aged paper. He does not think he received 'Part II of Collectanea Topog. & Geneal.' 'As I believe that receipts are taken on delivery of that Work be so good as to send me any memorandum of the fact - if you do not possess it perhaps the Part may not have been left at my House'. Docketed, with details of the receipt, at head of first page.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. M. Bucknall') to MacLehose

Author: 
W. M. Bucknall [William Miles Bucknall], Librarian to the Board of Trade [James MacLehose (1811-1885), Glasgow bookseller and publisher]
Publication details: 
10 January 1861; on Board of Trade letterhead.
£35.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Discussing 'Mr Sterling's Pamphlet on Banks', which MacLehose has sent him ('a work so difficult to obtain elsewhere'). While not recognising 'the existence of any really national Banking System', he considers Sterling's 'remarks most judicious'. Mentions the Banking Act of 1844, before concluding with a reflection on credit. Bucknall published his 'Catalogue of the Library of the Board of Trade' in 1866.

Glum-Glum. A Fairy Romance.

Author: 
[Charles Marshall, author?] [Richard Bentley (1794-1871), printer and publisher] [Victorian children's literature]
Publication details: 
London: Richard Bentley, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty, 8 New Burlington Street. 1867. [London: Robson and Son, Great Northern Printing Works, Pancras Road, N.W.]
£200.00

4to (leaf dimensions 20.5 x 16.5 cm): 63 pp. In original grey-green printed wraps. Tight and generally good, but with damp-staining to a few leaves, some wear to corners and creasing and grubbiness to the last three leaves. Wraps worn and grubby. Embossed bookseller's stamp to rear wrap: 'W. H. Smith & Son. 186 Strand, London.' Scarce: COPAC only lists copies at the Bodleian, the National Library of Scotland and the British Library (the last being attributed to 'MARSHALL, Charles, Traveller'). The beginning is reminiscent of Tolkien's 'Hobbit': 'POOR Glum-glum!

Steel-engraving by Finden, from a painting by Pickersgill, of 'Mr. Murray, Publisher of Lord Byron's Works.'

Author: 
John Murray (1778-1843), British publisher; Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875), English portrait painter; Edward Francis Finden (1791-1857), English engraver; Charles Tilt, English publisher
Publication details: 
Painted by H. W. Pickersgill, R.A. Engraved by E. Finden. [...] London, Published 1833, by C. Tilt, 86, Fleet Street.'
£56.00

India paper engraving (dimensions c. 22 x 16 cms) neatly laid down on piece of wove paper c. 29 x 22 cms. Very good, with the slightest spotting, and with minor creasing and staining to the extremities of the mount. A pensive Murray sits in an armchair, reading a manuscript.

Autograph Letter Signed to the naturalist Rev. Francis Orpen Morris (1810-1893).

Author: 
James Blackwood, Scottish publisher
Publication details: 
17 October 1857, on his business letterhead, 8 Lovell's Court, Paternoster Row.
£56.00

8vo: 2 pp. The 'idea is worth Consideration', but Blackwood 'can hardly see how any large sale cann be depended upon, so as to repay the expense of printing advertising &c.' Asks that Morris send him 'one sermon, to indicate style, length & to estimate cost'. Asks what size of paper should be used. Notices that Morris's works are 'principally on natural history'. Likes the idea of 'the <?> natural history', and 'will take an early opportunity of looking at it'. This notable London publisher is a surprising omission from BBTI.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Caird') to James MacLehose.

Author: 
John Caird (1820-1898), Church of Scotland minister, theologian and Principal of Glasgow University [James MacLehose (1811-1885), Glasgow publisher and bookseller; Rev. Dr James Paterson]
Publication details: 
July 6 [no year, but accompanied by an envelope postmarked 29 July 1881]; Venlaw Bank, Peebles, on cancelled letterhead of The University, Glasgow.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper with slight creasing at head. He is enclosing a letter (not present) apologising 'for absence from Dr. Patersons funeral'. Asks if MacLehose can help him find the address of 'A. Craig Paterson'. 'I know that one of the sons is an English clergyman, but am not sure whether this is he.' The envelope, addressed by Caird to 'Jas. MacLehose Esq. | St. Vincent St. | Glasgow', bears a purple penny stamp, postmarked '159' beside a circular postmark in black ink, containing '4 H | GLASGOW | JU 29 | 81'

[Pickering's Diamond Classics.] Quintus Horatius Flaccus.

Author: 
The Pickering Horace' [Quintus Horatius Flaccus; William Pickering, London publisher; Charles Corrall, printer; Pickering's Diamond Classics; miniature books]
Publication details: 
Londini: Typis C. Corrall; Impensis Gul. Pickering, 31, Lincoln's Inn Fields. MDCCCXX.' [London: William Pickering, 1820. Printed by Charles Corrall.]
£450.00

A bibliographical landmark: the first issue of the first volume in Pickering's series of 'Diamond Classics' 32mo: [ii] + 185 + [i] + [i]. Engraved frontispiece portrait of 'Horace' by R. Grave, facing engraved titlepage, which precedes the letterpress titlepage. On the reverse of the leaf with p.185 on its recto is a portrait of Sir Francis Bacon, captioned 'Advancement of Learning.' On the page facing this are the 'Corrigenda.' Tight copy, on aged paper, with a few dogeared pages, in contemporary black russia binding with boards and spine ornamented in gilt and title 'HORATIUS'.

A Detail of the Wonderful Revolution at Paris; Or, An Exact Narrative of All that passed in the Capital of France, particularly the Siege and Capture of the Bastille, from the 11th of July, 1789, to the 23d of the same Month.

Author: 
M. D** C** [i.e. Monsieur de Courtive] [translated by 'S. M.'] [James Ridgway, London publisher; the fall of the Bastille, 1789]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for James Ridgway, No. I, York Street, St. James's Square. 1789.
£450.00

8vo: [iv] + 48 pp. Stabbed as issued. In modern brown paper wraps. Good, on lightly aged paper. Beneath the author's name on title-page: 'Dedicated to the District of PETIT ST.

Typed Letter Signed ('John G. Murray') to 'Mrs. Norsworthy'.

Author: 
John Murray the sixth [John Grey Murray; Jock Murray; John Arnaud Robin Grey Murray (1909-1993), London publisher
Publication details: 
9 March 1936; on the firm's 50 Albemarle Street letterhead.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. Eight lines in typescript and one line in manuscript. Good, on lightly-aged paper. With stamped Envelope addressed in manuscript. The firm is 'sorry to hear' that she intends to 'take two volumes' over her book on Henry III, not considering that 'a biography of him could succeed in more than one complete volume. To take him to 1237 in the first volume would spoil the completeness of what we feel should be a one-volume biography.' He adds in manuscript: 'I hope we will not prove too unwieldy.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('J Bowles') to 'Mr Wright | Piccadilly', confirming his authorship of the 'Letters of the Ghost of Alfred'.

Author: 
John Bowles (1751-1819), barrister and author [John Wright (1770-1841) of Piccadilly, bookseller and publisher of Gifford's 'Anti-Jacobin']
Publication details: 
Tuesday' [no date, but circa 1798]. Place not stated.
£200.00

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium with address on second leaf. Twenty-five lines. Text clear and complete. On aged, spotted and repaired paper. A significant letter, confirming Bowles's hitherto-tentative authorship of the 'Letters of the Ghost of Alfred', which was printed by Wright in 1798. Bowles informs Wright that he will 'receive some Copies of ye. Ghost of Alfred' the following morning. 'The price [I conceive] should be only 2/6 in boards there being but about 130 pages including thhe advertisements'.

Typed Letter Signed ('V.G.') to Daniel George.

Author: 
Sir Victor Gollancz (1893-1967), London publisher [Hilary Rubinstein; Daniel George]
Publication details: 
21 September 1955; on letterhead of Victor Gollancz, Ltd.
£56.00

4to, 2 pp. Postscript ends abruptly ('I have read innumerable books on Italy, <...>'), suggesting a page lacking. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. An interesting letter shedding light on Gollancz's attitude to the practice of sending out advance copies of books for review. Addressed to 'My dear Daniel'. Further to a report he has received from 'Hilary' (his nephew Hilary Rubinstein) regarding a conversation with George 'at John Coates's party', Gollancz assures him that there is no 'personal reason' why he is no longer receiving 'a stream of advance copies'.

The History, Or Anecdotes, Of the Revolution in Russia, In the Year 1762. Translated from the French of M. De Rulhiere.

Author: 
Claude Carloman de Rulhiere [Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia; Russian eighteenth-century history; revolution of 1762]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for T. N. Longman, Paternoster-Row. 1797.
£180.00

8vo: [ii] + xxiv + 178 + [ii] pp. With half-title, and final leaf containing two pages of 'New Publications printed for T. N. Longman, No. 39, Paternoster-Row.' Frontispiece, becoming detached, of 'Catherine II. Empress of Russia, Taken from an Original Bust.' Tight copy, on aged and lightly discoloured paper, in worn and stained contemporary half-binding of chipped vellum spine and corners and marbled boards. Minor staining at foot of frontispiece, title and first leaf of prelims.

Typed Note Signed to Stanley Unwin.

Author: 
Arnold Bennett (1867-1931), English novelist [Sir Stanley Unwin (1884-1968), publisher]
Publication details: 
9 December 1930; 97 Chiltern Court, Clarence Gate, NW1.
£65.00

4to, 1 p. Four lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight staining from paperclip in top left-hand corner. He thanks him for his 'very interesting letter': 'The photograph shows an agreeable, and perhaps distinguished building. I return the picture thereof, and wish you every success therein.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Dr. v Martius'), in English, to 'James Murray jun. Esq.', son of the London bookseller John Murray the second.

Author: 
Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794-1868), German botanist and South American explorer [John Murray II (1778-1843); Rudolph Oldenbourg (1811-1903); Johann Georg Cotta, Baron von Cottendorf]
Publication details: 
Munich 21. April 1841.'
£350.00

4to (leaf dimensions roughly 27 x 21.5 cm): 1 p. Fifteen lines of text. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, with the address on the reverse of the second leaf. Text complete and legible, on aged paper, grubby, worn and creased paper. An unusual and interesting letter of introduction, pointing out the international links in the European booktrade of the early nineteenth century.

Autograph Note Signed ('Herman C. Merivale') to the London publisher Samuel French. With a printed subscription form, filled in by Merivale.

Author: 
Herman Charles Merivale (1839-1906), English playwright and novelist [victorian publisher Samuel French, of 89 The Strand, London; James Robinson Planché]
Publication details: 
Letter: 25 April 1879; on embossed letterhead of the Union Club, Brighton. Subscription form: undated.
£56.00

Letter: 12mo, 1 p. Grubby and stained. He 'did not mention the Planché-affair' in his letter of the day before. Asks for his name to be put down 'for a copy of the book' [French's edition of Planché's 'Extravaganzas']. The subscription form (12mo, 1 p), heavily worn and with loss to the extremities, is laid down on the reverse of the letter. On it Merivale gives his address as 'Barton Lodge, Kingston on Thames'.

Bill, in French, for work 'imprime pour le Citoyen Duprat, par Crapelet' [i.e. printing 'Memoire sur la reunion de l'artillerie et du genie, adresse au premier consul de la republique francaise' by 'A.A.'

Author: 
Charles Crapelet (1762-1809), French printer based in Paris, father of the printer Georges-Adrien Crapelet [Jean-Louis Duprat, Professeur a l'Ecole centrale du departement du Tarn]
Publication details: 
9 Nivose an 9e [30 December 1800]
£100.00

On one side of piece of laid paper roughly 16 x 19.5 cm. Good, though lightly aged, and with a few small pin holes in one corner (not affecting text). 12 lines. Headed 'imprime pour le Citoyen Duprat, par Crapelet, 9 Nivose an 9e'. The first of four entries reads 'Memoire sur la reunion de l'artillerie & du Genie [published in Paris in 1800 by Duprat], contenant cinq feuilles & demie in-8o. Cicero, tirees a 500 exempl. a raison de 24th la feuille'. Second entry gives cost of 'Remaniement de toutes les feuilles & corrections extraordinaires'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R Seeley') to [John Lucas] Tupper.

Author: 
Robert Benton Seeley (1798-1886; DNB), English publisher and author
Publication details: 
3 July 1871; 54 Fleet Street [London].
£56.00

12mo: 2 pp. Very good. Relates to the photographic series 'English Artists of the present day', published by Seeley with accompanying essays 'by J. B. Atkinson, S. Colvin, F. G. Stephens, T. Taylor, and J. L. Tupper'. He is sending 'a copy of No. 3. The other we count as a presentation copy.' 'The Woolner photo. will I hope not be thought so bad by those who have not seen Elliott & Fry's. I was glad to find this morning that it had not struck Mr.

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