PUBLISHING

2pp., 12mo. 25 lines of text. In fair conditon, on aged and worn paper. Her sister Frances is 'overjoyed at your benevolent efforts for me', and 'Mr Arthur Hall is very glad indeed to hear what you are trying to do, and is quite ready if you and I approve to send a set of my books, with a notification to Mr Gladstone, and also of privately interesting the Archbishop, who will, he has no doubt send an autograph letter privately to the Prirme Minister'. The letter ends with a prayer for her 'kind friends', concluding 'The Lord will provide'.

All three items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: Untitled proof, with 'Proof 6.12.92 [i.e. 6 December 1992]' in manuscript at foot of first page. 20pp., 8vo. Unbound and unstitched. Two manuscript corrections, and two indications of where maps are to be placed. The first letter is written from 'Dawlish, S. Devon, | May 20, 1892', and the last from 'Clifton, | May 31, 1892'. A passage, on pp.5-8, is under the heading 'The End of the Broad Gauge', the first paragraph reading: 'On Thursday the men arrived from all parts of the G.W.

Dibdin's letter: 1p., 12mo. On bifolium, with the Signed Autograph Copy of Chapple's reply (also 1p., 12mo) on the reverse of the same leaf. Reverse of second leaf addressed to 'C. Chapple Esq', with a nineteenth-century shelfmark at the foot of the page: 'C.68.Coll.CR.' In fair condtion, on aged paper.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and unevenly-sunned paper. He begins by giving six numbered points which 'will do for the Introduction' to a prospectus for a magazine. The first reads: 'The biographical & archaeological portion of the Magazine will be placed under the superintendance of the Revd Professor Christmas, M.A.

Both items in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. The letter begins: 'Dear Mr Lane, | Conscientious research in Titmarshian activities seems to point to the fact that you owe to the club the sum of 22/- for two dinners in October 1907.' He continues on this theme for a while, before turning to Reynolds: 'I am very glad to hear that you are going to bring out the Holy Mountain & Poor Mans House by Reynolds. As partly responsible for the suggestion of the Mountain & the location at Acton, I take some interest in the book & also in its author.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Written in purple ink. The letter reads: 'My dear Sir, | Here it is, for what it is worth. To-morrow, Jan 16, a new novel of mine, "Some Fell Among Thorns", should be published. I shall send you a copy & ask your acceptance of it. | Yours Sincerely | Andrew Soutar'. Soutar received a brief obituary in The Times, 25 November 1941.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. A long and detailed letter, beginning: 'The situation is not quite as we thought it. Yesterday I saw Mr. Higgs at Downing Street and he explained to me all the circumstances concerning the consideration of Mrs. Latey's petitions. | The suggestion emanating from him, with the Prime Minister's concurrence, is as follows.' The plan outlined, as Mrs Latey is not eligible for the pension, is for a fund to be established for her, to which 'the Prime Minister would add [...] a sum from Royal Bounty - the whole to be sunk in an annuity for her.

All four items in good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. Totalling 6pp., 4to, on six leaves, written lengthwise in red-ruled columns. The first two sets of accounts each 2pp., on a bifolium; the last two each 1p., on a single leaf. Each of the four sets of accounts is on the same printed form, with a full-page printed text, dated from 'Paternoster Row, London, | January 1843.', headed 'Messrs.

16pp., 8vo. Vignette and eight full-page illustrations, all hand-coloured, depicting Sly Boots the fox, Farmer Brown, Joe the shepherd boy, and Trusty the dog. Disbound and stapled. On aged and worn paper. Scarce: the only two copies on COPAC and OCLC WorldCat at the British Library and University of California, with dating to the first entry.

ALS, on letterhead of New Place, Haslemere, Surrey; 3 April 1922, 2pp., 12mo, good condition. Regarding his Anthology of Modern Verse (1922), to which RL wrote the introduction. 'I can see at once that some of your suggestions I shall accept but some I jib at for various reasons [...] 2) Bridges The Idle Flowers seems too like a Catalogue. Sassoon suggests Recollections [...] 4) Hardy wants Farewell. - & some other impossibles. [...] 6) Meynell She does not want She walks (N.B. authors are asses.) [...] 9) Yeats Innisfree??? omit'.

3 TLsS, all on letterheads of 30 Bedford Square (two from Jonathan Cape Limited); 3 December 1924, 4 May 1929; 28 November 1946, totla 4pp., 4to, good condition. First, undertaking to publish in the Times Literary Supplement 'an expression of regret or apology' for an article by a 'contributor' stating that 'the Daily News considers only two or three books in its literary page twice a week'.

2 TLsS, 3pp., 8vo and 12mo, latter damaged with loss of heading. First, on his publisher's letterhead, 8 St Martin's Street, Leicester Square; 1 April 1921. 'Mr. Pinker [RL's agent] has reminded me - and I did not want reminding - how shockingly I seem to have behaved over "The Pleasures of Ignorance". You can attribute it to anything you like (except lack of interest in your work), although as far as the last fortnight is concerned I have been ill. But I make nothing of that.

TLS, on letterhead of Dacres, Quantock Rod, Weston-super-Mare; 19 April 1937, 3pp., 4to, good condition. Long paranoid letter, bitterly attacking 'seaside towns', and Weston-super-Mare in particular, as 'run by councillors of the Tammany Hall type, interested in the sale of "drink" and all the various things that go with it'.

ALS, on his presidential letterhead; 14 July 1932, 2pp., 8vo, good condition, with enclosure. His 'Little Visits to the Great' is 'almost ready to go to press, but we are holding things up for the Chapter on "Robert and Sylvia Lynd." If you and Mrs Lynd could glance it over and scratch out any thing that I remembered inaccurately, [...]'. With a mimeographed typewritten copy (1 p, fol.), transcribing three 1937 letters to Clemens, two from Douglas Hyde and the last from W. B. Yeats.

4pp., 8vo. Bifolium. On laid paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and spotted. Printed in black with title in red. The first page headed: 'Now Ready | Small Colombier 8vo. With 7 Photogravure Plates, and 84 Illustrations in Half-Tone, £2, 2s.

23 + [1]pp., 12mo. Stitched, in blue printed wraps. Aged and worn, with creasing to wraps and fly-leaf, which is inscribed 'Ivor James | from | J. A. Grosvenor | May 20. 1921.' Excessively scarce: the only copy on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat at the British Library.

1p., landscape 12mo (16 x 20.5 cm). Addressed on reverse 'To | John Bowring Esqre | 6 Freeman's Court | Cornhill'. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded into a packet for hand-delivery. Written in a crabbed, difficult hand. Begins: 'Tomorrow I will send you a copy of my Character [clearly 'The Life and Character of the Duke of Wellington', which is however generally ascribed to his namesake the Earl of Ellesmere], which you will see

Blaquiere

is just now in demand. Also a work which i can only lend him.

It is Sir Basil Blackwell, in his DNB entry on Wilson, who described him as 'the most famous English [sic] bookseller of his time'. The freshness and enthusiasm conveyed by this small volume supports Blackwell's view that Wilson viewed 'bookselling not so much as a matter of retail trade as a service in which bookseller and customer met and shared the experience of contact with the precious manifestations of the spirit of man', as well as casting light on the methods and practices which made Wilson so successful.

On the 8 x 13cm cover of the envelope. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with loss at head and to top right-hand corner from removal from an album, traces of which adhere to the reverse. Playfair's signature ('Lyon Playfair') in the bottom left-hand corner is unnaffected, and the address, also in his hand, reads: 'Messrs George Routledge & Son | Broadway | Ludgate Hill | E.C.' The orange circular franking postmark is incomplete, and reads: 'LON | OFF | PAID | B | 9 FE 86'.

Letter written across two pages, 8vo, small tear with no loss of text, small hole at fold, mainly good, address on verso counter-signed (Free Post) "H.Gally Knight", M.P., traveller and writer. Notation top left corner "F.66.Cole. CR". Text as follows: "The enclosed will prove to you that you are not forgotten. I am but just recovered from a dreadful illness, which has shared one half of my person and two thirds of my purse: but the Tour [Northern Counties and Scotland [see full details below] has been triumphant - and will, I trust, be profitable.

14 x 10 cm albumen print, on 16.5 x 11 cm card. In fair condition, lightly-faded. Docketed on reverse: 'G. W. Childs | who erected monument over <?>' From the papers of the Anglo-American astronomer Mary Proctor (1862-1957).

4pp., 8vo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. The first page carries the 'pitch', beginning: 'AN HISTORICAL MAGAZINE has long been the great desideratum of our literature.' The author proceeds to claim that 'THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE has stepped forward to occupy this vacant post.' The page ends: 'Five numbers of the new undertaking are before the public, and present a fair example of what the work will henceforth be. The following important subjects have been treated of in some of the recent articles: -'.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter reads: 'I beg to re-enclose for the excerpt from your publication "Men & Women of the Time," of my biography which I have revised, making a very few alterations, & adding a few lines which I write on the other sheet of this note: [not present] my permanent address now is the above'. The note relates to the fifteenth edition of the work, published by G. Routledge & Sons in 1899.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. For further information about Williamson and his publications, see his entry in 'Who Was Who'; see also Marillier's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Founded in 1818, the Ipswich firm of W. S. Cowell Ltd ('The Press in the Butter Market') grew into one of the leading British printers, known for its high-quality catalogue work. The firm's papers are in the Suffolk Record Office at Ipswich, whose catalogue entry provides a good summary of its history.

The two items relate to the book 'An Old Coachman's Chatter with Some Practical Remarks on Driving. By a Semi-Professional. Edward Corbett, Colonel late Shropshire Militia.'(London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1890). Both the letter and the proofs are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. LETTER: 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. 34 lines of text in a particularly difficult hand. He will endeavour to 'throw all the light' he can on the subjects mentioned in his correspondent's letter, beginning:: 'I think the time between Cape Curig & Holyhead must be correct.

Gladys Jones ('Gwen John') lived with her sister the suffragette Winifred Jones in Lincoln's Inn. Her play 'The Prince' - three corrected copies of which are in the present collection as Items Three to Five - was retitled 'Gloriana' [= Elizabeth I] when performed at the Adelphi Theatre in London in December 1925, with a youthful John Gielgud in the role of Sir John Harrington. Items One, Six and Seven below relate to the volume 'Plays of Innocence' by 'Gwen John', published in 1925 by Ernest Benn (by whom Victor Gollancz was then employed).

1p., landscape 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. Strachey has written 'Mrs. Shorter' in the bottom left-hand corner, but the note is addressed to 'Dear Sir', and corrected by him to 'Madam'. It reads: 'I enclose with many thanks cheque [sic] for your contributions during the past month'.

Magazine: [8] + 80pp. In blue printed illustrated wraps. Internally in good condition, on aged paper, with unopened signatures, in worn and chipped wraps. Stamped in red at head of front cover: 'SPECIMEN COPY.' Announcement at foot of front cover: 'This magazine is not to be introduced into England or its colonies nor into the United States of America.' The first eight pages carry advertisments, as do both sides of the back wrap.

80pp., 8vo. Stapled and unbound. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. On front cover: 'Each Book in this Catalogue is written by an Expert and is written so you can understand it'. Many items illustrated with representations of the binding. Index of subjects on p.2, ranging from 'Abrasives and Abrasive Wheels' to 'Wiring Diagrams', and including section on 'Automobile Books', pp.5-14 (Charts, Ignition Systems, Lighting, Questions and Answers, Repairing, Starting Systems, Trouble Charts, Welding), 'Gasoline Engines', pp.15-18, and 'Aviation', pp.19-22.