QUAKER

[ Reginald Reynolds, left-wing writer. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Reginald Reynolds') to Francis Leslie Watson, complaining of his exclusion from a BBC radio programme on Mahatma Gandhi, one of whose closest English friends he claims to be.

Author: 
Reginald Reynolds [ Reginald Arthur Reynolds ] (1905-1958), British Quaker and left-wing writer and pacifist, husband of Ethel Mannin [ Francis Leslie Watson (1907-1988), biographer; Mahatma Gandhi ]
Publication details: 
20 Jubilee Place, Chelsea, London SW3. 13 October 1956.
£80.00

1p., 4to. Sixteen lines of closely-written text. The letter begins: 'On my return yesterday from a lecture tour in America I happened to hear of the series on Mahatma Gandhi that you have compiled, with Maurice Brown, for the Third Programme.' He complains that, although Watson had previously had his assurance that he was willing to participate in such it programme, it is 'rather hurtful to find that you have evidently decided to cut me out of the programme.

[ John Thomas Bellows, Quaker printer and lexicographer.] Autograph Draft Letter Signed ('John Bellows') to 'Honoured Count Worontzoff Dashkoff', sending condolences and devout sentiments on the death of his child.

Author: 
John Bellows [ John Thomas Bellows ] (1831-1902) of Upton Knoll, Gloucester, Quaker printer and lexicographer, author of first pocket French/English dictionary [ Count Worontzoff Dashkoff ]
Publication details: 
Upton Knoll, Gloucester. 4 April 1894.
£45.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. A long letter, closely and neatly written, with a number of emendations suggesting that it is a draft. After a short reference to the Count's kindness to him and his friend Joseph Neave, he devotes the rest of the letter to 'the heavy trial thou has had to pass through', discussing the nature of loss with 'knowledge from my own experience, that the loss of a child is a grief into whose full depths no stranger can enter, and that words, even well-meant, when uttered at an unfit moment, pain instead of helping'.

[ William Allen, Quaker scientist and philanthropist. ] Letter of recommendation, with autograph signature, written 'To my dear Friends on the Continent of Europe', regarding religious work by Joseph John Gurney of Norwich and his wife Eliza.

Author: 
William Allen (1770-1843), Quaker scientist and philanthropist, first president of the Pharmaceutical Society [ Joseph John Gurney (1788-1847) of Norwich; Eliza Gurney; John Forster ]
Publication details: 
'Stoke Newington near London | the 11th. of the 4th month (April) 1843'.
£250.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with a 2.5 cm closed tear and slight loss at one edge causing damage to one word of text. The text is neatly written out in another hand over 14 lines. Allen's signature and other details in his hand are at the end: 'Wm. Allen | Stoke Newington near London | the 11th. of the 4th month (April) 1843'. Headed 'To my dear Friends on the Continent of Europe to whom these lines may come'.

[ The Society of Friends (Quakers). ] Printed document: 'The Epistle from the Yearly-Meeting, [...] To the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings of Friends and Brethren, in Great-Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere.' ['The Yearly-Epistle, 1761.']

Author: 
'William Fry, Clerk to the Meeting this Year' [ The Society of Friends; Quakers ]
Publication details: 
'Held in London, by Adjournments, from the Adjournments, from the 11th Day of the Fifth Month 1761, to the 18th of the same, inclusive.'
£85.00

4pp., folio. Paginated 1-4. Unbound bifolium. On aged and worn paper, with chipping to extremities and closed tears along folds. Docket title: 'The Yearly-Epistle, 1761.' Marginal subtitles include: 'Theh Salutation', 'State of the Meeting', 'Account of Sufferings', 'Account of fthe Prosperity of Truth' and 'The Conclusion'. Ends: 'Signed in and on Behalf of the Yearly-Meeting, | By William Fry, | Clerk to the Meeting this Year.' No copy in the British Library, and now scarce.

[ Count Elim Pavlovich Demidov, Prince of San Donato, 'the richest man in the world'. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Demidoff'), in English, to the Quaker philanthropist John Bellows of Gloucester, regarding a pamphlet.

Author: 
Count Elim Pavlovich Demidov [Prince Demidoff] (1868-1943), 3rd Prince of San Donato, 'the richest man in the world' [ John Bellows (1831-1902) of Gloucester, Quaker philanthropist, writer, printer ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Hotel Bristol, Paris. 21 July 1895.
£200.00

1p., 8vo. In good condition, lightly-aged and worn. Addressed to 'My dearest Bellows'. He has received the pamphlet at the Hotel Bristol, and 'earnestly' believes that 'it will make the right impression upon the powerful of the world'. His party starts the following week for Russia, '& I will take in hands [sic] our plans of delivery as soon as I get on the spot'. He ends with a pious sentiment. Bellows paid two visits to Russia, and counted Tolstoy among his friends.

[Joseph Pease, Quaker industrialist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('J Pease') to an unnamed correspondent, complaining that 'every action and transaction of Railway Companies must be suspected examined & re examined'.

Author: 
Joseph Pease (1799-1872), Quaker railway company promoter and industrialist
Publication details: 
Southend, Darlington. 1 April 1856.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper. He has been 'too unwell to attend much to business', and his 'Care in this matter has been to meet your convenience but not depart from instructions - to the best of my knowledge - at a time when every action and transaction of Railway Companies must be suspected & examined & re examined'. He concludes in the hope that his correspondent will 'deposit the Note on rect of this and obtain the Cash', adding that he 'cannot obtain any further instructions from the Board for several days'.

[Rowntree] Clipped signature from typed letter "B S Rowntree".

Author: 
Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree
Publication details: 
No date survives
£23.00

English quaker philanthropist, son of Joseph Rowntree and author of 'Poverty, A Study of Town Life' (1901). Signed 'B S Rowntree' beneath typed 'Yours sincerely,'. Docketed in pencil in another hand, "B.S. Rowntree (chocolate)".. Fragment of around one inch by three inches.

[Notable Quakers in Georgian England.] Autograph Album of Lydia Davis of Alstone Green, with 120 contributors including Thomas Pole, Joseph Storrs Fry, Thomas Shillitoe, Joseph Sturge, Jeremiah Holme Wiffin, Christopher Healy and John Wilbur.

Author: 
Lydia Davis of Alstone Green, Gloucestershire [Thomas Pole, Joseph Storrs Fry, Thomas Shillitoe, Joseph Sturge, Jeremiah Holme Wiffin, Christopher Healy and John Wilbur; Quakers; Society of Friends]
Publication details: 
[Alstone Green, Gloucestershire.] Between 1800 and 1862 (mainly between 1820 and 1847).
£1,250.00

Apart from one contribution dating from 1800, three from the 1850s and two from the 1860s, all contributions date from between 1820 and 1847. 237pp., 4to, with eight items loosely inserted (including four coloured botanical drawings on card) and three-page partial index of contributors. In contemporary black leather binding, with embossed pattern and gilt border on front board, marbled endpapers, and all edges gilt. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, in rebacked binding, worn at spine, with new label.

[Thomas Edmund Harvey, Quaker politician.] Autograph Letter Signed ('T. Edmund Harvey') to a former colleague at the British Museum ('Mr. <Aldrick?>'), reminiscing on his 'five happy years' there.

Author: 
Thomas Edmund Harvey (1875-1955), Member of Parliament from a Leeds Quaker family [John Alexander Herbert (1862-1948) and Alfred William Pollard (1859-1944), British Museum curators]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Rydal House, Grosvenor Road, Leeds. 12 January 1928.
£65.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He thanks him for his letter, and is pleased to be remembered. 'I have the pleasantest recollections of your kindness and courtesy to an obscure junior, and I look back with very pleasant feelings too to the five happy years I spent as a member of the British Museum staff.' He is sorry at the thought of the 'many honored figures' who are no longer there, but hopes 'still to find one or two who remember me'.

[An young English Quaker relief worker in Germany.] Seven Autograph Letters Signed from 'David' [to the Tennant family?], describing in vivid terms his work in Lower Saxony (Harzburg, HIldersheim, Goslar) in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Author: 
'David', a young English Quaker relief worker in Germany [The Tennant family of High Wycombe; British Army of the Rhine; Friends Relief Service]
Publication details: 
The first five from 124 Friends Relief Section [or 'Service'] (Quakers), B.A.O.R. [British Army of the Rhine]; the sixth letter from 17 Friends Relief Section; seventh from Work-Camp at Hildesheim,. Between March and July 1947.
£650.00

66pp., 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, each of the letters kept together with rusty staples. All the letters are signed 'David' and addressed to 'My Dear All'. Accompanying them is an envelope addressed in another hand to S. W. J. Tennant, Beechcote, Brands Hill Avenue, High Wycombe, and this may provide a clue to the identity of the recipients, to whom 'David' makes it clear on a couple of occasions that he is not related, signing off one letter 'from your muddle-headed friend'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Saml Gurney') to Thomas Waddington in Rouen, father of th sometime French Prime Minister presumably, regarding his efforts to assist Edward Cherry in the same city.

Author: 
Samuel Gurney the elder (1786-1856), Quaker banker and philanthropist [Thomas Waddington; Edward Cherry; Rouen, France]
Publication details: 
London. 30 October 1838.
£120.00

2pp., 4to. On both sides of the first leaf of a bifolium, with the reverse of the second leaf cut down by a third, and carrying a red wax seal and three postmarks, with the address by Gurney to Waddington in Rouen. After explaining that he has been away in Yorkshire, he expresses regret that 'our efforts respecting Edwd Cherry have so terminated - it is however clear that the maintenance of fhis wife and family is an overwhelming duty to him'. He has himself made payments in London, and understood that 'our Friends in Rouen were to pay for the room &c'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Howitt') from the English author William Howett [to the editor of the Literary Gazette William Jerdan?], requesting a favourable review [of his 'Popular History of Priestcraft'].

Author: 
William Howitt (1792-1879), English poet and author, originally a Quaker, friend of Elizabeth Gaskell and advocate of spiritualism [William Jerdan (1782-1869), editor of the Literary Gazette]
Publication details: 
Nottingham. [1833.]
£56.00

1p., 16mo. On aged paper, with minor damage on removal from album. He requests 'the favour of an early notice in your journal, of the accompanying little volume if it be fortunate enough to meet your approbation'. The work has 'no object but to serve true religion & true liberty'. In a postscript he requests a 'copy of the paper containing the notice'. Howitt practised as a chemist in Nottingham between 1822 and 1836, when he moved to Esher, Surrey.

Autograph Letter Signed from Charles Gilpin, Liberal MP for Northampton, to James Wyld, MP for Bodmin, putting the position of the Poor Board in the case of 'Mr Mayall', Relieving Officer.

Author: 
Charles Gilpin (1815-1874), Liberal MP for Northampton and Quaker [James Wyld (1812-1887), MP for Bodmin and cartographer; Poor Board, Whitehall]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Poor Board, Whitehall. 31 October 1860.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. 25 lines. Fair, on aged paper, with a few ink spots caused by clumsy blotting. He has 'gone through the papers referring to the case' in which Wyld is 'kindly interested', and finds 'that the decision of the Board is in accordance with its uniform rule in similiar cases. | Mr. Mayall received his appointment as Relieving Officer on the express stipulation that he should reside in Bodmin'. Mayall's 'removal would have been objected to by this Board without any adverse representation from Guardians of the District'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R G Hazard') from the American industrialist and abolitionist Rowland Gibson Hazard to Messrs Livingstone & Co, regarding bonds and other interests. With a signed printed receipt from the Fireman's Mutual Insurance Company.

Author: 
Rowland Gibson Hazard (1801-1845) , American industrialist, founder of the Peace Dale Manufacturing Company, Rhode Island, politician, and abolitionist [Fireman's Mutual Insurance Company]
Publication details: 
Letter: Peace Dale, Rhode Island; 16 December 1838. Receipt: Providence; 7 August 1862.
£80.00

Letter: 1p., 12mo. Fair, on lighty-aged paper. Hazard does not 'hold the bonds you allude to', but still has some other interests in relation to a named party. He will be in New York 'ere long'. Docketed on the reverse: 'Does not hold La C Bond | Wil be in N Y before long'. The receipt is attractively printed on one side of a piece of 16 x 6.5 cm paper. In good condition. Hazard acknowledges receipt from the company of $56.87, the dividend on inusrance policy 1931. Signed by him 'Peace Dale Mg Co | [signed] R G Hazard Jnor'. The two items appear unconnected.

The Unhappy Princesses. In two Parts. Containing First, The Secret History of Queen Anne Bullen. [...] Secondly, The History of the Lady Jane Grey. [...] Adorn'd with Pictures.

Author: 
R. B.' [i.e. 'Robert Burton', pseudonym of Nathaniel Crouch (c.1640-1725?), London printer and bookseller]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for N. Crouch, at the Bell against Grocers-Alley, in the Poultry, near Cheapside. 1710.
£250.00

12mo: 159 + [9] pp. (Publisher's catalogue of 'Books Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell against Grocers-Alley in the Poultrey near Cheapside.' begins at foot of p.159 and continues for nine unpaginated pages, ending 'FINIS.') Lacks frontispiece. Woodcuts on pp.26, 61 and 121. In worn original calf binding. No endpapers. Aged and with worn fore-edge. Separate title to second part on p.89 ('The Secret History of the Lady Jane Gray', 'London: Printed for Nath. Crouch. 1710.') Scarce: COPAC only lists reproductions, with the note: 'R.B.

Four Autograph Letters Signed (two in full and two as 'L. H.') to the biblical scholar and Quaker theologian Herbert George Wood (1879-1963), first Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham.

Author: 
Lawrence Hyde (b.1894, fl. 1954), English journalist and spiritual philospher [Herbert George Wood; Quaker; Society of Friends; Selly Oak College; Fircroft; Woodbrooke]
Publication details: 
Between 1930 and 1931; all four on letterhead Rosedean Cottage, Shipley, Sussex.
£120.00

All items very good, on lightly aged paper. Four closely written and interesting communications on his writings and philosophy. LETTER ONE (16 June 1930, 2 pages, 12mo): On the question of 'that misunderstanding regarding our last visit', the rest of the month is 'booked up', but 'perhaps the postponement - I hope it is no more than that! - of our coming may not be a bad thing'. Since their last meeting he has been 'passing through a phase of extensive internal adjustment, the physical aspect of which has taken the form of very bad health'.

[Wedgwood] Three different bookplates.

Author: 
Josiah Clement Wedgwood (1872-1943), 1st Baron Wedgwood, British Liberal and Labour politician
Wedgwood
Publication details: 
[1890s to 1930s.]
£80.00
Wedgwood

Arranging the three in what appears to be chronological order, the first (good, roughly four inches by two and three-quarters wide) has 'Josiah C. Wedgwood' in copperplate beneath a straightforward Victorian armorial design, with shield, coronet and motto 'OBSTANTIA DISCINDO'. The second (three and a half inches by three wide) dates from after Wedgwood's election as a Member of Parliament in 1906, having 'EX-LIBRIS JOSIAH C. WEDGWOOD, M.P.' on a scroll beneath a more modern armorial design, with helmet and leaves. It has slight damage to the bottom right-hand corner.

manuscript by James H Midgley of Eden Grove S. Walden: 'Some act: of the early ways of our little Bessie. | Mary Elizabeth Midgley. | born on Good Friday 11TH of 4TH MoTH.. 1879.'

Author: 
Midgley family of Liverpool
Publication details: 
8pp, small 8vo, following 28pp of 'Weekly Statement of the Prices, Sales, Stocks &c. of Cotton in Liverpool' covering the years 1849-57
£150.00

The Midgley family were notable Lancastrian Quaker industrialists (cf. the Midgley Reference Library in the John Rylands University Library Manchester). Touching and detailed account ('at about 8.20? PM our little Darling was born - she soon told us she had a good pair of lungs') of the author's daughter's early years, preceded by a painstaking tabulation of the figures for the cotton market in fourteen columns ruled with red lines and spread over two pages. In a ruled notebook halfbound in green leather and with marbled boards. Heavily rubbed at extremities but sound and tight.

two letters signed to E. S. Gibb,

Author: 
Joseph Rowntree
Publication details: 
6 and 7 November 1890, with letterhead of the Engineering Department of Rowntree & Co., The Cocoa Works, York.
£80.00

The younger. Quaker cocoa manufacturer and philanthropist (1836-1925). Both letters one page, 4to, and written by an amanuensis. The letters deal with a "proposed new siding", for which "Mr Copperthwaite & my Clerk of Works" think it will be necessary to "take down the bridge which connects the north & south portions of my land, & which is situated midway between the road to & the road to ." In the second letter he says he is leaving for Scarborough that morning, and that he fears his two days' absence "might delay operations with the branch line".

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