RADICAL

3pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: 'My dearest Aunt Agnes | Thank you very much indeed for your last letter. I send with this the announcement of my new book "Knight Errant", & if it would not trouble you to pass on the cards to any likely readers I should be very grateful.' She gives news of her children Amy and Maurice, and is enclosing 'a list of all the children of the family & their birthdays' (not present).

1p, landscape 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn, laid down on part of a leaf from an album. The letter begins in lighthearted fashion, but soon turns sombre, with a list of Rickman's friends who have recently died. Reads: 'My dear Sir! Truth will out – The lady has been trying Bargain Tea all entire at 8s/. - this pleases me – so look to it! - I am confined to my room not so ill in health but I have lost great friends – Mrs. Hobson my best, dead – Mrs Thos. Rickman, dead – Mr. Gray dead, & some living ones have flown off, & all this cuts me up! - God bless you, & yours! | Clio'.

For information regarding the conspiracy to murder Lord Liverpool and his entire cabinet, see Thistlewood's entry in the Oxford DNB. A rare item, with no other copy found either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC, and intended for distribution in the streets of the North-East of England as the sensational news of the Conspiracy broke. In small print apart from the heading (which is in the usual mixture for the period of typefaces and point sizes, with fancy rules), on one side of a 42 x 13 cm strip of laid paper.

Joad's rise and fall are admirably described in Jason Tomes' entry on him in the Oxford DNB. The present letter was written after the disgrace which followed his 1948 conviction for fare-dodging. Not only was Joad dropped from the programme which had made him a nationwide celebrity, 'The Brains Trust', as a result, but his well-founded hopes of a peerage were dashed. It is interesting to note from the present letter that Joad continued to work for the BBC after his disgrace. The letter is 2pp, landscape 12mo. In fair condition, aged and creased, with two punch-holes at head.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. Endorsed on reverse of second leaf. At the time of writing Molesworth was serving as First Commissioner of Works in Lord Aberdeen's coalition government. (In the year of his death Aberdeen would appoint him Colonial Secretary.) The letter begins: 'My dear Merivale | Last November I moved for the enclosed return and since then I have spoken to ]Pal?] [i.e. Viscount Palmerston?] about it who promised that it should be made.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Charles W. Dilke. | Emilia F. S. Dilke | Newnham | 10 June | 1891'. Written after the celebrated Crawford Scandal of 1886, which resulted in Dilke losing his seat in parliament, and becoming a music-hall figure of fun as a result of the revelations of his adulterous behaviour.

A plain 'Carte Postale', with the address, with three postmarks, on one side (coloured lilac), reading 'Mrs. A. H. Green | Rosa House, Church Walks | Llandudno | N. Wales | Angleterre'. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with central horizontal crease. He is sorry to hear of her 'continuing illness', and hopes 'the air of Wales' will do her good. 'Dolgam is a farm-house about 2 or 3 miles below Capel Curig towards Bettws[sic]-y-Coed. I can quite recommend it. Mrs. Jones is (or was) the landlady. The air is probably not so bracing as some places as it lies in a sheltered hollow.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Clearly addressing the editor of a journal, Molesworth writes: 'Dear W. I cannot do an article, but I give you a beginning, which I hope you'll finish. | I'll attend to what you say. | Yrs. | W. M'. The note is accompanied by an engraved portrait of Molesworth, orating with right hand held high, captioned 'Sir William Molesworth, Bart., M.P.', from the Illustrated London News.

1p., on 12 x 11.5 cm piece of paper, possibly cut from the conclusion of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mount on reverse and slight loss to two words of text from wear. Apparently written to a family member or intimate (but see note below), the note reads: 'The enclosed is the list of the books that will reach you tomorrow morning by Messrs.

In fair condition, lightly aged and slightly ruckled. Broughton's dates in a contemporary hand at top left. Reads: '21. Mayy 63 | Mr Wright | This is my hand writing - I wish it was more neat & more legible. | Yours faithfully | Broughton'.

Unillustrated official 'POST CARD' with printed penny stamp. Addressed on one side, with Wimbledon postmark, to 'Sewell Stokes, Esq., | 53, Holland Park, W.11.' In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Twelve typed lines of text. The subject of the text is Stokes's forthcoming autobiography 'Monologue' (Hutchinson, 1934), with Mannin referring to her own 'Confessions and Impressions' (Jarrolds, 1930). After thanking him for his letter she writes: 'I am glad you have decided to dispense with an introduction to the book – books, particularly of this kind, should stand on their own legs . . .

[1] + 8pp., 4to. On one side each of nine leaves, held together with a brass stud. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with the first page (carrying only the title and with pencil note 'Ordered') detached.

2pp., landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The recipient is not named or addressed, the letter starting abruptly after the date: 'I like your portrait much. Thanks for sending it. Yes, the people are [last word underlined] fools, and the mills of God grind slowly. Nevertheless the work is not lost, and its outcome is sure. It is no good bothering about special results. They must take their own way (generally to the Crematorium!) but all the while something is being built up, wh.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper. An amusingly sardonic missive, addressed to 'Dear Bennett'. He was not able to compliment him the previous night on his 'excellent speech', but is 'anxious to know what was the cryptic allusion to the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs who had experience of arming savages? I do not believe that Fitzmaurice ever did so, unless you intended the German use of the word “savages” for below-the-gangway Radicals?'

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to 'Mr. F. W. Finch, | Woodbridge Row | Mosley | Birmingham'. He thanks him for his letter and continues: 'I am sorry that you have not been so successful as you wished in collecting autographs, but I hope you will be more fortunate in future.' He is 'engaged in other and equally useful work outside of Parliament', and is 'glad to be freed from its restraints & embarrassments'.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, wiht crease along one edge. The letter concerns international affairs. Regarding the United Kingdom Dilke writes: 'I think it would be quite proper for us to attempt to effect a reconciliation at any moment when it seems possible that we could be of use, and I fancy that we have made some such offer more than once, possibly along with Russia.' As it happens 'the belligerents have preferred, - which was not unnatural under the circumstances, - to avail themselves of the good offices of the United States'.

3pp., 4to. Bifolium In good condition, lightly aged. Laid down on the blank reverse of the second leaf is a frank (also signed 'Suffield'), addressed to 'Jn. Richardson Esqr. | Heydon | Aylsham | Norfolk' An excellent letter, containing a splendid assessment of Brougham's qualities, and a vivid reminiscence regarding his predecessor as Lord Chancellor, Lord Eldon. The identity of the book that is the subject of the letter is unclear. Suffield begins by reporting that Brougham has promised Suffield that he will 'attentively consider' Richardson's book.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair conditoin, aged and with central horizontal and vertical folds.The letter begins: 'What queer things people do write to you about.' On an unspecified question, Lawson doubts that Farrar 'can do anything in the matter', and thinks that 'the “Mrs. referred to in the plan is the Lady who gave £500 to the Alliance last October [...] she is worth conciliating if it can be done'. He thinks 'the Reform Bill ought to help an alliance crusade and feel – Hardly any publicans will be enfranchised by it, but numbers of their victims & their opponents'.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair conditoin, aged and with central horizontal and vertical folds.The letter begins: 'What queer things people do write to you about.' On an unspecified question, Lawson doubts that Farrar 'can do anything in the matter', and thinks that 'the “Mrs. referred to in the plan is the Lady who gave £500 to the Alliance last October [...] she is worth conciliating if it can be done'. He thinks 'the Reform Bill ought to help an alliance crusade and feel – Hardly any publicans will be enfranchised by it, but numbers of their victims & their opponents'.

Moffatt is an interesting minor figure. In a 1924 piece titled 'Brief History of the Failsworth Pole', Rev. James Smith writes: 'The Jacobins' Club Library was kept in a room next to that in which Ben Brierley was born, and old John Moffatt, tailor, of "Crockey Hall," opposite the Pole, had charge of the Library'. Smith quotes lines which he considers 'remarkable for their patriotism', noting: 'He must have been a mild sort of Jacobin.' A total of sixteen pages, on eight leaves.

The three letters are addressed to the translator of Forel's book, the surgeon and free-thinker Percival Macleod Yearsley (1867-1951). Forel's letter: 4to, 1 p. Twenty lines. In French. Text clear and complete. On browned and chipped high-acidity paper. Laid down on the front pastedown. In the first paragraph he thanks the translator, Macleod Yearsley, for the book, which he praises in fulsome terms. He is sending a copy of his 'Question Sexuelle'.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with slight damage to corners caused by removal from album. For the context of the letter, see Oastler's entry in the Oxford DNB, which explains that he was nearing the end of a three and a half year sentence at the Fleet Prison, for 'debts accumulated during his stewardship at Fixby', the charge being a 'Pretext', his 'campaign against the new poor law' having proved 'incendiary'. The letter begins: 'Maria! | This comes from thy own Papa, to wish thee a Happy new Year.

1p., 16mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and ruckled paper. His return to London having been delayed, he regrets that he 'lost the tea-party'. He would be 'glad to know what is due on the account'.

32pp., landscape 12mo (8.5 x 13.5 cm). Stitched in grey printed wraps. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with front wrap detached and lightly marked. Wodehouse is named as author on front cover, but not on title-page. Laid out in the form of a fourteen-page catechism of 28 points, followed by 'Notes and Illustrations from Various Writers'. Pertinent as ever, in its criticism of 'excessive inequality in the partition of wealth'. COPAC only lists three copies of the first edition of 1878. Of the eight copies of the second 1884 edition on COPAC, six are listed as being printed by 'F.

1p., folio. Printed in red. Sixty lines of text. In fair conditon, lightly aged and worn. The first paragraph reads: 'The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia has provoked the expected emotional outburst from the reformist Left, tailing as usual behind the hypocritical phrases of the British ruling class, who weep over "poor Czechoslovakia" while actively supporting the 100-times-worse suffering inflicted by the US on the Vietnamese.

30pp., 12mo. Disbound without wraps. In good condition, lightly aged. The only copies of this edition on COPAC at Oxford and the Humanist Library.

16pp., 12mo. Disbound without wraps. In good condition, lightly aged. 'You do not exactly appreciate my feeling. I do not hate Presbyterians; I hate Presbyterianism. I hate with all my heart the creed of that Church, and I most heartily despise the God described in the Confession of Faith. But some of the best friends I have in the world are afflicted with the mental malady known as Presbyterianism.' Uncommon.

15 + [1]pp., 12mo. Disbound without wraps. In good condition, with light signs of age. Last page carries a list of 'Works by Colonel R. G. Ingersoll.' Scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only copies on COPAC at the Humanist Library and Oxford.

16pp., 12mo. Disbound without wraps. In fair condition, with light signs of age, and slight damage at margin of title-leaf from disbinding. The introduction reads: 'On Thursday evening, January 14, 1892, the Unitarian Club of New York, held its annual dinner at Sherry's.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. She begins with criticism of an article 'which has also appeared in the "World", which she is sure 'will vex Mr Whitmore'. She assures Mrs Lewis that no-one will suspect her of involvement, and thanks her for having 'secured the valuable services of Mrs Jay for Park Walk [...] Her playing has been invaluable to us [...] I want to ask her to come on our sub-committee'. She would like Mrs Lewis and her daughter to 'come down & dine & sleep on our island!', the Thames running under the house's verandah.