RIGHTS

Postcard, good condition. Text: Very many thanks for your kind congratulations - Kind regards from E[lizabeth] Macadam [See Wikipedia, etc] & myself. We are in Berlin for a women's congress. Note: At this time, one of the few women, she was being elected to Parliament but attending the Congress fof the International Alliance of Women in Berlin.

On piece of pink paper roughly 13.5 x 9.5 cm. Reads: ‘Every good wish / Paul Robeson.’ No other writing, and the good firm signature with plenty of space around it. In good condition lightly aged, with thin strip of discoloration running through the ‘E’ of ‘Every’. Scan on application.

16pp., 8vo. In good condition, lightly-aged, no wraps, disbound. Several copies on COPAC, none of this edition on market currently.

Norman is puzzlingly absent from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The four items are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. They are all signed ‘Frank Norman’, and the letters are each 1p, 4to. ONE: TLS, 17 February 1975.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Arthur George Liddon Rogers (1864-1944), son and editor of the economist Thorold Rogers [James Edwin Thorold Rogers] (1823-1890), for information regarding whom see his entry in the Oxford DNB. A little grubby, but in fair condition, folded once. Good clear signature. Reads: ‘The 1st. of January 1926. / My dear Rogers, / Many thanks for your letter and information re the hostel. I have already brought it before The Bishop of St. David’s and hope that something may result. / With kind regards and best wishes.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded for postage. Signed ‘T. B. Smithies’ and addressed to ‘W. Allan Esq / 17 South Grove East’. The subject is Smithies’s monthly ‘improving paper’, the ‘British Workman, and Friend of the Sons of Toil’, which he had launched in 1855, and which Allan is clearly offering to distribute gratis.

1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Considering the tone of the letter, the similarity between the signatories name and that of the prominent suffragist Lady Frances Balfour (1858-1931), and the fact that there is no record of a Sheffield branch of the WNASL, nor of a place in Warrington called ‘Arcadia’, nor of any Balfours living there, one must strongly suspect that this letter is a spoof, perhaps written by in some such scenario as a pro-suffrage child of a member of the WNASL, having got hold of one of the organisations blank letterheads. Or perhaps not.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The postcard, with stamp printed on it, has the typed address: ‘The Rev. A. H. Sayers, / Orchard Close, / Monmouth’. Aged and worn, with a dog-eared corner and minor rust spotting from a paperclip. Stylised signature. Reads: ‘Many thanks for your offer to send a car to meet me at Severn Tunnel Junction, on November 20th. I will look out for it. / Yours / L Housman’. From the Sayers papers, with other material indicating that Housman was giving a talk for the Union. See image.

An attractive artefact of a pioneer of women’s rights. See her entry in the Oxford DNB. On 14 x 9 cm post card. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed by Faithfull, with two stamps and postmarks, to ‘Miss Muriel Lewis / Greyhound Hotel / Carshalton / Surrey’. In neat hand and with good firm signature: ‘1 Campden Grove Kensington / I hope to see you to lunch to-morrow Monday at 1. pm. / Yrs. / L. M. Faithfull’.

3pp, 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Rough pencil floorplan on verso of second leaf. Twenty-eight lines of neatly-written text. Signed ‘Agnes Macdonell.’ She has seen Mrs Blair’s name ‘in the list of subscribers to the Government Benevolent Institution’, and writes a line ‘to beg, if you have not already given your vote and kindly interest to any Candidate - to do this in favour of the poor lady whose card I enclose’ (not present).

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. All three letters 1p, 8vo. The third letter in good condition, lightly aged; the first two in fair condition, on creased and chipping cartridge paper, with a few spots of rust from a paperclip. All three folded for postage. All three signed ‘Laurence Housman’. ONE (3 November 1936): Begins: ‘Dear Mr. Sayers, / I am rather perturbed to find that the meeting I am asked to speak at is the Annual of the League of Nations Union. The request for me to speak came from the Peace Pledge Union, and no indication was given that it was not a Peace Pledge meeting.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. Clearly written in response to a request for an autograph. On 11.5 x 5.5 piece of wove paper, cut from an album. In good condition. Reads: ‘Yours very truly / Ada Ellen Bayly / “Edna Lyall.” ’.

The subject of the present letter is, as Marshall’s entry in the Oxford DNB explains, her ‘translation of a play by the first female dramatist, Hrotsvit. ‘Paphnutius’ was given a world première by Craig for the Pioneer Players in January 1914.’ The recipient, Henry Mackinnon Walbrook (1865-1941), was the drama critic of the Pall Mall Gazette. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, on dusty discoloured paper, with slight rust spotting from paperclip.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Thomas Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957) was an educationalist and prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. The booklet referred to is his ‘The Public School Question’, which he printed himself in 1943. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads. ‘Dear Humberstone / Thanks for your booklet on the Public Schools which I have read with interest / Yours truly / F W Pethick Lawrence’.

On 11 x 17.5 piece of shiny art paper, cut from a programme. The signature ?Paul Robeson? is written across Robeson?s front, beneath his smiling face in a black and white photograph. Beneath the photograph is the caption: ? ?A voice like his is worth waiting ten years to hear, and an art like his comes once in a generation.? / THE TORONTO EVENING TELEGRAM?. On the reverse are part of the lyrics from two songs, the second being ?Short?nin? bread?.

Piece of paper, 12.5 x 8cm, verso has black (mourning) border, good condition. Part of letter, text as follows: Please let me know if these scraps are welcome.

Paper 14 x 5cm, tipped on to slightly larger piece of paper, some staining but clear. Text: 36 Russell Square || Editor of the 'Field' | 346 Strand || corrected proof for press | with Honble Mrs Norton's Compliments. Possibly the subscription clipped from a letter. See image.

On 4 x 11 cm slip of paper. Reads: '[...] them. | With many thanks for yr kindness believe me | very truly yrs | Frances P Cobbe'. On reverse: '[...] information. | Have you ever seen a very curious French book [...]'.

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).

Lady Bulwer Lytton is now best-known for her mistreatment at the hands of her husband (see their entries in the Oxford DNB). Both letters are in good condition, lightly aged and worn, the first carrying traces of mount and with slight damage at one corner. ONE: 28 February 1836. 4pp, 16mo. She is delighted to hear of Lady Cullum's return to England.

An amusing unpublished jeux d'esprit by Martineau, revealing a lighthearted aspect of her character. 1p, 16mo. Bifolium, addressed by Martineau on reverse of second leaf 'To | Lady Cullum.' In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once.

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'.

2pp, 12mo. Creased and worn. Folded once. She explains that she and her husband and daughter are on the way to Rome, where they will stay at the Hotel Molaro for six days, and expresses the hope that 'we may have the pleasure of seeing you & Mr. Story during that time, if you are at home'. She admits that she feels 'a considerable hesitation about letting any of our friends in Rome know of our coming', as they are 'so overdone with “forestieri” at this time of year'.

A total of twenty-eight items of correspondence, comprising: nineteen Autograph Letters Signed (two on the backs of cards), two Typed Letters Signed, and seven Autograph Cards Signed. In good condition. All signed 'Mary', and the large part addressed to 'Christopher', with a few to 'Kit' and one to 'Dear Phyl [i.e. Fry's wife Phyllis], dear Christopher'. The correspondence indicates a deep affection and long-standing intimacy.

2pp, 12mo. On a bifolium of grey laid paper, with fleur-de-lys 'J M & Co' watermark. In good condition, lightly aged, with creases from having been neatly folded three times, and stub adhering to edge of blank second leaf of bifolium. The item derives from the collection of a notable nineteenth-century autograph collector, Lord Houghton, a friend of both Taylor and Norton.

The Mau Mau uprising began in 1952, and the atrocities committed by the rebels were matched by those of the British, whose Attorney General in Kenya, Eric Griffith-Jones, wrote to Governor Baring in 1957 that the colony's detention camps for Mau Mau suspects were 'distressingly reminiscent of conditions in Nazi Germany or Communist Russia'.

1p., 16mo. With mourning border. Aged and worn, with tear to one corner and glue stains on reverse. Signed 'Caroline Norton'. The recipient is not identified. The letter begins: 'Dear Sir | The Prince Schomberg having told me of some curious experiments in animal magnetism which you would make this evg. I called to ask permission to witness them -'. She will 'retract' her 'petition' if he has 'no other ladies present – or if the persons on whom the experiments are made, only speak German', as she 'will not be able to understand enough of what passes'.

Letter, 2pp., 12mo, some aging and a fold mark, but mainly good; Typescript, 6pp., 4to, fold mark, good condition. In the letter she writes, in a hurried difficult hand, that she has made a "few corrections" and thinks the author/interviewer has done her best to give interest with sparse material. She concludes "Don't let them cut out the bit about the Local Gov. [Franchises?]" which she thinks the most "new & interesting".

In 1899 Mrs Mills published a biography of her husband, titled 'From Tinder Box to Larger Light'. See the references to her in Crawford, 'Women's Suffrage Movement' (2003), and Daley and Nolan, 'Suffrage and Beyond' (1994), the latter work containing a reference to a meeting with Frederick Douglass. Her father, as she states in this letter, was 'John Petrie of South St Rochdale' (Petrie (1792-1883) was a Belfast-born engineer). 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Begins: 'Prof. Corfield presents his compliments to Miss Armstrong and begs to inform her that his Course of Lectures on Hygiene to Ladies will commence on Thursday Octr. 2nd at University College, London, and will be illustrated by specimens &c from the Parkes Museum.' He would forward a syllabus if he had one, and suggests that she apply to the college secretary 'for a copy of the Prospectus of the Faculties of Science'.