SAMUEL

ONE: Spirit Stock Book. 116pp., 4to. Internally in good condition, on aged paper, in heavily-worn cloth binding, with worn paper label on front cover. (The purpose of the book is given in the description of Item Two, below.) Detailing the sale (or return?) of spirits, exclusively to Samuel Webster & Sons, between 1910 and 1950. The entries on each page are divided into eight printed columns: 'Date when the Spirits were Sent out', 'No.

Both letter and photograph in good condition, with light signs of age. LETTER: 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium, with mourning border. He is enclosing the photograph, which 'poor Laurence [...] executed in his decling years & promised to Trinity College. His daughter loyally carried out his wishes, & the portrait (life size) hangs in our LIbrary.' (Laurence had died earlier in the year, from the effects of an operation.) He is sending a second copy of the photograph (not present) for 'Professor Frederick, who has left record of his affection for our dear friend'.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Cut down at margins, with loss to part of letterhead. Addressed to 'S Hague Smith Esqr | Pitt St North'. He writes that he has not yet received a sample for 'the slabs of white marble 12 inches square', and asks him to 'give an answer to Odling Bros', as he wishes to know 'what quantity I could get from the person whom you <?>, & about the quantity also'.

On a gilt-edged piece of card, 13 x 11.5 cm., with rounded edges. In good condition, lightly aged. The illustration by 'E M W' on one side is printed in silver, yellow, light blue, grey and brown, and shows a snowy country scene with two tiny figures beneath a shining sun on a stone bridge over a stream. Captioned 'The Joy of Christmas be in your heart.' Cowan's eight-line poem, on the other side, is printed in grey, in variety of gothic fonts. It begins: 'Only its best and brightest history | May Memory relate you!

All six items in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. In 1886 Hester, the author of the first two reports, had been described in the London St James's Gazette as 'a miner of experience in the Quicksilver mines of California'. His two reports are crude in comparison with those of Mallett and Irvine. ONE: Autograph Report Signed by 'Sam L Hester | Manager'. Kilkivan, 8 April 1898, on letterhead of the Freehold Goldfields of Queensland, Limited. 3pp., 4to. Addressed to 'C E Morton Esqr | Secretary | D-Albevelle Estate'. Receipt stamp dated 12 April 1898.

ONE: Typed Letter Signed from Clemens to Pitt. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Expansive signature in blue ink. Letterhead with printed quotations from President Ford, Carl Van Doren, William Faulkener, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Message reads: 'Dear Barrie Pitt | In recognition of your outstanding contribution to Biography, you have been unanimously elected, in succession to the late Captain Basil Liddell Hart | A KNIGHT | of | MARK TWAIN'. TWO: Photocopy of letter from Churchill to Clemens.

On a thick piece of shiny card, with rounded edges, 12.5 x 18cm. Aged, and with two dog eared corners and a 3cm closed tear (not affecting illustration). On one side is the chromolithographic illustration, with 'J. N. Drummond' in the bottom right-hand corner, showing an English rural landscape - more autumnal than winter - with river in the foreground and trees and viillage with church in the background.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly-aged, with small piece of mount adhering at head. Accepting an invitation to dinner.

[1] + 26pp., 4to. In original plain buff boards. Internally in fair condition, on aged paper, in aged and worn boards with covers detached. 38 poems, almost all of them riddles and charades.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition. In stamped envelope addressed to Boas at the Royalty Theatre, Dean Street. He thanks Berman for drawing his attention to the two versions of the play, adding: 'I feel that in this Goethe Centenary year, when the Urfaust is so rightly being performed, some English manager should put Marlowe's play on the stage for a few performances.'

64 + 16pp., 16mo. In blue cloth binding, with cover design stamped in gilt. All edges gilt. In fair condition, aged, worn and shaken, with rear endpaper torn away. Coloured frontispiece showing 'The Soldier and the Blind Fiddler'. At rear is a sixteen-page catalogue of 'Books for the Young, Published by Knight and Son, 12, Clerkenwell Close.' Now scarce: although there are 10 copies on WorldCat (where the book is ascribed to Goodrich, and dated), none of them, or on COPAC, are noted as being in Britain.

Both the engraving and the letter are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ENGRAVING: Dimensions of image: 5.5 x 9 cm. Dimensions of paper: 12 x 18 cm. In black ink. The coffee house, with signage, is shown behind an old stone wall, in front of a country house. It is built like a barn with a taller structure beside it (possibly a reading room). LETTER: 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium.

4pp., folio. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper and creased paper, with slight damage to margins at foot of both leaves. Beneath the heading on the first page is a list of around 75 princes, dukes and lords, headed by 'His Most Gracious Majesty the King', under whose 'immediate patronage' the work is to be commenced. Beneath this, in small type is the prospectus, stressing the 'immense Labour and Expense' attending the work (Lewis later claimed had taken six years to compile it, at an outlay of £48,000), which is to be 'published in Four Volumes Quarto - Price 30s.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with slight damage to corners caused by removal from an album. 'The successful subject referred to in the talk was Mr. Basil Shackleton, a London photographer. On an average he would get about eight cards correct out of every twenty five, compared with a chance expectation of only five. When this occurs consistently over a very large number of trials, the odds soon pile up.' Gillman's summary is 'correct as far as it goes'.

9 x 14 cm black and white postcard. In frail condition, aged, worn and chipped, with near-vertical central crease repaired on reverse with archival tape. Removed from album, and with traces of newsprint adhering to the reverse. The caption scratched into the plate and appearing in small white capitals at the foot of the image. Shows Cody in near-profile, seated at the controls of a biplane which is pointing to the left of the image, with a Native American in robes and headdress seated to his right. The central part of the plane is shown, with woodland behind it.

28pp., 8vo. Disbound pamphlet. In good condition, on aged paper, with manuscript shelfmark at foot of title-page. Uncommon. No copies at the British Library or at Doctor Williams's Library, and only four copies traced on COPAC.

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight damage to a corner of the second leaf. Pencil note in another hand at foot of last page. Hamilton (1781-1876), Oriental Secretary to the British Embassy at Constantinople, published 'Antar: A Bedoueen Romance' with the London publisher John Murray in 1819. The present letter therefore relates to a pre-publicity copy of the book, which Wrighte has read with 'great pleasure'. Readers are, he considers, 'much obliged to Mr. Terrick Hamilton for presenting it to the Public in such an elegant English dress'.

vi + 110 + [1]pp., 8vo. Frontispiece. In grey printed wraps. Nicely printed. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with minor damp staining to corners. The firm's fifth catalogue, compiled by partners Evans and Gathorne-Hardy.

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.

1p., 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Headed: 're Laing's Sea Kings of Norway'. In an attractive and distinctive hand, he writes: 'Dear Sir / I am quit of my Examn. work at Oxford and propose to call on you with reference to final settlement of terms on Friday morning next. I shall bring with me complete program of work etc | I am yours faithfully | Frck York Powell'.

15 + [1]pp., 8vo. In grey printed card wraps. In fair condition, lightly aged, with rusted staples. The author describes his work in an introductory note as 'an elegant and ingenious poem in heroic verse; suggested by the third Satire of Juvenal; wherein the foolishness of the institutions of this University, and the dullness and dishonesty of its inhabitants are for the first time properly exposed'. The influence of Samuel Johnson (another adapter of Juvenal and also an Oxford man) is strong, as the opening indicates: 'Though on my brow there rose an angry frown | When B - ll - l's [i.e.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly worn and aged, with minor trace of mount on second leaf. Waddy's letter 'fortifies' his own opinions, and he would 'certainly not neglect a new opportunity for Grantham which is manifestly attended with real uncertainty owing to the local influence of the Custs'. He feels that rather than being 'given up', Grantham should be 'seriously attended to'. He next endorses the North-Eastern circuit: 'each place is good!

On both sides of a rectangular (5.5 x 16.5 cm) strip cut from letter. In fair condition, with light signs of age and wear. Recto: '4 Brixton place | Brixton Surry [sic] | Janry: 12th. 1833 | Sir | M Mackenzie has conveyed to me y polite offier of allowing a few prospectus of my [...]'. Verso: 'to Dr. Tournay by my friend Dr Burney, but as your house is the rendezvous of all the learned & the rich in Oxford, perhaps it is unnecessary for me to solicit the onor of Dr Tournay's influence. | I remain, | [...]'.

The inscription is on the half-title leaf of Warren's anonymous 'A Letter to the Queen on a Late Court Martial' (1850). In fair condition on aged paper, with traces of previous mount adhering to the reverse. It reads: 'Rev. Dr. Warren | With his Son's love. | Samuel Warren. | 12th. Jany 1850.'

On both sides of a 33 x 12.5 cm strip of paper. In fair condition, lightly-aged, with tiny part of mount adhering to one corner, and the merest loss to another. 'Egerton Bry' is written in another small hand in light pencil at the head. The Osborn Collection at Yale possesses what its catalogue entry describes as a 'probably incomplete' section of the manuscript, ' purporting to be the memoirs of a certain John Fitznigel Clavering, whose career and interests bear a strong likeness to those of Brydges himself'. The Yale cataloguer is unaware that 'Clavering's Auto-Biography.

On 3.5 x 11 cm slip of light-grey paper, cut from the end of a letter. In good condition, laid down on backing slip, which carries the manuscript caption: 'Samuel Smiles. Author of "Self Help" and many other Works.' Good firm signature, beneath the printed valediction 'Yours truly'.

Unattributed, but in Wheatley's hand. The 'List of Plays seen by Pepys from 1660 to 1669' is 5pp., foolscap 8vo, on loose leaves of unwatermarked ruled paper. In fair condition, aged and worn. It is neatly written out in ink, with occasional pencil emendations, giving dates, theatres and titles. A few comments on the theatres are included, for example on 'Davenant's New Theatre in Lincolns Inn Fields'.

Theatre programme, 8pp., 12mo, slightly crumpled, with closed tear at spine. Vladimir is played by Hugh Burden not Paul Daneman, who started the run.

1p., landscape 8vo. (14.5 x 24 cm). A few notes on reverse. On aged and worn paper, with crumbling seal in red wax. Unobtrusive repairs to closed tears on reverse. The name of the subject appears to have been scratched away, although it may be that the document was intended to serve as a form.

The Simplified Spelling Board was founded in 1906, funded by Andrew Carnegie, and counted Mark Twain and President Theodore Roosevelt, and the English lexicographers James A. H. Murray, Walter W. Skeat and Joseph Wright among its members. The present collection of the Board's Circulars consists of 25 uniform items, all unbound and stapled. The collection is in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with occasional wear. Stamps, shelfmarks and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library, London.