SAN

[San Juan Island, Washington State.] Printed paper: 'Correspondence respecting the Island of San Juan. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1860.'

Author: 
San Juan Island, Washington State; Lord John Russell; Lord Lyons; General Lewis Cass; Captain Pickett; Captain Bazalgette; Assistant-General Pleasonton
Publication details: 
'Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1860.' and 'London: Printed by Harrison and Sons.'
£45.00

The correspondence concerns the need to prevent a 'collision between the American and British authorities on the island' (the American General Harney is quoted as saying that 'he is satisfied that any attempt of the British Commander to ignore this right of the territory will be followed by deplorable results out of his power to control'). [2] + 4 + [1]pp, foolscap 8vo. Stabbed as issued. On discoloured and worn paper, with slight chipping at head of first leaf. Last page (back cover) printed crosswise in the customary fashion (for folding into a packet).

[Prince George Sergeievitch Romanovsky, Imperial Russian Consul General at San Francisco, 1917-1923.] Autograph Letter Signed, in French, written on eve of Russian Revolution, recalling times in Tehran, Persia [at the Russian Legation?].

Author: 
Prince George Sergeievitch Romanovsky, Imperial Russian Consul General at San Francisco, 1917-1923 [Russian Legations in Tehran, Persia?]
Publication details: 
18 May 1917; on letterhead of the Russian Consulate, San Francisco, California [United States].
£250.00

2pp, 4to. 41 lines, including postscript, in green ink. On aged and brittle air mail paper, with chipping and discoloration at the head, resulting in some loss to printed letterhead, but with text clear and entire. Addressed to ‘Mon cher ami’ and with valediction from ‘Ton très dévoué ami’. The recipient is unidentified, but would appear to have been a former colleague at the Russian legation in Tehran, Persia. Signed ‘Geo. S. Romanovsky’. He begins by thanking him for his congratulations. The recipient is right: ‘les choses ont changé’.

[Pyramids of Egypt.] Substantial Conclusion of Autograph Letter Signed from ‘William Lydiard - / Master’s Mate of HM Prison Ship San Ysidro’ to the Earl of Leicester, suggesting, after the fall of Alexandria, that ‘these mysterious piles’ be opened.

Author: 
[Pyramids of Egypt: William Lydiard, Master’s Mate of HM Prison Ship San Ysidro, Plymouth Dock [Earl of Leicester, President of the Society of Antiquaries; Egyptology; fall of Alexandria]
Publication details: 
Undated, but on Britannia paper watermarked 1805; and the San Ysidro was a prison ship at Plymouth between May 1805 and September 1814.
£380.00

Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign, 1798-1801, inspired a period of ‘Egyptomania’ culminating in Champollion’s decipherment of the Rossetta Stone. The contribution of the author of this letter to this outpouring of scholarly activity is an offer to the President of the Society of Antiquaries of London to blow up one of the pyramids, in order to extract their contents. See the recipient’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 8vo. Bifolium of laid Britannia paper, watermarked 1805. Fifty-five lines, well laid out and written in a neat and stylish hand.

[ Andrew Cowper Lawson, Professor of Geology at the University of California. ] Two Autograph Field Notebooks of an American geologist, including notes of Californian surveys conducted with E. F. Davis and A. R. Whitman while studying under Lawson.

Author: 
A. C. Lawson [ Andrew Cowper Lawson ] (1861-1952), Professor of Geology, University of California; E. F. Davis [ Elmer Fred Davis ] (1887-1974); A. R. Whitman [ Alfred Russell Whitman ] (1881-1940)
Publication details: 
Mostly relating to the San Francisco Bay Area of California, but also to other parts of the state. Between 1912 and 1950.
£1,500.00

The two volumes contain a total of 239pp., 12mo, in ink and pencil, with entries dating from between 29 November 1912 and 28 March 1950. In fair overall condition, with light signs of age and wear. In two Keuffel & Esser notebooks, each in remains of brown calf binding, the first with 'MINING | TRANSIT BOOK | 363' stamped on front cover, and the second with 'Cross Section Book | 375 S'. In manuscript on cover of first volume: '19<...> Dec. | The Psilomelane D | of the Francis <....> | by | Don <...> | Under Prof. A. C. L <...>'.

['Max O'Rell' [Léon Paul Blouet], French author and journalist.] Cabinet Card photographic portrait by Taber of San Francisco, signed 'Max O'Rell'; with Autograph Letter Signed to his lecture agent E. W. Appleton, regarding fees.

Author: 
'Max O'Rell' [Léon Paul Blouet] (1847-1903), French author and journalist who wrote in English for British and American markets, crossed swords with Mark Twain [E. W. Appleton; Taber of San Francisco]
Publication details: 
Letter to Appleton: 14 December 1885; 2 Lime Grove, Uxbridge Road, W. [London] Cabinet Card by Taber, 8 Montgomery Street, 'opposite the Palace and Grand Hotels', San Francisco; undated.
£120.00

ONE: Cabinet Card: 13.5 x 10 cm photographic head-and-shoulders portrait of Blouet, smartly-dressed with glasses and handlebar moustache, mounted on 16.5 x 10.5 cm card, with printed details of the photographers Taber's printed in gold below the image, and an elaborate advertisement for the firm printed in brown on the reverse. In fair condition, lightly aged. Inscribed on the base of the print: 'Yours Sincerely | Max O'Rell'. TWO: Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Appleton', i.e. E. W. Appleton. 1p, 12mo. On bifolium. 14 December 1885; 2 Lime Grove, Uxbridge Road, W.

[Frederic Yates, English artist active in America.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Fredc Yates') to Mrs Oldham, describing in moving terms the funeral of Anne Oldham.

Author: 
Frederic Yates [born Frederic Keeping] (1854-1919), English artist active in America before returning to England and settling in the Lake District [Anne Oldham]
Publication details: 
17 May 1895, on letterhead of 3a Portman Mansions, W. [London]
£180.00

Yates studied in Paris before setting up a successful practice in San Francisco, also teaching there at the Art Student League. His portraits include the educator John Haden Badley and the only president of Hawaii, Sanford Ballard Dole. He returned to England in 1900, but was invited back to America to attend the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson and to paint his portrait. Wilson presented Yates with the flag that his hand rested on whilst he took his oath of office. The Oldham family moved in artistic circles, and Constance Oldham was John Ruskin's god-daughter and corresponded with him.

[Frederic Yates, English artist active in America.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Fred Yates') to Mrs Oldham, describing his examination of the wreck of HMS Foudroyant, for a painting she has commissioned. With sketches of the ship in ink and pencil.

Author: 
Frederic Yates [born Frederic Keeping] (1854-1919), English artist who found fame in America before settling in the Lake District [Oldham family; HMS Foudroyant; Royal Navy; Plymouth; Devonport]
Publication details: 
Letter: 'Sunday noon' [no date]. On letterhead of the Royal Hotel, Devonport. Pencil sketches without date or place.
£450.00

Yates studied in Paris before setting up a successful practice in San Francisco, also teaching there at the Art Student League. His portraits include the educator John Haden Badley and the only president of Hawaii, Sanford Ballard Dole. He returned to England in 1900, but was invited back to America to attend the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson and to paint his portrait. Wilson presented Yates with the flag that his hand rested on whilst he took his oath of office. The Oldham family moved in artistic circles, and Constance Oldham was John Ruskin's god-daughter and corresponded with him.

[Henry Bathurst, Bishop of Norwich.] Autograph Letter Signed ('H. Norwich'), to a relative of Captain George Nicholas Hardinge, Royal Navy hero, on receipt of an engraving of him, discussing naval 'merit' in the Napoleonic Wars.

Author: 
Henry Bathurst (1744-1837), Bishop of Norwich, 1805-1837, supporter of Catholic emancipation [Captain George Nicholas Hardinge (1776-1813), RN; Thomas Payne the younger (1752-1831), London bookseller]
Publication details: 
Norwich. 14 September 1813.
£120.00

1p, 4to. In fair condition, aged and worn; laid down on part of a leaf removed from an album. Bathurst's name written in two nineteenth-century hands at the head. The letter was evidently written on receipt of an engraving of Captain George Nicholas Hardinge (1776-1813) of HMS St Fiorenzo, adopted son of George and Lucy Hardinge, who was killed in a naval action off the coast of Ceylon.

[ Bookseller's catalogue. ] First Editions of Jack London, Thorne Smith, Erskine Caldwell, William Saroyan, John Steinbeck, Illustrated.

Author: 
The El Dorado Bookstore, San Francisco, California [ props Roskie & Wallace of Oakland; Philip M. Roskie (1921-93) ] [ Jack London, Thorne Smith, Erskine Caldwell, William Saroyan, John Steinbeck ]
Publication details: 
Catalogue No. 1, 1948. The El Dorado Bookstore, 309 Kearny Street, San Francisco 8, California.
£120.00

32pp., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. A previous owner has thought well enough of this item to have it put in a sturdy binding of black cloth, with title in gilt on spine. The binding is in very good condition, but a bookplate has been removed from the front pastedown. An interesting catalogue (especially when compared with the staid British book catalogues of the period), with each of the 108 items presented, four to a page, each with accompanying photograph of the covers of the book. The most expensive item, at $100, is a 1902 first edition of 'The Cruise of the Dazzler'.

[Grabhorn Press; Bohemian Club Authors] A brief Catalog of the published works of Bohemian Club Authors

Author: 
[Bohemian Club Authors; Grabhorn Press]
Publication details: 
San Francisco, Bohemian Club, 1937 [imprint, Grabhorn Press]
£280.00

[51]pp., 8vo, stiff paper wraps, dulled minor wear and tear (small closed tears, for example), contents good. No other copy currently on the market, 6 copies listed on WordldCat (BL and five US/Canadian).

[Joseph Simpson, English artist and cartoonist.] Signed proofs of six prints, caricaturing George Bernard Shaw; Maxim Gorky; Hall Caine; Thomas Hardy; Algernon Charles Swinburne and J. Pierpont Morgan' ['London Opinion' and 'Lions'].

Author: 
Joseph Simpson (1879-1939), English artist, engraver and cartoonist [George Bernard Shaw; Maxim Gorky; Gabriele D'Annunzio; Thomas Hardy; Algernon Charles Swinburne]
Simpson
Publication details: 
[First published in the weekly magazine 'London Opinion'. Reprinted in the book 'Lions', published in New York and San Francisco by Morgan Shepard Co., [1906].]
£350.00
Simpson

Simpson was a native of Carlisle in Cumbria, and came to London in the early years of the twentieth century, where he was encouraged by Frank Brangwyn to take up etching. In 1918 he was made official artist with the new Royal Air Force. The National Portrait Gallery has eight of Simpson's works, but none of the present six, which are all in the style of the artist's portrait ('ink, irregular') of the Earl of Halsbury, present in the Gallery's collection.Each of the six caricatures is printed in black within a 17 x 12 cm border.

Autograph Letter from Henry Allen Brainard, editor of 'The Pacific Tree and Vine (And Santa Clara Valley)' to his former colleague in the Union army, Major B. F. Ainger, discussing their colleagues and describing the horticulture of the San Jose area

Author: 
Henry Allen Brainard (1840-1900), Editor, The Pacific Tree and Vine (And Santa Clara Valley)
Publication details: 
The Pacific Tree and Vine (And Santa Clara Valley), 10 Orchard Street, San Jose, California. 10 May 1892.
£90.00

2pp., 12mo. Very good, on two leaves of lightly-aged paper. In a difficult hand. The recipient is addressed as 'B. F. Ainger, Delegate to Editorial Committee, <?> Excursion'. The first two pages of the letter only, hence lacking Brainard's signature. Having seen Ainger's name 'among the delegates from Pennsylvania', he is 'strongly reminded of a Maj B. F. Ainger formerly of the 2nd. <?> Artillery with whom I had the pleasure of an acquaintance long ago when we were watching the Defences of Bermuda Honduras &c.

Memorial keepsake obituary of 'Jane Bissell Grabhorn 1911-1973' by David Magee.

Author: 
David Magee (1905-1977), San Francisco bookseller of English extraction [Jane Bissell Grabhorn; Grabhorn Press; Book Club of California; Andrew Hoyem; Frederic W. Goudy; Lawton & Alfred Kennedy]
Publication details: 
November 1973. [California.]
£38.00

8vo bifolium on good wove paper. Leaf dimensions roughly 22.5 x 14.5 cm. Good, on lightly creased paper. Illustration of horse, 7.5 x 9 cm, on recto of first leaf, with 'JANE BISSELL GRABHORN | 1911-1973'. Memorial, with same title, across inner pages, signed in type by Magee. The following on reverse of second leaf: 'This memorial is presented to the members of the Book Club of California by Andrew Hoyem, who composed the text in Friar, a type given to Jane by its designer, Frederic W. Goudy, and by Lawton & Alfred Kennedy, who did the press work, Nov. 1973.'

Calendar, with colour illustrations and quotations, issued by the 'Ejército Argentino. Dirección General del Instituto Geográfico Militar', for '1950 Ano del Libertador General San Martin'.

Author: 
[Ejército Argentino. Dirección General del Instituto Geográfico Militar; General San Martin; Argentina; Argentinian; South America]
Publication details: 
10.000 - XII. - 49' [i.e. one of ten thousand copies printed in December 1949]. Ejército Argentino. Dirección General del Instituto Geográfico Militar.
£100.00

Landscape. Unbound. On thirteen pieces of paper, each 17 x 23 cm. Each leaf with two punch holes at head, and all held together by a piece of blue string. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The calendar has been printed on the reverses of old coloured maps. Covering leaf (illustrating the "Antartida Argentina"), followed by one leaf for each month. Each month carries a quotation from General San Martin (January: 'La calumnia como todos los crimenes, no es sino obra de la ignorancia y del discernimiento pervertido').

[Draft of?] Autograph Letter Signed to Lieutenant-General John Whyte.

Author: 
P. Johnston [Lt Gen. John Whyte, Frederick Maitland, the West Indies]
Publication details: 
22 May 1802; no place [London].
£38.00

Two pages, 4to. Very good, though on rather discoloured paper, and with strip of previous mount adhering to right-hand edge of verso. Johnston desires the settlement of the 'account of Incidental Expenses incurr'd during the period of [Johnston's deceased brother, A. Johnston's] command' in St Domingo.

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