SCHOLARSHIP

"Two Thunder-Clouds, closing in conflict": the meeting of Madvig and Cobet at the tercentenary of Leyden University and its historical background. Authorised translation by H. J. Rose.

Author: 
B. A. Van Proosdij [H. J. Rose, translator; Johan Nicolai Madvig (1804-1886); Carel Gabriel Cobet (1813-1889); Leiden University]
Publication details: 
Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1954.
£50.00

8vo, 47 pp. In original grey printed wraps. With frontispiece portrait of Madvig and one plate. Good, in dusty wraps. Presentation copy, with card 'With the compliments of Dr B. A. Van Proosdij, Scientific Advisor to Messrs. Brill' loosely inserted. Divided into four parts: 'The Intellectual Background', 'Preparations and the Eve of the Day', 'The Dies Natalis' and 'Epilogue', with six appendices of passages from original sources, and a postscript of 'Four Letters from Madvig to Geel, Bake, and Cobet'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Robert Cust') to Horace Bleackley (1868-1931).

Author: 
Robert Cust [Robert Henry Hobart Cust] (1861-1940), English art critic, an authority on the renaissance [Horace Bleackley; John Wilkes]
Publication details: 
12 October [no year]; on letterhead of Vernon House, Lyndhouse Road, Hampstead.
£28.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper, but with a thin strip along the outer edge of the second leaf of the bifolium with glue staining from previous mounting, and a 3.5 x 0.5 piece missing at head causing damage to one word ('hers'). Otherwise text clear and entire. Cust's aunt has informed him 'that she has at present in her possession in London all the papers belonging to Sir John Cust that remain'. She does not however think that they contain much about Wilkes.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L. C. Purser') to the classical scholar John Percival Postgate (1853-1926).

Author: 
Louis Claude Purser (1854-1932), Classical scholar, President of the Royal Irish Academy, a fellow pupil of Oscar Wilde and close friend of Yeats's sister Lollie [Trinity College, Dublin]
Publication details: 
22 February 1915; 35 Trinity College, Dublin.
£80.00

4to, 1 p, 22 lines. On aged paper, with chipping at extremities neatly repaired with archival tape. Text clear and entire. He thanks him for his 'interesting paper', commenting on the 'Lucretian passage'. Postgate's 're-arrangement [...] is undoubtedly more attractive & logical than the ordinary arrangment, and as such I welcome it: but must we suppose always that artists do as well instinctively as they might if they had taken counsel?' 'Ex silentio I judge that all is well with you, as far as anything can be well for any of us these terrible times.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Louis Havet, professeur au Collège de France, 16 place Vendôme') to 'Monsieur le Directeur du Journal de Bruxelles, Belgique'.

Author: 
Louis Havet (1849-1925), French philologist whose classical library was acquired by the University of California
Publication details: 
14 May 1889; Paris.
£65.00

12mo, 1 p, 14 lines. Good, on light-brown paper, with the address, stamps, and postmarks on the reverse. In French. He sends his thanks to the 'Journal de Bruxelles' for reproducing his 'article sur la réforme de l'orthographe'. He is sending a petition (not present) which 'en ce moment ce couvre de signatures à Paris', and will be personally grateful if his correspondent can see to it that it is reproduced 'avec les indications qui l'accompagnent'. Loose in blue paper folder with catalogue entry for the previous sale of the letter laid down on front.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John W Burgon') to 'D[ear] L.'

Author: 
John William Burgon (1813–1888), Dean of Chichester and biblical scholar
Publication details: 
Wed[nesda]y [no date]; on letterhead of the Lower House of Convocation, Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster, S.W.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good on lightly aged paper. Folded twice. Traces of previous mount adhering to reverse of blank second leaf of bifolium. The recipient 'cannot be more conservative' than Burgon himself. 'But remember - it is the interpretation of the Rubric in question which is causing us all this difficulty.

Autograph Manuscript headed 'Proposed Porson Scholarship is open to Freshmen only - Examination in the October term, exclusively Classical. | Objections to the Grace for accepting this Foundation.'

Author: 
William Gilson Humphry [sometimes misspelt 'Humphrey'] (1815-1886), biblical scholar, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
Publication details: 
21 October 1846; Trinity College, Cambridge.
£85.00

4to (26.5 x 22 cm), 2 pp, 30 lines of text. On discoloured and lightly creased and stained paper, with some chipping to extremities, but with text clear and entire.

Autograph Note Signed ('Geo: Macdonald') to unnamed male correspondent [the autograph collector Rev. E. J. A. Davies?]

Author: 
Sir George Macdonald (1862-1940), numismatist, classical scholar, archaeologist and civil servant
Publication details: 
13 March 1931; on embossed letterhead '17 LEARMOUTH GARDENS | EDINBURGH'.
£20.00

One page, 12mo. Very good, with a little light spotting at foot. 'Dear Sir, | I suppose it will suffice if I sign myself | Yours faithfully | Geo: Macdonald'. Docketed in pencil at foot.

Le Gout des Manuscripts. Discours inaugural prononce a Bale le 28 juin 1956 [...] devant la Societe suisse d'amateurs d'autographes.

Author: 
Theodore Besterman
Publication details: 
Geneva: Societas Bibliographica, 8 rue Verdaine [1956.]
£75.00

12mo: 45 pp. In original light-green printed wraps. Very good on lightly aged paper, with some sunning to wraps. Inscribed by the author "For Mary | with love & all good wishes for Christmas and the New Year, especially the show' | Th." Besterman attempts to demonstrate that the taste for autographs, 'tres loin d'etre malsaine, est au contraire pure et bienfaisante'.

Autograph Signature on letterhead.

Author: 
Gilbert Murray (1866-1957), British (Australian-born) classical scholar and advocate of the League of Nations
Publication details: 
6 August 1930; on letterhead 'YATSCOMBE, BOAR'S HILL, OXFORD.'
£10.00

Paper dimensions: five inches by eight inches wide. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Good clear signature reads 'Yours sincerely | Gilbert Murray. | August 6. 1930.'

Autograph Note Signed ('Ernest Myers') to autograph collector 'Mr. Soulsby'.

Author: 
Ernest James Myers (1844-1921), English classicist, translator and poet
Publication details: 
10 January 1884; place not stated.
£40.00

One page, 12mo. Very good. 'I have much pleasure in sending you my signature, as I am told you wd. care to have it.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Rennell Rodd') to Harold Crawford (b.1888), son of Harold Marion-Crawford (d.1909).

Author: 
James Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell (1858-1941), British diplomat and classical scholar
Publication details: 
20 February [1902], on embossed letterhead of the British Embassy, Rome.
£38.00

12mo: 2 pp. Eleven lines of text. Very good. Having just received it from London, Rodd is sending Crawford the book he could not get in Rome which he wanted to send him as a birthday present. 'It is written by a great friend of mine who knows better than any one the history of the first voyages to America and the discovery of the Great Southern Sea. I think you will like it.' In an envelope, on aged paper, with postmarks and Italian postage stamp. Addressed to 'Harold Crawford, Villa Crawford, St Agnello di Sorrento'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Juliette') to 'Dick' [Frank Richard Cowell, b.1897], together with carbon of typed reply.

Author: 
Juliette Huxley [Lady Marie Juliette Baillot] (1896-1994), wife of the English scientist Julian Huxley (1887-1975) [Frank Richard Cowell]
Publication details: 
Letter, 27 January 1966; on letterhead 31, Pond Street, Hampstead, N.W.3. Reply, 29 January 1966.
£125.00

Juliette Huxley's letter is 4to: 2 pp. Good, though lightly creased and attached to the other items by a paperclip. The correspondence mainly concerns a book by Cowell's eventually published under the title 'The garden as a fine art: from antiquity to modern times' (1978). She begins by describing Mary Wellesley: 'quite a character [...] lives in a small house off St. James's Palace, and entertains by candlelight.

Autograph Letters Signed to Brougham from Canon Flemyng; and Autograph Card Signed to Brougham from his grandson Henry Brougham.

Author: 
Henry William Brougham, Dean of Lismore [Henry Brougham; Canon W. W. Flemyng]
Publication details: 
Brougham's card, 12 May 1904, on letterhead 'BROUGHAM HOUSE, | WELLINGTON COLLEGE STATION, | BERKS.' Flemyng's letter, 10 March 1906, on letterhead 'Coolfin, Portlaw, Co. Waterford'.
£56.00

Flemyng was a noted authority in the field of Irish lepidoptery, and published a number of papers on the subject between 1877 and 1919. Both items concern the Latin saying 'ne sutor ultra crepidam' or 'sutor ne supra crepidam judicaret'. HENRY BROUGHAM'S CARD: one page, five and a half inches by three and a half; addressed, with postmarked stamp, on reverse. Extremely grubby. Reads 'Dear Granpy | The Dictionary references to Sutor, ne supra crepidam (judicaret) are | PLINY 35, 10, 36, 85 | c.f. Val. Max. 8, 12, fin. | Papim is sending a few pansy-blossoms hoping you won't be jealous.

The fairies of "A midsummer night's dream:" a lecture, delivered before the "Loughborough Literary and Philosophical Society," November 9th, 1858.

Author: 
Edmund Packe
Publication details: 
Printed for private circulation."; [1858].
£50.00

28 pages, 8vo. 14 leaves, the last a blank. Paginated [1-3] 4-26 [1-2]. Unbound and stitched as issued. In very good condition though grubby and with one dogeared corner. Brief mention (p.7) of John Payne Collier's discovery of 'The life of Robin Goodfellow' in the library of the Earl of Ellesmere, and of 'Mr. Halliwell'. No copy in the British Library.

Victorian studio photograph.

Author: 
William John Thoms
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£35.00

Antiquary (1803-85), first editor of Notes and Queries. Sepia. Dimensions roughly 2 1/4 inches by 3 1/2 inches. Faded image of a bespectacled Thoms knees upward, seated in profile at a table examining a small book on top of another book and leaning against a pile of six others. The oval is in a frame beneath which, in copper-plate letters (in the photograph and not manuscript), 'William J Thoms'. Stuck to a piece of card on the reverse of which is a grubby, foxed, nineteenth-century plate of William Cowper the poet.

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