SHEFFIELD

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged and discoloured. Folded twice. The salutation ‘Dear Sir Courtenay’ and valediction ‘Yours v. truly / Devonshire’ in his autograph, the rest type. Addressed to ‘Sir Courtenay Ilbert, G.C.B.’ He is ‘hoping to arrange a small and informal gathering to consider the future of the Law School at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield’, and asks Ilbert to join ‘a certain number of gentlemen’ who will be lunching with him at Devonshire House on a named date, ‘With that object in view’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The fibre-glass dress in which his second wife Helen married him is exhibited in his museum at the University of Sheffield, and was included in the 2010 BBC radio series A History of the Word in 100 Objects. The recipient George Kenneth Menzies (1869-1954) was Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts between 1917 and 1935. The nine items are in good condition, on lightly aged paper, and are folded for postage. All nine are signed 'W. E. S. Turner'. Each bears the stamp of the RSA, some with manuscript docketting.

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.

Williams Deacon's Bank Ltd, which was founded in Manchester in 1836 and subsequently headquartered in London, had a large network of branches in the north-west of England. It was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1930. In 1970 it was merged with Glyn, Mills & Co and The National Bank to form Williams & Glyn's Bank. Carpenter was a director of the bank for 21 years, serving as chairman for 12 years.

Full title, with motto: 'Two Letters to the Right Honourable the Earl of Sheffield; in which His Lordship's Report to the Meeting at Lewes Wool-Fair, and the Proceedings at a recent Meeting of Wool-Growers, at the Free Masons' Tavern, are examined; and the True State of the Wool-Question attempted to be shewn. | By J. B. S. | Veritas Nihil Veretur Nisi Abscondi.' A scarce item: no copies at the British Library or other deposit libraries and the only copies on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat at Edinburgh University and Senate House. [4] + 76pp., 8vo. Disbound, and with first leaf (half-title) loose.

Regarding the Sheffield Wesleyan Conference of 1875 see the article in the Spectator, 14 August 1875, 'The Wesleyan Ultramontanes', and the long review of the conference minutes in the London Quarterly, no.45, vol.89. The present item is 2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. An interesting gossipy letter from a committee member at the conference, satirising two of the others present as 'Mr. Pepys in Conference' and 'Those who approve'. 2pp., 12mo.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The letterhead incorporates an attractive engraved front elevation of the College, of which Dallinger was Governor, 1879-1888. The note reads: 'Dear Sir | Please find enclosed 12 stamps for No 3 of Scientific Roll and oblige | Yours truly | W. H. Dallinger'.

Each of the six letters is 1p, 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. With the Society's stamps and annotations. On topics including the printed version of a paper given by Hadfield and the offer to the society of a paper by his friend 'Mr E. P. Reynolds of Bournemouth' (whose father 'Mr E. Reynolds […] was the mainspring of the Engineering side of Messrs Vickers, Sheffield').

16pp., 12mo. Disbound without covers. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with reverse of last leaf browned. Separate title-page, with only the following on it: 'SENSATIONAL REVELATIONS! | Life in | ENGLISH | PRISONS. | ONE PENNY.' Drophead title on p.3 with details of 'The Anarchist'. Duncan's article runs from p.4 to p.8, and is titled: 'Life in English Prisons. | The First Night in the Cells.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Her engagements will keep her in Scotland for three weeks, after which she intends to 'return direct to London'. Sheffield is too far out of her way, and would 'prove tiresome & expensive'. Should she visit Manchester 'at Easter or Whitsuntide' she would have no objection to performing in Sheffield for a couple of nights.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter begins: 'Want of health induced me to retire from Parliament in opposition to the wishes of my kind constituents and hurrying me from Town as soon as my votes had been given for the Liberal candidates at the Kent Surrey Essex and Middlesex Elections - unavoidably deprived me of the interesting though mournful pleasure of attending your final lecture at Finsbury Chapel.

11 + [1]pp., 12mo. Stapled. With stamp, shelfmarks and label of the Board of Education Reference Library, otherwise in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Scarce: no copy in the British Library, or on COPAC.

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Purdie's letter: 4pp., 4to. Closely and neatly written on a bifolium, with the last page cross-written over the third. Addressed, with postmarks and red wax seal, to 'G. P. Nicholson Esqre. | Wath | nr Rotherham'.

5pp., 4to. Addressed, with postmarks, to 'John Purdie Esqre | Heriot Row | Edinburgh'. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Neatly and closely written.

2pp., landscape 12mo. 28 lines of text. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with slight damage to one corner. Addressed to 'Dear Professor Chorley', the letter begins: 'I do feel we owe you a very great deal for coming on Saturday. Every body seemed pleased with the meeting and that was mainly due to the chief speaker. They liked what you said and who said it.' Considering the demands on Chorley's time, she is grateful to him for not cancelling the engagement, and for the fact that he did not 'pour coals of fire' on her head for the 'silly mistake about the train'.

2pp., 4to. Printed in small type, with manuscript additions on both sides of the first leaf; addressed on the recto of the second leaf, with broken red wax seal: 'P. P. 9d | Mr Baldwin | Copper plate printer & | Birmingham | Sheffield | Oct 8th.' Great St Helens was a centre for firms concerned with bankruptcy and liquidation, and this interesting document offers banking services for 'needy Manufacturers and Tradesmen', with a use of Masonic imagery which is designed to reassure.

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed, with broken seal in black wax, on verso of second leaf, to 'James Montgomery Esqr'. 80 lines of text. He has been twice that day to Montgomery's Sheffield mansion the Mount 'to enquire about you - the first time in vain, and the second nearly so.

On paper 52 x 33 cm. Tenniel's monogram, with number 58, in bottom left-hand corner. An giant female figure, with black mask, blazing torch and sash on which is written 'MURDER', directs an assemblage of Fenians and Sheffield trade unionists. The caption reads 'Fenian conspiracies and outrages in Ireland and Manchester - co-incident with the revelations of murderous Trade-unionism at Sheffield and elsewhere - agitated the public mind, and seemed like an evocation of the Spirit of Slaughter to trample on the Law.

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to close relation or agent. He agrees to 'the two sales in Sheffield of £52,000 and £90,000', but does not consider 'under £200 an acre' a good price. He wonders 'whether Sandford is inclined to give a bit to get a deal through without much trouble'.

Typed Letter: 4to, 1 p. Good, on aged paper, with dog-eared and punch-holed top left-hand corner. He is pleased that 'Hill' got the post as Noon's house surgeon, and that they found 'another Barts. man for Mr. Britain, a student who I know very well, named Palmer'. Autograph Letter: 12mo, 2 pp. Good, on aged paper. Hoping that both Noon and his wife are in better health.

4to, 4 pp. Text clear and complete. On aged and grubby paper. Begins 'Our Uncle i.e. my uncle & yr gt uncle Thomas Elphinstone was born at Higher Efford, 3 miles from Plymouth he died on the 13th. of March 1821 at the age of 57'. Includes information told him by Milly Holloway. Describes a couple of the 'pranks' of 'Uncle Tom'. The connection between the two individuals and their families is not noted in their entries in the Oxford DNB.

The three items indicate a brashness approaching hucksterism on the part of a Victorian professional, in addition to marketing techniques advanced for the period. Letter: 12mo, 2 pp. Stamped at head: 'Edw. Broughton Rouse, M.A., LL.D. | 436, GLOSSOP ROAD, | SHEFFIELD.' Twenty-five lines of text. Clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Many hundreds of this letter must have been copied out and sent to clergymen throughout England.

The letter (8vo, 1 p) is foxed, but otherwise very good. Had he not been 'engaged for ten days past to dine three or four miles off with an old acquaintance', whom it is too late to disappoint, he would have been happy to avail himself of the kind invitation. Sends best wishes and prayers to the recipient's family, 'from the elder to the youngest'.

On one side of a piece of paper roughly 24 x 14.5 cm. With card backing. Good, though lightly aged. Headed by the Royal warrant, the top-half of the handbill features, in a variety of types and point sizes, the announcement of Tuck and Sons' intention to award 'Upwards of 4,000 prizes, of the value of 3,000 guineas, and a number of judges' diplomas', with Besant and Stone as judges. The lower part has two columns featuring fifteen testimonials, by newspapers ranging from 'Windsor and Eton Gazette' to the 'Sheffield Telegraph'.

English painter and sculptor (1781-1841). The recipient (1780-1860) was an English artist of Swiss descent. One page, quarto. Good, but with traces of previous brown-paper mount adhering to rear and minor damage to several corners. Reads 'My Dear Sir | When I asked you for an impression I had not seen the composition & had no idea that I was asking so much - believe me I feel very grateful for your kindness in putting me in possession of so very interesting a work - I do not mean to be understood as speaking of Lithography only.

Poet and editor (see DNB). One page, 4to, traces of blue paper on which item formerly laid down, condition mainly good, text clear and complete as follows: "Motto for the Bible/ Behold the Book, whose leaves display / Jesus the life, the truth, the way; / Read it with diligence [in the prayer?]; / Search it.- and You shall find Him there."

Dean of Canterbury (1831-1903). 'Dear Sir, | I am sorry that my course as Bampton Lecturer at Oxford prevents me from accepting your kind invitation. | Otherwise I wd. gladly give you a Lecture. I should be pleased to visit Sheffield & see Mr Ruskin's Museum. | I am, Dear Sir | Very faithfully yours | F W Farrar'. Farrar was Bampton Lecturer in 1886.

Inchbald ran a 'gentleman's boarding academy'. The recipient Ward (1781-1871) was a master cutler and diarist, and one of the founders in 1822 of the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society. Three pages, 4to. Dusty but in very good condition, with small piece of second leaf of bifoliate cut away in opening the red wax seal. '[...] I write to you [...] to impose upon you some possibly irksome task. - Things are here in a Train towards the establishing [of] a public library & reading room.