SIR

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Franked on reverse of second leaf, with broken seal in red wax, to the firm of London solicitors 'Mess. Platt & Hall | New Boswell Court | Carey Street', with Halls signature ('B Hall' between two horizontal lines) at bottom left. The letter itself reads: 'Gentlemen/ | I have just received a letter from Mess: Prothero & Philipps who state that you will call here to know my intention respecting the Petition presented against my return.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium on monogrammed letterhead. In fair condition, lightly aged. The body of the letter is written by a secretary. A useful communication, laying out the requirements for a batchelor's degree in music during Ouseley's tenure as Heather Professor, between 1855 and 1889. Ouseley writes in reply to Le Tenore's letter, setting out what is 'required of Candidates for the degree of Mus. Bac.', beginning with the composition of 'an exercise in 5 real parts, with accompaniments for a quintett [sic] band.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He has asked his friend 'Mr Reilly' to assure the recipient that he will be with him on the arranged date. 'Independently of my personal interewst in Methodism from the fact of my family having been for 35 years < full?> in connexion with that body, I take as a Christian, an extended interest in the success of your mission, one of the most valuable, I believe, in existence'. After attending a public meeting in Belfast, he will travel 'the same night to Liverpool' and then to London.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering at corners of reverse. The recipient is not identified. The note is written in a neat hand, and reads: 'Sir | Permit me to offer you my sincere thanks for the valuable communication you have so obligingly procured, relative to the restoration of Rooksey'.

See Mrs George Wrottesley's obituary in The Times, 10 May 1883, in which she is praised for 'her undaunted courage and unshaken endurance of difficulties displayed repeatedly during her father's mission to the East' in 1854. 1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. The main body of the letter reads: 'Mrs. George Wrottesley will feel much obliged to Mr Lacy if he will send her a copy of the play of | "The Wonder" - | The address is to | The Honble. | Mrs. George Wrottesley | Wrottesley | Wolverhampton'. At the head of the letter she adds a query concerning 'the play of Donna Diana'.

The five signatories are: Sir Alfred Claud Hollis (1874-1962), Governor of Trinidad and Tobago, 1930-1936, and author of a historical account of Spanish Trinidad; his wife Enid Mabel Hollis (née Longman), Lady Hollis (1888-1939); Sir Edward Brandis Denham (1876-1938), Governor of British Guiana, 1930–1935, and Jamaica, 1935–1938; Sir Thomas Reginald St Johnston (1881-1950), Governor of the Leeward Islands, 1929-1936; Sir William Charles Fleming Robertson (1867-1937), Governor of Barbados, 1925-1932. On one side of a 13.5 x 16.5 cm leaf of cream paper torn from an autograph album.

All three items are in good condition, lightly aged. Both letters are signed 'Richard Bentley'. ONE (ALS, 4 May 1927): 2pp., landscape 12mo. Annotated by Heal at head of first page: 're Writing Masters'. Begins: 'My dear Sir | I thought you MUST have the mezzo of Tomkins! The private schools being adjacent to that of St. Pauls is hardly accidental? It would seem to imply a connection of duties (though not of schools.) and in former times people lived close to their work. No railways – no omnibuses even then. Stage Coaches, pre-Palmer, also slow'.

At the time of the second letter Mansel was serving his only stint in Parliament, a brief period as Liberal MP for Penryn and Falmouth. ONE (ALS, 13 February 1921): 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He expresses great disappointment regarding the misunderstanding which meant that he and his wife missed coming to lunch with the Mansels.

On 13 x 18 cm leaf of light-pink paper, torn from an autogaph album. Good firm large signature, rising upwards: 'Guila Bustabo.' Nothing else written on either side of the leaf.

The three items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Postage stamp and paper beneath torn from third letter,, resulting in loss of full date All three signed 'George Saintsbury'. Saintsbury's handwriting is difficult to decipher and the following description only gives a phrase from each of the letters. Mansel had pretentions as a poet, and the first two items at least appear to concern volumes which he had sent Saintsbury. ONE (15 January 1911): 2pp., 12mo. Explaining that he has been compelled to 'make it a fixed rule to decline giving <?> opinion on poetry'.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with light pencil line by Forsyth through first page. She hopes that she is not 'asking too much' in requesting 'two stalls or a box for the premiere of “Eugene Oneghin” - Friday evening'. If 'not impossible', he would like 'a lunch to be present that night. He asks to be sent word to the Garrick Club.

ONE: On letterhead of 'The Ben Greet Company', addressed from 20 Buckingham Street, WC [ London ]. 14 July [ no year ]. 2pp., 8vo. In fair condition, aged and worn, with the first page carrying pencil scorings and a short note by Forsyth. The first paragraph reads: 'If business will permit can I have one of the small boxes for Monday night. You generally let me have something during the Season. I've been a very regular Gallery & Amphitheatre and stallite this season.' He continues: 'You've got a genius in Frau , & you sd keep her. Everyone is raving about her.

For information regarding Thomson's eventful career (he interrogated Mata Hari) see his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p., landscape 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Typed onto the letterhead is the reference 'A. L. K.' The note reads: 'Dear Mrs. Vickers, | Certainly I will. If you will ask for Sergeant Tansley when you arrive at Folkestone he will see you through. I will warn him of your coming.'

The recipient's name, given at the foot of the last page, appears to read 'Mr. L. Newland' or 'Newlaw'. This may be J. W. Newland, was an English daguerreotypist and magic lanternist who travelled from New Orleans, through Central and South America, to the Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, England, and finally to Calcutta between 1845 and 1857. 2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He has submitted the recipient's letter to the Queen, 'together with the Daguerrotypes that accompanied it'.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Dear Miss Randall | I am pleased to sign myself | Yrs. sincerely | Henry A. Lytton'

xii + 187pp., 8vo. A handsome example of Whittingham's handiwork, printed on good thick laid paper, with title page in black and red. In original grey paper wraps. Small vignette of a tree within a decorative circular border printed in brown on the front cover and in black on title page. Uncut edges. Internally in good condition, loose in frayed and worn wraps. Author's presentation inscription on flyleaf: 'Sophia Cunliffe Rodger | Given at Nice | to her by | Sir John Kingston James'. Printed 8vo presentation leaf loosely inserted, reading: Château Denis, | Hyères, Var, | France.

3pp., 8vo. Autograph postscript of nine lines on otherwise-blank reverse of second leaf. On aged and worn paper, with holing to one corner from stud which attached the leaves together. He was pleased to hear from Mansel, and understands from his letter that 'notwithstanding your disabilities you manage to put in a deal of work'. He continues: 'I shall be particularly interested in your plays, which are more in my line than music. He quotes Mansel's 'notes on the print of my hand', which he finds 'particularly interesting, in view of the fact that they were made more than 11 years ago'.

13pp., 8vo. Stapled. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight rust to staples. Consisting of a title leaf and 9pp. of text in small print, paginated [2] 3-11. The author is not named, and no other copy of the title has been traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC, but the item comes from a collection of papers by Stanley - and Africa is his specailist subject.

8pp., 8vo. Paginated 645-652. In good condition, lightly aged. Extracted from the magazine and with traces of stitching. Reproducing a letter dated from 'Grayshott, Hants. | August 15th, 1896.' Stanley takes offence to 'the many ridiculous calumnies found in amost every sentence of [Salusbury's] article in your magazine'. He begins: 'I greatly regret being compelled to reply to an article in the June number of your magazine called "The Congo State: a Revelation;" but I am sure Captain Salusbury, the writer of it, must have expected me to do so.'

2pp., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. He begins by stating his great appreciation of 'the kindness of the Committee – I have had a long and sympathetic experience of the Club and the relationship has been to me a happy one from first to last'. Were he able to 'fulfil the duties of the President's office' he would be 'strongly tempted to accept their generous inviation and stand for re-election.

16pp., 4to. Stitched. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two punch holes to the inner margin. Laid out in double column in the manner of a newspaper article, with drophead title, and a photographic portrait of Stanley taking up most of the first page. A seven-page endorsement of Stanley is followed by nine pages of positive extracts and quotations concerning him, beginning with 'The Finding of Dr. Livingstone. | Message of the Queen to Mr. H. M. Stanley' and 'Dr.

12mo, [viii] + 210 pp, together with four unpaginated pages before p. 79 and two unpaginated pages before p. 165. With fold-out list of Knights of the Garter. Includes a "Catalogue of the Nobility of Ireland". On aged paper, in worn eighteenth-century binding, modern rebacking. Ownership inscription, at head of p.1, 'Mary Standish of Standish - Her Book' (suggesting a relationship with Myles Standish, pioneer American); and a couple of ownership initials on title-page.

ONE: Lady Wenlock's letter to 'My dear Mr. Rees'. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. 'I am sure you could hardly be more glad that [sic] I was when I heard this appointment was satisfactorily settled. I was miserable at the prospect of you & Mary going on in the same routine here for months without this desireable [sic] change'. After all Rees's wife has 'gone through' it is particularly important for her to have a 'thorough change': it is inevitable that she should 'suffer from just now after so much sorrow & fatigue'.

Galley proof with 69 lines of text in a single column of small type, on slip of paper laid down on leaf removed from album. At foot: 'Westmoreland Gazette, Feb. 12, 1876.' In good condition, lightly aged. The text begins: 'Another personal link between the present generation and the band of poets and writers whose memory hovers around the Lake district has been severed in the death, last week, of Miss Rotha Quillinan.

Six items from the Rothermere papers, on disparate subjects, casting light on the workings of 1930s Fleet Street. In good condition, lightly aged. The six are described below in chronological order. ONE: Typed Copy of letter, '(sgd) ROTHERMERE', to Donald. Hotel Splendide, 105 Piccadilly, W.1. 12 November 1929. 1p., 4to. The letter begins: 'My dear Donald, | I quite understand all the peculiar difficulties with which you are surrounded in connection with the Anglo-Foreign Newspapers Ltd.

HMS Shropshire was a Royal Navy 'London' County-class heavy cruiser, launched in 1928 and decommissioned in 1942. In July 1936, as part of the Mediterranean Fleet 1st Cruiser Squadron, she sailed to Barcelona, relieving HMS London, the first ship to arrive to take off refugees from the Spanish Civil War. The present item (possibly written by Admiral Binney) is excessively scarce: the only other copy traced is in the Hampshire Archives. [3] + 19pp., foolscap 8vo. The original document from the 1930s, spirit-duplicated in aniline ink, with pages on one side only of 22 leaves.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. He offers him a choice of engravings, explaining his constraints; 'Aussi vous savez entre amis et artists un traitement secondaire sera indigne'. There is also Haden had strong connections with France; according to his entry in the Oxford DNB, he completed 'his professional studies in the medical schools of the Sorbonne, Paris, and Grenoble, where he acted as prosecteur in 1839, and, later, lecturer on surgical anatomy at the military hospital'.

On 7.5 x 12 cm piece of paper, cut from the front of an envelope. With frank postmark in faint red ink. Laid out in the customary fashioin, with the date and address reading 'London June Twenty Four 1833. | Captn. Wood | 10th Hussars | Kilkenny', with 'Castlereagh' at bottom left.

12pp., 8vo. Stapled into light-brown printed wraps, with title in dark-brown on white label on front wrap. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Blackwell's address is on pp.3-10; p.11 carries a 'List of Members 30th June 1937', in two columns, including R. Cobden-Sanderson, Geoffrey Faber, Rupert Hart-Davis, Harold Macmillan, Stanley Unwin and Sir Hugh Walpole. The final page carries details of the Society's officers, committee, secretary and offices. Blackwell begins his address: 'I have nothing new or strange to propose to-night.

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. He writes that he has only just received Allchin's letter on his return from the country. 'Please ask Sir George Burrows to call at any hour in the day most convenient to himself.'