STREET

[William Moy Thomas, theatre critic, and associate of Charles Dickens.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Will Williams Esq'.

Author: 
William Moy Thomas (1828?1910), journalist, theatre critic, novelist and associate of Charles Dickens
Publication details: 
'Garden House, Clement's Inn, W.C. [London] / July 27, 1875.'
£35.00

Thomas was for upwards of twenty-five years the theatrical critic of the London papers Daily News and the Graphic. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with evidence of mount adhering to the blank second leaf. Folded for postage. Addressed to ?Will Williams Esq? and signed ?Moy Thomas?. He would have answered Williams?s note sooner, but he has been ?on the Continent for a few days?.

[James Payn, Victorian novelist, journalist and magazine editor.] Autograph Letter Signed, providing an autograph whilst pointing out that his name 'is not generally spelt with an e'.

Author: 
James Payn (1830-1898), Victorian novelist and journalist, editor of Chambers's Journal in Edinburgh and the Cornhill Magazine in London
Publication details: 
'Decr 1st [no year]'. On letterhead of 'THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE / SMITH ELDER & CO.', London.
£30.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with postage folds. In trimmed windowpane mount. Reads: 'Madam. / My name is not generally spelt with an e, but I [confide?] it is ['really' deleted here] my [last word underlined] autograph which you desire. / Truly / James Payn'.

[?Poor old Oscar?: Edmund Yates [Edmund Hodgson Yates], Scottish journalist and author.] Autograph Letter Signed (?E Y.?) to his de facto editor at The World, with apparent reference to Oscar Wilde, and to Randolph Stewart (Earl of Galloway).

Author: 
Edmund Yates [Edmund Hodgson Yates] (1831-1894), Scottish journalist and author, friend of Charles Dickens [Alexander Meyrick Broadley (1847-1916); Oscar Wilde]
Publication details: 
?Sep 10 [1891]?. No place.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient (?Broadley Pasha?) was a renowned autograph collector and shady social figure, as well as the de facto editor of Yates?s ?World?, until the Cleveland Street scandal drove him into exile in 1890. Broadley was a prominent figure in freemasonry, and the present item appears to link two individuals who were members of Oxford?s Apollo University Lodge: Oscar Wilde (whose proclivities Broadley shared) and Randolph Stewart (later Earl of Galloway). 1p, 16mo. On first leaf of bifolium, with second leaf tipped-in onto a page from one of Broadley?s albums.

[Edmund Yates, journalist and author, friend of Dickens, proprietor of The World newspaper.] Auttograph Signature and conclusion of letter, with autograph not by his de facto editor A. M. Broadley.

Author: 
Edmund Yates [Edmund Hodgson Yates] (1831-1894), Scottish journalist and author, friend of Charles Dickens, proprietor of The World newspape
Publication details: 
Dated by Broadley to 1890.
£15.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient (?Broadley Pasha?) was a renowned autograph collector and shady social figure, as well as the de facto editor of Yates?s ?World?, until the Cleveland Street scandal drove him into exile in 1890 (the year of this item with its reference to 'going away'). A 9 x 5 cm piece of paper, cut from the end of a letter, and laid down on a 13 x 7.5 cm piece, which has been neatly annotated by Broadley: 'Signature of Edmund Yates 1890'. In good condition, lightly aged, with one postage fold. Reads, with good firm stylized signature: '[...] of going away?

[Edmund Yates, journalist and author, friend of Dickens, proprietor of The World newspaper.] Autograph Letter Signed, making arrangements to meet 'Mrs. Tofield'.

Author: 
Edmund Yates [Edmund Hodgson Yates] (1831-1894), Scottish journalist and author, friend of Charles Dickens, proprietor of The World newspaper
Publication details: 
'Tuesday' [1880s]. On letterhead of the Grand Hotel, Trafalgar Square [London].
£25.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, wtih two small nicks at edges of folds, a tiny piece of one corner worn away, and repair with tape on blank reverse. A hurried message. Reads: 'Dear Mrs. Tofield / I am here on my way to the Station. I don't suppose you are up; if so, [more kind?]. If not, will Friday before dinner suit you? I shan't be in London Monday aftn. / Your's sinly / Edmund Yates.'

[Augustus Mayhew, author, editor of the Comic Almanac.] Autograph Letter Signed to C. L. Kenney [?Charlie?], giving the legal position with regard to Kenney?s desire to get his hands on his infant son?s legacy.

Author: 
Augustus Mayhew [Augustus Septimus Mayhew] (1826-1875), author, brother of Henry Mayhew, editor of the Comic Almanac [Charles Lamb Kenney (1821-1881), author and playwright]
Publication details: 
?31st Octr. 1873 / Twickenham?.
£40.00

See his entry, and those of his brother and Kenney, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Twenty-two lines of text, addressed to ?C. L. Kenney Esq? and signed ?Aug: Mayhew?. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of glue from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Begins: ?Dear Charlie/ Of course, we have to act under legal guidance.

[Clement Scott, theatre critic for the Daily Telegraph.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to A. M. Broadley of The World, one about ?that impertinent idiot Mr James Runciman?, the other about a scene at a dinner in Liverpool Street.

Author: 
Clement Scott [Clement William Scott] (1841-1904), influential theatre critic, mainly for the Daily Telegraph, who feuded with Bernard Shaw [A. M. Broadley [Alexander Meyrick Broadley] (1847-1916)]
Publication details: 
ONE: ?Wednesday? [March 1887]; on letterhead of 52 Lincoln?s Inn Fields, W.C. [London] TWO: 2 October 1901; on letterhead of 15 Woburn Square, W.C. [London]
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In addition to being the de facto editor of Edmund Yates?s ?World?, the recipient (?Broadley Pasha?) was a renowned autograph collector and shady social figure. Scott?s handwriting is not entirely legible. ONE: ?Wednesday?, dated by Broadly ?March 1887.? 1p, 12mo. In good condition, with glue from mount adhering to the blank reverse. Folded once. Signed ?Clement Scott?. On the question of ?the letter from the impertinent idiot Mr James Runciman? he comments: ?He thinks that calling a man ?Tommy Rot? is a complaint! I conclude that he must be a madman?.

[‘The most famous newspaper correspondent the world has ever seen': W. H. Russell [Sir William Howard Russell] of The Times.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘brother Broadley’ [A. M. Broadley], regarding a masonic ‘junction’ and ‘promotion’.

Author: 
W. H. Russell [Sir William Howard Russell] (1820-1907), correspondent for The Times in the Crimean War, American Civil War, Indian Mutiny [A. M. Broadley [Alexander Meyrick Broadley] (1847-1916)]
Publication details: 
‘The Raven [Hotel] / Droitwich / Ap. 6. 87 [1887]’.
£50.00

According to Russell’s entry in the Oxford DNB, while reporting on the Civil War, he was described by one American newspaper as ‘the most famous newspaper correspondent the world has ever seen'. The inscription on his memorial in St Paul’s Cathedral calls him ‘'the first and greatest of War Correspondents'. He coined the phrase ‘thin red line’, was instrumental in the sending of Florence Nightingale to the Crimea, and is said to have written the report that inspired Tennyson to write ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’.

[Gilbert Thomas [Gilbert Oliver Thomas], pacifist poet and critc.] Autograph Letter Signed, thanking ‘Calvert’ [William Robinson Calvert] for his review of ‘Calm Weather’ and discussing the critical response to the book.

Author: 
Gilbert Thomas [Gilbert Oliver Thomas] (1891-1978), pacifist poet and critic, imprisoned as a conscientious objector during the Great War [William Robinson Calvert (1882-1949), journalist]
Publication details: 
8 April 1930; on letterhead of Flatford, Meadway, Gidea Park, Essex.
£180.00

2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Thirty-nine lines, closely written. Signed ‘Gilbert Thomas’. He begins by thanking him ‘most warmly for your letter and the most kind and generous review to hand this morning.

[Sally Emerson, novelist and author.] Autograph Letter Signed and Two Typed Letters Signed to Philip Dosse, regarding her work as an assistant on ‘Books and Bookmen’, a magazine she would later edit.

Author: 
Sally Emerson (b.1954), novelist and author, editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’, whose proprietor was Philip Dosse (1925-1980) of Hansom Books
Publication details: 
Autograph letter, 22 January [1975]; two typed letters, 11 May and 21 August 1975. All three on her letterhead, 3 Halkin Street, Belgrave Square, London.
£75.00

Emerson’s novels have undergone a re-evaluation in recent years. The first six were republished by Quartet Books as ‘Rediscovered Classics’ in 2017, and in 2021 by Quadrant Books. ‘Books and Bookmen’ was one of a stable of seven London arts magazines owned by Philip Dosse (1925-1980) of Hansom Books. Emerson, who was the editor of the magazine at the time of Dosse’s suicide, has published an account of her time there: ‘Death of a Bookman’, Standpoint, October 2018.

[Richard Ingrams, journalist, editor of ‘Private Eye’ and ‘The Oldie’.] Autograph Letter Signed to Philip Dosse of ‘Books and Bookmen’, on subjects including a ‘rather rude’ review by him of a book by Clive James and a book about James Thurber.

Author: 
Richard Ingrams [Richard Reid Ingrams] (b.1937), editor of ‘Private Eye’ and founding editor of ‘The Oldie’ [Philip Dosse (1925-1980)]
Publication details: 
16 April 1977. On letterhead of Forge House, Aldworth, Reading, Berks.
£35.00

The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and ‘Plays and Players’. 2pp, small 4to. Addressed to ‘Dear Philip Dossé’ [sic] and signed ‘Richard Ingrams’. He is enclosing ‘a rather rude review of the Clive James book for the June B & B’, and sends renewed apologies for missing the May issue. He will ‘do Thurber next’ and reminds Dosse that he still has ‘the biography of Thurber which you sent me many moons ago’: ‘Would it be too late to embrace that as well?’ He thanks him for ‘continuing to print the P.

[Dame Margaret Lloyd George, wife of Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George.] Autograph Letter Signed, asking George Robey (comedian, singer and actor) for his assistance with a Downing Street concert for the Electrical Industries Association.

Author: 
Dame Margaret Lloyd George [née Owen] (1864-1941) wife of Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George [George Robey [Sir George Edward Wade] (1869-1954), music hall comedian]
Publication details: 
25 May 1919. On embossed notepaper of the Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London.
£65.00

See her entry, and those of Robey and her husband, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. With two folds. Addressed to ‘Geo Robey. Esq. C.B.E.’ and signed ‘Margaret Lloyd George.’ She gives details of a concert she is having at Downing Street the following month, ‘in aid of the Electrical Industries Association’, and has been asked by its committee to ‘invite your kindly assistance’.

[Nora Beloff, political correspondent of the Observer.] Autograph Letter Signed to Philip Dosse of 'Books and Bookmen', regarding the writing of a review.

Author: 
Nora Beloff [Leah Nora Beloff] (1919-1997), journalist with the Observer, the first female political correspondent of a British newspaper [Philip Dosse (1925-1980)]
Publication details: 
Undated. On letterhead of the Observer, London.
£45.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. She thanks him for his note, adding 'Would this do?', and stating 'I will write my piece definitely by March 15th.' Signed 'Nora Beloff / NORA BELOFF'.

[Bow Street Runner Stephen Lavender.] Autograph Letter Signed from Sir John Dugdale Astley to ‘My Lord’ (Prime Minister Lord Liverpool?), recommending Charles Humphreys, ‘at present belonging to the Office at Bow Street’ for Lavender’s position.

Author: 
[Bow Street Runner Stephen Lavender (1789-1833)] Sir John Dugdale Astley (1778-1842), 1st Bart, of Everleigh, Member of Parliament and High Sheriff of Wiltshire
Publication details: 
28 February 1821. 2 Chandos Street, Cavendish Square [London].
£50.00

See Astley's entry in the History of Parliament (he was created a baronet at the end of the year in which this letter was written). The ‘Lavender’ mentioned in the letter is Bow Street Runner Stephen Lavender (fictionalized in a series of books by Karen Charlton), who was leaving to take up the position of Deputy Chief Constable at Manchester.1p, 4to. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. Verso of second docketed: ‘Chas. Humphreys / recomn to be an Officer’ and in another hand ‘Dugdale Asteley [sic]’. In good condition, lightly aged, with reverse of second leaf slightly grubby.

[Street Ballads: ‘T. BROOKS, Song Publisher’ of Bath.] Handbill with three street ballads (the first two with crude woodcut vignettes): ‘Could you lend my Mother a Saucepan. / Silver Threads among the Gold / Death of Nelson.’

Author: 
Street Ballads: ‘T. BROOKS, Song Publisher’ of Bath, nineteenth-century seller of handbills [Eben Eugene Rexford and Herbert Peas Danks]
Street Ballads
Publication details: 
No date [1870s or 1880s]. ‘T. BROOKS, Song Publisher, 4, Kingsmead Square, Bath.’
£90.00
Street Ballads

The second of these ballads, 'Silver Threads Among the Gold', by the American Eben Eugene Rextord (1848-1916), was immensely popular on its release in 1873 with music by Hart Peas Danks (1834-1903). The earliest reference to the first ballad, 'Could you lend my mother a saucepan?' is in an 1885 number of 'All the Year Round'. The song is an absolute hoot, but its text is not to be found anywhere on the internet.

[Henry Livings, working-class Lancastrian playwright, screenwriter and actor.] Typed Letter Signed to Paul Furness, discussing the pubs he has frequented.

Author: 
Henry Livings (1929-1998), working-class Lancastrian playwright, screenwriter and actor in the first 'Carry On' film and the 'Coronation Street' television series
Publication details: 
Undated [1982 or 1983]. 49 Grains Road, Delph, ‘via Oldham’ [Lancashire].
£80.00

Livings’s entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that his farces ‘convey serious truths’ with ‘both a dazzling comic flair and an unexpected force and profundity that is heightened by his use of colloquial language’. 1p, foolscap 8vo. Twenty-two lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with four light ink underlinings. Signed ‘Yours, / Henry Livings’. One of a number of letters to Furness by writers, responding to his enquiry about socialist authors and British pubs.

[John Walter the younger, proprietor of The Times.] Autograph Letter Signed to Tom Taylor, editor of Punch, regarding the Arundel Society, and a ‘wonderful’ chromolithograph of a Van Eyck.

Author: 
John Walter (1818-1894) the younger, proprietor of The Times [Tom Taylor (1817-1880), playwright, editor of Punch]
Publication details: 
20 February 1873. On letterhead of 40 Upper Grosvenor Street [London].
£56.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. From Taylor’s papers. Addressed to ‘Tom Taylor Esq’. Begins: ‘Dear Mr Taylor / I have profited by your kind instructions, & enrolled myself on the List of the Arundel Society.’ He finds the collection ‘well worth seeing’, and ‘the Van Eyck in particular strikes me as being the most wonderful example of successful reproduction in Chromo Lithography that I have yet seen’. Signed ‘J Walter’. From Taylor’s papers.

[Walter H. Pollock, poet and author.] Autograph Letter Signed to ?Thomas?, regarding ?Dr Waldstein? and the ?Ajax business?.

Author: 
Walter H. Pollock [Walter Herries Pollock] (1850-1926), poet, author and editor of the London ?Saturday Review?, son of Sir William Frederick Pollock (1815-1888), 2nd Baronet
Publication details: 
18 November 1882. On letterhead of the Savile Club, 107 Piccadilly, W. [London]
£45.00

See his father?s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. The recipient?s full name is not give. Signed ?Walter H Pollock?. The ?Ajax business? referred to in the letter is the performance of the first of the Cambridge Greek plays, organised by the archaeologist Sir Charles Walston [formerly Waldstein] (1856-1927).

['You would do well to realise': Sir William James Ingram, Managing Director of the Illustrated London News.] Autograph Letter Signed, negotiating the purchase of newspapers from another proprietor.

Author: 
Sir William James Ingram (1847-1924), Managing Director of the Illustrated London News, and Liberal politician
Publication details: 
3 November 1899; 198 Strand, W.C. [London], on cancelled letterhead of The Bungalow, Westgate-on-Sea.
£90.00

A significant figure, unaccountably unrepresented in the Oxford DNB. An interesting item, casting light on the way business was conducted in the world of nineteenth-century newspaper proprietorship. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. The recipient, evidently a fellow newspaper proprietor, is not named, and the letter is signed ?William Ingram?.

[Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, diplomat and brother of novelist Lord Lytton.] Autograph Letter Signed to assistant of New Bond Street bookseller John Andrews, disputing the account and describing another mistake.

Author: 
Sir Henry Bulwer [William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer] (1801-1872), Liberal politician, British Ambassador to United States and other countries [John Andrews, bookseller]
Publication details: 
No date or place, but certainly after February 1839, and from the smudged postmark apparently 1842. From France?
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. (BBTI has John Andrews with bookshop and circulating library at 167 New Bond Street from before 1831 to 1857.) 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Extracted from an album, and with the gutter strengthened with archival tape. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. As a piece of business correspondence has a spike hole through the centre of both leaves, unfortunately also through the ?H? of the signature ?H L Bulmer?, which is little more than a scrawl, with corkscrew paraphe.

[Clement Scott [Clement William Scott], theatre critic of the Daily Telegraph.] Autograph Letter Signed concerning London's Gaiety Theatre, burlesque and music.

Author: 
Clement Scott [Clement William Scott] (1841-1904), highly influential theatre critic, mainly working for the Daily Telegraph, who feuded with Shaw [Gaiety Theatre, London]
Publication details: 
'Sunday' [no date or place].
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Twenty-two lines of text. In good condition, lightly discoloured and worn. Folded for postatge. The addressee’s name is unclear. Signed ‘Clement Scott’.

[G. R. Sims, journalist and bon vivant.] Autograph Note Signed to 'Miss Thompson', regarding 'the acting rights, if any'.

Author: 
G. R. Sims [George Robert Sims] (1847-1922), journalist, author and bon vivant
Publication details: 
20 May 1902. On letterhead of 12 Clarence Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. [London] ('Registered Telegraphic Address, Hybiscus, London ')
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged, with four small gummed squared as mounts adhering to the four corners. Folded for postage. Large firm signature and handwriting. Reads: 'Dear Miss Thompson / The piece is not mine and I am sorry I cannot inform you to whom the acting rights, if any, belong. / Your sincerely / Geo R Sims'.

[Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts], poet and journalist, editor of the ‘Literary Souvenir’.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Wauchope', assistant to the Bond Street bookseller John Andrews

Author: 
Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts] (1797-1864), poet and journalist, editor of the ‘Literary Souvenir’
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. (BBTI has John Andrews with bookshop and circulating library at 167 New Bond Street from before 1831 to 1857.) 1p, 12mo. Addressed on reverse of second leaf for delivery by hand ('wait') to 'Mr Wauchope / at Mr Andrews' / 167. New Bond St.'. In good condition, lightly aged, with unobtrusive central spike hole (for business correspondence) through both leaves. Reads: 'Dear Sir / Be so good as send me the vouchers of the Scrivener for 1827 agreeably with your promise, is there particular occasion for them today'.

[Richard Holt Hutton, journalist and theologian.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Miss Stuart', returning her 'paper', and complaining that the criticism of Keats by 'Mr. Bridges' [the poet Robert Bridges?] 'seems so flat'.

Author: 
Richard Holt Hutton (1826-1897), journalist and theologian, joint-editor of the Spectator and National Review [Robert Bridges, Poet Laureate]
Publication details: 
17 May 1895; on on letterhead of ‘ “The Spectator” Office’, 1 Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of mount adhering to inner margin. Folded once for postage. Reads 'My dear Miss Stuart / I don't think Mr. Bridges brings us much forrider with Keats. Many thanks for the article but I am a little disappointed that his criticism seems so flat. I return your paper with many thanks - / Every yours very truly / Robert H Hutton'.

[Richard Holt Hutton, journalist and theologian.] Two Autograph Letters Signed, from the Spectator office, to Rev. F. Daustini Cremer, justifying a statement made by him about a rumour regarding Sir William Harcourt.

Author: 
Richard Holt Hutton (1826-1897), journalist and theologian, joint-editor of the Spectator and National Review [Rev. Frederic Daustini Cremer (1848-1927) of Hirstpierpoint, Sussex]
Publication details: 
9 and 16 March 1875; both on letterheads of ‘ “The Spectator” Office’, 1 Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C.
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both letters closely written. Both folded for postage. The letters concern the following statement in the Spectator, 6 February 1875: ‘Rumour says that Sir William Harcourt has ascertained from his friend, Mr. Disraeli, that while he will treat the Marquis of Hartington with all the respect due to the leader of a great party, he could not have accorded that deference to Mr. Forster. If rumour does not speak falsely, we could wish that the meeting of the Reform Club had received that very significant message.’ ONE (9 March 1875): 4pp, 12mo. Fifty-seven lines.

[Heinz Berggruen, German and American art dealer, with a renowned private collection of twentieth century masters.] Typed Letter Signed to London printseller Robert Erskine, regarding prints he has ‘set aside’ for him.

Author: 
Heinz Berggruen (1914-2007), German and American art dealer, with a renowned private collection of twentieth-century masters [Robert Erskine, London printseller]
Publication details: 
10 May 1954; Paris. On letterhead of Berggruen & Cie, ‘gravures originales modernes’.
£56.00

Berggruen was awarded the French Legion of Honour and the German Order of Merit. Among those attending his funeral were German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Horst Köhler. One of his sons is the US billionaire investor and philanthropist Nicholas Berggruen. In the year this letter was sent Erskine opened his influential St Georges Gallery Prints off Cork Street. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, but with slight damage and creasing at the centre of the right-hand margin. Highly stylized signature, ‘Heinz Berggruen’. Folded once for postage. Reads: ‘Dear Mr.

[Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts], poet and journalist, editor of the ‘Literary Souvenir’.] Autograph Signature on envelope elegantly addressed by him to ‘the Honble. Spencer Ponsonby’.

Author: 
Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts] (1797-1864), poet and journalist, editor of the ‘Literary Souvenir’ [Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane (1824-1915), cricketer and civil servant]
Alaric
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£35.00
Alaric

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On the front cover of a 12 x 7 cm envelope, from which the seal has been torn away on the reverse. Otherwise in very good condition. A pleasing piece of calligraphy, with the word ‘Private’ centred and underlined at the head, and the address to ‘The Honble. Spencer Ponsonby. / Foreign Office’ across the central band, with the signature at bottom left: ‘Alaric Watts.’ See Image.

[J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane, distinguished editor of The Times.] Autograph Letter Signed to the Earl of Clarendon, introducing Wimpore Cooke, who is going out to China as Times special correspondent, and asks what 'course' should be 'pursued'.

Author: 
J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane (1817-1879)], editor of The Times, 1841-1877 [Lord Clarendon [George William Frederick Villiers (1800-1870), 4th Earl of Clarendon, Liberal Foreign Secretary]
Publication details: 
6 April [1859]. No place.
£75.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of a bifolium, the second docketed ‘Mr. Delane / April 6/59 / Introd. Mr Wimpore Cooke - Times Correspt in China -’. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Addressed to ‘The Earl of Clarendon’ and signed ‘John T. Delane’. Reads: ‘My dear Lord, / I should be much obliged if you would receive the bearer, Mr.

[J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane, distinguished editor of The Times.] Autograph Note in the third person to Lady Theresa Lewis, declining a dinner engagement.

Author: 
J. T. Delane [John Thadeus Delane (1817-1879)], editor of The Times, 1841-1877 [Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), author]
Publication details: 
‘18 Serjeants Inn / December 8th.’ [no year, but between 1844 and 1863]
£45.00

See his entry, and hers, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Addressed to ‘The Lady Theresa Lewis’. Reads: ‘Mr Delane regrets sincerely that a previous engagement will prevent him from having the honour of waiting upon Sir G. Cornewall and Lady Theresa Lewis on Thursday the 13th. In 1844 Lady Theresa married her second husband, the future Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), her first having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister. (1800-1842)

[Alexander Pope, Augustan poet.] Two large facsimile pages, each reproducing a proof of a page (69 and 70) from Pope’s ‘Epistles’, with facsimile of his autograph corrections.

Author: 
Alexander Pope, Augustan poet; John Murray, London publishers
Pope
Publication details: 
The original dates from the 1730s. The present facsimiles are mid- to late Victorian, and probably the work of the London publishers John Murray.
£280.00
Pope

Curious items. Yale has the originals of these pages, in an ‘Album, formerly owned by John Murray, containing items either by Pope or related to him, 1717-1855’, described as ‘original proof of two pages from Pope's Epistles, pages 69 and 70, with the author's corrections’. Each of the present items is printed on a 28.5 x 37.5 cm leaf of wove paper. A previous owner(lord Houghton in fact) thought highly-enough of them to include them in an album, as a profession white stub adheres neatly at the left of each.

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