STUDIES

[ Charlotte M. Yonge, novelist. ] Autograph Signature ('C M Yonge') to part of Autograph Letter.

Author: 
Charlotte M. Yonge [ Charlotte Mary Yonge; C. M. Yonge ] (1823-1901), English novelist associated with the Oxford Movement
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£25.00

On 5.5 x 12.5 cm piece of grey paper, cut from a letter. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Written on both sides. The side with the signature reads: '[...] I will let you know if I have anything farther, but it does not at all depend on me | Yours faithfully | C M Yonge'. The other side reads: '[...] when of course we can accept them or not as we please. | Mr Hughes & some others were unwilling to write under a possible Editor who they thought might [...]'.

[ Mary Cholmondeley, English novelist. ] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr. Harington', a dinner invitation with a reference to copies of a book.

Author: 
Mary Cholmondeley (1859-1925), English novelist
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 62 Albert Gate Mansions, Hyde Park, S.W. [ London ] 7 March [ 1899 ].
£40.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p., 12mo. On aged and worn paper. She has pinned a short newspaper cutting regarding Major Matthew Nathan at the head, and drawn a hand pointing to it. A dinner invitation, concluding 'You had better begin to look out for second hand copies of ""' From the papers of the Harington baronets of Ridlington.

[ Printed. ] Fly Leaves; Or, Scraps and Sketches, Literary, Bibliographical and Miscellaneous [...] [ With 'Cheap Books, for Ready Money, selected from the Stock of John Miller, Bookseller, and now on Sale, at 43, Chandos Street, Trafalgar Square.' ]

Author: 
[ Edward Francis Rimbault (1816-1876); John Miller, London bookseller ]
Publication details: 
London: John Miller, 43, Chandos Street, Trafalgar Square. 1854. [ Publisher's catalogue undated. ]
£50.00

(The book is anonymous, but Rimbault is generally accepted to have been the author.) x + 189 + 32pp., 12mo. A 32-page publisher's catalogue is bound in at the end. In publisher's blind-tooled black ribbed cloth, with gilt spine. Advertisements printed on endpapers. Tight copy on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding with damage to hinges. Ownership inscription on half-title.

[ Entomology; Forel ] Typed Letter Signed ('A Forel') by Forel, with photo; Autograph Letter Signed ('Edd: Clodd') by Clodd on blacks in Jamaica; ALS ('P. Celesia') by Celesia; in a copy of the English translation of Forel's 'The Senses of Insects'.

Author: 
Auguste Forel [Auguste-Henri Forel] (1848-1931), Swiss entomologist and psychiatrist; Edward Clodd (1840-1930), English anthropologist; Paolo Celesia (1872-1916), Italian biologist [Jamaica; racism]
Publication details: 
Forel's letter: 7 May 1908, Yvorne. Clodd's letter: 4 June 1917, on letterhead of Strafford House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Celesia's letter: 15 June 1906, Como. The book: London: Methuen & Co. 1908.
£180.00

The three letters are addressed to the translator of Forel's book, the surgeon and free-thinker Percival Macleod Yearsley (1867-1951). Forel's letter: 4to, 1 p. Twenty lines. In French. Text clear and complete. On browned and chipped high-acidity paper. Laid down on the front pastedown. In the first paragraph he thanks the translator, Macleod Yearsley, for the book, which he praises in fulsome terms. He is sending a copy of his 'Question Sexuelle'.

[ Travel book ] A student in Sicily

Author: 
Mrs Nevill Jackson [Emily Nevill Jackson]
Publication details: 
London: John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd., 1926
£28.00

Small octavo. Pages: xx + 257. Original black cloth decorated in orange. Orange dustwrapper. Eight illustrations in colour, sixty-five in half-tone, and map. Good copy, though foxed throughout, in good binding lightly worn at head and tale of spine and with a little spotting. Dustwrapper discoloured and with wear and loss at corners and head and tail of spine.

[Masefield; Autograph Signature of Stopes in copy of ] The Collected Poems of John Masefield (London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1935).

Author: 
John Masefield [ Marie Stopes ]
Publication details: 
1935; Norbury Park.
£85.00

Marie Carmichael Stopes (1880-1958), British paleobotanist and eugenicist, influential advocate of birth control. Clean neat inscription on recto of front free endpaper reads 'Marie C. Stopes | Norbury Park | 1935'. The volume is in good condition, in a grubby dustwrapper worn at the head and tail of the spine. Pages 324-5 and 339 have been marked up in soft pencil.

[ Cuban slave trade, 1856. ] Document in Spanish, signed by both parties: 'D. Domingo Rodriguez' selling 'un negro nombrado Andres' to 'la Sra. Da. Conception de Velasco de la Forre' for 'cuatrocientos pesos'.

Author: 
[ Cuban slave trade, 1856 ]
Publication details: 
'Habana 28 de Octubre de 1856'. [ Havana, Cuba. 28 October 1856.]
£75.00

1p., folio. On aged and worn paper. In top right-hand corner: 'N. 4.' Twelve lines of text, followed by signatures 'Domingo Rodrigz.', 'Conception de Velasco de la Forre' and 'Pose Ma. de la Forre'. Begins: 'D. Domingo Rodriguez vende a la Sra. Da. Conception de Velasco de la Forre, un negro nombrado Andres de oficio calesero y cocinero [ by trade a coachman and cook ], sano y sin tachas [ healthy and without blemishes ]'.

[ Florence Warden ('Mrs. G. E. James'), novelist. ] Autograph Note Signed ('Florence James'), an invitation to dinner.

Author: 
Florence Warden [ 'Mrs. G. E. James', née Florence Alice Price ](1857-1929), novelist
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 21 Addison Road North, Kensington, W. [ London. ] 26 March 1889.
£45.00

On one side of a 9 x 11 cm piece of grey paper. In a minuscule hand, with the recipient's name has been scored through: 'Dear Mr. <?>, | Will you come to supper on Thursday? | Yours sincerely, | Florence James'.

[ Katherine Thomson ('Grace Wharton'), Victorian novelist and historian. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('K. Thomson') to an unnamed man, regarding the publication of a novel after 'the storm of adverse criticism is over'.

Author: 
Katherine Thomson ('Grace Wharton') [ née Katherine Byerley; Mrs A. T. Thomson ] (1797-1862), Victorian novelist and historian
Publication details: 
37 <Sheffield?> Road, Derby. 4 December [ 1861 ].
£56.00

4pp., 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly-aged. She assumes that her work ('Celebrated Friendships', 1861), 'published with Messrs Hogg', has attracted his attention. 'Now about my novel, about which you have been very kind. Till the storm of adverse criticism is over, I think it will be much better to delay the work. Any notice it may have, will be cursory, & slight.' She wishes to postpone publication: 'My name will not appear in any book next year, that I know of, at present.' She will be in Derby for a few days, and will be happy to hear from him.

[ Printed pamphlet. ] The Official Programme of The Tercentenary Festival of the Birth of Shakespeare, To be held at Stratford-upon-Avon, Commencing on Saturday, April 23, 1864. Also, An Account of what is known of the Poet's Life; [...].

Author: 
[ By order of the Committee, The Tercentenary Festival of the Birth of Shakespeare, 1864 ]
Publication details: 
At London: Imprinted for Cassell, Petter, & Galpin, at the Belle Sauvage, in Ludgate-hill, near Paules Church-yard. 1864.
£80.00

The full subtitle reads: 'Also, An Account of what is known of the Poet's Life: a Guide to the Town and Neighbourhood of Stratford-upon-Avon And sundrie other matters just now of publicke interest relating thereto.' 96pp., 8vo. In red printed wraps. Pp.79-96 carry advertisements, as do the wraps, and there is also a leaf of advertisements on red paper inserted at rear. Aged and spotted, in brittle and worn wraps with slight loss to extremities. Illustrations in text. At head of front cover: 'Published under the Authority of the Committee.' Several copies on COPAC, but now uncommon.

[ Charlotte Yonge, novelist. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('C M Yonge') to a 'Mr Moberley', regarding a catalogue (of farming machinery?) he has sent her.

Author: 
Charlotte Yonge [ Charlotte Mary Yonge ] (1823-1902), Victorian novelist
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Elderfield, Otterbourne, Winchester. 17 June [ no year ].
£50.00

1p., 12mo. On grey paper with mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged and ruckled. She is 'much obliged for the Catalogue', and hopes 'to make good use of it, when I have had a consultation with my brother and a neighbour or two who may like to combine in a parcel'.

[ Emilia, Lady Dilke. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Emilia F. S. Dilke') to 'Mrs Lewis', on topics including an article in 'The World', 'Mr Whitmore', 'Mrs Jay' and the Dilkes' 'island'.

Author: 
Emilia, Lady Dilke [ born Emily Francis Strong ] (1840-1904), feminist and trades unionist, wife, first of Oxford academic Mark Pattison (1813-84), and then of Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke (1843-1911)
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Dockett Eddy, by Shepperton, Middlesex. 26 June 1890.
£90.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. She begins with criticism of an article 'which has also appeared in the "World", which she is sure 'will vex Mr Whitmore'. She assures Mrs Lewis that no-one will suspect her of involvement, and thanks her for having 'secured the valuable services of Mrs Jay for Park Walk [...] Her playing has been invaluable to us [...] I want to ask her to come on our sub-committee'. She would like Mrs Lewis and her daughter to 'come down & dine & sleep on our island!', the Thames running under the house's verandah.

[ Marie Corelli, novelist. ] Autograph signature.

Author: 
Marie Corelli (1855-1924), British novelist
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£23.00

A good, firm signature on the reverse of an 8vo endpaper removed from a book. In good condition, lightly-aged. Reads simply: 'Marie Corelli'.

[ Florence Marryat, author and actress. ] Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Florence Marryat (1833-1899), English author and actress, daughter of the novelist Captain Frederick Marryat (1792-1848)
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£25.00

Good, firm signature, on 5.5 x 14.5 cm piece of paper. In good condition, lightly aged, on card backing bearing traces of mount on reverse. Reads simply: 'Florence Marryat.'

[ Mrs Humphry Ward, English novelist. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Mary A. Ward') to 'My dear Violet'

Author: 
Mrs Humphry Ward [ Mary Augusta Ward, neé Arnold ] (1851-1920), English novelist, born in Tasmania
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Stocks, Tring. 12 March 1895.
£38.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. She apologises for the delay in writing, explaining: 'my hand has been dreadfully lame, & I have no secretary'. She explains that she has spoken to 'Mr. Craufurd' regarding the cottage, but that there is 'an old lady here, the widow of a farmer, a certain Mrs. Mead, who is supposed by Mr. Craufurd to have a prior claim'. She discusses whether Mrs Mead truly wants the cottage, and the possibility of making alterations to it, ending with remembrances to the recipient's father and mother.

[Elizabeth Rundle Charles, Victorian author and hymn-writer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Bessie Charles') to 'Mrs Leader'

Author: 
Bessie Charles [ Elizabeth Rundle Charles ] (1828-1896), author of 'The Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family' (1862)
Publication details: 
7 Victoria Street, Westminster. 'Sunday' [no date].
£45.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. With mourning border. In fair condition, on lightly aged and ruckled paper. Declining a dinner invitation and expressing regret at not being able to call, being 'very much occupied'.

[Giuseppe 'Pino' Orioli, Florentine bookseller and companion of Norman Douglas.] Autograph Signature ('G. Orioli'), and Signed Autograph Inscription ('Pino') on title-leaf of his book 'Adventures of a Bookseller'.

Author: 
Giuseppe Orioli [Pino Orioli] (1884-1942), Italian bookseller, first publisher of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' by D. H. Lawrence, and close companion of the English novelist Norman Douglas
Publication details: 
The inscription is dated 'Florence day of publication', the book being published in Florence in 1937.
£150.00

Only the prelims of the book are present, on four leaves. In fair condition, on aged paper, with slight damage at the margin of the first leaf. Orioli's two inscriptions are on the two central leaves. Comprising a leaf with series title ('The Lungarno Series No. 12'); leaf with half-title and limitation (no 5 of 300) on reverse, signed 'G. Orioli'; title leaf; and contents leaf. The inscription on the title reads: 'This is for Barbara and Raphael | with love and affection | from Pino [Orioli] | Florence day of publication'.

[British House of Commons private members bill.] Women's Disabilities. A Bill To remove certain legal disabilities of women. Presented by Dr. Summerskill, supported by Mr. Janner and Dr. King.

Author: 
[Women's Disabilities Bill (British House of Commons private members bill, 1952); Parliamentary paper; Edith Summerskill, Labour politician and feminist; Greville Janner; Horace Maybray King]
Publication details: 
Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 19 November 1952. London: Printed and published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
£80.00

5 + [1]pp., 8vo. In fair condition, aged and lightly-worn, with slightly rusted staples and rust stain from paperclip. Scarce: the only actual copy on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat at the LSE in London.

[Catherine Hutton, novelist.] Three Autograph Letters Signed to Birmingham bookseller James Belcher, discussing in moving terms her nursing of her elderly parents, her plans for a future book ('my incipient Queens') and 'Dr. Hutton's bust'.

Author: 
Catherine Hutton (1756-1846), English novelist and letter-writer, daughter of the Birmingham bookseller and local historian William Hutton (1723-1815) [James Belcher, junior, Birmingham bookseller]
Publication details: 
ONE: No place; 4 December 1821. TWO: Bennett's Hill; 21 January 1827. THREE: 'Saturday Morn.'
£1,350.00

All three items in good condition, on lightly aged paper. ONE: 4 December 1821. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. The letter, which concerns her plans for a book, begins: 'My dear Sir | In consequence of your opinion, I send a prospectus for Mr. Dawes [the critic Manassah Dawes (d.1829)?], which you will have the goodness to forward at a proper opportunity. But for this opinion, I should not have had the courage to apply to him, though the refusal of two persons ought not to prevent the application to a third. Nothing in my opinion could have been more certain than the subscriptions of Mr.

Printed petition endorsing the registration of midwives, headed 'Private and Confidential.] [Provisional. The Midwives' Institute.' Completed in manuscript with names, addresses and sums pledged.

Author: 
Angela Frances Mary Wigram [née Vaughan], Lady Fitzwygram (d.1935) [The Midwives' Institute, London, founded 1881]
Publication details: 
[London, 1891.]
£150.00

1p., foolscap 8vo. In good conditiion, on lightly-aged paper, with ancient price on blank reverse. The printed text reads: 'Whereas, the Lives of Mothers are daily sacrificed by the action of ignorant persons, who can at present undertake the duties of a Midwife without let or hindrance, although this calling requires careful training and guarantees of efficiency: | The Midwives' Institute has been constituted to deal effectively with this matter by procuring the introduction and passing of an Act, which the British Medical Journal states is the only remedy against the existing evils.

[Printed book.] Lavender Harvest.

Author: 
Constance Farmar [The Cayme Press, Kensington, owned by Humphrey Toulmin (1893-1971)]
Publication details: 
Printed at the Cayme Press, Kensington. 1926.
£120.00

50pp., 12mo. In light-blue boards, with white label on front board carrying title and illustration of sickle with sheaves of lavender. Internally good, on lightly-aged paper, in worn and aged boards. Uncommon: only three copies on COPAC (British Library, Oxford and National Library of Scotland), with a further four in American institutions on WorldCat. Farmar's only other book appears to have been 'Castles in Spain' (1907). She also produced the lyrics to a song titled 'Bluebell-time', with music by Ruby Holland.

[Dinah Maria Craik, Victorian novelist, author of 'John Halifax, Gentleman'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('D M Craik') to 'Mrs Western', regarding the taking-in of 'Isabel' and an outbreak of scarlet fever.

Author: 
Dinah Maria Craik [née Mulock] (1826-1887), novelist, best-known for 'John Halifax, Gentleman' (1856)
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The Corner House, Shortlands, Kent. 12 September 1882.
£90.00

4pp., 16mo. Bifolium. 57 lines of closely-written text. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. She begins by exclaiming 'I have been so very sorry for you!', before urging her correspondent to 'keep quarantine'. 'But about Isabel? [...] I would gladly take her to stay here as I have done beforetime - but there are some impediments - we must have complete separation between our house & yours - Mr Harris's dread is indescribable - he lost his wife & (I think) two sisters with scarlet fever. I think they wd.

[John Brough Taylor, antiquary and editor.] Autograph Letter Signed (John Taylor Jr') to the Durham antiquary Robert Surtees

Author: 
John Taylor [John Brough Taylor] (d.1824), antiquary and editor [Robert Surtees (1779-1834), antiquary and historian of his native Durham]
Publication details: 
10 Birchin Lane, London; 21 January 1822.
£120.00

4pp., 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Addressed, with postmarks and red wax seal, on reverse of first leaf 'To | Rob. Surtees, Esq | Mainsforth | Rushyford | Durham.' A long letter, closely and neatly written, and filled with genealogical information.

[Dr Helen Holme Bancroft, Oxford agricultural botanist.] Three Autograph Letters Signed to 'Dr. Francis', regarding 'the difficulties of archaeological research at Southend' and palaeobotany.

Author: 
Dr Helen Holme Bancroft ['Nellie Bancroft'] (b.1887), Reader in Agricultural Botany, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Publication details: 
Two from the School of Rural Economy, University of Oxford (one on letterhead), and one from 5 St Edward's Passage, Cambridge. All dating from 1930.
£90.00

All three items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Letter One: School of Rural Economy, Oxford. 18 August 1930. 2pp., 4to. She sympathises with 'the difficulties of archaeological research at Southend [...] for I know only too well how the people who hold the ultimate strings can "do one down" when their interests don't happen to coincide with one's own'. She recalls that in 1913 she 'put in a lot of time on some fossils for the B.M. - they turned out to be pieces of fossilised timber; & because the Keeper of the Palaeobotanical Dept.

Autograph Letter Signed from the English poet Eliza Cook, sending what she describes as a 'specimen' of her 'pothooks' and hangers': a holograph poem titled 'Impromptu on being told the death of my Mother would leave a scar on my heart'.

Author: 
Eliza Cook (1818-1889), English poet and Chartist, close friend of the American actress Charlotte Cushman
Cook
Publication details: 
9 Gloucester Buildings, Old Kent Road [London]. 11 December 1845.
£100.00
Cook

2pp., 4to. Bifolium. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with minor evidence of previous mounting. Apparently addressing an autograph hunter, she writes: 'I beg to forward you a specimen of my "pothooks and hangers" trusting you will "admire" if you honestly can. Believe I have pleasure in gratifying your request and am with truth my dear | Ever yours faithfully | Eliza Cook'. The poem, also signed 'Eliza Cook', is four lines long, beginning 'That stroke indeed would deeply gash'. There is no indication that the poem was published.

Typed Letter Signed ('Ballantrae') from Lord Ballantrae [Brigadier Bernard Edward Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae] to Antony Brett-James of Sandhurst, on topics including his editing of 'The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes' and his wife's death.

Author: 
Brigadier Bernard Edward Fergusson (1911-1980), Baron Ballantrae [Lord Ballantrae], military historian and Governor-General of New Zealand [Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), lecturer at Sandhurst]
Publication details: 
On his letterhead, Auchairne, Ballantrae, Ayrshire. 29 March 1980.
£120.00

1p., 4to. 30 typed lines, with the last two lines in autograph. In good condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Brett-James is addressed as 'Head of Department, War Studies & International Affairs, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Hayward') from the essayist and translator Abraham Hayward to the editor of the Athenaeum Charles Wentworth Dilke, regarding a delayed communication, a 'd[amne]d foreigner', and payment for a female contributor.

Author: 
Abraham Hayward (1801-1884), English essayist and translator [Charles Wentworth Dilke (1789-1864), editor of the Athenaeum]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. 'Monday' [no date].
£80.00

1p., 4to. Addressed on reverse, with red wax seal, to 'C. W. Dilke Esq:'. Hayward writes that he is enclosing a note (not present), which was sent to him 'in one to me received only today though apparently written on Wednesday last. A d - d foreigner kept it in his pocket in the interim.' Clearly referring to a fee for an article, he continues: 'The lady will be quite satisfied with what you name, but I suppose it may stand over till she does something else'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. Powell-Cotton') from Antoinette Powell-Cotton, discussing the 'specimens from Angola' in her father Major P. H. G. Powell-Cotton's collection (the Quex Museum at Birchington) with the anthropologist J. H. Driberg.

Author: 
Antoinette Powell-Cotton (1913-1997), daughter of Major P. H. G. Powell-Cotton (1866-1940), founder of the Quex Museum, Birchington, Kent [Jack Herbert Driberg (1888-1946), social anthropologist]
Publication details: 
25 Craven Road, London, W2. 29 January [1930s].
£65.00

Antoinette (Tony) Powell-Cotton was the daughter of Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton (1866-1940), explorer, naturalist, founder in 1896 of the Quex Museum (the Powell-Cotton collection), at Birchington, Kent. 3pp., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with a couple of minor damp stains to the first leaf of two. She writes that her family have just spoken to Professor Herskovits [the American anthropologist Melville Jean Herskovits (1895-1963)], 'and he gave us a message that you would like to see our specimens from Angola'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Louisa Parr') from the Victorian novelist Mrs Louisa Sarah Ann Parr (pseudonym 'Mrs. Olinthus Lobb'), regarding the translation into French by the neice of the unnamed female recipient of her novel 'Dorothy Fox'.

Author: 
Louisa Sarah Ann Parr [née Taylor] (c.1848-1903), Victorian novelist under the pseudonym 'Mrs. Olinthus Lobb'
Publication details: 
18 Upper Phillimore Place, Kensington. 27 July 1872.
£40.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium, with leaf dimensions 18 x 11cm. The letter appears complete, in good condition on lightly-aged paper, but a rectangle of about 5.5 x 11cm. (perhaps carrying the recipient's name) has been torn from the bottom of the second leaf.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Edward A Freeman') from the historian and politician Edward Augustus Freeman to the Staffordshire antiquary Rupert Simms, correcting his list of Freeman's books for Simms's 'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis'.

Author: 
Edward Augustus Freeman (1823-1892), English historian and Liberal politician [Rupert Simms (1853-1937), bookseller and Staffordshire antiquary
Publication details: 
Somerlease, Wells. 23 February 1884.
£130.00

Freeman's letter is on the last of five folio pages, each on a separate leaf, sent to him by Simms, giving, for correction, the proposed entry on Freeman in the future 'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis'. In fair condition, on aged paper. On the first page Simms has given a brief biographical description of Freeman; the middle three pages comprise a numbered list of twenty-three of Freeman's books, with dates, and the last page carries a rather optimistic request by Simms for information regarding 'Contribution to Periodicals, Magazines, &c. Giving Number a year of Serial - Pages occuppied - &c'.

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