THE

Autograph Letter Signed from the satirist Percival Leigh to 'My dear Brooks' [fellow 'Punch' contributor Shirley Brooks], regarding his writing, the nature of the joke, the unsuitability of his Hampshire surroundings to literature, and other matters.

Author: 
Percival Leigh (1813–1889), satirist, the first writer to carve his name into the 'Punch' table [Charles William Shirley Brooks (1816-1874), editor of 'Punch' from 1870 to his death]
Publication details: 
Shirley Warren, near Southampton. 28 July 1865.
£120.00

4pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He considers the cut excellent, and is grateful to Brooks for having 'managed so well' with his article. 'Many such an article of mine has been sacrificed, though absolutely a pretty good one, and comparatively to that which stood in its place, superexcellent. But such is my luck. By the by, don't measure the quantity of all that I do by what appeareth.' He reports that 'Fred is much amused with the verses on the Queen's first baby. I said that there are two men here besides himself who understand a joke.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Conroy') from Sir John Conroy, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, to 'Mr. Sclater', regarding the election of Sclater's son to the Athenaeum, London.

Author: 
Sir John Conroy (1845-1900), 3rd Bart, chemist, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford [Athenaeum, London; Sclater]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Balliol College, Oxford. 7 June 1899.
£32.00

2pp., 16mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Docketed at head of first page: 'Sir John Conroy Bt | Fellow Balliol Coll.' He regrets that he cannot 'do London either on the 12: or before that day', and so will not be able to 'help in any way about your Son's election at the Athenaeum'. He concludes: 'I trust it will go all right.'

'Box Office Return' for a production of 'She Stoops to Conquer' at 'The Arts Theatre Club Festival of International Comedy and Drama', filled in by hand on printed form by Mary Pupley, Box Office Keeper.

Author: 
The Arts Theatre Club, London [Mary Pupley, Box Office Keeper]
Publication details: 
The Arts Theatre Club, London. 1 May 1949.
£65.00

1p., 4to. On aged and lightly-creased paper. Giving breakdowns for different seats in matinee and evening productions, as well as for programmes, with the number of complimentary tickets. The Arts Theatre Club was founded in 1927, 'in an attractive building in Great Newport-street shaped somewhat like the House of Commons' (Times, 9 May 1927). On its relaunch in 1933, its stated aim was 'to select plays of theatrical merit [...] with an entire disregard for their commercial possibilities' (Times, 18 December 1933).

Decorative title-leaf of the sheet music of 'Lucy Neal, Sung with rapturous applause by Messrs. Sweeney and Barlow, in their vocal delineations of Nigger Life, and by the Ethiopian Serenaders, arranged and partly composed by Edward Clare.'

Author: 
Edward Clare [The Ethiopian Serenaders; Blackface; Minstrel Show]
Lucy
Publication details: 
'London, Published by R. COCKS & CO. 6, New Burlington Street.' [1840s.]
£120.00
Lucy

A loose 8vo leaf, roughly 26.5 x 19.5cm. In fair condition, on aged paper, with the edges strengthened with cream paper strips. The cover is decoratively printed, in a variety of types and point sizes. Priced at two shillings, and stated to be entered at Stationers' Hall. At the foot of the page, in capitals: 'The present arrangement is copyright; and the only correct edition of this beautiful negro melody in which the words are faithfully true to the original story, so popular among the negros [sic] in Alabama.' The reverse carries the beginning of the song, by 'Edwd.

Nine Autograph Letters Signed from the poet Herbert Palmer to Rev. Harry Escott of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, editing a book of Escott's poetry, discussing Christian verse, and attacking T. S. Eliot, the Faber poets and modernism.

Author: 
Herbert Palmer [Herbert Edward Palmer] (1880-1961), English poet and critic [Rev. Harry Escott (1905-1987), MA, Congregational Minister at Rhynie, Aberdeenshire]
Publication details: 
All from 22 Batchwood View, St Albans, Hertfordshire. One from 1938, two from 1942, one from 1943, and the rest undated.
£280.00

Totalling 36pp., 4to. In fair condition, bound by Escott with brown paper into paper wraps, with the front wrap signed by Escott and bearing the typed label 'LETTERS from HERBERT PALMER on "Minstrels of Christ" and my second book of verse "Soar for Victory", amended in February 1948 to "Back to the Fountain."' An interesting correspondence, casting light on the workings of the mid-twentieth century publishing industry, from the point of view of a successful traditional poet strongly opposed to modernism.

Printed handbill address by James Haughton Langston to the 'Freemen of the City of Oxford.'

Author: 
James Haughton Langston (1796-1863) of Sarsden House, Chipping Norton, Whig MP for New Woodstock, 1820-1826, and for Oxford, 1826-1834 and 1841-1863
Publication details: 
[Oxford, 1832?]
£60.00

1p., 4to. Worn and aged. The item has been laid down and cropped to 23 x 19.5cm, with only the top part of Langston's surname is present at the bottom of the leaf. In heavily-inked type. The item reads: 'FREEMEN | OF THE | City of Oxford. | Gentlemen, | I want words to express my acknowledgements to you for your generous conduct towards me this day; and I am proud to find, that the longer the Contest continues the better I stand on the Poll.

Autograph Letter Signed from the writer Robert Innes-Smith, friend of British Union of Fascists leader Sir Oswald Mosley, to James Royston Clark, tried for treason at end of war as 'Number Two' broadcaster in Berlin to 'Lord Haw Haw' [William Joyce].

Author: 
Robert Innes-Smith, friend of Sir Oswald Mosley [British Union of Fascists; James Royston Clark (b.1923), son of Dorothy Eckersley, 'Number Two' to Nazi collaborator 'Lord Haw Haw', William Joyce]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The Old Vicarage, Swinburne Street, Derby. 20 March 2000.
£180.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He begins by enquiring whether the recipient is 'the J. R. Clark who appeared recently on TV', whom he 'would love to meet'. 'In 1934 my two aunts were in Germany and wrote letters home. They were keen Nazis and my older aunt met Goering & Goebbles. My grandparents and younger aunt were given luncheon by the Mussolinis when in Rome.' He was 'rivetted' by the television programme, as he was 'transcribing the letters sent to their mother by my aunts when the programme was broadcast'.

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'.

[Children's book by Darton and Harvey] The Voyages and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe: who was Shipwrecked on the Coast of America, and cast ashore on an uninhabited Island, where he resided twenty-eight years. Written by himself.

Author: 
[Daniel Defoe; Darton and Harvey, London children's booksellers and publishers; Joseph Rickerby, Printer, Sherbourn Lane]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for Darton and Harvey, Gracechurch-street. 1837. [London: Joseph Rickerby, Printer, Sherbourn-lane.]
£250.00

45 + [ii] pp. Frontispiece. Two pages of advertisements of the firm's books at end. In original pink printed boards with further advertisements for the firm on back. Lightly-aged in worn boards with wear to spine. Scarce: no copy of this 1837 Darton & Harvey edition on COPAC, which lists only four copies by them alone: one from 1831 (NLS), two from 1834 (TCD and Bodleian), and one from 1838 (V&A). This title does not feature in Linda David's catalogue of the 1992 Lilly Library exhibition of 'Children's books published by William Darton and his sons'.

25 items of printed ephemera relating to The British Weleda Co. Ltd., suppliers of Anthroposophic medicines developed by Rudolf Steiner and Dr Ita Wegman, including handbills and issues of 'Weleda News'. With 3 items about the Wala Association Ltd.

Author: 
[The British Weleda Co. Ltd., suppliers of Anthroposophic medicines [Wala Association Ltd, East Grinstead; Rudolf Steiner; Dr Ita Wegman]
Publication details: 
The 28 items dating from between 1938 and 1958: the 25 Weleda items from 24 Crawford St, London W1, and The Chantry, Fladbury, Worcestershire; the 3 Wala items from 15 Moat Road, East Grinstead, Sussex.
£150.00

From the papers of Major Reginald Kersey Green and his son the nuclear physicist Robert Kersey Green. The magazines are mostly in 4to, and the advertisements mostly in 12mo. Printed in a variety of styles on a range of different coloured papers, with illustrations and photographs. In good condition, on aged paper, except for one heavily-stained item, and another with light staining to back wrap. Comprising: ONE. 'The Weleda Journal' ('Gratis to all interested in the Weleda'), No. 1, September 1938.

[Printed handbill.] Life History of Harold Pyott (The English Midget). Tom Thumb the Second. The Smallest Adult Human Being in Existence.' Including a copy of his birth certificate.

Author: 
Harold Pyott ['Tiny Tim'] (1887-1937) of Stockport, 'The English Midget' and 'Britain's smallest man'
Publication details: 
Undated [Edwardian].
£120.00

4pp., 16mo (11 x 16.5 cm). Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Appropriately brief and dimutive biography (35 lines), describing Piyott (erroneously) as 'undoubtedly the smallest adult human being ever known to live'. Followed by 'Copy of Birth Certificate of the Smallest Man on Earth' in type. The latest dated event in the biography is a tour by Pyott 'through the whole of South Africa during 1903-4'. Pyott stood 23ins and weighed 24lbs, and is said to have been carried around Edgeley Park during Stockport County home matches in the palm of a man's hand.

Original photograph of the 'First group of boys for Canada from the Hampton Home' [the Hampton Training Home for boys], run by Joseph Merry and his wife Rachel Merry (sister of Annie Macpherson), with George Thom.

Author: 
[The Hampton Training Home for boys [Hampton Home]; George Thom; Joseph Merry and his wife Rachel Merry (sister of Annie Macpherson [Annie Parlane Macpherson]); Home of Industry; Canadian emigration]
Publication details: 
Circa 1870.
£280.00

Landscape photograph, 19.5 x 14.5 cm, laid down on a piece of thin card cut from an album, 18 x 21 cm. Around sixty boys are posed in four rows in front of a grand house, with two masters to the right and two to the left, and with a fifth in the centre of the group. The group are surprisingly fat-faced, posing sulkily in jackets, with some waistcoats and tam o'shanters. Five more boys look out of a downstairs window, three from an upstairs window, and one peeks out from behind the front door.

Mimeographed typed list of amendments to the articles of the Dar es Salaam Club, with proxy voting slip and amendment slip

Author: 
Dar es Salaam Club, Tanzania [Forodhani Hotel Training Institute; Court of Appeal building; Evelyn Waugh; Tanganyika]
Publication details: 
[Forodhani Hotel Training Institute, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.] Undated.
£90.00

In fair condition, on aged and creased paper. Comprising seven folio pages, each in two columns: 'Existing Articles' on the left, and 'Proposed Amended Articles' on the right. These seven pages are each on separate leaves, and all stapled to a proxy voting slip (not filled in) and an amendment slip. The Dar es Salaam Club, 'solidly built with much fine joinery in dark African timber and heavy brass fittings on doors and windows', was housed in what became the Forodhani Hotel Training Institute building, Dar es Salaam.

Mimeographed printed notice to Fellows of the British Interplanetary Society by Arthur C. Clarke, as 'A.C. CLARKE, Chairman of the Council', regarding a reorganization of the Society's finances at a 'vital period in the development of astronautics'.

Author: 
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer and Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society, 1946-7 and 1951-3
Publication details: 
The British Interplanetary Society, 'Secretarial address: 157, Friary Road, London, S.E.15.' 1 July 1947.
£50.00

1p., 8vo. A fragile piece of ephemera, on aged paper, with wear at head (not affecting text). The notice begins: 'For several months past the Council has had under consideration the question of the Society's finances since it has become apparent that our annual income is insufficient to ensure a continuous and regular flow of publications.' References follow to 'donations from private members', an 'enforced summer recess', 'the acquisition of library shelves, desks and other fittings'. Two reasons are given in justification of the doubling of the 'Fellowship subscription'.

[Printed handbill.] A County Court Judge on the Lawlessness of the Forces of the Crown in Ireland. County Court Judge Bodkin, K.C., at the conclusion of the Ennis (County Clare) Quarter Sessions on February 5, 1921, made a grave statement [...]

Author: 
[M. McDonnell Bodkin, County Court Judge for County Clare; Sir Hamar Greenwood, Chief Secretary for Ireland; the Peace With Ireland Council; the Black and Tans]
Publication details: 
'Reprinted from the Manchester Guardian of February 7, 1921.' Published by the Peace with Ireland Council, 30 Queen Anne's Chambers, London, S.W.1. Printed by the Caledonian Press Ltd. (T. U.), 74 Swinton Street, London, W.C.1.
£95.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Fair, on aged high-acidity paper. Drophead title, with the second part reading in its entirety: 'County Court Judge Bodkin, K.C., at the conclusion of the Ennis (County Clare) Quarter Sessions on February 5, 1921, made a grave statement as to the violence committed by the forces of the Crown in Ireland, in the following words: -'. The article reprints a report by Bodkin to the Rt Hon.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Phil. R. Morris') from the marine artist Philip R. Morris [to S. C. Hall], discussing his difficulty in finding someone to propose him for the Royal Academy.

Author: 
Philip R. Morris [Philip Richard Morris] (1836-1902), English genre and marine artist [S. C. Hall [Samuel Carter Hall] (1800-1889), Anglo-Irish editor of the Art Journal; Royal Academy of Arts]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Junior Athenaeum Club, Piccadilly. 30 January 1874.
£60.00

4pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He gives his 'best thanks' for his correspondent's 'watchful kindness'. As his 'acquaintance with Academicians is very limited', he has 'not yet solicited any one to propose me at the R.A.', and he 'would gladly accept Mr. E. M. Ward's obliging offer - and think Mr. G. D. Leslie or Mr Dobson would second me'. He made 'such a mistake' the previous evening, by going to the Vestry Hall, Chelsea. He found, 'on reading the circular again how I had erred'.

Autograph Letter in the third person from Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, sending money for 'Mr. Mauld' to give to a 'young lady'.

Author: 
Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865), English artist and President of the Royal Academy
Publication details: 
7 Fitzroy Square, London. 28 October 1850.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, with slight discolouration from glue. Reads: 'Mr Eastlake presents his compliments to Mr. Mauld & begs to enclose a half sovereign for the young lady on whose behalf Mr. Mauld has applied to him. | 7. Fitzroy Square | Octr. 28. 1850.'

Autograph Note in the third person from Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, painter and President of the Royal Academy, to 'Mr Whitaker', giving ''Mr Millais' address'.

Author: 
Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865), English artist and President of the Royal Academy [Sir John Everett Millais]
Publication details: 
7 Fitzroy Square, London. 5 February 1863.
£65.00

1p., 12mo. Good, with the blank second leaf of the bifolium having slight staining from mount, and having laid down on it a newspaper cutting headed 'DEATH OF SIR C. EASTLAKE', docketd 'E & T Dec 26/65'. The note reads: 'Sir Chas Eastlake presents his compts. to Mr Whitaker & begs to inform him that Mr Millais' address is No. 7. Cromwell Place | Kensington. S.W. | 7. Fitzroy Sqr. (London) | Feby 5 1863.'

Eighty-eight issues of the fortnightly magazine 'The Messenger of Wisdom and Israel's Guide.', with two volumes of its continuation, 'The Pioneer of Wisdom. A Newspaper Devoted to the Ingathering and Restoration of Israel.'

Author: 
'Edited by Jezreel' [The New and Latter House of Israel, New Brompton, Kent, England; James Jershom Jezreel [James Roland White] (c.1851-1885); Jezreel's Tower, Gillingham, Kent; the Jezreelites]
Publication details: 
Printed and published by The New and Latter House of Israel, New Brompton, Kent. Dating from 1887-1933, and comprising: Vol.1, 7 issues,1887-1889; Vol.2, 78 issues, 1890-1892; Vol.3, 3 issues, all 1893; Vol.18, 1 issue, 1914; Vol.27, 1 issue, 1933.
£1,250.00

An excessively scarce run of issues of the organ of the Jezreelite sect, founded by James Jershom Jezreel (real name James Roland White), under the inspiration of Joanna Southcott and John Wroe, and most famous for the unfinished construction of 'Jezreel's Tower' in Gillingham, Kent. For more information see P. J. Rogers, 'The Sixth Trumpeter' (OUP, 1963). The ninety issues in this incomplete run contain a variety of articles and poems in the same declamatory and horatory style.

Autograph Letter Signed from Charles Gilpin, Liberal MP for Northampton, to James Wyld, MP for Bodmin, putting the position of the Poor Board in the case of 'Mr Mayall', Relieving Officer.

Author: 
Charles Gilpin (1815-1874), Liberal MP for Northampton and Quaker [James Wyld (1812-1887), MP for Bodmin and cartographer; Poor Board, Whitehall]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Poor Board, Whitehall. 31 October 1860.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. 25 lines. Fair, on aged paper, with a few ink spots caused by clumsy blotting. He has 'gone through the papers referring to the case' in which Wyld is 'kindly interested', and finds 'that the decision of the Board is in accordance with its uniform rule in similiar cases. | Mr. Mayall received his appointment as Relieving Officer on the express stipulation that he should reside in Bodmin'. Mayall's 'removal would have been objected to by this Board without any adverse representation from Guardians of the District'.

Long telegram to the British Legation in Reykjavik [from the Home Office in Whitehall] instructing them on position to take with the press depending on the result of the impending 'GERMAN AIROFFENSIVE CONTRABRITAIN' [i.e. the Blitz].

Author: 
[The British Legation, Reykjavik, Iceland; Icelandic; The Blitz, 1940; Rev. Dr John Charles Fulton Hood (1884-1964), editor of 'The Midnight Sun' newspaper]
Publication details: 
On 'Landssimi Islands' telegram form. From London to 'PRODROME REYKJAVIK' on 19 August 1940.
£320.00

From the papers of Rev. J. C. Fulton Hood who, having been Chief Chaplain British Forces in Norway in 1940, worked in Iceland between 1940 and 1941. A pencil note on the telegram (see below) refers to 'The Midnight Sun', the troops’ newspaper in Norway and Iceland which Hood founded and edited. He was made a Knight of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon in 1949. The telegram is in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, and bears an oval blue 'LANDSSIMINN' stamp. It is headed 'PRESSE PRODROME REYKJAVIK' ('Prodrome, Reykjavik' being the British Icelandic Legation's telegraph address).

47 Autograph Letters Signed, 3 Typed Letters Signed and 3 Autograph Cards Signed, from the author 'Charles Inge' [Captain Charles Inge Gardiner] to his literary agent

Author: 
Captain Charles Inge Gardiner, author, under the pseudonym 'Charles Inge', of six books between 1905 ('A North Sea Agony') and 1920 ('Flashes of London') [J. B. Pinker [James Brand Pinker] (1863-1922
Publication details: 
Written from London, York, Brighton, Windsor and other places in England between 1904 and 1920.
£350.00

An interesting correspondence by an author about whom little is known. The 54 items (including one TLS to Gardiner from Methuen & Co Ltd) are in fair condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Four letters are signed 'Chas. Inge' and the others 'Chas. I . Gardiner'. The earliest items (1904-1911) are on the letterhead of 'CHAS. I. GARDINER', Blenheim Mansions, Queen Anne's Gate, London; thereafter he moves to 9 Irving Mansions, Queen's Club Gardens, West Kensington, and thence, while serving in the First World War, to York.

Initialled corrected Autograph Copy by George Colman the Younger for his brother-in-law David Morris, of a letter [to S. J. Arnold?], written during Colman's chancery dispute with Morris, his business partner at the Haymarket Theatre, London.

Author: 
George Colman the Younger (1762-1836), English dramatist, joint-manager of the Haymarket Theatre, London, with Thomas Harris
Publication details: 
'7 March 1815 | Melina Place Westr Road'.
£180.00

1p., 4to. 31 lines. Fair, on aged paper. On paper with watermarked date of 1814. Initialled 'G. C.'; with the words 'Copy to Morris' in the top left-hand corner. Docketed on reverse 'Copy to Morris March 1815'. Colman writes that is is now his intention, 'as it ever has been, to use every effort in my power for the interest of the Theatre, by carrying on the business in the best manner that the continual obstacles opposed to my plans will permit'. He states that he is 'in treaty with various Performers for the approaching Summer'.

[Printed programme.] Scottish National War Memorial. Opening Ceremony by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, 14th July 1927, and Visit of Their Majesties The King and Queen.

Author: 
[Opening Ceremony of the Scottish National War Memorial, 1927]
Publication details: 
Caldwell Brotthers Limited, by Appointment Stationers to H. M. The King, Edinburgh. [1927.]
£150.00

15pp., 8vo. Pamphlet. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with rusting staple, and strip from mount adhering to margin of title. A change in the order of ceremony has been marked in red ink, and the section on the Seaforth Highlanders has been indicated in blue ink. From the papers of Regiment's Colonel, Maj.-Gen. Sir C. J. Mackenzie, KCB. A scarce piece of Scottish military ephemera: the only copies on COPAC and WorldCat are at Oxford and the National Library of Scotland.

Autograph Note Signed ('Gorman Mahon') from the Irish nationalist Charles James Patrick Mahon ['the O'Gorman Mahon'] to 'Monsieur Mermet'.

Author: 
Charles James Patrick Mahon [known as the O'Gorman Mahon or James Patrick Mahon] (1800-1891), Irish nationalist journalist, barrister, and Member of Parliament, a supporter of O'Connell and Parnell
Publication details: 
Hotel D<?> [Paris?]; 23 April 1832.
£220.00

1p., 12mo. On aged and creased paper, with the second leaf of the bifolium (the lower part of which is torn away) carrying the address 'A Monsr | Monsieur. Mermet'. Reads: 'My Dear Mermet | I trust this will find you sufficiently well to enable you to come over here immediately on receipt of this from your's [sic] | [signed] Gorman Mahon | Monday Morg | 10 oClock A M. | April 23, 1832. | Hotel D<?>'.

Copy of Two Typed Letters from the London publisher Martin Secker to the Scots-Canadian author Frederick Niven, the first asking for 'one more chance' to publish his work. With typed copies of two of Niven's replies, the first extremely critical.

Author: 
Frederick Niven [Frederick John Niven] (1878-1944), Scots-Canadian writer [Martin Secker [Percy Martin Secker Klingender] (1882-1978), London publisher; J. B. Pinker, literary agent]
Publication details: 
Secker: both from Number Five, John Street, Adelphi; 26 and 28 February 1913. Niven: both from Holmleigh, Church Hill, Loughton, Essex; 27 February and 2 March 1913.
£280.00

Sent by Niven to his literary agent J. B. Pinker, whose date stamp is on the first of Secker's letters. All four items in fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Secker's first letter: 1p., 4to. He begins by praising 'Denny's display' [a window display of Niven's work in Denny's bookshop in the Strand]: 'I am wondering whether you managed to get the photograph into any of the papers. Shall I send it to the Bookman?' He continues: 'The sales [of Niven's novel The Porcelain Lady] up to date amount to 434 in England.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Charles A. Elton') from Sir Charles Abraham Elton, to John Taylor, editor of the 'London Magazine', submitting a contribution on 'Homer's Battle of the Frogs and Mice' and discussing his own and other contributions.

Author: 
Sir Charles A. Elton [Sir Charles Abraham Elton; Sir C. A. Elton] (1778-1853), English army officer, author and translator [John Taylor (1781-1864), publisher and editor of the 'London Magazine']
Publication details: 
'Clifton [Bristol]. [August?] 16th.' [1821].
£180.00

2pp., 4to. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed by Elton, on reverse of second leaf, to 'John Taylor Esq.' (Taylor had assumed the editorship of the London Magazine on the death by duel of John Scott in February 1821.) Elton begins by informing Taylor that he has 'not been able yet to manage the Batrachomyomachia to my mind'. (Elton's translation of 'The Battle of the Frogs and Mice' would appear anonymously in the issue of October 1821, as the second of a series named 'Leisure Hours'.) He has instead 'sent some chit-chat to serve as an introduction'.

Typed Letters Signed from Frank E. Wright, President, and W. T. Adair, Vice President and General Manager, Syndicate Publishing Company, New York, to Sydney Walton (later Lloyd George's spin doctor), on his employment in the firm's London office.

Author: 
Frank E. Wright, President, Syndicate Publishing Company, New York; W. T. Adair, Vice President and General Manager [Sydney Walton (1882-1964), journalist and spin doctor]
Publication details: 
Both on letterheads of the Syndicate Publishing Company, New York. Adair's letter: 2 December 1914. Wright's letter: 30 March 1915.
£280.00

The letters provide a fascinating insight into the development of the transatlantic publishing industry. They are closely typed with single spacing, and both centre around Walton's employment situation and his complaints about the sending over from America of 'Mr. Russell', about whose 'absolute worthlessness to the business' he complains. Adair's letter: 2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper.

Autograph Letter Signed from John Streatfeild, Clerk in the Home Department, Whitehall, to William Hamilton, British Consul at the Port of Boulogne, concerning the Letters Patent granting Hamilton 'the Dignity of a Knight Bachelor'.

Author: 
John Streatfeild (1811-1883) of Sea Beach House, Eastbourne, Clerk at the Home Department, Whitehall [Sir William Hamilton (1788-1877), British Consul at the Port of Boulogne]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. 8 February 1873.
£80.00

2pp., 4to. On bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Wm. Hamilton Esq'. Streatfeild has received directions from 'Mr. Secretary Bruce' granting Hamilton 'the Dignity of a Knight Bachelor of the United Kingdom'. Hamilton is to place £96 14s 6d in Streatfeild's account at Drummond's Bank in Charing Cross, 'being the Account & the Expenses attending the passing of the Patent under the Great Seal'. Streatfeild will 'proceed with the Patent as soon as you inform me whether the enclosed is your proper description'.

[Printed pamphlet.] A New Art Teaching How to be Plucked, being A Treatise after the Fashion of Aristotle; Writ for the Use of Students in the Universities. To which is added, A Synopsis of Drinking. By Scriblerus Redivivus.

Author: 
'Scriblerus Redivivus' [Edward Caswall (1814-1878) of Brasenose College, Oxford; Anglican clergyman and hymn writer who converted to Roman Catholicism] [Joseph Vincent, Oxford bookseller and printer]
Publication details: 
Fourth Edition. Oxford: Printed and Published by J. Vincent; 1836.
£120.00

12mo: viii + 40pp. As a fold-out tipped-in onto p.23 is 'A Synopsis of Drinking, formed according to the Categories of Aristotle' (1p., folio); and following the text is a four-page catalogue of 'Books published by J. Vincent, Oxford; Whittaker and Co.; Simpkin and Marshall; and Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, London.' Side-stitched, in original grey printed wraps. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with small burn-hole to dogeared front wrap, which carries the ownership inscription of 'F. Saunders / Trin Coll'. A satire on the dissolute ways of the Oxford undergraduate.

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