THE

Note with Signature ('E Lockroy'), in French, to an unnamed male correspondent, probably written by a secretary.

Author: 
Édouard Lockroy (1838-1913), French left-wing politician; secretary to Ernest Renan; fought with Garibaldi; signed the proclamation for the election of the Paris Commune
Publication details: 
2 January 1882; on letterhead of the Chambre des Députés, Paris.
£28.00

12mo: 1 p. Text clear and entire, on aged and lightly-stained paper. Reads 'Cher ami. | Je vous envois une demande d'admission dans notre société, avec pièces à l'appui que je recommendre à tous vos soins. | Votre bien devoue. | [signed] E Lockroy'. Although attributed to Lockroy in a contemporary hand in pencil at the head of the letter, this document appears to be by a secretary, as the handwriting differs from his (see #6997).

Offprint titled 'Observations on the rearing, migration, transport, feeding, ages, and growth of eels. By Mons. Coste.'

Author: 
Jean Jacques Marie Cyprien Victor Coste (1807-1873) [eel fishing; eels; farming; farms; piscatory; angling; anglers]
Publication details: 
(From THE FIELD, June 19, 1858.)
£25.00

12mo bifolium: 4 pp. Printed on grey paper. Very good. Small print.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Lieutenant J. Longshaw, of His Majesty's Brig Tyrian [Ireland; Irish; textile; textiles; weaving]
Publication details: 
Tyrian July 3d. 1813 Spithead.'
£56.00

8vo: 1 p. Sixteen lines of text. The Tyrian arrived in Spithead the previous night 'with a Convoy', and the postal delay prevented him 'from fulfilling Mrs. P's Commission'. They 'remained three days in Ireland' and 'had a good passage there and Back': 'but as we may frequently have the trip, I shall keep it in Memory, I have bought over Two pieces. Enclosed are Patterns of Eight Yards each We call them Poplins, but these are Manufactured only at Dublin and by the Natives called '. States what he paid and sends respects. Docketed on reverse in a contemporary hand.

Autograph Note Signed ('Herman C. Merivale') to the London publisher Samuel French. With a printed subscription form, filled in by Merivale.

Author: 
Herman Charles Merivale (1839-1906), English playwright and novelist [victorian publisher Samuel French, of 89 The Strand, London; James Robinson Planché]
Publication details: 
Letter: 25 April 1879; on embossed letterhead of the Union Club, Brighton. Subscription form: undated.
£56.00

Letter: 12mo, 1 p. Grubby and stained. He 'did not mention the Planché-affair' in his letter of the day before. Asks for his name to be put down 'for a copy of the book' [French's edition of Planché's 'Extravaganzas']. The subscription form (12mo, 1 p), heavily worn and with loss to the extremities, is laid down on the reverse of the letter. On it Merivale gives his address as 'Barton Lodge, Kingston on Thames'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Alaric Watts') [to Mr Limbird?].

Author: 
Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts] (1797-1864), English journalist and poet [keepsakes; The Literary Souvenir]
Publication details: 
28 November 1828; 58 Torrington Square, London.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. On aged, creased apper, but with text clear and entire. A small piece of paper from a bottom corner has been torn away in opening the letter, and is still present on the reverse, under a red wax seal bearing a clear impression of a lyre and the words 'Addolcire ed Maturare'. Brief communication apologising for the fact that the Literary Souvenir has not reached him sooner. 'The omission is the sin of my booksellers and not mine'. He is sending a copy with the letter, and asks him to accept his thanks, 'for your courtesy'.

Autograph Note Signed.

Author: 
Beryl Bainbridge (b.1932), English novelist
Beryl Bainbridge.
Publication details: 
After 1975.
£28.00
Beryl Bainbridge.

On one side of a piece of paper, dimensions 19.5 x 21 cm. Lightly creased. Presumably in response to a request for an autograph. Reads 'Is there a life before Death? | (slogan chalked on wall in Northern Ireland, 1975) | Yours sincerely | [signed] Beryl Bainbridge.' Firm sprawling signature.

Telegram [from Pollock in German to his newspaper in S. Rhodesia] reporting on the Munich Agreement between Chamberlain and Hitler at Berchtesgaden.

Author: 
James Pollock, war correspondent [Adolf Hitler; Second World War; Rhodesia; Sudetenland; Munich Agreement]
Publication details: 
Stamped 'SALISBURY . S. RHODESIA | 28 SEP 38' [1938].
£56.00

On one side of an 8vo leaf. Worn and creased, but with text clear and entire. Printed in red ink, and headed 'POST OFFICE TELEGRAMS, S. RHODESIA.' Four strips of text, reading 'CHAMBERLAIN POINTS AT BERCHTESGADEN HITLER SAID THE SUDETENS MUST HAVE SELF DETERMINATION AND RETURN TO THE REICH IF THEY DESIRED AND THAT RATHER THAN WAIT HE WAS PREPARED TO RISK A WORLD WAR = END MESSAGE'. From the archive of James Pollock, accredited Correspondent of Argus South African Newspapers Ltd.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C R Hewitt') to Sewell Stokes.

Author: 
C. R. Hewitt (1901-1994) (Cecil Rolph Hewitt, who wrote under the pseudonym 'C. H. Rolph'), English policeman, journalist, editor and author [Francis Martin Sewell Stokes (1902-1979); G. W. Stonier]
Publication details: 
21 November 1957; 6 Liskeard Gardens, London, SE3, on New Statesman letterhead.
£45.00

8vo, 2 pp, 33 lines. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. An interesting letter, written by a former policeman to a former probation officer, on the subject of the latter's book 'Come to Prison: A Tour through British Prisons today' (Longmans, 1957), about which the former has written a negative review. Begins by praising Stokes' 'really generous letter, written at what cost in self-control I can only dimly imagine'. When Hewitt 'read the published review', he thought 'that it was still on the whole unfair'. 'I hate reviewing really, and am a bad reviewer.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'G. L. M. Strauss') to Edward Draper.

Author: 
Gustave Louis Maurice Strauss (c.1807-1887), Anglo-Canadian writer and journalist, nicknamed 'The Old Bohemian' [James Robinson Planché [Planche] (1796–1880), playwright and herald]
Publication details: 
1878, 1880 and 1885.
£100.00

Letter One (12mo, 1 p; on creased, aged paper with closed tear at head): date (1878) illegible, on letterhead of the 'Office of "Tinsleys' Magazine," | 8, Catherine Street, Strand, W.C.' A most unusual way of declining an invitation. He thanks Draper for his kindness and is 'truly grieved' that he 'cannot come to-day - I gave my boots a holiday yesterday, which they want to pass with a worthy cobbler.

Autograph Letter Signed ('James Knowles') to his friend and sister Emmeline's husband Henry Hewett.

Author: 
Sir James Knowles [Sir James Thomas Knowles] (1831-1908), architect and editor of 'The Contemporary Review' and 'The Nineteenth Century' [Henry Hewett; the Metaphysical Society; William George Pedder]
Publication details: 
1 April 1871; Hotel des Bains, Boulogne.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. In poor condition, creased and with frayed edges and a closed tear to the second leaf of the bifolium, to which there is also slight loss. Text clear and entire, apart from one word. Addressed to 'Dear old Boy' and 'old fellow', from 'Your <?> Brother'.

Five Autograph Letters Signed [all 'James Knowles'] to Hurd.

Author: 
Sir James Knowles [Sir James Thomas Knowles] (1831-1908), architect and editor of 'The Nineteenth Century' [Sir Archibald Hurd (1869-1959), writer on naval matters]
Publication details: 
Between 1898 and 1901; on letterhead of 'The Nineteenth Century'.
£145.00

All five items are 12mo, 1 p, and in good condition, with the text entirely legible, but with slight discoloration to the extremities and to the blank second leaves of four of the letters. Letter One (17 May 1898): Concerns a letter by Sir William White, regarding which Knowles has not written as 'it seemed to me there was nothing to write about - & I am compelled to write so many letters!' Knowles 'did not at all think that Sir W. White intended any disparaging reflection in your competence by saying that you were <?> not a man "technically trained in naval architecture" '.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'James Knowles') to 'Lord Stratford de Redcliffe'.

Author: 
Sir James Knowles [Sir James Thomas Knowles] (1831-1908), architect and editor of 'The Nineteenth Century' [Stratford Canning, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe (1786-1880), British diplomat]
Publication details: 
Letter One: 22 September 1877, Milton Villa, West Hill, St Leonards on Sea. Letter Two: 16 October 1877, on letterhead of the Reform Club, London.
£80.00

Both letters good, on lightly aged paper. Both items concern Canning's article on 'International Relations' in the October 1877 issue of 'The Nineteenth Century'. Letter One (12mo, 4 pages, bifolium with mourning border). Knowles hopes Canning has received the proof of the article from the publishers Spottiswoodes. A judicious bit of sycophancy follows.

Autograph Letter Signed to Edward Draper.

Author: 
Byron Webber, English novelist and journalist [The Sporting Gazette, London]
Publication details: 
15 September 1871; on letterhead of The Sporting Gazette, 135 Strand, London W.C.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. Text complete and legible, on grubby and creased paper. Trace of grey paper mount adhering to blank verso of second leaf of bifolium. Crude caricature of a man's face in top left-hand corner of first page. Draper 'bolted from the Club last night' - Webber can 'guess the cause' - 'thereby depriving the committee of the unit necessary to form a quorum'. Had he not done so 'Marks would have shown you the drawing which he had brought down, finished, for your inspection.' Webber will 'bring it with me to the Circle to-morrow.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L. P. Hobart-Hampden') to 'Miss <Caste?>'.

Author: 
Lucy Pauline Wright, afterwards the Hon. Mrs Charles Hobart-Hampden [Lucy Hobart-Hampden] (d. 1913), author of 'The Changed Cross'
Publication details: 
21 May 1889; Fonthill Cottage.
£20.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good. A bifolium, attached by a strip along the inner margin to a leaf removed from an autograph album, docketed 'Mrs. Hobart Hampden, Authoress of "The Changed Cross" '. Postscript written vertically across the upper part of the first page. Concerns a photograph of the recipient's mother: a 'sweet souvenir of such a rare & precious jewel as your dear & beautiful Mother; whom we feel it such a privelidge [sic] to see and to know'.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('W. Blanchard Jerrold') to 'Wm. <Raikes?> Esq'.

Author: 
William Blanchard Jerrold (1826-1884), English journalist and playwright
Publication details: 
30 June 1864; 11 Maddox Street, Regent Street, London.
£56.00

12mo: 2 pp. Very good. 'The Association for establishing depots of cheap food for the poor' has been formed, 'under the auspices of Lord Brougham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Sir John Villiers Shelley, and others,' and Jerrold asks whether Raikes would 'permit us to add your name to the list of patrons', a position which 'entails no pecuniary responsibility whatsoever.'

ACS ('Walter Emanuel') to Hammerton.

Author: 
Walter Emanuel [Sir John Alexander Hammerton (1871-1949), author and editor; The London Magazine; The Manchester Guardian; Punch magazine]
Publication details: 
28 November 1905; on letterhead of 89 Ladbroke Grove, W.
£25.00

Dimensions of card roughly 8.5 x 11 cm. Good, with slight creasing. Twenty lines of text. Congratulating Hammerton on his appointment as editor of the 'London Magazine'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Blanchard Jerrold') to 'Hyde Clarke Esq.'

Author: 
William Blanchard Jerrold (1826-1884), English journalist and playwright [Hyde Clarke (1815-1895), English engineer, philologist and author]
Publication details: 
8 July 1852; 9 Bedford Place, Hastings.
£32.00

12mo: 1 p. Text clear and entire on creased and slightly grubby paper. Asks Hyde Clark to 'make the preliminary report you suggest, & speak with Mr Crompton'. He feels that 'the thing is to be accomplished; & that there will be honour & profit to all who may concern themselves in the undertaking'. Asks to hear from Hyde Clarke 'in a few days'. The subject of the letter is unclear.

Autograph Letter, in the third person, to 'Mr Sharpe' [Richard 'Conversation' Sharp?].

Author: 
William Windham (1750-1810), English Whig politician [Richard 'Conversation' Sharp (1759-1835)]
Publication details: 
15 February 1804; Pall Mall.
£38.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on aged paper. A formal letter in the third person. Windham 'is almost ashamed' of sending Sharpe 'anything so trifling as what accompanies this note'. His justification for doing so is the 'wish of having his opinions stated with tolerable correctness on a subject to which Mr Sharpe, as a matter of some interest at the moment, may happen in some degree to have turned his thoughts.' Sharp's name was often misspelt by contemporaries, and he is listed in the index to the online Oxford DNB as 'also known as Sharpe, Richard'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A W Callcott.') to an unnamed male correpsondent.

Author: 
Sir Augustus Wall Callcott (1770-1844), English painter
Publication details: 
11 January 1833; <?> Kensington Gravel Pits.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly aged and ruckled paper. Laid down on a piece of grey paper removed from an autograph album. Accepting an invitation, and informing the recipient that 'Mrs Callcott has recovered from her last attack - but she is still slightly affected at times, and is very weak.'

Autograph Letter [or draft?] Signed ('Geo. Grey') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir George Grey (1799–1882), politician [South Africa; Captain Stockenstrom]
Publication details: 
15 May 1838; Downing Street.
£56.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good, with traces of previous brown-paper mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium. His 'time is too fully occupied' for him 'to attend the meeting of the Aborigines Protection Society'. Discusses the parliamentary prospects of 'Mr. Baines' motion relative to the emigration of certain inhabitants of the Eastern district of the Cape'. 'In the meantime however I hope Mr is aware that he is fully at liberty to call on Mr. <?> the Librarian of this Dept. who is authorized to submit to him Captain Stockenstrom's despatches on this subject'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Amaury-Duval') to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Amaury Duval (1760-1838), founder (1794) of the French review 'La décade philosophique, littéraire et politique'; member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres [the French Revolution]
Publication details: 
30 Germinal' [no year, but between 1794 and 1805].
£56.00

12mo, 1 p, 14 lines. Good, on aged and lightly creased paper. Small red oval monogram in top left-hand corner. In French. As he was about to come and see her 'on est venu me chercher pour des affaires urgentes. il faut que je sorte à l'heure même'. The only news is that 'le ministre des finances refuse très inhumainement la petite maison d'Angivillers. S'il persiste, il y aura, plus que jamais, impossibilité de Loger plus à l'aise les Personnes qui réclament contre la première Distribution'.

Autograph Note Signed ('F Chantrey') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Francis Chantrey [Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey] (1781-1841), English sculptor [the Royal Academy]
Publication details: 
Tuesday morng' [no date].
£38.00

Seven lines on one side of a piece of aged wove paper, roughly 12.5 x 10 cm. A hurried, smudged communication. Reads 'My Dear Sir | I have the ill luck to be obliged to attend a Council of the Royal Academy. We commence business punctually [last word underlined] at 8 oClock - Confound the R.A.!!! | Truly yrs | [signed] F Chantrey | Tuesday Morng'.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of legal document.

Author: 
Joseph Chamberlain [Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain] (1863-1937), Liberal Unionist politician; Edward Montagu Primrose of the Admiralty, Whitehall; A. Whitehouse, Paymaster, Royal Navy; Henry Crane
Joseph Chamberlain
Publication details: 
13/06/73
£35.00
Joseph Chamberlain

On a piece of paper roughly 8.5 x 19 cm. Heavily aged, creased and with wear to extremities. Signatures clear and entire. Some loss to bottom left-hand corner. Printed text (involving a transfer) with manuscript insertions. Two red wafers. Signed 'A Whitehall | Admiralty | Paymaster R.N.'; 'E. M. Primrose'; 'Henry Crane | 14 Broad St | Clerk'; 'Joseph Chamberlain'. Chamberlain left Southbourne in Edgbaston in 1880.

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. N. Talfourd.') to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd (1795-1854), English writer, judge and politician
Publication details: 
19 May 1834; 2 Elm Court, Temple.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper, with traces of a paper stub neatly adhering to the blank bottom right-hand corner of the verso. Apologising for his 'long neglect of the subject of your last notice - the Mill Hill Medal. The truth is I am scarcely able to find strength and spirits for the work I have to do, and so am constantly involved in difficulties as to time like those to which extravagant people fall into as to money'. He hopes 'to be able to enjoy the pleasures of our anniversary dinner', although he does not feel he deserves them.

Autograph Signature ('G. Bentinck') as frank on envelope addressed to Lady Frederick Bentinck, postmarked and with remains of red wax seal.

Author: 
Lord (William) George Frederic Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck [known as Lord George Bentinck] (1802-1848), English politician and sportsman
Publication details: 
12 June 1832; London.
£28.00

Irregularly shaped piece of paper, consisting of the front and sides of an envelope. Roughly 14 x 18 cm. Good, but with long vertical closed tear to right of signature, neatly repaired on reverse with archival tape. Reads 'London June Twelve 1832. - | Lady Frederick Bentinck | Bedford Hotel | Brighton | [signed] G. Bentinck.' Red ink postmark, circular and topped with crown, reading 'FREE | 12 JU 12 | 1832 | +'. Remains of red wax seal at foot. Docketed 'Bentinck' along right-hand edge.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. N. B.') to 'My Dear N. M.'

Author: 
H. N. Brailsford [Henry Noel Brailsford] (1873-1958), English radical journalist and author [Independent Labour Party; Sir Muirhead Bone; Archibald Hamilton Charteris]
Publication details: 
Friday'; date and place not stated [circa 1919?].
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good. A long, interesting gossipy letter. He is a 'poor weak devil' whose 'confounded laziness' has prevented him from writing. He has 'been to Thomlinson', and all copies of 'No. 14' are sold out, 'so there's a feather in your cap, my man'. Mention of 'Charteris', 'Ball & Boyd Scott'. 'I'm damned if I know where my lecture notes are - I've just hunted all over my room. I think they must be in Newcastle, or is it not possible that I lent them to you?' Discusses his 'articles in the Record'.

Typed Letter Signed ('John van Druten'), giving advice to an actor named 'France'.

Author: 
John Van Druten [John William Van Druten] (1901-1957), Anglo-American dramatist
Publication details: 
6 December 1928; 5 Harewood Court, Hanover Square, London W1.
£80.00

4to, 1 p, 21 lines. On creased and lightly-foxed paper, with a couple of closed tears (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). May refer to the 1928 revival of van Druten's play 'Young Woodley' (previously banned by the censor), or (which is more likely) to his 'After All' (1929).

The first four pages of a manuscript letter to C. J. Manning, by an unknown author, commenting on the death of his father William Manning.

Author: 
The family of Cardinal Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892) [his father William Manning (1763-1835), Governor of the Bank of England, 1812-14; and his brother Charles James Manning (1799-1880)]
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but written shortly after William Manning's death, 17 April 1835.
£25.00

12mo bifolium, 4 pp. Good, on aged, laid paper. Good, on lightly aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Charles', and from a collection of papers belonging to Charles James Manning. From the context may well be written by the wife of William Manning's eldest son Frederick (Charles's brother, as well as Cardinal Manning's). The author has 'been quite stunned with the sad & awfully sudden news' [of William Manning's death]. The author's uncle, 'Col ' agreed 'that it would alarm [Frederick] to see me [at 'Pangburn']'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E Knatchbull') to the Mayor of Canterbury.

Author: 
Sir Edward Knatchbull (1781-1849) of Mersham Hatch, Kent, 9th Baronet, English ultra-Tory politician [the Mayor of Canterbury]
Publication details: 
17 September 1841; Mersham Hatch.
£66.00

4to, 3 pp. Very good, on aged paper. Small punch hole through top left-hand corner of both leaves of the bifolium (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). Knatchbull claims that it has been 'intimated' to him 'that the Removal of the Troops from Canterbury in consequence of the Election for the County, which is to take place on Monday next, will cause much Inconvenience, especially to the Trade of the City'. He does not think that the Secretary of State 'would like to interfere, unless in Concurrence with the desire & opinion of the Authorities of the City of Canterbury'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Gladstone.

Author: 
Edward Hull (1829-1917), Anglo-Irish geologist [John Hall Gladstone (1827-1902), English physical chemist]
Publication details: 
19 May 1902; on letterhead of the Victoria Institute, 8 Adelphi Terrace, London W.C.
£45.00

12mo, 3 pp. Very good on lightly aged paper. Asking whether Gladstone would consent to the placing of his name on the list of the Institute's Council, 'to fill one of the vacancies'. 'You would be of great service to us in so doing - and the calls on your time would not be numerous - about a dozen times a year'. Six lines in shorthand (by Gladstone?) on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium.

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