URBAN

[Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford.] Autograph Signature ('Margot Oxford') to Copy of Typed Letter to the Editor of The Times, regarding the plans of the University of London with regard to the preservation of Torrington Square, Bloomsbury.

Author: 
Margot Asquith [Emma Margaret Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, née Tennant] (1864-1945), wife of Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, author and socialite [University of London; Birkbeck]
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [Circa 1935.]
£120.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, long 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Headed ‘TORRINGTON SQUARE. / To the EDITOR of The TIMES’. Whether the letter was published or not, and if so whether it appeared in its entirety, is unclear. Clearly a carbon, but with her characteristic signature at end in black ink ‘Margot Oxford’. The forty-seven-line text has four autograph emendations.

[Cold War civil defence exercise, Braintree Council, Essex, 1953] Collection of duplicated papers relating to the Council's 'Civil Defence Exercise “Robin”', with Autograph Annotations (one Signed) by the author, Brigadier H. H. Dempsey.

Author: 
[Cold War civil defence exercise, 1953, Braintree Council, Essex] Brigadier Harry Hamilton Dempsey CBE (1895-1973) [Atom Bomb; Nuclear Deterrent]
Publication details: 
[Urban District Council of Braintree and Bocking, Essex.] Clerk's Department, Town Hall, Braintree. 31 October 1953.
£250.00

15pp., foolscap 8vo. Duplicated typescript on twelve leaves, stapled together. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Several separate documents (some with separate dating) grouped together with a general cover page, which reads: 'Urban District Council of Braintree and Bocking | Civil Defense Exercise “Robin” | at the Braintree Community Centre, Sandpit Road, Braintree | on | Saturday, the 31st October, 1953 | 14.30 hours to 18.30 hours | Clerk's Department, Town Hall, Braintree.' Ownership inscription in pencil at head of cover 'Brig H. H.

Typed and signed 'Contract for the supply of a Motor Ambulance and accessories' between 'The Vulcan Motors (London) Ltd & The Urban District Council of Chiswick'. With three blueprints and two sets of specifications.

Author: 
Vulcan Motor and Engineering Co. Ltd., Southport [The Urban District Council of Chiswick]
Publication details: 
London. 12 Setpember 1923.
£120.00

Six items stitched together with green ribbon. Heavily aged and with extensive damp damage. ONE: Typed agreement between The Vulcan Motors (London) Limited and The Urban Distric Council of Chiswick, dated 12 September 1923, signed by the directors of Vulcan Motors and their secretary. 2pp., folio. TWO: Typed 'Specification of Ambulance Body to be securely attached in an approved manner to Vulcan One Ton Chasis. As shown on the blue print attached.' By 'Engineer's Dept., Town Hall, Chiswick.' Dated 1 May 1923. 2pp., 8vo.

[Printed item.] London County Council. Report by G. Topham Forrest, F.R.I.B.A., F.R.S.E., F.G.S., The Architect to the Council, on The Construction and Control of Buildings and the Development of Urban Areas in the United States of America.

Author: 
G. Topham Forrest, F.R.I.B.A., F.R.S.E., F.G.S., The Architect to the Council [London County Council]
Publication details: 
Printed in accordance with an order of the General Purpose Committee, dated 16th February, 1925. The County Hall, Westminster Bridge, S.E.1. May, 1925. Published by the London County Council. [P. S. King & Son, Limited.]
£220.00

109pp., 4to. With frontispiece ('LCC: Ossulston Street Area, Saint Pancras') and 35 plates ('Drawings'), including five fold-outs, two of which are coloured maps of parts of London (one begin 'Suggestion for Re-development of part of Chelsea'). Also included are two maps of the Brady Street Area of Bethnal Green. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn and aged wraps. Stamps and label of the Board of Education Reference Library.

[Offprint.] An Experiment in Practical Civics. (Revised and Reprinted, with kind permission, from "The Journal of Education" of February, 1917).

Author: 
E. M. White [Ebe Minerva White (b.1875); Civic and Moral Education League]
Publication details: 
London: Watts & Co., 17 Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, EC. 1917.
£56.00

8pp., 8vo. Stitched pamphlet. With stamp, label and shelfmark of the Board of Education Reference Library. Uncommon: copies found at the British Library and LSE, the latter under the imprint of the Civic and Moral Education League.

Duplicated typewritten report titled 'The Magdalen Street Project', describing an influential experiment in 'civic design', carried out by the Civic Trust in conjunction with Norwich City Council.

Author: 
[Magdalen Street Project; Norwich City Council; Norfolk; The Civic Trust, London; Sir Misha Black (1910-1977), Russian-born British architect, founder of the Artists' International Association]
Publication details: 
The Civic Trust, 79 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1. [1959]
£250.00

[1] + 7pp., foolscap 8vo. On eight leaves, stapled together in one corner. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with slight rust marking to title leaf. The title leaf reads: 'THE MAGDALEN STREET | PROJECT | Further information obtainable from: | THE CIVIC TRUST | 79 BUCKINGHAM PALACE ROAD | LONDON S.W.1. | TATe Gallery 0891'. The background to the experiment is explained in the first two paragraphs: 'This is the story of an experiment in civic design. It is also a story of civic co-operation in which self-help was seen to be synonymous with public spirit.

Union of South Africa. Department of Native Affairs. Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on the Social, Health and Economic Conditions of Urban Natives.

Author: 
[Union of South Africa, Department of Native Affairs, Report on the Social, Health and Economic Conditions of Urban Natives, 1942] [South African; apartheid]
Union of South Africa, Department of Native Affairs, Report
Publication details: 
Printed in the Union of South Africa by the Government Printer, Pretoria. 1942
£125.00
Union of South Africa, Department of Native Affairs, Report

Folio, 30 pp. In original blue printed wraps. Stapled. Text clear and complete. On discoloured, frayed and creased paper. Ownership inscription of A. Copeman, Cambridge. Only copies on COPAC at the British Library and University of London SOAS.

Report of Enquiry into Wages and Costs of Living of Natives at Kroonstad, Orange Free State.

Author: 
South African Institute of Race Relations (Incorp.) / Suid-Afrikaanse Instituut vir Rasseverhoudings (Ingelyf) [Bantu; apartheid]
Report of Enquiry into Wages and Costs of Living of Natives at Kroonstad
Publication details: 
Dated in type 'A. L. S. July 1st, 1940.'
£100.00
Report of Enquiry into Wages and Costs of Living of Natives at Kroonstad

Folio, 13 pp. Mimeographed typed document on seven leaves stapled together at head. Some leaves separated. Text clear and complete. On aged high-acidity paper with slight chipping to extremities. Report over first seven pages, followed by two appendixes: 'Minimum Diet for Urban Bantu Family of Husband, Wife and Three Children and Cost thereof in Kroonstad' and 'Occupational and Wage Statistics'. No copy on COPAC or in the British Library.

Seven titles including 'Third Annual Report of the Puerto Rico Planning, Urbanizing and Zoning Board' (in Spanish); Ludlow's 'La Zonificacion en Puerto Rico'; and 'memorias suplementarias' for the municipalities of Cataño, Vieques and San Juan.

Author: 
William H. Ludlow; Junta de Planificación, Urbanización y Zonificación de Puerto Rico; Puerto Rico Planning, Urbanizing and Zoning Board [regional planning; Latin America]
Publication details: 
Titles published in 1945, 1946, 1947 and 1948 by the 'Junta de Planificación, Urbanización y Zonificación de Puerto Rico' (Government of Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico Planning, Urbanizing and Zoning Board).
£250.00

The seven items are all 8vo, and bound together in a contemporary dark green calf half-binding with 'JUNTA DE PLANIFICACION DE PUERTO RICO' in gilt on spine. Very good and tight, on aged paper with a little light foxing. Binding with wear to hinges and outer edges. Containing four fold-out maps and one fold-out table. ONE: Titled in English 'Government of Puerto Rico. Third Annual Report of the Puerto Rico Planning, Urbanizing and Zoning Board Submitted to the Governor of Puerto Rico. Fiscal Year 1944-45'. Pp: vi + 58 + 3 fold-out 'appendixes' (two maps and a table). Text in Spanish.

Liverpool Fire Prevention. An Act For the better protection of Property in the Borough of Liverpool from Fire. [ROYAL ASSENT, AUGUST 24th 1843.] 6 Vict. - Sess. 1843.

Author: 
Liverpool Fire Prevention [Act of Parliament, 1843; British Fire Brigade]
Publication details: 
London: J. B. Nichols and Son, Printers, 25, Parliament-street. [1843.] [Radcliffe, Town Clerk, Liverpool. Burke and Venables, 44, Parliament Street, Parliamentary Agents.]
£150.00

Folio: ii + 59 + [1] pp. Unbound. Stitched as issued. Text clear and entire, but in poor condition: on creased, discoloured and stained paper, with wear to extremities. Begins 'WHEREAS fires in warehouses in the borough of Liverpool have of late years been of frequent and alarming recurrence, and have been attended with considerable loss of life and property.' 124 clauses, followed by seven pages of 'Schedules referred to by the foregoing act'.

Advertisement for 'Dorking Urban District Book, Waste Paper and Cardboard Drive'.

Author: 
Dorking, Surrey, England [Recycling; the Environment; the Green Party; Publishing History; Bookselling; the Book Trade; Austerity]
Publication details: 
12th April to 1st May 1948.
£45.00

Striking advertisement, in red ink, on one side of a piece of paper roughly seven inches by seventeen wide. With something of a prewar feel, it reads 'DORKING URBAN DISTRICT | BOOK, WASTE PAPER | and CARDBOARD DRIVE | [in box on right] 12th April | TO | 1st May | 1948 [end of boxed text] | Save the Nation from having to import Waste Paper from abroad | PROVIDE | MORE Employment = MORE Cartons for Food | = MORE Materials for Housebuilding ='.

Syndicate content