VICTORIA

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. Lightly worn, with blank second leaf carrying traces of mount. The recipient is not named, and the letter is signed ‘Henry Halford’. The subject is probably Halford’s ‘Nugae Metricae’, privately printed in the same year.

See his entry and Manby’s in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, folded, with thin strip of tape from mount adhering to reverse of second leaf. Addressed to ‘My dear Manby’ and signed ‘Alfred Paget’. He begins by saying that there seems to be nothing ‘here about’ to prevent him from going with Manby ‘to Barnaby [presumably Nathaniel Barnaby, Assistant-Constructor of H.M.

See his entry and Manby’s in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, folded, with thin strip of tape from mount adhering to reverse of second leaf. Addressed to ‘My dear Manby’ and signed ‘Alfred Paget’. He begins by saying that there seems to be nothing ‘here about’ to prevent him from going with Manby ‘to Barnaby [presumably Nathaniel Barnaby, Assistant-Constructor of H.M.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with small and slightly rusted staple holes to one corner. Folded once. Addressed to ‘My dear [Gern?] King / A. G. B. I’ (i.e. the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution) and signed ‘Aston Webb / Presd. A G B I -’. He is writing at the request of ‘the Council’, ‘to express to you on their behalf & my own our sincere regret at your resignation from our Council’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Sneyd-Kinnersley is the headmaster who is alleged to have subjected a naked seven-year-old Winston Churchill to repeated beatings. 3pp, 12mo. With mourning border. Letterhead (no doubt designed by Waterhouse himself) in characteristic style. On grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Good expansive signature ‘A Waterhouse’, and the letter written in a stylish hand. Addressed to ‘The Rev: H. W Sneyd Kinnersley’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, on grey paper, with central horizontal fold. Each signed ‘Aston Webb’. ONE: ANS to ‘Dear Walter Spiers’, 27 March 1899. 1p, 16mo. Thanking him for his congratulations on his election. TWO: ALS to ‘Dear Mr Baldwin’, 20 June 1903. 1p, 12mo. After thanking him for his congratulation he continues: ‘We had a most delightful dinner with you the other evening.’

An apparent forgery of a letter the text of which is quoted in Hallam Tennyson’s 1897 memoir of his father. 1p, 12mo. On discoloured wove paper. Aged, and with repair with archival tape at extremities on reverse. Folded twice for postage. Reads: ‘Aldworth / Oct 25 - 76 / My dear Mrs Gladstone / On Monday then - if all be well. As you are good enough to say that you will manage everything rather than lose my visit - you must manage that I may have my pipe in my own room whenever I like? / Yours ever / A Tennyson/’.

See his entry, and that of his father the civil engineer, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On separate letterheads. The recipient is not named and there is no salutation (though the letter is complete). Signed ‘Brassey’. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘I have two maxims for [hourly?] use. / I do the little I can do and leave the rest to thee / What thou livest live well. The rest commit to Heaven / Nor should the last message of the greatest sailor since the world began ever be forgotten / England expects that every man this day will do his duty’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, together with that of the Williams family. (The recipient Joseph Lionel Williams (c.1832-1877) was son of the wood-engraver Samuel Williams (1788-1853).) 2pp, 12mo. On paper with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice.

See her daughter’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on worn and sunned paper. Large sprawling signature in pencil, written diagonally across the length of the page, with date beneath the underlining: ‘Victoria Sackville / 1919’. See IMage.

See the Oxford DNB entry of the recipient James Payn (1830-1898), at the time of this letter the editor of the Cornhill Magazine. More significantly, Payn had since 1874 been a reader for Smith, Elder, and the present letter stems from the firm?s interest in Forrest?s ?tale of the Indian Mutiny? which they would publish in 1891 under the title ?Eight Days?. 2pp, 16mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with short closed tear at edge of postage fold. Addressed to ?James Payn Esqr.? and signed ?R. E. Forrest?.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A protege of Prince Albert, Bell worked for the Privy Purse from the time of the Great Exhibition, and served as Permanent Secretary to the Keeper of the Privy Purse from 1876 to his death. Signed ‘John Gilbert’ and addressed to ‘Doyne C. Bell Esquire / &c &c.’ 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Reads: ‘Dear Sir, / I remember the small picture painted in 1851. H M The Queen holding a drawing Room at St James’s Palace. / I did not intend to paint a larger picture and never did’. See Image.

Written on both sides of an 11.5 x 9 cm card, which has her armorial crest printed in black and gold at the top right of the first page. In a large flowing hand reads: ‘For my dear little Godchild Fredericà Taylor with affte. xmas Greetings / from her loving God-mother / Fredericà / Xmas 1909.’ See Image of verso (signature).

An amusing piece of Victorian memorabilia. Written in pencil on one side of a slip of paper, roughly 14 x 7 cm, torn from the bottom of a leaf. Both sides of the paper are ruled, with the ruling on the reverse wider spaced. Confirming the fact that the item is a telegram is the fact that the word ‘Clerk.’ is printed at bottom right of the reverse, with the word ‘Railway’ in pencil at top right.

See his entry in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. A year before these letters Hodgkinson had become an assistant keeper in the Department of Architecture and Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert, where his first task had been to organize the display of the Hildburgh collection of English medieval alabasters. Also in 1946 Robertson had begun his long career at Edinburgh University, having worked through the war at Bletchley Park, before joining the unit assigned to track down works of art looted by the Nazis.

See their separate entries in the Oxford DNB. On 12.5 x 9.5 cm piece of light-grey paper, cut from. The large signatures are written one on top of the other on one side of the paper, with the only other writing the date at the head: ‘Alfd. Edwd. Chalon / Jno. Jas Chalon’. On the reverse is the beginning of an application to the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution: ‘Gentlemen, Your Petitioner Elizth. Debh. Bone, only Daughter of the late Mr Bone R.A.

In 1858 her son Frederick married Princess Victoria, the eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; her grandson was Kaiser Wilhem III. For Lady Ashbourne, see her husband’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Before receiving Lady Ashbourne’s invitation, ‘The Duke & Duchess of Abercorns, [sic] my Cousins, had begged us attend a Masonic Concert the 18th.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He thanks him for ?letting me try the little horse which I returned to Banks?s. I wrote to them to say that I found him too small for the Victoria. This & his taking too much interest in the subterranian openings alone prevented me from keeping him at once for a hack as his paces & temper seemed to me perfect.? He sends his compliments to Bristow?s family, ?if they should still recollect me - and the terrible ascent on the ?Monks cap? - never to be attempted again by me -?.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. She published around two hundred books under seven pseudonyms, and these are said to have sold a hundred million copies and been translated into twenty languages. The recipient Eileen Cond was an enthusiastic collector of autographs, and had the ability to draw a more than perfunctory response from her targets. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded for postage. Good bold signature: ‘Victoria Holt.’ Addressed to ‘Miss Cond, / Stream Cottage, / Sidbury, / Sidmouth, Devon.’ She has signed Cond’s bookplate and is sending it back.

In 1883 Queen Victoria appointed Davidson Dean of Windsor and her domestic chaplain. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged; the letter folded for postage. Both addressed to ‘My dear Jacob’ and both signed ‘Randall T Davidson’. ONE: Autograph Card Signed. Marked ‘Private’. Eighteen lines of text, covering both sides. Begins: ‘I talked the whole matter over so fully last night with Sir H.

Four pages, sm. fol., bifolium. damaged at join not affecting text, removed from bound volume. Whereas the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 have purchased Lands at Kensington Gore with a view to secure adequate space in the Metropolis for Institutions connected with Science and Art [...].

Four pages, sm. fol., bifolium. damaged at join not affecting text, removed from bound volume. Whereas the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 have purchased Lands at Kensington Gore with a view to secure adequate space in the Metropolis for Institutions connected with Science and Art [...].

2pp, foolscap 8vo. On grey laid paper with mourning border, brittle and lightly creased, with chipping and closed tears to edges. Addressed in Archibald’s hand to ‘The President of the Albion Society of New York’, and signed ‘E M Archibald / HM Brit Consul Genl’.

Redgrave’s entry in the Oxford DNB praises his ‘exceptional administrative skill’, and states that ‘Redgrave and Cole supervised the new South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum), for which Redgrave designed the innovative art gallery to house John Sheepshanks's extensive collection of British art, given to the state in 1857.’ 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, laid down on part of a leaf from an autograph album. Pasted down at the head of the letter is a thin strip on which is printed ‘Inspector-General for Art. R. Redgrave, R.A.’ The male recipient is unnamed.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The first letter 2pp, 12mo; the other three 1p, 12mo. All four items in good condition, lightly aged; and all four folded once. Each with the stylized signature ‘Trenchard Cox’. None of the four gives the year, but the first is noted in pencil as being replied to on 14 January 1971, and the last is accompanied by its envelope, with 1972 postmark, addressed by Cox to ‘Peter Wiener Esqr / 2 Napoleon Road / RAMSGATE’. The middle two are from the same period as the fourth.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border (for President Garfield). 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, a little worn and creased. Folded once. Signed ‘Albert D Shaw / U.S. Consul’, and addressed to ‘J. Rawlinson Esq. / Hon. Sec. / Old Trafford.’ He is in receipt of ‘the Resolution passed by the Board of Congregational Ministers of Manchester and neighbourhood, expressing their heartfelt sympathy, and that of the Churches they represent with the American people in the Calamity which has befallen them in he death of President Garfield’.

Two pages, 12mo, remnants of tipping in process, good condition. Printed heading commences: English and Foreign Educational, Industrial, Commercial, Plain Work, Benevolent and Emigration Institute for the Employment of Women. Conducted by Miss FAITHFULL [...........] See IMAGE for the (substantial) rest. Text: All my sympathies I must say are given to the homeless & destitute of the educated classes'[.] [T]hey are so utterly friendless. The working classes have untold benefits.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. There is a blue plaque at his house in Onslow Square, announcing that he lived there from 1851 to his death in 1867. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Mon cher Monsieur’. He has returned home after several days in the country, to find his ‘garde manger si bien rempli des preuves de votre bon et bienveillant souvenir’.

Four pages, 12mo, very good condition, in a generous hand. Text: The Queen writes to me this morning to ask if you would like to be appointed Groom in Waiting to her, & says that is she would have great pleasure in naming you as such. | The duties are to attend the Queen when at Windsor Castle & Buckinghamd Palace. | Lorne [Marquess] wishes me to add that attendance on horseback is not one of the duties, as that is the Equerries' particular office, & that you could still employ half the year in studying Glaciation.

See Webb's entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, aged and worn with traces of glue from mount at head. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Rev. A. R. F. Hyslop, M.A. / Warden, / Glenalmond College, PERTHSHIRE.’ Following on from previous correspondence, Webb is ‘desired to explain’ that ‘the Board feels strongly the advantage of a training in freehand drawing as a preliminary to architectural training’, and that they do not consider ‘the geometrical drawing of architecture more particularly from plates’ ‘generally helpful’.