VICTORIAN

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, from which the scandalous recipient, a high-society fixer, is unaccountably absent. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Fifty-seven lines of text, sloping upwards. Addressed to ‘Mr Broadley’ and signed ‘Burdett Coutts’. The handwriting is difficult, and the following reading tentative.

See his entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of discoloration at edge, and traces of glue from mount on blank reverse. Two folds. Addressed to ‘Sigr. Ministro del Brasile presso la S. Sede’ and signed ‘G Card Antonelli’. The signature is in Antonelli’s autograph, the rest is written out by a secretary, and laid out in the customary fashion, with the block of seventeen lines of text on the right side of the page.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, in trimmed windowpane mount, with a little light creasing and one fold. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Peacock’ and signed ‘Herbert Card Vaughan’. He is ‘greatly obliged’ to Peacock for his note which he has ‘read through with much interest’. He thanks him for publishing it in the Archaeological Journal, ‘where it occupies a public & as it were official position of authority. / God bless you’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient (‘Broadley Pasha’), who does not have the entry he deserves in the same work, had been involved in homosexual scandals in India, in 1872, and in England (‘The Cleveland Street Affair’), in 1889. LETTER: 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of tape from mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf. Folded once. Addressed to ‘A. M.

See her entry, and that of her husband, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, in trimmed windowpane mount. Although a short letter, her expansive and elegant hand fills the whole page. Reads: ‘Dear sir / With great pleasure I comply with your request and send a Specimen of my caligraphy [sic] / Yours very truly / Mary Anne Keeley / I was born Novr 22 1805’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient (‘Broadley Pasha’), at the time de facto editor of Edmund Yates’s magazine ‘The World’, was a scandalous figure, who richly deserves his own entry in the same work. 2pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Text on the outer pages, the inner pages carrying the remains of newspaper cuttings which were previously laid down on them. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of tape from mount adhering to the last page, which also has a newspaper cutting laid down at its foot, regarding the death of A. Sutherland Sutton. Folded once.

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.

'There are three rules for writing plays', Oscar Wilde is said to have declared. ‘The first rule is not to write like Henry Arthur Jones; the second and third rules are the same.’ See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, slightly trimmed at the edges, and in a windowpane mount. With two folds for postage. Addressed to ‘J E Woodrow Esqre / London Library’, and signed ‘Henry A Jones’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, in trimmed windowpane mount, with glue marking on blank reverse. He thanks her for her letter, adding ‘I am completely floored with an attack of influenza and can only just manage to scribble this and assure you that I am / Very sincerely yours / J. R. Planché’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Friswell was described by Tennyson as ‘the would-be poet, / Friswell, Pisswell - a liar and a twaddler’. 1p, 16mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Fourteen lines of text. Addressed to ‘Messrs Virtue & Co.’ Signed ‘J. Hain Friswell’. Begins: ‘Gentlemen, / Many thanks for your fine print of the Chandos Portrait of Shakspere which I will notice in the P. C.

The phrase ‘Box and Cox’ has entered the English language. See the OED, and the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, landscape 12mo. Neatly inserted in a trimmed windowpane mount. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Signed ‘John M Morton’. Begins: ‘Dear Webster. / As Mr Anson informs me that you are “on the forward course to regenerated health” I hope I need not apologise for writing again.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The Swanboroughs were a significant Victorian theatrical dynasty, and the absence of any member of the family from the same work is puzzling. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and lightly worn paper, with traces of glue and strip of tape from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Mr. Swanborough’ and signed ‘Fanny Stirling’.

See his entry and Blewitt’s in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, on lightly aged laid paper, with thin strip of tape from mount on reverse of second leaf. Thirty-seven lines of text. Addressed to ‘Octavian Blewitt Esq.’ and signed ‘G. L. M. Strauss’. He begins by describing his situation: ‘I venture to solicit your kind friendly advice.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB (from which the scandalous Broadley is unaccountably absent). 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium of grey paper. Tears to the second leaf (not affecting signature) have been unobtrusively repaired with archival tape, and its blank reverse carries a thin remnant of the mount. One postage fold. Addressed to ‘My Dear Broadley’ and signed ‘Ernest Hart’.

1p, 12mo. On thin paper. In good condition, lightly aged, in trimmed and spotted windowpane mount. Good bold signature ‘Fanny Brough.’ Addressed to ‘Revd. J. C. [Westly?]’. She has ‘much pleasure’ in sending him ‘the autograph’, and will do her best to get him ‘a few others which may be interesting to send out to you’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of tape from mount adhering to reverse of second leaf and small pin holes to one corner. With two folds. Thirty-nine lines of text. The handwriting is a paradox; neat but difficult to decipher. Addressed to ‘My dear Mlle de [Schmidt?]’ and signed ‘Charles Lever’. He begins by claiming that the speed with which he accepted her ‘most kind & cordial invitation’ for her daughter is the best proof he can give of the value he attaches to it ‘& the sincere satisfaction it affords me’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, as well as that of Manby who had, as the letter indicates, strong French connections. In addition to his work as Secretary to the Institution of Civil Engineers, Manby was also the business manager of the Adelphi Theatre in London. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Letter of thirty-eight lines on the first three pages, with address and four postmarks (two French and two English) on reverse of second leaf: ‘C. Manby Esq. / Institution Civil Engineers / 25 Great George St. / Westminster / London / Angleterre’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, from which the scandalous recipient, a high-society fixer, is unaccountably absent. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Fifty-seven lines of text, sloping upwards. Addressed to ‘Mr Broadley’ and signed ‘Burdett Coutts’. The handwriting is difficult, and the following reading tentative.

See his entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of discoloration at edge, and traces of glue from mount on blank reverse. Two folds. Addressed to ‘Sigr. Ministro del Brasile presso la S. Sede’ and signed ‘G Card Antonelli’. The signature is in Antonelli’s autograph, the rest is written out by a secretary, and laid out in the customary fashion, with the block of seventeen lines of text on the right side of the page.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, in trimmed windowpane mount, with a little light creasing and one fold. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Peacock’ and signed ‘Herbert Card Vaughan’. He is ‘greatly obliged’ to Peacock for his note which he has ‘read through with much interest’. He thanks him for publishing it in the Archaeological Journal, ‘where it occupies a public & as it were official position of authority. / God bless you’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. LETTER: 3pp, 12mo. Thirty-one lines. Bifolium. In fair condition, with slight staining at foot of first leaf, and traces of glue from mount on blank reverse of second leaf. In an elongated and somewhat opaque hand. Begins: ‘My dear Mrs. Hicks / I was exceedingly sorry to hear that Mr. Hicks had met with an accident on the day you left.’ What follows is hard to decipher, until she writes ‘I have much pleasure in forwarding to you the address of Jackson & Graham. It is No. 35-36 Oxford St.’ She praises ‘the selection he has of patterns’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Wilfred Scawen Blunt’s assessment was brutal: ‘It is strange his poetry should be such poor stuff, and stranger still that he should imagine it immortal.’ And it is ironic that Austin may not have even written the lines for which he is now principally remembered, on the illness of the Prince of Wales: ‘Flashed from his bed the electric message came | He is not better, he is much the same’. 1p, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium of good watermarked wove paper.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Slip of paper, roughly 15 x 2.5 cm, cut from form. Somewhat discoloured by the glue with which it is laid down on irregularly-cut backing card. Good firm signature ‘Samuel Cooper’, followed by the lithographed word ‘Professor.’ in gothic script. See IMage.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Slip of paper, roughly 18 x 2.5 cm, cut from form. Somewhat discoloured by the glue with which it is laid down on irregularly-cut backing card. Good firm signature ‘James Copland’, followed by the lithographed word ‘Professor.’ in gothic script, which is followed by ‘pro temp.’ in Copland’s autograph. See Image.

Felix Mendelssohn was his godfather. See the entry on his father Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) in the Oxford DNB. Moscheles discusses his acquaintance with Kate Terry and her husband Arthur Lewis in his 1896 reminiscences ‘In Bohemia with Du Maurier’. 1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, with part of mount adhering to the blank second leaf. Addressed to ‘Dear Mrs Lewis’ and signed ‘Felix Moscheles’. He asks her to ‘let the bearer have the necklace you spoke of the other day’, as he ‘can just use it this morning’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A 17.5 x 9.5 cm rectangle of grey paper, torn from the conclusion of a letter, evidently in response to a request for an autograph. In good condition, lightly aged, with central vertical fold. Reads: ‘[…] part or else the picture will be gone. / Yours sincerely / F Brangwyn’. The ‘F’ of the signature is more lightly inked than the rest. See Image.

See the entries for Mrs Maurice’s sister Octavia Hill and their mother Caroline Southwood Hill in the Oxford DNB. Book: viii + 77 + [1]. 12mo. Errata slip between pp.56 and 57. In original green cloth, gilt. Good copy, lightly aged and worn, in original green cloth binding gilt. Bookplate of Queen’s College, London, on front paste-down, stamped ‘WITHDRAWN’. Presentation inscription on recto of front free endpaper: ‘Queens College Library / Presented by Mrs C. S. Maurice / 1931’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Loose flowing signature, reading 'R Peel'. On a rectangle of paper, roughly 4.5 x 2.5 cm. Lightly discoloured and creased, with traces of glue on blank reverse from mount. See Image.

See his entry, and those of his father and brother, in the Oxford DNB. On rectangle of paper, roughly 8.5 x 3.5 cm. In good condition, lightly aged, with the 'Powell' of the signature slightly smudged, and traces of glue from mount on reverse. Reads '[...] and Love [...] / Yours truly / George Baden-Powell'.

See his entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica. Elegant signature, with final flourish curving backwards above the signature. Clearly in response to a request for an autograph, on 14 x 10 cm piece of cream paper. In good condition, lightly aged.