VICTORIAN

2pp, 12mo. Seventeen lines of text, with a few lines and the signature written lengthwise on the second page. On bifolium. Accompanied by the letter’s stamped and postmarked envelope, addressed by Power to ‘Mrs Lane / 67 Addison Road / W14’. (Note that she lives in the same street.) Both letter and envelope in good condition, lightly aged. Letter folded once. Signed ‘Geo. Power’. He explains that a friend of his, Rev. Eric O. Norman’, ‘who is a fine musician & pianist is trying to get together a small orchestra for a concert on the 24th. May’ and he wonders whether she would ‘care to join’.

Both items scarce: no other copy of either traced. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript. In good condition, lightly aged. ONE: ‘Copy’ of letter to ‘The Right Honorable Lord John Russell’, signed in type ‘J. CAMPBELL, / T. WILDE.’ 2pp, 8vo. Paginated in manuscript 27-28. Printed in copperplate font. Begins: ‘My Lord, / We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Vernon Smith’s letter of the 3d inst.

A nice item, casting light on the practice of the provincial medical profession in Victorian England. See Higginbottom’s obituary in the British Medical Journal, 16 March 1895. There are a number of references to Higginbottom in the memoir of 1861 memoir of Marshall Hall (1790-1857) by his widow. For information about Hall, who died the following year, see his entry in the Oxford DNB, together with that of the otologist Joseph Toynbee (1815-1866). The item is from the papers of Rev. Samuel Walker, successively of Nottingham and Liverpool.

All three items are scarce, with no copies on OCLC WorldCat or COPAC. Both in good condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript. ONE: Printed ‘Circular’, headed in manuscript ‘Immiration / W. Indies & Mauritius’, and dated from Downing Street, 23 October 1846. Paginated in manuscript 93. At foot of page (not in Grey’s hand): ‘/sd/ Grey’.

An interesting indication of the Victorian approach to transparency in government. A scarce item: no other copy traced. Dispatch with ‘Circular. / Private.’ in the margin. Headed in manuscript ‘Publication of Colonial Papers. / (Parliamentary Papers)’. At end in manuscript (not Grey’s handwriting): ‘/sd/ Gray’. In good condition, lightly aged. 4pp, 8vo. Disbound from volume, and paginated in manuscript 175-178. Printed in copperplate font.

Two interesting items from the period leading up to the American Civil War. Both items are scarce: no other copy of either traced. In good condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript.Both printed in copperplate font. ONE: Printed ‘Circular’ dated from Downing Street, 16 October 1850. Headed in manuscript ‘Colonial Emigrants from United States’. In manuscript at end (not in Grey’s hand) ‘/sd/ Grey’. 2pp, 8vo. Paginated in manuscript 239-240.

Both items scarce: no other copies traced. In good condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript. ONE: Copy of letter from W. L. Maberly to ‘H. Merivale, Esq., / &c. &c. &c. / Colonial Office’, dated from General Post Office, 14 December 1850. 2pp, 8vo. Paginated in manuscript 257-258.

Scarce: no other copy traced. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript 37. Printed ‘Circular’ dated from Downing Street, 16 December 1842. Headed in manuscript ‘Crime in the high Seas’. At bottom, in manuscript (not Stanley’s hand): ‘/sd/ Stanley’. Twenty-nine lines in copperplate font.

Important items, reflecting the state of affairs regarding movement of West Africans to the British West India colonies in the period immediately following the abolition of slavery. Both items excessively scarce: no copies traced on either OCLC WorldCat or COPAC. In good condition, lightly aged. The two items disbound from a volume and paginated in manuscript. ONE: Printed ‘Circular’ dated ‘Downing Street, / 25th. February 1843.’ Lithographic reproduction of manuscript text, headed in real manuscript ‘Emigration from the W. Coast of Africa’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Fifteen lines. In good condition. Folded once. Address to ‘Mr. de Winton’ and signed ‘Cross’. He finds that de Winton’s ‘last letter certainly makes a very considerable difference’, but ‘the obvious answer’ to his mind is, as de Winton only proposes ‘to reduce the York House from 112 to 110, it is hardly worth stirring up the waters at all. And especially so, as the population is increasing so rapidly that the next Census will probably alter the whole state of things.’

See his son Ivo Bligh’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Sir: / You are welcome to take some photographic views of this place: - you will please to ask to see the Houseeeper when you come. / I remain / Yours faithy / Darnley’. In worn envelope, self-stamped with pink penny stamp and two postmarks, one from Gravesend. Addressed in Autograph by Darnley to ‘Mr. F. York / Alfred Villa / Lancaster Road / Notting Hill London W.’

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Nine lines. In good condition, on lightly aged grey paper. Folded once. Addressed to ‘Dear Sir’, and signed ‘J R Seeley’. He states that ‘it will be quite impossible for me to undertake the article Colonies for the Encyclopaedia of Messrs Chambers, as the time you allow for the preparation of it is altogether too short’.

A very nice piece of musichall ephemera: a signed self-caricature by one of its leading lights. See Robey’s entry in the Oxford DNB. On a 7 x 8.75 cm piece of card, cut from a plain printed postcard. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of the four paper label mounts on reverse. On the front, which is entirely plain apart from Robey’s writing, is his Autograph Inscription, in a close hand with stylized signature: ‘Good luck. Geo Robey.’ This is at the foot of the page, beneath a well-executed self-caricature in blue and red ink.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and with slight creasing to one edge. Folded once. In his view de Winton’s ‘investigation will certainly successfully appease Lord Cross, & avert the indignation of the Northerners. It certainly most satisfactorily justifies your suggestion.’ He ends in the hope that ‘we are now fairly well advanced towards the completion of our Scheme.’

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, and in particular the section headed ‘A great actress’. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Very nice letterhead with engraving of the imposing hotel. In her large, bold hand, the note reads: ‘I have found it! / & am so glad - / Hoping you are much better / Yrs. sincerely / Ellen Terry: / 7 December . 97:’.

The present item is excessively scarce: there is no record of it on either OCLC WorldCat or JISC. The Staff College Drag Hunt at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, was established in 1869 as a private pack which drag-hunted twice a week in the area surrounding Camberley, and after more than a hundred and fifty years, the hunt still rides. 1p, 12mo. Text enclosed in rules with decorative corners. In fair condition, lightly worn and spotted, with traces of stub and mounting on blank reverse. Titled: ‘The Staff College Drag Hunt Song. / By Major M.

See the entries on the various members of the Tree family in the Dictionary of National Biography. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Thirty-eight lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged, with pin holes to corner. Folded once. Good firm signature ‘Maud Tree’. She does not want her to think that she is ‘losing sight of the Sunday Matinée’. She had to wait for Sir Oswald Stoll’s answer, ‘& it was kind, but it said regretful No’. She then wrote to Sir Alfred Butt ‘for the Palace or the Empire. His answer was also a sad No. - But now Mr. George Grossmith has offered me His Majestys or the Winter Garden.

1p, 12mo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium of pink patterned paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The sonnet, which does not appear to have been published, begins: ‘Midst the young eyes that on this book shall shine / Kindling with genius or with feeling bright, / Lit up with all youth’s visions of delight, / There yet shall gage no dearer ones than thine!’ Signed at end ‘J E R.’ See image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Eighteen lines of text. Begins: ‘Mr H Gastineau presents his compliments to Miss Nelson and in consequence of having received her address from Miss Stringer relative to a wish to receive some instruction from him, he writes’, giving details of when he would be able ‘to give a lesson at Windham Place’, were he to ‘receive a line to say that such an arrangement’ was desirable, after which ‘future appointments can be made’.

See the entries for Long, Forbes and Burgess in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of tape from mount along one edge. Signed ‘Edwin Long’. Begins: ‘Dear Sir Richard / I have just had a chat about your kind enquiry with my friend Burgess, who knows everybody’. While Burgess ‘says Stanhope Forbes is the best man coming on & that he has painted some very good portraits’, from what Long himself remembers of his work, it seems ‘very black’. He concludes: ‘Why not give it to Burgess? he is painting capitally just now & I know he would be very pleased.’

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. Clearly written in response to a request for an autograph. On 11.5 x 5.5 piece of wove paper, cut from an album. In good condition. Reads: ‘Yours very truly / Ada Ellen Bayly / “Edna Lyall.” ’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, but with slight loss to inner upper corner, caused by removal from mount, and resulting in loss to two words on second page, and closed tear at bottom of gutter. Folded once. Signed ‘Hesba Stretton.’ Begins: ‘My dear Henrietta / It was too cold to get over to see you this morning; but as we hope to be so near to you for sme days that signifies less.’ She asks if the recipient’s maid can ‘kindly take the rooms’, as ‘we’ (i.e.

Hook’s entry in the Oxford DNB descibes his novel ‘Gilbert Gurney’ (1836) and its sequel ‘Gurney Married’ (1838) as made up of ‘thinly disguised portraits and a string of anecdotes from real life’. 1p, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, folded twice. On wove paper with C. Ansell watermark of 1834. The signature ‘Theo E Hook’ does indeed have a strange ‘hook’ on the end of it, which has led to a pencil note on the blank second leaf: ‘try Thos. E. Boot / Booth / author of “Gilbert Gurney”’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. Lightly aged and worn. Folded four times. Signed ‘Jesse Collings’. Addressed to ‘Messrs Smith & Kitching / Hon. Secs. Political Committee / Chelsea / London’. Minuted in pencil on reverse of second leaf: ‘Acknowledgment of Copy of our Resolution’. He has been ‘so much over-pressed with correspondence and other work’, hence the delay in replying. He asks them to ‘convey my best thanks to your Committee for the Resolution they have passed, and copy of which you enclosed’.

The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. Signed ‘Frank’. He is sending his list: ‘you’ll note how catholic my wants are’. He has been sent ‘5 guineas worth of book tokens. Do you accept these? They were issued by Collets, Hampstead.’ His ‘great wants’ are ‘the Comic Home Journals - the novel with ghost on the cover - the certain Ludgate and Boys Own Xmas Number’.

On one side of 19 x 9 cm slip of paper with Osterley Park letterhead with her crested monogram in gold and black. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Somewhat shaky and curiously-antiquated signature. Typed note in capitals. One word and a few minor corrections to text in autograph. Reads: ‘May 24 Wednesday / My dear Jim / I am here at the receipt of custom - will you come & when? Come to dine & sleep - or stay.

According to her entry in the Oxford DNB, Eliza Lynn Linton moved to Malvern in 1895. (See also Temple’s Oxford DNB entry.) 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Sixty-six lines of closely-written text. The two leaves of the bifolium have been separated, and re-attached with archival tape; resulting in slight loss to some text on the third page, otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Signed ‘(Mrs.) E. Lynn Linton’. While he may not recall that she had the honour of being introduced to him by ‘Mr.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. On aged and worn paper; folded four times. Signed ‘Clement Shorter’. The letter is headed with Sayers’ Totnes address. He begins by explaining that the Sphere’s ‘Children’s Supplement’ has been abandoned due to ‘the high cost of paper’. Turning to Sayers’ other letter, he thanks him for offering to lend him a copy of Baring Gould’s ‘Strange Survivals’, but that he will obtain his own copy. He ends by thanking him for ‘the various information’.

See Birrell’s entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Arthur George Liddon Rogers (1864-1944), son of the editor of the economist Thorold Rogers, and written while Rogers was Secretary of the Liberal Publication Department, a position to which he was appointed in November 1891. 1p, foolscap 8vo on ruled paper. In good condition apart from two small burn holes. Folded once. Signed ‘A Birrell’. Twenty-four lines of text in a bold, forceful hand.

During Lahrbush’s lifetime William John Thoms, in his ‘Human Longevity’ (1873), described his claim to have been born in 1766 as ‘the most barefaced case of pretended centenarianism which has ever come under my notice’. ‘Capt. Lahrbush’, who claimed to have been born in 1766, ended his days in New York. He also claimed to have guarded Napoleon in St Helena, and to have obbained a lock of Bonaparte’s hair there. In fact he was court-martialled for fraud in 1818, and sent as a convict to Australia.