VICTORIAN

The previous year Green had succeeded Prestwich in the Chair of Geology at Oxford. In the same year the second volume of Prestwich's 'Geology' was published for the University by the Clarendon Press, the first volume having appeared in 1886. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. The subject of the letter is 'the plates of “Geology”', with Prestwich writing that his 'only object is to make the book useful in as many ways as possible.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Presumably written to the governess of a child he had arranged to paint. Reads: 'Madam | I have Mrs. Horsfall's permission to ask if you could make it convenient that I should see her little daughter tomorrow at ¼ past 2 oC – for the purposes of arranging sittings for her portrait.'

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Addressed to 'Dear Dr.' and written in a neat and close hand. He gives a 22-line transcription of 'the extract [] from my vol[um]e. on Lead, p.177, published in 1870', headed 'Refining or Cupellation'.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Charles W. Dilke. | Emilia F. S. Dilke | Newnham | 10 June | 1891'. Written after the celebrated Crawford Scandal of 1886, which resulted in Dilke losing his seat in parliament, and becoming a music-hall figure of fun as a result of the revelations of his adulterous behaviour.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition. He has 'from week to week been purposing a visit to you to express my gratitude & sincere thanks for your kindness to me & the cure you accomplished'. He can only write his thanks, having been overwhelmed by 'the arrears of work that followed my illness', and leaving for Paris the following day.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. He begins by thanking him for his 'kind note and ticket for the Private View at the Academy'. He explains that he 'must pay a visit to the Home Office at noon to report myself', and from there he will find his way to Burlington House. He hopes 'to learn from Mr Childers or one of the Under-secretaries when there is a likelihood of a day being fixed by the Queen for dubbing knights, and am in hopes that it may not be far distant, as I don't wish to be kept here for any lengthened time.' He explains that he came up to London 'on Genl.

In 1899 Mrs Mills published a biography of her husband, titled 'From Tinder Box to Larger Light'. See the references to her in Crawford, 'Women's Suffrage Movement' (2003), and Daley and Nolan, 'Suffrage and Beyond' (1994), the latter work containing a reference to a meeting with Frederick Douglass. Her father, as she states in this letter, was 'John Petrie of South St Rochdale' (Petrie (1792-1883) was a Belfast-born engineer). 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged.

The influential potter Herbert Minton (1793-1858), of the Staffordshire firm Thomas Minton and Sons, had died on 1 April 1858. A couple of months later, on 26 May 1858, Wyatt read before the Society of Arts his paper 'On the Influence exercised on Ceramic Manufactures by the late Mr. Herbert Minton'. The first four letters carry the stamp of the Society of Arts. All five items in good condition, lightly aged. The first two 1p., 12mo; the third 2pp., 12mo. The fourt 3pp., 12mo. The fifth 1p, landscape 12mo. ONE ('Saty'): Reads: 'I have selected at Phillip's (Chamberlaine's) in Bond St.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Begins: 'Prof. Corfield presents his compliments to Miss Armstrong and begs to inform her that his Course of Lectures on Hygiene to Ladies will commence on Thursday Octr. 2nd at University College, London, and will be illustrated by specimens &c from the Parkes Museum.' He would forward a syllabus if he had one, and suggests that she apply to the college secretary 'for a copy of the Prospectus of the Faculties of Science'.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, somewhat aged and worn. The recipient is not named, but is presumably George Frederick Armstrong (1842-1900), Professor of Engineering, Ediinburgh, from whose family papers the item derives. Geinitz writes: 'With many thanks for your kind letter to introduce Mr. Pilkington. I only regret, that snow and other effects of Winter-time did not allow any trip in the neighborhood [sic] for Geological purposes: we could only spend some days for studies in our Geological Museum, which Mr.

Denman was noted for his eccentricities. From 1884 he sat as a crossbencher, and introduced a number of bills on women's suffrage, none of which gained a second reading. 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. The first page heavily-spotted, and with the cross-written signature over-written, probably by a child; otherwise lightly-aged and worn.

In addition to his achievements, Young is remembered for holding a dinner party in 1877, at which the Prince of Wales arranged to sit next to Lillie Langtry while her husband was discreetly seated elsewhere, thus beginning their affair. 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and ruckled, with two small pinholes at head of first leaf, and traced of mount on blank reverse of second leaf. The letter begins: 'I have just got note from Mrs Langtry saying that she will have to go out of Town tomorrow morning and asking me to write to you to tell you'.

On 5 x 10 cm slip of paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Yours faithfully | George du Maurier'. The first line lightly inked, the signature itself bold and strong. Nothing else on the card, except for the number '92' in a contemporary hand at top left above the signature.

4.5 x 18.5 cm slip of paper. In fair condition, aged and laid down on piece of card. Four lines from the conclusion of a letter. Reads: '[…] Things here are going on as usual, – and all our Friends are well. – Tucker will write to you soon himself about your Visit to Malling, - which I yet hope will be accomplished. I hope your next Letter will contain some Account of the State of the Inhabitants of Fled:, and when you expect your Uncle Home – Adieu & believe me ever your | very sincerely attached & affectionate Friend. | T. Arnold.'

1p., 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed by Clater on verso of second leaf to 'T. W. Winstanley | Royal Manchester | Institution'. Opens: 'Dear Sir | I beg leave to forward to your Exhibition two pictures'. 'No 1', which Winstanley has given the catalogue number 294 is 'May day', priced at 100 guineas, for which Clater provides a six-line poetic quotation. 'No 2' (catalogue number 135) is 'The Village Post Office', priced at 30 guineas.

In 1882 Guille and Allès, childhood friends who had worked in New York as carpenters, bought the Assembly Rooms in Market Street, opening the building in 1888 as an extensive subscription library, with reading and meeting rooms. The library is still in operation, and is a much-loved local institution. The present items dates from two years later, both 1p., 16mo. On bifolium. In good condition, with remains of stub adhering to one edge. Written in a small, neat and dainty hand, the first letter reads: 'Guille-Allès Library, | April 23, 1890.

Both letters are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. 'Mrs. Chepmell' was the wife of Edward Charles Chepmell (1820-1885), society homeopathist. Mrs. Borrer' was the wife of Cary Hampton Borrer (1838-1918) of Hurstpierpoint. ONE: To 'Dear Mrs. Chepmell', 7 February 1904. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Begins: 'I find that Mr. Cranage the Cambridge secretary [Rev. David Herbert Somerset Cranage (1866-1957)] is coming down to Hurstpierpoint on Thursday & is going to lunch with Mrs.

An attractive item, neatly written out in black ink on one side of a 13 x 8.5 cm piece of shiny card, with printed decorative border of flowers in gold and blue. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with traces of mount adhering to reverse. As a joke, at the foot, in block capitals, the menu is attributed to 'Sala & Co | Refreshment Contractors', at Sala's address. An interesting artefact of the Victorian Christmas. The menu reads:'[fleuron] Menu. | CHRISTMAS DAY | 1881 | oysters on the half shell.

1p., 4to. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed by Stanley, with red wax seal, on reverse of second leaf, to 'The Secretary | In the Manchester Institution | Moseley [sic] St | Manchester'. The text itself consists of the names and prices of the two pictures to be submitted to the 1842 show, with the date and Stanley's name and address: 'No 1. | Water Mill | North Devon | 25£ with Frame. | No 2 | Lane Scene | Painted from Nature | 25£ with Frame | C R Stanley | 25 Gt Maddox St | Hanover Sqre. | August 9th. 1842'.

An attractive item, in good condition, lightly aged and spotted. On one side of a piece of 17.5 x 25 cm landscape paper, with the autograph writing on the right-hand side and the 15 x 10 cm print of a studio portrait laid down on the left-hand side. Caine was a striking and instantly-recognisable individual, and the photograph shows him in characteristic style, bare-headed in his usual dress of long double-breasted coat with white cravat, staring intently at the camera, with a book in his right hand, and his right hand draped across his left thigh, his left leg being elevated on a chair.

19pp, foolscap 8vo. On five bifoliums. Neatly and closely written. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Tower's letter begins: 'My dear Dick | I enclose a chart [not present] which will show you at a glance my yachting cruises during the past season'.

1p., 12mo. Mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. 'Dartmouth' neatly written in another hand at head. With reference to a forthcoming subscription appeal for a book by the recipient the letter reads: 'Revd. Sir, | With reference to your note of the 30th. April, I must beg to stipulate that you neither print mine, to which it refers, nor insert my name in any list of subscribers that you may circulate, my subscription may be entered, if you please, as that of a friend fo the Revd J. Hermby'.

1p., 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Dear Sir | There is no need to notice the enclosed, beyond sending the writer a copy of the Report, as soon as it is out.'

4pp., 16mo. Bifolium with mourning border, on paper embossed with the Macready crest. In fair condition, lightly aged, with torn hole to one corner of the first leaf (not affecting text), presumably caused by removal from mount. The recipient is clearly a member of the Hawtrey family (and presumably a relation of Edward Craven Hawtrey of Eton), as the letter concludes with the Macready family's best wishes 'to Mrs. Hawtrey'. It must date from before Macready's departure for Cheltenham in 1860.

On a piece of paper, folded three times into a packet. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The plan covers the whole of one side, with the names of around 150 invitees (including George Augustus Sala, Henry Trueman Wood, A. M. Broadley, Prince Iskandar Ali of Moorshedabad and the Mayor of Colchester) printed in black ink on a seating diagram in brownish-red. Dead centre at the top table is the Lord Mayor of London, flanked by the French ambassador and 'M. Georges Berger (Director-General of the Paris Exhibition). To the right of the ambassador are Sir Lyon Playfair and Sir Lothian Bell.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. Writing with regard to the Mahdist War, she has been asked by the Princess of Wales to 'start a Sub-Committee to H. R. H's. Branch of the National Aid Society (Soudan & Egypt)', and is 'anxious to know' whether the recipient can help her 'by allowing your name to be placed on the General Committee the object of which is to collect funds to secure some further provisions for the health & comfort of the British Troops, more especially the Sick & Wounded, in that trying climate'.

An interesting exchange, casting light on manegerial practices in late-Victorian theatre. ONE: Typed Letter Signed by 'W. Lestocq'. 2pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. A long letter, single-spaced. He has 'talked over the whole matter of the prospects of “The Christian” tour with Mr Frohman for next season, and he does not desire to send out a company on tour himself. Now I could of course let it on Mr Frohman's behalf or perhaps sell his rights and the production outright.' He gives details of his first choice if the latter course were pursued.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The lower half of the reverse laid down on a piece of card from an album. A charming letter apparently written to a young girl, suffused with late Victorian charm. He writes: 'My dear Miss Alice | The little orchid you sent to me last evening was a very sweet one. It belongs to the group “Maxillaria”, all of which are sweetly scented. I miss my old pets very much, but we cannot have everything in this world!; He concludes, after reporting on the state of his 'Lilies', in the hope that the recipient and her sister are in good health.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with closed tear at foot of fold line. The recipient is not named. Hale begins by stating that he has both of the recipient's telegrams, and thanking him for his 'promptness and readiness to forward my wishes'. In the meantime he had 'determined that the simplest solution to my troubles was to give up my Topeka appointment, as I was at liberty to do.