VICTORIAN

See the entries for Stanley and Smith in the Oxford DNB, the former drawing attention to Stanley’s ‘execrable handwriting’. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Nineteen lines of text. Addressed to ‘My dear “Dictionary” ’, and signed ‘A P Stanley’, but with much of what comes in between only deciperable with effort: ‘[...] salutation [...] addressing [...] Could you do anything for the enclosed? I know nothing beyond what the writer says of himself - & Duckworth’s recommendation of him which I also enclose.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 32 lines, neatly written, including interpolations. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Folded for postage. No signature and with recipient not named. Begins: ‘Sir / On my return from the Continent I find your letter which I should have of course acknowledged at once if I had been at home. / If the following particulars about myself are of any use for the purpose of your book they are quite at your service’. A thumbnail autobiographical account follows, beginning: ‘I am the eldest son of the late Revd.

A spirited and characteristically-forceful letter, casting interesting light on the social side of London legal practice in the Victorian period. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 8vo. On Bifolium with thin mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with some nicking and light creasing at edges. Begins: ‘D[ea]r Aspinall, / I suppose from my not having heard from you no one knows of a case in point. So, unless you tell me there is some precedent - of danger, I’ll recommend my secretary to take his chance.

See his entry, and that of Pettigrew, in the Oxford DNB. Easthope was a difficult employer, nicknamed ‘Blast-hope’. Dickens worked for him as a parliamentary reporter between 1834 and 1836. 1p, 12mo, on recto of first leaf of a bifolium. In fair condition, aged and discoloured. Reads: 'My dear Pettigrew / Will you please to leave out Lancaster letter which I'll send for tomorrow / haste / Yrs. / J E / Sunday'. The letter is addressed on the reverse of the second leaf, with slight loss to one corner from the breaking of the red wax seal. Black 'BARNET' postmark and customary frank in red.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of brown paper mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘Spenser Wilkinson.’ Begins: ‘Dear Mr. Bryan, / I am glad to hear from you again, for you seemed lost. My wife went to Beauchamp Place long ago to call on Mr. Bryan but found that you had left & could not learn your address.’ He accepts with pleasure the invitation to lunch with him and Colonel Durand, ‘whose book I read with much interest’.

1p, 8vo. On recto of first leaf of a bifolium. The reverse of the that leaf and recto of the second leaf carry the printed prospectus and order form for Clarke’s 1896 volume, ‘Festival Hymns, Including Three Offertory Hymns for Festival Use, Sung in S. Paul’s Cathedral, also in Exeter, Truro, and other Cathedrals, at Choral Festivals’, in which Clarke is described as ‘Vicar of Thorverton, Devon, Hon. Sec. Exeter Diocesan Board of Education’. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘S Childs Clarke’. The recipient is not named.

Written while Clerk of the Commons. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Joyce Violet Ilbert (1890-1957) was the youngest of his five daughters. 8pp, 12mo. Two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to ‘My Dear Joyce’ and signed ‘Yr. loving father | C. P. I.’ Begins: ‘I wish for my sake that you were on board the Cedric - for I miss my [?]-valet-secretary very much. If you were here, you would be hoping that the voyage would never come to an end’. They have had ‘almost perpetual sunshine since we left New York’. ‘The ship is extremely comfortable.

See Westland's entry in the Oxford DNB. Finlay was, as the Marquis of Crewe told the House of Lords in 1912, ‘a distinguished Indian official’, responsible for, as the Statist stated in 1914, ‘the details of the financial administration of the Empire of India. The magnitude and complexity of the financial transactions of the Government of India need not be enlarged on.’ He entered the Indian Civil Service in 1875, was made a Companion of the Order of the Star of India in 1896, and a Member the Governor-General’s Council in 1902.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, with Pettigrew’s. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of a bifolium. Reads: ‘Sir Robert Gardiner presents his compliments to Mr Pettigrew - / He begs Mr Pettigrew will forgive his taking the liberty of asking whether he is acquainted with General Anderson, and if so, he begs Mr. Pettigrew will do him the favor of calling here as soon as convenient in his round of Professional calls this morning’.

See the entry for Sir Charles Brooke in the Oxford DNB. On one side of an 18 x 9 cm piece of paper, the upper part torn from a larger sheet, with neatly-torn bottom edge resulting in a little loss to the flourish beneath the signature and the tip of the downstroke of the ‘y’ in ‘Harry’. In fair condition, lightly aged, with a central vertical fold. The text, in a bold hand, reads: ‘ “Though obstacles beset you - struggle still!” / Even a worm may climb this highest hill! / Yrs Sly / Harry de Windt’ See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded three times for postage. The letter concerns the Hackney Choral Association. Begins: ‘My dear Sir, / I am much obliged by the kind note just received, though I am sorry we shall not have the pleasure of your company on Monday.

See the entries for Prout and Cummings in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The second leaf of a bifolum, the first presumably carrying the commencement of the letter. The present fragment, in a good firm hand, reads: 'in the way he desires but if you can do so, you will not only be assisting a most deserving young man, but I shall regard it as a personal kindness. / I am, my dear Cummings, / Yours very cordially, / Ebenezer Prout. / Dr. W. H. Cummings.'

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, and that of the recipient’s husband, the judge Sir Edward Hall Alderson (1787-1857). 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium with thick mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. Begins: ‘Dear Lady Alderson / Fresh, & very heavy sorrow has befallen us, or I wd. sooner have answered yr ot of last Saturday. The death of Captn.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. On two 11 x 9 cm cards, plain but for the letterhead. Both in good condition, lightly aged. The recipient is not named. The card is signed 'E. T:' and is written in her forceful hand. Begins: 'I have no time - nor words - to tell you what I think - The boys health indeed! - if there's any use in talking, if signing petitions will do any good one would talk & sign all day! but in spite' - here the reverse of the first card begins, and the side is entirely deleted, except for the last line'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On the front cover of a 12 x 7 cm envelope, from which the seal has been torn away on the reverse. Otherwise in very good condition. A pleasing piece of calligraphy, with the word ‘Private’ centred and underlined at the head, and the address to ‘The Honble. Spencer Ponsonby. / Foreign Office’ across the central band, with the signature at bottom left: ‘Alaric Watts.’ See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. Addressed to ‘Carissimo Amico’ and signed ‘Alberto Randegger’.With fourteen lines of text, all in Italian. In fair condition, lightly aged and discoloured paper. Folded for postage.

A nice item relating to a famously secretive and influential society. See Taylor’s entry in the Oxford DNB (Ferrar is not to be confused with the Dean of Canterbury Frederic Farrar, who was an Apostle). 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Sixteen lines, very neatly written. On aged and creased paper, with part of the leaf torn away at top left (not affecting text). Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Tom Taylor Esqre. / 8 Richmond Terrace / Whitehall / S.W.’ and signed ‘Fredc: Ferrar. / Genl.

See his entry, and that of Lady Ilbert’s husband, in the Oxford DNB. The three items in good condition, lightly aged, and folded for postage. ALS ONE (19 December 1910): 1p, 12mo. ‘I am sorry you have had domestic anxieties. They are the most poignant.’ He continues: ‘It would delight me to have a peaceful hour with you and Ilbert, without prejudice to Fisher and his wife.’ Signed ‘M.’ ALS TWO (2 July 1911): 2pp, 12mo.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Forty-nine lines. Bifolium. On aged and worn paper, with the reverse of the second leaf laid down on cut-down remains of leaf of autograph album, with a number of autographs on slips laid down on the reverse, including that of Charles Hallé, cut from a letter. Prout’s letter is signed ‘Ebenezer Prout’, but the recipient is not named.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On grey paper. In fair condition, with blocks of discoloration. Addressed to 'Dear Madam' and signed ' M Yonge'. She cannot tell her 'how late the final proof must be, as it depends on the printers, and the Christmas week so disturbs arrangements that they generally wish to have all finished earlier than usual'. She suggests sending he a card 'when the proofs come in to me', as there will be a few days to spare, 'while the other ladies are correcting them'.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, and Elaine Lomax’s 2016 book, ‘The Writings of Hesba Stretton: Reclaiming the Outcast’. 1p, 16mo. Cut down to 11.5 x 12 cm. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once for postage. The recipient is not named, but is clearly the secretary of the Religious Truth Society (who appear to have published the MS referred to in the letter as ‘The Sweet Story of Old’ (see Lomax). Signed ‘Hesba Stretton’. ‘Dear Sir, / I forward by this post my promised M.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Folded once for postage. Addressed to ‘Mr. Cummings’ and with large bold signature ‘Algernon Ashton.’ He writes: ‘I venture to express a hope that whenever there should be a vacancy for a Pianoforte Professorship at the Guildhall School of Music, of which you are now the honoured Principal, that you may kindly think of me.’

3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Forty-eight lines of text. Addressed to 'Miss Burgess[,] Norwich' and with smudged signature 'Michael McCartan'.

See her entry and her brother?s in the Oxford DNB. The item is from the collection of Irish nationalist autographs assembled by Miss Burgess of Norfolk in the 1890s, who has endorsed one leaf in her distinctive hand ? ?Post Mortem? / By Fanny Parnell?. Undated. 3pp, 4to. On two leaves of paper with Dollard watermark. Poem of twenty-eight lines, in seven stanzas, titled ?Post Mortem?. From a comparison with a letter in the National Library of Ireland certainly not in Fanny Parnell?s hand. A fair copy, with one mistake (corrected) confirming transcription: ?loveliness? for ?loneliness?.

Parnell had died around ten weeks before, on 6 October 1891. See Harrison's entry in the Oxford DNB: 'After the party broke in two in December 1890, Harrison campaigned with his chief in Ireland, constituting himself a bodyguard and aide-de-camp. After Parnell's death in October 1891 Harrison, young though he was, hastened to Brighton to put his services at the disposal of Parnell's widow. It was then that he heard from her a very different account of the circumstances surrounding her divorce from that given in court.

See his entry, and that of his elder brother, in the Oxford DNB. From the collection of Irish nationalist autographs of Miss Burgess of Norwich. On 16.5 x 7.5 cm piece of paper, cut down from a larger document. In fair condition, lightly aged and spotted. Folded three times. Written in a large bold hand: ? ?One in name, one in fame / Are the Sea-divided Gaels.? / A. M. Sullivan / St Patricks Day / 1884?. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is from a collection of Irish nationalist autographs assembled by Miss Burgess of Norwich. 1p, 8vo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded for postage. Addressed 'To Miss Burgess' and signed 'Alfred Webb'. Date and location in another hand, the rest in Webb's autograph. Begins: 'Dear Madam, / Those autos. you have of our MP's are some of which I have most. Unfortunately others you want I have only of a private character, & I do not like cutting off the signatures.' He is sending those of J. E.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ?Mr S Cooper?s compts to the Board of Curators and will be obliged if they will favour him with a ticket for the Library for his friend Mr M. Foster for 6 months / For Mr Michael Foster / of Holywell Bedfordshire / June 14 1833. / 7, Woburn Place?. A pencil note in a contemporary hand at the head of the page gives a list of works by ?Prof. Samuel Cooper F.R.S.?

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium of grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The subject is Conquest?s ?Letters to a Mother on the Management of Herself and her Children in Health and Disease?, published in 1848, which had reached a fourth edition by 1852. ?Dr. Conquest presents his compliments to Mr. Bullock & begs to say that the ?Letters? may be obtained at the publisher Longman & Co. Paternoster Row, & of Gladding Booksellers opposite Bunhill Fields City Road, & through any other bookseller.?

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On one side of a 12 x 7.5 cm post card. On brittle, discoloured card, with chipping to corners and some repair with archival tape. Self-printed with stamp, addressed, with postmark, to 'Percy Fitzgerald, Esq. / 37 St. George's Road / SW.' On other side, with letterhead in fancy type, regarding Fitzgerald's book 'London City Suburbs', which he has just published, reads: 'See todays & last Saturdays Daily Telegraph new no. (June) of Art Journal for notices L. C. Suburbs. Stamped at bottom right: 'The Leadenhall Press, Ltd:' See Image.