WAR

[Sir Charles Oman, military historian.] Three Autograph Letters Signed (all ‘C. W. C. Oman’), as Librarian of All Souls College, to ‘Mr Harlow’ of Rhodes House Library, regarding his proposal about ‘the long series of Cape Parliamentary proceedings’.

Author: 
Sir Charles Oman [Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman] (1860-1946), English military historian and Librarian of All Souls College, Oxford [Professor Vincent Todd Harlow, Keeper, Rhodes House Library]
Publication details: 
2, 7 and 21 June 1937. All three on the letterhead of the Library of All Souls College, Oxford.
£90.00

See Oman’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Each letter 1p, 12mo. Each folded once. All three in good condition, lightly aged. The correspondence concerns Harlow’s proposal, according to the letter of 2 June 1937, ‘that All Souls College should present to the Rhodes House Library the comparatively few yearly numbers of the Cape Parliamentary proceedings 1875-1910 which are not already in either the Bodleian or the Rhodes House shelves - keeping for the College the residuence, a broken set of about 200 volumes’.

[‘BY PERMISSION of the Ministry of Fuel and Power’.] Duplicated ‘typewritten bulletin, containing essential announcements, “Calls” and “Wanteds”, normally appearing in “The Stage”.’

Author: 
The Stage, London theatre magazine [The Ministry of Fuel and Power, Whitehall; post-war restrictions]
Publication details: 
‘Bulletin issued by Carson & Comerford Ltd.’ ‘Not for publication. From “The Stage” Office / 19/21 Tavistock St., W.C.2 / Thursday Feb. 27. 1947.’ [London.]
£120.00

A scarce piece of English theatrical ephemera, illustrative of the restrictions imposed following the Second World War. From the papers of W. Macqueen-Pope. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) The item is a duplicated bulletin of six closely-typed 8vo pages, on three loose leaves. The text is complete and clear, but the item is aged and with wear to edges. The first page is headed by the following, in capitals, above the address and phone number of ‘The Stage’: ‘According to latest directions from the Ministry of Fuel & Power this is for private circulation only and is distributed gratis.

[Christopher Fry: the schoolboy diaries of his elder brother Charles Leslie Harris.] Four years of diaries, 1916-1919, covering his time at Bedford School.

Author: 
[Christopher Fry [born Arthur Hammond Harris] (1907-2005), playwright] his brother Charles Leslie Harris (b.1902) [Bedford School]
Publication details: 
1916 to 1919, each a ‘Charles Letts School-Boy’s Diary’. At front of diaries for 1916 and 1917 he writes: ‘C L. Harris / 120 Gladstone St / Bedford’.
£450.00

See Fry’s entry by Michael Billington in the Dictonary of National Biography. His brother survives as a rather shadowy figure: he was certainly alive in 1978, when Fry referred to him in the account of his family background ‘Can You Find Me / A Family History’ (OUP). In that volume Fry describes his ‘brother Leslie’ as a baby ‘growing sturdily’, noting that ‘though he was later called by his first name Charles, he was Leslie for many years to come’.

[Admiral Jellicoe, Commander of the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland.] Autograph Note Signed (‘J’) to ‘Col Crosfield’, regarding a ‘sad case’ which needs to be ‘taken up by Mr Webb’. With explanatory note in another hand.

Author: 
Admiral Jellicoe [Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe] (1859-1935), commander of Grand Fleet at Battle of Jutland
Jellicoe
Publication details: 
No date or place [circa 1928, according to accompanying note].
£90.00
Jellicoe

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 14.5 x 6 cm rectangle of air mail paper, cut from the head of a letter, on which Jellicoe’s note is clearly a comment. In good condition, lightly aged, folded once. Typed at foot of slip: ‘Thomas Butler - Meadow Cottage, Bank Road, Dawly, Salop.’ Above this, towards the right, Jellicoe writes in a close hand: ‘Col Crosfield / This is a sad case, & seems “attributable”. Can the case be taken up by Mr Webb.

[‘Not well fitted for stimulating the Imperial British sentiment’: Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace, Times foreign correspondent, assesses a volume on South Africa with ‘Cape Dutch’ sympathies.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘D. M. Wallace’) to Lady Jersey.

Author: 
Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace (1841-1919), Scottish journalist, foreign correspondent of The Times, Private Secretary to future King George V [Margaret Villiers (1849-1945), Countess of Jersey]
Publication details: 
14 February 1902; on letterhead of St. Ermin’s Mansions, Caxton Street, S.W. [London]
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium. A thin strip (no more than 1 cm deep) has been cut away at the head of the first leaf, with no loss of text, otherwise in good condition. Folded once. Written a few months after Wallace’s return from his duties as Private Secretary to the future King George V on his world tour on HMS Ophir, and during the Second Boer War. Wallace has just been struck by the thought that ‘though I returned the Volume on South Africa to the address in Victoria Street’ he forgot to give her his opinion of it.

[Lord Roberts of Kandahar, Boer War commander.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Fred Roberts’) to Sir Richard Temple, explaining how he proposes to obtain preferment for Temple’s son.

Author: 
Lord Roberts [Frederick Sleigh Roberts; Field Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar, V.C.] (1832-1914), Boer War commander [Sir Richard Temple (1826-1902); his son Sir Richard Carnac Temple (1850-1931)]
Publication details: 
14 June 1889; Simla. On letterhead of the ‘Commander in Chief in India’.
£56.00

See the entries for the two men in the Oxford DNB, as well as that of the subject of the letter, Sir Richard Temple’s eldest son Captain Richard Carnac Temple (1850-1931), the future second baronet. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Aged, with the gutter repaired with archival tape, and the reverse of the second leaf adhering to part of its mount. Headed ‘Private’ and addressed to ‘Dear Sir Richard’.

[‘Snub him & send him home.’ President Woodrow Wilson is a ‘Bally Ass’ and ‘distinctly Socialistic’.] Autograph Letter Signed from Republican politician A. H. Olmsted to P. A. Currie, attacking Wilson on the eve of the Paris Peace Conference.

Author: 
A. H. Olmsted [Albert Henry Olmsted] (d.1842-1929), banker and Republican party politician, half-brother of ‘father of landscape architecture’ Frederick Law Olmsted [President Woodrow Wilson]
Publication details: 
26 January 1919; on letterheads of the Hotel Del Monte, California.
£650.00

Having made the first state visit to the United Kingdom by an American President, 26 to 28 December 1918, Wilson was in Europe at the opening of the Paris Peace Conference, which would result in the League of Nations and Treaty of Versailles. The present letter presents in forthright terms the Republican position on his activities in the aftermath of the First World War. 5pp, 12mo. On five leaves of letterheads of the Hotel Del Monte, California (‘Carl S. Stanley, Manager’). In postmarked envelope from the Hotel (stamps torn away), addressed to ‘Mr. P. A.

[Lord Roberts [Field Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar], British Boer War commander.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Roberts.’), sending condolences to ‘Mrs. Tierney’, mentioning his time at 'Mills School' with Tierney and cricketer Alfred Torrens.

Author: 
Lord Roberts [Frederick Sleigh Roberts; Field Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar, V.C.] (1832-1914), British Army commander during Second Boer War [Alfred Torrens (1831-1903), cricketer]
Publication details: 
18 March 1903; on letterhead of 47 Portland Place, W. [London]
£56.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium, folded once. In good condition. 29 lines of text. He thanks her for her kindness, ‘in the midst of your great sorrow’, in writing to inform the Robertses of her husband’s death. ‘We have often talked of you both, and wondered where you were living.’ He had thought it was ‘somewhere in the valley of the Thames, at least I thought you told me so when last I met you both walking in Regent Street - some 10 years ago’. After a brief comment on Tierney’s ill health, he recalls how ‘He, Alfred Torrens, and I sat next to each other at Mills School.

[James Stephen; book] The Dangers of the Country by the Author of War in Disguise

Author: 
Anon. [James Stephen (1758 – 1832), principal English lawyer associated with the movement for the abolition of slavery, grandfather of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen and Sir Leslie Stephen.]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for J. Butterworth, Fleet Street; and J. Hatchard, Piccadilly, 1807.
£60.00

pp.iv.227, 8vo., grubby pages, first few stained, last page damaged but complete, text clear and complete, rebound (modern) grey boards, fresh endpapers. He elaborates on his sense of the threat of a Napoleonic Invasion, but there's also a section on the evils of the slave trade and insights into the events leading to the 1812 War. See text in Google Books.

[Frederick Burnaby, adventurer, balloonist, Times war correspondent, British Army intelligence officer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Fred Burnaby'), requesting that 'Edward' accept an article by a female mountaineer, and referring to Randolph Churchill

Author: 
Frederick Burnaby [Colonel Frederick Gustavus Burnaby] (1842-1885), adventurer, balloonist, Times war correspondent, British Army intelligence officer [Randolph Churchill]
Publication details: 
15 October 1884. On letterhead of the Grand Hotel, Birmingham.
£320.00

Burnaby is the beau idéal of the Victorian military adventurer. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. A hurried letter, with a couple of deletions. Written a few months before Burnaby's death. He explains that a 'mutual friend' has asked him 'to submit to you the enclosed article – on mountaineering – She does not wish her name to be mentioned – hence I must not divulge it.' Should the article not be wanted he asks for it to be returned to him at Somerby Hall, Oakham, 'in the course of the next two or three days'.

[Lord Napier of Magdala] Third person message commencing Lord Napier of Magdala and initialled NM (full text below).

Author: 
Lord Napier of Magdala [Field Marshal Robert Cornelis Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala (1810 – 1890), Indian Army officer.]
Napier
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£65.00
Napier

Paper, 11.5 x 8cm, fold mark and sl.foxed, text clear, as follows: Lord Napier of Magdala hopes to meet the schoolboy some day. See image.

Copy of the Irish republican newspaper 'Saoirse na h-Éireann. Irish Freedom', from the papers of Robert Lynd, and with the front-page article 'Germany is not Ireland's Enemy' possibly written by him.

Author: 
Robert Lynd [Robert Wilson Lynd; Riobard ua Floinn] (1979-1949), Irish essayist [Saoirse na h-Éireann. Irish Freedom]
Publication details: 
'Printed by Patrick Mahon, 3 Yarnhall St., Dublin, for the Proprietors and published by them at their Office, 12 D'Olier Street, Dublin.' September 1914.
£100.00

8pp., folio. Unopened. On aged high-acidity paper, with wear along central vertical fold, and chipping to extremities. The article is unsigned, and covers the whole of the front page and p.5 (which is headed 'Ireland won't be fooled again.') and ends on p.6. An inflammatory piece of writing, as the following paragraph indicates: 'Good-bye, Tommy! | Firstly, the army of occupation has been taken from Ireland. Dozens of ships were steaming in and out of Dublin Bay for a week, taking away the men who held this country for England before Mr. Redmond offered Mr.

[R.A.F. Hospital, Aden; Variety Concert; printed programme] Programme and related photographs. In envelope.

Author: 
[R.A.F. Hospital, Aden; Variety Concert]
Aden
Aden2
Publication details: 
Headquarters N.A.A.F.I. Barrack Hill [...] October 6th to October 10th 1941
£180.00
Aden
Aden2

Programme, 4pp., worn on fold marks but complete, ow good condition, R.A.F. Hospital, Aden. | present the | Aeronuts | in a | Variety Concert | to be held in | Headquarters N.A.F.I. Barrack Hill on [dates given above] | Commencing at 8.30 p.m. | By kind permission of | Air Vice Marshal F.G.D. Hards [Commanding][...]. The programme includes Musical Selections (handwritten list present), Haw Haw's Happy Hour, The Band (handwritten list present), Bare Imagination, Lightning Sketches, etc, etc. WITH names of performers.

[Gaston Palewski; de Gaulle] Typed Letter Signed Gaston Palewski to Monsieur le Professeur Andre Gros, legal advisor to De Gaulle at the time, who counter-signs, referring to an article by Sir John Pollock, and his work in London.

Author: 
Gaston Palewski [(1901 – 1984), French politician, close associate of Charles de Gaulle]
Palewski
Publication details: 
[Printed heading includes] Cabinet du Général de Gaulle, No. 505/Cab.Dir., [date typed] Alger, le 8 février 1944
£120.00
Palewski

One page, 4to, fold marks, one edge dusted, fold marks, ow good. Je vous remercie vivement de m'avoir envoyé l;article de Sir John Pollock. Que cette fidélité amicale et intelligence est raffraichissante [one f crossed out]. | Je vous félicite du travail que vous faites à Londres, et vous prie de croire a mon tres fidèle souvenir. Underneath Palewski's scrawled signature, Gros has added le ci est de Palewski I I think!) adding his own nearly illegible signature. See image.

[George Cornewall Lewis; the Crimean War] Autograph Note Signed G.C. Lewis to J.W. Wilkins thanking him for his essay on the Turkish Empire.

Author: 
George Cornewall Lewis [(806 – 1863), statesman and man of letters.]
Publication details: 
Kent House, 1 July 1853.
£45.00

Two pages, 12mo, an edge frayed, remnants of paper for tipping in album, minor stain, text clear and complete. Text: Pray accept my thanks for yr kindness in sending me your essay on the Turkish Empire, which I shall read with much pleasure, in reference to the important question now pending in that part of the world. The Crimean War commenced in October 1853.

[Melton Prior, artist] Autograph Letter Signed Melton-Prior to Sir Augustus Harris [actor, impresario, and dramatist]

Author: 
Melton Prior (1845 – 1910), artist and war correspondent.
Publication details: 
[Headed] Millington, Newstead Road, Lee, Kent, 31 October 1893.
£56.00

Three pages, 12mo, bifolium, good condition. I scarcely know how to thank you for the very handsome present which I received this afternoon, & cannot help feeling that the slight services I was able to render in connection with 'A Life of Pleasure' [subject the Burmese War which Prior had covered] certainly did not warrant any recognition at all, but I accept it with pleasure and am very proud to think you number me as one of the Servants of The High Priest 'Druriolanus'. My wife desires [...]

[H.M.S. Tyne, Flagship; Japan; Pacific Fleet] Two Typescripts (cyclostyled or similar): H.M.S. Tyne's Commission. Pacific Fleet 1944-46 AND Guide to Japan AND Plan of Yokohama Port

Author: 
H.M.S. Tyne, Flagship; Japan; Pacific Fleet
Publication details: 
1944-46 AND 21 March 1946.
£1,350.00

A. H.M.S. Tyne's Commission. Pacific Fleet 1944-46, typescript (cyclostyled or similar), 14pp., fol., stapled, small coloured image of desert island with palm trees on front cover, covers dusted, sl. chipped and stained, but complete and fully legible. Preliminary page detailed list of places visited on the way to Yokohama (dates, distances, etc). Then The Commission of 'H.M.S. Tyne', 1944-46, pp.1-14, details and descriptions of voyage and stops- Port Said, Trincomalee, Sydney, Japanese ports, etc., including wartime activity as it affected the Fleet (e.g.

[B.C. Brodie, chemist; Florence Nightingale; Lady Nurses] Autograph Letter Signed B C Brodie to an unnamed male correspindent, concerning lady nurses.

Author: 
B.C. Brodie [Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 2nd Baronet FRS (1817?1880), chemist.]
Publication details: 
Broome Park, Betchworth, Surrey, 30 August 1855.
£56.00

Three pages, 12mo, bifolium, second leaf laid down on slightly larger paper, edges dusted, small closed tear, fully legible, fair condition. I thank you for the history that you have sent me of the Smyrna hospital. I read it with great interest; & thinking that it might be also interesting to those who are more immediately concerned in these matters than I am, I have sent your letter to Mr Frederick Peel [then Under-Secretary of State for War]. I hope that [you] will not disapprove of my having done so.

[Ronnie Tritton, War Office Publicity Officer.] Two Autograph Letters Signed ('T' and 'R.') [to his wife Andrina], written during the 'Phoney War', writing with evocative immediacy about Claridge's, the Savoy, and a host of friends and acquaintances.

Author: 
Ronnie Tritton [Ronald Edward Tritton] (1907-1990), War Office Publicity Officer 1940-1945 [his wife, née Andrina Frances Schweder; Savoy Hotel, London; The Phoney War, Second World War]
Publication details: 
One: 12 September 1939. On letterhead of White's [gentleman's club in St James's Street, London]. Two: 'Wed.' [no date, but 1939]. On letterhead of the Savoy Hotel, London.
£56.00

Tritton was educated at Winchester College, and in later life held the office of High Sheriff of Essex. He served as War Office Publicity Officer between 1940 and 1945 (the first civilian to hold the post). The present items exhibit the candour and evocative immediacy for which his wartime diaries were praised on their publication in 2012. Two long letters to 'Darling', both 2pp, 4to. Both in good condition, lightly aged, and folded twice. ONE (signed 'R.'): Thirty-eight lines of text. He is writing her a second letter of the day, prompted by boredom and the want of something else to do'.

[John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, general who commanded the Walcheren Campaign of 1809.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Chatham') to Rev. Dr H. Adams, sending an autograph of his brother William Pitt the Younger [not present].

Author: 
John Pitt (1756-1835), 2nd Earl of Chatham, British general who commanded the disastrous Walcheren Campaign of 1809; elder brother of William Pitt the Youngerq
Publication details: 
13 April 1829. Charles Street [London].
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to blank second leaf of bifolium. Folded twice. He returned 'but very late from Brighton, and was afterwards very unwell, which added to a great deal of business', prevented him from finding for Adams 'an Autograph of my Brothers, which I promised you some time back'. He is now enclosing the autograph, but apologises that he has 'none of my Father's [i.e. William Pitt the elder] to send you, for among his letters, there are no copies preserved in his own hand writing.'

[George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle, Whig statesman, and planned French invasion of England.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Morpeth'), applying [to member of government] for financial aid, in case his Troop of Yeomanry are 'called for to act'.

Author: 
George Howard (1773-1848), 6th Earl of Carlisle [styled Viscount Morpeth until 1825], Whig statesman, Lord Privy Seal [Henry Belasyse (1742-1802), 2nd Earl Fauconberg, Tory politician]
Publication details: 
27 April 1798. Clarges Street [London].
£56.00

1p, 4to. Aged and worn, with thin strip of mount adhering to one edge, and slight damage to one corner. The unnamed recipient is a member of William Pitt the Younger's Tory Ministry, and the letter is written at a time when the administration was preparing for a French invasion, the first French Army of England having gathered on the Channel coast.

[William Sibbald, MD, Deputy Assistant-Inspector to Ceylon [Sri Lanka].] Manuscript translations [from Tamil?] of folk tales titled 'The Origin of the Kandelay Tank', 'Story of Manderapaudey' and 'The History of Santiraksen'. With fourth tale.

Author: 
[William Sibbald (1789-1853), Scottish British army physician [in the Peninsular, at New Orleans, Mauritius, and Maidstone, Kent] and Deputy Assistant-Inspector to Ceylon [Sri Lanka]]
Publication details: 
[Ceylon [Sir Lanka]?] One item on paper watermarked 1827, the other items undated.
£500.00

Sibbald was in Ceylon between 1818 and 1833. There is no indication that any of these four items have been published. One: 'The Origin of the Kandelay Tank'. 8pp., foolscap 8vo. On two bifoliums of paper with Gater watermark dated 1827. In good condition, on aged paper.

[Belgian resistance documents.] Typed document titled 'ARMEE SECRETE | C?G?48 bis | Historique de la Section 802 depuis ses debuts'. With typewritten list regarding feeding and lodging of 'refractaires' and manuscript table of agents headed 'Combat'.

Author: 
[The Belgian resistance movement, Maquis; Froidmont, Tournai, Belgium; World War Two]
Publication details: 
The 'Historique' document dated 'Froidmont, le 25 septembre 1944' [Tournai, Belgium]; the other two items without place or date.
£550.00

A scarce survival, providing a mass of valuable information, written during wartime, with nothing else about this section of the Belgian resistance having been discovered. All three documents in fair condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. ONE: 'Historique de la Section 802 depuis ses debuts.' Typed document. 3pp., 4to. Rust staining from paperclip at head of first page. Type indentation indicates that this is an original document, not a mimeograph. Giving an account of Section 802 from September 1941 to 9 September 1944.

[Battle of Normandy, 1944.] 'Secret' British Army pamphlet titled 'OPERATION “OVERLORD” - 1944 | Report by AQMG (Ops) EASTERN COMMAND', describing 'the part played by Eastern Command in the preparations for and launching of the operation'.

Author: 
[Operation Overlord (Battle of Normandy), 1944] 'AQMG (Ops) EASTERN COMMAND' [i.e. Lieut.-Col. Colin Thornton-Kernsley (1903-1977)]
Publication details: 
[Operation Overlord, Eastern Command, 1944] On final page: 'D 53664-1 175 D/d E.C.2144 11/44 70'. '11/44' signifies the date of the pamphlet, November 1944, and '70' the number of copies printed.
£600.00

Sir Colin Thornton-Kernsley is identified as author from the first of the pamphlet's seven appendices ('Eastern Command | List of officers principally concerned with plans for the mounting of Overlord'), where he is described as: 'Chairman: AQMG(Ops) Lt. Col. C. N. Thornton Kernsley MP-RA'.

Four albums of typed memoranda, reports, and newspaper cuttings, relating to the stock market and economic situation, assembled by a firm of Anglo-German City of London stockbrokers, with memoranda of 'Things to be Kept in Mind' and other matter.

Author: 
[Reports and printed material relating to the stock market, assembled by an Anglo-German firm of City of London stockbrokers between 1918 and 1934]
Publication details: 
The material in the albums dates from and relates to the periods 1918-1919, 1929, 1931 and 1933-1934. Two of the albums are supplied by London stationers.
£500.00

The collection of seven items is in fair condition, lightly-aged and with slight rust staining to a few pages. The material is from the archives of an Anglo-German firm of City of London stockbrokers (see the list of clients in Item One below, all with German names), and is valuable for the material it contains revealing the impact of the First World War on the firm's own business (see Item Two below, regarding the 'Enemy [i.e.

[ Sylvia Pankhurst; suffragette and activist; Pamphlet ] The Execution of an East London Boy.

Author: 
E. Sylvia Pankhurst [ Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (1882–1960), campaigner for the suffrage and suffragette movement, a socialist and later a communist , and so on.]
Publication details: 
Reprinted from the WOMAN'S DREADNOUGHT, April 22nd, 1916, published by the Worker's Suffrage Foundation [...]
£150.00

Leaflet, 4pp., sl. dusted, aged, one small closed tear, ow. good. Pankhurst prints selections from the letters of a Private on the Western Front who was court-martialled and executed. Apparently very scarce, two copies (USA) listed in WorldCat (and one of those might be microform).

[George III; Lord North; Lord Barrington; Earl of Onslow; Jeremiah Dyson; John Lloyd] King's Signature ('George R.'), with those of North, Barrington, Onslow, Dyson and Lloyd, to warrant placing Jacob Carnac of 84 Regiment of Foot on half pay.

Author: 
George III (1738-1820); Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (1732-92); George Onslow, 1st Earl of Onslow (1731-1814); Jeremiah Dyson (1722-76); William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington (1717-93)
Publication details: 
'Given at Our Court at St. James's this 27th day of September 1769 in the Ninth Year of Our Reign.'
£750.00

The present document carries the signatures of three central figures on the British side during the American War of Independence: King George III, his Prime Minister Lord North, and Secretary at War Lord Barrington, along with the signatures of the Earl of Onslow, Jeremiah Dyson and John Lloyd, Deputy Auditor of the Imprest. 2pp, foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Thin strip of paper from mount adhering to inner edge on first page.

[Sir Charles Oman, military historian, and the English archers at Agincourt.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'C. Oman') to George Townsend Warner, summing up the battle and giving a detailed description of the set up of the English archers.

Author: 
Sir Charles Oman [Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman] (1860-1946), military historian [George Townsend Warner (1865-1916), historian; Battle of Agincourt; archery; toxophily]
Publication details: 
One: 17 October 1902. On letterhead of 39 St Giles', Oxford. Two: 12 March [no year]. 39 St Giles, Oxford, on letterhead of New College, Oxford.
£100.00

Both letters annotated in pencil in contemporary hand 'To Townsend Warner Historian'. (Warner was a history master and head of the ‘modern side’ at Harrow School, and co-editor of one of the most popular British history textbooks of the period. His only child was the novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner.) Both letters in good condition, each with pin hole from former attachment.

[Captain George Richards, Royal Marines.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. Richards'), sending his likeness and describing his service: '23 Actions' including 'the death of Nelson and Abercrombie', serving under Wellington in Peninsular War.

Author: 
Captain George Richards (d.1866), Royal Marines, meritorious British Army officer [Solihull, Warwickshire]
Publication details: 
16 September 1863. Solihull [Warwickshire].
£150.00

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, aged and creased. Folded twice. Written in a shaky hand, as explained by the text: 'My dear Sir / | Agreeable to promise I send my Likeness, I wish it was something worthy of your acceptance - suffice it to say the original saw the death of Nelson and Abercrombie. Served under Wellington in the Spanish peninsular War, attended his funeral, and from 1797 to 1814 was by Sea and Land in 23 Actions[.] I am well in health but cannot see what I write - My sincere love to Mrs. Macwey - God bless you'.

[Squadron Leader Nigel Rose, Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Nigel') to Martin Corden, expressing amazement at the 'cult' of the Spitfire, and discussing the sale of Bentley Priory.

Author: 
Squadron Leader Nigel Rose (1918-2017), Spitfire Pilot with No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Royal Air Force Squadron during the Second World War Battle of Britain [Bentley Priory, Stanmore]
Publication details: 
22 October 2007. With label carrying his Essex address.
£250.00

2pp, folio. In envelope with stamp and postmark, addressed to Corden's Mill Hill address. Letter folded twice, and letter and envelope in good condition. He begins by thanking him for sending 'the inscribed copy of Ken Delve's Story of the Spitfire - a truly excellent book just jam-packed with detail, - he must have done a prodigious amount of research to put it all together'. He is 'bowled over by the extent of [Corden's] munificence'.

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