WILLIAM

See the entries in the Oxford DNB for his brothers Robert Barnabas Brough and the subject of this letter Lionel Brough, as well as that of C. L. Kenney. 1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight discoloration in one margin from the wax seal, and evidence of mount on blank second leaf. Folded for postage. Addressed to ?Chas Kenney Esq / &c &c? and signed ?William Brough?.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with small nick at foot of gutter, and glue from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf showing through very slightly. Folded for postage. The recipient is not named. Signed ?W. H. Dixon?. Begins: ?Dear Sir / Many thanks for your note.

Thomas was for upwards of twenty-five years the theatrical critic of the London papers Daily News and the Graphic. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with evidence of mount adhering to the blank second leaf. Folded for postage. Addressed to ?Will Williams Esq? and signed ?Moy Thomas?. He would have answered Williams?s note sooner, but he has been ?on the Continent for a few days?.

See his entry, and Sharpey?s, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of tape from mount adhering to blank second leaf. Folded for postage. Addressed to ?Dr. Sharpey Secy F S.? and signed ?Fred Pollock?. Begins: ?My dear Dr. Sharpey / I have nearly completed the abstract - I intend to dine at the Club & be present at the meeting to day & I shall ask you when you require the abstract?? He explains that he is ?presiding in the nisi prius C[our]t.?, and that he would like to have ?the leisure of a Sunday to finish it?.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. Docketted in pencil in a contemporary hand: ?1853 [sic] / Duke of Wellingtons funeral? (on 18 November 1852). Signed ?W: Bovill?. Begins with reference to the family business (corn factors) in Milford Lane, City of London: ?My dearest Wife. / I have just seen George & find that there is the large bed room at the top of the house in Milford Lane unoccupied & we can have it - they can arrange something for the two boys & I dare say Mr.

See his entry, and Herman?s, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium, with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of tape from mount adhering to blank second leaf. Folded once. Addressed to ?Dear Mr. Herman? and signed ?Jos Comyns Carr?. With reference to Herman?s play ?The Silver King? (co-written with H. A. Jones), which proved a huge success from its opening at the Princess?s Theatre in 1882. He begins by reminding him that he ?kindly said? he would send Carr ?a box for the Silver King when I was able to go?.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In addition to being the de facto editor of Edmund Yates?s ?World?, the recipient (?Broadley Pasha?) was a renowned autograph collector and shady social figure. Scott?s handwriting is not entirely legible. ONE: ?Wednesday?, dated by Broadly ?March 1887.? 1p, 12mo. In good condition, with glue from mount adhering to the blank reverse. Folded once. Signed ?Clement Scott?. On the question of ?the letter from the impertinent idiot Mr James Runciman? he comments: ?He thinks that calling a man ?Tommy Rot? is a complaint! I conclude that he must be a madman?.

According to Russell’s entry in the Oxford DNB, while reporting on the Civil War, he was described by one American newspaper as ‘the most famous newspaper correspondent the world has ever seen'. The inscription on his memorial in St Paul’s Cathedral calls him ‘'the first and greatest of War Correspondents'. He coined the phrase ‘thin red line’, was instrumental in the sending of Florence Nightingale to the Crimea, and is said to have written the report that inspired Tennyson to write ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’.

An interesting letter from one great of the nineteenth-century stage to another. See the entries on Macready, Webster and Forster in the Oxford DNB. Curtis is a noted Federalist historian. 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium with mourning border. (His eldest daughter Nina had died at the age of twenty on 24 February 1850.) In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of tape from mount adhering to the second leaf. Two postage folds. Forty lines of text, addressed to ‘Benj. Webster Esq.’ and signed ‘W. C.

Haghe features prominently in William Day’s entry in the Oxford DNB, in which their firm’s publication of Robert’s ‘Holy Land’ (1842-49) is described as ‘the most ambitious lithographic work ever published’, for which ‘Haghe, praised by Roberts for the faithful and artistic interpretation of his drawings, must bear most of the credit for the success of this publication’. See also the entry on the recipient Charles Manby (1804-1884), Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a 12mo bifolium.

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 his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. To ‘W Watts Esqre / &c &c &c’. With good firm signature, with flourish. Reads: ‘Dr Sir / Pray let me know who are the Principal Instrumental Solo performers for the Philharmonic Concert of Monday next? - / Yours truly / Henry R Bishop’.

Haghe features prominently in William Day’s entry in the Oxford DNB, in which their firm’s publication of Robert’s ‘Holy Land’ (1842-49) is described as ‘the most ambitious lithographic work ever published’, for which ‘Haghe, praised by Roberts for the faithful and artistic interpretation of his drawings, must bear most of the credit for the success of this publication’. See also the entry on the recipient Charles Manby (1804-1884), Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a 12mo bifolium.

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.

2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of grey-paper bifolium, the blank second leaf carrying a thin strip of tape from the mount. In good condition, folded once. Signed ‘John W. Calcraft’. The recipient is not named. Thirty-four lines of text, in a somewhat difficult hand. After a reference to ‘Mrs. Cook’s letter’ he gives the details of a forthcoming production, including the dates, ending with the benefit. ‘Terms as understood 10£ per night & [?] halfbenefit. I do not usually play on the Friday Night at this time of the year as they are uniformly bad nights’.

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’.

2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Thirty-nine lines, closely written. Signed ‘Gilbert Thomas’. He begins by thanking him ‘most warmly for your letter and the most kind and generous review to hand this morning.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that he had two children - Charles Horace Kenney and the actress Rosa Kenney - by his marriage to Miss Rosa Stewart at the Paris embassy in 1859. 4pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. On bifolium, with thin strip of tape from mount adhering to the reverse of the second leaf. Folded once. Sixty-six lines of text, addressed to ‘Dearest Wife’ and signed ‘Your affectionate husband / C. L.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Although Windham was elected as member for the county of Norfolk in the general election of 1806, the election was declared void on petition. In fair condition, lightly aged, attached to neatly-trimmed border of windowpane mount. With creases from folding. Reads ‘Dear Sir, / I should have apprized you earlier that the Ballot for the Norfolk Petition is appointed for to day, when, I hope you may be able to make it convenient to you to attend / Your’s with great truth’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, and the entry for ‘scientist’ in the OED. Whewell first used the word in 1834 in the Quarterly Review, stating that ‘some ingenious gentleman proposed that, by analogy with artist, they might form scientist, and added that there could be no scruple in making free with this termination when we have such words as sciolist, economist, and atheist’. It is probable that the ‘ingenious gentleman’ is Whewell himself. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with the blank second leaf slightly damaged by removal from mount.

See the entries for Cathcart and Dundas in the Oxford DNB. 1p, folio. In fair condition, on aged paper, with wear along one edge, and repair with archival tape along folds. Addressed ‘To / The Paymasters General of His Majesty’s Forces, or the Paymasters General for the time being -’. Signed ‘G Hotham Lt Genl. / D. Dundas Lt Gl.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, with that of the presumed recipient, the Manchester bookseller William Ford. 1p, 4to. On recto of first leaf of bifolium, the verso of the second addressed, with two postmarks, to ‘Mr. Wm. Ford / 11 Strangates / Lambeth.’ In good condition, lightly aged, with spots of paper from mount at corners on address page. Folded for postage. Signed ‘Geo: Chalmers’. He begins by thanking him for his ‘obliging Note’ of the previous day, before stating that he has ‘the curious Tract, which was printed, by Raban of Aberdeen’.

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 his entry in the Oxford DNB. On a 17.5 x 12 cm piece of ruled paper, laid down on a piece of card. The high-acidity paper is browned, otherwise in good condition, with small nick to one edge. The signature ‘W. H. Hudson / June 27. ’20’ is beneath two lines written in a foreign language, a tentative reading of which is ‘Te semiron mulei moy / To dariau tis viden’. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Addressed to 'Dear old Lee' and signed 'W A Spooner -'. He explains that he and his colleagues thought Lee's 'testimonials & references very good, as you may gather from our having put you on our list of selected candidates, but you did not quite reach the very highest place in our judgment'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, along with that of E. D. Morel, a campaigner like Roger Casement against abuses in the Belgian Congo. (Morel had been given a 'testimonial luncheon' two days before the writing of this letter.) 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, creased and worn. Folded for postage. Ten lines of stylishly-written text. Signed ‘W. Rothenstein’. After thanking her for writing he states: ‘Nothing could please me more than to feel that you care for something I have put into the painting of your noble husband.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘W. L. Wyllie.’ He is sorry that he will be unable to avail himself of ‘the kind invitation to dinner sent me by the Master of the Salters Company’. He is starting for Norway on the last day of the month, and will not return until the end of July.

An interesting letter, in which Webb sets out his approach to bookplate design. According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, ‘By 1899 Webb was in poor health and losing money. His meagre savings were insufficient to build a cottage, so he accepted Caxtons, a four-bedroom sixteenth-century yeoman's house at Worth, near Crawley, Sussex, offered at a selflessly low rental by his friend William Scawen Blunt.’ For the context of the present letter, see the letter from Webb to Sydney Cockerell, 1 September 1902, in volume 3 of John Apin’s edition of Webb’s letters.

See her entry, and that of Whittaker, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 12mo. A corner of the letter carrying a few words of text has been torn away on opening; it is still attached, beneath a red wax seal, so that the entire document is present in two parts. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed by Mitford 'To / Messrs. Baynes & Son / 23 Paternoster Row'. Begins: 'Miss Mitford presents her Compts. to Mr.

Written with the charm for which she was renowned. See her entry and his in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to, on two leaves of cartridge paper. In good condition lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Mostly written in pencil, with good firm signature (‘Yrs / Diana Cooper’) and last few lines in red ink. Begins: ‘My dear admiral - Forgive the scruffiness of the paper & the rudeness of a pencil but I’m in an unoccupied house & can find no essentials, tho’ I found y. letter to-day & have no idea when it was posted.