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One page, folio, fold marks, closed tear and small loss of paper not affecting text, two small holes affecting but not obscuring words. Text: SIR, \ You will receive enclosed [not present] the Annual Missive, with a copy of the Acts of the last Convention. By the 22nd Act, the Reports made by me in relation to the Setts of the Royal Burghs are ordered to be printed and circulated to the different Burghs.

Page extracted from an autograph book, 19.5 x 16cm, small closed tear (no textual loss), edges aged and worn, text clear and complete. Two lines of music with text in his hand, and headed Rhywun. SEE IMAGE.

Eleven lines of closely-written text. 1p, 16mo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium, the verso of the second addressed in another hand to ‘F Chapuy / 6 Bis. Rue Rodier’. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of tape from mount adhering to the second leaf. Folded once. Attractive vignette letterhead of illustration based around the letter W. Signed ‘Albert Wolff’. It will render him ‘un bien grand service’ if the recipient will act on his promise made when they dined together to place ‘un très brave et très digne garçon de mes amis’, as ‘il a besoin pour vivre’.

Eleven lines of closely-written text. 1p, 16mo. On recto of first leaf of bifolium, the verso of the second addressed in another hand to ‘F Chapuy / 6 Bis. Rue Rodier’. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of tape from mount adhering to the second leaf. Folded once. Attractive vignette letterhead of illustration based around the letter W. Signed ‘Albert Wolff’. It will render him ‘un bien grand service’ if the recipient will act on his promise made when they dined together to place ‘un très brave et très digne garçon de mes amis’, as ‘il a besoin pour vivre’.

1p, landscape 12mo. On ruled paper. In fair condition, but with traces of glue from mount from reverse, a strip of which shows through along the outer edge, not affecting text. Good firm signature, underlined: ‘Robert Leighton’. Clearly a response to a request for an autograph: ‘Dear Scout Sibson, / I have much pleasure in acceding to your wish. / Very truly yours / Robert Leighton’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded twice for postage. One corner very slightly cropped. Signed ‘Tho. Hughes’. In response to a request for an autograph he writes: ‘My dear Madam / I have only just returned to town where I find your note, with the request contained in which I have much pleasure in complying & sending you my signature below, though it is not a good specimen as I have got hold of a rascally bad pen.’ See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The three items are in good condition, each with his firm signature ‘Compton Mackenzie’. Each is 1p, 4to, in good condition, folded for postage.Despite being scored through, one can see that the first and last salutation are addressed to ‘Mrs Raymont’, and the second to ‘Mr Raymond’. ONE: 23 November 1961. He is pleased that she enjoyed his book ‘Mezzotint’: ‘The setting is really the Seychelles but of course I had to lay it in the South Atlantic instead of the Indian Ocean.’ He agrees with her ‘about these efforts at modernity by some of my contemporaries.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, on the first leaf of bifolium. (There are extensive pencil annotations in a later hand on the second leaf.) Very neatly written. Addressed to ‘J. G. Wilson Esqre.’ and signed ‘Anstey Guthrie’. He has ‘much pleasure’ in answering Wilson’s question. ‘‘Shut Out’ is a short story of mine which was published in Longmans Magazine about 1895 or 6, afterwards included in a volume of short stories under the title of “The Talking Horse”. I think published by Messrs. Smith & Elder - but now long out of print.

See his entry in the Encylopedia of New Zealand, and those of Muggeridge and Kingsmill in the Oxford DNB. Each item 1p, foolscap 8vo. Both addressed to ‘Dear Mr Muggeridge’. ONE (12 September 1955): In good condition, on air mail paper, lightly aged and creased. Signed in pencil with calligraphic squiggle. Begins: ‘I want to write something about Hugh Kingsmill. About 20 years ago we exchanged a few letters during a flare up in the Wilde-Douglas business at a time when Robert Sherard was busy fanning the flames and G. B. S.

A jaunty missive. Lady Eastlake and her husband have separate entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. Eighteen lines. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to 'Dear Mrs Ford' and signed 'Eliz Eastlake'. A 'kind friend in the country' is insisting on sending her 'early strawberries & grapes' and she asks Mrs Ford not to 'commit the extravagance of orderg any yourself, but trust to me to have the offering transferred to 123 Park Street'. She will be sending for the fruit at Euston Station around 2 o'clock on the Saturday, '& they shall be shortly after that with you'.

Weyman was, as his entry in the Oxford DNB states, ?one of the most popular and skilled of the historical romance novelists of the cloak and dagger school?. Oscar Wilde recommended (in all seriousness) Weyman's novels as reading for convicts. 1p, 16mo. In fair condition, lightly creased and worn. Folded for postage. From the collection of Rosemary Barron, autograph collector. Reads: 'Dear Miss Barron / I am sorry that your letter has remained unanswered so long but I have been laid aside by illness.

See the Oxford DNB entry of the recipient James Payn (1830-1898), at the time of this letter the editor of the Cornhill Magazine. More significantly, Payn had since 1874 been a reader for Smith, Elder, and the present letter stems from the firm?s interest in Forrest?s ?tale of the Indian Mutiny? which they would publish in 1891 under the title ?Eight Days?. 2pp, 16mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with short closed tear at edge of postage fold. Addressed to ?James Payn Esqr.? and signed ?R. E. Forrest?.

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.

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.

2pp, 12mo. Nineteen lines. Closely written in a neat hand. In fair condition, lightly aged, with strip of dried adhesive from mount along one edge. Folded for postage. Begins: ‘Mr Cunningham presents his Compliments to Lady Theresa Lewis and forwards to Kent House [her Knightsbridge home] the Copy of the Duchess of Newcastle’s Life of her Husband. If lady Theresa derives half the pleasure from its perusal which Mr C.

See his entry by Ruari Maclean in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. With Bentley’s distinctive stylized signature ‘Nicolas Bentley’. After thanking him for his letter he writes (apparently with reference to a newspaper article): ‘I am sorry if in using the phrase “I am afraid” I ruffled your grammatical sensibilities. I used it because I meant it.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse (often addressed, as in this letter, as ‘Dossé’) was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Large and ebullient signature in red felt-tip pen.

2pp, 12mo. On the rectos of the two leaves of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Begins: ‘Dear Mrs Ross. / We had the pleasure of having your daughter for tea yesterday & I hasten to tell you our pleasure in making her acquaintance. She is indeed charming & intelligent & bright; I am sure she will make the most of her stay here.

A nice item linking one of late Victorian England’s most popular novelists with its most critically admired. See the entries for Caine and Meredith in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Laid down on part of a leaf from the autograph album of Meredith’s daughter Marie Eveleen (Mariette; 1871-1933), wife of Henry Parkman Sturgis (1847-1929), American-born banker and Liberal politician. Reads: ‘To / George Meredith / With much admiration / Hall Caine / 23/Sept/91.’ See image.

Good letters, the second with biographical content about a prolific yet elusive author. The recipient Eileen Margaret Cond (1911-1984) was an enthusiastic collector of autographs, with the ability to draw a more than perfunctory response from her targets. Both letters in good condition, on lightly aged paper folded for postage. Each bearing large stylized signature ‘Francis Gerard’ and addressed to ‘Dear Miss Cond’. ONE (12 March 1950). 1p, 4to.

1p, 4to. Twenty-three lines. Large sprawling signature ‘Lawrence G. Blochman’. In fair condition, worn and creased on lightly-discoloured paper. The recipient, an enthusiastic autograph collector, has evidently asked him to sign a bookplate to be stuck in his latest book ‘’Recipe for Homicide’. Her note has finally reached him ‘through channels (via my English publisher through my London agent to my New York agent)’. He is glad she finds the book entertaining, ‘even though you had not yet, at the time of writing, discovered the culprit’.

A friend of Horace Walpole, she was described by Boswell, after a dinner with her and Dr Johnson, as ‘the beautiful, gay, and fascinating Lady Craven’. See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The three items are laid down with eight other items (see the end of this description) on pieces of paper cut down from two leaves of an album. Somewhat discoloured with age, but in fair overall condition. The recipient or recipients of the second and third letters (laid down on the same piece of paper) are not named, although the third is written to a member of her ‘fishing gentry’.

For Lady Craven's colourful life see her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Folded four times. Begins: 'Mr. Thomas, I will thank you to send my Carriage by a Western Waggon, immediately here - directed to Hr. S. Highness The Margravine of Anspach Brandenburg house, near Hammersmith, and I hope as I have waited so long for it that it will be a well seasond [sic] Carriage - & reasonable in Price, which if it is, and finish'd to my Satisfaction, you may depend ont that it will not be the last by many which you will make'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, and with a minor sooty smudge. Folded once for postage. The recipient is not named. Reads, in an atrocious hand, ‘Dear Sir / My typing work is all being done here, and I cannot take it away from my typist. / I enclose cheque (£3) towards a new typing machine. / Faithfully yours / A Lang’.

Weyman was, as his entry in the Oxford DNB states, ‘one of the most popular and skilled of the historical romance novelists of the cloak and dagger school’. Oscar Wilde recommended his novels as reading for convicts. The present item is on an 11 x 9 cm piece of watermarked laid paper. In good condition. A neat attractive two-line inscription for an autograph collector, underlined and sloping upwards. Reads: ‘Stanley J. Weyman | Nov. 2. 1899’. See image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Sixteen lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Stylized signature: ‘L A G Strong.’ He replies to her letter by saying that he is ‘delighted’ that she enjoys reading his books, ‘and I very much appreciate your kindness in taking the trouble to write and tell me so’. He hopes that she will continue to read his work, and that it will ‘never disappoint’ her. ‘Nothing is more encouraging to a writer than to know that he has numbers of friends, whom he has never seen, but who are following what he does with interest and pleasure.’

See his entry, and that of his brother, in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Clifford Musgrave (d.1993), Borough Librarian, was instrumental in the saving and renovation of the Brighton Pavilion. Both items in good condition, lightly aged. Both written in an elegant close calligraphic hand. The first is misaddressed to ‘Mr Muspratt’, and the second to ‘Mr. Musgrave’. Both signed ‘Clifford Bax’. ONE (14 February 1945): 2pp, 16mo. Nineteen lines. Regarding the arrangements for a lecture he is going to give, he has been asked by ‘Eric’ to communicate with him about his ‘Brighton visit’.

See Hopkins’s entry in the Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. His papers are in the Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas. 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. Printed on one side of a foolscap 8vo leaf. A tasteful piece of provincial printing. Worn, creased and dog-eared, with closed tears at head. Inscribed at bottom-right: ‘for Andrew Block / Kenneth Hopkins’. Titled ‘THREE SONNETS’ and signed in type ‘KENNETH HOPKINS’.

An entertaining and characteristic correspondence. See both their entries in the Oxford DNB. The nine items (seven by Jacob and two by Macqueen-Pope) are in fair overall condition, with all text clear and complete, on lightly aged and creased paper, with slight rust-staining from paperclips, and minor wear to edges. All folded for envelopes. The first seven of the nine following entries are NJ’s letters (the last four of which are addressed to ‘My dear Popie’), the last two the copies of MP’s. ONE: 24 June [1945]. ‘ENSA Entertainments. / C/o Welfare, 6th. Brit. Armde. Div. / C. M.

Pritchett’s ‘The Gentle Barbarian: The Life and Work of Turgenev’ appeared in 1977; the present letter is clearly addressed to his editor at the book’s publishers Chatto & Windus. Pritchett’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes his handwriting as ‘legendarily ugly and difficult to decipher’, but the present example is no worse than an average hand. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Two fold lines. He is sending his ‘Turgenev’, and explains: ‘As you will see I have marked passages from the book in purple crayon, and my own summary bridges in green.