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Author, Title, Summary Price
Patrick Moore [Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore] (1923-2012], English astronomer, broadcaster and celebrity

[Patrick Moore [Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore], British astronomer, broadcaster and celebrity.] Typed Postcard Signed (‘P. M.’) to John Graham, complaining of being ‘a broken reed’ with regard to future plans.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Plain postcard. Lightly aged. Addressed to John [Graham, obscured by postmark], The Willows, Church Road, Lowfield Heath, Crawley, Sussex. Reads: ‘Many thanks. I am terribly sorry to say that I am a broken reed at the moment, because there are various conference...

£45.00
Hugh Walpole [Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole] (1884-1941), popular English novelist, born in New Zealand

[Hugh Walpole [Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole], popular English novelist and author, born in New Zealand.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Hunt', regarding a proof he is sending, and explaining the source of a quotation.

Of his activities around this time the Oxford DNB writes: 'he 'wrote film scripts in Hollywood in 1934–5 for classics such as David Copperfield (MGM, 1935), in which he played a bit part, and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)'. The subject of the letter may be his novel 'The Inquisitor', published...

£50.00
Lyme Regis, Dorset: William Curtis of Lym [Richard Preston ('Mr Recorder') of Marino; Lowton of the Temple]

[Lyme Regis, Dorset.] Autograph Letter Signed from ‘Wm Curtis’ [William Curtis] to ‘Mr Wh[encon?] / Town Clerk / Lym’, regarding legal action with ‘Mr Preston’ (‘Mr Recorder’) who ‘Threatens to play the very Devil’ with him.

Neither Curtis nor the 'Mr Recorder' named Preston mentioned in the letter feature in G. Roberts’s ‘History of Lyme Regis’ (Sherborne, 1823). Preston may be ‘Richard Preston Esq.’ of ‘Marino’ named as living near Barnstaple in Cary’s New Itinerary, 6th ed, 1815. The recipient’s name is not...

£50.00
Erminia Rudersdorff [Hermine Küchenmeister-Rudersdorf] (1822-1882), German soprano and teacher, born in the Ukraine, who perrformed in England and settled in America [Sir William MItchell (1811-1878)]

[Erminia Rudersdorff [Hermine Küchenmeister-Rudersdorf], German soprano and teacher.] Autograph Letter Signed, in English, to ‘Mrs. Sprague’.

See her entry in Grove. The letter can be dated by the reference to Sir William Mitchell (see Oxford DNB) and the operetta 'The Rival Beauties', which he produced in London and then Plymouth. The letter is on one side of the paper, has been cut down to 11 x 9 cm, and laid down on a piece of card...

£80.00
Hugh Walpole [Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole] (1884-1941), popular English novelist and author, born in New Zealand

[Hugh Walpole [Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole], popular English novelist and author, born in New Zealand.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Miss Jennings’, complaining that there was ‘no half crown in the envelope’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Reads: ‘Dear Miss Jennings / Thank you for your letter. There was however no half crown in the envelope. I searched carefully. / Yours sincerely / Hugh Walpole’.

£50.00
Gordon Jacob [Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob] (1895-1984), composer, for forty years professor at the Royal College of Music [Marion Margaret Scott (1877-1953), violinist with her own string quartet]

[Gordon Jacob [Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob], English composer.] Four Autograph Letters Signed about musical matters to the violinist Marion Margaret Scott, one, written during wartime, attacking Benjamin Britten and ‘young men who shelter abroad’.

See his entry, together with that of Benjamin Britten, in the Oxford DNB, the latter explaining the context of the last letter, which is an attack on Britten and Peter Pears for not returning from the United States to wartime England. From the Scott papers. Each letter 2pp, 12mo, on a single...

£120.00
Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800-1882), Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford, a leading figure in the Oxford Movement

['An utterly unreadable book': Edward Bouverie Pusey, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford and a leading figure of the Oxford Movement.] Autograph Letter Signed to a peer, discussing his pamphlet and book on 'Marriage with a Deceased Wife’s Sister'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Sixty-one lines of text in Pusey’s distinctive minuscule (and not always easily decipherable) hand. Aged and worn. The item has been repaired after damp damage, with the second leaf laid down on a piece of thick paper. Loss of a few words of...

£150.00
Edward Jenkins [John Edward Jenkins (1838-1910), Liberal Member of Parliament; Richard Bentley and Son, London publishers]

[Printed satirical political novel, in original cloth.] Pantalas and what they did with him.

[7] + 243pp., 8vo. On aged paper, with slight damage at top edge of first few leaves; in heavily-worn binding with blind-stamped decoration; corner torn away from front free endpaper, and glue spots to front pastedown. Described in an advertisement by the publisher in The Times, 16 July 1897, as...

£220.00
Dorothea Beale (1831-1906), headmistress of Cheltenham Ladies' College and prominent suffragist; Rev. Dr John R. Magrath; I. T. Meade [Eric Gill and his brother MacDonald Gill; Sir Edward Poynter]

[Dorothea Beale, headmistress of Cheltenham Ladies' College.] Three items of printed ephemera: two statements (second with accounts) by J. R. Magrath on the ‘Dorothea Beale Memorial’; and magazine article by I. T. Meade on Cheltenham College.

The first two items are scarce pieces of unpublished ephemera, neither showing up on JISC. See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The three items in good condition, on discoloured and lightly-worn paper. The first two items are written by Rev. John R. Magrath, D.D., Provost of Queen’s College, Oxford...

£150.00
Dame Ninette de Valois [stage name of Dame Edris Connell, née Stannus] (1898-2001), Anglo-Irish ballet dancer, choreographer and founder of the Royal Ballet

[Dame Ninette de Valois [stage name of Dame Edris Connell, née Stannus], Anglo-Irish ballet dancer, choreographer and founder of the Royal Ballet.] Typed Letter Signed to Miss M. G. Hocken, suggesting who to forward a query to.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. The letterhead is both printed and embossed. Addressed to ‘Miss M. G. Hocken, / Meadow Way House Studio, / St. Ives, / Cornwall.’ Signed ‘Ninette de Valois’. Reads: ‘May I suggest you write to the...

£50.00
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