History

Letter Signed "Sidmouth" to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Viscount Sidmouth, statesman (DNB), here "Home Secretary".
Publication details: 
Whitehall, 8 Dec. 1817.
£120.00

Two pages, 4to, copperplate text by secretary, fold marks, marks of sellotape (half inch square at most) at edge, small chip bottom corner,m text cleqar and complete. Sidmouth, who has received a letter in favour of the condemned John Vartie, forger, informs his correspondent that "the Case of this unfortunate Person had the most full and deliberate consideration, at the time when the Report was made to the Prince Regent in Council.

The Irish Library. 1908-9. Vol. 2. The Fenian Movement: The Story of the Manchester Martyrs.

Author: 
F. L. Crilly [Justin McCarthy; Ireland; Irish; Eire; Fenian Movement]
Publication details: 
London: John Ouseley Ltd., 15 & 16 Farringdon St., E.C.
£150.00

8vo, 94 + ii pp. Stapled and in original green and white printed wraps. Advertisements on wraps, prelims and final leaf. Frontispiece portrait of Justin McCarthy (with transcription of a letter by him to Ouseley facing it) and double-sided plate (between pp. 32 and 33) carrying seven illustrations. A scarce item (no copy at British Library): chipped and worn on aged high-acidity paper. Described by the author as a 'narrative of probably the most powerful and far-reaching conspiracy the world has ever known'.

Autograph Letter Signed "W. Hone" to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
William Hone, Radical bookseller and publisher (DNB).
Publication details: 
5 Bolt Court, 18 June 1840.
£150.00

One page, minor staining not affecting text, laid down on grey coarse paper. "Here is the Cape Shipping List [perhaps including slavers?]. It's business-like details of murders by wholesale tell the cold blooded tales of horror more effectually than eloquent language. They [leave?] & lead the mind to imagine the terrible scenes enacted with poetical power which minute detail fails to [word excised "affect"] produce. I admire this brevity - it is inoffensively offensive. / I am grateful to you, my dear Sir, for your care of my daughter - your help to the helpless.

Visiting card with autograph message.

Author: 
Duchesse d'Uzes
Publication details: 
Bonnelles, 10 October 1913.
£35.00

Card, 8 x 6 cm, black border. [Printed] "Duchesse d'Uzès / Douairière" with the autograph message on both sides of the card, "Laissez-moi rire d'abord et ensuite dites-moi ce que je dois lui répondre. Avec toutes mes amitiés."

Handbill, listing the Association's officers, describing its aims, and appealing for funds.

Author: 
The Hausa Association [George Taubman-Goldie; John Owen Murray]
Publication details: 
London, 20th May, 1897.'
£25.00

Quarto: 4 pp. Bifolium. Unbound. Creased and grubby. Half-page map ('Sketch to show position of Hausa-land'). Headed in red ink 'Funds are urgently needed both to secure the results already obtained and to carry forward the work.' 'The Hausa Association, For Promoting the Study of the Hausa Language and People' is said here to have been founded in 1891 in memory of the Rev. John Alfred Robinson.

Note with Signature ('E Lockroy'), in French, to an unnamed male correspondent, probably written by a secretary.

Author: 
Édouard Lockroy (1838-1913), French left-wing politician; secretary to Ernest Renan; fought with Garibaldi; signed the proclamation for the election of the Paris Commune
Publication details: 
2 January 1882; on letterhead of the Chambre des Députés, Paris.
£28.00

12mo: 1 p. Text clear and entire, on aged and lightly-stained paper. Reads 'Cher ami. | Je vous envois une demande d'admission dans notre société, avec pièces à l'appui que je recommendre à tous vos soins. | Votre bien devoue. | [signed] E Lockroy'. Although attributed to Lockroy in a contemporary hand in pencil at the head of the letter, this document appears to be by a secretary, as the handwriting differs from his (see #6997).

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jules Simon'), in French, to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Jules Simon [François-Jules Suisse; Jules François Simon (1814-1896)], French philosopher and politician, one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans; member of the Académie française
Publication details: 
dimanche' [no date]; on letterhead of the 'SÉNAT'.
£100.00

12mo: 1 p. Fourteen lines of text. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Simon is unwell. His correspondent may have noticed that he did not see him the day before or on the day of writing: and although he is feeling better it is unlikely that he will see him the following day. This irritates Simon greatly. 'Je desirais causer avec vous de ce ue vous savez. J'espère que je pourrai aller au journal et vous y rencontrer mardi.' Three lines of docketing in a contemporary hand at foot.

Autograph Note Signed ('Count de la Chapelle') to 'C. Law'.

Author: 
Alfred, Comte de la Chapelle (b.1830) [Alfred de la Chapelle; Count de la Chapelle; Napoleon III; Franco-Prussian War]
Publication details: 
5 July 1872; 200 Fleet Street, E.C. London.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p, 5 lines. Text and signature clear and entire, but on brittle, aged and creased paper, with loss and closed tears to extremities. Reads 'by order of his majesty the Emperor I beg to forward at your adress [sic] an exemplary "les forces militaires de la france en 1870". De la Chapelle is the named as author of this volume.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Edouard Lockroy | député | 21 Rue de Clichy'), in French, to an unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Édouard Lockroy (1838-1913), French left-wing politician; secretary to Ernest Renan; fought with Garibaldi; signed the proclamation for the election of the Paris Commune
Publication details: 
21 March 1878; on letterhead of the Chambre des Députés, Paris.
£65.00

12mo: 1 p. Fifteen lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Docketed in a contemporary hand at head. Headed 'Madame'. Asking whether she would be willing to lend her 'admirable talent à une oeuvre d'instruction populaire', a matinée by 'Les membres de la bibliothèque du 17: arrondissement'.

Autograph Note Signed (illegibly as usual) to "Mr Tuckwell" (prob. Rev. Tuckwell, see new DNB).

Author: 
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt.
Publication details: 
[Place illegible]6 Jan.1888.
£120.00

Traveller, poet, diarist, etc. Two pages, 8vo, good condition. "I fear I cannot allow you to reprint the story of Mr Balfour's conversation on any authority of mine. I trust the [worst?] by coercion is pretty well over now in Ireland, and as all here are in excellent heatr I feel far more hopeful than I have been for some time."

The memorial of the Established Church in Ireland to the King, Lords, and Commons of Great Britain

Author: 
[Church of Ireland]
Publication details: 
Dublin: Hodges & M'Arthur; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1827.
£450.00

215pp., errata slip present,original plain boards, recently rebacked with new spine label, binding worn, contents foxed (mainly lightly, but a few concentrations) throughout but mainly good. Very scarce. No copy listed on WorldCat or COPAC, but the National Library of Ireland has three copies (one a second edition).

Knight & Rumley's Crests of the Nobility & Gentry of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland, Designed principally for the use of artists

Author: 
[Knight & Rumley]
Publication details: 
F.G. Moon, 320 Threadneedle Street, London, 1 Feb. 1827
£150.00

27 full page plates of Crests with 12 per page, one page of Helmets and of Crowns, Coronets, with a full index of the Gentry and Nobility at the end of the book. Bound in original boards, grubby and chipped, with original title labe on front, recently rebacked, foxing, new tissue guards, images good. Dedicated by permission to Edward Lodge, Esq, Norroy, King of Arms, F.S.A.

Robert Emmet: His Birth-Place and Burial.

Author: 
David A. Quaid, Solicitor
Publication details: 
Dublin: James Duffy and Co, 1902
£50.00

Pp.[vi].98, 8vo, frontis., plates, original green printed wraps, sunned at edges, wear to spine, contents good. Scarce.

Poor Richard's Almanack, for the year 1848. Leap Year. Containing, in addition to all that is requisite in an Almanack, A list of all the fairs in England and Wales, and advertisements for three hundred and thirty-two Heirs-at-Law.

Author: 
Richard Allen, editor [almanack; almanacks; ephemerides; ephemeris]
Publication details: 
Illustrated edition. 1848. London: W. Strange, 21, Paternoster Row. Heywood, Manchester; Philip, Liverpool; Webb and Co. Leeds; Guest, Birmingham; Allen, Nottingham; Allen, Leicester. [Nottingham: - Printed by R. Allen, 57, Long Row.]
£100.00

12mo, 32 pp. In original pink printed wraps. Unbound and stitched. Text clear and entire. Tight, but grubby and dogeared, and with closed tear and creasing at head of recto of front wrap. Densely printed in a variety of point sizes, with frontispiece and twelve wood-cuts (one for each month). Contains advertisements, 'Borough Regulations', a 'Gardener's Calendar', 'Table of the Sun's rising and setting' and other matter. Neat ownership signature of 'Mrs. Paterson' at head of recto of front wrap, and twelve others of her signatures at the head of each month.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J A Hammerton') to 'My Dear Shorter' [Clement King Shorter (1857-1926)].

Author: 
Sir John Alexander Hammerton (1871-1949), author and editor of reference works
Publication details: 
6 November 1925; on letterhead of 54 Shepherd's Hill, Highgate, London.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp, and 8vo, 1 p. A little grubby and creased, but with text clear and entire. He is sorry that Shorter was not able to visit the Chateaux of the Loire, but hopes that 'the sea air of Dieppe' has done him good. The year before Shorter's death, Hammerton writes: 'But you must really cease this brink-of-the-grave touch! Ten years hence, from an inglenook at Knockmoroon [where Shorter would die], you will wonder why you were anticipating the "closing down" of C.K.S.

Telegram [from Pollock in German to his newspaper in S. Rhodesia] reporting on the Munich Agreement between Chamberlain and Hitler at Berchtesgaden.

Author: 
James Pollock, war correspondent [Adolf Hitler; Second World War; Rhodesia; Sudetenland; Munich Agreement]
Publication details: 
Stamped 'SALISBURY . S. RHODESIA | 28 SEP 38' [1938].
£56.00

On one side of an 8vo leaf. Worn and creased, but with text clear and entire. Printed in red ink, and headed 'POST OFFICE TELEGRAMS, S. RHODESIA.' Four strips of text, reading 'CHAMBERLAIN POINTS AT BERCHTESGADEN HITLER SAID THE SUDETENS MUST HAVE SELF DETERMINATION AND RETURN TO THE REICH IF THEY DESIRED AND THAT RATHER THAN WAIT HE WAS PREPARED TO RISK A WORLD WAR = END MESSAGE'. From the archive of James Pollock, accredited Correspondent of Argus South African Newspapers Ltd.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W G Stanard | Cor Sectry') to Augustus Bamtridge of Lincoln, England.

Author: 
William Glover Stanard [W. G. Stanard] (1858-1933), American editor and antiquary
Publication details: 
15 July 1920; on letterhead of the Virginia Historical Society.
£45.00

Landscape 12mo, 2 pp. 17 pages of text. Blue oval stamp at head. Good, on lightly creased paper, with small closed tear at head. Difficult hand. 'Bambridge is not a familiar name in Virginia. Very many of the early settlers died from malaria & other fevers soon after arriving.' Discusses the difficulty of genealogical research ('we have a hundred Counties in Virginia').

Five Autograph Letters Signed [all 'James Knowles'] to Hurd.

Author: 
Sir James Knowles [Sir James Thomas Knowles] (1831-1908), architect and editor of 'The Nineteenth Century' [Sir Archibald Hurd (1869-1959), writer on naval matters]
Publication details: 
Between 1898 and 1901; on letterhead of 'The Nineteenth Century'.
£145.00

All five items are 12mo, 1 p, and in good condition, with the text entirely legible, but with slight discoloration to the extremities and to the blank second leaves of four of the letters. Letter One (17 May 1898): Concerns a letter by Sir William White, regarding which Knowles has not written as 'it seemed to me there was nothing to write about - & I am compelled to write so many letters!' Knowles 'did not at all think that Sir W. White intended any disparaging reflection in your competence by saying that you were <?> not a man "technically trained in naval architecture" '.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'James Knowles') to 'Lord Stratford de Redcliffe'.

Author: 
Sir James Knowles [Sir James Thomas Knowles] (1831-1908), architect and editor of 'The Nineteenth Century' [Stratford Canning, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe (1786-1880), British diplomat]
Publication details: 
Letter One: 22 September 1877, Milton Villa, West Hill, St Leonards on Sea. Letter Two: 16 October 1877, on letterhead of the Reform Club, London.
£80.00

Both letters good, on lightly aged paper. Both items concern Canning's article on 'International Relations' in the October 1877 issue of 'The Nineteenth Century'. Letter One (12mo, 4 pages, bifolium with mourning border). Knowles hopes Canning has received the proof of the article from the publishers Spottiswoodes. A judicious bit of sycophancy follows.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of legal document.

Author: 
Joseph Chamberlain [Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain] (1863-1937), Liberal Unionist politician; Edward Montagu Primrose of the Admiralty, Whitehall; A. Whitehouse, Paymaster, Royal Navy; Henry Crane
Joseph Chamberlain
Publication details: 
13/06/73
£35.00
Joseph Chamberlain

On a piece of paper roughly 8.5 x 19 cm. Heavily aged, creased and with wear to extremities. Signatures clear and entire. Some loss to bottom left-hand corner. Printed text (involving a transfer) with manuscript insertions. Two red wafers. Signed 'A Whitehall | Admiralty | Paymaster R.N.'; 'E. M. Primrose'; 'Henry Crane | 14 Broad St | Clerk'; 'Joseph Chamberlain'. Chamberlain left Southbourne in Edgbaston in 1880.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Stansfeld') to Henry Fawcett.

Author: 
Sir James Stansfeld (1820-1898), English politician [Henry Fawcett (1833-1884), English economist and politician]
Publication details: 
Friday [no date] on House of Commons Library letterhead.
£28.00

12mo, 2 pp. On foxed and aged paper. He has not seen Fawcett that night, despite 'looking out' for him. He would like to talk with him before the following Monday, and if Fawcett writes, he can visit him 'at any time'. 'I can easily drive over, if you will give me your new address.'

Autograph Signature ('G. Bentinck') as frank on envelope addressed to Lady Frederick Bentinck, postmarked and with remains of red wax seal.

Author: 
Lord (William) George Frederic Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck [known as Lord George Bentinck] (1802-1848), English politician and sportsman
Publication details: 
12 June 1832; London.
£28.00

Irregularly shaped piece of paper, consisting of the front and sides of an envelope. Roughly 14 x 18 cm. Good, but with long vertical closed tear to right of signature, neatly repaired on reverse with archival tape. Reads 'London June Twelve 1832. - | Lady Frederick Bentinck | Bedford Hotel | Brighton | [signed] G. Bentinck.' Red ink postmark, circular and topped with crown, reading 'FREE | 12 JU 12 | 1832 | +'. Remains of red wax seal at foot. Docketed 'Bentinck' along right-hand edge.

To the President of the United States of America.

Author: 
Laurence O'Neill.
Publication details: 
No place but "Given at the Mansion House, Dublin, this 11th day of June, 1918".
£350.00

Printed pamphlet, 12pp., folio, , front page (title also) soiled, fold mark, mainly good, signature of J.R.N. Macphail on front page. In custom-made modern green folder. Subjects re. Nat Lib Ireland: Great Britain Army -- Recruiting, enlistment, etc. -- World War, 1914-1918 -- Ireland; Draft -- Ireland; World War, 1914-1918 -- Ireland; Ireland -- Politics and government -- 1918. WITH: (Printed) letter from L. O'Neill to His Excellency the American Ambassador, Mansion House, Dublin, 18 June 1918, one page, folio, sl. chipped, fold mark, mainly good, signature of Macphail also.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. N. B.') to 'My Dear N. M.'

Author: 
H. N. Brailsford [Henry Noel Brailsford] (1873-1958), English radical journalist and author [Independent Labour Party; Sir Muirhead Bone; Archibald Hamilton Charteris]
Publication details: 
Friday'; date and place not stated [circa 1919?].
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good. A long, interesting gossipy letter. He is a 'poor weak devil' whose 'confounded laziness' has prevented him from writing. He has 'been to Thomlinson', and all copies of 'No. 14' are sold out, 'so there's a feather in your cap, my man'. Mention of 'Charteris', 'Ball & Boyd Scott'. 'I'm damned if I know where my lecture notes are - I've just hunted all over my room. I think they must be in Newcastle, or is it not possible that I lent them to you?' Discusses his 'articles in the Record'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E Knatchbull') to the Mayor of Canterbury.

Author: 
Sir Edward Knatchbull (1781-1849) of Mersham Hatch, Kent, 9th Baronet, English ultra-Tory politician [the Mayor of Canterbury]
Publication details: 
17 September 1841; Mersham Hatch.
£66.00

4to, 3 pp. Very good, on aged paper. Small punch hole through top left-hand corner of both leaves of the bifolium (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). Knatchbull claims that it has been 'intimated' to him 'that the Removal of the Troops from Canterbury in consequence of the Election for the County, which is to take place on Monday next, will cause much Inconvenience, especially to the Trade of the City'. He does not think that the Secretary of State 'would like to interfere, unless in Concurrence with the desire & opinion of the Authorities of the City of Canterbury'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Gladstone.

Author: 
Edward Hull (1829-1917), Anglo-Irish geologist [John Hall Gladstone (1827-1902), English physical chemist]
Publication details: 
19 May 1902; on letterhead of the Victoria Institute, 8 Adelphi Terrace, London W.C.
£45.00

12mo, 3 pp. Very good on lightly aged paper. Asking whether Gladstone would consent to the placing of his name on the list of the Institute's Council, 'to fill one of the vacancies'. 'You would be of great service to us in so doing - and the calls on your time would not be numerous - about a dozen times a year'. Six lines in shorthand (by Gladstone?) on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium.

Annals, Anecdotes, Traits and Traditions of the Irish Parliaments 1172 to 1800

Author: 
J. Roderick O'Flanagan
Publication details: 
New Edition, Dublin, 1895.
£50.00

Pp.xx.208, 8vo, with publisher's catalogue, original wraps, damaged but book rebound into attractive green boards with printed label on front. COPAC lists copies at BL, CUL, NLS, Oxford, Trinity.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Robert Cust') to Horace Bleackley (1868-1931).

Author: 
Robert Cust [Robert Henry Hobart Cust] (1861-1940), English art critic, an authority on the renaissance [Horace Bleackley; John Wilkes]
Publication details: 
12 October [no year]; on letterhead of Vernon House, Lyndhouse Road, Hampstead.
£28.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper, but with a thin strip along the outer edge of the second leaf of the bifolium with glue staining from previous mounting, and a 3.5 x 0.5 piece missing at head causing damage to one word ('hers'). Otherwise text clear and entire. Cust's aunt has informed him 'that she has at present in her possession in London all the papers belonging to Sir John Cust that remain'. She does not however think that they contain much about Wilkes.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. J. Bourassé'), in French, to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Abbé Jean-Jacques Bourassé (1813-1872), French archaeologist and author
Publication details: 
6 June 1853; Tours.
£56.00

8vo, 1 p. On lightly creased and grubby paper. Declining to become a corresponding member of the 'Institut historique', as 'les ressources me manquent pour payer les diplomes et les annuités nombreuses qu'imposent les honneurs, quelque flatters qu'ils soient, qu'ont bien voulu me proposer diverses societes savantes'. He has been president of the Archaeological Society of Touraine for some time, and he takes pleasure in reading the publications of the 'Institut historique', received by the Society.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Sligo') to Brabazon.

Author: 
Howe Peter Browne, 2nd Marquis of Sligo (1788-1845) [Sir William Brabazon (d.1840), 2nd Bart]
Publication details: 
July 16 1833; Mansfield Street.
£50.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper. Docketed in a contemporary hand (Brabazon's), beside Sligo's signature, 'second letter'. Sligo writes that the 'affair' to which Brabazon's letter alludes 'was purely of an official & Parliamentary nature', and that he 'must beg leave to decline receiving any communications respecting it', excepting in his 'place in the H of Lords'.

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