Literature

Typed Note Signed to "E. Thomson".

Author: 
John Drinkwater, writer
Publication details: 
[Printed headed notepaper] 4 Ashburn Gardens, London, SW7, 26 Aug. 1922.
£35.00

One page, c.7 x 5", good condition. "Thank you for your letter. As to trhe hymn, I daresay it may have been a chance shot of mine although I have a notion that I did confirm it at the time. Herrick I assumed to have his poems circulating in manuscript for some time before the publication of 'Hesperides'."

Autograph Letter Signed "A Bennett Smith / Annie S. Swan" to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Annie S. Swan, novelist
Publication details: 
Cecil House, Hertford, 17 June [no year given].
£75.00

Two pages, 8vo, punch-holes (with loss of one or two letters), closed tear and a small hole in the corner (with some rust marks), but text clear and complete. "In my opinion it is impossible to over estimate the value and importance of the work being done for the troops at home and abroad by the YMCA. I speak from first hand knowledge when I say that the soldiers themselves are ever ready to acknowledge the sympathy, spiritual help and material kindness which the Association bes[ow] upon them in the camps."

Autograph Subscription signed.

Author: 
Virginia Frazer Boyle, American Science Fiction writer, novelist.
Boyle
Publication details: 
No place or date surviving.
£50.00
Boyle

Scrap of paper,3.5 x 1", with the words, in Boyle's hand, "you and believe me / with sincere regard, / Your friend / P.G. Wodehouse,". Paper partly laid down on card, unevenly and crudely cut, staining, corners have remnants of a laying down, and another hand has added "Author of 'Devil Tales' &c. Memphis, Tenn." (the word "Author" partly obscured. The text is clear if a little faded. Items in Boyle's hand appear to be scarce.

Autograph Signature ('H. Martineau') on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), English writer and journalist
Publication details: 
26 December [no year]; Ambleside.
£45.00

Irregularly-shaped (like an 'L') piece of paper, cut from the head of a letter with a mourning border. Dimensions (very roughly) 4 and 3 cm high and 7 cm wide. Good, with minor traces of two tissue mounts adhering to reverse. The following written vertically across three lines of writing: 'to all your family, & I am, dear Sir, truly yours | [signed] H. Martineau'. The remains of the three lines acoss which the above is written read: '<...> dear Sir | <...> I am | <....> ur sister <...>'.

Autograph Note Signed "J.Allen" to Francis Palgrave (of "The Golden Treasury")

Author: 
John Allen, Holland House habituee, Warden of Dulwich College, political and historical writer (DNB).
Publication details: 
Holland House, Thursday morning, May 1824.
£56.00

One page, bifolium (address), small closed tear, marking of address panel, mainly good. "Dear Sir| As I pass through town tomorrow on my way from Dulwich I shall take my chance of finding you at home about 12 o'clock."

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Forshall') to Bishop Coleridge.

Author: 
Josiah Forshall (1795-1863), Keeper of Manuscripts and Secretary of the British Museum [William Hart Coleridge (1789-1849), bishop of Barbados and the Leeward Islands]
Publication details: 
B[ritish]. M[useum]. Oct: 2. 1848.'
£35.00

12mo: 2 pp. 11 lines of text. The Bishop's note has reached him 'just as I am about to set out for Cambridge to spend the week there'. When he returns he will 'search for any papers we may have relative to Dr. Walker'. He will let him 'know the result of my enquiries'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('M. F. T.') to his printer Thomas Brettell, 25 Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.

Author: 
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889), English poet [P. T. Barnum; John Leech; Thomas Brettell; Henry William Pickersgill]
Publication details: 
Undated, but docketed 'Jan. 31 1851'.
£75.00

12mo: 2 pp. 28 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, with unobtrusive small spike hole and traces of mounts adhering to four corners. Interesting animated letter between a Victorian author and his printer. Relates to Tupper's 'A hymn for All Nations; translated into thirty languages; nearly fifty versions; the music composed expressly by S. Sebastian Wesley.' (1851). Asks his printer to 'Attend to Hymn as within' (not present). 'We cannot help all this trouble'. Tupper has written to Dr Gavassi, but has had no answer: 'get Rossetti's as soon as you can.

Autograph Epigram Signed "William Moncrieff".

Author: 
William Thomas Moncrieff, dramatist (DNB).
Publication details: 
Dated 26 Oct. 1844.
£56.00

One page, creased and marked, text in pencil but legible. An explanatory docket in another hand: "Epigram by Moncrieff - a blind man's writing". The Epigram reflects this situation, text "translated" below in another hand: "Oer me, you've this advantage, great indeed | What I may write at pleasure you may read | But still I've one advantage in Fate's spite - | You cannot make me read the stuff I write!"

Three Autograph Letters Signed (two 'Eric Broad. | Frederic E Wright.' and one 'Frederic E Wright | Eric Broad.') to W. Kineton Parkes (1865-1938), assistant editor of the journal of the Ruskin Reading Guild, 'Igdrasil'

Author: 
Eric Broad' (Frederic E. Wright), English poet [W. Kineton Parkes; John Ruskin; William Marwick; the Ruskin Reading Guild]
Publication details: 
20 and 22 January and 3 March 1890; all from Scarsdale, Great Malvern.
£100.00

All three items in very good condition. Interesting series of letters by an obscure 1890s poet. Letter One (12mo, 7 pp): Although he realises that some are 'rather poor', he is sending, through his brother (possibly the artist Alan Wright, 1864-1959), 'all the lyrics I have by me': 'I have not had time to "weed" yet, being veryy busily engaged writing lyrics for a Comedy-Opera ['Ethelinda, or a Philanthropic Fad' (1890), on which he collaborated with Hamilton O. Wylde] - & a libretto for Operetta; also been trying my hand at very sensational prose'.

Autograph Note Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Jonathan Mawson Denwood (born c.1853?; died c.1931?), English writer in the dialect of his native Cumbria
Publication details: 
72 Kirkgate, Cockermouth; 8 August 1931.
£30.00

One page, quarto. Good, on lightly aged paper. Some offsetting and smudging from Denwood's folding of letter. Reads '72 Kirkgate | Cockermouth | Aug 8 - 1931 | Jonathan. Mawson. Denwood | Dear Sir, | I send you autograph. I cannot write further At the moment I can scarcely hold a pen.'

Catalogue of Books, Manuscripts, Autographs and Drawings.

Author: 
Alexander Denham and Co. [Charles Whittingham; Chiswick Press; autographs; booksellers' catalogues]
Publication details: 
London: For Sale by Alex'r Denham and Co., 23 Haymarket, S.W.; 1902. [Chiswick Press: Charles Whittingham and Co. Tooks Court, Chancery Lane, London.]
£75.00

Quarto: 65 pp. Numerous plates. In original grey printed wraps. Internally good, with a little spotting and creasing to the ruckled edges; wraps worn and stained. A beautifully printed item, on thick laid paper. Among the printed matter are books of hours, breviaries, psalters, and letters (with facsimile plates) by Byron, Keats, Johnson and Sterne; and manuscripts of Fielding and Horace Walpole.

Two Autograph Signature on slip of paper.

Author: 
Richard Adams (born 1920), English novelist, best-known for 'Watership Down' (1972)
Publication details: 
Undated and with place not stated.
£30.00

On strip of paper roughly two inches by eight wide. Good. Two bold signature reads 'Yours sincerely | Richard Adams'. Presumably the collector was expected to cut the autographs off individually - for wgatever purpose.

Autograph Card Signed [to Rev. E. J. F. Davies].

Author: 
Edward Hutton (1875-1969), British writer on travel and Italy
Publication details: 
21 April 1934; Rome.
£10.00

One page, on back of printed postcard. Very good. Photograph of the Via Appia on reverse. Reads 'Dear Sir | In reply to your request I have pleasure in sending you this'.

Six Autograph Letters Signed to [W.C.G.] Ludford with a manuscript list.

Author: 
W.W.Caddell, dealer.
Publication details: 
Kya Mene, Sutton, Surrey, 21 November 1926-22 March 1928.
£300.00

(Letters) Total thirteen pages (13), 8vo; (List) Total five (5) pages, 4to.

Catalogue of the Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson Hogg (1792-1862), Consisting principally of Letters from Percy and Mary Shelley. Sold by Order of his Great-Nephew Major R. J. Jefferson Hogg, M.C. of Norton-on-Tees, Co. Durham.

Author: 
Thomas Jefferson Hogg [Sotheby & Co.; Percy Bysshe Shelley; autograph letters; auction catalogue]
Publication details: 
London: Messrs. Sotheby & Co., 34 and 35 New Bond Street, W.1.; 30 June 1948. [Printed by Kitchen & Barratt, Ltd., Park Royal Road, N.W.10.]
£80.00

Octavo: 21 pp. Leaf of prices and buyers' names loosely inserted. Stapled. In original yellow printed wraps. Somewhat creased and chipped, on aged, spotted paper. Two-page foreword. Maggs were the main buyers, but the three highest sellers among the 105 lots, all Shelley letters, went to other dealers: lot 13, 'quoting 36 lines of original verse', for £155 to Pickering; lot 55, 'describing the origins and method of his elopement with Mary Godwin', £175 to Quaritch; lot 65, 'dealing with many topics', £360 to W. H. Robinson.

Autograph Note Signed ('Mary W. Findlater') to unnamed female autograph hunter.

Author: 
Mary Williamina Findlater (1865-1963), Scottish novelist and poet
Publication details: 
27 October 1901; Mount Stuart, Torquay, England.
£10.00

One page, 16mo. Good, on lightly aged grey paper, with previous paper mount adhering to reverse. Reads 'I have pleasure in sending you the Autograph you desire'.

Autograph Signature on card.

Author: 
Max O'Rell' (Paul Blouet, 1848-1903), French satirical author and journalist
Publication details: 
18 March 1895; place not stated.
£10.00

Dimensions of card roughly two and three-quarter inches by four inches wide. Good, with light creasing to corners. Clear signature reads 'Yours very sincerely | Max O'Rell | 18 March 1895'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Herbert Trench', twice) to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Frederic Herbert Trench (1865-1923), Irish poet
Publication details: 
Undated; on letterhead of the United University Club, Pall Mall East, S.W. [London].
£40.00

Octavo, one page. Good, with stains from paperclip at head. Large bold signature on top half of leaf, and body of note, with signature on bottom half. 'I have pleasure in sending my signature. Yes I am the author of "Deirdre Wedded" & "New Poems" (including Apollo & the Seaman) which Methuen published.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Theodore Martin') [to an autograph dealer?].

Author: 
Sir Theodore Martin (1816-1909), Scottish poet, biographer and translator.
Publication details: 
27 February 1888; on letterhead '31, Onslow Square, S. W.' [London].
£50.00

One page, 12mo. Good, though a little grubby at the right-hand margin, and with the name of the recipient neatly torn away at foot. 'Dear Sir | Neither Lady Martin nor myself feel any interest in any letters of ours, which may have come into your hands.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. K. F. Gatty') to 'Mrs. Wakefield'.

Author: 
Horatia Katharine Frances Eden (née Gatty) (born 1846), sister and biographer of Mrs Juliana Horatia Ewing
Publication details: 
Ecclesfield, Sheffield; 22 March [year not stated].
£60.00

Four pages, 12mo. Mourning border. Aged and spotted, with remains of three mounts adhering to one edge. She is enclosing a note from 'Miss Yonge', and 'one from Miss Roberts [Margaret Roberts] who wrote "Madlle Mori", "In the Olden Time", "The Atelier du Lys" &c. She refers to Miss Yonges mother in her note'. She is also sending a note 'from Mr. Dodgson too. Who is "Lewis Caroll'. (Alice in Wonderland) - & one from Isa Craig - now Mrs. Knox.

Ten Autograph Letters Signed (all 'E Walford') to a number of different correspondents (including A., F. and H. Barker, Mrs Ratcliffe and a newspaper editor named 'Taylor').

Author: 
Edward Walford (1823-97), topographer, genealogist, antiquary and editor of 'Once a Week' and 'The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer'
Publication details: 
Five undated, the others 1860 to 1890; all but one (from Bracknell in Berkshire) from a number of London addresses.
£400.00

All items good, though on dusty and aged paper. Five items are addressed to sellers of manuscripts (probably the same individual). ONE (to H. Barker, 23 April 1885, on letterhead of 'The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer', one page, octavo): Asks to be offered Wellesley autographs purchased at a recent Sotheby sale, of which he sent an account to 'The Times', which was 'crowded out'. TWO (to F. Barker, 25 April [1885], 'at T.

Autograph Card Signed ('Agnes Castle' and 'Egerton Castle').

Author: 
Egerton Castle (1858-1920) and his wife Agnes Castle, nee Sweetman (1860-1922), British historical novelists
Publication details: 
6 December 1901; place not stated [Brighton].
£30.00

Printed Post Card, dimensions three and a half inches by five and a half. Good, on aged paper, but with the reverse (showing the remains of a photograph of Brighton) damaged by its removal from an autograph album. Unobtrusive vertical crease. Reads (apparently in Egerton Castle's hand) 'Dear Miss Gray | Your letter has been forwarded to us here. We have much pleasure in sending you the autographs you desire'.

Autograph Note Signed (' "Allen Raine" ') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Allen Raine' (Ann Adaliza Puddicombe, nee Evans, 1836-1908), British novelist, known as 'the Welsh Catherine Cookson'
Publication details: 
Traethsaith | Cardiganshire | Aug 30th/06'.
£30.00

One page, 12mo, on mourning paper. Aged and cropped at foot. Dusty, and with minor paperclip stains to edges, and traces of previous mount on reverse. Reads 'Dear Sir, | I have much pleasure in sending you my Autograph. | Yours truly | "Allen Raine" '. Four-line cutting giving printed biography neatly laid down in bottom right-hand corner.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. F. Monypenny') to Charles J. Trevor.

Author: 
William Flavelle Monypenny (1866-1912), British journalist and historian, best known for his biography (with G. E. Buckle) of Benjamin Disraeli
Publication details: 
29 May 1907; on letterhead 2 Queen Anne's Gate, S.W.
£35.00

Two pages, 12mo. Good, on spotted paper. Folded twice.He is obliged to his correspondent for 'sending me a copy of the Disraeli letter in your possession'. He will not trouble his correspondent for a loan of the original 'as the contents are rather of private than of public interest'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Ernest Myers') to autograph collector 'Mr. Soulsby'.

Author: 
Ernest James Myers (1844-1921), English classicist, translator and poet
Publication details: 
10 January 1884; place not stated.
£40.00

One page, 12mo. Very good. 'I have much pleasure in sending you my signature, as I am told you wd. care to have it.

Autograph Letter Signed to Thomas Thompson of Liverpool.

Author: 
Catherine Hutton (1756-1846), English novelist and miscellaneous writer [AUTOGRAPH COLLECTING]
Publication details: 
Bennett's Hill June 1832'.
£600.00

Two pages, quarto. Well preserved, on good lightly-aged paper, but with the original piece of paper (which was roughly nine inches by seven and a half wide) now neatly cut into three strips (the top and bottom of which are two and three-quarter inches high, and the middle three and a half inches high). The text is extremely neatly written and entirely legible, and the whole easily repairable with archival tape. The whole of this long, interesting letter (thirty-five lines and a two-line postscript) is given over to the current craze for autograph collecting (for which see A. N. L.

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed collector.

Author: 
P. H. Lulham, poet
Publication details: 
St Albans Lodge, Westgate, Kent, 18 Jan. 1909.
£35.00

2pp., 8vo, good condition. "I am very sorry to hear that you think the book has gone wrong - I certainly posted a copy to the address you gave me, specially remembering the fact - because I unfortunately forgot to autograph the book as you had asked me to do." He asks him to make enquiries and keep him informed.

Autograph Note Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Edmund Yates (1831-94), British novelist, dramatist and editor of the 'World' magazine
Publication details: 
28 August 1886; on letterhead 1 York Street, Covent Garden, London.
£40.00

One page, 12mo. Very good on lightly-aged grey paper. Reads 'Dear Sir. | Here is the autograph you require. | Faithfully your's | [signed] Edmund Yates'. The words 'Here' and 'to' are slightly smudged.

Autograph Note Signed ('F. C. Burnand') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (1836-1917), English writer, editor of the magazine 'Punch' from 1880 to 1906
Publication details: 
10 December 1901; place not stated.
£30.00

One page. Dimensions of paper roughly four inches by seven. On piece of aged, stained paper, mounted on piece of card. Remains of biographical cutting in bottom right-hand corner. Reads 'Here you are Sir | Autographs cheap today | F. C. Burnand | F. C. B. | 10 Dec 1901'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jas: Stanley:Little') to S[eymour C.] J. Freeman-Matthews [of Cape Town].

Author: 
James Stanley Little (1856-1940), British novelist
Publication details: 
28 September 1900; on letterhead 18 Drakenfield Road, Tooting Common, S.W.
£30.00

One page, quarto. On aged and lightly creased paper. He is sending the signature with 'one or two others'. 'Possibly the work I have done for South Africa (I have been upholding the Imperial cause for a quarter of a century) is your reason for paying me the compliment.' Thinks he recognises from Freeman-Matthews' crest that he is 'a descendant of the Llandaff Mathews family'.

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