Social history

The present item gives an indication of the high spirits, though hardly the ‘brilliant wit’, which, according to Quin’s entry in the Oxford DNB, afforded him a welcome to high society. 3pp, 16mo. Bifolium, with second leaf slightly damaged at foot by removal from mount. The body of the letter reads: ‘Dear Jesse / Don’t you or your fair friends forget Supper at Vun Undred and Vunety Vun Mount Street tomorrow Saturday night at 11 oclock or as soon after it as you can come. / N.B.

Considered by his friend Noël Coward as ‘a phenomenon that would never recur’. See his entry by Osbert Sitwell in the Oxford DNB and the biography by Damian Collins, ‘Charmed Life: The Phenomenal World of Philip Sassoon’ (2016). Clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. The signature is on a plain 9 x 6 cm card, and reads simply ‘Philip Sassoon.’ The card is laid down at the foot of a 12mo letterhead, on which is written by Sassoon, above a flourish: ‘With Sir Philip Sassoon’s Compliments’. Both items in good condition, lightly aged.

The tradition of this annual day of revels at Scotland's oldest university St Andrews is said to date back to the fifteenth century and is said to commemorate the visits of a lady Katharine Kennedy to her uncle, Bishop Kennedy of St Andrews, every Spring. 9 x 5 cm sepia photographic print of illustration, laid down on 10.5 x 6 cm piece of card, and clearly made in the nineteenth century. In fair condition, lightly aged. As part of the print, at bottom right: ‘Kate Kennedy pinxit / 1871’.

Parker was with the Wimbledon Dons between 1945 and 1953, during which time he won three national trophies (1950, 1951 and 1953). He also rode in several World Finals. Fynn came over to Britain from Australia, and Speedway Star, 7 May 2022, contains a biographical feature, with photograph, on the occasion of his hundredth birthday. A pair of black-and-white prints, each on 14 x 9 cm glossy paper. Each with stamp of ‘BCM/SPORTS PHOTOS’ on reverse, stating ‘SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHS 6d each’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, with light dabs of glue from mount on reverse. On 11.5 x 9 cm card with rounded edges. Clearly in response to a request for an autograph, he writes: 'For Louis Frewen / with all good wishes / from / Anthony Asquith / December 1931'.

One page, 4to, minor defects (small closed tear, fold marks, grubby corners), good condition. Text: We very much welcome your membership of the Place-Name Society, and thank you for your subscription, for which the Treasurer will send you a receipt in due course. I have instructed the Cambridge Press to send you the Worcestershire volume forthwith, and you will receive the volume on the North Riding when it appears in the course of the summer."

Printed Portrait, coloured, 25 x 17signed JW Southall in a scawl (see Image), fold marks, small closed tear on base fold line, remnants of glue etc on reverse from being laid down. This is the sort of item that was enclosed in Boys' Comics. Apparently it derives from 8 x 6 inch sepia toned photograph of Southall astride his racing cycle signed and dated Oct.24th 1934 (see this on Bristow and Garland's website).

Signature only on scrap of paper, uneven edges,c.12 x 7.5 cm, tipped on to sl. larger page from an autograph album, sl. faded as if ink in pen running out. See image. The signature of Arthur J, Cummings, journalist and author is on the reverse, dated 20 Sept. 1938.

Eight Pages, sm. fol., two bifoliums, fold marks, good condition. Stock and Cobblers' Equipment listed with quantities and sums achieved. Headings: Pair Prunella Shoes; Prunella Boots, Cloth Boots [...] Leather Shoes, Boots, Gents Boots, Wellington Boots, Blucher Boots, Slippers [...], Grindstone (x 9), Cutting Board (x18), Logs, Lasts, Boothooks, etc. etc. See Images

One page, 8vo, fold marks, good condition. Text: I enclose you a check for the amount of my bill which I shall be glad to know you receive safe- As you say your Father is collecting autogreaphs I have enclosed you a few which he may like to have. See image.

Two pages, 4to, good condition, lacking at least a signature page. An impediment in the arrangement of the Miscellaneous Records of the Exchequer which I feel it my duty to submit to the notice of the Board.

Three pages, 4to, bifolium, poor condition, with some (crude) repair work but other closed tears on folds, requiring attention BUT text clear and complete (with odd difficult word). Some pencil notes by a later reader, inaccurately attributing to Edmund Law. Text: I regret sincerely that I cannot participate with my fellow citizens in the general expression of their sense of your high merits. Were I able to attend I would drink your health Eminent [speaker?] but most exalted when addressing his successor.

Page extracted from autograph album, 15 x 10cm, right edge rough, ow good condition. See image. The inks (green particularly) don't respond well to the camera.

Page torn from album, 16 x 13cm, one rough edge left, corner clipped left. Tennyson would be a titled descendant of the poet.

Paper, 9.5 x 7cm, very clear bold signature, very good condition.

One page, 8vo, Note: Ronald Horton (1902–1981), Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, Brighton & Hove. See image. Text: I was very interested to hear about your forthcoming lecture of 'The inter-relationship of Art and Photography', but I am sorry I have not got any lantern slides at all.

A. 22 Nov. 1905, Three pages, 12mo, bifolium,black-bordered, good condition. He refers to an account sent to him by a correspondent of Car which I read with great interest but he had yet to receive a detailed account. I quite understand in Surrey motorists must be a great nuisance to many of the inhabitants, and therefore was quite prepared for the Council passing a resolution-which in itself is I think impracticable.

Carte-de-Visite, c.10 x 6cm, sl. grubby but a good image. Name of subject (apparently) written on reverse in pencil, Mrs Magrath. A similar item at the V & A is described as an albumen print. Louis Werner appears in the Dictionary of Irish Artists. Apparently ill health drove him from portrait painting to photography.

Vellum Deed, c.70 x 55cm, folded as usual, signs of age but text clear and complete, with town seal with small cracks but intact. The reverse contains a memorandum signed by the Mayor and his Burgesses: Totnes Guildhall viiith Sept.

Page extracted from autograph book, 10 x 14cm, dulled but still clear, one edge roughened having been removed from an autograph book. Signatures of N. Christie, W. Carr, G M Lean, W.E. Roughton, J. Smith, C. Luke, W.H. Smith, J.J. Williams, H. Turner, R. Robinson, W.G.B. Bottrell, F.R. Goodall, John F. Chaplin. See image. Note: Huddersfield became the first English club to win three successive English league titles in 1925–26. The first two league titles were won under manager and pioneer Herbert Chapman, who also led the team to an FA Cup win in 1922.

Green Card, 9 x 6cm, laid down on small album page sl. larger than the card, Some creases at corner and across the B of Burgess, sl. soiled but signature clear. See image.

Five-page list of items, fold marks, some dusting, fair condition. Lots, Buyers and Prices (see image). From Scythe and rake to horses and potatoes.

One page, 12mo, very good condition. Text, a verse from Gerald Massey's To-Day and To-Morrow (see note below) as follows: [Fanny's quotation marks] Though hearts brood o'er the past, our eyes | With smiling features glisten, | For, lo! our day bursts up the skies! | Lean out your souls and listen! | The world rolls Freedom's radiant way, | And ripens with her sorrows; | Keep heart! who bears the cross to-day, | Shall wear the crown tomorrow. | Fannie Garrison. | Boston, Oct.21st, 1860 | [ 'Mrs Henry villard' in another hand ] || Why ask a name?

Fron Coury's archive/files. Seven items (incuding two duplicates), one page each, 4to. 1. Coury's file carbon copy of her original Typed Letter to Heather Baden-Powell (14 March 1933), asking her questions about family connections, hobbies, ambitions etc., information to be used in the 'Who's Who' of 1933 debutantes which I am preparing for the 'Daily Express' and which will appear every day once the series has been started. She also asked for a photograph. 2. Typed Letter Signed by Heather Baden-Powell (21 March 1933) answering Coury's questions meticulously (e.g.

All 7 x 2cm, or thereabouts, clipped a little roughly round the edges, paper darkened, but signature clear, tipped on to sl. larger piece of paper docketed with their names and the store associated with them. The only additional information is for Whitley Shot in his Office.

Manuscript, [21]pp., 8vo, edge of p.[1] dusted, ow all good condition, Heavily worked on discussion of the issue of Capital Punishment, a subject on wh[ich] I feel so deeply, so strongly, so earnestly, that I dare not trust myself to speak upon it without constraint.

Paper, 16 x 17.5cm, laid down on similar sized paper, good condition. He only is a true freeman who renders stedfast obedience to righteous law. If a quotation, not traced. So a statement, sentiment, or word of wisdom perhaps.

For information on Carlile - described by E. P. Thompson as a 'Showman of Free Thought' - and his 'moral wife' the suffragist Eliza Sharples, see their entries in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing Carlile was in prison for refusal to pay the church rates. The proofs Carlile asks to be allowed to receive in the first letter are presumably those of his journal 'The Gauntlet'. The phrenologist 'Mr. Hohn' referred to in the second of the letters - the 'Mr. Holme' of the accompanying slip - is the German-born physician and phrenologist John Diederick Holm (d.1856).

There is no indication of the author's identity, but one of the customers is named as 'Mr: Dougall Campball', and others include 'Balantine', 'Mr Connor', 'Mr Hall', 'Thomas Eson' and 'Tho Eison'. The sums involved are large, and the document would appear to suggest a wholesaler. 2pp, folio, on a leaf of laid paper with no watermark. Aged and worn, with chipping along one edge resulting in slight loss to some of the figures on one side of the leaf.

Two etchings in black ink, printed side by side on a 23.5 x 18 cm piece of wove paper, with a thin printed line dividing them. Possibly proofs of two plates on conjoined leaves in a book. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with a tiny nick at foot and dog-eared corners. Each of the sketches is full-length, and has a caption at foot, in a facsimile of D'Orsay's hand.