Social history

Manuscript and Printed Marriage Certificate on parchment, signed by thirty individuals.

Author: 
Eli Nixon; James Child [The Quakers; Bethnal Green]
Publication details: 
Wandsworth; 16 June 1825.
£95.00

Dimensions roughly nineteen inches by thirteen inches. Aged and a tad grubby, but in very good condition overall. Small piece, roughly one inch square, cut away from bottom left hand corner. Government five shilling stamp in top left-hand corner.

Printed Indenture of Apprenticeship, in two identical parts.

Author: 
Apprentice's Indenture [Apprenticeship; London; printed ephemera]
Publication details: 
[circa 1810] London: 'Sold by COLES, KNIGHT and DUNN, Stationers, No. 21, Fleet Street. Printed by W. SMITH, and Co. King Street, Seven Dials.
£26.00

A bifolium, with the text printed landscape on the recto of the two leaves, each of which are 21 x 33.5 cm. On laid Britannia paper watermarked 'G. PIKE | 1809'. The first two words in gothic script, nine-line marginal note in italic, and the rest in roman. Thirty-three lines of text, with spaces for manuscript insertions. Neither of the two parts (presumably one for the master and the other for the apprentice's family) has been filled in. Prepared for completion in the 1810s ('in the Year of our Lord 181[gap]').

(Manuscript) Ledger

Author: 
Off-licence
Publication details: 
1933-1960
£250.00

Hf.lea., folio, pp.1-325 used , mainly fully, indexed. Handwritten records of purchases from breweries, wine merchants et al (including Bass & Co., Schweppes, Booth's, Buchanan, Brandies of France, Commonwealth Wines, Kia-Ora,Sandeman, Vintage Wines, Ltd, Worthington & Co etc., etc. Enclosures: a small quantity of invoices from some companies Whitbread, Schweppes, Coates etc.), many saying just "goods" but others more specific.

Autograph Letter Signed to Lockyer.

Author: 
William Black (1841-1898), Scottish journalist and novelist [Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896); astronomer; Altnaharra Hotel; angling; fishing]
Publication details: 
29 March [no year]; Altnaharra, Lairg, N.B. [Scotland]
£38.00

16mo bifolium (leaf dimensions 11 x 9 cm): 2 pp. 17 lines of text. Very good on lightly aged paper. Wonders whether Lockyer would like to spend his Easter holidays at Altnaharra, for a fortnight from 14 April. (The Altnaharra Hotel was used by anglers visiting the nearby lochs.) 'It is an expensive journey; but the sport is good - at least it has been good this last fortnight, but now we are sadly in want of rain. The weather is like June, only more so.' Forty salmon have been killed 'in these two weeks, averaging 11 lbs each'. Black's publisher was Alexander Macmillan.

Four items: the three numbers of the 'Album of the Bannatyne Club', with the first number bound with 'A Catalogue of Works printed for The Bannatyne Club. No. I.'

Author: 
David Laing, Secretary, The Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh, Scotland [Sir Walter Scott; Scottish; antiquarian]
Publication details: 
[Edinburgh: 1825 ('Catalogue' and first number of 'Album'), 1831 and 1854]
£400.00

All four items tastefully and crisply printed. ITEMS ONE AND TWO ('Catalogue' and first number of 'Album'): Both 8vo, bound together in original dark-green wraps. 'Catalogue': 12 pp; 'Album': 22 + [i] pp. All edges gilt. Wraps creased and worn, with slight chipping at head of spine. Some creasing to prelims and last few leaves. Note to 'Catalogue' (by 'D. L. | S.') explains that the 'following List contains the titles of such Books as have been printed for the Bannatyne Club since its Institution in February 1823'.

Kirby, Essex. Catalogue of Live and Dead Farming Stock and Household Furniture, to be sold by auction. By Mr. E. Blyth, on Tuesday, September 19, 1843, At Eleven o'clock, By Order of the Proprietor, Mr. Wm. Wilson, who is retiring from Business.

Author: 
Edward Blyth, auctioneer, of Rose Cottage, Thorpe-le-Soken [Colchester, Essex; povincial printing; agriculture; auction catalogues]
Publication details: 
1843. Colchester: Printed by G. Dennis, 40, High Street.
£95.00

12mo: 8 pp (a 43 x 27 cm leaf, printed on both sides and folded twice to make four unopened leaves). Pamphlet. Text clear and complete on lightly-aged and spotted paper. 'Conditions of Sale' on reverse of title. 170 lots, with lots 48 to 68 priced and named by the auctioneer, who gives the total as £4 9s 6d, with 'Commission & Exps.' of £0 8s 6d. Interesting manuscript note at head of title: 'Lot 65 not sold - is the Drawers & Dresser in the Storeroom in the Parlour which were not a part of the Tenants Fittings and belong to the Landlord - and were not taken by Mr.

Some Recent Phases of the Sewage Question, With Remarks on "Ensilage," As applied to the Storing and Preservation of Sewage-Grown Green Crops.

Author: 
Henry Robinson, C.E., F.S.I. [sanitation; Victorian London sewers; silage; sewage; sewerage; cesspools]
Publication details: 
[London:] Reprinted by permission of the Council from the "Transactions" of the Surveyors' Institution.' To be obtained of Messrs. Spon, 125, Strand, W.C. [1885.]
£30.00

Octavo: 28 pp (paginated 203-230). Unbound and stitched. In original orange printed wraps. Fold-out lithographic plate (c.21 x 45 cms, containing figs. 2 to 6) by C. F. Kell of Castle Street, Holborn, and three illustrations in text: fig.1, a 'useful portable silo [...] made by Messrs. Reynolds', fig.7, 'a simple form of silo with Reynolds' pressure', and fig.8, 'a suggested design for a silo'. The aim of the paper is to 'bring before The Surveyors' Institution some recent phases of the sewage question'. Very good, if a tad dusty at head.

Typed Letter Signed "Archie Black" to J.G. Wilson, John & Edward Bumpus Ltd.

Author: 
Archie [presumably Archibald] Black, publisher (of A. & C. Black).
Publication details: 
4,5, & 6 Soho Square, London, 18 Nov. 1932 (A & C Black headed notepaper).
£50.00

One page, minor defects, text clear and complete. He would like to see some drawings which have beeen mentioned, and will call in. "Our contributions to the Scott Exhibition were returned this morning in excellent conditio, and I would like to congratulate you and Miss Hughes on a most excellent show. | By the way, Miss Hughes has never let me have back the Scott's butler's MS., which I lent her some time ago. I wish you would mention this to her." He concludes by asking Wilson to address letters to "Archie Black" or "A.A.G. Black" to avoid confusion with his father.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. T. Gell') to 'Dear Walter'.

Author: 
George T. Gell [I.O.G.T.; IOGT International; Independent Order of Good Templars; International Order of Good Templars; temperance movement; abstinence; prohibition; Sydney, Australia]
Publication details: 
25 February 1889; 15 Little's Lane, Nicholson Street, Balmain, E. Sydney, Australia [on I.O.G.T. letterhead].
£28.00

8vo: 4 pp. Bifolium. 66 lines. Text clear and complete, on aged, spotted and worn paper. Letterhead with printed mottos in decorative borders: 'Total Abstinence is the only certain Preventive of, or Remedy for Intemperance.' and 'INDIVIDUAL ABSTINENCE. | STATE PROHIBITION.' In conclusion Gell apologises for 'what you no doubt will stigmatize as an absurd letter', and to the modern reader this item is certainly unintentionally-amusing. Since his correspondent 'went up', 'one of my Tasmanian friends along with Mrs.

Autograph Signature ('Beatrice Webb').

Author: 
Beatrice Webb (1858-1943) [Martha Beatrice Potter Webb], wife of Sydney Webb [The Fabian Society; Socialism]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

Good, bold signature on slip of laid paper (presumably cut from letter) roughly 3.5 x 11.5 cm. In good condition. Simply reads 'Beatrice Webb'.

Five printed items relating to the Co-operative Holidays Association, including the first three issues in a series of 'Co-Operative Holidays Association General Notes'.

Author: 
Co-operative Holidays Association, Manchester [the co-operative movement]
Publication details: 
General Notes': October and December 1918, and February 1919. ['Published at the Offices of The Co-operative Holidays Association, College House, Brusnwick Street, Manchester. Printed by The Edgeley Press Ltd., Stockport.' Other items 1918 and 1920.
£220.00

Items One to Three: three 'Co-operative Holidays Association General Notes' pamphlets, all 4pp, on unbound 8vo bifoliums. Text clear and complete, on aged and worn paper, with a 3 cm closed tear to both leaves of the second number. Each issue ends with a long list of 'Rambling Clubs and Secretaries'. Headings of notes include 'One Shilling Literature Subscription', 'Sir William Mather', 'Canadian Guests', 'Personalia'. Also a report of the annual general meeting.

The True Principal of Population; Trade, Profits, Wages, Employment, and the Land Laws.

Author: 
T. R.' [population; land reform; Sir Robert Arthur Arnold; Manchester radical politics; economics]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1880 and 1885]. Manchester: Abel Heywood and Son, 56 & 58, Oldham Street.
£200.00

12mo, 15 pp. Stitched as issued. Text clear and complete on aged, worn and foxed paper. Can be dated from references in text, and from quotation on title from 'Arthur Arnold, M.P.' (Arnold's career in the House of Commons ending in 1885). Carries a few contemporary marks in light pencil, and a column in shorthand on the blank reverse of the last leaf. Excessively scarce: no copy in the British Library, on COPAC or on WorldCat.

Engraving ('Benjamin Green sculpt.') in red and black, with explanatory letterpress, titled 'A View Of The Library Founded In 1429 By RICHARD WHITTINGTON.'

Author: 
Benjamin Green ('Pott') [Thoams Pennant; Richard ('Dick') Whittington; London topography; Christ's Hospital; libraries]
Publication details: 
London Pubd. Jany. 1 1793 by N Smith Gt. Mays Buildings St. Martins Lane.'
£56.00

Printed on one side of a piece of thick wove paper, 21 x 17.5 cm. At the head of the page is the engraving, enclosed in an oval 12.5 cm high and 15 cm wide. A clear impression of a scarce print, on grubby, spotted paper. Within the border is engraved in red 'Part of Christs Hospital taken from the Stewards Office 1765.' According to the six lines of copperplate text at the foot of the page 'It was 129 feet long and 31 feet in breadth, [...] It was furnished with Books at the expence of £556 . 10s of which £400 were given by the founder, and the remainder by Dr.

Printed Covering Letter, signed by steward 'A Bazzoni', intended to enclose a ticket to the Society's Anniversary Dinner.

Author: 
Aged Poor Society, London [Augusto Bazzoni; Roman Catholic; philanthropy; charity]
Publication details: 
London, December, 1831.'
£45.00

4to: 1 p. Printed on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium of paper watermarked 'R BARNARD | 1828'. Fifteen lines of text. Text clear and complete on aged, creased paper with chipping to extremities, and the two leaves of the bifolium nearly detached. Docketed in contemporary hands '819' at the head of the printed page, and 'No. 72' on the reverse of the second leaf 'No. 72'.

Printed programme of the 'Arrangements for the Ceremony of the Presentation of the Freedom of the City of London to The Right Hon. Lord Milner of St. James' and Cape Town, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.'

Author: 
Alfred Milner (1854-1925), 1st Viscount Milner [Lord Milner] [The Corporation of the City of London; freedom of the city; Guildhall]
Publication details: 
Tuesday, 23rd July, 1901.'
£45.00

4tp bifolium: 3 pp. Text clear and complete on aged and lightly-creased paper. The first page is headed by the crest of the City of London. Gives the timetable for the ceremony, and the routes to be followed by the holders of 'three distinct Cards [white, pink and blue] assigning seats in different localities'. 'The Prime Warden and Wardens of the Fishmongers' Company will present Lord Milner with the Freedom.

A Catalogue of New & Popular Works, And of Books for Children, Suitable for Presents, Sunday School Libraries, and Prizes.

Author: 
E. P. Dutton & Co., publishers, New York [book catalogue; children's books; juvenile]
Publication details: 
[October 1881] New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 713, Broadway. Griffith & Farran, St. Paul's Churchyard, London.
£30.00

12mo. 32 pages. Unbound. On browned high-acidity paper. Loss to margins of first and last leaves, but text clear and complete, save for the dating in bottom left-hand corner of the title: <...> 8. 81. Cancelling all previous Editions of this Catalogue.' Line in blue pen around the words 'for Children' in the title, and pencil markings (by a child) to p.30. Circular engraving beneath title captioned 'Goldsmith introduced to Newbery by Dr.

Autograph Letter Signed to John William Stuart, on the occasion of his brother Benjamin Whitworth's death.

Author: 
Robert Whitworth, philanthropist [Benjamin Whitworth (1816-1893), Liberal M.P. for Drogheda, Manchester cotton merchant; Whitby Lifeboat; temperance; Sunday observance]
Publication details: 
2 October 1893. 14 Brown Street, Manchester.
£95.00

8vo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Sixty-eight lines of text. Complete and legible, but damaged: grubby and creased, with short closed tears and small hole at gutter. Interesting and informative letter. Stuart's message of condolence on Benjamin Whitworth's death is one of many which 'have been very acceptable more especially to his widow who has been laid aside so long with bad health, his daughters have been quite worn out'. Describes how his brother's health 'began to break down after a slight attack of paralysis some two or three years ago when at John Brown & Co Ld.

Printed poster, headed 'Salt-Hill Society, (Instituted 1783) For the Protection of Persons and Property from Felons & Thieves, Within the Hundreds of Burnham and Stoke, In the County of Buckingham.', giving the 'Rules and Articles of this Society'.

Author: 
Edmund J. Craske, Treasurer, Salt-Hill Society, Burnham and Stoke, Buckingham [R. Ingalton Drake, printer, Eton; provincial printing]
Publication details: 
At a General Meeting, held at the ROYAL HOTEL, Slough, on Tuesday, the 13th day of April, and (by adjournment) on Tuesday, the 20th day of April, 1897'. ['R. INGALTON DRAKE, PRINTER, ETON.']
£120.00

Printed on one side of a piece of paper roughly 680 x 430 mm. Good, on aged paper with a little spotting and one short closed tear. Text complete and entirely legible. Heading printed in a variety of types and point sizes, with the Rules and Articles, dated 'Slough, April 20th, 1897. and 'Signed on behalf of the General Body of Subscribers, EDMUND J. CRASKE.', in double-column beneath. Final list of subscribers, in four columns, beginning with 'ABORN, Edwin, Eton' and ending with 'WOLLASTON, H. U., East Burnham'.

Handbill headed 'An Account of a Grand Fete at St. Ives, On 23rd of April, 1702, in honor of Queen Anne's Coronation; Taken from a Manuscript Book compiled by Edmund Pettis, at the time.'

Author: 
Joseph Harris [St Ives, Cornwall; printed ephemera; handbill]
Publication details: 
Note by Harris at foot dated 'St. Ives, 29th June, 1814.'; 'CROFT PRINTER, &c. ST. IVES.'
£150.00

On one side of a piece of wove paper, dimensions roughly 365 x 255 mm. Laid down on a larger leaf. Lightly creased and a little spotted, but good overall, and with the text entirely legible. The upper part of the item consists of the quotation from Pettis's manuscript book, consisting of nineteen lines in single column and twenty-six lines in double column. It begins 'The day was usher'd in with Ringing, Music, and Versing from door to door. At Eleven o'Clock a Cavalcade was formed in the Court Yard, West of the Church, which made a gallant appearance, in manner and form following'.

Typed Note Signed ('A. C. Fox-Davies') to H. S. Vade Walpole.

Author: 
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (1871-1928), English writer on heraldry, and Gold Staff Officer at the Coronation of King George V
Publication details: 
8 June 1899; on letterhead of Hastings House, Norfolk Street, Strand, London.
£35.00

4to: 1 p. Good, on lightly aged and spotted paper. Regarding 'certain verses concerning this street', Walpole will 'find an explanation of the whole circumstance in this week's Notes & Queries'.

Five items relating to the appointment of Special Constables, 'in consequence of the unsettled state of the Metropolis', including a signed warrant appointing Cater a Special Constable, as 'a tumult or riot may be reasonably apprehended'.

Author: 
William Charles Cater, hatter, 56 Pall Mall, London [Parish of St James, Westminster; Riot Act; Chartism; Chartists; 1848]
Publication details: 
The five items produced between March and June 1848. One of them printed by T. Brettell, Rupert Street, Haymarket.
£350.00

A collection of items indicating the panic felt by the bourgeoisie around the time of the Great Chartism Meeting on Kennington Common, 10 April 1848. Items Two to Five are laid down on a piece of grey paper removed from a scrapbook. Item One: Printed warrant signed by two magistrates, appointing Cater a Special Constable, it appearing, 'upon the oath of a credible witness, that a tumult or riot may be reasonably apprehended'. On one side of a piece of laid paper roughly 320 x 210 mm. Watermarked 'W H FELLOWS 1847'.

Seven-page advertisement, written by Cobbett, and headed 'This Day is published, Cobbett's Annual Register, Vol. I. From January to June, 1802.'

Author: 
William Cobbett [Cox, Son, and Baylis, Great Queen Street]
Publication details: 
Dated 'Pall Mall. | October 11th, 1802. } W. COBBETT.' ['Printed by Cox, Son, and Baylis, Great Queen Street.']
£100.00

8vo: 8 pp. Unbound. Stabbed as issued. Very good, on rough-edged wove paper. The seven-page advertisement, signed in type by Cobbett, is succeeded by a page headed 'New Books, published by COBBETT and MORGAN'. (Eight titles are listed.) The advertisement is a personal address from Cobbett, the second paragraph casting valuable light on his motives and intentions: 'When I first undertook the Register, I was fully persuaded, that the plan, which, indeed, I had long thought of, was well calculated to ensure a wide circulation, and to produce an extensive as well as a lasting effect.

Trade Catalogue giving numerous specimens of the firm's work. With pricelist.

Author: 
The City Rubber Stamp Co. ('Established 1878'), Snow Hill Buildings, Holborn Viaduct, London [Victorian Trade Catalogue]
Publication details: 
London: The City Rubber Stamp Co., Snow Hill Buildings, Holborn Viaduct, E.C. No date. [Circa 1890?]
£85.00

8vo (dimensions of leaf roughly 265 x 180 mm): twenty-four unpaginated pages on twelve leaves, with four pages in a bifolium inserted, and a price list printed on one side of a loose leaf. Unbound. Stitched as issued. Good, clean and tight, on lightly-aged paper with a little spotting to the outside pages.

Folio sheet of statistics, by 'G. Hervey, General Inspector', headed 'Eastern District. Return shewing the Total Number of Vagrants relieved during Years ended 31st December mentioned below [i.e. 1902 to 1909].'

Author: 
G. Hervey, General Inspector [Edwardian poverty; vagrancy; workhouses; poor law]
Publication details: 
Dated at foot '6/10. [June 1910] D & S.' Covers the English counties ('County and Union') Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
£120.00

Printed on one side of a sheet roughly 395 x 250 mm. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Text clear and entire. At foot: '(16611-21.) Wt. 6705-99. 325. 6/10. D & S.' Fifty-two entries, beginning with 'Cambridgeshire, Wisbech', each with columns for the years 1902 to 1909 of 'Numbers of Casuals relieved in the Workhouse', and with a final column headed 'Two Nights' Detention System enforced or not.' Totals given for each county, and a final 'Total of the District'.

Handbill cockney street ballad entitled 'IT'S MONEY WELL LAID OUT. Sung by ALEC HURLEY.'

Author: 
Alec Hurley [Alexander Hurley (1871-1913), music hall artiste, coster singer, and Marie Lloyd's second husband [George Le Brunn; Harry Castling; London street ballad; cockney; East End slang]
Publication details: 
Date, place and printer not stated. [circa 1898]
£120.00

On one side of a piece of light-brown laid paper, dimensions roughly 240 x 125 mm. Text clear and entire, on lightly creased paper with chipping, short closed tears and loss to extremities. Crudely printed. A thirty-two line poem, arranged in four four-line stanzas, each with a different chorus. An excessively scarce piece of music hall ephemera. No other copy of this particular item, possibly produced for distribution to Hurley's music hall audience, is present on COPAC or anywhere on the web.

Printed consolidated statement, with manuscript additions, by the clerks of the City of London Coal Market, of the exact quantities of coal imported and delivered, headed 'No. 39. Coal Market, Wednesday, March 31, 1830'.

Author: 
J. Butcher, B. Wood, J. Pearsall, Clerks of the City of London Coal Market [Charles Skipper, Printer & Stationer, St. Dunstan's Hill, London]
Publication details: 
[Dated in manuscript 'April 25 1830'.] 'Charles Skipper, Printer & Stationer, St. Dunstan's Hill.'
£85.00

On one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 275 x 230 mm. Printed and manuscript text clear and entirely legible on worn, creased and grubby paper with one small strip of paper repairing reverse. Crest of City of London at head. Two sets of four columns, side by side. The four columns are: 'Ships at Market', 'QUALITY', 'Ships sold' and 'PRICE'. The whole of the 'QUALITY' column in the first set is headed 'NEWCASTLE', containing 45 entries from 'Adair's' to 'Walls End Walker'.

The Betting-Book. By George Cruikshank. With Cuts.

Author: 
George Cruikshank [Victorian London; gambling; betting]
Publication details: 
London: W. & F. G. Cash, 5, Bishopsgate Street Without; [successors to Charles Gilpin.] And sold by W. Tweedie, 337, Strand; George Gallie, Glasgow; and all booksellers. 1852.
£350.00

8vo: 32 pp. Stitched. In original grey wraps. Text, four illustrations and map clear and entire. Printed on discoloured high-acidity paper. Lightly creased with a little wear to corners. Scarce. An attack on 'the Betting-offices that are springing up all over the town', with particular reference to those in the St Martin's Lane area. COPAC only lists four copies: at the British Library, Bodleian, Cambridge and Edinburgh; with two copies of the second edition: British Library and V & A National Art Library.

The Art of Swimming rendered easy; with Directions to Learners. To which is prefixed, Advice to bathers, by Dr. B. Franklin.

Author: 
Benjamin Franklin [Scottish Chapbook]
Publication details: 
Glasgow: Printed for the Booksellers. 81. [sic] [1840-50?]
£850.00

Unbound, on six loose leaves folded to make bifoliums. Good, though grubby and with rough edges (particularly the head). Text clear and entire. 12mo, 24 pages. Cover features woodcut of eighteenth-century gentleman (Franklin?) leaning on stick. Sections on 'Swimming like a dog', 'To beat the water', 'To show both feet out of the water', 'To suspend yourself by the chin', etc. Scarce: Copac only lists copies at Glasgow and in the National Library of Scotland. Dated 1840-50 by the NLS 'from examination of text and style [of] Illustration on title page'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Walter Besant') to Mrs [Alice] Westlake.

Author: 
Sir Walter Besant (1836-1901), novelist and historian of London [Alice Westlake (nee Hare); Adam and Charles Black, publishers; The Survey of London; Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; Frognal]
Publication details: 
13 February 1897; on Adam and Charles Black 'Survey of London' letterhead.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. Seventeen lines of text. On lightly aged and creased paper. Attractive arts and crafts letterhead. Sending his 'mosts profound sympathy in the danger which threatens Chelsea'. He will sign 'the paper [...] with the greatest of pleasure', although he anticipates 'very little good as a possible result'. Suggests a time at which the paper can be sent to him.

A List of the Monumental Brasses remaining in England arranged according to Counties.

Author: 
Charles Robertson Manning.
Publication details: 
London, 1846
£100.00

Published anonymously (i.e I derive the author's name from BLC). Bound up with: "Report presented to the Cambridge Antiquarian Society at its second general meeting, May 13, 1842" (Cambridge, 1842) and T.E. Tomlins, ed. and translator, "Monastic and Social Life in the Twelfth Century, as exemplified in the Chronicles of Jocelin of Brakelond" (London, 1844). Blue boards, badly worn, slight hinge starin, foxing, annotated with considerable additional information in an unknown hand, with additional illustration inserted, some bound in. A scarce book, but unique copy with annotation.

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