Search results

Author, Title, Summary Subject Price
Admiral John Markham (1761-1827), Royal Navy officer who served in the American and French Revolutionary Wars, Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and First Naval Lord, MP for Portsmouth [Miles Burn]

[Admiral John Markham, Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and First Naval Lord.] Autograph Letter Signed ('J Markham') to John Atkins, regarding the 'general drunken habits' of 'Mr [Miles] Burn', and the impossibility of reinstating him 'to his rank'

The letter is 1p, 12mo, and is accompanied by the covering 8vo leaf, addressed to 'John Atkins Esqre | Duke Street | Westminster', with a second signature for franking. The covering leaf is endorsed: 'Admiralty August 21 1806 | Adml. Markham concerning Miles Burn that it would be impossible to...

£100.00
Edward Moxon (c.1801-1858), publisher and poet, son-in-law of Charles Lamb, associated with Wordsworth, Tennyson and the printers Bradbury and Evans

[Edward Moxon, publisher and poet, son-in-law of Charles Lamb.] Holograph 'Sonnet' on William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, beginning 'There is in Rydal's vale a river sweet', signed 'Edward Moxon'.

See Moxon's entry in the Oxford DNB, which describes his association with William Wordsworth as 'arguably his most important publishing relationship'. The present poem was published as 'The Two Streams' in the 'Literary Souvenir' of Alaric Watts in 1830, a year before Moxon published his first...

£450.00
George Peabody (1795-1869), American financier regarded as the father of modern philanthropy for his charitable works in Britain and America

[George Peabody, American financier and philanthropist.] Autograph Signature ('Geo Peabody') to Business Letter in a Secretarial Hand, to Rennoldson & Farley, Newcastle on Tyne. With newspaper cutting of long article on Peabody, with portrait.

1p, 4to. Bifolium addressed on reverse of second leaf – with twopenny stamp, postmark and Peabody firm stamp - to 'Messrs Rennoldson & Farley | Newcastle on Tyne'. (The recipients Rennoldson & Farley were Timber Merchants, Commission Merchants, and Coal Exporters. In fair condition,...

£500.00
Henry Fauntleroy (1784-1824), banker and forger, hanged before Newgate after a trial at the Old Bailey [Sir Cuthbert Sharp (1781-1849), soldier and antiquary]

[Henry Fauntleroy, banker and forger.] Autograph Letter Signed ('H Fauntleroy') to Sir Cuthbert Sharp, written from Cold Bath Fields Prison a few weeks before his hanging at Newgate in front of a crowd of 100,000.

See Fauntleroy's entry in the Oxford DNB. Although accounts of his depravity are exaggerated, Fauntleroy led a dissolute life, and appropriated securities worth around £360,000. During his trial at the Old Bailey he called seventeen merchants and bankers to testify to his integrity, but his...

£500.00
Humphrey Lloyd (1800-1881), Irish physicist, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin [Robert Were Fox the Younger (1789-1877), geologist, inventor of the magnetic dip compass]

[Humphrey Lloyd, Irish physicist, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin.] Autograph Letter Signed ('H Lloyd') to Alfred Fox, regarding his 'paper on Magnetical Observations' and Fox's brother's 'instrument', i.e. Robert Were Fox's magnetic dip compass.

The recipient was a brother of the geologist and inventor Robert Were Fox the Younger (1789-1877), whose magnetic dip compass, constructed in the previous year, is the 'instrument' referred to at the end of the letter. (Fox's compass was used by Sir James Clark Ross on his Antarctic expedition,...

£220.00
Mrs Gascoigne [Caroline Leigh Gascoigne, née Smith; Mrs C. L. Gascoigne] (1813-1883), Victorian novelist and author [Frederic Shoberl [Schoberl] (1775-1853), journalist and writer]

[Mrs Gascoigne [Caroline Leigh Gascoigne], Victorian novelist.] Autograph Letter in the third person, asking Frederic Shoberl for advice regarding the publication of her juvenile novel 'Spencer's Cross; or, The Manor House'.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight traces of glue from mount adhering to edge on reverse of second leaf. Folded twice. An interesting letter, casting light on publication practices in Victorian London, with reference to a successful female...

£80.00
Sibyl Colefax [Sibyl, Lady Colefax, née Halsey] (1874-1950), interior decorator and socialite [Mary Fox-Pitt, proprietor, the Old Mill Hotel, Harnham, Salisbury]

[Sibyl Colefax [Lady Colefax], interior decorator and socialite.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Sibyl Colefax') to 'Mrs. Fox Pitt', offering to do the interior design for the Old Mill Hotel, Harnham, Salisbury.

2pp, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. The letter concerns Colefax's offer to do the interior design of the Old Mill Hotel, Harnham, Salisbury, whose proprietor was Mary Fox-Pitt, daughter-in-law of Augustus Pitt Rivers. Begins: 'Dear Mrs. Fox Pitt | Lady [?] told me to...

£56.00
Sir Edward Thornton (1817-1906), British Ambassador to the United States, Russia, and Ottoman Empire, Count of Cacilhas in the Portuguese nobility [ T. W. Smyth; West Hartlepool Shipowners Society]

[Sir Edward Thornton, diplomat, as British Ambassador to Russia.] Autograph Signature ('Edwd. Thornton') to secretarial document, to T. W. Smyth of the West Hartlepool Shipowners Society, regarding 'excessive quarantine' at Russian Black Sea ports.

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight traces of glue from mount along inner edge of reverse of second leaf, which is endorsed and carries pencil notes. Folded once. Signed by Thornton, with the rest of the document in the hand of a secretary. The recipient is named as...

£50.00
Thomas 'Clio' Rickman (1760-1834), Quaker publisher of political pamphlets, friend and biographer of Thomas Paine

[Thomas 'Clio' Rickman, Quaker pamphleteer and friend of Thomas Paine.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Clio') regarding a common acquaintance, and naming his 'great friends' who have died.

1p, landscape 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn, laid down on part of a leaf from an album. The letter begins in lighthearted fashion, but soon turns sombre, with a list of Rickman's friends who have recently died. Reads: 'My dear Sir! Truth will out – The lady has been trying Bargain Tea...

£250.00
William J. Thoms [William John Thoms] (1803-1885), author and antiquary who coined the term 'folklore'

[William John Thoms, author and antiquary.] Autograph Letter Signed ('William J. Thoms') to H. A. Bright of Cambridge, regarding problems of the Camden Society.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. With the cover of the letter's envelope, addressed to H. A. Bright at Trinity Collrge, Cambridge. Both letter and cover in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. In response to Bright's 'Letter to Mr Collier on the subject of the Camden Society', Thoms writes that it is 'a...

£120.00