Autograph Letters

Autograph Letter Signed ('Balcarres') to 'Everard'.

Author: 
David Lindsay (1871-1940), politician and future 27th Earl of Crawford [Lindsay Library; Bibliotheca Lindesiana]
Publication details: 
16 October 1895; Haigh [Lancashire].
£65.00

12mo: 3 pp. Bifoilum. Thirty-six lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with several pin holes, light spotting, and a 1 cm closed tear along a fold. A lighthearted epistle, beginning 'Dear Everard, Dear Everard | The Cistercians make an awful mistake in giving free meals. My Charity-organisation Society temperament rises in wrath: if they wd only apply the labour test for an hour or less - but free meals! I have watched the moral ravages of free meals and feel more strongly abt that kind of thing than about Home rule or Mediaeval Brases.

Autograph Letter to the Editor of Debrett's.

Author: 
Sir Evan MacKenzie, 2nd Baronet of Kilcoy [DEBRETT'S; BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA]
Sir Evan MacKenzie
Publication details: 
Exmouth | 23d. Decr. 1871' on letterhead 'Belmaduthy | Munlochy | N. B.'
£66.00
Sir Evan MacKenzie

Mackenzie (1816-83) was the founder of the Australian city of Brisbane. One page, 12mo. Good, but with two-inch glue stain, and with traces of mount adhering to verso of blank second leaf of bifolium. Unsigned formal letter in the third person. 'Sir Evan MacKenzie would feel obliged by the Editor of Debrett's restoring the two Highlanders /the supporters to Sir Evan's shield/ which are suppressed in all the editions of Debrett that have hitherto appeared. They appear in "Burke" & the Scutcheon looks bold without them.'

Autograph Letter Signed to Dawson [William] Turner (1815-85), philanthropist and educational writer.

Author: 
Sir William Turner (1832-1916), anatomist and Principal of Edinburgh University
Publication details: 
Thursday' [no date]; on letterhead of the University of Edinburgh.
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo. Aged, grubby and creased, with closed tear repaired with archival tape. 'The second plate arrived too late unfortunately for the April number of the Journal as we had to print off at the end of the week.' He is busy with examinations and does not finish till the Monday, but 'would like much to see your work'. Signed 'W Turner'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs Wedderburn; and Autograph Note to Mr and Mrs G. Wedderburn.

Author: 
Catherine Sinclair (1800-1864), Scottish novelist
Publication details: 
Letter, 13 February [no year or place]; Note, 23 March [no year], 133 George Street [Edinburgh].
£28.00

LETTER: One page, 12mo. Good, on aged, creased paper, with trace of stub on blank verso. Crest at head. 'It will give my brother & me much pleasure to accept your kind invitation for Tuesday evening the 16th. - I dine that day with Lady Sempill which will make me later than I should wish, but I hope to reach your house soon after 10'. NOTE: One page, 12mo, good, with fraying at head and traces of mount adhering to blank verso. A formal note written in the third person. 'Miss Catherine Sinclair will be happy to have the honor of accepting Mrs. Wedderburns & Mr.

Autograph Letter Signed to the naturalist Rev. Francis Orpen Morris (1810-1893).

Author: 
James Blackwood, Scottish publisher
Publication details: 
17 October 1857, on his business letterhead, 8 Lovell's Court, Paternoster Row.
£56.00

8vo: 2 pp. The 'idea is worth Consideration', but Blackwood 'can hardly see how any large sale cann be depended upon, so as to repay the expense of printing advertising &c.' Asks that Morris send him 'one sermon, to indicate style, length & to estimate cost'. Asks what size of paper should be used. Notices that Morris's works are 'principally on natural history'. Likes the idea of 'the <?> natural history', and 'will take an early opportunity of looking at it'. This notable London publisher is a surprising omission from BBTI.

Autograph Letter Signed to unknown male correspondent; Autograph Signed endorsement of 'Dr. Dick of Dundee'; and facsimile of letter of thanks to his 'Birth-day Benefactors'.

Author: 
James Montgomery (1771-1854), Scottish hymnwriter and poet
Publication details: 
The letter dated 29 May 1835, 10 New Palace Yard, Westminster; the endorsement dated 'The Mount, September 19. 1850'; the facsimile dated 'The Mount nr Sheffield, Nov. 4. 1851.'
£220.00

The letter (8vo, 1 p) is foxed, but otherwise very good. Had he not been 'engaged for ten days past to dine three or four miles off with an old acquaintance', whom it is too late to disappoint, he would have been happy to avail himself of the kind invitation. Sends best wishes and prayers to the recipient's family, 'from the elder to the youngest'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Dr Thompson, Edinburgh.

Author: 
James Thomson (1768-1855), editor of Encyclopaedia Britannica (1795-6); from 1805 parish minister in Eccles, Berwickshire [Rev. Thomas Lewis (d.1852) of the Union Chapel, Islington]
Publication details: 
Date not given (before 1852). 17 Stamford Street, Blackfriars.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with thin strip of black mount adhering at head on reverse (not affecting text). He has received Thompson's note 'intimating to me the necessity under which the Revd Mr Lewis and the Committee of Union Chapel find themselves reluctantly placed, to refuse our deputation an opportunity of pleading the Cause of our Society on the present occasion'. Refers to the 'great liberality of the Members of the Union Chapel' and 'their attachment to the good Cause'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. Combe') to Messrs Bell & Bain, Printers, Exchange Court [Glasgow].

Author: 
George Combe (1788-1858), Scottish phrenologist
Publication details: 
20 April 1836; 81 Bath Street [Glasgow].
£95.00

8vo, 1 p. Addressed by Combe on the reverse, to which his monogram seal in red wax (with his motto 'RES NON VERBA QUAESO') still adheres. In poor condition, on discoloured paper, with damage to a few words of text above the signature caused by clumsy removal from the mount, a part of which still adheres to the reverse. Repaired with archival tape. The letter presumably concerns 'Additional testimonials on behalf of George Combe, as a candidate for the chair of logic in the University of Edinburgh' (1836). It reads 'Gentlemen | Be so good as correct these proofs, make them up in 8vo.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo: D. Ballingall') from Ballingall to Shorter, as editor of 'The Sphere' newspaper, regarding a legal action involving Crooke, Scots Pictorial Publishing Co. Ltd. and Hodge & Co.

Author: 
William Crooke (c. 1849-1928), Scottish photographer [Scots Pictorial Publishing Co. Ltd., Edinburgh publishers; George D. Ballingall, solicitor; Hodge & Co., printers; Clement King Shorter, author]
Publication details: 
26 August 1905; on letterhead 'Edinburgh, 16 Castle Street.'
£23.00

Two pages, 12mo. Very good. In a case involving ['The Sphere'?] newspaper, Crooke has accepted the judgement in the case of the printers Hodge & Co., but he has appealed 'to the Inner House of the Court of Session' against the judgement in the case against the publishers. 'If the appeal is proceeded with it is not likely to be heard sooner than about December.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. S. Clouston') to 'A. Atkinson'.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Smith Clouston (1840-1915), physician-superintendant of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, and editor of the 'Journal of Mental Science'
Publication details: 
17 October 1904; on letterhead of Tipperlinn House, Morningside Place, Edinburgh [Scotland].
£65.00

12mo: 1 p. On lightly spotted and creased paper. Quintessential doctor's handwriting. He is sorry he cannot be present 'to hear Dr 's paper', and that he cannot find time to write a paper himself. 'The subject is an interesting & important one, & is part of a still larger one <...?> physiologically considered'.

Letter 'by the hand of an amanuensis' to the poet and biblical scholar the Rev. Henry Alford (1810-1871).

Author: 
Charles Mackay (1814-1889), Scottish poet and journalist
Publication details: 
7 March 1853; 21 Brecknock Crescent, Camden Road Villas, [London].
£45.00

Three pages, 12mo. Very good: lightly aged and with the merest glue spot to blank verso of second leaf of bifolium. Mackay's 'signature' appears to be in the same hand as the rest of the letter. He has had a 'severe attack of inflammation of the eye', and this has prevented him from reading or writing during the previous week. For the same reason he is replying to Alford's letter of 1 March through an amanuensis. Three weeks previously Mackay 'received a packet from Mr.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Maccall') [to the publishers W. S. Sonnenschein & Co.].

Author: 
William Maccall (1812-1888), Scottish writer and lecturer [W. S. Sonnenschein & Co.]
Publication details: 
14 November 1882; Stanhope Cottages, Bexley Heath.
£85.00

4to, 1 page and 12mo, 2 pp (single 4to leaf, folded as to give two 12mo pp on one side). Thirty-seven lines of text. Maccall is 'willing to accept any proposal which is reasonable and just' concerning his 'Christian Legends' (published by Sonnenschein in 1882), and also 'to make sacrifices for the sake of obliging [...] As the one manuscript is about twice the length of the other - I speak from memory, - it might honestly claim better remuneration'.

Autograph Letter Signed to his publisher and friend Alexander Macmillan.

Author: 
William Black (1841-1898), Scottish journalist and novelist [Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896), publisher; Colin Hunter (1841-1904), Scottish painter]
Publication details: 
1 February [no year]; on letterhead of Paston House, Paston Place, Brighton.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. Six lines of text. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Inviting Macmillan to join him and 'some of the lads' in a dinner at the Reform Club, 'on the occasion of Colin Hunter's being made an Associate'.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'My dear Smith'.

Author: 
Alexander Innes Shand (1832-1907), Scottish journalist, novelist and military historian
Publication details: 
Oakdale - Eden Bridge - Kent - 2 July' [no year]; on cancelled letterhead of the Windham Club, St James's Square, S.W.
£35.00

12mo bifolium: 3 pp. Good, though lightly creased. Tipped in on the blank verso of the second leaf, to a green paper folder on which an eight-line biographical entry of Shand has been laid down. He has left the packet containing the letters which Mrs Smith 'values' so 'highly' at the Reform Club, not wishing, in case it has changed, to send them to Smith's 'address in the Blue Book'. As he cannot 'make a decent excuse' for the delay in returning them, he throws himself on Smith's mercy.

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.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Francis Steuart') to 'Miss Graham'.

Author: 
Archibald Francis Steuart (1872-1942), Scottish advocate, genealogist and historian [AUTOGRAPH COLLECTING]
Publication details: 
Hotel Grande Bretagne, Florence; 11 March 1923.
£75.00

Two pages, octavo. Good, with traces of stub adhering to one uneven edge. He feels there is 'surely telepathy in the world' as, 'only last night tired of the dull inaction after a bout of 'flu', he was assembling autographs for his correspondent. '[T]hey all explain themselves except perhaps Boardman Robinson the American cartoonist and Rose Bradley the writer on teh 19th. Century. I send one too from Lord Seaforth who only died last week.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Alec Maclehose') from Alexander MacLehose; and one Autograph Letter Signed ('James MacLehose'); all three to John Gideon Wilson.

Author: 
Alexander MacLehose & Co.; James MacLehose; publishers [John Gideon Wilson (1876-1963), Scottish bookseller, proprietor of the London firm of Bumpus]
Publication details: 
Alexander MacLehose: 10 August 1931 and 23 June 1932; both on letterhead of Alexander MacLehose & Co., 58 Bloomsbury Street, London, W.C.1. James MacLehose: 20 November 1931; on letterhead of Saint Johns House, 30 Smith Square, Westminster, S.W.1.
£100.00

Alexander MacLehose: Letter One: 4to, 1 p. Good, on slightly aged and lightly creased paper. He is sending a copy of his catalogue, 'which has reached me from the printers to-day'. He has 'sent a copy also to the firm'. Would like Wilson's 'advice as to whether "Memories of the Months" should have a paper jacket. The binders have sent me a nice cellophane cover, which shows the rather handsome binding. Would there be any objection, from a selling point of view, to a cellophane cover in place of the ordinary paper jacket?' Letter Two: 12mo, 2 pp.

Four Autograph Letters Signed to [?] Macphail; copy, with MS corrections and additions, of proposed report on Bill by committee of the Faculty of Advocates; 'COPY LETTER, Mr P. W. Campbell, P.C.S., to Sir William S. Haldane, Crown Agent'; Bill.

Author: 
Charles Scott Dickson [Parliamentary Bill: Clerks of Session (Scotland) Regulation Acts, 1889 and 1912]
Publication details: 
The four letters, December 1812 to 1813; the Advocates' report, 14 January 1913, Advocates Library; Campbell's letter, 23 December 1912, Edinburgh; Bill, 9 December 1912.
£180.00

Dickson (born 1850) was Tory M.P. for Glasgow, Lord Advocate and Lord Justice Clerk. The four letters, all 12mo and all on House of Commons Library notepaper, are dusty and creased. Three are dated (30 and 31 December and 2 January) and signed; the other letter is undated and initialed. LETTER ONE: 'I spoke to the Lord Advocate to-day & he then definitely informed me that the Lord President entirely approved of the Bill.' LETTER TWO: 'I have spoken to the Advocate about the date of the committee stage & we will I believe have some weeks yet.

Autograph Letter Signed to [George Kenneth] Menzies[, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts].

Author: 
Rt Hon. Edward Theodore Salvesen, Lord Salvesen
Publication details: 
22 January 1918, on letterhead 'DEAN PARK HOUSE | EDINBURGH'.
£25.00

Scottish judge (1857-1942). One page, 12mo. Black-bordered. In good condition. Thanks Menzies for the copies of the Society's journal. 'I have ceased to have any active connection with the Copper Company, but I found Professor Carpenter's Lecture very interesting, although it is pretty technical - | I hope you and your wife are keeping well'. Signed 'Edw T Salvesen'.

Twelve Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed to George Kenneth Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts; two Typed Letters Signed by Menzies with manuscript reply by Denny; one initialed Autograph Note by Denny; one R.S.A. circular.

Author: 
Sir Archibald Denny
Publication details: 
1917 to 1926; the first three letters on William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton, letterhead; the last ten letters on letterheads of Spencer House, Park Side, Wimbledon, S.W.19.
£200.00

Scottish naval architect (1860-1936) and shipbuilder, President of the Institute of Marine Engineers. Seventeen items, various formats. In good condition though dusty and creased. Several items docketed and bearing the R.S.A. stamp. Correspondence indicates Denny's involvement in the R.S.A. matters (lecturing, serving on council, etc). LETTER ONE (30 January 1917): Asks for a dozen copies of the R.S.A. Journal. 'We have in our Works here Committees of Workmen collecting money for war charities and I am anxious to let them read Mr.

Autograph Letter Signed [to Sir Cuthbert Sharp].

Author: 
George Sholto Douglas, 17th Earl of Morton
Publication details: 
25 December 1838; Dalmahoy.
£35.00

Scottish aristocrat (1789-1858). Sharp (1781-1849) was an antiquary of some note. Three pages, 12mo. In poor condition: folded twice and with considerable staining along the folds. Attached, by verso of second leaf of bifoliate, to larger piece of paper.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Donald Currie, shipowner and benefactor

Author: 
John Blair Balfour, Ist Baron Kinross
Publication details: 
28/02/84
£45.00

Scottish judge (1837-1905). 6pp., 8vo, discussing in detail the expropriation of estates from an absent person and the implications and powers of the "Presumption of Life Limitation (Scotland) Act of 1881".

Autograph Note Signed to unknown correspondent [David Brewster?].

Author: 
Walter Scott.
Publication details: 
No place or date (trimmed away), [1820?]
£300.00

Page trimmed of peripherals, c. 4 x 3", removed from an album, text as folllows: "Dear Sir // I fancy the Society should pay the [inclosed ??] in the first instance & recover from the gentlemen who a: [new line] vail [avail?] themselves of the tickets which I sent to you. / We will hear of our Address today Yours truly / W Scott [underlined]" David Brewster, scientist (DNB) had a hand in the growth of the collection of autographs in which this appeared.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent [Henry Petrie?].

Author: 
Patrick Fraser Tytler
Publication details: 
30 November 1840; 34 Devonshire Place.
£85.00

Scottish historian (1791-1849). Three pages, 12mo. In good condition, with second leaf of bifolium attached by blank verso to larger piece of docketed grey paper. An interesting, chatty letter relating to his 'History of Scotland' (1828-43), and the State Paper Office. He hopes his correspondent has received the seventh volume which 'cost me much labour - but if it is even an approach nearer to the truth the time has not been thrown away'.

Autograph Letter Signed to W. J. Daniel, student of the University of Glasgow.

Author: 
James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose [GLASGOW UNIVERSITY]
Publication details: 
10 January 1834; London.
£100.00

Scottish noble (1755-1836) and Chancellor of Glasgow University. 2 pages, 16mo. Creased and with one closed tear, but in good condition overall, and with the blank second leaf of the bifoliate attached to a piece of card. He has received Daniel's letter of 6 January, and although he hopes that 'the Publication in question, may do honor to the Contributors, & promote the prosperity of the University of Glasgow', he does not 'consider that it would be judicious, for the Chancellor of the University to appear as a Subscriber'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir H[enry]. Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir James Lewis Caw
Publication details: 
22 December 1916; on National Gallery [of Scotland], Edinburgh, letterhead.
£23.00

Scottish art critic and engineer (1864-1950). One page, octavo. Very good. Bearing the Society's stamp. 'It is very good of the Council of the Royal Society of Arts to ask me to become a member, but, while thanking them, I regret that I do not see my [^ way,] at present, to join any more societies.' Signed 'James L. Caw'.

Autograph Letter Signed, with two postmarks, to John Mounsey of Sunderland.

Author: 
Malcolm Laing [Laing family of Orkney]
Publication details: 
Kirkwall; date indecipherable, but docketed in pencil '1814'.
£75.00

Scottish historian (1762-1818), friend of Charles James Fox and Sir Walter Scott. 1 page, 8vo. Bifoliate, in very good condition, addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Mr. John Mounsey | Furrier | Sunderland'. Difficult handwriting. 'Dear Sir. | <?> the beginning of March I sent to Lowth, by Mr Sir Joseph Banks, to be forwarded to you at Sunderland, Two matts or packages of Rabbit skins, containing 2127 Skins.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Henry [Trueman] Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir George Duff-Sutherland-Dunbar
Publication details: 
12 November 1915; on War Office letterhead.
£23.00

British soldier and historian (1878-1962). One page, quarto. Very good. Bearing the Society's stamp. '[...] I will be permitted by my duties to have the honour of attending at the Royal Society of Arts on the 17th. Instant at 4.30 pm in order to receive the Medal awarded to me by the Society. | I have also to acknowledge with thanks the kind invitation of the Council to attend in the Council Room before the Meeting [...]'. Signed 'G Duff Sutherland Dunbar'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Le Despencer') to an unnamed correspondent (a neighbouring landowner?).

Author: 
Francis Dashwood (1708-1781), 11th Baron Le Despencer, politician and rake; member of the Hellfire Club; founder of the Monks of Medmenham Abbey
Publication details: 
Hanover Square, London, 5 May 1779
£350.00

4to: 1 p. 15 lines of text. Good, on lightly aged paper, with a light stain affecting but not obscuring a couple of words. Text clear and entire. Docketed on the reverse of the otherwise-blank second leaf of the bifolium.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J L Dayrell') to Messrs Brett & Clements.

Author: 
John Langham Dayrell [J. L. Dayrell] (1756-1832), Vicar of Stowe and Rector of Lillingston Dayrell, Buckinghamshire
Publication details: 
24 September 1812; Leamington Spa.
£25.00

4to, 1 p. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and stained paper. Addressed, with three postmarks, on the reverse of the second leaf, to 'Messrs. Brett & Clements Stat[ione]rs - | near the New Church | Strand | London'. Asks for his 'Sunday's Paper' to be sent to him 'at Buckingham as usual', as he is leaving Leamington the following Saturday. 'You have not explained to me the difference of the Charge of the Newspapers from the last years to the one I have lately paid for, by doing of which you will oblige | Sir, | Yr humble Servant'.

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