Autograph Letters

English actor and dramatist (1824-79; DNB). On slip of paper, 1½ inches by 4 inches, probably cut from letter. Discoloration to two corners caused by mounting. Paper creased and with almost imperceptible closed tear. Florid and attractive signature. Neatly docketed in pencil on reverse.

English portrait painter (1782-1875). In good condition. Dimensions approximately 4 1/2 inches square, cropped and with some loss of text after signature. Attached to larger piece of grey paper. Reads 'My dear Sir Martin | I accept with great pleasure your kind invitation for Wednesday the 29 Inst. | Ever yours faithfully | H. W. Pickersgill'.

Irish traveller, politician and author (1804-69; DNB). 1 page, 4to, on blue paper, with printed address for 'further communication' in top left-hand corner. Docketed with date of reply on verso of second leaf of bifoliate, with has remains of mounts in four corners. Creased with slight spotting, but in good condition overall. Ewart & Sons were linen manufacturers and the letter, in response to one of 18 June 1864, concerns the status of 'British Vessels and their Cargoes' in the 'Ports of the United States'. Signed 'J Emerson Tennent'.

Prominent Czechoslovak diplomat, one of the founders of free Czechoslovakia (1889-1973). Slip of paper, 1 inch by 4½ inches, creased and grubby and glued to a piece of neatly-docketed blue card. Signed in blue ink beneath typewritten 'I remain, dear Doctor Esdaile, | Yours sincerely.'

English ballroom dancing champion and bandleader (1900-78). Dimensions: 2½ inches by 4 inches. In good condition, with traces of mount adhering to otherwise-blank reverse. Reads 'With best wishes | from | Victor Silvester'.

Novelist, journalist and travel writer (1857-1942). Dimensions: 1 1/4 inches by 4 inches. In good condition, although creased along its length, and attached to a larger piece of paper docketed 'Morley Roberts. | Novelist & Journalist.'

Scottish novelist (1860-1914) of the Kailyard School. The fragment is one inch by three inches in size, in good condition and attached to a docketed piece of green paper. The signature 'S R. Crockett' is beneath a typewritten 'Yours as ever,'.

Prime Minister of Latvia. On slip of paper approximately one inch by three inches. In good condition, with one crease, and neatly glued to docketed piece of green card. Signed 'G. W. Bisseneeks".

Art dealer (1825-1910; DNB). 2 pages. 16mo biofoliate. In good condition. The recipients name is spelt 'Bewick' at the beginning of the letter and 'Bewicke' at the end. 'Dear Mrs Bewick | I came up from Southampton on Saturday. I am starting for Lancashire in a few minutes | I shall be back on Wednesday and off the following day | I can see you here if you can call about 5.30 | Yours sincerely | Wm Agnew'.

Poet and novelist, basketmaker and bookseller (1807-1874). One page, 4to, one nick not affecting text, fold marks and signs of having been laid down, mainly good. He has made "few alterations in the Poem, which if you think an improvement, may be adopted. I am afraid that so much practise in writing prose is creeping into and tinging my poetry. I do not truly like this 'Desolate Hall' and yet I can do nothing better at present". He has had no review in the "Literary Gazette" as yet, and comments on the "mass of new books that every corner of the columns have been crowded . . . Mr.

Headmaster of Harrow School and Master of Trinity College Cambridge (1835-1918). 2 pages, 16mo, bifoliate with mourning border. In good condition but with crease to one corner. He sends five (corrected from eight) letters of introduction, 'with the hope that they may prove of some little use. | Pray accept my earnest good wishes for a happy tour, & a complete recovery of health -' Signed 'H. Montagu Butler'.

(Letter [1945]) He is jumping at Daniel George's offer to take any reviews that Day-Lewis could do without. His doctor has ordered rest. (Note) He is returning an article he cannot use in "Orion". (Card) He would like to see a broadcast George has made. With: autograph note signed from Daniel George, 29 January 1945, acknowledging receipt of the books he is to review, hoping his health is improving. And: Christmas Card signed by Day-Lewis and Rosamund Lehmann (1944), containing a poem by Day-Lewis and a design by Paul Cross. 4 items,

Suffragette. "Yours affectionately, [typed] Emmeline Pethick Lawrence [autograph], c.4 x 1".Year added in another hand.

For Hamilton (1777-1859), Treasurer of the Royal Institution and one of the Trustees of the British Museum, see Boase's 'Modern English Biography'. He was secretary to Lord Elgin in Constantinople, recovered the Rosetta Stone from the French and aided in collecting and removing the Elgin Marbles from Athens. 3 pages, 16mo. Creased but in good condition. Begins by saying that a few years ago Stuart introduced Charles Rothschild to him, 'but it was probably at the request of his brother, as he has now asked me to introduce him to you'.

English historian and biographer of Pepys (1899-1985). All six letters are 1 page, 8vo. In poor condition: creased, frayed and discoloured, with ruststains from a paperclip. All six are signed 'Arthur Bryant' and three are addressed to Mrs Cecil Roscoe, presumably the recipient's husband's name. Two of the letters are addressed to Roscoe at the Society of Women Journalists, Stationers' Hall. In the first letter Bryant says he would be pleased to address the Society. He might however be forced to cancel, 'owing to my absence from the country on Service duty'.

Captain Charles Dickson Inglis, R.N. (born c.1835; fl. 1898), is best known for his offer in 1887 to buy South Georgia in the Falkland Islands for the purposes of sheep-farming. This collection of his correspondence is neatly bound in a crude octavo volume, and is preceded by a manuscript index by him. Items in good condition overall, with minor discoloration and spotting, mainly caused by the glue used in mounting the photographs. All the letters are 8vo and smaller, several of them being cropped at the head, but with the cropped strips loosely inserted.

For Keppel (1809-1904) see the DNB. On a slip of paper, 1 inch by 2¾, probably cut from a letter. Grubby and creased, and docketed in ink 'Admiral Keppel'. Mounted on a long slip, together with the signature of his brother 'Edwd. S[outhwell]: Keppel' (b. c. 1801), Rector Of Quidenham, Norfolk, on a piece cut from another letter, 1¼ inches by 3. This second signature is in better condition and is preceded by "Dear Sir | Yours very truly'. Two items,

2 pages, 8vo, both with Royal Air Force letterhead bearing the motto 'PER ARDUA AD ASTRA'. Not in good condition - creased, frayed, torn and discoloured - but a marvellous and immediate piece of history, regarding what one authority describes as the 'strategic bombing [...] principally against the Ruhr, on which No.149 concentrated during the winter of 1940-1'. The letter begins 'Dear Mum, | Just a line to thank you for the photographs, I think that one of you is very good.

Author (1839-1902), 2pp., 8vo, laid down on card, small tear not affecting text. He is trying to arrange a visit, and gives some idea of when he can make it, saying that he has to go to Glasgow (where he was U.S. consul 1880-5) and Brighton on certain days. He asks her to telegraph possibilities. He is pleased to have heard from "Mrs Webb" that an accident had no serous consequences.

English historian and archivist (1776-1854; DNB) who superintended the publication of the 'State Papers of Henry VIII'. Fragment of letter, 2 inches by four, in good condition, on laid paper signed 'H. Hobhouse' beneath part of salutation 'Yr obed. Sert.' with 'Basseterre | Guadaloupe' beneath.

Fellow of the Linnaean Society, Naturalist and first curator of the Letchworth Museum. 2 pages, 8vo, in good condition, but with slight damp damage to one margin not affecting text. Closely written. 'I thought you would like to know that our Naturalist's 'Society' & Museum here are progressing & I believe we are doing a good educational & scientific work, even in war time. | We now have a membership of 220'. Goes into detail about grades of membership. 'We should welcome you personally & should also like someone associated with the G[reat]. N[orthern]. R[ailway].

Director of the Tate Gallery (1869-1936). 1 page, 8vo, grubby and creased, with otherwise-blank verso docketed and attached to piece of card. 'Both our funds and our space are extremely limited and Mr Warne Browne's 'Catch of Pilchards', though a pleasant subject picture, is scarcely of national importance and my Board would not consider purchasing it. | It might possibly be of interest for a local Museum such as the Truro Gallery or the Passmore Edwards Art Gallery, Newlyn. I am returning the reproduction | Yours very truly | Charles Aitken | Director'.

English writer and editor (DNB), son of the biologist Thomas Henry Huxley and father of the novelist Aldous Huxley. One page, 8vo, in good condition. Docketed 'not acknowledged'. 'Having secured a clear evening on May 10th I look forward to attending the dinner of the Titmarsh Club, & beg to enclose cheque for my subscription 12/6. I do not propose to bring a guest.'

Medical journalist and reformer (1835-98), editor of the British Medical Journal. 2 pages, 8vo, in good condition, docketed in pencil. The recipient is not the celebrated collector of autographs but a physician of 13 Salisbury Street, Strand. 'I am staying at Weybridge & shall expect to be in town only for an hour on Thursday & shall hardly be able to have the pleasure of seeing your friend, but if you or he should write to me I shall be very glad if I can in anyway be of service to you.'

Sarah, late heiress of Sir Thomas Cave, Bart., of Stanford Hall, Leicestershire, and then wife of Henry Otway, became Baroness Braye in her own right in 1839. She died in 1862, aged ninety. 3 pages, 8vo, the first page with a mourning border. In good condition with the reverse of the second leaf attached to a docketted piece of paper.

Provides invaluable information on the traditions of Charterhouse, the ancient charitable London institution. Maugham may well be the translator of Charles Tilt's 1828 edition of Friedrich Christian Accum's A Practical Essay on Chemical Re-agents. 4 pages, 16mo, grubby but in otherwise good condition. The first page has a mourning border. 'Saturday was the anniversary of the feast devoted to the memory of the founder, and the brothers, in health, feasted in the banquetting hall, and I dare say enjoyed themselves. I am on the sick list and was happily excused.

Presumably Richard Pigot (1774-1868) who is described in Boase, Modern English Biography, as being a colonel in the dragoon guards at the time of writing and a general from 1851. 2 pages, 8vo. In good condition, but with one margin still adhering to the remains of a stub. 'I enclose you a letter to my old friend Lord Anglesey in favour of Mr Frederick Foster [...] I shall feel obliged to you by your interesting yourself in his behalf to obtain any vacancy that may occur in the Ordnance as a Messenger.

Chief Naturalist of the National Park Service and Superintendent of Yosemite National Park. One page, 8vo, slightly stained but in good overall condition. Russell is replying to Epps's request for information about the National Park System, 'particularly those areas which are classed as "nature preserves"'. He says that he is sending a number of publications under separate cover, and that with this letter he encloses copies of the 'Antiquities Act' of Congress, 1906 and 'Dr. Kendeigh's article' (neither of which are present).

Naturalist, Fellow of the Royal Society and Scientific Director, the Zoological Society. The fragment is approximately two inches by five, good condition. It reads 'Yours sincerely, | Edw Hindle | (Edward Hindle) | Scientific Director.'

Naturalist, Fellow of the Royal Society and Scientific Director, the Zoological Society. The fragment is approximately two and a half inches by five: paper slightly discoloured. It is mounted on a piece of paper and reads 'With kind regards, | Yours sincerely, | Edw Hindle | (Edward Hindle) | Scientific Director.'