OF

A letter to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, on the present wants of the church.

Author: 
Henry Kingscote
Publication details: 
London: Seeley, Burnside, and Seeley, Fleet-street. Fourth edition. 1846. 'PRINTED BY L. SEELEY, THAMES DITTON, SURREY.'
£45.00

Octavo. 16 pages. Disbound pamphlet from the Churchill Babington collection. Good, but with first and last pages somewhat grubby.

Autograph Letter Signed to Colonel Alexander Ross, Aide-de-camp to the Earl of Cornwallis.

Author: 
Patrick MacDowall-Crichton, 6th Earl of Dumfries
Publication details: 
31 March 1786; Edinburgh.
£100.00

Scottish nobleman (1726-1803). Ross (1742-1827; DNB), with Dundas, negotiated the surrender of Yorktown on Cornwallis's behalf. Two pages, quarto. Text entirely legible, but in poor condition, on stained, discoloured paper frayed at edges. Competently repaired with archival tape. Some loss to second leaf of bifoliate caused by breaking of seal. Unusually entertaining request in favour of his nephew, Lieut McCulloch of Bengal.

Fragment of Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Legh Richmond
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£56.00

British evangelical divine (1772-1827) and author. Slip of paper roughly seven and a quarter inches by two. Discoloured and heavily creased. Stitched to larger piece of paper. Reads '<...> & thereby lengthen the period for the cultivation of acquaintance amongst us. Give my sincere regards & grateful acknowledgments for past kindness to your family: with true esteem & love from all here & believe me, | faithfully & affecty. yours | Legh Richmond'.

Letter in a Secretarial Hand, signed in Autograph, 'To the Rt: Honble: the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury', together with engraved portrait by Guillaume Philippe Benoist (1725-70).

Author: 
Thomas Sherlock, Bishop of London
Publication details: 
Letter dated 20 August 1751.
£185.00

English ecclesiastic (1678-1761) and controversialist, who left his library to Cambridge University. LETTER: one page, octavo, discoloured and creased, and with neatly-repaired loss of strip approximately four inches by one and a half to top right-hand corner, causing some loss to text. Reads 'My Lords. | The Reverend Thomas Bradbury C Master of Arts being Licenced to perform th Office in New Jersey in his Majestys Plant America and on his departure thither I request that your Lordships will be pleased to his Majesty's Bounty of Twenty pounds to defray of his passage to that Province'.

Printed governmental circular (in form of facsimile of manuscript) addressed to 'The Town Clerk' (with 'Town of Maidstone' in manuscript).

Author: 
Henry Hobhouse [MAIDSTONE, KENT]
Publication details: 
Copy | Whitehall July 1827.'
£56.00

Hobhouse (1776-1854) was a Privy Councillor in 1828, and Keeper of the State Papers, 1826-54. Quarto. One page. Very good, on first leaf of bifoliate. Folded twice. On watermarked Whatman paper of 1827. Facsimile signature 'H. Hobhouse'. Begins 'The King having been pleased to comply with the prayer of an humble Address presented to His Majesty in pursuance of a Resolution of the House of Commons [...] for a Return of all Towns Cities Places of Jurisdiction within England & Wales' and ending 'I am directed by Mr.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male noble correspondent.

Author: 
Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquis of Stafford and 2nd Earl Gower
Publication details: 
Trentham July ye 10th. 1771'.
£38.00

English aristocrat and Whig politician (1721-1803). One page, quarto. In poor condition: grubby, discoloured and creased. Reads 'My Lord | Mr: Boothby of Ashbourne (who yr: Lordship may possibly know something of from his living in the neighbourhood of <?> forest has sollicited me much to apply to yr: Lordship for leave of Absence for his son who is a lieutenant in Ld: Drogheda's regiment to settle some family affairs, the time he wishes to have him with him [sic] is a month or two, if not unreasonable.

Tables astronomiques publiées par le Bureau des Longitudes de France. Tables de la lune, par M. Burckhardt.

Author: 
Johann Karl Burckhardt [Bureau des Longitudes, Paris]
Publication details: 
Paris: Mme Ve Courcier, Imprimeur-Libraire pour les Mathématiques, Quai des Augustins, No. 57. Décembre 1812.
£200.00

Burckhardt (1773-1825) was a German astronomer, who first computed the orbits of a number of comets. First and only edition. Quarto. Pages: viii + 88. A rare survival, but in very poor condition: grubby, creased, stained and frayed at edges. In remains of makeshift wraps. Text perfectly legible throughout. Some scholarly annotations in pencil and pen.

Historical sketch of the distribution of land in England with suggestions for some improvement in the law.

Author: 
William Lloyd Birkbeck
Publication details: 
1885; London: Macmillan and Co.
£20.00

8vo. Pages: viii + 100. 2 leaves of publisher's advertisements at rear. Publisher's brown cloth binding stamped in black. Tight copy in grubby, stained, worn binding. Birkbeck was Master of Downing College and Downing Professor of the Laws of England in the University of Cambridge.

Document Signed.

Author: 
Maria Theresa.
Publication details: 
Date obscured
£350.00

Queen of Hungary and Empress of Germany. In German. One page, circa 2.5 x 2 feet, vellum, folded, attractive, red mark where seal is missing, some fading but signature clear Item bought in The Czech Republic (Bohemia).. Scan provided on request.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Stuart', together with manuscript of 'Open Church Declaration [...] written by Dr Joseph Parker at Ventnor | Sept 5 1889'.

Author: 
Dr Joseph Parker
Publication details: 
13 October 1889; on letterhead 'TYNEHOME, | LYNDHURST GARDENS, | SOUTH HAMPSTEAD, | N.W.'
£75.00

Non-conformist divine, theologian, preacher and miscellaneous writer (1830-1902). The letter: two pages (on first leaf of bifoliate), 12mo, very good though a little grubby. The declaration: one page, 12mo, creased and grubby. A line from the 'P' of Parker's florid signature on the letter extends horizontally across to the recto of the otherwise blank second leaf of the bifoliate, the verso of which is glued to a quarto leaf. The declaration is glued over the second leaf of the letter, partly obscuring the tip of the signature line.

Autograph Note Signed to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
George Armitage-Smith [BIRKBECK COLLEGE]
Publication details: 
14 December 1917, on crested Birkbeck College Letterhead.
£28.00

Economist (c.1844-1923), Principal of Birkbeck College, 1896-1918. One page, octavo. Very good. Docketed and bearing R.S.A. stamp. Asks for Professor Campbell Swinton's address 'in any form'. 'If it is published in the Journal that wd. be very convenient.' Signed 'G. Armitage-Smith'.

Eleven Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed, variously to W. Perry and G. F. Menzies, Royal Society of Arts; and three-page typed 'brief statement of Dr. [Charles] Carpenter's qualifications', headed 'CONFIDENTIAL'.

Author: 
Edward Frankland Armstrong
Publication details: 
1927 to 1934; on letterheads including 'BUSH HOUSE, | ALDWYCH', 'BALDWIN HOUSE, | 67, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET', and that of the British Dyestuffs Corporation Ltd.
£120.00

British chemist (1878-1945), Vice-President of the Royal Society, 1942-3. All items in very good condition. All letters, one page, quarto. Subjects include an R.S.A. lecture by Armstrong on 'Hydrogen and its uses', the proof of another lecture, Armstrong's chairmanship of various R.S.A. meetings, his appointment as R.S.A. Vice-President, and the possibility of a 'paper on the hydrogenation of bituminous coal ('even though a good many people may be a little tired of the subject'): 'I suppose the man you ought to ask in the first place is K.

Typed Letter Signed to K. W. Luckhurst, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
John Laurent Giles [ROYAL INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS]
Publication details: 
2 November 1957; on letterhead '4, Quay Hill, | Lymington, | Hampshire.'
£38.00

British naval architect (died 1969). One page, quarto. Folded three times. Very good, but lightly creased. Docketed in ink. Probably relating to the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, of which Giles was a leading member. 'Your views rather coincide with mine, reinforced by a more careful read through of the literature over the weekend. In particular one noticed a falling off in quality of those elected in the last year as compared to the previous.

Typed Note and Typed Letter Signed, one to the Editor and the other to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Charles Crowther
Publication details: 
20 February and 14 March 1940; both on crested letterhead of the Harper Adams Agricultural College, Newport, Hampshire.
£36.00

Agricultural chemist (1876-1964). Both one page, quarto, and very good, though lightly creased. The letter carries a few light carbon-paper stains. The note informs the editor of the R.S.A. journal that Crowther is returning the 'corrected copy of my remarks in the discussion on my paper. | I presume that you will be sending me a supply of reprints when the Journal comes out'. The letter thanks the secretary for the copies of the journal.

Autograph Note Signed to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Professor Henry Gibson Atkins
Publication details: 
5 October 1915; '8, Granville Park | Blackheath, S.E.'
£25.00

British linguist (1871-1942), Professor of German in the University of London. One page, 12mo. Very good. Docketed and bearing R.S.A. stamp. 'In answer to your letter of October 2nd., I have pleasure in sending a Report on the Viva Voce German Examinations held in 1915.' Signed 'H. G. Atkins'.

Typed Letter Signed to W. Perry, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Cecil Henry Desch
Publication details: 
2 February 1937; on letterhead (including map of environs) of the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex.
£45.00

Eminent British metallurgist (1874-1958). One page, quarto. Very good. 'I should have been pleased to take the chair at Professor Bragg's Lecture, but I have already undertaken to preside at a similar lecture by Professor Bragg [...] and to have the same Chairman on both occasions, the lectures dealing with the same subjects, would suggest that Metallurgy is very poorly represented in London. Would it be possible to get Sir Harold Carpenter to take the chair? I am sure that you will have a good Meeting, as Professor Bragg's lectures are always exceedingly interesting.' Signed 'C. H.

Early Kent Maps. (Sixteenth century).

Author: 
Grevile M. Livett, B.A., F.S.A., Honorary Canon of Rochester
Publication details: 
[1937;] 'Reprinted from "Archaeologia Cantiana," Vol. XLIX. Printed by Headley Brothers, Ashford, Kent.
£45.00

Offprint of pp.247-77. Small 8vo. 4 plates, 3 of them folding. Foxed, loose copy with closed tear and crease to first leaf. In original light-brown printed wraps, which have become detached.. Presentation copy, with inscription to 'Mr. Edward Lynam from the writer' on front wrap. Manuscript annotation in pencil, presumably by Lynam.

Four Typed Letters Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
John Hudson Elder-Duncan
Publication details: 
5 Feb 1927; 4 and 28 Feb and 8 March 1930; all four on letterhead of 'THE ARCHITECTURE CLUB | "THE LONDON MERCURY" OFFICE, | 229, STRAND, LONDON, | W.C.2.'
£105.00

English politician (1877-1938), MInister of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Secretary of the Architecture Club. All four items one page, quarto, and in very good condition. Last item with one inch closed horizontal tear (not affecting text). Three items stamped and two bearing the Society's stamp. All four signed 'J. H. Elder-Duncan'. ITEM ONE: At a recent meeting of the Architecture Club committee Arthur J. Davis 'raised the question of our helping in some way to give wider publicity to your prizes for design'.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Courtenay Peregrine Ilbert
Publication details: 
7 November 1894; on letterhead '67, GLOUCESTER PLACE, | PORTMAN SQUARE, W.'
£36.00

Parliamentary legislative draftsman (1841-1924), Benjamin Jowett's literary executor. Three pages, 12mo. Very good, with traces of glue to blank verso of second leaf of bifoliate. Docketed in pencil. 'Miss Flora Shaw has asked me whether I could send you an early copy of the paper which I am to read at the Imperial Institute to-morrow afternoon. | The paper has not been printed, & the only spare copy which I have is the rouggh copy from which I had another typed for my own use. | I fear that this is very illegible.

Autograph Letter Signed to the Rev. C. H. Middleton[-Wake].

Author: 
George William Reid [BRITISH MUSEUM DEPARTMENT OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS]
Publication details: 
13 April 1880; on letterhead of the 'Print Room, | British Museum.'
£56.00

Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum (1819-87). One page, 12mo. Docketed in ink on blank second leaf of bifoliate. 'I feel it my duty to publish a second edition of our Catalogue of Duplicates before the Sale takes place as there are so many mistakes. | As you went through the prints so carefully I should be glad to avail myself of your notes if you would kindly lend them to me for a day at the same time, I should wish to fullhy acknowledge the favour'. Signed 'Geo. Wilm Reid'.

One Autograph Letter Signed and one Typed Letter Signed to W. Perry, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Leigh Bolland Ashton [Leigh Ashton]
Publication details: 
Typed letter: 19 November 1930; autograph letter, no date; both items on (different) Victoria & Albert Museum letterheads.
£75.00

Director (1897-1983) and Secretary, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1945-55. Both items one page, quarto. Both in very good condition. Typed letter bearing R.S.A. stamp. Both items concerning a projected lecture. TYPED LETTER: Perry will have a typescript by the end of the month, 'but as a good dea of my lecture is extempore you may find it rather shorter than you had anticipated. The written part will be roughly two thousand words.' Signed Leigh Ashton'. AUTOGRAPH LETTER: Perry will 'have to be content with the length of M.S. I send in. It may possibly run to 3000 but not more.

Typed Letter Signed to 'Miss J. Scott Rogers, | Acting Secretary, | Royal Society of Arts'.

Author: 
Julian Mockford [SOUTH AFRICA]
Publication details: 
11 September 1943; on letterhead of the 'OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA, | Trafalgar Square, | LONDON, W.C.2.'
£28.00

South African author and journalist (1898-1950), Public Relations Officer at the South African High Commission. One page, octavo. Very good if somewhat grubby. Docketed and stamped. 'Herewith the translation by a colleague, as asked for in your letter dated September 9. I hope "Here are South Africans" does not bore you too much!'

Two Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter Signed to [K. W. Luckhurst,] Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Gilbert Thomas Morgan
Publication details: 
Typed letter: 11 Oct 1938, on letterhead of the Institute of Brewing; autograph letters: 11 Nov 1938 and 19 March 1939, both on letterhead '12, CATHCART ROAD, | REDCLIFFE GARDENS, | LONDON, S. W. 10.'
£100.00

British research chemist (1872-1940), Mason Professor of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, and author of numerous works. All three items very good; all three docketed and two bearing the Society's stamp. All three signed 'G. T. Morgan'. ITEM ONE (typed letter, one page, quarto, slightly creased, with one pin hole): His 'change of address and the recent crisis have both hindered my reply to your letter'. Would be honoured to be one of the Society's Cantor Lecturers, and suggests as title 'Achievements of British Chemical Industry in the last Twenty-five Years'.

Two Typed Letters Signed to [G. K.] Menzies[, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts].

Author: 
Clyde Young
Publication details: 
21 November 1934 and 21 June 1935, both on letterhead '6, NEW SQUARE, | LINCOLN'S INN, W.C.2.'
£56.00

British architect (born circa 1872), the son of Sir William Young (1843-1900), whose most important commission, the War Office, Whitehall (1900-1906) he completed. Both items one page, octavo, and very good, though on slightly discoloured and creased paper, one piece bearing pin holes and the other paperclip marks. Both items docketed and one bearing the Society's stamp. ITEM ONE: 'You will be interested to see the enclosed copy of Lord Iveagh's reply.

Five Typed Letters Signed, and one letter in a secretarial hand signed in autograph, to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Rev. Allan Gairdner Wyon
Publication details: 
1916 to 1925; on letterhead '80, Boundary Road, | St. John's Wood, | London, N.W.'
£180.00

British sculptor (1882-1962) and 'MEDALLIST AND ENGRAVER | TO | HIS MAJESTY THE KING' (as per letterhead). All six items one page, quarto. All six signed 'Allan G. Wyon'. Five bearing the R.S.A. stamp and two docketed. All six very good though dusty (but see secretarial item below). ITEMS ONE (19 October 1916, typed) and TWO (21 October 1916, typed) discuss the practicalities and cost of repairing the R.S.A. 'broken Seal Press'.

Two Typed Letters Signed to J. Samson, Assistant Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, together with unsigned carbon copies of three letters from Samson to Morgan.

Author: 
Walter Thomas James Morgan
Publication details: 
Morgan's letters: 31 July 1964 and 20 November 1967, both on Lister Institute letterheads; Samson's carbon copies: 22 July and 5 August 1964 and 31 October 1967, none with place.
£175.00

British biochemist (1900-2003), Director of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, London, 1972-5. All five items one page, quarto, and all five very good and stapled together by year. Correspondence for 1964 begins with Samson inviting Morgan to deliver a lecture in the Society's forthcoming session 'on the science and practice of immunology', and giving details of the requirements. Morgan declines, 'as my special studies and experiences have been almost entirely concerned with the more chemical aspects of the subject'.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Laura'.

Author: 
Frederic William Farrar, Dean of Canterbury
Publication details: 
3 February [no year]; on embossed letterhead of the Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall.
£45.00

Archdeacon of Westminster and Dean of Canterbury (1831-1903). Two pages, 12mo. Good but grubby and with some staining from glue and with head of verso attached to larger sheet of green paper, some of which adheres to letter. He is 'very full of engagements in Lent; indeed I am more occupied in this way than is good at all for me or for others. I admire the resolute penitence of in preaching his year & no more. I alas! have about a hundred to preach, & many many other duites w[hic]h bring me nothing but hatred disparagement. So I know you will excuse me.' Signed 'F W Farrar'.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Hall Caine
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£15.00

Manx novelist (1853-1931). Paper dimensions roughly three inches by one and a half. Very good. Reads 'Yours vy truly | Hall Caine'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed and first leaf of Autograph Letter; all three items to Sir Henry [Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts].

Author: 
Edward North Buxton [BIG GAME HUNTING]
Publication details: 
29 April and 2 May 1901, 8 May [1901]; all three items on letterhead 'KNIGHTON, | BUCKHURST HILL.'
£120.00

Politician and director of Trueman, Hanbury, Buxton and Co. (1840-1924), whose entry in 'Who's who' describes his 'Recreations' as 'a keen follower of big game in four continents'. All three items 12mo and very good. The first two items on cream paper and bearing the Society's stamp; the last item on grey paper and docketed. First and last item signed 'E N Buxton'. ITEM ONE (two pages) addressed to 'Sir Trueman' [sic]: 'I have not forgotten that you asked me how my films stood the Climate & if I got any decent results in the Soudan'. Offers to show Wood 'a few' at the Athenaeum.

Two Typed Letters Signed to G. E. Mercer, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, concerning his award of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Fellowship; with seven associated items (draft replies, memo, programme, etc).

Author: 
Edward David Mills
Publication details: 
1969
£156.00

Architect (1915-98), designer of the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. All items very good. ITEM ONE (one page, folio): typed copy of Mills' 'programme' ('The object of the proposed research is to study at first hand the effect of these new techniques on building types in the United States [...]'.). ITEM TWO (one page, quarto, typed): letter by Mills dated 3 March 1969. Congratulates the Society on 'the new appearance of the R.S.A. Journal which is an enormous improvement on the past'. Explains that he has been awarded the Fellowship and encloses copy of programme.

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