ARMY

Autograph Letter Signed from Rustam Khan to Lieutenant-Colonel H. C. Tytler, Commandant, thanking the officers of the 17th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry [Bengal Lancers], for conferring on him 'the honorary rank of captaincy'.

Author: 
Captain Rustam Khan, 17th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry [Bengal Lancers] [Major-General Sir Harry Christopher Tytler (1867-1939)
Autograph Letter Signed from Rustam Khan to Lieutenant-Colonel H. C. Tytler
Publication details: 
4 May 1912.
£120.00
Autograph Letter Signed from Rustam Khan to Lieutenant-Colonel H. C. Tytler

12mo, 3 pp. 38 lines. Text clear and complete. The two leaves attached along the margins. Signed in Devanagari and European ('So: Rustam Khan Captain') scripts. He acknowledges 'receipt of the Commission conferring on me the honorary rank of captaincy with a deep sense of gratitude to you and all the Officers of the Regiment'. States that he will 'ever cherish a grateful remembrance of all that the Officers and Regiment have done for me'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('P-N. Bonaparte.. | Repr. du Peuple'), in French, from Pierre-Napoleon Bonaparte to Lieutenant-Colonel Lherbette, requesting that Samuel Colt be admitted 'aux expériences de tir des carabines à tige des chapeurs à pied'.

Author: 
Pierre-Napoléon Bonaparte (1815-1881), son of Lucien Bonaparte, deputy for Corsica to the Constituent Assembly of 1849 [Samuel Colt (1814-1862), inventor and manufacturer of the celebrated revolver]
Pierre-Napoléon Bonaparte (1815-1881), son of Lucien Bonaparte, deputy for Corsi
Publication details: 
2 September 1849; Paris.
£180.00
Pierre-Napoléon Bonaparte (1815-1881), son of Lucien Bonaparte, deputy for Corsi

12mo, 3 pp. Thirty-six lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed by Bonaparte, with stamp, red wax seal and postmarks, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Monsieur le Lieutenant-Colonel Lherbette Adt. au comm. de l'artillerie dans la 1re. division militaire | Vincennes'. Were he not leaving for the country, he would have presented in person 'Mr. Colt, citoyen des Etats-Unis, inventeur d'un ingénieux système d'armes à feu à plusieurs coups'.

[Broadsheet, folded] "The Mess-Room Companion" from the "British Army and Navy Review" For January, 1866 ... [detailed information about the Army and Navy in 1866].

Author: 
[British Army and Royal Navy: distribution 1866]
"The Mess-Room Companion" from the "British Army and Navy Review"
Publication details: 
The United Service Company (Limited), Army and Navy Agents and Bankers, 9, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall London, [1866].
£850.00
"The Mess-Room Companion" from the "British Army and Navy Review"

Two pages, broadsheet, 64 x 50cm, one side giving the "Distribution of the British Arny" (in red and black), the other the "Distribution of the British Navy in Commission" (in blue and black), folded, small closed tears on folds, and other very minor defects. An attractive piece obviously designed for a wall or notice-board, military or naval.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('FitzRoy Somerset') from Lord FitzRoy Somerset [later 1st Baron Raglan] to Lieutenant [Christopher Bernard] Martin, 60th Regiment of Foot.

Author: 
FitzRoy Somerset (1788-1855), 1st Baron Raglan [Lord FitzRoy Somerset; Lord Raglan; General Rowland Hill (1772-1842), 1st Viscount Hill of Almaraz; 60th Regiment of Foot (King's Royal Rifle Corps)]
Secretarial Letter Signed ('FitzRoy Somerset') from Lord FitzRoy Somerset
Publication details: 
29 September 1832; Horse Guards [Whitehall, London].
£95.00
Secretarial Letter Signed ('FitzRoy Somerset') from Lord FitzRoy Somerset

Folio, 1 p. On bifolium. Docketed on reverse of second leaf. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Martin having written to him on 16 September, 'renewing [his] application to be permitted to retire with the Rank and Half pay of Captain', Somerset is 'directed by the General Commanding in Chief [Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill]' to acquaint Martin 'that His Lordship can only repeat the Substance of the communication which I was desired to address to Mr. Daly on the 4th. Instant on the same subject, viz - that it is wholly out of Lord Hill's power to comply with your request'.

Autograph Letter Signed C. Patmore, with addressed envelope, to the Blackburn poet John Thomas Baron ('Jack O'Anns')

Author: 
Coventry Patmore (1823-96), poet
Publication details: 
Hastings, 5 Dec. 1881.
£120.00

One page, 12mo, bifolium, fold marks, good condition. Tamarton [sic for Tamerton] Church Tower & other Poems are now included in a volume called 'Amelia and other Poems.' It is published by Geo. Bell & Co. York Stret, Covent Garden. I do not know Mr Palgarve's address, but a letter to Macmillan & Co, his publisher would reach him.

[Printed magazine.] Supplement to The London Gazette of Friday the 1st of August. Published by Authority. Monday, August 4, 1856. [A list of British Crimean war officers and men awarded the Legion of Honour by the French Emperor Louis Napoleon.]

Author: 
[The London Gazette, 1856; the Crimean War; the Legion of Honour; le Legion d'Honneur; Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte; Napoleon III]
The London Gazette, 1856; the Crimean War; the Legion of Honour
Publication details: 
4 August 1856. Numb. 21909. London: Thomas Lawrence Behan, 7 Suffolk Place, Haymarket and 45 St Martin's Lane.
£95.00
The London Gazette, 1856; the Crimean War; the Legion of Honour

Crown 8vo, 7 pp (paginated 2699-2705). Unstitched and unopened sheet, folded twice to make four leaves. Text clear and complete. On aged paper. With red ink tax stamp: 'NEWSPAPER | ONE PENNY | LONDON GAZETTE'. A list of Crimean war officers and men awarded 'the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour, [...] which His Majesty the Emperor of the French has been pleased to confer upon them'. From the archive of Lieutenant-Colonel George Lynedoch Carmichael (1831-1903) of the 95th (the Derbyshire) Regiment, who was made a Knight of Legion of Honour at this time.

Manuscript, on paper watermarked 1810, a detailed table titled 'Present <Stat>ement of His Majesty the King of Prussia's Army'.

Author: 
[The Prussian Army (Königlich Preußische Armee), 1810]
Present <Stat>ement of His Majesty the King of Prussia's Army
Publication details: 
[Circa 1810.]
£325.00
Present <Stat>ement of His Majesty the King of Prussia's Army

Landscape folio leaf (32.5 x 40.5 cm), 1 p. On paper watermarked 'JOHN HALL | 1810'. Neatly ruled to make a complex, detailed table, in three columns of 31 rows each. The table has a central vertical fold, with the left hand side of the reverse mounted on a leaf removed from an autograph album. In poor condition, with around an eighth of the total area of the paper and text lacking, mostly from the bottom right-hand corner. Despite the loss the table (presumably prepared for the British War Office) contains a mass of valuable information.

Twenty-one glass slides of photographs of the funeral procession of King Edward VII through the streets of London, 1910.

Author: 
[Photographs of the funeral procession of King Edward VII through the streets of London, 1910]
Publication details: 
[London, 1910.]
£180.00

All twenty-one slides bound in 8 cm glass squares, with the black and white images themselves in good condition and unfaded, with only one slide damaged (glass shattered in a corner, not affecting image). All with labels numbered 394.5.

Autograph itemised 'pay Bill for Captain Carrs. Recruiting Party', signed, with receipt, by 'Geo: Deans Serjeant'.

Author: 
[Captain Carr's Recruiting Party, 1778; George Deans, Recruiting Sergeant; the British Army; press gangs]
Autograph itemised 'pay Bill for Captain Carrs. Recruiting Party'
Publication details: 
Receipt dated 28 March 1778.
£45.00
Autograph itemised 'pay Bill for Captain Carrs. Recruiting Party'

12mo, 1 p. Neatly written with six items, beginning with '2 weeks pay for Serjt: Deans and Dr. Marton', and ending with 'Expences Contracted on account of Mc.Dougall'. Includes 'A Cockade for Joseph Harriegat & one for Dr. Harris'. Deans acknowledges receipt of £2 11s. The last item, of 5s is not included in the payment, and the bill is docketed on the reverse '1778 | Serj. Deans Bill a 5s Mist[ak]e.' The identity of the relevant regiment is unclear.

Manuscript diary for the year 1944 by an English army officer ('H. E. Nash?') in the 23rd Armoured Brigade of the British Eighth Army in the Second World War.

Author: 
[Diary of an officer in the 23rd Armoured Brigade, British Eighth Army, 1946]
Publication details: 
Entries from 1 January to 27 December 1944.
£280.00

Text on 87 pp of a 8vo 1944 'Surrey Desk Diary' (Mitcham: Surrey Manufacturing Co.). Text clear and complete. Volume in good condition on aged paper. While the author's ownership signature at the front of the volume ('', ', '') is not decipherable, there are clues to his identity: his birthday is on 24 June, he states on 5 October that he is in the 23rd Armoured Brigade, and on 19 August he gives his Identity Card No. as 116941. He begins as a sergeant, and by 13 January is 'H.Q. Troop commander, which, out of action, no schemes, no censoring, doesn't amount to much'.

Twenty-six items of ephemera relating to the 1st Battalion The Rifle Brigade, and Peter Kirwan-Taylor, designer of the Lotus Elite car, and assembled during his service in the Brigade as a Lieutenant.

Author: 
Lieutenant Peter Robin Kirwan-Taylor, 1st Battalion The Rifle Brigade (b.1930, designer of the Lotus Elite car) [British Army; military]
Twenty-six items of ephemera relating to the 1st Battalion The Rifle Brigade
Publication details: 
Between 1949 and 1952.
£100.00
Twenty-six items of ephemera relating to the 1st Battalion The Rifle Brigade

Texts of all items clear and complete. The collection on aged paper, with occasional wear and creasing. Includes Kirwan-Taylor's 'Range Barrier Pass Certificate', his 'Combined Leave Pass and Railway Ticket'; an 'Application for a Game Licence in the British Zone of Germany' by him; his 'Final Clearance Certificate.

Experiments with Small Shot

Author: 
Major W. McClintock, R.A.
Publication details: 
Woolwich: Printed at the Royal Artillery Institution, 1883
£250.00

Reprinted from "Proceedings, Royal Military Institution," No. 6, Vol.XII. 19pp., tall 8vo, original blue wraps, slight;y chipped, and sunned at edges, worn at bottom of spine, mainly good.remnants of album page on back cover. Inscribed "With the Author's Compliments." From an album created by the engineer son of M.C. Meigs, engineer, sometime distinguished Quartermaster General for the Union Army. No copy on COPAC or WorldCat.

Rifles for Large Game. The Trajectories, Time of Flight, Remaining Velocities ., and Striking Energies of Bullets Fired from Large Bore and Express Rifles.

Author: 
Major W. McClintock, R.A.
Publication details: 
Woolwich: Printed at the Royal Artillery Institution, 1884
£350.00

Reprinted from "Proceedings, Royal Military Institution," No. 11, Vol.XII. 4pp., with two folding plates, tall 8vo, original blue printed wraps, sunned at edges, mainly good, remnants of album page on back cover. Inscribed "With the Author's Compliments." From an album created by the engineer son of Montgomery C. Meigs, engineer, sometime distinguished Quartermaster General for the Union Army.

Signature ('J. F. Burgoyne | Lt Genl.') on part of letter to Stratford Canning.

Author: 
Field Marshal Sir John Fox Burgoyne (1782-1871), English army officer [Stratford Canning (1786-1880), 1st Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe; Crimean War]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

On the lower part of a letter, cut to form a rectangle, 11.5 x 18 cm. In good condition, with traces of stub from mounting along one edge, and a thin strip of paper, with Burgoyne's name in manuscript neatly laid down beneath the signature. Reads 'I have the honor to be | Your Excellency's | Most Obedient | Humble Servant | [signed] J. F.

Autograph Note Signed ('Fred Slade') to 'My dear Bee'.

Author: 
Lt-Gen. Frederick George Slade (1851-1910), Royal Artillery, Assistant Adjutant-General, Woolwich Arsenal
Publication details: 
24 February 1899; on letterhead of the Chief Staff Office, Woolwich.
£38.00

12mo, 1 p. 6 lines. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged and slightly grubby paper, with strip of glue from mount on blank reverse, which has laid down on it a ten-line biographical newspaper cutting referring to Slade ('[...] one of the youngest major-generals on the Staff in the Army [...] His most recent appointment was that of Assistant Adjutant-General at Woolwich'). He is sending 'a missed lot of Soldiers autographs. Some that you already have may be useful in exchanging for others'.

Manuscript notebook, listing the infantry regiments of the British army, with brief descriptions of their mottos, uniforms, and periods of service.

Author: 
[British Army Regiments of Foot; Infantry; military]
Publication details: 
Undated [1840s?]. [English.]
£125.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 16 x 11 cm), 60 pp. Stitched notebook of thirty leaves, without covers. In fair condition, aged and with wear to extremities of outer leaves. On laid Italian paper, with the watermark of the Italian firm G. & C. Cini. Neatly written, with the body of the writing in one hand, and the mottos in another. Text clear and apparently complete. Begins: '1st. Regiment of Life Guards. | Peninsular Waterloo. | Scarlet, Facings Blue. | Returned from France, January 1816.' A typical entry reads '58th. (the Rutlandshire) Regt. of Foot. | Gibraltar, with the Castle and Key.

Humorous pamphlet entitled 'Display of Knights in Tourney. Programme. 1. Jousting. 2. The two-handed Sword. 3. Melee with Battleaxes and Maces.'

Author: 
Ferozepore Brigade, Punjab [British Army in India; Firozpur; the Raj]
Publication details: 
Undated [early twentieth century]. Muir Press Brigade Printers, Ferozepore Area.
£45.00

4to (leaf dimensions 21.5 x 17.5 cm), 3 pp. Bifolium. On green paper. The central two pages carry a 'arms', 'motto' and 'biography' of each of the 'Dramatis Personae': 'Sir Attaboy de Walloper', 'Sir Kolynos Dent', 'Sir Bottholm Duster' and 'Sir Guinness Comme-Boisson'. The targets of this lighthearted satire are lost. Beside each character is an Indian name (the last being 'L/Def. Mohmed Sultan Khan'). There are also nine Indians named as playing herald, pages and varlets. No copy on COPAC.

List of Different Houses' (docketed 'List of Houses and Correspondences established by the House of Gopaldoss'), signed '/A true copy/ | Jno White | <?>'.

Author: 
[East India Company; British Raj; the House of Gopaldoss]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [circa 1820?].
£120.00

One page, octavo. Very good. On paper with 'C TAYLOR' Britannia watermarked paper. Possibly an East India Company document. Of obscure meaning, headed 'List of Different Houses', and consisting of two columns (the left-hand one of sixteen lines, and the right-hand of eleven). Includes 'Moorshedabad', 'Massulipatam', 'Poona, the Money paid to Mr. Mallet', 'Ahumabad the Residency of their Correspondent's' and 'The Mahratta Army'. With 'Exd: W D' in bottom left-hand corner. Docketed on reverse of second leaf of bifolium, with reference 'No. 149. A. | Entd at Dell <?d.> | " - MS'.

Faux-metallic embossed German [Prussian] military decoration with ribbon, consisting of black Imperial eagle (Reichsadler) with Landwehrkreuz motto, over silver and gold eight-pointed star.

Author: 
German (Prussian) military decoration [Reichsadler; Landwehrkreuz; World War; Germany army]
Publication details: 
[First World War or earlier.]
£120.00

An attractive and delicate piece of ephemera, dusty and slightly tarnished, but in very good condition overall. Skilfully manufactured and giving a convincing metallic appearance. 15 cm wide from opposing points of the star, which is of gold card overlaid with silver silver card, both types embossed in a pattern of pearls of different sizes radiating out from the centre, over which sits the Reichsadler, of embossed black card, 6 cm high by 7 cm wide, crowned, with wings outstretched, orb and sceptre in its talons.

Carbon copy of manuscript.

Author: 
Stunts by Fag End': contemporaneous account of first world war experiences by unidentified writer.
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£100.00

3 pages, 8vo. On three leaves of paper, all creased, discoloured and worn, with a few tears and pin holes. Lively, humorous, and well-written account of the army career of a skiver. 'Behold me then the next time in the trenches a Lewis Gunner, my-self to be about to kill Bosches in neat little trenches of 47. As a matter of fact I did not kill one as I never fired the gun but we had one or two thrilling times. [...] January 1st. 1917 I became a member of the now famous Tank Corps.

Six Autograph Letters Signed by Hume-Campbell (all 'A: Hume-Campbell') to his 'Couzin' (a member of the Tonyn family).

Author: 
Alexander Hume-Campbell (1708-1760), Member of Parliament and Lord Clerk Register from 1756 to 1760 [Hugh Hume-Campbell, 3rd Earl of Marchmont]
Publication details: 
All six letters dated from London in 1759.
£150.00

All six letters in quarto; good, on aged paper; and with text neatly-written, clear and entire. Letter One: 3 May 1759. 2 pp. 40 lines of text. Giving advice regarding a will to be drawn up by a Mrs Robertson. 'As to the place where Mrs. Robertson makes the Disposition it is absolutely immaterial, [...] and then her will wrote in her own hand writing without witnesses will be as good as with twenty witnesses [...]'. Valediction from 'your affectionate friend & Cousin'. Letter Two: 30 June 1759. 1 pp. 24 lines.

Two Letters in a Secretarial Hand, one of them signed by Amherst ('Amherst'), both to the Rev. Charles William Tonyn (d.1805) of Radnage, Bucks.

Author: 
Jeffrey Amherst, first Baron Amherst (1717-1797), field-marshall, conqueror of Canada
Publication details: 
The signed letter: 18 June 1781, Whitehall. The unsigned letter: 9 March 1782, Whitehall.
£220.00

The signed letter: 4to, 1 p. 11 lines of text. With the address on a separate and similarly-sized leaf. Franked 'War Office | ', and bearing two circular postmarks, one of them in red with the word 'FREE'. Good, on aged and creased paper. Assuring Tonyn that it will give him 'much pleasure' to recommend Tonyn's nephew George Augustus Tonyn for an army commission, 'as soon as I may be able to do it consistently with the very great number of Applications which I have already on my hands'.

Autograph Signature on part of document

Author: 
Sir Charles Yorke (1790-1880), General in the British Army
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£28.00

A piece of laid paper, roughly 8 x 20 cm, cut from a document by an autograph collector. Yorke's signature, large (4.5 x 7 cm) and bold, is in the bottom right-hand corner. The surviving text is in a secretary's hand, and reads: '<...> of Our Reign. | By His Majesty's Command. | C Yorke | Our Trusty and Wellbeloved William Gordon Esqr General in Our Army & Col of Our 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot or to the Officer appointed by him to raise Men for Our said Regiment'.

Signed Letter in secretarial hand to the Quartermaster General, Horse Guards.

Author: 
Sir William Schaw Cathcart, 10th Baron and 1st Viscount and Earl Cathcart
Publication details: 
Salton Hall January 27 1810'.
£125.00

Scottish soldier and diplomat (1755-1843). Four pages, octavo. Good, though grubby on discoloured paper, and a little frayed about the edges. Concerns 'the Subject of Issues which are made by the Barrack Department in North Britain to the Forces stationed in this Part of the United Kingdom, but which are not sanctioned by The King's Warrant'. '[...] | I conceive the Establishment of Regimental Schools to be highly conducive to the good of His Majesty's Service, and peculiarly so in the case of 2d.

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'.

Original manuscript, in a variety of eighteenth-century hands, containing twelve army lists. Giving ranks of regiments, names of officers, dates of commission, pay, expenses, and other information.

Author: 
Twelve manuscript eighteenth-century British Army Lists [Hanoverian; military history]
Publication details: 
Apparently written between c.1718 and c.1756.
£850.00

Stitched 4to notebook, in original brown calf half-binding, with grey paper boards. 71 pp of text, with a further 19 pp blank, across 45 leaves of watermarked laid paper. Leaf dimensions roughly 19 x 15 cm. In good condition: internally clean and tight, on lightly aged paper. In worn boards. Ruled with red lines. Neatly written and entirely legible.

Autograph Note Signed ('D. Lysons.') to unnamed publisher.

Author: 
Sir Daniel Lysons (1816-1898), English army officer
Publication details: 
11 January 1893; on letterhead of 22 Warwick Square, London S.W.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Large bold signature. He has 'no present intention of publishing any book on [his] career'. It may be that the correspondence planted a seed, as three years after the writing of this note Lysons published 'Early Reminiscences' (John Murray, 1896).

Printed circular letter from Auchinleck 'To all officers whether belonging to the Staff or to the Services who are working in Headquarter Offices in this Command'. Consisting of a celebrated (and spurious) quotation from Wellington, and two cartoons.

Author: 
Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, Commander in Chief, Middle East Command [Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington; military history; Second World War; British Army]
Publication details: 
01/05/42
£75.00

A celebrated and scarce piece of Second World War ephemera. Printed on one side of a piece of paper 33.5 x 21.5 cm. Text and illustrations clear and complete. In good overall condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper with small damp stain to top left-hand corner and repair on reverse to small closed tear. The text consists of a supposed 'Extract from a letter written by The Duke of Wellington from Spain, about 1810.

[Drop-head title:] LETTER, No. 1. To the Editor of the Naval & Military Gazette. [LETTER, No. 2. To the Editor of the Naval & MIlitary Gazette. "The Duke and the Storming of Towns."] [LETTER, No. 3. (Confidential.) 26th August, 1839.]

Author: 
W. D. B. [Naval and Military Gazette; Duke of Wellington; Birmingham Riots of 1839]
Publication details: 
Dated 'W. D. B. | 4th September, 1839.' Printer not stated.
£120.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 22.5 x 14 cm): 12 pp paginated [3] to 14. Lacking (presumed) title-leaf. Unstitched, and consisting of one sheet of paper, 45 x 28 cm, folded twice to make four leaves; and one half sheet, 22.5 x 28 cm, folded to make two leaves. Text clear and entire, on heavily aged and spotted paper chipped at extremities. In an attempt to defend a perceived attack on his honour, W. D. B. prints, with commentary, three letters written by him to the editor of the Naval and Military Gazette, only the first of which was published (6 August 1839).

Four mid-eighteenth-century printed forms relating to English county militia: 'A Protection', 'Summons for Absentees or other Offenders', 'Mittimus on Refusal to Pay the Penalties', 'A Certificate of a Militia Man changing his Place of Abode'.

Author: 
[the county militia in eighteenth-century England; Hanoverian English magistracy; warrant; Justice of the Peace]
Publication details: 
The 'Summons' dated '175[ ]' and therefore from the 1750s, the other three items dated '17[ ]' and so eighteenth century. Three of the four 'Printed by J. TOWERS, near Air-Street, Piccadilly.'
£225.00

All four items well printed on one side of a piece of watermarked laid paper. All four lightly-aged but good. None of them filled in. The third item more dusty than the rest. Item One (15.5 x 20.5 cm): Headed 'No. VII. A PROTECTION.' To be signed by one of the 'Deputy Lieutenant, | Captain, | Commanding Officer.' Exempting the bearer, as a militia man, 'from doing any Highway Duty, commonly called Statute Work'.

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