AUTOGRAPH

1p, 12mo. Letterhead in green. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of glue from mount adhering to blank reverse. Addressed to 'My dear Chudleigh'. He asks him to accept 'the accompanying volume', which he ordered to be bound for him 'weeks ago but it has only turned up this morning'. He is 'delighted to know that Pinero's brilliant play seems to he having the great success it deserves'.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. He is 'very much obliged' to Frewen for the offer 'of duplicates to help in the restoration of destroyed libraries', and notes that 'it is impossible to forecast the needs that will exist at the end of the war'. In the meantime he has 'marked with the initials F. [L. S.?] a number of volumes in your list which I think are sure to be useful for our purpose.

Other than 'The Lavender Hill Mob', for which he won an Oscar, Clarke's screenplays include 'The Blue Lamp' and 'The Titchfield Thunderbolt'. For the recipient Barbara Kaye [Barbara Kenrick Gowing] (1908-1998), writer, bookseller and wife of Percy Muir, see her obituary by Nicolas Barker in the Independent, 12 March 1998. The present letter was written a few days after Clarke's appearance on 31 October on the television programme 'This Is Your Life'. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn. Folded once. The letter begins: 'Dear Barbara, | Many thanks for your kind letter.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with three punch holes to margin, and endorsement of number in a circle. The letter begins: 'My dear Percy | Your catalogues – especially the literary parts of them – are my favourite reading. You find such unusual books, and describe them with such care and skill.' He asks him to send him, 'to Soho Square', the two Rothenstein items nos 260 and 260 a'. He explains that while he longs 'for some of the Blunts', his daughter is getting married that June, and he is 'saving up for that'.

On the letterhead-side of an unillustrated postcard. In fair condition, aged and worn, with pin holes to one corner. Reads: 'Dear Mrs. Russell, | We have so enjoyed the Japonica jelly. I had never tasted it before. It is a most delicate preserve, and so pretty. | With many thanks, | Yours sincerely, | Ruth Pitter.' Note in another hand in pencil on reverse, including the address of Dr F. S. Wallis, City Museum, Bristol. Initially encouraged by Hilaire Belloc, Pitter was a traditional poet four of whose poems were included by Larkin in the Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering at one edge. Folded twice. The recipient of the letter is the surgeon Henry William Robert Davey (1798-1870), son of surgeon Henry Sallows Davey (1781-1855) of Beccles. Reads: 'My dear Sir | I quite agree with you in your statement regarding our patient Mr. Cowan, & am [?] to support any alteration in your plan of treatment which appears to me to be most judicious'.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, a little grubby, with thin strip of paper from mount along one edge. Folded twice. Reads: 'Dear Sir | Would you kindly put one of these objects under your microscope & tell me what it is?' In the year of the present note Quekett's position at the Hunterian Museum would change from Demonstrator of Minute Anatomy to Professor of Histology. He was also Secretary of the Microscopical Society.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium, endorsed 'Clarke' on reverse of second leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded three times. The letter begins: 'My dear Webster, | Charles Kean has requested me to give him information respecting Theatres in England, in which it is probable he may form engagements on his return from America, as he wishes his plans to be arranged if possible previous to his departure from the United States, so as he may see his way clearly on his arrival in England.' He asks whether it would answer Webster's purpose 'to make any proposal to him'.

According to 'The Correspondence of David Scott, Director and Chairman of the East India Company', C. H. Phillips ed. (1951), two regiments of Royal East India Volunteers were formed in 1796, 'to defend the City of London. They were largely recruited from the India House staff, and Scott acted as Colonel of the first regiment'. This is the period during which the celebrated essayist Charles Lamb was working at India House. See also Margaret Makepeace, 'The Royal East India Volunteers: The ‘Union of Civil and Military Dependence’ (2010). The document is 1p, 8vo., and headed 'Regt Ors.

2pp, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. A very good and informative letter. Written from the A. J. C. Ranch, which Van Druten had purchased with his former lover Carter Lodge (now his business manager) and the British actress Auriol Lee. Van Druten left his interest in the ranch to Lodge, together with the rights to his work, including the play discussed here, 'I am a Camera', an adapatation of Christopher Isherwood's stories. (For the relationship between Van Druten and Isherwood, see Peter Parker's biography of the latter.) This entitled Lodge to income from the film 'Cabaret'.

1p, 16mo. In fair condition, folded once, with two punch holes at margin, one affecting a word of text. She states that it is kind of him to ask her again, and she feels 'very churlish in having to say NO a second time', but her 'autumn-winter plans are complicated by a big concert tour & a lot of other [pro]bable dates', so she must reluctantly refuse his invitation.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once with two punch holes in margin, one affecting two words of text. A fascinating letter, in which Grenfell discusses her faith with great seriousness. She begins by stating that she is going to give the answers to the questions in his letter. Firstly she apologises for not knowing 'the recitation from which you quote.

For information on Russell see the Oxford DNB entry on his wife from 1957, the social worker Kit Russell [Katherine Frances Russell, née Stewart] (1909-1998). Both letters are in fair condition, lightly aged and creased. ONE: Signed 'Joyce Grenfell'. 2pp, 12mo. She begins the letter with a question: 'Dear Sheridan Russell. | What is Time and Talents?

4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn. Addressed to '[R.?] Wedgwood Esq'. The letter begins: 'Dear Mr Wedgwood | I have presented the Petitions with which I was intrusted on the subject of oaths. | The clause in the Common Law Procedure Bill certainly is very far from affording complete redress – but I should think the more expedient course will be to abstain for the present from [voting?] in a general measure upon the subject.

4pp, 16mo. Bifolium on light-green paper. In good condition, lightly aged. The letter begins: 'My Dear Miss de Witte | Of course I found the Yankee Poems directly after You were Gone – too carefully put by. Do not put mine away too carefully – as I want You to really read them. (Poetry of France) The sad lines of Marguerite d'Ecosse (in the notes at the end) are original & perhaps will stroke You – as the mournful Subject did me.

For information on Kenney and the recipient Thomas Hill, see their entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. Bifiolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed, with postmark, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Thos. Hill Esqr | Queen Hith' [i.e. Queenhithe, London]. Hill had presumably requested a representation of Kenney, and the tone of the letter is that of one man of the world addressing another, accurately caught by a dramatist: 'Dear Sir, | I have just received your note of the 10th.

3pp, 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed, with Versailles postmark, on reverse of second leaf, 'A Mademoiselle Holcroft | Chateau de Pinon | près | Chavignon | Dep. de l'Aisne'. The background to the letter requires some explanation. In 1812 a prosperous Kenney had married Louisa Mercier (c.1780-1853), daughter of the French dramatist Louis-Sébastien Mercier (1740-1814), and fourth wife and widow of the playwright Thomas Holcroft, a leading radical who had assisted his friend Thomas Paine publish 'The Rights of Man'.

1p, 12mo. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf, with small seal in black wax, to 'J Scoles Esqr | Argyll Place'. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with damage to second leaf from breaking of seal. Folded twice. Written in a tight, florid hand. Reads: 'Dear Sir | I hear there will be no admission into Your Church tomorrow without tickets. If you should have any of said Tickets to spare, please to favour with one two or three according to circumstances – Yours Very Faithfully | J Landseer'.

Lingard's standing as a pioneer of historical method has never been higher. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A chastening document, in which Lingard states that he feels within himself the beginnings of the 'paralysis of the brain' which he first observed in Robert Southey 'in the year 1830' (this must surely be a mistake for 1840). Lingard was on cordial terms with Southey. In 1834 he called on him and Wordsworth to give evidence on a literary point in a lawsuit. The present item is a square of paper cut from the conclusion of a letter. Recipient not named. In fair condition, lightly aged.

Florence Montgomery's 1869 novel 'Misunderstood' was admired by Henry James, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and George Du Maurier, and was childhood reading of Vladimir Nabokov. It has been adapted for cinema twice (in Italy in 1966, in Hollywood in 1984). The present item is 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In envelope addressed to 'Mrs. William Levi | Woughton Hall | Bletchley'. (The recipient Lilian Maud Levi was the granddaughter of Sir Henry Cunningham Montgomery, and the daughter of the Dean of Worcester Grantham Munton Yorke.) The postmark gives the year as 1921.

For information on Castlereagh, who in his rakish youth was known as ‘Cas’ or ‘Young Rapid’, see his entry in the History of Parliament. In 1833 he is said to have sired a child by the celebrated actress Madame Vestris, leading Lady Holland to comment that he was 'enchanted at his feat’. Queen Victoria considered him unfit for any serious responsibility. He inherited the family trait of mental instability (Lord John Russell commenting that‘he talks, but does not seem mad’) and spent his last years incarcerated. 1p, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of tape from mount adhering to one edge, and overlapping onto loop of last letter of Lockhart's signature. Folded once. Expansive stylized signature. He is obliged to her for sending him 'the Memoir of the late Major Johnson'. He intended to postpone his reply to her letter until after he finished reading the book, but he is too busy to 'read it through for a few days – and meanwhile you might wonder that you received no acknowledgment'. A 'cursory glance' indicates that the book will please and interest him.

1p, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of glue from mount at head of reverse of second leaf, which is addressed, with broken seal in red wax, to 'Arthur West Esq | Beeching [i.e. modern-day 'Beechen'] Cliff | Bath.' The page is headed: 'The Police Establishment of Edinburgh consists of,' and the text is neatly written out in two columns. The first is headed 'In the Watching department', and contains twelve entries from '1 Superintendent' to '2 Female [Turnkeys]', including '30 Night Patrole men' and '166 night watchmen'.

1p, 4to. In fair condition, aged and creased, on thin Whatman wove paper, with wear to edges. Reads: 'I was acquainted, for some years, with Mr. Horatio Goodday, while he was residing as a pupil, with my friend Mr. Fincham, of Spring-Gardens, [i.e. the surgeon George Fincham] and had many opportunities of observing his excellent moral qualities and professional acquirements. Mr. Fincham has always expressed himself as highly pleased with the excellent conduct of his pupil.'

2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. In envelope with stamps and postmarks, addressed by Landor to 'Stephen Wheeler Esq | Oriental Club | Hanover Square | W.' He begins by acknowledging his letter, adding: 'I am quite of your opinion regarding the papers which are to be disposed of at the Browning's [sic] Sale'. Landor will 'try to get some of the autographs', but suspects that they 'may go too high'. He would have great pleasure in seeing Wheeler should he be 'in this neighbourhood', and gives details of when he will be at home.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Addressed to 'E Gambart Esq' and endorsed by the recipient. Two years earlier Gambart had published 'Passages from the Poems of Thomas Hood', illustrated with 34 plates by the Junior Etching Club (of which Whistler was a member between 1857 and 1862). The book had been well-received, but the letter makes clear that it had not covered its costs.

Joad's rise and fall are admirably described in Jason Tomes' entry on him in the Oxford DNB. The present letter was written after the disgrace which followed his 1948 conviction for fare-dodging. Not only was Joad dropped from the programme which had made him a nationwide celebrity, 'The Brains Trust', as a result, but his well-founded hopes of a peerage were dashed. It is interesting to note from the present letter that Joad continued to work for the BBC after his disgrace. The letter is 2pp, landscape 12mo. In fair condition, aged and creased, with two punch-holes at head.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. 'My dear Sir | The Era Almanack will entirely consist of Theatrical information and general literature is not contemplated in the plan. Otherwise I need hardly say I should have been most happy to have availed myself of your aid.' The Era Almanack ran from 1868 to 1919, and was one of the more reliable theatrical annuals.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn. Placed in an aged windowpane mount with fraying to edges. The recipient is not named. The letter is endorsed with the year '1846'. Reads: 'My dear Sir | I beg leave to introduce to your notice Mr. Workman who has a very fine Bass Voice he is desirous of an engagement in your chorus he reads music very well and I think would be of service to you if you have a vacancy'.

Considering his involvement in the artistic world of late-Victorian and Edwardian London – exemplified by the present letter – there is a puzzling lack of information available on Downey. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, aged and creased, with nicking to edges. An interesting letter, full of content. He writes that he has had 'a rather grim time lately', his sister having fallen ill and died that week.