AUTOGRAPH

Autograph Letter Signed ('Helen F. Martin') from the English actress Helen Faucit Martin, Lady Martin, to Mrs Paget, arranging a visit.

Author: 
Helen Faucit Martin [born Helena Faucit Saville] (1817-1898), Lady Martin, English actress, wife of Sir Theodore Martin (1816-1909)
Publication details: 
31 Onslow Square. 27 May [no year].
£35.00

2pp., 16mo. Bifolium. On monogrammed letterhead. In fair condition, with traces of glue from mount still adhering. She proposes a date for a meeting, adding: 'Will Miss Paget come in the evening & bring a young friend with her if she pleases?'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Newcastle') from Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton (1811-1864), 5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, declinging an invitation, and complaining of the effect of his public duties on his private affairs.

Author: 
Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton (1811-1864), 5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne
Publication details: 
Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire. 14 April 1855.
£35.00

4pp., 12mo. 26 lines. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressing an unnamed male correspondent, he begins by declining his correspondent's 'kind invitation' to his visit his house, 'on the ground that has already compelled me to refuse similar hospitality on that occasion from Mr. Wright and others'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('M. Combe') from Martha Combe, wife of the 'Printer to the University' Thomas Combe of the Oxford University Press, discussing the terms of lodgings with 'Mrs. Capel', with a reference to 'Mr. Hunt' [William Holman Hunt'].

Author: 
Martha Combe (1806-1893), wife of Thomas Combe (1796-1872), 'Printer to the University' at the Oxford University Press [William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), Pre-Raphaelite painter]
Publication details: 
'The University Press' [Oxford]. 19 April 1862.
£95.00

2pp., 12mo. 14 lines. With the address and date on the second leaf of the bifolium, the top part of which is lacking. Fair, on aged paper. Writing to an unnamed male correspondent, Mrs Combe states that if he should arrive during her absence, he will find his lodgings 'at Mrs. Capel 7. St. Giles's, Pastry Cook'. She describes the terms as '£1 a week including attendance, plate, cooking linen, with a gratuity to the servant at the end of the term'. She concludes: 'I hope Mr.

Autograph Note Signed ('E Cobham Brewer. -') from Rev. Dr Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, compiler of 'Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable', thanking an unnamed correspondent for taking an interest in his work.

Author: 
Rev. Dr Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-1897), compiler of 'Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'
Publication details: 
Ruddington, Nottingham. 25 January 1881.
£45.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'Dear Sir | I have to thank you for the courtesy of your letter received by post this morning. It is always gratifying to an author when another takes an interest in what he has written'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the poet Stephen Phillips to 'Mr Greenwood' [the journalist James Greenwood?]

Author: 
Stephen Phillips (1864-1915), English poet, playwright and actor [James Greenwood (c.1835-1927)]
Publication details: 
Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middlesex. Undated.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged grey paper, with slight chipping at one corner. The letter accompanies a copy of an unnamed play, which Phillips hopes will interest Greenwood. 'I will stand or fall by it. I have learnt so much from your criticism (more indeed than from any one) that I should hope that you might continue possibly that line of such sane and helpful criticism which I have learned to look for from "the onlooker".' He concludes by declaring that there is no one to whom he is sending the book 'with greater pleasure'.

Holograph essay by the Nantwych antiquary T. W. Jones, entitled 'Notices of Richard Brathwayte and his Works.' Accompanied by an Autograph Letter Signed ('T: W: Jones.') from Jones to Rev. Henry Green, regarding Brathwaite.

Author: 
T. W. Jones, Attorney at Law, Barker Street, Nantwich, antiquary [Rev. Henry Green; Richard Brathwaite [Brathwait; Brathwayte; Brathwayt] (1587-1673), English poet, Shakespeare contemporary]
Publication details: 
Holograph essay dated 'T. W. J. | June 1866.' Letter: Barker Street, Nantwich. 3 July 1866.
£400.00

Both essay and letter on aged and brittle paper, with some chipping to extremities (not affecting text). Both are written in a tight, close hand. The letter: 2pp., 12mo.

Autograph draft of a circular letter by the comedian Tommy Trinder urging Equity members to vote in favour of Sunday opening in a wartime ballot on that question. With a typescript of the circular, and a printed facsimile of Trinder's signature.

Author: 
Tommy Trinder [Thomas Edward Trinder] (1909-1989), English stage, screen and radio comedian with the catchphrase 'You lucky people!' [C.A.S.T., Campaign of Actors for Sunday Theatres, 1943]
Publication details: 
Undated [1943].
£120.00

The three items are stapled to one another, in good condition on lightly-aged paper. The first item is the typescript, which is 1p., 4to. It is addressed to 'Dear Brother Artist,' and begins: 'You will possibly be rather surprised to receive a letter from me, but after having spent most of my life in the Provinces, I now find myself landed in London. I am surprised at the amount of discussion and activity that takes place here regarding the "politics" of the theatre - and realise how you in the Provinces are apt to get left out.

Autograph Letter Signed from W. B. Dunlop to 'Mr. Hodge' [Chairman of Sotheby's Tom Hodge], discussing the acquisition for the Burns Cottage Museum of a copy of the Kilmarnock Edition of Robert Burns, with reference to prices fetched by other copies.

Author: 
W. B. Dunlop, cousin of William Hamilton Dunlop of Downside [Tom Hodge (1860-1939), Chairman of Sotheby's; Burns Cottage Museum, Alloway; George Seton Veitch of Paisley; Robert Burns]
Publication details: 
7 Carlton Street, Edinburgh. 23 July 1903.
£180.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Dunlop begins by informing Hodge that his cousin William Hamilton Dunlop of Downside, Ayrshire, 'has purchased as one of the Burns Monument Trustees the "Veitch" of Paisley copy of the Kilmarnock Burns for £1000'. He describes the book as 'the most perfect copy known uncut & with both blue paper covers much better than the Lamb copy.' Dunlop is 'glad it has been secured for the Burns Cottage Museum at Alloway & is not going across the fish pond [i.e.

Printed First World War circular from the 'British Repatriation Committee Lucerne, Organisation for the Assistance and Return of British Subjects', with form filled in by 'Mr & Mrs R. Haward Ives', giving 'reasons for urgency'.

Author: 
British Repatriation Committee Lucerne, Organisation for the Assistance and Return of British Subjects [Richard Haward Ives, Assistant Secretary, Essex and Suffolk Equitable Fire Insurance Society]
Publication details: 
Circular dated 'Schweizerhof Hotel, Lucerne, 13th August 1914.'
£56.00

1p., 4to., with vertical perforation dividing the circular (upper part) from the form (lower part). Fair, on lightly-aged and creased paper. The fourteen-line circular begins: 'It is appreciated that every British Subject wishes to return at once, but all will not be able to get in the first train. | The British Committee will have to select the order of going by the various degrees of urgency. [...] Persons in Government service, men going to mobilisation, and persons in distress, have special claims to priority.' The form, completed in pencil by 'Mr & Mrs R.

Material mainly relating to the Second World War and the Battle of Britain, from the papers of Flying Office Robert French Helm, Royal Air Force, including autograph material, photographs, tables.

Author: 
Flying Officer Robert French Helm (1913-1995), Royal Air Force [The Battle of Britain]
Publication details: 
The photographs date from the 1940s; the rest of the material circa 1960.
£400.00

Helm's promotion on 3 September 1940 to the rank of Flying Officer (41020) is recorded in the London Gazette, 15 October 1940. After the war he joined the International Civil Aviation Authority, working in Iran and Zambia, and was elected to the Membership of the Institute of Navigation, Royal Geological Society, in 1971. A total of 59pp., 8vo, of pencil notes and tables by Helm, relating to the RAF in the Second World War, with 6 original photographs.

Engraving titled 'A Curious Piece of Antiquity, On the Crucifixion of Our Saviour and the Two Thieves.' Consisting of a piece of pattern poetry around three crucifixes.

Author: 
John Fenley, Bristol bookseller [pattern poetry]
Publication details: 
'Bristol: Printed for and Sold by J. Fenley, 20, Broad-Mead. (Typ. Brookman.)' No date.
£85.00

Printed on one side of a piece of unwatermarked wove paper, 18 x 20cm. Aged and worn, with a number of closed tears. The poem crosses horizontally and verically through three crucifxes, beginning: 'Behold, O God! INRI vers of my Tears'. The poem was first published around 1765 by W. Bailey, 28 Great Tower-street, London, and was reprinted by several other publishers, with an American version as late as the 1850s. No copy of this edition is present on COPAC. According to BBTI John Fenley was active in Bristol from around 1785 to 1811.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Trollope') from Rev. William Trollope, classics master at Christ's Hospital, offering the London publishers Cadell & Davies his 'Analecta Theologica'. Together with the a statement of account by Cadell & Davies.

Author: 
Rev. William Trollope (1798-1863), MA, Pembroke College, Cambridge, one of the masters of Christ's Hospital [Cadell & Davies, London publishers; Thomas Cadell (1773-1836); William Davies]
Publication details: 
Trollope's letter: Christs Hospital. 12 September 1827. The statement of account at 28 December 1829 (volume 1) and August 1835 (volume 2).
£166.00

Trollope's letter: 3pp., 12mo. 48 lines. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper. Addressed, with postmarks, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Messrs. Cadell & Co. | Booksellers | Strand.' Trollope begins by announcing that he has 'a work nearly ready for the Press, wh. may probably be worth your attention [...] It is designed as companion to Mr Horne's work on the Scriptures, of wh. as you are the publishers, you may perhaps have no objection to engage in another, wh.

Five items from the papers of Robert French Helm, relating to his post-war career at the International Civil Aviation Authority, including a report and plans on the 'Zambianization of the Air Traffic Services Division', and two chapters of memoirs.

Author: 
Robert French Helm (1913-1995), of the International Civil Aviation Authority, a Royal Air Force Flying Officer in the Second World War [Institute of Navigation, Royal Geographical Society]
Publication details: 
Undated [relating to events in the 1950s and 1960s], apart from the certificate, which is from 1971.
£220.00

ONE: Mimeographed typed document titled 'Zambianization of the Air Traffic Services Division of the Department of Civil Aviation'. 7pp., foolscap 8vo, with eighth page carrying table of contents. Undated [mid 1960s]. Given that the plans accompanying this item are initialed by Helm, it seems reasonable to assume that this report is also his work.

Signed autograph itemised receipt by William Croslie [wine and spirit merchant, Castle Douglas?], for food and drink provided to 'Fanny Wilson for fathers funeral' in Scotland.

Author: 
William Crosbie, wine and spirit merchant, Castle Douglas [Fanny Wilson; funerals in Scotland]
Publication details: 
1 October 1810.
£56.00

Possibly submitted by the 'Mr William Crosbie, wine and spirit merchant', whose death at Castle Douglas on 15 March 1821 is recorded in Blackwood's Magazine, April 1821. 1p., 8vo. Neatly written out on watermarked laid paper. Headed 'Fanny Wilson for fathers funeral | To William Crosbie | 1810'. Eleven entries for the funeral on 1 October 1812, including two plum cakes, '11 Cakes Short Bread'; '2 Gallons <?> Rum' and '2 1/4 ditto Whisky'; '6 Bottles Old Port' and '6 ditto Sherry'. Receipt of payment on 5 November at foot, signed by Crosbie.

Autograph Signature of the actor Charles Kean, brother of Edmund Kean.

Author: 
Charles Kean [Charles John Kean] (1811-1868), Irish actor, brother of Edmund Kean (1787-1833)
Publication details: 
Aster House [New York]. 9 June 1846.
£23.00

A good, firm signature, written on one side of a rectangle torn from the base of a letter, roughly 15 x 20cm. Aged and little creased. Written while Kean was on an American theatrical tour, the fragment reads 'I remain, | Yours truly | [signed] Charles Kean | Aster House | 9th. June | 1846.' In pencil on the reverse: 'Presented by A. Bassler'.

Typed Letter Signed from the Anglo-Jewish novelist Emanuel Litvinoff, thanking Derek Stanford for a review, and discussing the novelist Angus Wilson ('one of the few writers to whom I've written a fan letter') and short story writing.

Author: 
Emanuel Litvinoff (19150-2011), Anglo-Jewish novelist [Derek Stanford (1918-2008), Anglo-Jewish author and critic; Angus Wilson (1913-1991), English novelist]
Publication details: 
36 Byron Court, Mecklenburgh Square, London. 2 July 1973.
£165.00

1p., 4to. He thanks Stanford for sending 'the carbon' of his 'warm review' of Litvinoff's novel ('A Death out of Season'). He missed the article and the note Stanford wrote 'about my autobiographical sequence' in the Scotsman, but is now iinterested to see from the review that Stanford is 'nursing the idea of a 'Forties memoir. Amazingly, few of us have written about the decade. I shall be getting around to it one day also, I hope.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Georg Henschel') from Sir George Henschel, the baritone and pianist, to Lady Thompson, asking her to extend the hospitality to 'Mr. and Mrs. Koecher (and the Misses Koecher)'.

Author: 
Sir George Henschel [born Isidor Georg Henschel] (1850-1934), German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor and composer
Publication details: 
25 Gloucester Road, Regents Park, NW [London]. 15 June 1881.
£40.00

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with strip of tape from previous mounting adhering at the foot of the recto of the second leaf. He asks her to send 'cards for your afternoon Friday' to 'our dear friends Mr. and Mrs. Koecher (and the Misses Koecher)', who would 'enjoy every minute'. He gives the Koecher's address as de Keyser's Royal Hotel, Blackfriars, and ends by conveying his wife's love.

Autograph Signature of the Irish politician and traveller, John Talbot Dillon, Baron Dillon.

Author: 
Sir John Talbot Dillon (1739-1805), 1st Baronet, Baron Dillon, Irish politician, traveller and author
Publication details: 
Madrid. 1 July 1777.
£120.00

1p., 12mo. An autograph note, apparently written at the head of the detached fly-leaf of a book. Fair, on aged paper, laid down on a torn page from an autograph album. Reads: 'This is a Curious & very Scarce Book. - | Madrid 1st. July 1777. | [signed] John Talbot Dillon | Knt. & Baron of the S. R. Empire.' The abbreviation stands for 'Sacred Roman Empire'.

Autograph Card Signed ('Geo R Sims') from the dramatist George R. Sims thanking Thomas Hutchinson for a letter, with reference to a visit to Liverpool.

Author: 
George R. Sims [George Robert Sims] (1847-1922), English dramatist and author [Thomas Hutchinson]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 12 Clarence Terrace, Regent's Park, NW [London]. 7 September 1900.
£30.00

The letterhead includes a facsimile of Sims's signature. Six lines, on one side of the card. Addressed at foot to 'Thos Hutchinson Esq.' Fair, on aged paper, with strip of gummed paper from mount at head of blank reverse. He sends 'a thousand thanks' for Hutchinson's 'kind letter on Sep 2', which he would have answered earlier, had he not been 'away at Liverpool'. He concludes: 'Your good wishes lay upon my table to welcome me home.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. R. Planché') from the dramatist and herald James Robinson Planché, thanking 'Mr. Barnett' for procuring the freedom of Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket, for him,with reference to its manager Benjamin Lumley.

Author: 
James Robinson Planché [J. R. Planché] (1796-1880), dramatist, antiquary and Somerset Herald [Benjamin Lumley (1811-1875), manager of Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket]
Publication details: 
Garrick Club. 24 April [no year].
£40.00

1p., 12mo. Fair, on aged paper and worn paper. He is 'exceedingly obliged' to Barnett for 'procuring for me the freedom of Her Majesty's Theatre'. He asks if he will 'receive an official commemoration from Mr. Lumley', or whether he should write and thank Lumley on the strength of Barnett's note.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Scottish genealogist John Stuart to 'Miss Yonge' [the novelist Charlotte M. Yonge], concerning 'a Letter of the Great Marquis [of Montrose] recently brought to light, with reference to the historian Mark Napier.

Author: 
John Stuart (1813-1877), Scottish genealogist [Charlotte M. Yonge (1823-1901), novelist; Mark Napier (1798-1879), Scottish antiquary]
Publication details: 
General Register House, Edinburgh; on embossed letterhyead of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 31 December 1872.
£56.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Julian Pauncefote') from Sir Julian Pauncefote, Ambassador to the United States, to Lord Aberdeen, Governor General of Canada, regarding tours of Canada by Justice Harlan and French Ambassador Jules-Martin Cambon.

Author: 
Julian Pauncefote (1828-1902), 1st Baron Pauncefote, the first British Ambassador to the United States, 1893-1902 [John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon (1847-1934), 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair]
Publication details: 
Both on letterheads of the British Embassy, Washington, but with the location changed in manuscript in second letter to 'New London' [Prince Edward Island, Canada]. 21 June 1897 and 27 August 1898.
£150.00

Both items 4pp., 12mo, and bifoliums. Both in fair condition, on aged paper; the first with slight wear to one corner. In the first letter Pauncefote informs Aberdeen that Justice John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911), who has just visited him, is planning a summer holiday 'at Murray Bay in your Dominion'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Louisa Parr') from the Victorian novelist Mrs Louisa Sarah Ann Parr (pseudonym 'Mrs. Olinthus Lobb'), regarding the translation into French by the neice of the unnamed female recipient of her novel 'Dorothy Fox'.

Author: 
Louisa Sarah Ann Parr [née Taylor] (c.1848-1903), Victorian novelist under the pseudonym 'Mrs. Olinthus Lobb'
Publication details: 
18 Upper Phillimore Place, Kensington. 27 July 1872.
£40.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium, with leaf dimensions 18 x 11cm. The letter appears complete, in good condition on lightly-aged paper, but a rectangle of about 5.5 x 11cm. (perhaps carrying the recipient's name) has been torn from the bottom of the second leaf.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Rev. Charles Rogers, LLD, to the autograph hunter J. T. Baron of Blackburn, discussing the availability of his 'Boswelliana' and 'Century of Scottish Life'.

Author: 
Rev. Charles Rogers, LLD (1825–1890), Church of Scotland minister and historian [John T. Baron of Blackburn, autograph hunter]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 3 Brandon Street, Edinburgh. 15 March1882.
£60.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. With remains of envelope, addressed by Rogers. He states that his 'Boswelliana', which was 'published at a guinea can be got for twelve shillings', and that 'a bookseller has undertaken to hunt for 'A Century of Scottish Life' which has long been sold off; it will cost you six shillings - six was the original price.' After forwarding the address of Sabine Baring-Gould he states that he is 'now living in Edinburgh at the above address'.

Manuscript receipt, signed ('Arch Forbes') by the war correspondent Archibald Forbes, for £50 from the London publishers Henry S. King & Co., for the right to publish an edition of 1000 copies of his 'Soldiering and Scribbling'.

Author: 
Archibald Forbes (1838-1900), British war correspondent, born in Scotland [Henry S. King & Co., 65 Cornhill, London publishers]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. 27 June 1872.
£56.00

1p., landscape 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper. Signed by Forbes over a purple one penny Inland Revenue stamp. Reads: '£50 : 0 : 0 | 27th. June 1872. | Received of Messrs: Henry S. King & Co. of 65 Cornhill London, the sum of Fifty Pounds in payment for the right to publish an edition of 1000 copies of "Soldiering and Scribbling" | [signed] Arch Forbes'. The book was published by the firm in the same year as the receipt.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Chauncey B. Tinker') from the Boswell scholar Chauncey Brewster Tinker, Professor of English Literature at Yale University, concerning the proposed presentation of a manuscript by Charles McCamie of West Virginia.

Author: 
Chauncey Brewster Tinker (1876-1963), Professor of English Literature at Yale University, and authority on James Boswell and Doctor Samuel Johnson
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Yale College Department of English. 8 October 1924.
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. With stamped and postmarked envelope, addressed by Tinker to 'Chas. Mc.Carnie, Esqr., | Natl. Bank of W. V. Bldg, | Wheeling, W. V.' Tinker considers that 'The MSS.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Ellenborough') from Lord Ellenborough to John Forbes Royle, commending his 'Essay on the Productive Resource of India'.

Author: 
Edward Law (1790-1871), 1st Earl of Ellenborough, Tory politician and Governor-General of India between 1842 and 1844 [John Forbes Royle (1799-1858), English botanist, born in India]
Publication details: 
Grosvenor Place, London. 1 January 1841.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. He begins: 'I have just received your work on the productive resources of India for which I beg to offer you my best thanks.' The subject has always been to him 'one of the deepest interest', and he rejoices that 'a gentleman of your knowledge has directed his attention to it'.

Typescript titled 'The Last Month', signed 'Ernie Wilmott', describing the author's experiences during the last days of World War Two at Gaschwitz POW camp near Leipzig. With covering ALS from J. L. H. Batt ('Jack') and TLS to Batt from Charles

Author: 
Ernie Wilmott [J. L. H. Batt [Jack Lynden Batt] (b.1922), of 155th Battery, 172nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery]
Publication details: 
Without place and date (1960s?). The account describes events in April and May 1945.
£300.00

13pp., foolscap 8vo. Paginated 1 to 13 and signed at the end 'Ernie Wilmott'. On seven leaves stapled into grey covers, with the title 'The Last Month' typed on the front cover. In good condition, in worn wraps. The account commences: 'There had been gun fire from the west and the south for the last three days. Friday the 13th April 1945 the usual officials did not come to fetch the men, but a little later than usual the Gaschwyz [sic] column was called, so we assembled and left for work, about 20 of us.

Autograph Letter Signed from the American critic and biographer Eugene Parsons to C. J. Caswell,

Author: 
Eugene Parsons (1855-1933), American author and critic, biographer of George Washington and editor of Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Publication details: 
3612 Stanton Avenue, Chicago. 21 November 189<2>.
£120.00

4pp., 12mo. Worn and stained on four leaves with wear to extremities resulting in slight loss of text, and with at least one leaf lacking. Parsons begins by informing Caswell that he is sending him a copy of the Examiner containing his article on 'Tennyson's Literary Career': 'It was sent to the Editor only a few days after the poet's death when I knew nothing about the title or contents of the new book of poems.' He discusses his plans to insert the article when he republishes his pamphlet (Parsons' 'Tennyson's Life and Poetry' appeared in 1892, with a revised edition the following year).

Autograph Album of Agnes Rothsay, daughter of Frank Rothsay, Actor-Manager of the Borough Theatre, Stratford, containing signatures, messages and drawings mostly by individuals connected to the stage, many in the company of 'The Prince of Pilser.

Author: 
Frank Rothsay, Actor-Manager of the Borough Theatre, Stratford, and his daughter Agnes Rothsay
Publication details: 
Compiled while the Rothsays lived in West Ham, between 1906 and 1909.
£300.00

Landscape 8vo album with 82pp. on 73 leaves of different coloured paper in original cloth. Aged and loose, in worn binding. The autographs are mainly theatrical, and although lacking any first-rate actors, provide a tantalising glimpse into a lost world. Laid down are signed postcards from.Stella Gastelle, Ethel Ward and Ben Albert ('To Miss Rothsay | Best Wishes from her Dad's Pal Ben').

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