BARON

[Baroness von Bunsen (née Frances Waddington), hostess and biographer, wife of the celebrated Baron von Bunsen.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs. Hall', giving her reasons for declining an invitation, and referring to her husband's illness.

Author: 
Frances von Bunsen (née Waddington; 1791-1876), Baroness von Bunsen in the Prussian nobility, English wife of the diplomat and scholar Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen (1791-1860), Baron von Bunsen
Publication details: 
‘Charlottenberg [Germany] Monday 15 Septr.’ [no year]
£50.00

See her husband’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The couple married in Rome in 1817, ‘in the chapel of Niebuhr's residence, the Palazzo Savelli. The couple had ten children, five sons and five daughters, including the biblical scholar Ernest Christian Ludwig de Bunsen. Born at Dunston Park, Berkshire, on 4 March 1791 and educated by her mother at Llanofer, Frances von Bunsen did not visit her native country for twenty-one years after her marriage.’ The recipient is presumably an in-law: her younger sister Augusta had married Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover. 3pp, 16mo. Bifolium.

[Lord Erskine [Thomas Erskine], judge and Whig politician, Lord Chancellor in the Ministry of All the Talents.] Autograph Letter Signed [to Hon. Theresa Villiers?] on the background to his pamphlet on 'The Present War with France'.

Author: 
Lord Erskine [Thomas Erskine (1750-1823)], Scottish judge and Whig politician, Lord Chancellor in the Ministry of All the Talents
Publication details: 
21 February 1808. No place.
£280.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The item is from the Villiers papers, and the recipient is presumably the Theresa, wife of the Hon. George Villiers (1759-1827), daughter of Lord Boringdon and sister of the Earl of Morley. (See the entry on her son Thomas Hyde Villiers (1801-1832) in the History of Parliament.) 2pp, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, folded once. Signed ‘Erskine’.

[Baron von Bunsen [Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen], Prussian Ambassador to the Court of St James’s.] Autograph Letter Signed and Autograph Note Signed to Lady Theresa Villiers, the letter with reference to a young child's party.

Author: 
Baron von Bunsen [Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen] (1791-1860), Prussian Ambassador to Court of St James’s [Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), author]
Publication details: 
ANS: ‘4 Carlton Terrace [London] / Tuesday 24.’ ALS: ‘C. T. Thursday / 25’. Neither item has the full date.
£56.00

Written while Bunsen was Ambassador in London, 1841-1854. The recipient Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865) was the sister of the Liberal Foreign Secretary the 4th Earl of Clarendon, and successively the wife of the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842) and the Liberal politician Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), all of whom also have entries in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, on pieces of gilt-edged paper, folded for postage. Bunsen is writing from part of what was known as ‘Prussia House’. ANS (‘Tuesday 24.’): 1p, 32mo.

[Baron von Bunsen [Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen], Prussian Ambassador to the Court of St James’s.] Autograph Letter Signed, in English, to the English Foreign Secretary Lord Clarendon, regarding a railway journey with Count Groeben.

Author: 
Baron von Bunsen [Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen] (1791-1860), Prussian Ambassador to Court of St James’s [Lord Clarendon [George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon]
Publication details: 
‘Prussia House [i.e. Prussian embassy, London] Monday’. [Annotated: ‘Chev Bunsen / March 1854’.]
£50.00

Written while Bunsen was Ambassador in London, 1841-1854. See the recipient's entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo, on the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip cut from second leaf, which is docketed ‘Chev Bunsen / March 1854 / Interieur’. The letter reads: ‘My dear Lord Clarendon / I shall not fail to be at the appointed time, to-morrow eleven o’clock, at the Railway Station, and bring Count Groeben with me (who is enchanted with your reception & concersation). / Every yours faithfully / Bunsen’.

[Lord Hugh Cecil [Hugh Richard Heathcote Gascoyne-Cecil, 1st Baron Quickswood], British Conservative politician.] Typed Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Provost’ [W. D. Ross, Provost of Oriel], sending a memorandum on ‘the recent crisis in Foreign Affairs’.

Author: 
Lord Hugh Cecil [Hugh Richard Heathcote Gascoyne-Cecil (1869-1956), 1st Baron Quickswood], Conservative politician, Provost of Eton [Sir David Ross, Provost of Oriel, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford]
Publication details: 
21 December 1935. On letterhead of Hatfield House, Hatfield, Herts.
£45.00

Cecil, who was the best man at Churchill’s wedding, was regarded as the finest orator of his generation. See his entry, and that of Ross, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr Provost’ and signed ‘Hugh Cecil’. He apologises for the late reply, but has ‘been ill and until yesterday was strictly confined to my room here’. He has received too many letters to be able to reply to each. ‘I therefore venture to enclose to you a brief Memorandum which I have drawn up dealing with the recent crisis in Foreign Affairs’.

[‘the lover of words (as I am)’: Lord Birkett, judge, British representative at the Nuremberg Trials.] Two Typed Letters Signed, one with long Autograph Postscript, and Typed Note Signed, all to V. H. Collins, defending his use of language.

Author: 
Lord Birkett [William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett] (1883-1962), judge, a British representative at the Nuremberg Trials, Lord Justice of Appeal, Liberal Member of Parliament [Vere Henry Collins]
Publication details: 
LETTERS: 9 July 1953 and 11 May 1954. NOTE: 14 July 1953. All three items on letterheads of the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2.
£180.00

The third letter gives an excellent indication of Birkett’s pride in his use of language. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler. All three signed ‘Norman Birkett’. In fair condition, lightly aged and little grubby. The first letter with a small hole to one corner, and the two leaves of the last letter held together with a pin. ONE: ALS, 9 July 1953. 1pp, 4to. He is adding Collins’s book to his ‘select library on “words”’.

[Lord Robson [William Snowden Robson, Baron Robson], English judge and Liberal MP, Solicitor General and Attorney General.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to 'B Piffard Esq', regarding his possible candidacy in the coming general election.

Author: 
Lord Robson [William Snowden Robson, Baron Robson] (1852-1918), English judge, Liberal MP, Solicitor General and Attorney General [Bernard Piffard (1833-1916), microscopist and entomologist]
Publication details: 
ONE: 26 May 1885. On letterhead of 45, Curzon Street, Mayfair. W. [London] TWO: 15 June 1885. On letterhead of 3, Plowden Buildings, Temple. E.C. [London]
£60.00

Interesting items, casting light on the nitty-gritty of Victorian constituency politics. Both are signed 'W. S. Robson' and addressed to 'B. Piffard Esq'. Both in good condition, lightly aged, with the second a little spotted. Each on a bifolium. ONE (26 May 1885): 3pp, 12mo. He has been informed 'that it is now the wish of the Watford (or Divisional) Association that I should visit the Division & address meetings there.

[Lord Grenfell [Francis Wallace Grenfell], British Army soldier, Governor of Malta, Commander-in-Chief, Ireland.] Autograph Signature (‘Francis Grenfell / Maj Genl’) cut from a letter for an autograph hunter.

Author: 
Lord Grenfell [Field Marshal Francis Wallace Grenfell, 1st Baron Grenfell (1841-1925)], British Army soldier, victor at Suakin and Toski in Mahdist War; Governor of Malta; Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
Lord Grenfell
Publication details: 
16 April 1892. No place.
£45.00
Lord Grenfell

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 13 x 6.5 cm piece of thin paper, apparently cut from the end of a letter for an autograph hunter. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, folded twice. Reads: ‘Francis Grenfell / Maj Genl / April 16 / 1892.’ See image.

[Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury during the Abdication Crisis.] Typed Letter Signed ('Cosmo Cantuar:') to the Provost of Oriel [Sir David Ross], regarding his nomination of ‘Mr. Randall Cooper’ as a British Museum Assistant Cataloguer..

Author: 
Cosmo Lang [William Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth] (1864-1945), Archbishop of Canterbury during the Abdication Crisis [Sir David Ross [W. D. Ross] (1877-1971), Scottish philosopher']
Cosmo Lang,
Publication details: 
22 November 1933; on letterhead of Lambeth Palace, S.E.1. [London]
£45.00
Cosmo Lang,

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to 'The Provost of Oriel' and with sprawling signature 'Yours vy trly / Cosmo Cantuar:'. Reads: 'Dear Provost, / I have received your letter of November 20th about Mr. Randall Cooper. I am sorry to say that your letter came too late for the appointment of the first batch of Assistant Cataloguers. They have now been appointed but I am informed that there may be further appointments in the Spring.

[Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury during the Abdication Crisis.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Lang of Lambeth / Abp.') to the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford [Sir David Ross],

Author: 
Cosmo Lang [William Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth] (1864-1945), Archbishop of Canterbury during the Abdication Crisis [Sir David Ross [W. D. Ross] (1877-1971); Lord David Cecil]
Publication details: 
18 March 1944; on embossed letterhead of The King's Cottage, Kew Green, Richmond, Surrey.
£45.00

See the entries for Lang and Ross in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo, on light-grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Begins 'Dear Vice Chancellor. / Some time ago I proposed Sir David Cecil for election to the Athenaeum. His name has produced a remarkable number of supporters, but no one has been put down as seconder to my proposal.' He asks Ross to second Cecil's nomination, before writing a sentence which is hard to decipher. He concludes by suggesting that he inform the club secretary accordingly, if Ross is willing.

[Edward Grenfell [Edward Charles Grenfell, 1st Baron St Just], banker and politician.] Autograph Letter Signed, praising ‘Mr Ross’ for the extra work he has undertaken during ‘this unhappy year’, in an attempt to ‘aid your country’s interest'.

Author: 
Edward Grenfell [Edward Charles Grenfell, 1st Baron St Just] (1870-1941), banker and politician [Sir David Ross [W. D. Ross] (1877-1971), Scottish philosopher]
Publication details: 
31 December 1915; on letterhead of 22 Old Broad Street, London, E.C.
£50.00

See the entries for Grenfell and Ross in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium of light-grey paper. In fair condition, aged and spotted. Folded once for postage. The identity of the recipient is unclear, but the item derives from the papers of Sir David Ross [W. D. Ross], Scottish philosopher and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (see the Oxford DNB).

[Lt. Gen.Sir Benjamin Bloomfield, Commander Woolwich Garrison] Autograph Signature from Letter, laid down album page with an outstanding hand-drawn coloured crest. Verso: engraving of Caroline Norton and her facsimile signature.

Author: 
Lieut. General Sir Benjamin Bloomfield (1768-1846), British Army officer, Private Secretary to the Sovereign, MP, Commander of the Woolwich Garrison.
Bloomfield
Publication details: 
The fragment of the letter bearing the signature dated 1845. The other material undated. No place.
£120.00
Bloomfield

See Bloomfield’s entry, and that of Norton, in the Oxford DNB. The fragment of the letter bearing his signature is 5 cm x 4.5 cm. It is dated at one corner ‘1845’, and reads ‘R. Bgham / Bloomfield’. It is laid down on one side of a 4to leaf extracted from an album and paginated 58.

[Richard Attenborough [Lord Attenborough], British film actor and director.] Typed Letter Signed to Mr and Mrs Allchild, thanking them for their donation to the Actors’ Orphanage Fund.

Author: 
Richard Attenborough [Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough; Lord Attenborough] (1923-2014), British film actor, director and producer [The Actors’ Orphanage Fund, London]
Attenborough
Publication details: 
29 March 1956. On letterhead of the Actors’ Orphanage Fund, 32 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1.
£100.00
Attenborough

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice for postage. The letterhead is somewhat striking, with a band of green printed along the top, and the charity’s logo featuring prominently. The names of many officers and committe members are printed down the left-hand margin, headed by President Noel Coward, and including ‘Miss Gladys Cooper’, ‘Dame Edith Evans’, ‘Lady Du Maurier’, ‘Sir Laurence Olivier’, ‘Mr. Michael Redgrave’, ‘Mr. Jack Hawkins’ and ‘Mr. Kenneth More’. Attenborough features both as Hon.

[Baron de Barante [Amable Guillaume Prosper Brugière], French liberal politician and historian.] Autograph Letter Signed, in French, asking for assistance in getting a letter to the daughter of Madame Bouvier, who is with Princess Sapieha’.

Author: 
Baron de Barante [Amable Guillaume Prosper Brugière] (1782-1866), French liberal politician and historian
Publication details: 
18 July 1847. No place.
£50.00

1p, 16mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with three creased from folding into envelope. Neatly written out in Barante’s distinctive neat and tiny hand. Addressed to ‘Monsieur’ and signed ‘Barante’. He is writing on behalf of Madame Bouvier, who wishes to find out where the Princess Sapieha is residing at present, as her daughter is ‘attachée à la princesse’, and she would like the enclosed letter (not present) to reach her. He would be most obliged if the recpient could help Madame Bouvier’s letter reach its destination.

[Jo Grimond, Scottish Liberal Party politician.] Autograph Card Signed acknowledging receipt of twenty pounds from Hanson Books.

Author: 
Jo Grimond [Joseph Grimond, Baron Grimond] (1913-1993), Scottish Liberal Party politician
Grimond
Publication details: 
4 August [1978]. ‘Official Paid’ card printed with ‘House of Commons’.
£35.00
Grimond

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Philip Dosse (1925-1980), proprietor of Hansom Books, publishers of several arts magazines. Presumably acknowledging payment for a review in ‘Books and Bookmen’. On plain ‘House of Commons’ postcard. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with crease to one corner going through the final flourish of Grimond’s signature. Reads: ‘4 Aug / Many thanks for cheque for £20 already acknowledged / J Grimond’.

['The Laureate of Lancashire': Edwin Waugh, dialect poet associated with Manchester.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to the Blackburn poet J. T. Baron

Author: 
Edwin Waugh (1817-1890), 'Lancashire Burns' and 'Laureate of Lancashire', dialect poet associated with Manchester [J. T. Baron [Joseph Baron, 'Tom o' Dick o' Bobs'] (1859-1924), Blackburn poet]
Publication details: 
14 and 24 February 1889. Each on letterhead of The Hollies, New Brighton, Cheshire.
£100.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both in fair condition, worn and aged. The first item with one fold. Both signed ‘Edwin Waugh’ and addressed to ‘Mr. J. T. Baron’. ONE (14 February 1889): 2pp, 12mo. On the rectos of a bifolium. He would have answered Baron sooner, had he not been ‘tossing to and fro a good deal lately’. He thanks him ‘very heartily for the kind feeling expressed in your lines addressed to me on the 73rd [the 3 underlined three times] anniversary of my birth, in the Blackburn Times’.

[‘A very nice little collection’: the 2nd Marquis of Hastings boasts about his picture collection.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding ‘the entry in the Leicester registry’ and a picture sent to him by the recipient.

Author: 
Marquis of Hastings [George Rawdon Hastings (1808-1844), 2nd Marquess of Hastings, 3rd Earl of Moira, 3rd Baron Rawdon], British peer and courtier [Donnington Park, Leicestershire]
Publication details: 
‘Donnington Park / Novr. 5th / 1836.’
£56.00

See the entry in the Oxford DNB for his father the 1st Marquis. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and discoloured, with thin strip of glue from previous mount on reverse of second leaf. The recipient is not named, and he signs ‘Hastings’. The letter begins: ‘Dear Sir, / I made the necessary enquiries as to the entry in the Leicester registry (through a friend of our clergyman) & enclose his reply [not present] - I fear it is not what you wished for.’ He might get ‘more satisfactory information’ if the recipient can give a ‘better clue to go by’.

[Cecil King, Fleet Street press baron.] 47 Autograph Cards Signed to the publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’ Philip Dosse, on various topics including the reviews he is writing for him.

Author: 
Cecil King [Cecil Harmsworth King] (1901-1987), Fleet Street press baron (Daily Mirror, Sunday Pictorial, IPC), nephew of Viscounts Northcliffe and Rothermere [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher]
Publication details: 
35 of the 47 cards with postmarks from between 1971 and 1977; the other 14 postmarks illegible. 29 of the cards from England (ten with his letterhead, The Pavilion, Hampton Court, Surrey); 17 from the Republic of Ireland [Eire]; one from Iran.
£1,200.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, together with those of his uncles and other members of the newspaper dynasty of which he was a member. The recipient Philip Dosse was the proprietor of the London publishers Hansom Books. Beginning in 1950 with ‘Dance and Dancers’, Dosse built up a stable of seven monthly arts magazines, produced from offices in Artillery Mansions, London, the most influential of which were ‘Books and Bookmen’, ‘Plays and Players’ and ‘Films and Filming’. An elusive figure, Dosse certainly merits a full-length study.

[Lord Kinross, Scottish historian of Islam and biographer of Kemal Ataturk.] Eight Autograph Letters Signed and one Autograph Card Signed to Philip Dosse, publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’, regarding reviewing by him and others.

Author: 
Lord Kinross [John Patrick Douglas Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross] (1904-1976), Scottish historian of Islam and biographer of Kemal Ataturk [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher ‘Books and Bookmen']
Publication details: 
The nine items between 3 December 1973 and 26 September 1975. All nine with letterhead of Lord Kinross, 4 Warwick Avenue, London W2.
£220.00

Puzzlingly, considering his prominence in his field, Kinross is denied an entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. Each letter is 1p, landscape 12mo. One of the nine items has creasing to one edge, otherwise the collection is in good condition, with light age and wear.

[Lord Vere Beauclerk, Senior Naval Lord at the Admiralty and Member of Parliament.] Autograph Signature (‘Vere’) to Exchequer receipt for £30. With signature of witnesses Henry Woodall and ‘Ogborn’.

Author: 
Lord Vere Beauclerk [latterly Lord Vere (Vere Beauclerk, Baron Vere of Hanworth)] (1699-1781), Royal Navy officer, Senior Naval Lord at the Admiralty and Member of Parliament ; Henry Woodall; Ogborn
Vere
Publication details: 
3 May 1750. [His Majesty's Exchequer, London.]
£65.00
Vere

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. The signature (‘Vere’) is good and bold, at the bottom right of the document, as is that of first witness Henry Woodall (‘Hez Woodall’), but there is slight loss at the beginning of the signature of the second witness ‘[...] Ogborn’, and the left side of the document has been torn away also causing loss to printed text, and there is wear and pitting along the top and left edge. The customary printed document, completed in manuscript. 1p, 8vo.

[Lord Braybrooke, the first editor of the diary of Samuel Pepys.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding the ‘Memoir of Ambrose Barnes’, and Audley End.

Author: 
Lord Braybrooke [Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke (1783-1858), born Richard Neville] of Audley End, Whig politician and first editor of the diary of Samuel Pepys, President of the Camden Society
Publication details: 
‘Audley End [Essex] / Novr 9. 1828’.
£56.00

See his entries in the Oxford DNB (where his edition of Pepys is described as ‘an amateurish travesty’ of the transcript) and the History of Parliament. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded twice. Good neat signature: ‘Braybrooke’. The recipient is not named, but the name of the editor of the work mentioned by Braybrooke is given as 'C.

[Lord Farnborough (formerly Sir Charles Long), Pittite politician and connoisseur.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding an aggrieved response to ‘the Widows Remonstrance’.

Author: 
Lord Farnborough [Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough; Sir Charles Long] (1760-1838), Pittite politician and connoisseur of the arts
Publication details: 
‘Bromley Hill [Kent] / Jany. 10th / private’ [no year].
£45.00

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. A loyal Pittite (‘publicity agent for the ministry’, and founder of the Tory ‘Sun’ newspaper) who served as Irish Secretary. As a connoisseur he had a strong influence on the taste of the Prince of Wales, besides recommending the purchase for the nation of the Elgin Marbles. He bequeathed fifteen paintings to the new National Gallery. 2pp, 12mo. Signed ‘Farnborough’. The circumstances of the present item are unknown. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice.

[Lord Lytton, diplomat; Ottoman] Autograph Letter Signed Henry L Bulwer, urging a speedy meeting.

Author: 
Henry Bulwer [William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer (1801-1872), 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer; Lord Lytton], diplomat, ambassador to Spain, United States, Tuscany, Ottoman Empire, brother of the novelist
Publication details: 
5 November [no year]. 8 James Street, Buckingham Palace [London].
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with neat ruled border from remains of windowpane mount. Folded twice for postage. Reads: ‘My dear Sir / I shall be at home tomorrow till two or will call on you any hour afterwds. do not delay the matter beyond this. / Yrs. very truly / H. L Bulwer’.

[ Arthur Hill Hassall, public health pioneer. ] Secretarial Letter, Signed 'Arthur. H. Hassall', to T. H. Huxley, presenting a copy of his 'The Narrative of a Busy Life', with the book and a manuscript copy of a letter from him to Lord Rayleigh.

Author: 
Arthur Hill Hassall (1817-1894), physician and microscopist, pioneer in the field of public health [ Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), biologist; Lord Rayleigh and the Royal Society ]
Publication details: 
Letter from Hassall to Huxley: 3 Alpenstrasse, Lucerne (on cancelled letterhead of Corso dell'Imperatrice, San Remo), 23 September 1893. Copy Letter from Hassall to Rayleigh, same details. Book: Longmans, Green, & Co., London and New York, 1893.
£350.00

All three items in good condition, lightly aged, with the book in worn and spotted binding. ONE: Letter from Hassall to 'Professor Huxley', in the hand of 'an amanuensis' and signed by him. 3pp., 12mo. Tipped-in onto the half-title of Item Three below. He begins by explaining that he has 'directed Messrs. Longmans' to forward a copy of his book (which he describes as 'a brochure') to Huxley.

[Sholto Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Amulree, physician and geriatrician.] Autograph Letter Signed to Professor Waterston of St Andrews, thanking him for an article on the heart of his uncle Sir James Mackenzie.

Author: 
Sholto Mackenzie [Basil William Sholto Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Amulree (1900-1983)], physician and advocate of geriatric medicine, nephew of Sir James Mackenzie [Professor David Waterston of St Andrews]
Publication details: 
22 September 1939. On letterhead of 42 Queen Anne’s Gate, S.W.1 [London]
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. David Waterston (1871-1942) was Bute Professor of Anatomy at the University of St Andrews from 1914 to 1942. In 1913, while Professor of Anatomy at King's College, London, he was the first authority to debunk the Piltdown Man hoax. 2pp, 12mo. Sixteen lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight ruckling and bleeding due to removal from mount. Signed ‘Sholto Mackenzie’ and addressed to ‘Dear Professor Waterston’.

[Joseph Jekyll, Regency politician and wit.] Autograph Letter Signed to George Agar-Ellis, on missing the 'Academy Dinner' by dining with the king; and manuscript copy of pun-laden account of ‘Bazaar in Mr Penn’s Garden for Charing Cross Hospital’.

Author: 
Joseph Jekyll (1754-1837), Welsh lawyer, Whig politician and wit, Master in Chancery and Solicitor-General to the Prince of Wales [George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover]
Publication details: 
Letter written on 'Sunday Morning'
£100.00

The first item is fairly witty, while the second exhibits the sort of ‘excruciating puns’ for which Jekyll is, according to his entry in the Oxford DNB, largely remembered. See also Agar-Ellis’s entry in the same work. The two items are in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Letter of ‘Sunday Morning’ to ‘Dear Ellis’. 2pp, 12mo. Signed ‘Joseph Jekyll’. Folded twice. Minuted by recipient at head of first page: ‘May 1825 / Jekyll’.

[Lord Thomson of Fleet, Fleet Street press baron.] Producer Hugh Burnett's copy of typescript of Thomson’s interview with John Freeman in the BBC TV series 'Face to Face', marked up for publication.

Author: 
Lord Thomson of Fleet [Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet] (1894-1976), Canadian-born British newspaper proprietor, one of the Fleet Street press barons [Hugh Burnett; BBC; John Freeman]
Publication details: 
Undated, but BBC interview broadcast on 4 February 1962, and this item prepared for publication in 1964.
£50.00

The present item is producer Hugh Burnett's own copy, from his papers, of the transcript of John Freeman's interview with Thomson, broadcast in the groundbreaking BBC series 'Face to Face' on 4 February 1962. This single-spaced typed transcript was produced for inclusion in Burnett's book 'Face to Face / Edited and introduced by Hugh Burnett' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1964), and is marked up with printing instructions in pencil and red ink, with a few proof corrections in green ink. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Emphasizing Thomson’s unthreatening ordinariness.

[‘the Leap in the Dark’: Sir Frederick Pollock on the Second Reform Act.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Fred Pollock’) to Sir Thomas Baring on General Jonathan Peel’s resignation over the Second Reform Act, which he calls‘this downward movement’.

Author: 
Sir Frederick Pollock [Sir Jonathan Frederick Pollock] (1783-1870), 1st Baronet, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and Tory Attorney General [Sir Thomas Baring (1799-1873); General Jonathan Peel]
Publication details: 
20 July 1868; on letterhead of Hatton, Hounslow.
£45.00

See the entries for Pollock, Peel and Baring in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘My dear Baring’. He begins by thanking him for his ‘introductions - & the kindness of your letter that enclosed them’.

[Lord Denning, the man Mrs Thatcher considered the greatest modern judge.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Tom Denning.’), thanking Lord Monckton for ‘putting in a word’ with Oliver Franks regarding ‘Cumberland Lodge’ and backing from banks.

Author: 
Lord Denning [Alfred Thompson ‘Tom’ Denning, Baron Denning] (1899-1999), English judge, Master of the Rolls for twenty years, praised by Mrs Thatcher, and author of the Report into the Profumo Affair
Publication details: 
22 November 1961; on letterhead of the House of Lords [Westminster].
£45.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with punch hole at top left. Receipt stamp at head. Addressed in autograph to ‘My Dear Walter’. Recipients formal name (‘The Right Hon. Viscount Mounkton of Brenchley’) and address at foot. He thanks him for his ‘line about Cumberland Lodge and for having a word with Oliver Franks on the telephone’. He understands Monckton’s ‘doubts whether the banks can give us practical backing, but even if they cannot I am most grateful to you for having taken time to consider it’. He adds in autograph: ‘& putting in a word for us.

[Carlo Marochetti, distinguished Italian sculptor, responsible for statue of Richard the Lionheart outside the Palace of Westminster.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Marochetti’), in French, thanking the recipient for the gifts he has found in his pantry.

Author: 
Carlo Marochetti [Baron Pietro Carlo Giovanni Battista Marochetti] (1805-1867), RA, Italian sculptor, active in France and settled in England, gaining commissions from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Publication details: 
6 January 1859; on letterhead of 34 Onslow Square, Brompton [London].
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. There is a blue plaque at his house in Onslow Square, announcing that he lived there from 1851 to his death in 1867. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Mon cher Monsieur’. He has returned home after several days in the country, to find his ‘garde manger si bien rempli des preuves de votre bon et bienveillant souvenir’.

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