BEILBY

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. The five items are in good condition, lightly aged, with each on a 4to bifolium, and all folded for postage. In a neat and attractive hand. The text of each letter is on the first leaf, and the first two letters are addressed by Porteus on the reverse of the second leaf, each with broken seals in red wax. In Letters Four and Five Porteus lays out his objections to Maurice’s ‘Elegy on the late Right Honourable William Pitt’, published in 1806 under the name ‘T. M.’ ONE (St James’s Square, 10 April 1898): 1p, 4to. Addressed to ‘Revd. Mr Maurice / No.

ONE: Lady Wenlock's letter to 'My dear Mr. Rees'. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. 'I am sure you could hardly be more glad that [sic] I was when I heard this appointment was satisfactorily settled. I was miserable at the prospect of you & Mary going on in the same routine here for months without this desireable [sic] change'. After all Rees's wife has 'gone through' it is particularly important for her to have a 'thorough change': it is inevitable that she should 'suffer from just now after so much sorrow & fatigue'.

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. On aged and worn paper, with some repair, and traces of stub from mount still adhering. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with postmarks, to 'Messrs Beilby & Co | Printing Ink Manufacturers | Birmingham'. On the same page, in another hand: 'Mr Reuben Sparks.' Knowles's entry in the Oxford DNB gives the context. In 1816 he 'moved to Glasgow, where he established and ran a school for nearly twelve years [...] In 1823 and 1824 he added to his income by conducting the literary department of the Free Press, a Glasgow paper which advocated liberal and social reform.