BRITISH

[Margaret Lloyd George, wife of Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George.] Typed Letter with cyclostyled signature, asking Rev. A. H. Sayers of Monmouth to arrange for a collection in his church for the British and Foreign Sailors? Society.

Author: 
Margaret Lloyd George [nee Owen] (1866-1941), Welsh wife of the Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George [Rev. A. H. Sayers of Monmouth; British and Foreign Sailors? Society]
Publication details: 
7 December 1916. On letterhead of 11 Downing Street, London, S.W.
£50.00

See her entry, and those of her husband and their two daughters, in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Although Sayers? name and address are given as recipient at the beginning, the letter is clearly a circular, and the signature is cylcostyled.

[Sir Edgar Boehm (1834-1890), R.A., Austrian-born British sculptor.] Autograph Letter Signed to ?Mr. Bristow?, regarding a ?little horse? and ?the terrible ascent on the ?Monks cap??.

Author: 
Sir Edgar Boehm [Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, n? Josef Erasmus B?hm] (1834-1890), R.A., Austrian-born British sculptor and medallist who depicted Queen Victoria on coins and designed London statues
Publication details: 
21 March 1882; on letterhead of The Avenue, 76 Fulham Road, S.W. [London]
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He thanks him for ?letting me try the little horse which I returned to Banks?s. I wrote to them to say that I found him too small for the Victoria. This & his taking too much interest in the subterranian openings alone prevented me from keeping him at once for a hack as his paces & temper seemed to me perfect.? He sends his compliments to Bristow?s family, ?if they should still recollect me - and the terrible ascent on the ?Monks cap? - never to be attempted again by me -?.

[Lord Vivian [Lieutenant General Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian], British Army officer in the Peninsular War.] Autograph Letter Signed, informing Lieutenant Colonel Wylde that his son is among candidates for the Royal Military Academy.

Author: 
Lord Vivian [Lieutenant General Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian], British Army officer who distinguished himself in the Peninsular War [General William Wylde (1788-1877), Royal Artillery]
Publication details: 
25 August 1841; Ordnance Office [London].
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, on recto of first leaf of bifolium, with recto of the second bearing remains of the red wafer. Folded twice for postage. Good firm signature, ?Vivian?. He has placed the name of Wylde?s son ?on the Official List of Candidates for admission to the Royal Military Academy which will be transferred to my Successor?.

[Sir Edward Malet, British diplomat.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mrs. Vaughan Williams’, explaining why he cannot accept her invitation, and sending tickets to ‘some tableaux vivants’ at the house of the Princesse Caraman-chimay.

Author: 
Sir Edward Malet [Sir Edward Baldwin Malet] (1837-1908), diplomat, successively Consul-General in Egypt, and British Ambassador to Belgium and Germany
Publication details: 
2 April 1884, on letterhead of the ‘Legation d’Angleterre’ (British Embassy in Brussels).
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. An area torn away at the head of the first leaf (with the loss of one word of text) has been skilfully repaired with archival paper; otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. He apologizes for being unable to ‘come to your at home tomorrow as I can not go to any parties till after the funeral of the Duke of Albany’. He asks her to ‘accept and make use of’ tickets ‘for some tableaux vivants which are to take place tomorrow night at the house of the Princesse de Caraman-chimay.

[Sir Charles Wheeler [Sir Charles Thomas Wheeler], the first sculptor to be President of the Royal Academy.] Autograph Letter Signed declining an invitation ‘to lecture on some Aspect of Renaissance Sculpture’.

Author: 
Sir Charles Wheeler [Sir Charles Thomas Wheeler] (1892-1974), the first sculptor to be President of the Royal Academy, 1956 to1966
Publication details: 
10 January [1961?]; on his letterhead, 2A Cathcard Road, South Kensington, SW10 [London].
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. The year of the letter looks more like ‘1901’ than ‘1961’, but the letterhead names the writer as ‘Charles Wheeler, C.B.E., R.A.’ Addressed to ‘Dear Sir’ and signed ‘Charles Wheeler’. Having received two letters from the unnamed recipient, he explains that the first ‘got mixed with some papers sent to my Accountant and therefore was not answered’. He apologises for ‘the consequent neglect’.

[Samuel Rogers ('The Banker Poet')] Autograph Note Signed to Lady Burdett, declining with regret an invitation that would have given him pleasure.

Author: 
Samuel Rogers, 'The Banker Poet', art connoisseur, member of the Holland House circle, and acquaintance of Wordsworth, Byron, Sir Walter Scott [Lady Burdett]
Rogers
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£56.00
Rogers

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Removed from album, and closely trimmed, having been cut down to 9 x 7 cm, with corners cropped. Lightly aged, with one fold for postage. In neat close hand, reads: ‘My dear Lady Burdett / I am very sorry indeed that an Engagement from which I cannot release myself will deprive me of so great a pleasure. Yours ever / S Rogers.’ See image

[F. D. Maurice [John Frederick Denison Maurice], Anglican theologian, one of the founders of Christian Socialism.] Printed offprint of synopsis of Royal Institution talk: ‘Milton considered as a Schoolmaster.'

Author: 
F. D. Maurice [John Frederick Denison Maurice] (1805-1872), Anglican theologian, one of the founders of Christian Socialism [John Milton; Royal Institution of Great Britain]
Publication details: 
'Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, January 30, 1857.' [London.]
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The full text of Maurice’s lecture was printed posthumously on pp.268-299 of his ‘The Friendship of Books and Other Lectures’ (1880). Although reset, the text of the present six-page synopsis does not appear to differ from that printed on pp.328-333 of the ‘Notices of the Proceedings’, vol.2 (1854-1858). No other copy of this offprint has been traced. In very good condition, lightly aged. Drophead title: ‘Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, January 30, 1857. / William Pole, Esq. M.A. F.R.S.

[Francis Durbridge, dramatist, creator of the BBC radio detective ‘Paul Temple’.] Part of Typed Letter, with Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Francis Durbridge [Francis Henry Durbridge] (1912-1998), English dramatist and author, creator of the BBC radio detective 'Paul Temple'
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£35.00

There were around thirty ‘Paul Temple’ radio serials between 1938 and 1968, along with four films, a dozen books, a television series and a newspaper cartoon strip. Despite obituaries in the major British newspapers Durbridge has not been granted an entry in the Oxford DNB. On 14 x 5.5 cm piece of light-blue laid paper, cut from a typed letter. In good condition, lightly aged. Good clear signature. Reads ‘Thank you for your nice poem - / Best wishes to Dave. / Francis Durbridge’.

[Ben Purse [Benjamin Ormond Purse], trade unionist and campaigner for the rights of blind people.] Typed Letter with cyclostyled signature, to Carmichael Thomas, describing his ‘interests’ while asking for help in joining the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Ben Purse [Benjamin Ormond Purse] (1874-1950), British trade unionist, social worker and campaigner with the National Institute for the Blind [Carmichael Thomas; Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
21 April 1921; on letterhead of the National Institute for the Blind, London.
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and with two creases from folding for postage. Addressed to ‘Carmichael Thomas, Esq., / Mount Cottage, / Borough Green, / Kent.’ Cyclostyled signature of ‘Ben Purser.’ Begins: ‘For some time I have been desirous of becoming a member of the Royal Society of Arts. Mentioning this matter to your daughter a few days ago, Miss Thomas thought that if I wrote you in this connection you might possibly be able to arrange this matter for me.

[A. F. Shand [Alexander Faulkner Shand], pioneering psychologist.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to ‘Burdett'

Author: 
A. F. Shand [Alexander Faulkner Shand] (1858-1936), pioneer psychologist, author and barrister, founding member of the British Psychological Society
Publication details: 
Both items signed ‘A. F. Shand’. 18 November 1907 and 16 February 1908. Both on letterhead of 1 Edwardes Place, Kensington, W. [London.]
£120.00

Shand is great-grandfather of Queen Camilla. His best-known work is 'The Foundations of Character' (1914). ONE: 18 November 1907. 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Thirty-five lines. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Shand - who is weakened by ‘fever & cough’, and ‘too tired to think consecutively’ - thanks Burdett for his ‘very kind letter which was a real consolation to me in my bed’. His ‘argument about avarice was most interesting, & I think I quite agree with it.

[John Huntley, film historian with the British Film Institute.] Typed Letter Signed to Harold Chipp of the Cheltenham Gramophone Society, making arrangements for a lecture with his records.

Author: 
John Huntley [John Frederick Huntley] (1921-2003), film historian with the British Film Institute and television presentert [Huntley Film Archives; BFI; Harold Chipp; Cheltenham Gramophone Society]
Publication details: 
17 March 1955; on British Film Institute letterhead (typed addition: ‘Please reply to: / 4, Great Russell Street, / London, W.C.1. MUS: 0581.’).
£45.00

1p, 4to. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper, with two small punch holes to one margin. Pencil notes at foot of page, with more notes in ink and pencil on the reverse. He begins: ‘I too a looking forward to my visit to Cheltenham on April 4th. I shall, as you say, be bringing my records with me which include both 78 r.p.m. and 33 1/3 r.p.m. As you say it will be necessary for me to have overnight accommodation and I should be grateful if you could make the booking.’ He gives details of the train he will be travelling on from Paddington, and asks where to go.

[Cyprus Emergency [Greek Cypriot War of Independence], 1955 to 1959.] Red card carrying ‘Restricted’ printed British Army ‘Instructions to individuals for opening fire in Cyprus. | Issued by Chief of Staff to H.E. the Governor.'

Author: 
Cyprus Emergency [Greek Cypriot War of Independence], 1955 to 1959 [British Army Counter-Insurgency; EOKA]
Publication details: 
‘CS/1060/A/Dec. 55.’ [December 1955; COSHEG, British Cyprus.]
£160.00

An interesting artefact, issued at the commencement of the conflict, and laying out the rules of engagement. The only copies traced are in the A. J. B. Walker collection in the Imperial War Museum, the National Army Museum and the University of Cyprus. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. On 26 December 1955 the British Governor General of Cyprus declared a state of emergency, as a result of the EOKA insurgency which had begun with the 1 April Attacks. 4pp, 32mo, printed in black on a bifolium of red card.

[Lady Hosie [Dorothea Hosie], amateur film maker and writer on China.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Dorothy [sic] Hosie’) to ‘Mr. Burdett’, describing reviews she is writing and the critical response to her ‘Portrait of a Chinese Lady’.

Author: 
Lady Hosie [Dorothea Hosie, née Soothill] (1885-1959), amateur film maker and writer on China, wife of the diplomat and explorer Sir Alexander Hosie (1853-1925)
Publication details: 
11 December 1929. 4 Bradmore Road, Oxford.
£90.00

For information about the Lady Hosie and her husband see his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage, and with a minor closed tear to edge of fold at head of leaf. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Burdett’ and signed ‘Dorothy [sic] Hosie’. Forty-one lines of closely-written text. The letter concerns a review she has written for a periodical whose title is difficult to decipher (‘The L[?]’). She was ‘going to type out a fair copy’, but thinks Burdett ‘may like it at once’. If he feels ‘portions of it unsuitable’, he ‘can then delete’. ‘Mr.

[One Victorian painter writes to another.] Autograph Letter Signed from James Sant, RA, to George Lance, regarding a portrait over which he has been ‘going hard’.

Author: 
James Sant (1820-1916), RA, English portrait painter noted for his portraits of children [George Lance (1802-1864), English still-life painter]
Publication details: 
7 March 1856; [?].
£50.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium, the second leaf being blank, apart from the end of the signature ‘Jas Sant’, which has extended across from the bottom right corner of the reverse of the first leaf. In good condition, lightly aged, with the reverse of the second leaf laid down on a rectangle of grey paper cut from a leaf of an album. Addressed to ‘G. Lance Esqr.’ The letter begins: ‘My Dear Sir / My best thanks for your note. Depend upon it I will look to myself and in doing so look to yr.

[Sir Colin Coote, editor of the Daily Telegraph.] Typescript, with Autograph additions, of essay written in support of apartheid following a visit to South Africa in 1971, with particular reference to the economy, ending with 'White Man's Burdens'.

Author: 
Sir Colin Coote [Sir Colin Reith Coote] (1893-1979), editor of the Daily Telegraph and Liberal politician [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher ‘Books and Bookmen’; South Africa and apartheid]
Publication details: 
No place or date, but circa 1971.
£350.00

An interesting document on the South African situation at the beginning of the 1970s, written in support of apartheid by a leading British journalist. See Coote’s entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Philip Dosse, who 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. There is no indication where, if anywhere, the present item was published.

[Lord Devlin, British judge and jurist.] Three Typed Letters Signed to Philip Dosse, publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’, regarding possible reviewers (of his book 'Too Proud to Fight'), and an invitation for him to review.

Author: 
Lord Devlin [Patrick Arthur Devlin, Baron Devlin] (1905-1992), British judge and jurist [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher ‘Books and Bookmen’]
Publication details: 
27 October and 13 November 1974; both on letterhead of West Wick House, Pewsey, Wilts. 17 January 1975; on letterhead of Casa da Colina, Praia da Luz, Algarve, Portugal.
£180.00

See his 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. The three items are in fair condition, lightly aged and creased (the last in particular, being on airmail paper), and folded for postage. All three signed 'Devlin'. ONE: 27 October 1974. 1p, foolscap 8vo.

[Lord Weidenfeld (George Weidenfeld), publisher.] Typed Letter Signed to Philip Dosse, publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’, discussing his partner Nigel Nicolson, and a review by Diana Mosley of a biography he has published of her sister Unity Mitford.

Author: 
Lord Weidenfeld [George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld] (1919-2016), publisher [Philip Dosse (1925-1980), publisher of ‘Books and Bookmen’; Weidenfeld and Nicolson; Nigel Nicolson (1917-2004)]
Publication details: 
18 November 1976. On his letterhead, 11 St John’s Hill, London SW11.
£80.00

An interesting letter, containing an assessment by a leading publisher of what he sees as the unusual position he considers his profession occupies within the business world. See his entry, and that of his partner Nigel Nicolson, 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. The present item is 2pp, 12mo.

[Arthur H. Bell, publisher; British Society of Dowsers] Two Typed Letters Signed A.H. Bell, one with a very substantial discussion, to G.K. Menzies of the Royal Society of Arts, concerning the British Society of Dowsers (just established).

Author: 
Arthur H. Bell, publisher [British Society of Dowsers]
Publication details: 
G. Bell & Sons, Ltd, Publishers, York House, Portugal Street, London, WC2, 8th and 16th February 1934
£250.00

[8 Feb.1924] Three pages, 4to, good condition, with Royal Society of Arts stamp. He acknowledges a kind reply to his request to hire your lecture theatre for the [first] Congress of the British Society of Dowsers. A 'friend' Colonel Crosthwaite, suggested that I should tell you something about the nature of the Society, the existence of which is unknown to many people. And ignored by most people of scientific reputation.

[The man who saved William of Orange from capture: Brigadier General Henry Lumley.] Autograph Signature (‘H Lumley’) to Exchequer receipt for £25. With signature of witness John Letton.

Author: 
Brigadier General Henry Lumley (c.1658-1722), army officer and Member of Parliament, brother of Richard Lumley, first earl of Scarborough; John Letton
Lumley
Publication details: 
12 January 1716. [His Majesty's Exchequer, London.]
£120.00
Lumley

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament, the former of which notes his ‘high reputation for courage’ and his presence ‘at Neerwinden and Landen in 1693, covering the retreat on 19 July, and saving William III from capture by the enemy’. 1p, 8vo. On aged and worn paper, with chipping to edges and pitting along a horizontal central line, but with both signatures clear and unblemished. The customary printed document, completed in manuscript. Records in a secretarial hand, the receipt of £25 by ‘Hen: Lumley Esqr. attor to the Rt.

[‘The Cartoonist’, short-lived British periodical, founded by Steve Way and Sir John Sorrell.] The first number, published on April Fool’s Day.

Author: 
‘The Cartoonist’, short-lived British periodical, founded by Steve Way and Sir John Sorrell; Newell and Sorrell; Ed McLachlan; David Austin; Lowry; David Haldane; Kipper Williams; Chris Riddle
Publication details: 
‘1 April, 1993, No. 1. Published by The Cartoonist Ltd, 14 Utopia Village, Chalcot Road, London, NW1 8LH.
£180.00

Fortnightly publication, founded after the closure of Punch by Sir John Sorrell and the Punch cartoon editor Steve Way. It only lasted for eight months, and this and the second number are said to be scarce. (The only copies listed on JISC are at the deposit libraries.) A 28-page broadsheet. Folded twice. In good condition, on lightly-discoloured and worn paper. Whole of the front page taken up with striking image by Chris Riddle of Boris Yeltsin holding up a piece of paper on which he orders democracy, while dwarfed by a menacing Soviet bear.

[Sir Osbert Sitwell, author and brother of the poet Edith Sitwell and art critic Sacheverell Sitwell.] Black and white publicity photograph, supplied by his publishers Macmillan and Co.

Author: 
Sir Osbert Sitwell [Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th baronet] (1892-1969), writer, brother of the poet Edith Sitwell and art critic Sacheverell Sitwell
Osbert
Publication details: 
Dated on back 25 August 1949. ‘From MACMILLAN & Co., Ltd., / St. Martin’s St., London, W.C.2.’
£50.00
Osbert

See his entry, and those of his siblings, in the Oxford DNB. A 15.5 x 20 cm black and white print, on glossy paper. Worn at edges, and with staining to blank area at top left. Stamped by the publishers on the reverse with ‘Sir Osbert Sitwell. Bt. / 25. 8. 49.’ There is a possibility that this is a signature by Sitwell, but the letter ‘O’ and other features are not quite right.

[Jeypoor Treasury, Jaipur Government, India (now in Rajasthan State).] Eleven manuscript documents in Hindi script, each with the large seal of the Jaipur Government, and eight each with a Jaipur State 4 Annas stamp and one with an 8 Annas stamp.

Author: 
Jaipur Government, India [since 1949 part of Rajasthan State], Jeypoor Treasury
Publication details: 
[1940s.] Jaipur Government [Rajasthan State], India. (Each of the documents with large printed design of the ‘Revenue Stamp Jaipur Government’, and two with additional ink stamp of ‘RAJASTHAN STATE’.)
£450.00

Eleven documents, all foolscap, possibly relating to property. The tax stamps carried by nine of the items, and presence on the two others of a Rajasthan State stamp suggest that they date from the early years of Indian independence. Nine are bifoliums, each with punch-holed large blue oval design of the ‘Court Fee Stamp / Jaipur Government / Four Annas’ taking up much of the upper part of the recto of the first page. These documents are also blind stamped, upside down on the reverse of the second leaf, with an oval ‘Four Annas’ stamp of the ‘Jeypoor Treasury’.

[Sir Sidney Colvin, British Museum curator, biographer of Keats and friend of R. L. Stevenson.] Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed woman, regarding a drawing ‘of small value or none’, copied from Giulio Romano.

Author: 
Sir Sidney Colvin (1845-1927), literary and art critic, Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, biographer of John Keats and friend of Robert Louis Stevenson
Publication details: 
5 January 1894; on embossed letterhead of the British Museum, London, W.C.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Signed 'Sidney Colvin'. The recipient is not named, but is addressed as ‘Dear Madam’. The letter begins: ‘I am afraid I made a mistake yesterday, in addressing you as E. M. Sharpe Esqr. - but it was the address of the Natural History Museum which misled me.’ In order to make sure this time, he is addressing the present letter ‘to the care of Mr.

[Simond and Hankey, London bankers involved in the West Indian sugar and slave trade.] Two manuscript bills in French, ‘A Messieurs Messrs. Ante. & Dan. Bierens a Amsterdam’, each signed by ‘Pre: Simond’ and endorsed by ‘Jean Hankey’.

Author: 
Simond and Hankey, London bankers deeply involved in the West Indian sugar and slave trade; Peter Simond (1691-1785); John Hankey (1741-1792)
Publication details: 
Both dated from ‘Londres ce 15e. Decembre 1758’ [London].
£100.00

With the surge of interest in the slave trade attention has lately been directed at Simond and Hankey, a ‘past constituent’ of the NatWest Bank. These two items are nice artefacts of the firm. Both are in good condition, lightly aged, and laid out in the same way, with the bill written out on one side of a 22.5 x 9 cm slip of laid paper. One is for ‘Deux Cent Livres Sterling a trente quatre Sols neuf deniers de gros’ and the other for ‘Cent Soixante Sterling a Trente quatre Sols dix deniers de gros’. Both drawn on ‘Messrs. Vernede & Co’.

[Sir Sidney Colvin, British Museum curator, biographer of Keats and friend of R. L. Stevenson.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr Fagan’, declining any item from the ‘various volumes and packets of prints’ he has sent.

Author: 
Sir Sidney Colvin (1845-1927), literary and art critic, Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, biographer of John Keats and friend of Robert Louis Stevenson
Publication details: 
22 May 1895; on embossed letterhead of the British Museum, London, W.C.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr Fagan’ and signed ‘Sidney Colvin’. He begins by informing him that of the ‘various volumes and packets of prints’ he has been good enough to send, ‘the best is that containing portraits engraved by Ficquet, Savard, & [Marchay de Glury?]. But even of these, we have almost all in the collections here already: so that it will not be worth while to break up the albums by extracting any for the museum’.

[Sir John Beckett of Somerby Park, as Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs.] Autograph Letter Signed, to Col. Torrens, giving view of Home Secretary Richard Ryder on ‘The Commander in Chief’ (Prince Frederick, Duke of York) and ‘Mr Sonnenberg'.

Author: 
Sir John Beckett (1775-1847) of Somerby Park, Lincs, Tory politician [Col. Robert Torrens (1780-1864); Richard Ryder (1766-1832), Home Secretary; Prince Frederick, Duke of York; Sir Robert Peel]
Publication details: 
‘Whitehall 26th. March 12’ [i.e. 1812].
£80.00

See Beckett’s entry in the History of Parliament, according to which he held the position of Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs from 1806 to 1817. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased at the foot, with strip of discoloration at the head. Folded twice into a packet. Addressed to ‘Colonel Torrens’.

[King George III.] Seven examples of the king's signature on a page, six of them cut from parchment documents, the last two made while insane, with the last on a fragment of a warrant.

Author: 
King George III (1738-1820) of Great Britain and of Ireland, the mad monarch who lost America
George III
Publication details: 
One with annotated with date 28 March 1792, the others undated. None with place.
£1,250.00
George III

See image. It is hard to see how this collection could be bettered, the range of signatures from sanity to madness being of particular interest. All seven examples laid down on a folio leaf extracted from an album. The leaf is in poor condition, creased and with closed tears, but the parchment and paper bearing the signatures themselves in good condition, the six parchment items having the usual discoloration, but the example on paper in excellent condition.

[General Sir Edward Stanton, British Army officer and Ambassador to Bavaria.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Cochrane’, regarding ‘the Nile map’ and his son’s ‘explorations of the Bahr-el-zara’.

Author: 
General Sir Edward Stanton (1827-1907), British Army officer who served in the Crimean War, and diplomat who was British Ambassador to Bavaria [Col. Edward Alexander Stanton]
Publication details: 
8 December 1898; on letterhead of 19 Lansdowne Place, Cheltenham.
£70.00

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly worn. Folded once. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Cochrane’ and signed ‘Edwd. Stanton’. He thanks him for ‘sending me the Nile map, which is certainly more complete than any I had, though it does not give us much more information as to the rivers South of [Faolooda?], than is to be found in The Times atlas’. He hopes that when his son ‘returns from his explorations of the Bahr-el-zara’, he ‘will be able to extend our knowledge of that part of the Nile Valley’.

[Sir Frank Stockdale: agriculture in Britain's African colonies, 1929-37.] Four official Autograph Journals by Colonial Office Agricultural Advisor Sir Frank Stockdale, describing in detail tours in Crown Colonies in East and West Africa and Cyprus.

Author: 
Sir Frank Stockdale [Sir Frank Arthur Stockdale] (1883-1949), distinguished agronomist and mycologist, Colonial Office Agricultural Advisor
Publication details: 
Written between 1929 and 1937. Entries relating to England, East and West Africa, Cyprus, Sudan and Egypt. [Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Ghana, Gambia.]
£3,000.00

Stockdale’s entry in the Oxford DNB provides an excellent commentary on the present four items: ‘An assumption that colonial economies should continue to be dominated by the export of cash crops, and a faith in Western scientific agriculture led in 1929 to the establishment of the colonial agricultural service with a colonial advisory council of agriculture and animal health, and a full-time agricultural adviser, a position to which Stockdale was appointed.

[Sir Frank Stockdale, distinguished agronomist and colonial civil servant.] Family photograph album, with a few items of ephemera including his funeral service.

Author: 
Sir Frank Stockdale [Sir Frank Arthur Stockdale] (1883-1949), distinguished agronomist and mycologist, Colonial Office Agricultural Advisor
Publication details: 
Containing material from the 1920s to the 1940s. Most of the photographs and other material from England.
£500.00

Stockdale was for decades the leading figure in his field within the British Empire and later the Commonwealth, and his work undoubtedly saved countless lives, and increased the welfare of many thousands. See his appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, in which he is described as 'in many respects ahead of his time'. The present collection comprises a family photograph album with 86 photographs inserted and loose, with a copy of his funeral service, and few other items. All the material is in good condition, with only light signs of age and wear.

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