BURNS

[Scottish singers of the nineteenth century.] Printed Circular regarding proposed ‘Monument to the Scottish vocalists Templeton, Wilson, & Kennedy’, by David Pryde, James Crichton and John Walker, officers of the Edinburgh Burns’ Club.

Author: 
Edinburgh Burns’ Club: David Pryde, President; James Crichton, Hon. Sec.; John Walker, Acting Sec. [the Scottish singers David Kennedy (1825-86), John Templeton (1802-86), John Wilson (1800-49)]
Publication details: 
1887, Edinburgh Burns' Club.
£80.00

The plaque referred is ‘attached to the rock face fronting Regent Road immediately to the east of the steps leading from the end of Waterloo Place to Calton Hill’, and was unveiled in 1894. The entry with Canmore ID 302221 gives some detail, but has no mention of the present appeal. 1p, 4to. On recto of first leaf of bifolium of laid paper. Discoloured and worn, but with text intact and clear. The authors are named as: ‘DAVID PRYDE, M.A., LL.D., / President of the Edinburgh Burns’ Club. / JAMES CRICHTON, Hon. Secy. / JOHN WALKER, Acting.

['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’.

[ George Thomson, friend of Burns ] Autograph Letter Signed G. Thomson to W.F. Watson, bookseller of Prince's Street, with a sportive invitation to dinner. (also invited David Scott(

Author: 
[George Thomson [(1757–1851), noted collector of the music of Scotland, music publisher, and a friend of Robert Burns.]
Publication details: 
Leith Links, 3 John's Place, Tuesday 4 Jany (docketed, adding 1848).
£180.00

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium, formerly in an album, tipped onto strip of album page, as is the addressed envelope (no postal marks), good condition. My dear Sir | If as I hope you are disengaged on Friday [underlined] next come and partake of a quiet family dinner with us at 5 o'clock, you will confer much pleasure on us, and will I trust meet honest David Scott with whom we will discuss high & important matters. As an inducement to him to do me that favour I have ventured to tell him that I hope he will meet you. | Prytheee then let us not be disappointed. Postscript, asking What of Mr Black?

[James Currie, Scottish physician, first editor and major biographer of Robert Burns.] Autograph Prescription for 'Mr Carpenter', signed 'J C'.

Author: 
James Currie (1756-1805), Scottish physician educated at the University of Edinburgh and practising in Liverpool, the first editor and major biographer of Robert Burns
Publication details: 
24 September 1804. No place.
£100.00

On 12.5 x 11.5 cm piece of paper, trimmed at edges, laid down on part of leaf from album. In fair condition, aged and worn, with central spike hole (made by the chemist?). Six-line prescription in the usual medical Latin, ending: 'J C | Mr Carpenter | 24 Sepr. 1804'. At foot of page, in a contemporary hand, 'Dr J Currie author of Life of Burns'.

[George Thomson, Scottish musician, folklorist, friend of Robert Burns.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Go Thomson') to 'J. M. Muller Esq', regarding bringing 'Beethoven's Sonatas & Trios' to a dinner with Conrad Boisragon.

Author: 
George Thomson (1757-1851), Scottish musician, collector of folk songs, editor and friend of Robert Burns, grandfather of Charles Dickens's wife [Johann Martin Muller (1808-1843); Conrad Boisragon]
Publication details: 
'Baxter's place [Edinburgh] | No 4 Saty. 9 Novr' [1830s or 1840s].
£50.00

1p, 12mo. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'J. M. Muller Esq'. In fair condition, lightly aged, with closed tear along one of the two folds and slight creasing at foot, with a panel lacking from the second leaf. The recipient Johann Martin Muller published a few piece of music in Edinburgh in the 1840s.

[Orby Shipley, liturgical scholar and Roman Catholic convert.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Orby Shipley') to an unidentified collector of rare theological works, regarding his plans for reprinting Roman Catholic titles, and a meeting.

Author: 
Orby Shipley (1832-1916), religious writer, liturgical scholar and Roman Catholic convert [William Wilfred Oates, Roman Catholic London publisher; Burns & Oates]
Publication details: 
Both on letterhead of 39 Thurloe Square, S.W. [London] 4 December 1884 and 8 December 1884.
£180.00

Both in fair condition, lightly aged, on bifoliums, stitched together. ONE: 4 December 1884. 4pp, 12mo. The recipient is not identified. Begins: 'My dear Sir | I am advised by more than one common friend to take the liberty of writing to you. Mr. Oates [publisher], amongst others, tells me that you have great knowledge of old Catholic literature & have collected many curious & valuable books. As I think you see the Tablet, I should like to direct your attention to a letter which I hope may appear in the next or the following number on some points on which I wish for information.

[ James Currie, Scottish physician in Liverpool. ] Autograph Signature ('Ja Currie') to manuscript minute of meeting of 'Church-Wardens Sides-men & physicians of the two Charities held at the Dispensary', regarding plans for a fever hospital.

Author: 
James Currie (1756-1805): Scottish physician in Liverpool, abolitionist and editor of Robert Burns [ The Dispensary, Temple Bar, Liverpool; The Royal Free Hospital, Liverpool ]
Publication details: 
On paper watermarked 1799. Minutes dated from the Dispensary [Temple Bar ], Liverpool, 24 April 1801.
£250.00

This document is of particular interest as it concerns the foundation of the institution that would become the Royal Free Hospital, Liverpool. As a result of the meeting described in the present document, the Institution for the Care and Prevention of Contagious Fevers opened in 1802 at 2 Constitution Row, Grays Inn Lane. It was the first voluntary fever hospital and had 15 beds. 2pp., 8vo. On a leaf which appears to have been extracted from a minute book. On laid paper with watermark 'JOSEPH COLES | 1799'.

[ Frances Dunlop, friend of Burns ] Autograph Letter Signed to a Charles Macintosh of Glasgow

Author: 
Frances Anne Walker Dunlop (1730–1815), of Dunlop, friend of Robert Burns
Publication details: 
Dunlop, [30 June 1808].
£250.00

Two pages, 4to, bifolium, staining and aging, but text clear and complete, discussing friendship and familial relationships at length, commiserating on the sufferings and death of "Nanny", and asserting the importance of their relationship and friendship. Note: A. Macintosh is possibly the chemist and inventor (wife named by Frances Dunlop as 'Mary' [he married Mary Fisher, and she refers to their 'children' - see "Biographical Memoir of the Late Charles Macintosh"); B.

[Robert Burns and Charles Mackie.] Engraved 'Fac-Simile of the Hand Writing of Robert Burns, The Scottish Bard; copied from his family bible by Charles Mackie, Author of the "Original History of Holyrood," &c &c.'

Author: 
Robert Burns, national poet of Scotland; Charles Mackie (active 1832-1853)
Publication details: 
'London, 1847. Published for C. Mackie, 27, Farringdon Street.'
£170.00

Printed on one side of a piece of 36 x 26 cm wove paper. Aged and lightly creased, with short closed tears at edges, along central fold line. The seventeen line facsimile is under an ornate heading. Scarce: the only copy on OCLC WorldCat and COPAC at the British Library.

[Edward Capern, 'the Postman Poet' and 'Devonshire Burns'.] Autograph Letter Signed to the poet William Kingston Sawyer, thanking him for a photograph and book of his verses ('Ten Miles from Town').

Author: 
Edward Capern (1819-1894), 'the Postman Poet' and 'Devonshire Burns' [William Kingston Sawyer (1828-1882); Edward Litt Leman Blanchard (1820-1889); Bryan Waller Procter (1787-1874)]
Publication details: 
Rock Villa Harborne, Birmingham. 27 August 1869.
£220.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper. Addressed to 'My Dr Sawyer'. He begins by thanking him for the photograph: 'Whenever I look on it - and I shall do so often - I shall be reminded of the fourth gentle poet who did all he could to make a few pleasant hours for a humble brother <?> during his short sojourn in the great metropolitan maze of this England of ours'.

[Census of England and Wales, 1911.] Six printed documents comprising: 'Welsh Schedule' and 'enlarged' schedule, set of 'Explanatory Notes', and circular, memorandum and notice issued by the Welsh Department, Board of Education, Whitehall.

Author: 
[Census of England and Wales, 1911; Welsh Department, Board of Education, Whitehall, London; Bernard Mallet, Registrar-General; John Burns, President; Alfred T. Davies]
Publication details: 
Three of the documents from the Welsh Department, Board of Education, Whitehall. 1910 and 1911.
£250.00

The six items are in excellent condition, on lightly-aged paper. None of the forms have been filled in. From the Board of Education Reference Library, but with no indications of the fact. ONE: An 'enlarged copy of the front of the Occupier's Schedule' (so described in Item Five below), headed 'CENSUS OF ENGLAND AND WALES, 1911.' Printed in March 1911 by Eyre & Spottiswoode ('3/11. E. & S.'), on one side of a piece of 68 x 86 cm. paper.

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.
£280.00

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.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. C. Ewing.') from James Cameron Ewing, Librarian, Baillie's Institution, Glasgow, to the London auctioneers Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge, discussing an edition of Burns's poems.

Author: 
James Cameron Ewing (b. 1871), Librarian, Baillie's Institution, Glasgow [Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge; Robert Burns]
Publication details: 
13 July 1910; on letterhead of Baillie's Institution.
£85.00

12mo, 3 pp. 28 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on aged paper. He does not understand how they can have 'a record of a second edition [of Burns's poems] dated 1786, for the book was not published until April 1787'. He describes the two issues of the second edition ('a stinking or a skinking issue') and concludes that he will be glad to hear from them, should they 'meet with a 1786 second edition, or with a copy having the addenda incorporated in the list of subscribers, or one having Roxburgh spelled correctly'.

Autograph Note Signed from the General Baptist minister Jabez Burns ('J Burns') to the Paternoster Row publishers Houlston & Wright.

Author: 
Jabez Burns (1805-1876), General Baptist minister
Jabez Burns (1805-1876), General Baptist minister
Publication details: 
23 March 1855.
£56.00
Jabez Burns (1805-1876), General Baptist minister

Landscape 12mo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Good, on aged paper, with light traces of mount adhering to the blank reverse. Asking for a copy of his 'Sermons for Families & Villages' ['Sermons chiefly designed for family reading and village worship', 1842] to be given to an individual, and 'put to my Account'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('David S. Meldrum') to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
David Storrar Meldrum (1864-1940), novelist and partner in the publishing house of Blackwood's
Publication details: 
4 September 1897; on company letterhead '37, Paternoster Row, London, E.C.'
£56.00

8vo: 3 pp. On grubby, lightly creased paper. The recipient has made Meldrum a 'pretty present' of her edition of Burns (COPAC provides no clue as to her identity). He finds the volumes 'very dainty', and will read her notes 'with interest'. He has already read her 'Introductions' with 'great pleasure'. He comments on her assessment of a couple of poems and finds her 'standpoint' on 'the man & the poet' 'capital'. 'But you must allow me one criticism: you read into the poems a political significance which I'm sure wasn't there.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Burns') to an unnamed male correspondent [the M.P. J. W. Logan?].

Author: 
John Elliot Burns [John Burns] (1858-1943), Independent Labour Party Member of Parliament for Battersea
Publication details: 
28 August 1893; on parliamentary letterhead.
£56.00

8vo: 1 p. 14 lines of text. On aged and spotted paper, laid down on a piece of card, and with the head of the letter (not affecting the text but causing the loss of the top half of the letterhead) worn away. Originally a 2-page 12mo bifolium, but with the text from the second page laid down below the first.

Autographs [Reprinted from The Concise Encyclopaedia of Antiques Volume IV by kind permission of The Connoisseur].

Author: 
P. J. Croft [Winifred A. Myers (Autographs) Ltd]
Publication details: 
London: Winifred A. Myers (Autographs) Ltd, 80 New Bond Street, W1. [c.1954].
£45.00

Quarto: 10 pp (paginated 236-41). Stapled. In original printed green card wraps. Good, though lightly creased. Five plates, examples of the hands of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir John Harington, Admiral Lord Nelson, together with an original and a faked Burns letter. While the offprint is undated, the Encyclopaedia itself was published in 1954.

Catalogue of an Interesting Collection of Autograph Letters, selected from the Portfolios of Several Distinguished Amateurs [...] Family of George the Third [...] Some curious Shaksperian Papers [...] Oxford, Cambridge, Eton, and Winchester Scholars.

Author: 
Puttick and Simpson, London auctioneers [autographs; sale catalogues; Shakespeare; George Washington]
Publication details: 
Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, Auctioneers of Literary Property and Works of Art, At their House, No. 47, Leicester Square, W.C.; 23 March 1864.
£80.00

Octavo: ii + 51 + [1] pp. Stitched and unbound. Grubby, and with loss to final leaf, affecting a couple of lots and an advertisement, from removal of label. 521 lots. Postmarked penny red postage stamp. Letters of Burns, Byron, Coleridge, Frederick the Great, Haydn, Rousseau, Voltaire. The high point of the sale undoubtedly three letters from George Washington to Sir Edward Newenham.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Theodore Martin') to John Grant, presumably the bookseller.

Author: 
Sir Theodore Martin (1816-1909), Scottish poet, biographer and translator
Publication details: 
10 October 1896; on letterhead 'Bryntysilio, near Llangollen'.
£45.00

12mo: 1 p. On discoloured paper, ruckled and with traces of glue from previous mounting on reverse. He is returning 'the account of the Burns Volume' which accompanied his correspondent's letter of 8 October. 'It does not suit me to purchase it, as I have already other & more important memorials of Burns.'

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