CHRISTIANITY

[John Kitto, Evangelical missionary and biblical scholar.] Autograph Letter Signed to fellow Cornishman James Silk Buckingham, regarding the printing and copyright of his works.

Author: 
John Kitto (1804-1854), Cornish Evangelical missionary and biblical scholar [James Silk Buckingham (1786-1855), Cornish author and traveller, proprietor of 'The Athenaeum' and 'Oriental Herald']
Publication details: 
27 April 1851; 1 Camden Street [London].
£50.00

See his entry and that of Buckingham in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Twenty-six lines of text. Signed ‘John Kitto’ and addressed to ‘J. S. Buckingham Esq’.

[Hugh Macmillan, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Langbridge’, regarding a subscription, his admiration for the recipient’s writing, and ‘this glorious spot’.

Author: 
Hugh Macmillan (1833-1903), Scottish minister, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland
Publication details: 
29 August 1900; Loch-an Eilan, Aviemore, Strathspey [Scotland].
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo, on bifolium. Sixty lines of text. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr Langbridge’ and signed ‘Hugh Macmillan’. The handwriting is hard to read. Begins: ‘At this distance from post-offices I cannot get a postal-order conveniently to send a subscription of 10/6d. half-a-guinea for your Presentation’. He will organize payment on his return, and asks for his name to be put down on rhw subscription list.

[Roman Catholic polemic.] Printed work: 'Considerations on the Modern Opinion of the Fallibility of the Holy See in the Decision of Dogmatical Questions. With an Appendix on the Appointment of Bishops. By the Rev. Charles Plowden.'

Author: 
Rev. Charles Plowden (1743-1821), Jesuit polemicist [Roman Catholicism; Roman Catholic]
Publication details: 
London: Printed by J. P. Coghlan, Duke Street, Grosvenor-Square; and sold by Messrs. Robinsons, Pater-noster Row, 1790.
£56.00

viii + 133pp, 8vo. A good tight copy, with slight discoloration and damage to the early and late leaves. In very good modern grey boards, with title printed in black on white label on spine. Unobtrusive inscriptions lightly-written in the same elongated contemporary hand at head of half-title and title. Now a scarce item, with no other copy on ViaLibri.

[Oxford University Press: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, London.] Prospectus, in the form of an illustrated printed pamphlet, for ‘The Oxford Bible for Teachers’.

Author: 
[Oxford University Press] Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, London; The Oxford Bible for Teachers [Church of England, Authorized and Revised Versions]
Publication details: 
No date [circa 1893]. London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, E.C.
£100.00

A nice piece of OUP ephemera, and a memorial to the lost art of letterpress printing. Stitched pamphlet of 24pp, 12mo. Wraps not called for. In good condition, lightly aged, with outer pages a little grubby. A couple of sources help establish the date: on p.13 it is announced that ‘the most recent discoveries, especially in Egypt, have been inserted, down to March, 1893’, and the second of the ‘Extracts from Opinions’, pp.21-23, from ‘Nature’, dates from 5 October 1893.

[Lydia M. von Finkelstein of Jerusalem] Signature only Lydia M. von Finkelstein of Jerusalem with that of her attendant B.[H?]oofsaly of Beirut.

Author: 
Lydia M. von Finkelstein of Jerusalem [Lydia M. Von Finkelstein Mountford, author, Jewish convert, later Mormon]
Publication details: 
[1886]
£35.00

Reverse of Part of a business letter, 13 x 11.5cm, headed (printed) Civil Service Supply Association Limited [...] London, Oct. 5 1886, Paper stained but Signatures bold and clear (see image) apart from ink spill which obscures the a of Lydia and one of the letters in the attendant's signature. Note: Madame Lydia Mountford presents the life of Christ in one of the rarest forms of history that has ever been published. having been born and raised as a Jew living in Jerusalem, she became personally acquainted with the traditions, customs and the rituals of the Jewish people.

[William Thomas Manning, Episcopalian Bishop of New York.] Autograph Letter Signed, on his appointment, to Samuel Bickersteth, Canon of Canterbury Cathedral, which he considers 'the centre of our whole Communion and of our Mother Church of England'.

Author: 
William T. Manning [William Thomas Manning] (1866-1949), Episcopalian Bishop of New York, 1921-1946 [Samuel Bickersteth, Canon of Canterbury Cathedral]
Publication details: 
20 April 1921. On letterhead of Four Washington Square.
£120.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and rather creased. Folded twice. Signed 'William T. Manning.' Addressed to 'The Revd. Samuel Bickersteth D.D. | Canon of Canterbury'. Writing after his appointment as Bishop of New York, Manning begins by stating that Bickersteth must be aware of 'the pressure' that he has been under 'during the past weeks', and this is the reason why his 'kind letter' has not been answered sooner. The appointment 'is a tremendous responsibility but with God's help I shall do my best.

[William Thomas Manning, Episcopalian Bishop of New York.] Autograph Letter Signed, on his appointment, to Samuel Bickersteth, Canon of Canterbury Cathedral, which he considers 'the centre of our whole Communion and of our Mother Church of England'.

Author: 
William T. Manning [William Thomas Manning] (1866-1949), Episcopalian Bishop of New York, 1921-1946 [Samuel Bickersteth, Canon of Canterbury Cathedral]
Publication details: 
20 April 1921. On letterhead of Four Washington Square.
£120.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and rather creased. Folded twice. Signed 'William T. Manning.' Addressed to 'The Revd. Samuel Bickersteth D.D. | Canon of Canterbury'. Writing after his appointment as Bishop of New York, Manning begins by stating that Bickersteth must be aware of 'the pressure' that he has been under 'during the past weeks', and this is the reason why his 'kind letter' has not been answered sooner. The appointment 'is a tremendous responsibility but with God's help I shall do my best.

[Alfred, Bishop of Melanesia; homosexuality and murder ] [Airmail] Typed Letter Signed "Alfred Melanesia" to the Rev. Father H. Cecil Cohen C.R. at Welsh address, about

Author: 
Alfred Melanesia [ Alfred Thomas Hill (1901–1969), fourth Anglican Bishop of Melanesia].
Publication details: 
Melanesian Mission, Honiara, British Solomon Islands, 17 January 1956.
£250.00

Airmail letter, 27 x 17cm, one and a half pages typed, fold marks, minor staining, mainly good. A long and detailed letter discussing the circumstances of the forthcoming trial of Reginald Poole, revealed as a predatory homosexual, and about to be tried for the murder of a Melanesian youth.

[William Henry Angas, Baptist 'Missionary to Seafaring Men'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('W. H. Angas'), on his work in 'the Ports of Berwick & Dunbar' for the Seamens Friends Socy', and need of money, having 'run myself quite dry aground as to Cash'.

Author: 
William Henry Angas (1781-1832) of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Baptist 'Missionary to Seafaring Men [Sealemen's Friend's Society]
Publication details: 
'Post office Leith May 5/29' [5 May 1829].
£150.00

For information on Angas, see his entry in the Oxford DNB and F. A. Cox, 'Memoirs of the Rev. William Henry Angas, ordained “A Missionary to Seafaring Men,” May 11, 1822' (1834). 2pp, 4to. In fair condition, aged and creased. Folded three times. The recipient is not named. The letter begins: 'My Dear Sir | You will perceive by the present how far I have come on on my way. The Ports of Berwick & Dunbar &c have kept me busily & I trust usefully employed, for the prospects for good among the Seamen & especially the Fishermen look flattering.

[Sheila Kaye-Smith, novelist.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Miss Greenwood', explaining her reason for doubting the possibility of making a film 'setting out the Christian attitude towards divorce'.

Author: 
Sheila Kaye-Smith (1887-1956), novelist
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Little Douce Grove, Northiam, Rye, Sussex. 26 January [no year]
£60.00

2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper, with pin holes to one corner and a few drops of light staining. She thanks Greenwood for her letter, but does not feel that her 'Valiant Woman' has any 'chance of making a successful film, for the very reasons you say it ought to'. She explains: 'In this country there would not be a large enough public for a film setting out the Christian attitude towards divorce, as popular sympathy is mostly on the other side'. Nevertheless she is sending Greenwood's letter to her agent 'Mr. A. D.

[ Samoa in the nineteen-twenties. ] Eight letters, Typed and in Autograph, from a Methodist missionary ('Will') to his father in England, describing his impressions on arrival at his post in Western Samoa.

Author: 
Samoa [ Gagaemalae, Savaii Western Samoa] [ Methodist missionary work; Christianity ]
Publication details: 
The six complete letters dated from Gagaemalae, Savaii, Western Samoa, between May and October 1925.
£320.00

An interesting and informative correspondence, giving the initial impressions of an unnamed nineteen-twenties Methodist minister in Samoa, describing local customs, the state of Christianity in the region (including a denunciation of the Mormons), his view of his duties and the nature of his work, his heavy workload, and other topics including the importance of the coconut and the necessity for every Samoan male to 'destroy fifteen beetles a week'. Eight letters (two incomplete), of which three are in autograph and the other five typed. Totalling 46pp., 4to. (23pp. autograph; 23pp. typed).

[ Canada; Newfoundland; printed journal ] Journal of the Bishop of Newfoundland's Voyage of Visitation and Discovery on the South and West Coasts of Newfoundland and on the Labrador in the Church Ship 'Hawk' in the Year 1848.

Author: 
[ Edward Feild, Bishop of Newfoundland ]
Publication details: 
[First edition] "Church in the Colonies. No. XXI"m London: For the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel [...] 1849.
£250.00

Pp.[1]-126[2], 8vo, sewn as issued, probably missing paper wraps, firat and last pages sl. chipped, with (small) corner of first page absent,contents good, text inclusive of title and list of other Church in the Colonies and "Missions" books available from the SPCK. Inscribed on title by former owner, "M.F. Baker | Feb. 4th 1853". Scarce: apparently 3 British Libraries have a copy (WorldCat), no foreign.

[ Pamphlet. ] Democracy and the Church, and other Addresses.

Author: 
Rev. A. H. Moncur Sime of Dundee [ John Willocks; John Ramage ]
Publication details: 
'Delivered in Kinnaird Hall, Dundee, January 24th and 31st and February 7th and 14th 1892.' Dundee: Printed by R. S. Barrie, 16 Panmure Street and 73 Murraygate. 1892.
£50.00

37pp., 12mo. Disbound witthout covers. In good condition, on aged paper. Containing four addresses; 'Democracy and the Church', 'The Christ of the 19th Century', 'An Age of Idolatry' and 'What the Church might be'. P.3 carries a 'Prefatory Note' by John Willocks and John Ramage, dated from Dundee, February 1892. Scarce.

[ Pamphlet. ] The Socialism of Jesus.

Author: 
M. Gass [ Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (1852-1936), socialist, traveller and author ]
Publication details: 
Glasgow: The Labour Literature Society, Ltd., 105 London Street. 1893.
£45.00

15pp., 12mo. Disbound without covers. In good condition, on aged paper. On the reverse of the title (p.2) is a dedicatory poem 'To Cunninghame Graham', beginning 'Perfervid Scot! of hero sires, who calmly spurns the sordid scorn | Of ingrates who proclaim thee mad, [...]'. Scarce.

[ Catholic Film Institute, London. ] Hon. Secretary's Report, 1949, and Statement of Accounts for the Year ended 30th June, 1949.

Author: 
Rev. John A. V. Burke, Hon. Sec., Catholic Film Institute, London
Publication details: 
[ Catholic Film Institute, London. ] 1949. [ Carey & Claridge, Printers, 253 Fulham Road, Chelsea, S.W.3. ]
£56.00

Stapled printed pamphlet. 11 + [1]pp., 16mo. In good condition, on lightly aged paper with rusted staples. A page of officers, headed by the Archbishop of Westminster as President, and Rt Rev. Abbot Upson as Vice-President, is followed by Burke's five-page report, and then three pages of balance sheets for the organisation, 'Focus', general funds, 'Penny-a-Day' Fund, and 'Fatima' Fund. No other copy traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC.

[Printed pamphlet.] Secular Responsibility.

Author: 
George Jacob Holyoake [ Secularism in Victorian England ]
Publication details: 
London: Trubner, 60, Paternoster Row. 1873. [ Ward & Sons, Printers, &c., Wellington-street, Leicester. ]
£56.00

15pp., 12mo. Disbound and without covers. In good condition, lightly-aged. Now uncommon.

[ The Society of Friends (Quakers). ] Printed document: 'The Epistle from the Yearly-Meeting, [...] To the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings of Friends and Brethren, in Great-Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere.' ['The Yearly-Epistle, 1761.']

Author: 
'William Fry, Clerk to the Meeting this Year' [ The Society of Friends; Quakers ]
Publication details: 
'Held in London, by Adjournments, from the Adjournments, from the 11th Day of the Fifth Month 1761, to the 18th of the same, inclusive.'
£85.00

4pp., folio. Paginated 1-4. Unbound bifolium. On aged and worn paper, with chipping to extremities and closed tears along folds. Docket title: 'The Yearly-Epistle, 1761.' Marginal subtitles include: 'Theh Salutation', 'State of the Meeting', 'Account of Sufferings', 'Account of fthe Prosperity of Truth' and 'The Conclusion'. Ends: 'Signed in and on Behalf of the Yearly-Meeting, | By William Fry, | Clerk to the Meeting this Year.' No copy in the British Library, and now scarce.

[Printed notice (with 'Address') of the formation of 'The Bible Association of St Peter's Church, in Ipswich'.] At a Meeting of Several Friends to the British and Foreign Bible Society, Held at St. Peter's Parsonage, Ipswich, October 5th, 1812.

Author: 
[The Bible Association of St. Peter's Church, in Ipswich; Suffolk Auxiliary Bible Society; The British and Foreign Bible Society, London; Rev. Edward Griffin]
Publication details: 
Printed by John King, County Press, Ipswich. 1812.
£56.00

3pp., 8vo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on worn and lightly-aged paper. The first page is headed: 'At a Meeting of Several Friends | to the | British and Foreign Bible Society, | Held at St. Peter's Parsonage, Ipswich, | October 5th, 1812, | The Rev. Edward Griffin, in the Chair, | It was resolved, | [...]'. Eight resolutions in small print follow, covering the whole of the first page.

[John Sugden, Bishop of Selsey.] Two Autograph Letters Signed ('John Sugden Bishop of Selsey. | (in the Ref. Ep. Ch.)') to Herbert Pentin

Author: 
John Sugden (d.1897), Bishop of Selsey in the Reformed Episcopal Church [Free Church of England]
Publication details: 
Both letters addressed from 28 Tierney Road, Streatham Hill, London. 18 and 24 July 1891.
£140.00

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Both addressed to 'My dear Mr Penton'. ONE (18 July 1891): 4pp., 8vo. He begins by explaining the American origins of the Reformed Episcopal Church. 'I am not sure that I grasp your meaning as to "whether there is a full Episcopate in England". I may however say that there is an ample supply of Bishops properly consecrated and duly qualified to perpetuate the Episcopate in an orderly manner.' After discussing 'dress' he continues: 'The little Bishop of Selsey is "used". I generally sign Ecclesl.

[Thomas Kerchever Arnold, theologian.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'T. K. Arnold') to an unnamed male recipient, regarding an article on Ebenezer Henderson's translation of the Book of Isaiah.

Author: 
Rev. Thomas Kerchever Arnold (c.1800-1853), Rector of Lyndon, Rutland, theologian and educational writer, a 'relentless opponent' of the Oxford Movement [Ebenezer Henderson (1784-1858)]
Publication details: 
The first letter dated 'Lyndon | The Annunciation, 1852'. The second dated 'Lyndon April 7 1852 | Uppingham'.
£90.00

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. He writes that he will be 'glad to receive your future contributions', but that 'a different style of annotation would make them more interesting to the general reader. - To the possessors of Henderson your remarks will be useful and interesting; but the article is not one to be read throughout by those who do not possess Henderson's work'. He suggests that 'a better plan would be to take a definite prophecy, print the whole of it with corrections or marks'.

Holograph Poem by the Congregational minister Richard Winter Hamilton, beginning 'Dear Sister, Christian Heroine!'

Author: 
Richard Winter Hamilton (1794-1848), Congregational minister of Albion and Belgrave Chapels, Leeds
Publication details: 
Leeds. 20 November 1827.
£120.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, on a lightly aged and worn leaf removed from an album. The poem is twenty lines long, arranged in five four-line stanzas. The first stanza reads 'Dear Sister, Christian Heroine! | Stranger to me thy form & voice - | I venerate that zeal of thine, | And while I blush, for thee rejoice'. The second stanza is somewhat heretical: 'Nor Male nor Female is in Him | Who Born of Woman, both hath sav'd: | She conquers every terror grim, - | She thousand deaths for Him has brav'd!' The third stanza begins: '"A woman slew him:" Gideon'ss son'.

Typed Letter Signed ('B. H. Streeter') from the biblical scholar Burnett Hillman Streeter of Queen's College, Oxford, to 'Dear Major', responding at great length to criticisms of a book ('Foundations'?), discussing schism and the union of churches.

Author: 
B. H. Streeter [Burnett Hillman Streeter] (1874-1937), Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, and biblical scholar
Publication details: 
Queen's College, Oxford. 3 May 1917.
£220.00

4pp., 4to. Good, on lightly aged and worn paper. With numerous autograph emendations. A significant letter, in which Streeter carefully expounds his position on schism and the union of churches. Streeter divides his response into three numbered sections, the last of which is subdivided into three more. The first section discusses the question of whether the fact that the Church of England 'only allows Episcopally ordained persons to minister the sacraments' is only 'a matter of discipline and Church order'.

Autograph Signature of the Victorian philanthropist Catharine Tait, wife of Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Author: 
Catharine Tait (1819–1878), philanthropist, daughter of William Spooner (c.1778-1857), Archdeacon of Coventry, and wife of Archibald Campbell Tait (1811-1882), Archbishop of Canterbury
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£23.00

On slip of paper, 2 x 9 cm, cut from a letter for an autograph hunter. In good condition, on lightly-creased paper.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W B Sprague') from the American Congregational clergyman and author Rev. Dr W. B. Sprague [William Buell Sprague], in part a letter of introduction for Solomon Stoddard of Northampton, Massachusetts

Author: 
Rev. Dr W. B. Sprague [William Buell Sprague] (1795-1876) of Albany, New York, Yale-educated American Congregational and Presbyterian clergyman and compiler of Annals of the American Pulpit
Publication details: 
Albany [New York]. 13 April 1832.
£120.00

1p., 4to. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, laid down on the remains of a leaf of grey paper from an album. Sprague has only just received his recipient's letter, 'with its invaluable accompaniment', presuming that it was detained at New York for more than two months. He will send a proper letter in a fortnight; in the meantime he writes 'to introduce to you my worthy and much respected friend Mr Solomon Stoddard of Northampton, a direct descendant of the venerable divine whose name he bears [i.e.

[Booklet] Letters addressed by Professor Ruskin, D.C.L., to the Clergy on the LOrd's Prayer and the Church

Author: 
Rev. F.A. Malleson, editor
Publication details: 
"Printed for private circulation only". No publisher or printer recorded, [1879? viz. Preface]
£500.00

Booklet39pp., 12mo, original printed wraps, front one detached, wraps foxed and chipped at spine, pther minor defects, mainly fair-good, owner's signature on front wrap verso, and some pencil notes within. One copy listed by COPAC, at BL (entry says 150 copies). WorldCat lists Harvard and Yale (and BL) copies only. Scarce. Note: The Editor, Malleson, was first to translate Jules Verne's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth".

[Printed handbill.] Description (By Mr. Tom Taylor, M.A.) of the "Triumph of Christianity" painted by M. Gustave Doré

Author: 
Tom Taylor, M.A.; Gustave Doré
Publication details: 
Bradbury, Evans, and Co., Printers, Whitefriars. [Circa 1867.]
£125.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Aged and ruckled. Doré's huge painting 'The Triumph of Christianity over Paganism' was first exhibited in the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly in 1867.

Sanskrit Luke

Author: 
[St Luke's Gospel]
Sanskrit Luke
Publication details: 
Calcutta: Printed by J.W. Thomas, at the Baptist Mission Press, and published by the Bible Society, 23, Chowringhee Road, C.A.B.S. 1884
£125.00
Sanskrit Luke

[114]pp., obl.8vo, printed blue wraps, worn at spine, loss of strip at edge, some damage to back wrap, contents good. See image on my website, richardfordmanuscripts.com (or request it). COPAC lists only one copy, at BL (who have the Mark and John as well).

[Autograph Manuscript] The Decision of Horgeir, a story of the Conversion of Iceland

Author: 
Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic (DNB)
Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic (DNB)
Publication details: 
No date.
£550.00
Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic (DNB)

Notebook, 34pp., 8vo (alternate pages used), first page dulled, minor marking, text clear and complete, in the hand of Sabine Baring-Gould, lightly annotated by B.-G. Words added by B.-G. top right of first page, "from | S. Baring-Gould | [Horbury Wakefiled -excised] | Dalton | Thirsk. And to the title: "by the Author of 'Iceland: its scenes & Sagas', 'Post Mediaeval Preachers,' &c". It is divided into three chapters, a B.-G.

Calendar, printed on India paper, of the 'Primitive Methodist Church. Plan of Religious Services. Manea [Cambridgeshire] Circuit, 1906.'

Author: 
Primitive Methodist Church [Manea, Cambridgeshire]
Calendar, printed on India paper, of the 'Primitive Methodist Church
Publication details: 
1906. Harvey & Son, Printers, Watton, Norfolk.
£95.00
Calendar, printed on India paper, of the 'Primitive Methodist Church

Crisply printed, within a decorative border, and in a number of fonts and point sizes, on one side of a piece of India paper, 33.5 x 42.5 cm. Text clear and complete. In fair condition, creased and lightly-aged. Calendar surrounded by text in small type in a number of columns. To left of calendar is column of eighty-eight 'PREACHERS' NAMES, &c.', including 'exhorter', 'prayer leaders' and 'helpers'. There is also a circuit calendar, an advertisement for the 'Primitive Methodist World', a financial circuit report, and a list of circuit officers and organisations.

Autograph Note initialled "T.H." to unknown correspondent (a Mr Morland?)

Author: 
Thomas Hughes, author of "Tom Brown's Schooldays"
Publication details: 
No date (1826?}
£56.00

Autograph Note initialled written by Hughes in the space above the beginning of another's letter to him (the reverse mentions a Mrs Morland, suggesting the correspondent is a Mr Morland), slightly grubby and signs of wear,c.6 x 1". An autograph collector has snipped the Hughes note off the letter (rest now lost) and stuck it in an album from which I have removed it. A date has been added in a different hand (1826) and the note runs as follows: "Be good enough to pay £5 for me to the Vaudois or Waldenses, at Hoare's [Bank]. They were the first germ of Protestantism.

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