COACH

[A Lancashire slaver and his coach.] Two itemised manuscript receipts for work on a coach from the London coachmaker Thomas Thorpe to the Lancashire slave trader William Atherton of Prescot Hall, one signed by Thorpe.

Author: 
Thomas Thorpe, London coachmaker [William Atherton (1742-1803) of Prescot Hall, St Helens, Lancashire, slave trader and owner of plantations in Jamaica]
Publication details: 
1799 and 1801. [Thorpe & Co., Coachmakers, 210 Holborn, London.]
£280.00

An indication of how slavers spent the fruits of their slaves’ labours. With the advent of slavery studies William Atherton has been the subject of a deal of interest, reflected on his Wikipedia page. Thorpe and Lee are listed as coachmakers at 210 Holborn in 1791; in 1803 the firm is named as Thorpe and Co at the same address. The two items are written out in a secretarial hand, each on a long strip made by cutting a folio leaf in half vertically. Both in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Each with slight damage from the breaking open of the wafer.

[John Randall, coachmaker] Two Autograph Letter Signed ('John Randall') from the London coachmaker John Randall to 'monsieur le Doctor Brown' [i.e. Sir Charles Brown], physician to the Queen of Prussia, one giving an Estimate for work.

Author: 
John Randall, 80 Long Acre, London, coachmaker and freemason [Sir Charles Brown (c.1747-1827) of Potsdam, 'First Physician to the King of Prussia, his Court and Army']
Coaching
Publication details: 
London, Long Acre 1788 AND London; 30 June 1789.
£150.00
Coaching

(1788) Letter, bifolium, , cr. 8vo, good condition, one page giving assurances as to quality, etc., with list (essentially a quote) of prices/features of A new Fashionable Chariot with a [?] light coloured cloth, Painted a Green [?] Patent yellow, made of the best materials & season'd timber, followed by a price list of various features (blinds, plated head plates, steps, strong plated harness, packing etc etc). See image. (1799) 1p., 4to, bifolium, very good, on lightly-aged paper.

[ J. Stelfox Gee, Manchester philatelist. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Stelfox Gee') to 'Autolycus', regarding a document concerning 'the Manchester Mail Coach in 1805'.

Author: 
J. Stelfox Gee [ James Stelfox Gee ], philatelist [ H. Verity & Sons Limited, 67 Mosley Street, Manchester ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of H. Verity & Sons Limited, 67 Mosley Street, Manchester. 19 May 1924.
£45.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. He is sending 'the two accounts or whatever you like to call them for the Manchester Mail Coach in 1805', but 'cannot make out exactly what they are beyond being a monthly return of the takings and division of profits of the running of the Machester to Derby Coach for August 1805'.

[Colonel Edward Corbett, Conservative Member of Parliament.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Edwd Corbett') [to his publisher Richard Bentley?], discussing tables on mail coaches in his book 'An Old Coachman's Chatter'. With proofs of the tables.

Author: 
Colonel Edward Corbett (1817-1895) of Longnor Hall, Shropshire, Conservative Member of Parliament [Richard Bentley]
Publication details: 
'Longnor' [Longnor Hall, Shropshire]. 4 June 1890.
£220.00

The two items relate to the book 'An Old Coachman's Chatter with Some Practical Remarks on Driving. By a Semi-Professional. Edward Corbett, Colonel late Shropshire Militia.'(London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1890). Both the letter and the proofs are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. LETTER: 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. 34 lines of text in a particularly difficult hand. He will endeavour to 'throw all the light' he can on the subjects mentioned in his correspondent's letter, beginning:: 'I think the time between Cape Curig & Holyhead must be correct.

[John Campbell, 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane.] Autograph Letter to him from John Wilson, on behalf of the estate of the London coachbuilder William Honeywell, offering terms for the settlement of the bill for the 'Job Chariot'.

Author: 
[John Campbell (1796-1862), 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane, Lord Chamberlain, 1848-1852); William Honeywill of Berners Street and Oxford Street, London coachbuilder; John Wilson of 29 Oxford Street]
Publication details: 
London. 24 April 1841.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Addressed, with postmarks and red wax seal, to 'The Most Honble | The Marqss. of Breadalbane | Taymouth Castle | Perthshire'. Docketted: 'Honeywell coach | to be attended the beginning of May - 1846'. He writes that the trustees and executors of Honeywell's estate are handing in 'the remainder of their account for work done since the delivery of the last account to May 20th 1840, in which they have not included the amount of Interest due on purchase of the Job Chariot'.

[Robert Peake, London coach builder, father of Archibald Henry Peake, Premier of South Australia.] Printed handbill with anecdotes, a poem ('The Troubles of Lord Alphonsius Fitz Noodle'), and two jeux d'esprit.

Author: 
Robert Peake, coach maker, Bloomsbury, London, born in Yorkshire in 1815, died in Australia in 1889, father of Archibald Henry Peake (1859-1920), Premier of South Australia
Publication details: 
[London. 1840s or 1850s.]
£250.00

2pp., 12mo. Printed on facing pages on one side of a landscape 8vo leaf, with blank reverse. In fair condition, on aged paper, laid down on part of a leaf removed from an album. The left-hand page carries three items: 'The Confidence Trick. A scene in Oxford Street.' (a series of puns with a purpose now lost, beginning 'A stout "Nave," | Met a green "Felloe"'), 'Anecdotes of the old Coaching Days' (beginning 'Talleyrand bought a new coach, but did not pay for it.') and 'Lord Lyndhurst'. The last reads in full: 'Ordered Robert Peake to build him a Chariot. It was finished and approved of.

[Nineteenth-century coach building.] Lithographed handbill advertisement for 'Wright's Patent Drag' (i.e. brake for a horse-drawn coach), with two illustrations by Baddeley, and four testimonials. With accompanying engraving.

Author: 
[Wright's Patent Drag (the Proprietor, No. 22 Church Street, Soho [subsequently 138 Holborn Bars]), London [Baddeley, engraver; nineteenth-century coach building; Victorian carriages; transport]
Publication details: 
'Royal Pier Hotel, Ryde, | July 25th, 1842.' ['Office of the Proprietor, No. 22 Church Street, Soho, London' , amended in manuscript to '138 Holborn Bars']
£180.00

Text: 2pp., foolscap 8vo (35 x 20.5cm.). Engraving: 12 x 16cm with corners clipped. Both items in fair condition, on aged paper. The text is cropped at the head, through a royal crest, and has rounded corners at the head and trimmed corners at the foot. The engraving has traces of grey paper mount on reverse. The text has lithograph illustrations of two side-views of four-wheel carriages with the drag applied, beneath the cropped crest and above the title 'WRIGHT'S PATENT DRAG.' Text consists of around 60 lines in copperplate.

Printed paper serviette, illustrated in colour, headed 'Official Programme and Route of the Lord Mayor's Show'.

Author: 
William Burgess & Co., printers, Aldgate, London [Sir James Thompson Ritchie, Lord Mayor of London, 1903]
Publication details: 
Burgess William & Co. Printers 12, Mansell St. Aldgate, E. London'. [1903]
£65.00

Printed in blue, pink, green, gold, white, yellow, brown and purple on one side of a piece of tissue paper roughly 34.5 cm square. Good, on lightly creased paper with a little wear to extremities and slight loss to the top left-hand and bottom right-hand corners (not affecting the design). The text, with an engraved portrait (5.5 x 4.5 cm) of Lord Mayor Ritchie, is printed in blue in two columns of around 32 lines each, and surrounded by coloured decorative border of flowers, around 6 cm thick. It lists the order and route of the procession. An attractive piece of ephemera.

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