Continental

[Napoleonic Wars: Eleven-ship British North Sea Convoy, from Hull to Tønning, Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark (now Tönning, Germany), 1805.] Detailed and lengthy manuscript ‘Statement & Division of 11 Ships Freight to Tonning 1st Round 1805’.

Author: 
Napoleonic Wars: British North Sea Convoys [Hull to Tønning, Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark (now Tönning, Germany), 1805; Royal Navy]
Convoy
Publication details: 
No place or date, but an English document relating to a convoy from Hull, England, to Tonning [Tønning], Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark [now Tönning in Germany], in 1805.
£350.00
Convoy

An interesting indicator of the economic impact of the continental blockade in the year of the Battle of Trafalgar. Roger Knight provides an excellent overview of the background to the present document in his ‘Convoys: The British Struggle against Napoleonic Europe and America’ (2022), and in particular the fifth chapter, which deals with North Sea Convoys between 1804 and 1812.

[Bombardment of Copenhagen, 1807.] Printed pamphlet: 'An Examination of the Causes which led to the late Expedition against Copenhagen. By an Observer.'

Author: 
'An Observer' [Second Battle of Copenhagen, 1807; Bombardment of Copenhagen; Royal Navy; Napoleonic Wars]
Publication details: 
'London: Printed for J. Hatchard, Bookseller to Her Majesty, Opposite Albany, Piccadilly. 1808.' ['Brettell & Co. Printers, Marshall-Street, Golden-Square.']
£180.00

Although ostensibly neutral, Denmark participated was participating in the Continental Blockade, and under heavy pressure from the French and their Russian allies to pledge its fleet to Napoleon. As a consequence a Royal Navy fleet, under Vice-Admiral James Saumarez, bombarded the Copenhagen for a period of days in August and September 1807. The controversial action succeeded in its aims: the Dano-Swedish fleet was seized, and the sea lanes of the Baltic and North Sea were secured for the use of the British merchant fleet.

[ Mervyn Peake bookplate ] A Journal of Two Successive Tours upon the Continent in the Years , 1816, 1817, & 1818.

Author: 
James Wilson.
Publication details: 
Cadell & Davies, London, 1820
£350.00

Three volumes, 8vo, xii.476 plus four page Index and folding map (discreetly repaired); 564 plus 7-page Index; 696 plus eight page index, rebound in workmanlike but pleasant green cloth, sp. gt with Royal Institution insignia, by the Royal Institution Library from which they were purchased by Dr Nehemiah Asherson, Harley Street ENT specialist. Asherson's bookplate, designed by his friend, Mervyn Peake, is present in the first volume (same bookplate removed from the other two volumes with some faint signs remaining).

[ Lajos Bíró, Alexander Korda's scenario chief at London Film Productions. ] Unpublished typescript of '"Hollywood of Course" A Play In Three Acts By LAJOS BIRO'.

Author: 
Lajos Bíró [ Lajos Biro ] [ born Lajos Blau ] (1880-1948), Austro-Hungarian novelist, playwright and screenwriter who worked for Alexander Korda at London Film Productions
Publication details: 
'Copyright 1942 by British and Continental Plays Ltd.'
£400.00

168pp., 4to. Pages typed in black and red (by Active Secretarial Bureau, Wardour Street) on versos only. Bound in grey card wraps, with red tape spine. Typed title on cover, with circular red label of 'British and Continental Plays Ltd'. The main characters include the unnamed members of a continental royal family, together with 'Baroness Sibyl Konigsmark' and 'Section-Leader Grumb', and the scene is set at an Old Castle and Summer Palace, and 'Late in June of the year 1941. Three o'clock p.m.' and periods shortly following.

['Specimen Copy' of first issue of magazine, with 'Tauchnitz Edition' catalogue bound in.] The Tauchnitz Magazine. An English Monthly Miscellany for Continental Readers. [With contributions by Bret Harte, E. Nesbit, Lady West and James Payn.]

Author: 
Bernard Tauchnitz, Leipzig publisher [Bret Harte; E. Nesbit; Lady West; James Payn]
Publication details: 
Magazine: 'Edited, published and printed by Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig.' No.1. August 1891. Catalogue: 'Bernard Tauchnitz, Leipzig.' September 1891.
£320.00

Magazine: [8] + 80pp. In blue printed illustrated wraps. Internally in good condition, on aged paper, with unopened signatures, in worn and chipped wraps. Stamped in red at head of front cover: 'SPECIMEN COPY.' Announcement at foot of front cover: 'This magazine is not to be introduced into England or its colonies nor into the United States of America.' The first eight pages carry advertisments, as do both sides of the back wrap.

Clipped signature "Tho Mifflin".

Author: 
Thomas Mifflin, Governor of Pennsylvania, etc.
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£120.00

Irregular piece of paper c. 14 x 5 at most, good condions. Pencil note identifying signature

Autograph Letter Signed from the American cook Juliet Corson to 'Miss Booth' [Mary Louise Booth, editor of Harper's Bazaar], discussing the arrangements for the writing of a book ['Every-Day Cookery, Table Talk, and Hints for the Laundry', 1884].

Author: 
Juliet Corson (1841-1897), American writer of cookery books, Superintendent of the New York Cooking School (founded by her in 1874) [Mary Louise Booth (1831-1889), first editor of Harper's Bazaar]
Publication details: 
Continental Hotel, New York; 6 September 1883.
£280.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on aged paper, neatly placed in a thin windowpane mount. After acknowledging receipt of $90, Corson announces that the previous week she 'had a letter from the House accepting my book.' She has received no answer to her letter asking for 'some information', and asks Booth to 'be my mediator again'.

Autograph Letter Signed, in French, to Monsieur Van Santen.

Author: 
William Roberts (1767-1849), editor of the 'British Review'
Publication details: 
Without date or place [but before 1811?].
£38.00

One page, 12mo. Very good. He presents his correspondent with 'deux petits ouvrages sortis de ma plume'. The first was mentioned by 'Mr. Burgess' and the second is 'un petit traite qui a eu le bonheur il y a quelques ans de remporter le prix annuel dans l'Universite d'Oxford'. Signed 'Willm. Roberts'. In a postscript asks to be recommended to any acquaintances Van Santen may have 'a Rotterdam Anvers ou Bruxelles'. Address, with broken wafer, on second leaf of bifolium. Roberts is perhaps best remembered for the controversy brought on by a passage in Byron's 'Don Juan'.

Autograph Note Signed to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Professor Henry Gibson Atkins
Publication details: 
5 October 1915; '8, Granville Park | Blackheath, S.E.'
£25.00

British linguist (1871-1942), Professor of German in the University of London. One page, 12mo. Very good. Docketed and bearing R.S.A. stamp. 'In answer to your letter of October 2nd., I have pleasure in sending a Report on the Viva Voce German Examinations held in 1915.' Signed 'H. G. Atkins'.

Document Signed.

Author: 
Henry Marchant.
Publication details: 
1784
£200.00

Revolutionary patriot, Continental Congressman and lawyer, Rhode Island (1741-1796). Two pages, 4to, damaged and soiled but text clear and complete. Summary in different hand "1784 / Case to answer in the Estate of Joseph Warton Esq., by Henry Marchant on Ist Decr. 1784" [Warton was Colonial Governor of Rhode Island.] Marchant states the problem relating to the liabilities of Warton's widow and gives his opinion as to the circumstancers in which she was answerable to the liabilities and claims.

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