DANTE

[W. G. Wills [William Gorman Wills], Irish playwright and painter.] Autograph Letter Signed to Tom Taylor, fellow-playwright and ‘Punch’ editor, recommending Walter John Knewstub, Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s assistant.

Author: 
W. G. Wills [William Gorman Wills (1828-1891)], Irish playwright and painter [Tom Taylor (1817-1880), playwright, Punch editor; Walter John Knewstub (1831-1906), assistant to Dante Gabriel Rossetti]
Publication details: 
‘76 Fulham Rd / Brompton [London] / May 4 - 77 [1877]’.
£56.00

See his entry and Taylor’s in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Sixteen lines of closely-written text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘My dear Mr. Taylor / Would you allow me to introduce a friend of mine Mr. Knewstube to you.

[Geoffrey Langdale Bickersteth, Italianist and Professor of English at Aberdeen University.] Three Autograph Letters Signed to his old headmaster at Charterhouse 'Dr. Rendall’, with reference to Dante, Marlborough College, Josef Schick, E. A. Wilson.

Author: 
Geoffrey Langdale Bickersteth (1884-1974), translator of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’, Professor of English, Aberdeen University [Gerald Henry Rendall (1851-1945), Shakespearian scholar]
Publication details: 
ONE: 11 July 1913; on letterhead of The College, Marlborough. TWO: 27 January 1914; Amalienstrasse 44A/II, Munich. THREE: 7 February 1933; on letterhead of 4 St John’s Terrace, Glasgow, W2.
£180.00

Three excellent letters, written to his old headmaster at Charterhouse. Bickersteth’s papers are at Aberdeen, and with those of his family at the Bodleian. See the Oxford DNB entry for his brother Julian Bickersteth (1885-1962). Three long letters, every page fully filled with text neatly written in a close hand. The three items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE (11 July 1913): 4pp, 12mo, with additional cross writing on the first three. Bifolium. Begins by thanking him for his book, clearly Rendall’s ‘A Hero of the Antarctic’, about the ornithologist and explorer E. A.

[Henry Francis Cary, translator of Dante, poet, author and Assistant Librarian at the British Museum.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the novelist Thomas Henry Lister], expressing thanks for the placing of one of his sons in a good situation.

Author: 
Henry Francis Cary (1772-1844), translator of Dante, poet, author and Assistant Librarian at the British Museum [Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842), novelist]
Publication details: 
‘Brit. Museum. [London] / Decr 11th. 1837’.
£45.00

See Cary's entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. The recipient is not named, but the item is from the papers of Lady Maria Theresa Lewis, and the letter is written to her first husband, the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842), whose father Thomas Lister of Armitage Park was a childhood friend of Cary's (see his 1847 biography by his son).

[Sir James Philip Lacaita [Giacomo Filippo Lacaita], Anglo-Italian politician and scholar.] Printed offprint of synopsis of Royal Institution talk: ‘On Dante and the “Divina Commedia.”’

Author: 
Sir James Philip Lacaita [Giacomo Filippo Lacaita] (1813-1895), Anglo-Italian politician and scholar [Royal Institution of Great Britain]
Publication details: 
‘Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, May 18, 1855.’ [London.]
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Although reset, the text of the present five-page synopsis does not appear to differ from that printed on pp.118-433 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, May 18, 1855. / Rev.. John Barlow, M.A. F.R.S. Vice-President and Secretary, in the Chair. / James Philip Lacaita, Esq. LL.D. / On Dante and the “Divina Commedia.”’ 5pp, 16mo, bifolium, paginated [1]-5.

[Charles Eliot Norton, American author; Authority on Dante] Substantial Autograph Letter Signed C.E. Norton to Paget Toynbee, 'the most influential Dantean scholar of his time', about Dante (of course).

Author: 
Charles Eliot Norton (1827 – 1908), American author, social critic, and Harvard professor of art
Publication details: 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2 Febr. 1885.
£420.00

Four pages, 12mo, bifolium, fold marks, good condition. He is sending the three Reports of the Dante Society in reponse to Toynbee's request. In the last Report you will find a list of such publications on Dante or his works as have been made in America, which I truct may be useful to you. The 'Concordance' of which I sent you the specimen pages is advancing well, and will, if we can get it published, be a great boon to the most constant students of the D.C. | You have indertaken a great task [word crossed out] , and one of slow accomplishment.

[Philip Henry Wicksteed, economist, theologian and Dante scholar.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Philip H. Wicksteed'), first to 'Mrs. Chepmell', second to 'Mrs. Borrer', topics including his love of his work, a bicycling holiday, a meeting.

Author: 
Philip Henry Wicksteed (1844-1927), economist, Unitarian theologian, classicist, medievalist, literary critic and Dante scholar
Publication details: 
[Chepmell letter on letterhead of Childrey near Wantage, 7 February 1904. Borrer letter on letterhead of Mount Pleasant, Sidmouth, 22 April 1904.
£80.00

Both letters are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. 'Mrs. Chepmell' was the wife of Edward Charles Chepmell (1820-1885), society homeopathist. Mrs. Borrer' was the wife of Cary Hampton Borrer (1838-1918) of Hurstpierpoint. ONE: To 'Dear Mrs. Chepmell', 7 February 1904. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Begins: 'I find that Mr. Cranage the Cambridge secretary [Rev. David Herbert Somerset Cranage (1866-1957)] is coming down to Hurstpierpoint on Thursday & is going to lunch with Mrs.

[Signed 'T.S. Eliot''] Italian News' [featuring 'Talk on Dante' by T. S. Eliot, the printed version of a lecture entitled 'What Dante Means to Me''].

Author: 
T. S. Eliot [The Italian Institute; Dante Alighieri]
Publication details: 
July, 1950. 'This journal is edited by The Italian Institute [39 Belgrave Square S.W.1]'. Printed by T. G. Norris, London, N.W.8.
£150.00

Gallup C552. 4to (leaf dimensions 28 x 22.5 cm), 40 pp. Stapled. In original blue printed wraps. Worn and dogeard on aged paper, with minor staining at foot of front wrap and first leaf. The signature "T S Eliot" (possibly his but more words would have helped) appears top front wrap. The 'Calendar' at the front lists, on 4 July [1950], the 'Lecture by Mr. T. S. Eliot, O.M.: "What Dante Means to Me," with H.E. the Italian Ambassador in the Chair.' The printed version, titled 'TALK ON DANTE | by T. S.

[ Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine, Manx author. ] Typed Letter Signed ('Hall Caine') to Manchester journalist and editor John Cuming Walters, regarding his book 'Recollections of Rossetti'.

Author: 
Hall Caine [ Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine ] (1853-1931), Manx author [ John Cuming Walters (1863-1933), editor of the Manchester City News ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Greeba Castle, Isle of Man. 24 August 1928.
£80.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He begins by noting that they have not corresponded for a while, and that he has 'been abroad most of my time for several years'. He is sending him 'a set of advance sheets of a little book I am to publish with Cassells at the end of September' ('Recollections of Rossetti'), 'because I have a very grateful memory of all the kind, appreciative and very able articles which you have written about other books of mine'.

[Paget Toynbee, English Dante scholar.] Three Autograph Letters Signed and two Autograph Cards Signed to fellow Dantist Herbert Macartney Beatty, topics including English translators of Dante (Musgrave and Ellaby), and the tomb of Henry Francis Cary.

Author: 
Paget Toynbee [Paget Jackson Toynbee] (1855-1932), English Dante scholar and editor of Horace Walpole, whose Fiveways library was bequeathed to the Bodleian [Herbert Macartney Beatty; George Musgrave]
Publication details: 
All from Fiveways, Burnham Bucks (the last on embossed letterhead). 1911 (2), 1912 (2) and 1914.
£120.00

Toynbee was, as his entry in the Oxford DNB notes, 'recognized by his contemporaries as one of the great English Dantists, and a "giant of scholarship" (Oxford Magazine, 723)'. All five items in very good condition, lightly-aged. The three letters on bifoliums, and all five items in Toynbee's neat, close hand. Items One to Four with mourning borders (for his wife, who had died in 1910). ONE: ACS. 30 January 1911. He thanks him for sending 'the Gibbon reference', which he had overlooked, and discusses his 'Chronological List of English Translations from Dante'. TWO: ACS. 13 February 1911.

[George Charles Williamson, art editor to George Bell & Sons.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo C Williamson') to H. C. Marillier, reporting the high opinion of the Pre-Raphaelite patron George Rae of Birkenhead of his book 'Dante Gabriel Rossetti'.

Author: 
George Charles Williamson (1858-1942), art editor to George Bell & Sons [Henry Currie Marillier (1865-1951), textiles expert; George Rae (1817-1902) of Birkenhead, Pre-Raphaelite patron; Rossetti]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of G. Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden, London. 24 August 1900.
£135.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. For further information about Williamson and his publications, see his entry in 'Who Was Who'; see also Marillier's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Robt Buchanan') from the poet and novelist Robert Buchanan to the autograph hunter John T. Baron of Blackburn, discussing the publication of his work.

Author: 
Robert Buchanan [Robert Williams Buchanan] (1841-1901), poet and novelist, born in Stoke-on-Trent
Publication details: 
16 Langham Street, W., London. Undated; postmarked 13 March 1882.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In worn envelope, with stamp and postmark, addressed by Buchanan to 'J. T. Baron Esq | 18 Griffin Street | Witton | Blackburn | Lancashire'. Both letter and envelope have thick mourning borders, Buchanan's wife having died the previous November. The letter reads: 'Dear Sir, | The works you mention, with the exception of "Idyls of Invention," are just now out of print. The plays have never been pubd. | Thanking you for your kind expressions I am | Yrs truly | Robt Buchanan'.

Manuscript Letter, written by an amanuensis for the blind poet 'P. B. Marston' [Philip Bourke Marston], to John T. Baron of Blackburn, referring to two of his books, and to a photograph taken six years before, which 'does not please' his friends.

Author: 
Philip Bourke Marston (1850-1887), blind English poet, protégé of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and friend of James Thomson ('B. V.') [John T. Baron of Blackburn autograph hunter]
Publication details: 
191 Euston Road, London. 11 October 1882.
£56.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In stamped and postmarked envelope, addressed in the same hand to 'J. Y. [sic] Baron Esq. | 48, Griffin Street, | Tritton | Blackburn'. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in slightly discoloured envelope. It is not known who acted as Marston's amanuensis after the death of his sister Cicely in 1878: the present letter is written in a neat and somewhat childish hand. It dates from what had been an extremely trying year for Marston, with Rossetti dying the previous April, and the dying James Thomson being carried from Marston's rooms two months later.

Six printed promotional items for 'The Collected Works of William Morris, to be issued in twenty-four volumes under the editorship of Miss May Morris' by Longmans, Green & Co, comprising prospectuses, specimen pages and engravings, and an order form.

Author: 
[William Morris; May Morris; Kelmscott Press; Dante Gabriel Rossetti; Longmans, Green & Company; fine printing; typography]
Publication details: 
London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1910.
£380.00

An interesting collection of typographical ephemera. ONE: Landscape 8vo wood engraving, captioned 'This illustration, entitled "Psyche in Charon's Boat," was engraved on wood by William Morris from a design by Edward Burne-Jones and forms one of a series in illustration of the story of Cupid and Psyche in "The Earthly Paradise." It is proposed to issue one or two of these designs, which have never been published, though one of them formed the frontispiece to the "Note on the Kelmscott Press" by Mr. S. C. Cockerell.' In good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Westland Marston') from the playwright John Westland Marston, inviting Robert Cole to 'a Bachelor party' for the National Magazine.

Author: 
John Westland Marston (1819-1890), poet and playwright, friend of Dickens and Dante Gabriel Rossetti [John Saunders (1811-1895), editor with Marston of the 'National Magazine'; Robert Cole]
Publication details: 
November 1856.
£65.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. The letterhead has been cut away from the first leaf, taking with it the number of the month, but not affecting the text; otherwise fair, on lightly-aged paper. Marston invites Cole to 'a pleasant little meeting of some of our friends and contributors at the Office': 'We are altogether a Bachelor Party and as free from formality as a set of Australian Bush Men or Gold-diggers'. Saunders has also written 'begging the pleasure' of Cole's company. He ends by sending his regards to Cole's daughter, whom he hopes has 'recovered from her cough'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Westland Marston') from the dramatist and critic John Westland Marston to John T. Baron of Blackburn, discussing his only novel, and his correspondence with Charles Dickens and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Author: 
John Westland Marston (1819-1890), English dramatist and critic, associated with the Pre-Raphaelites [John T. Baron of Blackburn; Charles Dickens; Dante Gabriel Rossetti; Ward and Lock]
Publication details: 
Both from 191 Euston Road, London. 19 August 1882 and 7 July 1883.
£180.00

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Both of them bifoliums with mourning borders; and both in their original envelopes, addressed by Marston, with stamp and postmarks. ONE: 4pp., 12mo. He begins by stating that he is gratified to find that his poems please Baron. 'The only novel I wrote, (it is more than 20 years ago) has I believe been long out of print. A comparatively short tale entitled "Family Credit" together with other sketches and essays (chiefly contributed to "Household Worlds' [sic] was published many years gone by Messr. Ward and Lock as the 1st.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Theodore Martin') to 'Mr. Fulton'.

Author: 
Sir Theodore Martin (1816-1909), Scottish poet, biographer and translator
Publication details: 
20 September 1881; on letterhead 'Bryntysilio, near Llangollen.'
£28.00

12mo: 2 pp. On lightly creased, discoloured paper, with traces of hinge from previous mounting adhering to margin of first page. He has 'an uncomfortable feeling' that he 'laid aside' a letter from Fulton 'to be answered, but which I cannot now find. It must somehow have got mixed up with other papers [...] If I am right in my fear, may I ask you to send me a copy of it?'

Photographic portrait by J. E. Mayall of Brighton and New Bond Street.

Author: 
Sir Theodore Martin (1816-1909), Scottish poet, biographer and translator
Publication details: 
Without date. 'J. E. MAYALL | 91, KING'S ROAD | BRIGHTON | 164, NEW BOND ST. | LONDON. W.'
£35.00

Dimensions of photograph 9 x 5.5 cm. Good sepia image, on backing card with Mayall's details printed in red at foot. Reverse of card mostly covered with remains of previous cream paper mount. This image does not feature among the three portraits of Martin listed in the National Portrait Gallery's online catalogue of its collection.

Autograph Note Signed "H.F. Cary", to [The Revd Josiah Forshall], librarian (see DNB). WITH: H.F. Cary's calling card.

Author: 
H.F. Cary [ Henry Francis Cary ]
Publication details: 
10 Park Street, Westminster, [5th?] June [no year, 1826 or later]
£120.00

Cary, clergyman, translator of Dante and librarian (see DNB). Two pages, 8vo, some soiling, mainly good.He is not in the habit of accepting dinner invitations and will be "taking [his] evening walk" at the time suggested. Postscript: "I trouble you with another key supposed to belong to the cellar under the colonnade [at the British Library?]" WITH: his calling card, soiled,name and place of work (British Library) printed (the latter with a line through it), address in Westminster added in his hand.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs. Watkins'.

Author: 
Henry Thomas Mackenzie Bell
Publication details: 
18 June 1910; on letterhead '11, BUCKINGHAM GATE, S.W.'
£25.00

Poet and literary critic (1856-1930). One page, 12mo. Discoloured but very good. Folded once. One might almost think he was being sarcastic. 'The unflawed pleasure of my short visit to the Archdeaconry will never be effaced from my memory. Heartily I thank you all very much. | Most sincerely yrs | Mackenzie Bell | [autograph]'. Last word and square brackets Bell's.

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