ENGLISH

Typed Letter Signed to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir James Weir French
Publication details: 
27 July 1919; on letterhead 'ARDOCH HOUSE, | BEARSDEN, | DUMBARTONSHIRE.'
£28.00

British engineer (died 1953). One page, quarto. Very good. Docketed and bearing R.S.A. stamp. Signed 'James Weir French'. 'I should be very pleased to have the opportunity of supporting the Society and I would be glad if you would make the necessary arrangements as you have so kindly offered to do'.

Two Typed Letters Signed to [Sir] H[enry]. T[rueman]. Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Keysall Yapp [Y.M.C.A.; YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION]
Publication details: 
4 November 1915 and 13 January 1917; both on letterhead of the National Council of Young Men's Christian Associations, Incorporated.
£50.00

Evangelical churchman and preacher (1869-1936), National Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association. First letter one page, quarto; second letter one page, octavo. Both very good though dusty. Both signed 'A. K. Yapp'. One letter docketed, and both bearing R.S.A. stamp. LETTER ONE: '[I]t is most probable that we can render the assistance indicated in your letter, and I should be very glad to meet you at some time mutually convenient.

Typed Letter Signed to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, together with unsigned carbon copy of the secretary's reply.

Author: 
Captain Basil Rupert Willett [MARCONI; RADAR]
Publication details: 
Letter: 9 July 1947, on letterhead of 'MARCONI'S WIRELESS TELEGRAPH COMPANY LIMITED'; carbon copy: 10 July 1947, no place.
£65.00

Willett (died 1966) and C. E. Horton were the two Royal Navy representatives to whom, in the autumn of 1940, it was demonstrated that the 10cm ground-based, experimental radar equipment could track ships. LETTER (one page, octavo, creased and grubby, with staple holes to one corner, stamped and docketed): Acknowledges a letter of 4 July, and is 'honoured to accept the invitation of the Council of the Royal Society of Arts to seek election as a Fellow of the Society'. Encloses a 'Form of Proposal' and a cheque (neither present) and suggests the setting up of a banker's order.

One Autograph Letter Signed and one Typed Letter Signed to W. Perry, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Leigh Bolland Ashton [Leigh Ashton]
Publication details: 
Typed letter: 19 November 1930; autograph letter, no date; both items on (different) Victoria & Albert Museum letterheads.
£75.00

Director (1897-1983) and Secretary, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1945-55. Both items one page, quarto. Both in very good condition. Typed letter bearing R.S.A. stamp. Both items concerning a projected lecture. TYPED LETTER: Perry will have a typescript by the end of the month, 'but as a good dea of my lecture is extempore you may find it rather shorter than you had anticipated. The written part will be roughly two thousand words.' Signed Leigh Ashton'. AUTOGRAPH LETTER: Perry will 'have to be content with the length of M.S. I send in. It may possibly run to 3000 but not more.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Edward Hugessen Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£28.00

Politician and children's writer (1829-1893). Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by two and a half. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of blue paper. Reads '[...] himself, & the flatterers to whose advice he has listened rather than to those who have not feared to tell him the truth - | Vy truly | Brabourne'. Docketed in pencil.

Autographed Note Signed to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Hugh Walpole
Publication details: 
30 May 1924; no place.
£23.00

New Zealand-born English author (1884-1941), best know for his series of 'Herries Chronicles'. Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by five inches. Folded once (not affecting signature). Mounted on larger piece of cream paper. From Autograph album. Reads 'With the best | wishes of | Hugh Walpole | May 30th. | 1924'.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Hall Caine
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£15.00

Manx novelist (1853-1931). Paper dimensions roughly three inches by one and a half. Very good. Reads 'Yours vy truly | Hall Caine'.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter

Author: 
Eleanor Catharine Price [E. C. Price]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by two and a half inches. Very good. Folded once (not affecting signature). From an autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of blue paper. Reads '[...] | It was a real pleasure | to see you again the other | day. | Yours afftely | E C Price -'. Docketed in pencil at foot.

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Lionel Arthur Tollemache
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

English aristocrat (1838-1919), author of 'Safe studies', 'Nuts and chestnuts', etc. etc. Paper dimensions roughly four inches by two inches. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of cream paper. Written in lilac pencil. Reads 'Lionel A Tollemache'. Docketed at foot in pencil.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Edna Lyall (Ada Ellen Bayly)
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

English novelist (1857-1903). Paper dimensions roughly four and a quarter inches by two and a quarter inches. Very good, but grubby and with a few light glue stains. From autograph album and mounted on larger piece of light blue paper. Reads '[...] | it will save confidencce. | In gt. haste | Yrs. truly | A. E. Bayly.' Docketed '(Edna Lyall)' in pencil beneath signature.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
George Combe
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

Victorian phrenologist (1788-1858) and natural philosopher. Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by two and a quarter. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of lilac paper. Crease line affecting first line of text. Reads 'I am | My dear Major Mair | Very truly yours | Geo. Combe'. Docketed in pencil at foot by Dame Sarah Elizabeth Siddons Mair (died 1941) '(Phrenologist) | Written to my Father - S. E. S. M.'

Two Typed Letters Signed to G. E. Mercer, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, concerning his award of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Fellowship; with seven associated items (draft replies, memo, programme, etc).

Author: 
Edward David Mills
Publication details: 
1969
£156.00

Architect (1915-98), designer of the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. All items very good. ITEM ONE (one page, folio): typed copy of Mills' 'programme' ('The object of the proposed research is to study at first hand the effect of these new techniques on building types in the United States [...]'.). ITEM TWO (one page, quarto, typed): letter by Mills dated 3 March 1969. Congratulates the Society on 'the new appearance of the R.S.A. Journal which is an enormous improvement on the past'. Explains that he has been awarded the Fellowship and encloses copy of programme.

Typed Letter Signed to Sir Henry Wood, [Secretary,] Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Basil Williams [Arthur Frederic Basil Williams; War Refugees Committee, Folkestone]
Publication details: 
7 October 1914; Old Harvey Grammar School, Folkestone, headed 'WAR REFUGEES COMMITTEE, FOLKESTONE'.
£45.00

Historian (1867-1950), who 'organised reception of Belgian Refugees at Folkestone for L.G.B., 1914 (Med. du Roi Albert)' (Who's who). One page, quarto. Good. Folded three times. Docketed and bearing the Society's stamp. Signed 'Basil Williams'. In answer to Wood's telegram Williams replies 'I am to say that I am afraid we cannot sent [sic] people from here to Aldeburgh.

The christmas box or new year's gift.

Author: 
S. G. Green, intro. [The Religious Tract Society; Field & Tuer, The Leadenhall Press]
Publication details: 
London: Field & Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, E.C.
£45.00

Small 8vo. 80 pages. Numerous woodcuts. In original grey printed wraps, with cloth spine. Internally good, with some light spotting and discoloration. Binding worn and grubby; front fep splitting. Ownership inscription. Interesting and informative introduction discusses 'the advance made in less than seventy years in popular art and literature'. Publisher's note (p.xxviii), 'The letter-press of the present volume exactly reproduces that of the original Christmas Box.

Anno Regni Georgii II. Regis Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, & Hiberniae, quarto ('An Act to prevent Frauds in the Revenue of Excise, with respect to Starch, Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate.' p.3).

Author: 
Great Britain, Act of Parliament, George II
Publication details: 
1731; London: Printed by the Assigns of His Majesty's Printer, and of Henry Hills deceas'd.
£50.00

24 pages, 16mo. In poor condition: grubby and with wear to extremities and closed tear to second leaf. Pencil marks to verso of last leaf. Stitched into grubby, worn vellum binding, bearing pencil and ink notes at front and rear.

The names of those persons who subscribed towards the defence of this country at the time of the Spanish Armada, 1588, and the amounts each contributed. With historical introduction [...]; and index.

Author: 
T. C. Noble (intro.)
Publication details: 
London: Alfred Russell Smith, 1886.
£35.00

1st edition, 1886. 8vo. Pages: xxxv + 92. Original cloth blind stamped on front board. Paper browing with age, some fraying at head of spine and title leaf loosening; otherwise good copy. Variant spellings of some of the names in the list have been added in ink in a neat small contemporary hand.

Britannia; or, The moral claims of seamen stated and enforced. An essay, in three parts.

Author: 
Rev. John Harris
Publication details: 
London: Thomas Ward and Co., 1837. Second thousand.
£45.00

8vo. Pages: half-title, xix + 195. Ownership inscription of 'Chrisr. Cole 1837' at head of title. Modern rebacking with new endpapers, but retaining original blind-stamped boards. Paper heavily foxed. Binder's ticket of John Gardner, Borough Green and paper wallet containing long cutting on Chartism at rear. An impassioned appeal for the alleviation of the condition of the English seaman.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to Sir Henry T[rueman]. Wood, [Secretary,] Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Alexander Joseph Finberg [THE WALPOLE SOCIETY]
Publication details: 
23 and 27 January 1917; both on Walpole Society letterhead.
£85.00

British art historian (1866-1939) whose papers are now in the Courtauld Institute, London; Turner specialist and founder of the Walpole Society. Both items one page, quarto, very good. Both docketed and bearing the Society's stamp, and signed 'A. J. Finberg'. First letter enquires whether 'a full list of the recipients of [the Society's awards] has been published, or whether the materials for the compilation of such a list are in existence & are accessible to research'.

Typed Note Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
William Henry Patchell
Publication details: 
12 August 1922; on letterhead '64, Victoria Street, | Westminster, | London, S.W.1.'
£28.00

British engineer (1862-1932), President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and for thirteen years 'Engineer-in-Chief, Charing Cross, West End, and City Electric Supply Corporation, Ltd'. One page, quarto. Very good. Thanks Menzies for a copy of the Society's journal, 'including Dr. Crowley's Paper with my contribution'. Signed 'W. H. Patchell'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to [Sir Henry Trueman Wood,] the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir John Wolfe Wolfe-Barry
Publication details: 
Letter one: 28 June 1917; letter two: 29 October 1917; both on letterhead 'DELAHAY HOUSE, | 15, CHELSEA EMBANKMENT, | S.W.3.'
£45.00

British railway engineer (1836-1918). Both items very good, and both stamped and docketed, and signed 'J. Wolfe-Barry'. LETTER ONE: one page, octavo. 'I have much pleasure in accepting the Office of Vice President of the Society and shall be glad, as an ex-officio member of the Council to be summoned to its meetings'. LETTER TWO: one page, octavo (landscape). 'I want to propose William Archer Tait D.Sc Civil Engineer for admission to the Royal Sy of Arts. His address is 9 Victoria Street S.W. Please take the necessary steps'.

Two Autograph Postcards Signed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, [Secretary,] The Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Wyke Bayliss
Publication details: 
19 and 21 January 1893, '7 North Road | Clapham Park'.
£32.00

Artist and art historian (1835-1906), President of the Royal Society of British Artists. Both items very good, if somewhat grubby, and both stamped and docketed, and signed 'Wyke Bayliss'. Both postcards with postmark over printed stamp. POSTCARD ONE: 'I was dining last night with Dr Richardson and he said he should be glad if you could let him have some more cards of invitation for my lecture on the 25th. May I ask you (if you think proper) to send them a dozen, in addition to htose you have already sent.' POSTCARD TWO: 'I send by this post the MS of my paper, for the printer.

Autograph Letter Signed to J. Samson, Assistant Secretary, Royal Society of Arts; together with carbon copy of the letter to which it is a reply.

Author: 
Sir Lawrence Gowing
Publication details: 
The letter 27 November 1962, on letterhead '17 PERCY STREET LONDON W1'; the carbon copy 15 November 1962.
£38.00

Painter and art historian (1918-91). The two items are both very good, attached to one another by a staple in a corner. The copy of Samson's letter (one page quarto, very good, on yellow paper) explains that the Society is 'endeavouring to arrange a course of three Cantor Lectures next Spring on modern philosophies - art, architecture and music', and invites him to deliver the first of these. Gives details of the fee, dates, etc. Gowing's letter: one page, octavo. 'I am honoured by your invitation to give the first of the Cantor Lectures next year. But I must refuse it - I'm very sorry.

Typed Note Signed to Sir Harry Lindsay, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Thomas Sherrer Ross Boase
Publication details: 
28 November 1947; on letterhead of Magdalen College, Oxford.
£32.00

English mediaeval and art historian (1898-1974), Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art. One page, landscape octavo. Good, but with one corner creased and grubby, and with staple holes in another. 'I should be much honoured to be nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and should much appreciate association with that body and all the work it does.' Signed 'T. S. R. Boase.'

Typed Letter Signed to [Brian?] Mercer, [Secretary,?] Royal Society of Arts; together with a carbon of the Typed Letter to which it is a reply.

Author: 
Cecil Day-Lewis
Publication details: 
22 July [1961]; on letterhead '6 CROOMS HILL | GREENWICH | S. E. 10'; carbon of Mercer's letter dated 21 July 1961.
£65.00

British Poet Laureate (1904-72). Day-Lewis's letter, 1 page, 8vo. On grey paper. Good, but lightly creased and with a few staple holes. Thanks Mercer for the 'kind invitation'. 'I am afraid I could not manage to prepare the paper you suggest for January 24, since I have to be busy till near the end of this year on a play.' Suggests deferment to February or March. Signed 'C. Day Lewis'. Docketed by '' on 24 July 1961, 'We can offer other times, I think, in March.' and with 'Mar 21 | 2.30' beneath this in pencil.

Printed document, filled in in manuscript, ordering the induction of Thomas Hutton into the 'Rectory and Parish Church of Beeston Saint Laurence'; together with printed and manuscript certification.

Author: 
John Oldershaw, Archdeacon of Norfolk [Beeston Saint Laurence, Norfolk]
Publication details: 
16/12/37
£28.00

Two pages, dimensions roughly thirteen inches by eight inches. Discoloured, creased and folded, with several closed tears. Papered seal of office of the Archdeacon of Norfolk. Signed by Henry Francis, deputy registrar. On reverse a printed form, filled in in manuscript, and signed and witnessed, by which John Gunn, vicar of the parish of Banton Turf with Instead, certifies Hulton's induction.

On the earliest specimens of mezzotinto engraving. In a letter to Sir Henry Ellis, K.H., F.R.S., &c.

Author: 
Hugh W[elch]. Diamond, F.S.A.
Publication details: 
London: 1838 ['J. B. Nichols and son, 25, Parliament-street.'].
£125.00

PRESENTATION COPY of offprint 'FROM THE | ARCHAEOLOGIA, | VOL. XXVII. p. 405-409.' Four leaves, 8 pages, 4to. In good condition, although grubby and worn and with creasing to inner edge. Presentation inscription to top right-hand corner of title. Disbound: paginated in manuscript and with slight offsetting to verso of last leaf. No copy of this offprint in the British Library. The author Dr Hugh Welch Diamond (1809-86) was editor of the photographic journal, and a pioneer of psychiatric photography.

Autograph Letter Signed, 4pp., 4to, to A. Winburne

Author: 
J.N. Dancer
Publication details: 
01/08/09
£250.00

The Examiners' Office in early C19th England. Winburne has made suggestions for improving the Examiners' Office. Dancer replies with a review of the nature and problems of the Office, the nature of witnesses (unclean, diseased), the place of interview (a prison room, etc.). Dancer describes the onerous nature of the examiner's job, the need for experience, and finally refers to the "most eligible plan" which is in minutes supplied to Winburne.

Autograph Note Signed to Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie the younger.

Author: 
John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly
Publication details: 
6 February 1862; 6 Hyde Park Terrace, W.
£30.00

English lawyer (1802-74) and Master of the Rolls, 1851-73. The recipient (1817-80) was a noted chemist. Two pages, 16mo. Very good, but sumwhat dusty and grubby. Reads 'My dear Sir Benjamin | I am much oblig'd to you for your kind. [sic] I am not aware of the circumstance, or rather the rule you mention or I should not have committed thte 'indiscretion' of asking you to sign my sons recommendation'. Signed 'John Romilly'.

Autograph Note Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
George Kirkley [Royal Academy of Art]
Publication details: 
Undated.
£22.00

Dimensions. Paper stained, discoloured and ruckled. Trimmed and mounted on a piece of brown paper. Reads 'Shall feel extreemly [sic] obliged if you will have the goodness to allow the Landscape on Copper sent to be placed on the Walls for the ensuing Exhibition at the Royal Academy has [sic] it will confer an obligation on | Sir/ | Your Most Obedient | Servant | G Kirkley | Landscape on Copper | George Kirkley | No. 3 Gilhams Fields | Worship Street'.

"Army (Annual) [...] Bill 132": "A bill to provide, during twelve months, for the discipline and regulation of the army."

Author: 
House of Commons
Publication details: 
Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 17 March 1904."; "PRINTED BY EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, | PRINTERS TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY."
£22.00

Five leaves, folio. One page blank. Unbound and stitched as issued. Good, but creased and foxed, with slight wear to extremities. Comprising bill (four pages), schedule, memorandum, arrangement of clauses.

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