FLORENCE

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. On a 9.5 x 3.5 cm slip of paper, cut from a letter and laid down on a slightly larger slip of card. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads '[...] that we should never think from proclaiming. / Yrs. v. truly / Florence Dixie / (Lady)'. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once for postage. The year is given in pencil, and a note in the same hand identifies the recipient as ‘Mrs Florence Doubleday (wife of publisher) in Oyster Bay’. Ten lines of text, in a close hand, with larger, firm signature ‘John Gielgud.’ A somewhat pompous missive. He thanks her for giving him ‘so delightful an opportunity of meeting you, and to ask me to stay in your charming house and meet your friends, who were all so nice to me’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In fair condition, with a few light creases and two punch-holes to inner margin. Good large signature (‘Anna Neagle.’) in black ink. She thanks him for his letter and kindness in sending the photographs: ‘I think they are excellent.’ She is glad that she was ‘able to get along to the Party’, and thanks him ‘and the Committee’ for making her visit so pleasant.

Gertrude Ward trained under Florence Nightingale at St Thomas’s Hospital in London (see below), after which she became a district nurse, and then sister at the Medical Mission, Zanzibar. She was appointed to the position of Matron at Eton in 1901. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium, folded twice. In good condition. Nineteen lines of text. Signed ‘Gertrude Ward.’ She confirms the day of an appointment, but wishes to change the hour, as ‘unfortunately another UMCA Candidate has arranged to come at 3.30 on that day’.

Three pages, 12mo, bifolium, second leaf laid down on slightly larger paper, edges dusted, small closed tear, fully legible, fair condition. I thank you for the history that you have sent me of the Smyrna hospital. I read it with great interest; & thinking that it might be also interesting to those who are more immediately concerned in these matters than I am, I have sent your letter to Mr Frederick Peel [then Under-Secretary of State for War]. I hope that [you] will not disapprove of my having done so.

1p, 8vo. In good condition, on lightly aged paper. Folded once. Salutation ('My dear Popey -') and valediction ('My love to you both - | Anna.') in her autograph; the rest typed. Good bold signature. Reads: 'It was so very kind of you to think of me on Saturday.

1p, 12mo. On aged paper, with closed tear repaired on reverse with brown paper. Folded twice. Addressed to 'Dear Sir William'. The prime minister (Asquith) has asked him to say that he is 'quite at a loss to understand how he came to be so misinformed as to the progress of the negotiations connected with the appointment of the Royal Commission'. All the prime minister can do is 'express his regret at the misunderstanding'.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Having found among her correspondence an unanswered letter from her cousin she apologises for the apparent rudeness, before accepting her 'kind invitation to luncheon when next we are in your neighbourhood'. She hopes that they 'may be in the Forest some time in the summer'. She ends by stating that she is enclosing an autograph for her cousin's friend.

Depressed and paranoid, Lever spent his last days in Italy. For the Villa Morelli, see his Downey's 'Life in his Letters' (1906). 2pp, 12mo. On aged and creased paper, with closed tears to edges, but no loss. Folded twice. The handwriting is neat and controlled, but not always entirely legible. He begins with the news that he is returning 'the books you so kindly lent me'. Presumably referring to Charles Reade's 1866 novel 'Griffith Gaunt', Lever writes: 'Mr Reade is all you said of him, - often very amusing, & oftener very [?]'. A reference to 'the pleasanter reading' follows.

1p, 12mo. On aged paper, with closed tear repaired on reverse with brown paper. Folded twice. Addressed to 'Dear Sir William'. The prime minister (Asquith) has asked him to say that he is 'quite at a loss to understand how he came to be so misinformed as to the progress of the negotiations connected with the appointment of the Royal Commission'. All the prime minister can do is 'express his regret at the misunderstanding'.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Having found among her correspondence an unanswered letter from her cousin she apologises for the apparent rudeness, before accepting her 'kind invitation to luncheon when next we are in your neighbourhood'. She hopes that they 'may be in the Forest some time in the summer'. She ends by stating that she is enclosing an autograph for her cousin's friend.

On one side of 5 x 13 cm slip of paper cut from the end of a letter. In good condition, lightly aged, with central vertical fold. Laid down on piece of paper removed from album. Reads: '[...] I shall be delighted to come to you. | Yrs always faithfully | T. Adolphus Trollope'.

Florence Montgomery's 1869 novel 'Misunderstood' was admired by Henry James, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and George Du Maurier, and was childhood reading of Vladimir Nabokov. It has been adapted for cinema twice (in Italy in 1966, in Hollywood in 1984). The present item is 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In envelope addressed to 'Mrs. William Levi | Woughton Hall | Bletchley'. (The recipient Lilian Maud Levi was the granddaughter of Sir Henry Cunningham Montgomery, and the daughter of the Dean of Worcester Grantham Munton Yorke.) The postmark gives the year as 1921.

After a twelve-year 'amitié amoureuse' with Phillips, Violet Trefusis died in 1972, appointing him her literary executor and leaving him her last home, La Tour de Saint Loup. The present item – only one other copy of which has been traced – is from a collection of Phillips's papers amassed by his friend Barbara Reed, containing pamphlets privately printed by him between 2009 and 2014.

By profession a mining engineer, O'Driscoll was the Irish National Federation (Anti-Parnellite) MP for the South Monaghan constituency between 1892 and 1895. 2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight patch of discoloration at the head of the second page. Despite the author's statement to the contrary, an eloquent and moving letter of condolence. Addressing his letter to 'My dear Willie', O'Driscoll sends his sympathies on the death of the recipient's father. 'I feel old man that I have a poor way of expressing myself.

On panel torn from front of envelope. In fair condition, lightly aged, with one closed tear affecting the word 'Jervis'. The address reads: 'The Revd. | Jervis T. Giffard | Long Ditton Rectory | Kingston on Thames'. Above this in pencil: 'Florence Nightingale's writing'. In pen on reverse: 'Miss Nightingale's writing given to me by Mrs. Moggridge in /76'. Beside this in pencil: 'Mr. Giffards daughter'. In early life Giffard studied medicine in Paris. He is said to have been a positive influence on Nightingale in her childhood.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Thirty-five lines of closely-written text. Addressed by Hall on reverse of second leaf to 'Mrs. Stisted | Villa Broderick | Lucca Baths', with note that the letter is 'For[warde]d By Ch[ristophe]]r. Pearson'. He begins by introducing to Mrs Stisted and her husband 'Col.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with the reverse of the blank reverse of the second leaf tipped-in onto a card mount. Written in a not altogether straightforward hand. He begins: 'I sleep at Birmingham Monday – hope to be in Halifax in the course of the afternoon. | Dont for one moment think of sending your carriage – as Mr Stansfield wishes to meet me and carry me off on my way to you, to some school gathering. | I believe it is certainly not a church one'.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn, with minor marking to first and last pages. A high-spirited missive, headed 'Private' and difficult to decipher. He begins by asking him to 'read the enclosed, a perfect gentleman is certainly cheap at 12s. a week. | My interest in the matter is revealed by the closing sentence in the letter.' An indecipherable sentence follows, after which: 'At any rate will you send me an answer wh I can forward to Mr Kitto.' He asks Canning to inform his wife 'that Elcho took charge of the rat dog.

On one side of a 9 x 11 cm piece of grey paper. In a minuscule hand, with the recipient's name has been scored through: 'Dear Mr. <?>, | Will you come to supper on Thursday? | Yours sincerely, | Florence James'.

Written on piece of paper, 11 x 7com. Boldly written, good condition.

Good, firm signature, on 5.5 x 14.5 cm piece of paper. In good condition, lightly aged, on card backing bearing traces of mount on reverse. Reads simply: 'Florence Marryat.'

Only the prelims of the book are present, on four leaves. In fair condition, on aged paper, with slight damage at the margin of the first leaf. Orioli's two inscriptions are on the two central leaves. Comprising a leaf with series title ('The Lungarno Series No. 12'); leaf with half-title and limitation (no 5 of 300) on reverse, signed 'G. Orioli'; title leaf; and contents leaf. The inscription on the title reads: 'This is for Barbara and Raphael | with love and affection | from Pino [Orioli] | Florence day of publication'.

5pp., 12mo. The letter proper is three pages long, on a bifolium, and is accompanied by a two-page 'list of times & places' on a separate leaf. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. With 18 x 23 cm letterhead, on the cover of which Thornton has written 'To | Sir Robert Head. Bart. | III | Zimmer Strasse 97 | Hier.', with his signature 'C. Thornton' in the bottom left-hand corner.

Letter: 1p., 12mo. On letterhead of 12 Sunderland Terrace, London, printed in orange with orange border. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He states that his daughter Nelly (1904-1975) has given him her bookplate block 'to get printed for you'. He quotes prices for 100 and 300 prints, 'only to old friends so please dont tell anyone else!! If you will just let me have a P.C I will get them done in two days.' Nelly has also told him that Mrs Dryhurst's husband Alfred Robert Dryhurst (1859-1949) 'wanted to know my price for a bookplate (but perhaps she got that wrong) anyhow I generally charge £10.

Both items in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, each with slight trace of paper label at spine. Letter One: 3 pp, 12mo. Docketed at head of first page '1 Dec/88.' and 'The Explorer of Thibet [sic]'. He thanks him 'for the Card of the St Botolph Club' and will try to go there the following day. He has 'so many things to do' that he is not sure he will be able to stay there long. Letter Two: 4 pp, 12mo. Docketed beneath address '6 January 89.', and beneath signature 'The traveller in Thibet [sic]'. Thanking him for the 'note and cheque', and hoping that the sketch arrived safely.

12mo, 1 p. Six lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She will 'keep January free' for him, and they can 'arrange the details of programme later'. She agrees that 'a wholly-Brahms programme might be rather heavy'. See Florence's obituary, The Times, 7 November 1928.

12mo, [iv] + 52 + [i], the last page carrying an erratum. Unopened. In original grey printed wraps. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with wear to wraps (particularly spine) and dog-eared front wrap. Bound in at the end is a separate seven-page pamphlet with a title-page which simply reads 'Toulon Port de Guerre par J. P.A. Madden.' The printer of this seven-page item is Imprimérie Cerf at Versailles.

The collection of fifty-three Typed Letters Signed and six mimeographed circulars, in various formats, is in good condition on lightly-aged paper, with all texts clear and complete, and with a couple of items with closed tears. Providing an interesting sidelight into workings of the English branch of one of the twentieth-century's leading multinational corporations. Arden's letter (8vo, 1 p), dated 8 April 1955, is addressed to the Rogers' daughter 'Miss J. Rogers'.

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Fair, on aged paper with a little light staining. The recto carries the seventeen-line letter to a 'Gentilissima Dama', in response to a request for an autograph. On the reverse of the second leaf is a four-line poem, signed and dated by Negri, beginning 'Come un Nume che si adora'. In the letter Negri writes that he does not have 'la presunzione di credere che il mio autografo meriti di essere conservato'.