GEOGRAPHY

[André Siegfried of l’Académie Française, French geographer and political writer, Petainist collaborator as member of Vichy National Council.] Autograph Letter Signed in English to the wife of W. D. Ross [Sir David Ross].

Author: 
André Siegfried (1875-1959) of l'Académie Française, French geographer and political writer, Petainist collaborator as member of Vichy National Council [W. D. Ross [Sir David Ross]]
Publication details: 
'Paris. 82. de Courty / la 9 Dec. 31' [1931].
£45.00

2pp, 12mo. On the rectos of the two leaves of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Begins: ‘Dear Mrs Ross. / We had the pleasure of having your daughter for tea yesterday & I hasten to tell you our pleasure in making her acquaintance. She is indeed charming & intelligent & bright; I am sure she will make the most of her stay here.

[Sir John Barrow, Second Secretary to the Admiralty.] ‘Duplicate’ of Secretarial Letter, Signed by Barrow, to ‘The Senior Officer at Rio Janeiro’, on Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour’s discharge with disgrace of ‘Henry Wood, Seaman of the Blonde'.

Author: 
Sir John Barrow (1764-1848), geographer and author, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, 1804-1845 [Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour (1768-1834)
Barrow
Publication details: 
‘Admiralty [Whitehall, London] / 8th September 1834.’
£100.00
Barrow

See the entries for Barrow and Seymour in the Oxford DNB. On laid Whatman paper dated 1833. Having served for four years as Commissioner at Portsmouth, Seymour had sailed out to South America in 1833 as commander-in-chief, dying of ‘low fever’ at Rio de Janeiro two months before the writing of the present letter. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, folded twice. At top left: ‘Duplicate, / No 50.’ Initialed at bottom left: ‘J. P.’ Good firm and attractive signature ‘John Barrow’. Writing with regard to ‘the late Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour’s letter of the 16th.

Autograph Manuscript, by the Scottish romantic poet Thomas Campbell, of his essay 'Remarks on the Geography of the Ancients'.

Author: 
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), Scottish poet, author of 'The Pleasures of Hope' (1799) and 'Gertrude of Wyoming' (1809)
Publication details: 
Without date or place. Published in 'The Metropolitan', London, May 1831, where it is stated to have been 'Read at the Literary Union, Wednesday, Apri 27th, 1831.'
£950.00

32pp, 8vo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged laid Whatman paper with watermarked date 1830. Ruled in pencil by Campbell, and written out in his attractive calligraphic hand. With occasional emendations, and with an entire revision of the twentieth page made by overlaying another leaf of paper over the top of the original with wafers in each corner. (The two versions can be separated from one another with ease.) Campbell's essay was the leading article in the first issue of 'The Metropolitan', published in London by James Cochrane and Co.

[Baron Bexley; repatriation of freedmen (USA); map] Autograph Letter Signed Bexley to Capt. Rosenberg R.N. about his Prospectus involving corrections to a Map (see Note below - coast of Africa/Liberia

Author: 
Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley (1766 – 1851), politician, long-serving Chancellor [Monrovia], Vice-President American Colonization Society.
Publication details: 
Foots Cray Pl., 16 Dec. 1833.
£280.00

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium (second leaf blank), good condition. I return the Prospectus with your proposed corrections which appear to me very proper. The alteration of the Map [see Note 2 below] will be an improvement as it will give us less the appearance of a branch of the American Society & it would be still better if a sketch of the position of Cape Mount could be substituted for Monrovia. Notes: 1. He was also one of the vice-presidents of the American Colonization Society, whose aim was to repatriate African freedmen in the United States to the African continent. 2.

[ George Goudie Chisholm, Scottish geographer. ] Typed Letter Signed ('Geo. G. Chisholm') to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, enquiring about the 'qualifications as a lecturer' of 'Mr. du Plessis Chiappini'.

Author: 
Dr George Goudie Chisholm (1850-1930), Scottish geographer [ Royal Society of Arts, London ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Synod Hall, Castle Terrace, Edinburgh [ Scotland ]. 10 May 1918.
£35.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with the Society's oval date stamp. The RSGS having received a recommendation, 'as a possible lecturer during the coming session', of 'Mr. du Plessis Chiappini who lectured to your Society upon "The Union of South Africa"' and Chisholm has been 'instructed to ascertain, if I can, something about his qualifications as a lecturer'. He would like to know 'how he succeeded when he lectured to your Society'.

[ Philippe François Lasnon de La Renaudière, French geographer and traveller. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Larenaudiere'), in French, to 'Monsieur Bennis a la librairie Anglaise', Paris

Author: 
Philippe François Lasnon de La Renaudière (1781-1845), French geographer and Anglophile book collector praised by Thomas Frognall Dibdin [ Bennis, Paris bookseller ]
Publication details: 
Paris. 25 January 1831.
£56.00

1p., 4to. Bifolium. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Monsieur Bennis a la librairie Anglaise Rue Neuve St Augustin No 99'. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. He had believed that he had a reciprocal agreement with Bennis, allowing him to borrow 'quelques volumes du Cabinet Cyclopedia', but he has now learned that Bennis has, 'contre ordre', cancelled his 'demande de Carnets'. As a consequence, 'par reciprocité également', he is returning the four volumes that he last borrowed, and he asks him to close his account.

[Dr Edward Dalrymple Laborde of Harrow School.] Manuscripts of 'The South Sea Islands. A paper read before the Harrow Fifty Club' and 'The Pacific Islands. Rough drafts of a chapter [of one of his books]'. With four photographs of Fiji and documents.

Author: 
Dr Edward Dalrymple Laborde (1890-1962), Head of the Geography department of Harrow School and author [Stinson Studios ('E. E. De Mole, Suva, Proprietor'); Fiji islands; Pacific Islands]
Publication details: 
[Harrow, Middlesex.] The paper dated 1928; the drafts of the chapter undated, but for a book published in 1932. Three of the four photographs with the stamp of Stinson Studios ('E. E. De Mole, Suva, Proprietor').
£450.00

In his history of the school Christopher Tyerman points out that Laborde came to Harrow in 1919 after Colonial Service employment as a Head Master in Fiji.

Extensive manuscript list (cartographer's probate inventory?), in a late eighteenth-century hand, docketed 'Contents of Maps, Charts, &c in the largest Box, from No. 65 to No. 166', including references to maps by John Hamilton Moore.

Author: 
[John Hamilton Moore (c.1738-1807), Scottish cartographer and author; British map-making; Georgian maps; cartography]
Extensive manuscript list (cartographer's probate inventory?)
Publication details: 
English; circa 1790.
£950.00
Extensive manuscript list (cartographer's probate inventory?)

8vo, 6 pp. Two bifoliums sewn together. On laid paper with Britannia watermark. Text clear and complete. Neatly written out at approximately 38 lines to the page. On aged paper, with slight damage to the first bifolium, the leaves of which are detaching at the spine. Some of the items have been lightly scored through in pencil, but are still legible. The inclusion of such items as '149 Blank Silk Paper for copying Maps' would appear to indicate that the document is an inventory (for probate?) of a cartographer's stock. Last two entries read '165 Blank Sheets of Paper for copying Maps.

Forty-eight Autograph Letters Signed, and one Autograph Card Signed (all 'T. H. Holdich') to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts. With two letters written on his behalf and two enclosures.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich (1843-1929), English geographer, President of the Royal Geographical Society
Publication details: 
Between 1914 and 1919. All from 41 Courtfield Road, London SW7.
£165.00

The fifty-two items (in various formats) are in very good condition. Texts clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper. A cordial correspondence regarding the business of the Society, Holdich's close association with which is not noted in his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 21 February 1917 Holdich writes to 'accept the honour of appointment to the office of Vice President of the Society of Arts'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('de Tessan'), in French, to 'Monsieur Pingard, Chef du Secretariat de l'Institut'.

Author: 
Urbain Dortet de Tessan (1804-1879), French geographer who between 1836 and 1839 circumnavigated the world
Publication details: 
Paris le 11 Avril 1866'.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly aged paper. Asking Pingard, as Secretary of the Institut de France, to convene a meeting of the members of the 'Section de Géographie et Navigation'. Postscript: 'P.S. Je suis, connais vous, près <?> une Jambe.'

Autograph Letter Signed to Gladstone.

Author: 
Edward Hull (1829-1917), Anglo-Irish geologist [John Hall Gladstone (1827-1902), English physical chemist]
Publication details: 
19 May 1902; on letterhead of the Victoria Institute, 8 Adelphi Terrace, London W.C.
£45.00

12mo, 3 pp. Very good on lightly aged paper. Asking whether Gladstone would consent to the placing of his name on the list of the Institute's Council, 'to fill one of the vacancies'. 'You would be of great service to us in so doing - and the calls on your time would not be numerous - about a dozen times a year'. Six lines in shorthand (by Gladstone?) on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Barbié du Bocage'), in French, to 'Monsieur le Rédacteur de la Quotidienne'.

Author: 
Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage (1760-1825), Professor of geography at the Faculté des Lettres, Paris
Publication details: 
10 September 1825; on letterhead of the Université de France (headed 'Le Doyen de la faculté des Lettres').
£56.00

4to, 1 p. Addressed in autograph on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium. Good, though lightly creased and a little grubby. He is sending a notice (not present) announcing the courses for the term 1825-1826 at the Faculté, and asks for it to be inserted as soon as possible 'en totalité ou par extrait dans votre journal'.

Autograph letter signed "Perrot", to "Monsieur le Conseille d'Etat Prefet du Department de la Seine"

Author: 
Aristide Michel Perrot
Publication details: 
Paris, le 23 Juillet 1827
£150.00

Map-maker, geographe, geographer. (One page, folio,some creasing and soiling, mainly good, clear and complete. This is a formal document in his best hand, in which he requests the opportunity to exhibit at "l'exposition" his latest work, "une carte de la France industrielle indiquent la position de tous les lieux qui ont fournis quelques produits aux 5 expositions, la designation de ces produits . . . ." He says how far he is advanced. An important letter.

Typed Letter Signed to Sir Hilary Blood of the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton
Publication details: 
31 December 1964; on his letterhead as 'MINISTER OF DEFENCE FOR THE ROYAL AIR FORCE'.
£36.00

British geographer and Labour politician (1911-94), son of the antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. One page, quarto. Very good. Folded three times. Docketed in red ink. He must decline the invitation to become a Fellow of the Society. 'It is certainly an honour and I would have liked to accept this invitation, but I have lately had to cut down on the membership of various societies since, as you can imagine, the subscriptions do mount up. This is frankly the reason, for I have become very well aware of the importance of the work of the Royal Society of Arts.'

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