GEORGE

[The man Brunel called the largest railway contractor in the world: Sir Samuel Morton Peto, civil engineer, railway contractor and MP.] Autograph Letter Signed

Author: 
Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809-1889), civil engineer, railway contractor and Radical Liberal Member of Parliament, George Borrow’s ‘Mr Flamson’
Publication details: 
3 January 1851; 47 Russell Square [London].
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Strip of glue from mount adhering to one edge of the blank reverse. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘J M Hare Esqr’. Reads: ‘Dear Sir / I have to acknowledge the receipt of the Patent you have kindly sent me, pray accept my thanks for your attention / I am dear Sir / Yrs faithfully / S. Morton Peto’. In Victorian hand at foot: ‘M P. Norwich 1851’.

[Mary Russell Mitford, author of 'Our Village'.] Autograph Letter in the third person to the bookseller William Baynes, expressing pleasure at sending contributions for his 'intended publication'. With reference to her publisher G. B. Whittaker.

Author: 
Mary Russell Mitford (1787-1855), author and playwright, best known for her collection of sketches, ‘Our Village’ [William Baynes & Son; George Byrom Whittaker (1793-1847), London publisher]
Publication details: 
'Three Mile Cross, near Reading / June 10th. 1825.'
£95.00

See her entry, and that of Whittaker, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 12mo. A corner of the letter carrying a few words of text has been torn away on opening; it is still attached, beneath a red wax seal, so that the entire document is present in two parts. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed by Mitford 'To / Messrs. Baynes & Son / 23 Paternoster Row'. Begins: 'Miss Mitford presents her Compts. to Mr.

[G. A. Storey, RA, painter and illustrator.] Two Autograph Letters Signed. ONE: to 'My dear Wolfestan', on artists, scientists and colour theory. TWO: to 'Mrs A'Beckett' on writing a memoir of his brother-in-law.

Author: 
G. A. Storey [George Adolphus Storey] (1834-1919), RA, English painter and illustrator
Publication details: 
LETTER ONE (to Wolfestan): 2 June 1884; 19 St John's Wood Road. LETTER TWO (to Mrs A'Beckett): 5 May 1898; on letterhead of Hougoumont, [39] Broadhurst Gardens, South Hampstead, N.W. [London]
£60.00

LETTER ONE (to Wolfestan): 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Damage to text (including signature 'E. A. Storey') along inner edge of last page by clumsy removal from mount, repaired with archival tape. Otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. Folded. Wolfestan's letter is 'capital' and he hopes he will send it 'as it exactly backs up my own statement'.

[Irish governance, 1921.] Printed pamphlet: ‘The Government of Ireland. By Mrs J. R. Green. Foreword by George Russell (Æ)’.

Author: 
‘Mrs J. R. Green’ [Alice Stopford Green], author; foreword by George Russell (Æ)
Publication details: 
‘Labour Booklets No. 5’. 1921. The Labour Publishing Co. Ltd., 6 Tavistock Square, London. Printed by The Riverside Press Limited, Edinburgh.
£40.00

From the papers of Sylvia and Robert Lynd. Eight copies on JISC, but now scarce. 16pp, 12mo. Stapled. In fair condition, on aged high-acidity paper. With heavily-worn remains of front cover, of brittle green paper, carrying the title and publication details. Drophead title ‘THE / GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND’ on p.1. The first part titled ‘Historical’, with subtitle ‘The Rule of a Nation by a Nation’. The second part titled ‘Four Suggested Plans’, with subsections ‘The Home Rule Act of 1914’, ‘The Government of Ireland Act of 1920’, ‘Dominion Status’ and ‘The Republic’.

[The man Brunel called the largest railway contractor in the world: Sir Samuel Morton Peto, civil engineer, railway contractor and MP.] Autograph Letter in the third person to Lady Hooker, regarding ‘the next Election of the Idiot Asylum'.

Author: 
Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809-1889), civil engineer, railway contractor and Radical Liberal Member of Parliament, George Borrow’s ‘Mr Flamson’
Publication details: 
22 November 1861. On letterhead of 9 Great George Street, Westminster S.W. [London]
£75.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘In the 1840s Peto had thirty-three railway contracts worth £20 million, the largest number held in the kingdom; according to Brunel he was the largest contractor in the world.’ 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Begins: ‘Sir Morton Peto presents his Compliments to Lady Hooker and begs to acknowledge the receipt of her not of the 9th. Inst. on his return from the Continent’. He regrets that ‘it will not be in his power to assist the Case of Dr.

[Milton Sills [Milton George Gustavus Sills], American actor, star of stage and screen, Hollywood matinee idol.] Autograph Inscription Signed.

Author: 
Milton Sills [Milton George Gustavus Sills] (1882-1930), American actor, star of stage and screen, Hollywood matinee idol
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£20.00

On a 12 x 6.5 cm piece of paper. In fair condition, lightly discoloured and spotted, with traces of paper from mount on reverse. Central vertical crease. A neat, tight inscription, clearly in response to a request for an autograph, reading, ‘Sincerely / Milton Sills’. Image on request.

[The man Brunel called the largest railway contractor in the world: Sir Samuel Morton Peto, civil engineer, railway contractor and MP.] Autograph Letter in the third person to Lady Hooker, regarding ‘the next Election of the Idiot Asylum'.

Author: 
Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809-1889), civil engineer, railway contractor and Radical Liberal Member of Parliament, George Borrow’s ‘Mr Flamson’
Publication details: 
22 November 1861. On letterhead of 9 Great George Street, Westminster S.W. [London]
£75.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘In the 1840s Peto had thirty-three railway contracts worth £20 million, the largest number held in the kingdom; according to Brunel he was the largest contractor in the world.’ 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Begins: ‘Sir Morton Peto presents his Compliments to Lady Hooker and begs to acknowledge the receipt of her not of the 9th. Inst. on his return from the Continent’. He regrets that ‘it will not be in his power to assist the Case of Dr.

[‘Silly Billy’: Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh.] Autograph Signature on frank addressed to Rev. Dr [Christopher] Wordsworth, his Vice Chancellor at Cambridge University.

Author: 
Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh ['Silly Billy'] (1776-1834), great-grandson of George II, nephew and son-in-law of George III
Publication details: 
Dated from London, 27 June 1827. With frank of same date.
£25.00

See his entry and Wordsworth’s in the Oxford DNB. The Prince was Chancellor of Cambridge University from 1811 to his death. Wordsworth was Vice-Chancellor twice: 1820-1821 and 1826-1827. On 13 x 7 cm panel cut from the cover of the envelope. In fair condition, lightly aged, laid down on brown paper cut from album, with slight wear to corner of letter just touching the initial ‘W’ of the Prince’s name. Laid out in the customary fashion, and reading: ‘London June Twenty seven 1827 / The Revd / Dr. Wordsworth / Vice Chancellor of the University / of Cambridge’.

[Dorothy Ward, English actress who specialised in the part of principal boy in pantomimes.] Autograph Signature to publicity photograph by S. George of London.

Author: 
Dorothy Ward (1890-1987), English actress over five decades, who often played principal boy in pantomimes, opposite her husband Shaun Glenville [S. George, London photographer]
Publication details: 
1926. With stamp: ‘REPRO BY / S. GEORGES / [14] GREEN ST. / W.C.2.’
£25.00

Glossy black and white publicity photograph on 8.5 x 13 cm postcard, embossed with studio details at bottom right. ‘MISS DOROTHY WARD’ in white print at foot. Autograph inscription across foot: ‘Best wishes / Dorothy Ward / 1926’. In good condition, lightly aged. A head-and-shoulders image of Ward with right shoulder slightly forwards, looking upwards, with a laurel wreath around her head and frizzy short hair, in pearls and a white sleeveless gown. With stamp and Liverpool postmark on reverse, which is addressed to ‘F. J. Clare / 5 Delamere Grove / Leacombe / Wallasey’. Scan on application

[George Cruikshank, illustrator and engraver associated with Dickens.] Five original loose engravings from Cruikshank’s ‘Comic Alphabet’, and four steel engravings from ‘The Comic Almanac’.

Author: 
George Cruikshank, illustrator and engraver associated with Charles Dickens
Publication details: 
The five ‘Comic Alphabet’ engravings from a work published in London in 1836. The four ‘Comic Almanac’ engravings among those published in London in that journal, in the 1830s and 1840s.
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. ONE: Five engravings from the ‘Comic Alphabet’. All about 8 x 12 cm. Uncoloured. Originally part of a long single piece of paper, fan-folded. In good condition, lightly aged. Two laid down on pieces of grey paper (cut from an album).

[Lord Byron; pamphlet; presentation copy] Byron's Tomb and other Poems.

Author: 
William Simpson
Publication details: 
No date but authorial inscription dated October 1949 and [1949] bottom of fr. cover.
£250.00

Pamphlet, 16pp., 8vo, sl. grubby, inside cover, sl. strained, with a number 'R30668' at bottom. Only one copy recorded on WorldCat (none on COPAC) with inaccurate publishing data (Print Book, English, [1953?]Publisher: [Notts. Newspapers], [Hucknall, Notts.], [1953?]). See Images of front cover of pamphlet.

[Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1840.] Certificate of Morton Grove Mansel, signed by Sir George Scovell, Gov.; Thomas William Taylor, Lt Gov.; Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge; Sir Thomas Bradford; Sir William Henry Clinton; Sir John Gardiner.

Author: 
Sandhurst, Royal Military College; Sir George Scovell, Gov.; Thomas William Taylor, Lt Gov.; Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge; Sir Thomas Bradford; Sir William Henry Clinton; Sir John Gardiner
Sandhurst
Publication details: 
'At a Collegiate Board, held for the Half Yearly Public Examinations, on the 4th. & 5th of Novr. 1840.' [Royal Military College, Sandhurst.]
£280.00
Sandhurst

A large, attractive printed certificate, somewhat in the style of an early Victorian public notice, with heavily leaded font. Printed in black on one side of a 32 x 41 cm piece of cream vellum paper. Discoloured and ruckled from having been rolled up, but in good overall condition, and highly suitable (once flattened out) for framing. At bottom left, signatures of six ‘Commissioners, and Members of the Board’, one above the other: ‘Adolphus Fieldmarshal / W. H. Clinton / Thomas Bradford A Gnl / J Gardiner DAG / G Scovell Govr. M. Genl. / T W Taylor Col: Lt Governor’.

[Major-General Sir Noel Galway Holmes, Irish soldier in British Army.] Four signed letters to him, typed and in autograph; from Major-General Macan Saunders, Robert Fellowes, Sir William Heseltine, Sir Alan Lascelles. John Michael Avison Parker.

Author: 
Robert Fellowes [Lord Fellowes], Sir William Heseltine, Sir Alan Lascelles; Major-General Macan Saunders [Major-General Sir Noel Galway Holmes, Irish soldier; Sir John Michael Avison Parker]
Fellowes
Publication details: 
Items dated from between 1938 and 1981. Four items on letterheads of Buckingham Palace, London. One item on the letterhead of the Head Quarters, Lahore District.
£150.00
Fellowes

Seven items in good overall condition, lightly aged and worn. See the obituary of the recipient Major General Sir Noel Galway Holmes (1891-1982) in the Daily Telegraph, 29 December 1982. ONE: Robert Fellowes (b.1941), Baron Fellowes [Lord Fellowes], Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II. TLS to NGH (‘Dear Sir Noel’). 15 December 1981; on letterhead of Buckingham Palace. 1p, 12mo. Signed ‘Robert Fellowes’. He has been commanded by the Queen to thank him, ‘and all survivors from the XVIIIth The Royal Irish Regiment, for your Christmas card’.

[William Gillespie Dickson, Scottish legal writer and lawyer, Advocate-General of Mauritius.] Autograph Letter Signed to Glasgow Member of Parliament George Anderson, regarding his bill for extending the ‘jurisdiction of Sheriff Courts in Scotland'.

Author: 
William Gillespie Dickson (1823-1876), Scottish legal writer and lawyer, Procureur and Advocate-General of Mauritius [George Anderson (1819-1896), Liberal MP for Glasgow]
Publication details: 
‘Sheriff Chambers / Glasgow 4 March / ’75 [1875]’.
£180.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 4to. Bifolium. Fifty-eight lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded three times. Minor traces of grey-paper mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf. Addressed to ‘George Anderson Esq / M.P. / House of Commons’, and signed ‘W. G. Dickson’. Two annotations in a contemporary hand, one beneath the signature. The first paragraph reads: ‘My dear Sir / I have to thank you for the copy of your bill “to extend the jurisdiction of Sheriff Courts in Scotland,” which I received this morning.

[Sir George Sinclair, 2nd Baronet, Scottish Whig politician, schoolfriend of Byron, interrogated by Napoleon Bonaparte.] Autograph Letter Signed to James Cockell, editor of the Mirror of Parliament, regarding copies of parliamentary speeches by him.

Author: 
Sir George Sinclair (1790-1868), 2nd Baronet, Scottish Whig politician and author, friend of Bryon’s at Harrow, personally interrogated as a spy by Napoleon Bonaparte
George Sinclair
Publication details: 
‘62 St James’s Street / June 23. 1832 -’.
£90.00
George Sinclair

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. It was in October of 1806 that a sixteen year-old Sinclair was arrested as a spy near Jena, and brought before Napoleon, who examined him and ordered his release. 1p, 16mo. On heavily aged, creased and worn paper with light staining above the signature, and strip torn away at bottom left. Addressed on reverse to 'The Editor of the / Mirror of Parliament.' Signed ‘George Sin Clair [sic]’. He thanks him for his kindness ‘in sending yesterday for a copy of the remarks which I made as to the [Prussian?] loan’.

[Prince George Sergeievitch Romanovsky, Imperial Russian Consul General at San Francisco, 1917-1923.] Autograph Letter Signed, in French, written on eve of Russian Revolution, recalling times in Tehran, Persia [at the Russian Legation?].

Author: 
Prince George Sergeievitch Romanovsky, Imperial Russian Consul General at San Francisco, 1917-1923 [Russian Legations in Tehran, Persia?]
Publication details: 
18 May 1917; on letterhead of the Russian Consulate, San Francisco, California [United States].
£250.00

2pp, 4to. 41 lines, including postscript, in green ink. On aged and brittle air mail paper, with chipping and discoloration at the head, resulting in some loss to printed letterhead, but with text clear and entire. Addressed to ‘Mon cher ami’ and with valediction from ‘Ton très dévoué ami’. The recipient is unidentified, but would appear to have been a former colleague at the Russian legation in Tehran, Persia. Signed ‘Geo. S. Romanovsky’. He begins by thanking him for his congratulations. The recipient is right: ‘les choses ont changé’.

[Percy Bysshe Shelley: supposed portrait by George Romney.] Five Autograph Letters Signed from William Salt Brassington, Librarian of the Shakespeare Memorial, to the donor of the picture Evan Marlett Boddy.

Author: 
[Percy Bysshe Shelley; George Romney] William Salt Brassington, archaeologist and librarian of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon; Evan Marlett Boddy; Richard Garnett
Publication details: 
Three of the five from 1900 (28 and 31 August, and 4 September); and two from 1901 (5 and 13 December). All on letterheads of the Shakespeare Memorial, Stratford-upon-Avon.
£450.00

These five items are part of a collection of correspondence (the rest is offered separately) relating to a supposed portrait of a young Percy Bysshe Shelley by George Romney, which was in a group of paintings donated to the Shakespeare Memorial Association by the appropriately-named anatomist Evan Marlett Boddy. (The Shelley portrait is reproduced in ‘The Magazine of Art’, 1901, with the caption ‘Reputed portrait of Shelley as a boy, by Romney. In the Shakespeare memorial, Stratford-on-Avon.’, in an article on ‘Portraits of Shelley at the National Portrait Gallery’, p.

[Earl Grey [Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey], Liberal politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to Tom Taylor, editor of Punch, praising a performance of his play ‘The Ticket-of-Leave Man’.

Author: 
Earl Grey [Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey], Secretary of State for War in two Liberal administrations [Tom Taylor (1817-1880), playwright and editor of Punch]
Publication details: 
2 June [no year, but 1863, and on paper watermarked with that date]; on letterhead of 13 Carlton House Terrace.
£65.00

See the entry for Grey and Taylor in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Begins: ‘Dear Mr Taylor - / I am just come home from seeing “the ticket of leave man,” & before I go to bed I must thank you for an evening of very great enjoyment.’ It pleased him ‘to see so good a play, not taken from the French, but really English, [the play was in fact adapted from the French] & teaching the public what is true instead of encouraging a popular delusion of the day’.

[Admiral Sir Richard Fortescue Phillimore, Royal Navy officer, Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.] Autograph Signature (‘Richard F. Phillimore’) on a fly leaf removed from a book.

Author: 
Admiral Sir Richard Fortescue Phillimore (1864-1940), Royal Navy officer who served with distinction in the First World War, Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth
Publication details: 
1920. No place.
£25.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. Large bold signature - ‘Richard F. Phillimore / 1920.’, a third of the way down the page on what is clearly the fly leaf of a book. The rest of the leaf is blank. The side of the leaf with the signature is somewhat discoloured, the reverse not so much. In good condition otherwise.

[Bibliomania: ‘The Spendthrift Duke’, George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough, owner as Marquess of Blandford of the celebrated White Knights Library..] Autograph Letter Signed to London booksellers Smith & Elder. With frank.

Author: 
[Bibliomania, ‘The Spendthrift Duke of Marlborough’: George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough (1766-1840), styled Marquess of Blandford until 1817, extravagant book collector at White Knights
Publication details: 
24 November 1833; ‘Blenheim. Sunday.’ With frank and two postmarks.
£80.00

The purchase in 1821 by the 5th Duke of Marlborough, as Marquis of Blandford, of the Duke of Roxburghe’s copy of Valdarfer Boccaccio for £2260 caused a sensation, and was a high point of the bibliomania celebrated by Thomas Frognall Dibdin. His library at White Knights, also including the Bedford Missal, was legendary until its dispersal as a result of his extravagances. See the account of the duke in his father’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo.

[Lord Carnarvon: Henry Herbert, 3rd Earl of Carnarvon.] Autograph Letter in the Third Person, thanking Mrs Page for papers on the boundaries of Highclere, and commiserating with her on the death of Colonel Page.

Author: 
Lord Carnarvon [Henry John George Herbert, 3rd Earl of Carnarvon (1800-1849)], English nobleman, Tory politician and traveller, owner of Highclere Castle, Hampshire [Colonel Page]
Publication details: 
‘43. Grosvenor Sq / July 2. 1835.’ [London]
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Folded four times. Begins: ‘Lord Carnarvon presents his Compliments to Mrs. Page and is extremely obliged by her polite attention in sending him the Papers relating to the boundaries of Highclere - Burghclere, and Woodhay Parishes, which he has no doubt will prove extremely useful to him’. He has ‘many apologies to make for not sooner acknowledging the receipt of the Papers, but he has been for some time past incessantly occupied in attending the Committee on the Gt.

[Dannie Abse, Welsh Jewish poet.] Autograph Letter Signed to Paul Furness, recalling poets like Paul Potts and George Barker in the Soho pub the French House, and John Conway and Alun Owen in pubs in Cardiff, and Jews and pubs.

Author: 
Dannie Abse [Daniel Abse] (1923-2014), Welsh Jewish poet, brother of politician Leo Abse and psychologist Wilfrid Abse [Gaston Berlemont (1914-1999), landlord of the French House, Soho, London]
Publication details: 
November 1982; 85 Hodford Road, London NW11. On embossed government letterhead.
£120.00

A good informative letter. See Abse's entry in the Oxford DNB, along with that of Gaston Berlemont, proprietor of the French House (the nickname of the York Minster), Soho. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded one for postage. On a leaf of light-grey paper, in matching stamped envelope with postmark, addressed to Furness in Battersea. One of a number of letters from British poets in response to enquiries from Furness with regard to their pub memories.

[R. E. Forrest [Robert Edward Treston Forrest], author and engineer in British India.] Autograph Letter Signed to James Payn, regarding the death of his mother and its effect on the writing of his latest book.

Author: 
R. E. Forrest [Robert Edward Treston Forrest] (1835-1914), author and engineer, son of Captain George Forrest of the East India Company, winner of Victoria Cross during Indian Mutiny [James Payn]
Publication details: 
?La Hutte / Dinan / France / 27 July 1887?.
£56.00

See the Oxford DNB entry of the recipient James Payn (1830-1898), at the time of this letter the editor of the Cornhill Magazine. More significantly, Payn had since 1874 been a reader for Smith, Elder, and the present letter stems from the firm?s interest in Forrest?s ?tale of the Indian Mutiny? which they would publish in 1891 under the title ?Eight Days?. 2pp, 16mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with short closed tear at edge of postage fold. Addressed to ?James Payn Esqr.? and signed ?R. E. Forrest?.

[George Smith of Leicester, Victorian social reformer and campaigner against child labour.] Autograph Letter Signed to Edward Walford

Author: 
George Smith (1831-1895) of Leicester, manager of the Whitwick Colliery Company Tileries, Leicestershire, Victorian social reformer and campaigner against child labour [Edward Walford (1823-1897)]
Publication details: 
'Coalville / Leicester / July 10 1878'.
£35.00

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Edw Walford Esq M.A’ and signed ‘George Smith’. The handwriting is somewhat opaque, rendering the following transcription tentative. He begins by thanking him for sending a cutting ‘from the “Gossip of the Clubs” ’, before continuing: ‘In consequence of the opposition there is still against me in the Brick & tile trade, the amount of time & Correspondence [it takes?] is [?] with the [?] of the act, I find it anything but [?] to get along.

[G. R. Sims, journalist and bon vivant.] Autograph Note Signed to 'Miss Thompson', regarding 'the acting rights, if any'.

Author: 
G. R. Sims [George Robert Sims] (1847-1922), journalist, author and bon vivant
Publication details: 
20 May 1902. On letterhead of 12 Clarence Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. [London] ('Registered Telegraphic Address, Hybiscus, London ')
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged, with four small gummed squared as mounts adhering to the four corners. Folded for postage. Large firm signature and handwriting. Reads: 'Dear Miss Thompson / The piece is not mine and I am sorry I cannot inform you to whom the acting rights, if any, belong. / Your sincerely / Geo R Sims'.

[Princess Sophia of Gloucester, niece of King George III.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Sophia Matilda’) [to Sir Herbert Taylor, Private Secretary to George IV], regarding ‘the kind Legacy from the late Queen at Wirtemberg’.

Author: 
Princess Sophia of Gloucester [Sophia Matilda] (1773-1844), daughter of the Duke of Gloucester, niece of King George III [Lieut-Gen. Sir Herbert Taylor (1775-1839), Private Secretary to the Sovereign]
Publication details: 
‘Bagshot Park / Septr. 16th. [1829]’.
£90.00

See Taylor’s entry, and that of Princess Sophia’s brother William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1776-1834), in the Oxford DNB. Bagshot Park was the residence of her brother the duke (Silly Billy’), to whom she was very much attached. The siblings were not entirely accepted by the Royal Family due to the unequal nature of their parents’ marriage. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Taylor, who is not named but is clearly the recipient, has marked the letter as ‘Private’. Good firm signature ‘Sophia Matilda’.

[G. W. Foote [George William Foote] (1850-1915), radical journalist and secularist, twice prosecuted for blasphemy.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding his forthcoming plans.

Author: 
G. W. Foote [George William Foote] (1850-1915), radical journalist and secularist, editor of ‘The Freethinker’, twice prosecuted for blasphemy
Publication details: 
‘14 Clerkenwell Green / E. C. / Feby. 14/’88’. [14 February 1888; London]
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. On creased and worn paper with postage folds. The recipient is not named. Large firm signature: ‘G. W. Foote’. He will be in Plymouth on 8 April, but is in London on 1 April. ‘Mr. Burrows is down for that date on your list, but as he is nearly always in London I dare say he could easily make an exchange.’ Should Burrows do so, Foote will be glad to comply with the recipient’s request.

[Frederick, Duke of York, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army and George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, First Lord of the Admiralty.] Autograph Letter Signed requesting a Royal Navy post for a 'young man', with autograph draft of Spencer's reply.

Author: 
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827), second son of George III, Commander-in-Chief of British Army during Napoleonic Wars; George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834)]
Publication details: 
ONE (Frederick's ALS): 'York House [London] February 6th 1798'. TWO (Spencer's Signed Autograph Draft of his Reply): 'Adm[iralt]y. [London] 6 Feb: 1798.'
£180.00

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. Each of the two letters is 1p, 4to, with the Prince’s letter on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, and the Earl’s signed autograph copy of his reply on the recto of the second leaf of the same bifolium. Both leaves are discoloured and damaged, with wear and loss from infestation, but the two signatures and the area around them are good and clear. The document has been folded twice for postage. Strip of white tape along gutter of blank reverse of second leaf from mount. ONE (Frederick’s ALS): Fifteen lines.

[George IV and Home Secretary and future Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel.] Autograph Signatures of the King ('George R.') and Peel ('R Peel') to 'Warrant for the removal of John Raddon to the Criminal Lunatic Asylum in St Georges Fields'.

Author: 
George IV (1762-1830), King of Great Britain; Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), Prime Minister and creator of the British police force
George IV
Publication details: 
'Given at Our Court at Carlton House the Fifth day of February 1824, in the Fifth Year of Our Reign.'
£400.00
George IV

2pp, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to one edge. Folded twice. Large heavily-smudged signature of the king ('George R.') at head of first page, which has the royal seal under paper in the left-hand margin. Signed at end of document ('By His Majesty's Command') by the Home Secretary and future Prime Minister: 'R Peel'.

[George IV as Prince Regent, and former Prime Minister Lord Sidmouth as Home Secretary.] Warrant Signed by 'George P R.' and 'Sidmouth', directing that Matthias Maher be removed from the Lunatic Asylum in St George's Fields to Newgate Prison.

Author: 
George IV as Prince Regent; Lord Sidmouth [Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth] (1757-1844), Prime Minister; William Erasmus Hardy of Newgate Prison; Matthias Maher [Transportation; Australia]
George IV as Prince Regent
Publication details: 
'Given at Our Court at Carlton House the Thirty first day of July 1819, in the Fifty ninth Year of Our Reign.'
£450.00
George IV as Prince Regent

This document, signed by George IV as Prince Regent, and by the former Prime Minister Lord Sidmouth as Home Secretary, relates to Matthias Maher (1798-1865), a Royal Navy officer who was twice tried at the Old Bailey on a charge of forgery. On the first occasion, 6 May 1818, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity; and removed to the criminal asylum in St George's Fields. Maher was found sound of mind – as the present document reveals by Sir George Leman Tuthill (1772–1835) and Edward Wright (c.1788-1859), the latter to die of disgrace in Australia.

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