GEORGIAN

[‘I like to see myself all original authorities’: Sharon Turner, historian, author of the ‘History of the Anglo-Saxons’.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Sh.n Turner’), instructing his booksellers to procure a rare book for him.

Author: 
Sharon Turner (1768-1847), historian, author of a four-volume ‘History of the Anglo-Saxons’, 1799-1805
Publication details: 
11 March 1836. ‘Cottage / Winchmore Hill’.
£90.00

An idiosyncratic letter, revealing something of his working practices, and the relations between client and bookseller in the early nineteenth century. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. From the collection of a painstaking Victorian autograph collector, who has unobtrusively repaired slight damage to a central fold. On lightly discoloured paper, with a thin neat strip from the windowpane mount adheres to the edges. The letter is signed ‘Sh.n Turner’ and the recipients are not named.

[ Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood. ] Contemporary manuscript official copy letter to Vice Admiral Duckworth, regarding Royal Navy ships in the Mediterranean respecting the neutrality of Portuguese ships. With manuscript extract from treaty.

Author: 
Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood (1748-1810), 1st Baron Collingwood, commander at Trafalgar after Nelson's death [Sir William Richard Cosway; Sir John Thomas Duckworth (1748-1817), 1st Baronet]
Publication details: 
'Given on board the Ocean off Cadiz |12th. August 1806'.
£180.00

Both items in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: Copy letter. 2pp., folio. On paper with watermark 'JOHN HOWARD | 1804'. Ends: 'To | Sir J. T. Duckworth K.B. | Vice Admiral of the White | &ca. &ca. &ca. | Given on board the Ocean off Cadiz | 12th. August 1806 | (signed) Collingwood | By Command of the Vice Admiral | (signed) W R Cosway | A Copy'.

[Sir Thomas Baring, 2nd Baronet, banker and Member of Parliament.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Tho. Baring’) regarding the sending of his ‘Pictures’ to his estate at Stratton.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Baring (1772-1848), 2nd Baronet, banker, Member of Parliament, Art Collector.
Publication details: 
5 August 1818. Cowes, Isle of Wight.
£50.00

See the entries in the Oxford DNB for his father Sir Francis Baring (1740-1810) and his son Thomas Baring (1799-1873). At the time of writing he was working with the merchant bankers Hope & Co. in Amsterdam, but growing 'so disgusted with the drudgery of the counting house' that he wanted to abandon commerce for the law. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with neat traces of windowpane mount adhering to the edges of the blank reverse. Folded for postage. Signed ‘Tho. Baring.’ Recipient not named. Reads: ‘Dear Sir / As I observe in the papers that the British [?] is to be closed on ye.

[J. S. M. Fonblanque, legal writer and Commissioner of Bankruptcy.] Autograph Letter Signed

Author: 
J. S. M. Fonblanque [John Samuel Martin de Grenier Fonblanque] (1787-1865), legal writer and Commissioner of Bankruptcy [Henry Holmes Joy (1805-1875)?; Lord Brougham
Publication details: 
5 August 1844. No place.
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with closed tear (not affecting text) to a fold on second leaf, which also carries traces of mount on its blank reverse. Small printed slip relating to the Court of Bankruptcy, bearing Fonblanque’s name, laid down at head of first page. Folded four times for postage. Signed ‘J S M Fonblanque’.

[‘It is never desirable to say any thing on the subject’: Charles Greville, diarist.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding the desirability of allowing ‘poor Douglas’ (i.e. John Douglas of Newmarket Palace) to rest in peace.

Author: 
Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville (1794-1865), diarist [John Douglas (1774-1838) of Newmarket Palace]
Publication details: 
31 March 1839. Newmarket [Cambridgeshire].
£120.00

See Greville’s entry in the Oxford DNB, and Douglas’s in the History of Parliament, which explains the context: ‘Gambling losses, largely accruing from his turf accounting activities at Newmarket - Douglas laid the blame on ‘Peel and Huskisson ... tampering with the currency’, problems raising capital from his property and ‘keeping too large establishment of servants’ - had reduced his fortune’. 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. 44 lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged, with negligible remains of windowpane mount neatly adhering to reverse of second leaf. Folded three times for postage.

[Robert and Andrew Foulis.] Printed catalogue of ‘University of Glasgow / Robert and Andrew Foulis / An Exhibition in the Hunterian Museum / to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the British Record Association’.

Author: 
Robert and Andrew Foulis, printers and publishers of Glasgow, Scotland (‘the Elzevirs of the North’), with the Foulis Press [Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow]
Publication details: 
Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow. 10 to 29 March 1958.
£180.00

JISC records copies in five Scottish libraries, Birmingham University and the BL. Duplicated typescript. 50pp, 4to. Five-page introduction paginated, the rest not. Leaf of addenda loosely inserted. Printed on versos of leaves and stapled into buff paper wraps with title printed on the front. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The forty-four pages of the catalogue proper carry a total of 106 scholarly entries on exhibits.

[Marquess Camden [John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquis Camden], Tory politician.] Autograph Letter Signed reminding the recipient of his offer to send him a sketch of Holwood House.

Author: 
John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquis Camden [Marquess Camden; formerly Viscount Bayham and 2nd Earl Camden] (1759-1840), Tory politician
Camden
Publication details: 
25 July 1824. Holderness House [London].
£45.00
Camden

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is not in the best of condition: it is aged and creased (including dog-eared corner on which the signature ‘Camden’ is written), with contemporary repair to two long tears by the laying down on the blank reverse of strips from a contemporary manuscript. Docketed on the otherwise blank second leaf: ‘25th July 1824 / Marquis Camden’.

[Sir Samuel Romilly, abolitionist and legal reformer.] Autograph Letter in the third person to ‘Mr. Williams’, explaining that he will be finishing ‘the Bill in this Cause’ while out of town.

Author: 
Sir Samuel Romilly (1757-1818), abolitionist and legal reformer of Huguenot descent
Publication details: 
15 September 1794. Lincoln’s Inn [London].
£50.00

See his long entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, with negligible remnants of windowpane mount adhering at edges of blank reverse. Reads: ‘Mr. Romilly presents his compliments to Mr. Williams and informs him that he is obliged to go out of Town tomorrow & that he has not been able to finish the Bill in this Cause but he will take it with him into the Country & send it to Mr. W. in two or three days’.

[Francis Horner, Scottish Whig politician, journalist and political economist; Slave Trade] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Harrison’, regarding ‘Stephen’s book’, a pardon for thieves, the Attorney General, ‘Thorpe’, and the General Assembly.

Author: 
Francis Horner (1778-1817), Scottish Whig politician, Member of Parliament and political economist, one of the founders of the Edinburgh Review [Harrison]
Publication details: 
1 April 1815. Taunton [Somerset].
£220.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing, a year and a half before his death, Horner was Member of Parliament for St. Mawes in Cornwall. 1p, 4to. Eighteen lines, neatly written. Addressed to ‘My dear Harrison’ and signed ‘Fra Horner.’ In good condition, lightly aged, with negligible remnants of windowpane mount adhering at edges of blank reverse. Folded for postage. He has received both of Harrison’s letters, and is ‘particularly obliged’ to him for ‘sending the copy of Stephen’s communication.

[Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League: Frances J. Balfour, Hon. Sec. of Sheffield & District Branch.] Autograph Letter Signed (possible spoof) to ‘Mr. Sayers’ [A. H. Sayers], requesting contribution so branch can become ‘influential & successful’.

Author: 
Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League; Frances J. Balfour, Hon. Sec. of the Sheffield & District Branch [Rev. A. H. Sayers of Monmouth]
Publication details: 
Dated ‘Sheffield & District Branch / Arcadia / March 31st. 09’. On letterhead of Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League, Caxton House, Tothill Street, Westminster, London, S.W.
£120.00

1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Considering the tone of the letter, the similarity between the signatories name and that of the prominent suffragist Lady Frances Balfour (1858-1931), and the fact that there is no record of a Sheffield branch of the WNASL, nor of a place in Warrington called ‘Arcadia’, nor of any Balfours living there, one must strongly suspect that this letter is a spoof, perhaps written by in some such scenario as a pro-suffrage child of a member of the WNASL, having got hold of one of the organisations blank letterheads. Or perhaps not.

[Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Cornish man of letters, compiler of the classic ‘Oxford Book of English Verse’.] Autograph Letter Signed, reporting an attack of influenza and expressing ‘sincere pleasure’ at the a comment by the recipient.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch [Arthur Thomas Quiller Couch], Cornish man of letters, compiler of the classic ‘Oxford Book of English Verse’ (1900)
Quiller-Couch
Publication details: 
10 February 1897; on letterhead of The Haven, Fowey, Cornwall.
£45.00
Quiller-Couch

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged with patch of light sunning. Folded once. The recipient is not named. Reads: ‘Dear Madam / Forgive me for my delay in answering your letter. I have been laid up for a week or two with influenza & my correspondence has suffered in consequence. / And please believe that your words have given us sincere pleasure & that I am / Yours very faithfully / A. T. Quiller-Couch’. The hyphen in the signature is almost imperceptible. See image.

[Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, dramatist, judge, and friend of Charles Lamb, dedicatee of Pickwick Papers.] Autograph Letter in the third person to ‘Mrs Walter’, presenting a copy of ‘a little dramatic poem’ (i.e. his celebrated play ‘Ion’).

Author: 
Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd (1795-1854), dramatist, judge, Radical politician, friend of Charles Dickens (dedicatee of Pickwick Papers) and Charles Lamb, advocate of copyright reform
Talfourd
Publication details: 
21 October 1835; Reading [Berkshire].
£320.00
Talfourd

It is hard to overestimate the impact of ‘Ion’ on Victorian audiences in Britain and America. According to Talfourd’s entry in the Oxford DNB, the play was ‘first performed at Covent Garden Theatre, London, on his birthday, 26 May 1836.

[Lord Palmerston, Liberal Prime Minister.] Autograph Signature franking the cover of an envelope addressed by him to Peter Legh Jnr of Warrington.

Author: 
Lord Palmerston [Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston] (1784-1865), Liberal Prime Minister
Palmerston
Publication details: 
20 February 1826; London.
£50.00
Palmerston

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. An 11.5 x 7 cm piece of paper, cut from the front of an envelope. In fair condition, laid down on a piece of grey paper cut from an album. Faint franking postmark in red ink. Laid out in Palmerston’s neat and stylish hand in the customary way, and reading: ‘London February Twenty 1826 / Peter Legh Esqr. Junr / Haydock Lodge / Warrington’, with the signature ‘Palmerston’ at bottom left. See image.

[East India Company.] Printed Counterpart Indenture, completed in manuscript and sealed, between ‘Sir John Edward Harington of Berkeley Square Baronet’ and ‘the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East-Indies’.

Author: 
East India Company [United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East-Indies, London; Sir John Edward Harington (1760-1831) of Ridlington, 8th Baronet]
Publication details: 
29 January 1812. [India House, London.]
£150.00

The East India Company has come under renewed scrutiny in recent years as ‘the world’s first multinational’: an early model of the acquisition of hegemony by means of transnational non-governmental corporations. 2pp, foolscap 8vo. On bifolium of thick laid paper, whose head has been cut into the customary wave. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into the customary packet. On the recto of the first leaf is the long printed form ‘Indenture’ with blank parts completed in manuscript. Red wax seal under paper at bottom right.

[George Colman the Younger, playwright and theatre manager.] Autograph Signature with date and address for autograph collector.

Author: 
George Colman the Younger (1762-1836), playwright and theatre-manager at the Haymarket, London
Colman
Publication details: 
21 July 1828; Brompton Square [London].
£25.00
Colman

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On watermarked wove paper. In good condition, folded once. Centred on the page, and clearly written for an autograph hunter. Reads: ‘with kind regards from / G. Colman / 21st. July. 1828. / Brompton Square.’

[Duke of Montrose [James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose], Scottish nobleman and Tory politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to Robert Saunders Dundas (the future Viscount Melville), regarding the amending of a ‘very insufficient’ act of parliament.

Author: 
Duke of Montrose [James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose; until 1790 Marquis of Graham] (1755-1836), Scottish nobleman and Tory politician [Robert Saunders Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville (1771-1851)]
Publication details: 
5 January 1809; Grosvenor Square [London].
£65.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly-aged, with small triangle cut away from letter in opening red wax seal, of which minor traces remain. Folded and addressed in the customary manner. Franked to ‘Right Honble / Robert S: Dundas &c &c &c / Downing Street / Montrose’, sent from ‘Grosvr: Sq: 5th Jan 1809’ and signed ‘Montrose’. Begins, without salutation: ‘I wish you would look to this act, as it appears to require attention.

['The most perfect ode in the English language': Charles Wolfe, Irish poet.] Photographic facsimile of Autograph Letter Signed to John Taylor, containing the text of his celebrated poem ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna’.

Author: 
Charles Wolfe (1791-1823), Irish poet, of the family of General James Wolfe and Wolfe Tone, author of the celebrated poem ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna’
Moore
Publication details: 
With facsimile of postmark dated 6 September 1816. No place (but from Ireland).
£120.00
Moore

The present item gives the text of the poem described by Byron as 'the most perfect ode in the English language' before its first publication in the Newry Telegraph in April 1817. See Wolfe’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The source of the present item is unclear. It is a photographic facsimile, many decades old, on both sides of a 4to leaf. In fair condition, slightly creased on browned paper, with negligible loss to margin at head. With five creases from folding. Addressed to ‘John Taylor Esqe / at the Revd Mr. Armstrong’s / Clonoully / Cashel’.

[‘The Whig Dr Johnson’: Samuel Parr, author, divine and pedagogue.] Autograph Card in the third person to the Mayor of Warwick, ‘Keeling Greenway’ [Kelynge Greenway]. In envelope with red wax seal.

Author: 
Samuel Parr (1747-1825), author, divine and pedagogue, known as ‘the Whig Dr Johnson’ [Kelynge Greenway, Mayor of Warwick]
Parr
Publication details: 
29 November 1820. Hatton [near Warwick].
£56.00
Parr

An almost miraculously legible example of Parr’s normally atrocious hand. (His entry in the Oxford DNB states that ‘Parr was flogged only once at Harrow, for bad handwriting, and to no effect. His writing remained atrocious all his life, so much so that on an occasion when he wrote to ask for 'two lobsters' his friend read the words as “two eggs”.’) On one side of blank card. In envelope with indistinguishable seal in red wax, addressed by Parr to ‘Keeling Greenway Esqr / Mayor of Warwick’.

[John Cam Hobhouse (Lord Broughton), Whig politician and friend and executor of Lord Byron.] Autograph Note Signed authorizing entry to the gallery of the House of Commons.

Author: 
John Cam Hobhouse [Lord Broughton] (1786-1869), Whig politician and friend and executor of Lord Byron
Hobhouse
Publication details: 
9 May 1821.
£56.00
Hobhouse

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 13 x 8 cm piece of laid paper. In fair condition, but with small sections torn away on removal from mount, at corners and at centre of top and bottom edges, damaging the first two numerals of the year. Reads: ‘May nine - <18>21 / Please to admit the bearer & his friend to the gallery of the House of Commons. / John C. Hobhouse’. See image.

[Henry Gastineau, landscape painter and engraver.] Autograph Letter in the third person to ‘Miss Nelson’, regarding arrangements for giving her lessons in painting.

Author: 
Henry Gastineau (1791-1876), English landscape painter and engraver
Publication details: 
2 June 1853; Camberwell.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Eighteen lines of text. Begins: ‘Mr H Gastineau presents his compliments to Miss Nelson and in consequence of having received her address from Miss Stringer relative to a wish to receive some instruction from him, he writes’, giving details of when he would be able ‘to give a lesson at Windham Place’, were he to ‘receive a line to say that such an arrangement’ was desirable, after which ‘future appointments can be made’.

[Theodore Hook, author and hoaxer.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Theo S Hook’) [to his publishers Whittaker & Co.], reporting missing text in the revises of his ‘Gilbert Gurney’, and requesting the return of ‘the MS of the page in question’.

Author: 
Theodore Hook [Theodore Edward Hook] (1788-1841), author, wit and hoaxer, accountant-general and treasurer of Mauritius, 1813-1817
Publication details: 
No date or place, but on paper with 1834 watermark.
£75.00

Hook’s entry in the Oxford DNB descibes his novel ‘Gilbert Gurney’ (1836) and its sequel ‘Gurney Married’ (1838) as made up of ‘thinly disguised portraits and a string of anecdotes from real life’. 1p, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, folded twice. On wove paper with C. Ansell watermark of 1834. The signature ‘Theo E Hook’ does indeed have a strange ‘hook’ on the end of it, which has led to a pencil note on the blank second leaf: ‘try Thos. E. Boot / Booth / author of “Gilbert Gurney”’.

[John Masefield, Poet Laureate.] Autograph Card, ordering a book from a booksellers’ list.

Author: 
John Masefield (1878-1967), Poet Laureate and author
Masefield
Publication details: 
Pinbury Park, Cirencester. No date.
£80.00
Masefield

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. In the following transcript, the parts in Masefield’s autograph are in square brackets, and the first printed sentence (‘I [...] letter.’) has been scored through: ‘PINBURY PARK, / CIRENCESTER. / Dear [Sirs,] / I thank you for you letter. / [I shall be obliged if you will send me No 98 of your list / Du Maurier. Trilby / London, 1895.] / With all good wishes, / Yours sincerely, / John Masefield.’ (Note that this ‘signature’ is printed.) See image.

[William I, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange, as Erfprins (hereditary prince).] Autograph Letter Signed (‘G. F. Pr Hed.d’Orange’), in French, to Lord Auckland, while in exile in England, expressing thanks and condoling upon a sad event.

Author: 
William I, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange, and Grand Duke of Luxembourg [Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau (1772-1843)]; Lord Auckland [William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland (1745-1814)]
William I
Publication details: 
No date or place. [Written while in England, c. 1795.]
£650.00
William I

The recipient is not named (the salutation is to ‘Mylord’), but William ends with compliments to ‘Lady Auckland’, and the letter also contains a reference to Eden Park. 1p, landscape 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper, laid down on part of leaf cut from album. Signed ‘G. F. Pr Hed.d’Orange’. The mount is captioned, in a contemporary hand, ‘George [sic] Prince of Orange (Holland) date 1798’.

[James Montgomery, Scottish hymn writer, poet, editor and abolitionist.] Signed Autograph Inscription to John Holland of Sheffield Park.

Author: 
James Montgomery (1771-1854), Scottish hymn writer, poet and editor, based in Sheffield, abolitionist and campaigner against child exploitation [John Holland of Sheffield Park]
Montgomery
Publication details: 
27 October 1821.
£65.00
Montgomery

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On one side of irregular sheet of blue-grey paper, roughly landscape 12mo, evidently used as a cover to a package. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. In Montomery’s untidy hand, at foot, with a fragment of a red wax seal: ‘With J Montgomerys respects / and a Volume of the / Sheffd Register & the / 1793-4 / Oct. 27. 1821 [seal]’. Above this, neatly, in another hand: ‘Mr. John Holland / Sheffield Park. / To the care of Mr. James Montgomery, / Hawkshead, Sheffield / Paid.’

[Henry Luttrell, wit and poet.] Autograph Letter Signed, thanking Agar Ellis for the gift of one of his books, and discussing the preparing for the press of one of his own.

Author: 
Henry Luttrell [born Henry King] (1768-1851), wit and poet, friend of Sydney Smith, illegitimate son of the , second Earl of Carhampton [Agar Ellis [George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover]]
Publication details: 
18 February [no year, but between 1822 and 1833]. Albany [Piccadilly, London].
£180.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. ‘Many many thanks, my dear Ellis, for the kind present of your book, which, as soon as I am released from a torment of which you have had some experience, - correcting the press, I promise myself much pleasure and instruction in perusing. /As soon as my doggerel is printed, you may rely on having a copy. My best remembrance if you please to Lady Georgiana / Ever faithfully Yours / Henry Luttrell.’ Which of Luttrell’s or Ellis’s books are referred to here is unclear.

[Sir Robert Peel, Tory Prime Minister, founder of the Metropolitan Police, creator of modern Conservative Party.] Autograph Signature (‘Robert Peel’) and address by him franking a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

Author: 
Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), two-time Tory Prime Minister, founder of the Metropolitan Police, creator of modern Conservative Party
Peel
Publication details: 
‘London June seven 1820’.
£30.00
Peel

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The front panel of an envelope, 12 x 7 cm. In good condition, lightly aged, neatly backed by part of leaf from autograph album. Red frank stamp (with slight cropping to crown: ‘FREE / 7 JU 7 / 1820’. Headed ‘Private’ and otherwise set out in the conventional fashion. Reads: ‘London June seven 1820 / The Rev. The Vice Chancellor / &c &c &c / Oxford’, with underlined signature at bottom left: ‘Robert Peel’. See image.

[Sir James Mackintosh, Scottish historian and politician.] Autograph Letter Signed thanking an unnamed peer for gaining him access to the Duke of Marlborough’s papers, and expressing a zeal for investigating the history of the Glorious Revolution.

Author: 
Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832) of Kyllachy, Scottish historian and politician [Thomas Babington Macaulay]
Publication details: 
21 June 1813; Cheltenham.
£60.00

A prescient note regarding his projected history of the Glorious Revolution, in which Mackintosh expresses the desire to ‘leave the ground somewhat more clear to a successor of greater talents’. And this is indeed what he did: his history was not published during his lifetime, but his voluminous notes proved invaluable to Thomas Babington Macaulay in writing his great history. See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp., 12mo. Twenty-four lines of text. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper, with short closed tear to one edge. Signed ‘James Mackintosh’.

[Major-General Abraham D’Aubant, who played a leading role in the 1794 invasion of Corsica, frustrating Nelson with his caution.] Autograph Note in the third person to ‘Mr Brown’.

Author: 
Major-General Abraham D’Aubant (d.1805), Colonel of His Majesty's Corps of Royal Engineers, who played a leading role the 1794 invasion of Corsica [Horatio Nelson; Lord Nelson]
D'Aubant
Publication details: 
8 July [no year]; Devonshire Place [London].
£180.00
D'Aubant

An uncommon signature. During the 1794 invasion of Corsica, D’Aubant took over as Lord Hood’s second-in-command after Hood forced Major-General David Dundas to resign, but proved even more cautious, to the frustration of Nelson and others. 1p, landscape 8vo. Laid down on part of leaf from autograph album, captioned in Victorian hand, ‘General D’Aubant’. On discoloured paper, with deeper discoloration from glue from mount. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Genl D’Aubant presents his compliments to Mr Brown, and will call upon him at 12. next Thursday 8th July / Devonshe. place.’ See image.

[Lord Albemarle, Whig politician.] Autograph Signature (‘Albemarle’) to a long secretarial letter to the surgeon William Barnard Boddy, describing in detail the state of his cataracts, and discussing possible treatment.

Author: 
Lord Albemarle [William Charles Keppel, 4th Earl of Albemarle] (1772-1849), Whig politician, Master of the Horse who travelled with Queen Victoria to coronation [William Barnard Boddy (1796-1884)]
Publication details: 
24 October 1845; Quidenham, near Kenninghall, Norfolk.
£120.00

An interesting item from a medical point of view, with a well-informed patient describing and discussing his condition, symptoms and treatment options. Three years after the writing of this letter the appropriately-named Boddy, who is addressed here as ‘W. Barnard Boddy Esqr / 3. Saville Row. Walworth’, published ‘Diet and Cholera’ (London, 1848). 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Fifty-five lines of closely-written text. The signature is large and shaky, and the use of an amanuensis is understandable in the light of the content of the letter.

[Lady Pembroke, object of the affections of the insane King George III.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Eliz: Pembroke’) to her nephew the Hon. George Ellis, having received permission from the Queen to allow him to ‘cut a dash abroad’.

Author: 
Lady Pembroke [Elizabeth Herbert [née Spencer], Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery] (1737-1831), object of the affections of King George III during his first bout of insanity [Hon. George Ellis]
Publication details: 
'Saturday morning. 29th. June. [no year]'
£60.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘During his periods of ‘madness’, George III imagined that he was married to Lady Pembroke. Apparently, 'his infatuation went back to the days when he was only seventeen and she, of the same age, was Elizabeth Spencer'. The king went so far as to make 'her handsome offers if she would be his mistress.’ [...] In 1804 the king suffered another attack of dementia and again announced his desire for Lady Pembroke. This situation aroused some amusement among younger courtiers since she was by this time almost seventy years old.” 1p, 12mo.

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