HISTORY

Circular letter, printed in facsimile of Wellington's handwriting; dated, addressed, and with the gaps filled in in Wellington's hand to Robert Aberdein.

Author: 
Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), 1st Duke of Wellington, Anglo-Irish soldier and politician, the vanquisher of Napoleon Bonaparte [Robert Henry Aberdein (died 1860), Coroner for East Devon]
Publication details: 
31 July 1851; London.
£80.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good. Folded twice and with the blank verso of the second leaf of the bifolium a little grubby. A formal letter in the third person, declining to present a petition to the House of Lords, on the grounds that 'The Duke has no relation whatever with [Honiton]'. The date, and the words 'Mr Aberdein', 'Honiton', ', which he retains' and 'Robert Aberdein Esq' are in Wellington's hand.

Arms and the Irishman.

Author: 
J.B. Arbuthnot,under pseud. "Sassenach"
Publication details: 
London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1952.
£100.00

128pp., 8vo. Foxing, covers marked, pictorial dj damaged (protected with plastic, sound. INSCRIBED by the author who published the book pseudonymously as "Sassenach": "With best wishes from the Author / JB Arbuthnot / Dec 8th 1932".

Three Typed Letters Signed (all 'John : Gloag -.') to K. W. Luckhurst, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts; with copy of letter from Gloag to A. B. Read, Royal Designers in Industry; and copies of two of Luckhurst's replies.

Author: 
John Gloag [John Edwards Gloag] (1896-1981), English author specialising in the fields of industrial and interior design, architecture and social history
Publication details: 
Gloag's three letters: 17 February and 9 October 1950 and 19 March 1951; all on letterheads of 3 The Mall, East Sheen, London S.W.14.
£150.00

All six items are good, on lightly aged paper, with pin holes to the top left-hand corners. Gloag's first letter (4to, 1 p, 13 lines) concerns a 'most unfortunate error, made by the Rotary Club of London in printing a paper which I recently gave on "Design in Industry,". The copy of Gloag's letter to Read (typed, 17 February 1950, 4to, 1 p) reveals this to have been the describing of Gloag 'on the luncheon menu as an "R.D.I." ' In the copy of Luckhurst's reply (12mo, 1 p, 16 lines) he comments that he has 'read enough press reports to know how unavoidable such things are'.

Report of the departmental committee on the protection of wild birds. Presented to Parliament by command of His Majesty.

Author: 
Committee on the protection of wild birds [ORNITHOLOGY]
Publication details: 
London: Published by His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1919.
£50.00

44 pages. Folio. Unbound. In poor condition: first and last leaf fraying, torn and separated. An important document: a landmark in the history of environmentalism. The committee members were the Hon. E. S. Montagu (Under Secretary of State for India), Lord Lucas (Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture), Frank Elliott of the Home Office, E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Hugh S. Gladstone and the appropriately-named W. Eagle Clarke.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all three 'Norman Lockyer') to 'Farquhar'.

Author: 
Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), English scientist and astronomer, co-discoverer of helium gas [Norman Lockyer Observatory; Harrogate]
Publication details: 
9, 11 and 19 August 1900; first letter from 16 Penywern Road, London SW; second on letterhead of the Solar Physics Observatory, South Kensington, London; third on letterhead of Marine House, Whitley, R.S.O., Northumberland.
£85.00

The first and second letters are both 12mo, 2 pp; the third is 12mo, 1 p. The first and third are good, on lightly aged paper; the second has some smoke staining to top and bottom outside corners. All text clear and entire. The letters concern Farquhar's efforts, as a 'friendly service' on Lockyer's behalf, to get a room in Harrogate. References to the Majestic and Prince of Wales hotels, and to 'Oliver' (perhaps J. A. W. Oliver?).

DRAFT Autograph letter, third person ("The Att[orney]. Gen[eral]. for Ireland")

Author: 
[ Hugh Law ]
Publication details: 
[House of Commons stamp], [June 1881?]
£105.00

See DNB. Two pages, 8vo, sl. stained and with remains of glue for laying down, text clear and complete as follows: "The Att. Gen. of Ireland desires to correct a passage in his answer to Mr J. McCarthys question No. 8[.] Omit 'some time after the Eviction Lord Annaly directed the dwelling h[ou]s[e] to be pulled down & the roof was after[war]ds burned off'- and insert instead - 'Lord Annalys agent states t[ha]t he hasno knowledge of Mrs [M Dermots?] home being [?] burned - and does not believe it was'- Note: The date "June 1881" has been aded in another hand and in pencil.

Autograph Signature ('London=Derry:') on fragment of document.

Author: 
Robert Ridgeway, 4th Earl of Londonderry (d.1714), Irish aristocrat
Publication details: 
Docketed '1711' on reverse.
£56.00

On piece of paper roughly 1.5 x 7.5 cm. Closely cropped underlined signature 'London=Derry:'.

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed secretary of state.

Author: 
Colonel James Francis Erskine, of the Regiment of Swiss Chasseurs
Publication details: 
7 March 1783; 'Kensington gravell Pitts'.
£125.00

Erskine, who died in 1806, was the grandson of the 27th Earl of Mar. 3 pages, 8vo. In very good condition. The letter, addressed to 'your Excellency', concerns 'The Honble. Captain Cunningham who had resigned a Troop of Dragoons on the Irish Establishment to go upon Service with the same rank in my unfortunate Regiment of Swiss Chasseurs'.

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

Author: 
Edward Arthur Donald St George Hamilton Chichester, 6th Marquis of Donegall
Publication details: 
16 March 1938; '8. Westminster Gdns. | S.W.1.', on deleted letterhead 'ST. ERMIN'S, | WESTMINSTER.'
£26.00

Irish peer (1903-75) and war correspondent. Two pages, octavo. On blue paper. Very good. Docketed and stamped and with staple holes to one corner. 'In reply to your letter of March 4th. I write to say that Art being one of my chief interests in life. I would appreciate very much being elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society.' Signed 'J. Donegall'. Postscript, on verso of second leaf of bifoliate, explains that the delay in replying is 'owing to absence in America' and ends 'Do you wish me to find any sponsors?'

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
John Bruce Richard O'Neill (1780-1855), 3rd Viscount O'Neill, Irish General and politician, Constable of Dublin Castle
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£32.00

On piece of paper roughly one and a half inches by three wide. Small tear in top left-hand corner not affecting signature. Reads 'Your Obed Hue Servt | [signature] O'Neill | Lieut General'. On reverse '<...> he had his discharge to <...> | <...> allowed something he had <...>'.

12 Typed Letters Signed (all 'W Barnard Faraday') to Sir Henry Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, and his colleague G. K. Menzies.

Author: 
Wilfred Barnard Faraday (1874-1953), economist and aeronautics expert [Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain]
Publication details: 
3 February 1917 to 11 October 1918; all but two on letterheads of the Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain.
£100.00

One of the letters is 4to, 2 pp; ten are 4to, 1 p; and one is foolscap, 1 p. The collection is in good condition, on lightly aged paper. Many of the letters are docketed and most bear the Society's dated stamp. Written in the capacity of Secretary of the Aeronautical Society, and editor of its 'Official Organ - The Aeronautical Journal'. Topics include the hiring of the Royal Society's hall for two series of talks to the Aeronautical Society. Faraday also discusses the details of a lecture by 'Mr.

Letter, in a secretarial hand, in French, with what is said to be the illegible signature of Lacretelle [to Lenormand?].

Author: 
Charles Lacretelle le jeune [Jean Charles Dominique de Lacretelle] (1766-1855), historian [Léonce Lenormand, editor of the 'Journal de Saône-et-Loire']
Publication details: 
1 September 1853; place not stated.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp, 32 lines. Good. Docketed in a nineteenth-century hand in pencil in top left-hand corner 'Lacretelle (Charles) à Lenormand, réd. du J. de Saone & Loire à Mâcon' and in another hand 'Acad. Fr'. Asks to be verbally informed of the news of 'Mr. Ochier, à supposer qu'il vous eut enfin révélé le motif de son long silence au milieu des prodiges qui s'opérent aujourd'hui pour les moyens de communication entre les deux hémisphères, je n'aurais jamais pensé que celle de Mâcon et de Cluny, présentassent de telles difficultés'.

[Railway Reading.] Workmen's Earnings, Strikes, and Savings. By Samuel Smiles, author of 'Life of George Stephenson,' 'Self Help,' etc. Reprinted from the 'Quarterly Review.'

Author: 
Samuel Smiles [Victorian trades unions; strikes; industrial action]
Publication details: 
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1861. Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street, and Charing Cross.
£120.00

12mo, 168 pp. In original red printed wraps, yellow endpapers. Attractive bookseller's ticket of 'Hunt Books 1919 Southborough Kent England' on front pastedown. Internally sound, with a little light staining and some unobtrusive marking in margins. Wraps chipped and worn at corners and spine, with small ink stain on back. Front wrap headed 'RAILWAY READING.' Small neat ownership stamp of J. D. Bowen at head of title.

Autograph Letter Signed ('P Watts') to Archibald Hurd, 5 Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London N.W.

Author: 
Sir Philip Watts (1846-1926), English naval architect [Sir Archibald Hurd (1869-1959)]
Publication details: 
20 [corrected from 18] October 1909; on embossed Admiralty letterhead.
£100.00

4to, 2 pp, 25 lines. Good, on slightly discoloured and grubby paper. Watts takes issue with 'The statement of British Shipbuilding Programmes since 1889' which Hurd has forwarded. 'It was found more convenient to draw up the table again', and Watts is sending 'the result of the investigations which have been made' (table not present). He is in 'complete agreement' with the 'statements under the headings of Battleships, Armoured Cruisers and 1st. class Cruisers', but 'Under the headings of 2nd. and 3rd.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L. Lalanne') to 'Monsieur Sisson' ('Mon cher capitaine').

Author: 
Léon Lalanne [Léon Louis Chrétien Lalanne] (1811-1892), French engineer and mathematician [or, I'm told, his brother!]
Publication details: 
9 February [no year]; no place.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp, 11 lines. Concerns the 'porteur de ce billet', a 'M. Laudet', who has been the victim of 'un affreux malentendu'. 'Le malheureux perdait sa femme au moment où il manquait une garde'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Leslie Rundle') to 'My dear General'.

Author: 
Leslie Rundle [Sir Henry Macleod Leslie Rundle] (1856-1934), British army officer
Publication details: 
31 July 1904; on letterhead of Government House, York.
£56.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good on lightly-aged paper. He has 'written to the necessary authorities' about his correspondent's son. 'Of course it will largely depend on which Slade [Lt-Gen. Frederick George Slade (b.1851), C.B.] says about him, as I do not know your son personally - though his record reads an exceptionally good one.' He is sorry to hear about his correspondent's brother's death: 'he was always very kind' to Rundle.

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Walter de la Mare, writer
Publication details: 
The old Park, Penn, Bucks, 15 Jan. 1941.
£100.00

Two pages, c. 7 x 5", good condition. He discusses his correspondent's request (via his publishers, Constable) to include five of his poems in an anthology. "One of these, 'Tartary', is taken from a collection entitled 'Songs of Childhood, which is published by Messrs Longman Green & Co." He asks him to write to them directly, and for the name of the publishers of the anthology. His fee is usually £3 gns. "Perhaps you will let me know what the published price of your anthology will be".

Autograph Letter Signed ('Sédillot, professeur d'histoire, Secrètaire du Collège de France') in French to 'Monsieur Le Maire' [of the XIe arrondissement of Paris].

Author: 
Louis Pierre Eugène Amélie Sédillot (1808-1875), French orientalist
Publication details: 
12 January 1849; on letterhead of the Collège de France.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. Good, on aged paper worn at extremities. Text clear and entire. Gives details of his placement in 1837 in the 'cadre de reforme de la Garde Nationale', and of the registration of the decision by the Mayor. 'Cette décision [...] m'est réclamée par le nouveau Sergent major de la compagnie, M. Alger, et je viens vous prier de m'en faire délivrer une copie dûment légalisée.'

Autograph Letter to Lord Radstock.

Author: 
Alan Gardner, 1st Baron Gardner of Uttoxeter (1742-1808), English admiral and Member of Parliament for Plymouth [William Waldegrave (1753-1825), 1st Baron Radstock]
Publication details: 
19 April 1808; Lupton House.
£120.00

8vo (23.5 x 18.5), 2 pp. Signature cut away, resulting in loss of 3.5 x 10 cm rectangle from corner at bottom and affecting four lines of text on recto. Otherwise good, on lightly aged paper with thin strip from brown paper mount adhering to inner margin on reverse. 37 lines of text (four with loss). An interesting letter written during his final illness. He begins by confirming the report which has reached the recipient of Gardner's 'having been very seriously indisposed'.

Bill, in French, for work 'imprime pour le Citoyen Duprat, par Crapelet' [i.e. printing 'Memoire sur la reunion de l'artillerie et du genie, adresse au premier consul de la republique francaise' by 'A.A.'

Author: 
Charles Crapelet (1762-1809), French printer based in Paris, father of the printer Georges-Adrien Crapelet [Jean-Louis Duprat, Professeur a l'Ecole centrale du departement du Tarn]
Publication details: 
9 Nivose an 9e [30 December 1800]
£100.00

On one side of piece of laid paper roughly 16 x 19.5 cm. Good, though lightly aged, and with a few small pin holes in one corner (not affecting text). 12 lines. Headed 'imprime pour le Citoyen Duprat, par Crapelet, 9 Nivose an 9e'. The first of four entries reads 'Memoire sur la reunion de l'artillerie & du Genie [published in Paris in 1800 by Duprat], contenant cinq feuilles & demie in-8o. Cicero, tirees a 500 exempl. a raison de 24th la feuille'. Second entry gives cost of 'Remaniement de toutes les feuilles & corrections extraordinaires'.

Autograph Letter Signed "B Corney" to an unnamed publisher.

Author: 
Bolton Corney, critic and antiquary
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£85.00

Two pages, 12mo, good condition, blank bifolium sl. damaged. "I have got out to day for the first time, and hope soon to be more fit for work. I see no objection to the advertisment - but it might be as well to leave the subsequent editions - without all - as you cannot wish to appear to make my allusion to [Pitts?] Ed | Though I send you only scraps, I read Spencer Anecdotes by Singer in a day - not choosing to trust to the Index, though Allan Cunningham had assistance from his son, and writes well as to style he has made many random [assertions?].

Autograph Note Signed ('Charles Oman') to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman (1860-1946), British military historian and Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
1 April 1930; on embossed letterhead of the House of Commons Library.
£25.00

One page, 12mo. Good but with paperclip spotting at head (not affecting text). Three-line quotation clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. 'Broadmindedness, so called, is generally no more than the silly fear of being thought narrow-minded - | [signed] Charles Oman'.

Autograph Note Signed ('H W Gwatkin') to 'Miss Thomas'.

Author: 
Henry Melvill Gwatkin (1844-1916), English theologian and church historian
Publication details: 
8 Scrope [sic] Terrace, Cambridge; 12 May 1908.
£25.00

One page, 12mo. Very good, on lightly aged and spotted paper. 'Dear Miss Thomas | The autograph-hunter has the advantage. It is not civil to ignore her, and she cannot be refused without getting what she wants'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F. Oxon.) to Mrs. Light, autograph collector

Author: 
Francis Paget (1851-1911), Bishop of Oxford
Publication details: 
19 March 1904; on letterhead of the 'Diocesan Registry, Oxford.'
£60.00

One page, octavo. Good, though a little smoked at head and foot. 'Here, after a delay I am ashamed of, are the autographs: I shall indeed be glad if they give any pleasure to the recipient. | I trust that you and the Vicar were not overtired on the day of the Confirmation: and that you know what a happiness both the Service and the welcome were to me.' Sends 'Mr. Green's kindest remembrances'.

Autograph Letter Signed to autograph collector 'Miss <Lull?>'.

Author: 
General Sir Francis Thomas Lloyd (1838-1912), British soldier
Publication details: 
9 October 1907; on letterhead of The Lawn, Walmer.
£40.00

Two pages, 12mo. Very good, on lightly creased paper. He is sending five autographs to add to her collection and is 'sorry not to have those of distinguished men of later dates but I am quite out of the service now'. Wonders if she knows his 'very dear friend General Nicholson who is living now at St. Andrews. He and his wife are among our dearest friends.' He 'saw the Godfreys last week - both well.'

Autograph Letter Signed to Dawson Turner from his daughter Elizabeth ('E. Palgrave').

Author: 
Elizabeth Palgrave (nee Turner, 1799-1852), wife of Sir Francis Palgrave (1788-1861) [Dawson Turner]
Publication details: 
[Docketed by Turner 'Hampstead 21st June 1848.']
£80.00

One page, octavo. Good, on aged paper with some loss to extremities repaired with archival tape. Fifteen lines of text clear and complete. On learning of Dawson Turner's celebrated collection of autographs from her son, Elizabeth Palgrave's 'kind old neighbour' Lady Bentham asked her 'some questions which led to the enclosed note & the letters I send' (none present).

Typed Letter Signed ('Walter Runciman') to L. P. Jacks.

Author: 
Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford (1870-1949), English Liberal politician [paper making; the book trade; publishing]
Publication details: 
21 February 1916; on letterhead of the Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W.
£56.00

12mo, 3 pp, 35 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, and with a thin strip from mount adhering at head of blank verso of second leaf of bifolium. Discusses 'the restriction on the importation of paper and paper making materials', imposed 'with the object of securing more tonnage space in incoming vessels'.

One Autograph Letter Signed, one Typed Letter Signed, one Autograph Note Signed and one Typed Note Signed (all 'E. N. da C. Andrade'), to G. K. Menzies (3) and K. W. Luckhurst (1), Secretaries, Royal Society of Arts, with carbon of one reply.

Author: 
Professor Edward Neville da Costa Andrade (1887-1971), English physicist, poet and historian of science
Publication details: 
1931, 1932, 1933 and 1948; the autograph letter on letterhead of 69 Exeter Road, London N.W.2, and the other three items on University College, University of London letterheads.
£120.00

All items good. Two bearing the Society's stamp. Item One (typed note, 15 October 1931, 4to, 1 p): He is sending 'short summaries of the two lectures, in a form which I prefer to mere headings'. Item Two (autograph letter, 17 January 1932, 8vo, 1 p): He is sending 'summaries of the two lectures'. 'As you seemed in a hurry I have not waited to have them typed. I think that they are legible, but I will look at a proof if you like.' He has left it to Menzies 'to add any preliminaries or conclusions that may be necessary'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. P. Stanley') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-1881), Dean of Westminster
Publication details: 
16 April 1877; Deanery, Westminster.
£45.00

12mo: 2 pp. Thick mourning border. Good. The recipient has provided a partial interlinear transcription of what the New DNB describes as 'Stanley's execrable handwriting'. Stanley is 'much obliged for having [his] attention called to anything in the Abbey Services which requires rectification', and will 'make inquiry into the cause of [his correspondent's] complaint'. The 'inattention [...] will be remedied, so far as the nature of the case admits'.

Autograph Note Signed ('S. R. Lushington') to unnamed Post Office official, and with official directions on reverse.

Author: 
Stephen Rumbold Lushington (1776-1868), English politician and administrator in British India
Publication details: 
21 August 1836; Norton Court, Feversham [Faversham], Kent.
£28.00

On one side of an irregular piece of paper, dimensions 13.5 x 18 cm. Ruckled, and with traces of glue from mounting on reverse. Signature clear and complete, but with minor damage to signature caused by removal from mount. Reads 'I request that you will be pleased to order that all Letters for me may be sent here.' Docketed on reverse (with slight cropping along right-hand edge), '21 Augt. 1836. Feversham Rt Hon S. Lushington M.P.', beneath which, 'Mr Johnson | to be attended t specially | 22 Augt.', and 'ansd 22nd Augt | DWP316 | Attended to | [signed] <?> Laurence | 23 Augt 1836.'

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