INDIA

1p, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, on watermarked laid paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased and chipped at edges. Folded twice. A printed form in a grid headed (with Bunting's autograph in square brackets): 'WEEKLY RETURN of the Sick and Wounded of His Majesty's [Sloop Comet] between [4th] Day of [September 1811] and the [11th.] Day of [September], employed in [at Sea]'. A grid of nine columns, from 'Disease' to 'Invalided' (subdivided into 'Harbour Duty' and 'Unserviceable'.

The Cymru Estate in Dimbula was established in 1870. The invaluable ‘History of Ceylon Tea’ website only has data regarding the estate up to the year 1929. The present item provides a mass of statistical information for the years 1964 to 1972. It is entirely in manuscript, in several hands, and comprises 73pp, 16mo, written with portrait orientation in a 12.5 x 8 cm ruled notebook (with 69pp in blue and red ink at the front, and the other four pages in pencil at the back). In rough black cloth, with brown patterned endpapers, and cloth pencil-holder.

Showing signs of the early stirrings of the Great Game. See Canning's entry, and that of Fitzgerald, in the Oxford DNB. At the time of the letter Canning was serving in his first governmental appointment, as Under-Secretary to Lord Aberdeen in the Foreign Office, in Peel’s administration, while Fitzgerald was President of the Board of Control. The ‘Baron Brunow’ referred to in the letter is Russian Ambassador in London, Philipp Graf von Brunnow (1797-1895). 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of a bifolium. Docketed on second leaf, ‘Lord Canning / respecting Baron Brunow Novr 11/41’.

Three pages,12mo, bifolium, corner marked, mainly good condition. Text: The Grand Duke is desirous to see the Docks [underlined] on Wednesday, & we thought the best way of peforming it would be in going there by water. | Could we therefore have your Barge on that day - when [underlined] should we embark & at what o'clock [phrase underlined] - for the tide.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged and discoloured. Folded twice. The salutation ‘Dear Sir Courtenay’ and valediction ‘Yours v. truly / Devonshire’ in his autograph, the rest type. Addressed to ‘Sir Courtenay Ilbert, G.C.B.’ He is ‘hoping to arrange a small and informal gathering to consider the future of the Law School at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield’, and asks Ilbert to join ‘a certain number of gentlemen’ who will be lunching with him at Devonshire House on a named date, ‘With that object in view’.

An unusually forthright communication for the period. See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing, Fitzgerald was President of the Board of Control under Sir Robert Peel. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and ruckled. Signed ‘Vane Londonderry’. Begins: ‘My Dear Ftizgerald / I had not an opportunity to thank you as I would in the H of Lords for all your kind attention to my wishes.

Although he later repudiated his position, Mackintosh is notable for having defended the French Revolution from Edmund Burke's strictures. See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. With regard to Maurice's oriental studies, it is worth noting that Mackintosh was Recorder of Bombay, 1804-1811. The three items are in good condition, lightly aged and worn and folded for postage. The last two show slight evidence of the breaking of the wafer, and the last has minor traces of brown paper mount. All three are bifoliums, and all are signed ‘James Mackintosh’.

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?.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The four items in good condition, lightly aged and worn, and all folded for postage. The last item with pin hole to one corner. The first three addressed to 'Dear Sir' and the last to 'Dear Fisher'. All four signed 'A C Lyall', both with and without periods after the initials. ONE (9 October 1888): 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium.

See her entry, and that of her husband, in the Oxford DNB. Hers states: 'most memorably used her energies to found the National Association for Supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women of India, often known as the Countess of Dufferin Fund, in 1885.' 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium on grey paper. Addressed to ?Dear Miss Faithful? and signed ?H. Dufferin & Ava?. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. She thanks her for her ?kind note? and will be grateful for any help she can ?ever give with regard to my Fund?.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Addressed to ‘R. Rost Esq Ph.D’ and ‘Dear Dr Rost’, and signed ‘Walter Elliot’. He thanks him for taking the trouble to ‘hunt out the books. I gave a large number in 1866 & some in subsequent years but it is difficult to recal [sic] to mind the details of transactions of so distant a date’.

1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘The Right Rev. Eyre Chatterton, D.D., / President, Indian Church Aid Association, / Westminster Chambers, / 5, Victoria Street, S.W.1.’ (‘My dear Bishop Chatterton’) and signed ‘Burdwan’. He is ‘indeed very interested to know’ that Chatterton is holding a meeting, 'at the Lord Mayor's invitation', at the Mansion House in London, ‘on behalf of the Anglo-Indian Schools in India, which are controlled by the Indian Church Aid Association’.

Although there is no clear connection, the present unpublished poem dates from around the same time as Edward Lear was drawing watercolours in the place referred to in it. Vidya Dehejia’s‘Impossible Picturesqueness / Edward Lear’s Indian Watercolours, 1873-1875’ (1989) describes how Lear visited ‘The two small hill-stations of Matheran and Mahabaleshwar near Bombay’. Of the former Lear wrote: ‘Matheran by the bye, has most probably been the original Eden - I don’t mean the first Lord Auckland, - but Paradise -’.

Written while Clerk of the Commons. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Joyce Violet Ilbert (1890-1957) was the youngest of his five daughters. 8pp, 12mo. Two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to ‘My Dear Joyce’ and signed ‘Yr. loving father | C. P. I.’ Begins: ‘I wish for my sake that you were on board the Cedric - for I miss my [?]-valet-secretary very much. If you were here, you would be hoping that the voyage would never come to an end’. They have had ‘almost perpetual sunshine since we left New York’. ‘The ship is extremely comfortable.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. On aged paper, creased at the edges. Signed ‘Irwin’. He thanks him for his letter and states that it is good of him ‘to offer the help of the Indian Church Aid Association for the receipt of the money. I should think we might be very glad indeed to take advantage of your suggestion.’ He is sending Wilson’s letter ‘to Sir John Thompson, who is really the active partner in the business!’ Halifax was Viceroy of India between 1926 and 1931.

See Westland's entry in the Oxford DNB. Finlay was, as the Marquis of Crewe told the House of Lords in 1912, ‘a distinguished Indian official’, responsible for, as the Statist stated in 1914, ‘the details of the financial administration of the Empire of India. The magnitude and complexity of the financial transactions of the Government of India need not be enlarged on.’ He entered the Indian Civil Service in 1875, was made a Companion of the Order of the Star of India in 1896, and a Member the Governor-General’s Council in 1902.

See his entry, and that of Lady Ilbert’s husband, in the Oxford DNB. The three items in good condition, lightly aged, and folded for postage. ALS ONE (19 December 1910): 1p, 12mo. ‘I am sorry you have had domestic anxieties. They are the most poignant.’ He continues: ‘It would delight me to have a peaceful hour with you and Ilbert, without prejudice to Fisher and his wife.’ Signed ‘M.’ ALS TWO (2 July 1911): 2pp, 12mo.

The original item. On one side of a piece of a piece of paper roughly 70 x 100 cm, folded into a 10.5 x 15.5 cm packet of fifty panels. An attractive item, but in need of some attention: on brittle and discoloured paper, with several closed tears. The map was the work of Col. H. B. Hudson. A significant map, still cited in the Sino-Indian border dispute. For the background see 'Two Important Maps from the Survey of India', Geographical Journa, October 1915. First published in 1914, but the only copy of this 1917 version located in the National Library of Australia.

See his entry and hers in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Lady Theresa Lewis, and written while she was married to her first husband, the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, and folded once for postage.

See the entries on Newman and Allingham in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 16mo. A neatly and closely written letter of twenty-three lines. Addressed ‘To W Allingham Esq’ and signed ‘Francis W Newman’. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with unobtrusive circular mark from mount at top left-hand corner of first page. Folded for postage. At the time of writing Allingham was sub-editor of Fraser’s Magazine under the historian James Anthony Froude (1818-1894), whose wife Henrietta had just died. Allingham would take over the editorship in the following month of June, holding it until 1879.

See his entry in Who Was Who. The thirteen items in good condition, lightly aged, most with RSA date stamp and annotations. A total of 12pp, 8vo, in autograph; and 5pp, 4to, typed. The first ten signed ‘D T Chadwick’ and the last three ‘David Chadwick’. The earliest letter, to RSA Secretary Sir Henry Trueman Wood on 22 December 1916, deals with the publication of Chadwick’s remarks ‘at the discussion on Prof. Todds paper before the Indian Section of the Society of Arts’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On irregular strip of paper, roughly 9 x 1.5 cm, laid down on slightly larger rectangle cut from a leaf of an album. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Reads: ‘Always most truly Yours / J. Mill’. Beneath this, in pencil in a nineteenth-century hand: ‘Father of J. Stuart Mill’. See image.

See his entry, and that of the recipient, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, foolscap 8vo. Laid-paper bifolium with ?I TAYLOR? Britannia watermark. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. Reverse of second leaf docketed: ?12 March / Copy / to Philip Stephens Esqr / Duplicate - left at Santa Cruz / Triplicate. sent by the shop from Port Praya Bay 24th. March 89.? See the ODNB: ?When his brother Earl Cornwallis was appointed governor-general of Bengal, Cornwallis was sent out as commodore and commander-in-chief in the East Indies in October 1788?.

An interesting slice of social history, casting light on the decor of a substantial London property owned by an affluent member of the middle classes. Neatly and closely written over 18pp, foolscap 8vo. On five bifoliums bound together with green ribbon. First page with red ten-shilling stamp. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into the customary packet, endorsed crosswise on final page: ‘Dated 23rd. January 1894 / J. G. Grieve Esq / To / Mrs. E. C. Grieve / Assignment / of / Funiture &c. in 15 Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park.

An interesting slice of social history, casting light on the decor of a substantial London property owned by an affluent member of the middle classes. Neatly and closely written over 18pp, foolscap 8vo. On five bifoliums bound together with green ribbon. First page with red ten-shilling stamp. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into the customary packet, endorsed crosswise on final page: ‘Dated 23rd. January 1894 / J. G. Grieve Esq / To / Mrs. E. C. Grieve / Assignment / of / Funiture &c. in 15 Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park.

See his long and sympathetic entry by David Gilmour in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Curzon acquired the Priory at Reigate after his marriage in 1895, and the letter probably dates from around March to July 1922, when, according to the Oxford DNB, ‘he was laid low by a combination of phlebitis, thrombosis, and lymphangitis which kept him out of action for five months’. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Written in pencil. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight spotting at foot of first page. One central fold for postage.

In one of the present letters Hay signs himself as ‘Retired Behar Indigo planter’, and the material provides an knowledgeable commentry on the colonial textiles industry at the beginning of the First World War. Some of the material was printed in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. The recipient George Kenneth Menzies (1869-1954) was Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts between 1917 and 1935. A total of 21pp, 4to. Each bears the stamp of the RSA, some with manuscript docketting.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. (In his Who’s Who entry he stated that he was ‘author of a great number of papers and articles in the Journals of Scientific Societies’.) 1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. With stamp and manuscript docketting of the RSA. He writes: ‘In 1900 (I think) I gave a lecture on Round About the Andamans & Nicobars published in vol XLVIII. If you have a separate copy left I shall be glad if you can send me one on payment / from Yrs trly / R. C. Temple’.

The recipient is clearly not the American politician Joseph Lanier Williams (1810-1865), but rather an editor of Beveridge’s history of India at Blackie’s. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, but with diagonal crease at bottom right going through Beveridge’s signature. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Joseph L. Williams Esqr’ and signed ‘Henry Beveridge’. He begins by undertaking to ‘attend to the matters’ mentioned in Williams’s note.

See her husband’s entry, and those of her father the Earl of Durham, and Sir Cuthbert Sharp, in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with small closed tear to blank area at foot of second leaf. Folded for postage. Laid down on leaf removed from album. Begins: ‘Lady Mary Lambton presents her Compliments to Sir Cuthbert Sharp, and begs to express her grateful sense of the kind message, conveyed to her through Mrs. Brodie, concerning Sir C. Sharps small pamphlet -’.