J.W.

[J. W. Robertson Scott, journalist and author on rural affairs, founding editor of ‘The Countryman’.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Walters’ [John Cuming Walters (1863-1933], speculating whether the Birmingham Daily Gazette is ‘into Radical hands’.

Author: 
J. W. Robertson Scott [John William Robertson Scott] (1866-1962), English journalist and author on rural affairs, founding editor of ‘The Countryman’ [Birmingham Daily Gazette; H. J. Palmer]
Publication details: 
13 January 1888. Acocks Green, Birmingham.
£56.00

An interesting letter casting light on the Victorian provincial press. Scott’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that, while he was living in Birmingham, ‘H. J. Palmer offered him a staff appointment on the Birmingham Gazette; but he had to leave when he stipulated that, as a Liberal, he should write nothing in support of the Conservative cause. He was working again as a freelance when, in 1887, he was invited by W. T. Stead to join him on the Pall Mall Gazette. He worked for six years on that paper under Stead and then Edward T. Cook.’ 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged.

[John William Struthers, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.] Autograph Letter Signed and two Typed Letters Signed to Professor David Waterston of St Andrews, discussing golf and other matters in a lightly-humorous style.

Author: 
John William Struthers (1874-1953), Scottish surgeon, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh [Professor David Waterston (1871-1942) of St Andrews]
Publication details: 
The two TLsS, 20 March and 5 April 1941. The ALS, 10 August 1941. All on letterhead of Sandy-Knowe, Gullane [Scotland],
£150.00

Struthers served as a major in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Great War. He was a pioneer in the use of local anaesthetic, and wrote a well-regarded work on the topic. He was President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1941 to 1943. Waterston was Bute Professor of Anatomy at the University of St Andrews from 1914 to 1942. In 1913, while Professor of Anatomy at King's College, London, he was the first authority to debunk the Piltdown Man hoax. The three items are in fair condition, lightly aged, with slight ruckling and aging. All three are folded for postage.

['John William Calcraft' (stage name of John William Cole), actor and lessee of the Theatre Royal, Dublin.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'J. W. Calcraft'), regarding debts and plans for productions.

Author: 
'John William Calcraft' [stage name of John William Cole (c.1793-1870)], actor, dramatist and lessee of the Theatre Royal, Dublin
Publication details: 
4 March 1847 and 31 January 1848. Both from the Theatre Royal, Dublin.
£45.00

Both letters 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Cole's handwriting is difficult. The recipient is not named. The first letter, 34 lines long, concerns a bill which Cole has drawn on the recipient of the letter. It is coming due, and he is uncertain whether it is for £90 or £100. He asks him to withhold payment for a while, as 'Lent is always a dead time with me'. He is 'going to try the experiment of Mr Butter for 6 nights', and has 'good hopes of the result'. The second letter begins: 'My dear Sir | I have made most liberal offers to Farren, Mrs. Nesbitt & Mr.

['John William Calcraft' (stage name of John William Cole), actor and lessee of the Theatre Royal, Dublin.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'J. W. Calcraft'), regarding debts and plans for productions.

Author: 
'John William Calcraft' [stage name of John William Cole (c.1793-1870)], actor, dramatist and lessee of the Theatre Royal, Dublin
Publication details: 
4 March 1847 and 31 January 1848. Both from the Theatre Royal, Dublin.
£45.00

Both letters 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Cole's handwriting is difficult. The recipient is not named. The first letter, 34 lines long, concerns a bill which Cole has drawn on the recipient of the letter. It is coming due, and he is uncertain whether it is for £90 or £100. He asks him to withhold payment for a while, as 'Lent is always a dead time with me'. He is 'going to try the experiment of Mr Butter for 6 nights', and has 'good hopes of the result'. The second letter begins: 'My dear Sir | I have made most liberal offers to Farren, Mrs. Nesbitt & Mr.

[John William Donaldson, philologist, classicist, and biblical scholar.] Autograph Memorandum, signed 'J. W. Donaldson', giving four 'reasons' why 'Hercules was the husband & not the purchased slave of Omphale'.

Author: 
J. W. Donaldson [John William Donaldson] (1811-1861), philologist., classicist and biblical scholar [Sir Thomas Gery Cullum (1777-1855) of Hardwick House and his wife Lady Ann Cullum (1807-1875)]
Publication details: 
No place [King Edward's School, Bury St Edmunds]. 2 April 1844.
£56.00

See Donaldson's entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that he was 'greatly beloved by his friends, who included N. C. Thirlwall and W. H. Thompson. The diarist Henry Crabb Robinson spoke enthusiastically of the charm of his conversation.' 3pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. No salutation or valediction, and the recipient is not named, but the item derives from the papers of Sir Thomas Gery Cullum and his wife Lady Anne Cullum, of Hardwick House.

[Josiah Wood Whymper, Suffolk artist and wood-engraver.] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. W. Whimper'), giving detailed instructions to a book illustrator, with reference to Sir John Gilbert and 'Hardings book'.

Author: 
J. W. Whymper [Josiah Wood Whymper, also Whimper] (1813-1903), Suffolk artist, wood-engraver, book illustrator and watercolourist in natural history and landscape [Sir John Gilbert (1817-1897), artist
Publication details: 
'Saty Evng.' [No date or place.]
£80.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded three times. The recipient is not named, but is clearly a book illustrator, and the letter provides an interesting view of the practices of book illustrators and engravers in Victorian London. Whymper begins by stating that he is sorry to have missed his 'Call', and to have been 'equally unfortunate this afternoon', when he left at his house 'Two pieces of wood & a little book I want you (if convent [sic]) to make me a Front[ispiece]. for by Thursday Morng.

[John Walter Gregory, geologist and explorer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('J W Gregory') to 'Mrs. Green', explaining that he cannot accept her invitation as he must go to 'the Red Lion dinner'.

Author: 
J. W. Gregory [John Walter Gregory] (1864-1932), English geologist and explorer in Australia and elsewhere, who gives his name to the Gregory Rift in the Great Rift Valley
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the British Association, Oxford. 14 August 1894.
£80.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He cannot accept her dinner invitation as he has 'promised to go to the Red Lion dinner & as the friend who got me the invitation there had I fear some trouble to do so, I do not like to withdraw'.

[ John Wesley Etheridge, Semitic scholar. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. W. Etheridge'), regarding the identity of a correspondent of Dr Adam Clarke.

Author: 
J. W. Etheridge [ John Wesley Etheridge ] (1804-1866), Wesleyan Methodist minister and Semitic scholar [ Adam Clarke (1762-1832), Wesleyan Methodist minister and scholar ]
Publication details: 
St Austell. 30 October 1863.
£65.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. 23 lines of text in a neat and distinctive hand. The male recipient is not identified. Had Etheridge not been 'much from home on one journey after another', he would have written before. 'I have been referring to my papers, but find nothing that will give you any certain information about the lady to whom Dr Clarke's letter is addressed, except that her husband was connected with the civil service in India, though about even that I am not absolutely sure.' He was given 'some particulars relative to Mrs Tompkin's family' by the 'late Mrs.

[ John William Cole ('J. W. Calcraft'), actor and lessee of the Theatre Royal, Dublin. ] Autograph Note Signed ('J. W. Cole')

Author: 
J. W. Cole [ John William Cole, pseudonym John William Calcraft ] (c.1793-1870), actor, dramatist and lessee of the Theatre Royal, Dublin
Publication details: 
No place. 23 October 1858.
£30.00

1p., 12mo. On aged and stained paper, with small spike hole. Reads: '23rd Oct. 1858 | My dear Sir | I have given Sergeant Glover of the M[orning] Chronicle a Private Box for Monday. | Yours entirely | J. W. Cole'.

Autograph Letter Signed from J. W. Leach in Australia to his aunt Mrs Baker in Sidcup, England, discussing his return to 'good old Sydney', the 'frightful state' of the country post-War, and the arrival of 'a great number of English Brides'.

Author: 
J. W. Leach of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia [Mrs Baker, Sidcup, Kent, England]
Publication details: 
84 Victoria Street, Potts Point, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 27 November 1919.
£90.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper, with small rust hole to second leaf affecting two words of text. He begins in the hope that she is 'quite well & Plenty of Business'. He reports the death of his mother the previous may: 'she only lasted 5 Months after I left her'.

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