KENSINGTON

[Philip Cunliffe Owen [Sir Francis Philip Cunliffe-Owen], Director of the South Kensington Museum.] Autograph Letter Signed to the zoologist W. S. Dallas, about a forthcoming event from which women will be barred, Dr Bredermann and German translation

Author: 
Philip Cunliffe Owen [Sir Francis Philip Cunliffe-Owen] (1828–1894), Director of the South Kensington Museum [William Sweetland Dallas (1824-1890), zoologist]
Publication details: 
2 May 1876. On embossed letterhead of the Council on Education, Kensington Museum.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Addressed to ‘W. S. Dallas Esq’ and signed ‘P. Cunliffe Owen’ [sic, no hyphen]. Begins: ‘There will be no Ladies on the 13th. Inst & the card I will send you will be personal. I am sorry, that this rule exists, but it affects my own family as well as all the Gentler Sex.’ He concludes with brief details of the plans for the evening. In a postscript which he has initalled he asks Dallas to ‘do some more translation from German’.

[Second World War Artists' loan scheme, London, between Central Institute of Art and Design and the army.] Mimeographed circular typed letter from T. A. Fennemore to Miss J. Inglis, with receipt, regarding loan of paintings.

Author: 
Central Institute of Art and Design, National Gallery, London (Thomas Acland Fennemore (1902-1959), Director]; Second World War artists' loan scheme [Miss J. Inglis]
Publication details: 
Letter from 'The Central Institute of Art and Design, National Gallery, London. W.C.2. / January 1942.' Receipt of 4 February 1942.
£90.00

An unusual survival, providing details of a little-known Second World War scheme for artists to lend their work to the army for placement in officers’ messes. Three items, in fair condition, lightly-aged. ONE: Mimeographed Typed Circular from ‘T. A. Fennemore. / Director.’, headed ‘The Central Institute of Art and Design, National Gallery, London, W.C.2. / January 1942.’ 1p, 4to. (originally foolscap; a form has been cut away at bottom).

[[Act of Parliament; establishment of the Science Museum, etc.] [Printed] An Act for releasing the Lands of the Commissions for the Exhibition of 1851, upon Repayment of Monies granted in aid of their Funds. [12th July 1858]

Author: 
[Act of Parliament; establishment of the Science Museum, etc.]
Publication details: 
Eyre and Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, 1858.
£250.00

Four pages, sm. fol., bifolium. damaged at join not affecting text, removed from bound volume. Whereas the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 have purchased Lands at Kensington Gore with a view to secure adequate space in the Metropolis for Institutions connected with Science and Art [...].

[[Act of Parliament; establishment of the Science Museum, etc.] [Printed] An Act for releasing the Lands of the Commissions for the Exhibition of 1851, upon Repayment of Monies granted in aid of their Funds. [12th July 1858]

Author: 
[Act of Parliament; establishment of the Science Museum, etc.]
Publication details: 
Eyre and Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, 1858.
£250.00

Four pages, sm. fol., bifolium. damaged at join not affecting text, removed from bound volume. Whereas the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 have purchased Lands at Kensington Gore with a view to secure adequate space in the Metropolis for Institutions connected with Science and Art [...].

[Russell John Reynolds, radiologist and inventor.] Two Typed Letters Signed to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, London, the first concerning the Röntgen Society and the second agreeing to become a Fellow of the Society.

Author: 
Russell John Reynolds (1880-1964), radiologist, inventor with his friend Sir William Crookes of a type of cineradiography (x-ray) machine [G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, London]
Publication details: 
ONE: 14 January 1926; on letterhead of the Röntgen Society, London. TWO: 9 July 1947; on his letterhead (‘Dr. Russell Reynolds’), 30 Welbeck Street, W1 [London].
£180.00

Despite the fact that Reynolds and Crookes’s X-ray apparatus is now in the Science Museum at South Kensington, Reynolds has no entry in the Oxford DNB, although Crookes’s entry can be consulted. The two items are in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Both folded several times. Both 1p, 4to, and both signed ‘Russell J. Reynolds’. ONE: Addressed to G. K. Menzies of the Royal Society of Arts. With recipient's red pencil tick.

[Sir Walter Gibbons, theatre impressario who built the London Palladium.] Auction catalogue of his effects, with a bookseller’s bids in pencil: ‘A Catalogue of the Contents of Kensington House, Bayswater, W.2’

Author: 
Sir Walter Gibbons (1871-1933), theatre impressario, founder of the London Palladium and owner of around forty music halls [Kensington House, Bayswater; Knight, Frank & Rutley; auction catalogue]
Publication details: 
10 to 13 March 1931. Knight, Frank & Rutley, 20 Hanover Square, London, W.1. Printed by J. Davy & Sos, Ltd., 8-9 Frith Street, London.
£180.00

As the Great Depression hit Gibbons found himself over-extended, and was forced into bankruptcy. The present item is scarce. The only copy on JISC is at the Paul Mellon Centre Library. 68pp, 8vo. In grey printed wraps, and with purchase slip tipped in. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. At head of title-page: ‘By Direction of Lieut.-Col. SIR WALTER GIBBONS, K.B.E., D.L. Following the Sale of the Freehold, and the proposed conversion of the Property into high-class Residential Flats.’ ‘Conditions of Sale’ on reverse of title. 974 lots.

[Richard Redgrave, RA, landscape artist, as Keeper of Paintings at South Kensington Museum [now Victoria and Albert.]] Autograph Letter Signed declining to buy a painting as it is a portrait and they are in any case short of gallery space.

Author: 
Richard Redgrave (1804-1888), RA. English landscape artist, first Keeper of Paintings at the South Kensington Museum [now the Victoria and Albert], and Surveyor of the King’s Pictures
Publication details: 
22 March 1859; on letterhead of the Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London W.
£85.00

Redgrave’s entry in the Oxford DNB praises his ‘exceptional administrative skill’, and states that ‘Redgrave and Cole supervised the new South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum), for which Redgrave designed the innovative art gallery to house John Sheepshanks's extensive collection of British art, given to the state in 1857.’ 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, laid down on part of a leaf from an autograph album. Pasted down at the head of the letter is a thin strip on which is printed ‘Inspector-General for Art. R. Redgrave, R.A.’ The male recipient is unnamed.

[Northbrook Society and National Indian Association headquarters.] Printed Copy of 'Agreement with regard to Cromwell House, South Kensington', between 'The Secretary of State in Council of India and the Northbrook Society'.

Author: 
Northbrook Society and National Indian Association, headquarters, Cromwell House, South Kensington [Sir James Thomson, K.C.S.I., and Abbas Ali Baig, Esquire, C.S.I.
Publication details: 
'Dated 15th October 1914.' [Slug dated '10/1914'.]
£165.00

6 + [1]pp, folio. Stab stitched. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with punch-hole at inner margin. An official copy, with 'Northbrook Society' at top right of first page. On four leaves, with the details printed on reverse of last leaf for folding into the customary packet: 'Dated 15th October 1914.

[The Campden Hill Club, London.] Three manuscript volumes, comprising minute book, day book and visitors book to the Club's exhibition at Leighton House, with signature of Duncan Grant, Roy Plomley and others.

Author: 
The Campden Hill Club, London [Sir Miles Fletcher de Montmorency (1893-1963), Chairman, writer and art historian; Byan Shaw; Vicat Cole; Leighton House, Kensington]
Publication details: 
The Campden Hill Club, London. Minute Book, 1946-1958; Day Book, 1956-1972; Leighton House Visitors book, 1958-1976.
£450.00

The Campden Hill Club was founded in 1907, 'in affectionate memory of Byam Shaw, and as a tribute to his teaching', and comprised, according to the Studio magazine in 1922, 'mainly of past and present students of the Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole School of Art, with which it keeps closely and stimulatingly in touch'. The three items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn bindings. ONE (Visitors Book, 1958-1976): 190pp., 4to. Ruled notebook bound in red cloth, with 'Visitors' stamped in gilt on the front cover.

[ T. H. Watkins of Kensington, Victorian art collector. ] Manuscript 'Inventory' of the contents of Watkins' three-story Victorian house, compiled by E. Sainsbury, including a section describing his 44 'Pictures' and 'Contents of Laboratory'.

Author: 
Thomas Henry Watkins (b.1831, fl.1895), of Kensington, Victorian art collector, educated at Christ's College, Cambridge [ E. Sainsbury of Bayswater, cataloguer ]
Publication details: 
Inventory of the contents of 90 Kensington Park Road, London, compiled by E. Sainsbury of 95 Westbourne Park Road, Bayswater. Undated, but late Victorian.
£500.00

The proprietor, T. H. Watkins, was a private tutor in Kensington, west London, who over a number of years placed a series of advertisements in The Times, the last of which, 9 September 1895, boasted that his 'pupils during 25 years have taken the highest places for I.C.S., F.O., Interpreterships, Woolwich Staff Coll., Sandhurst, Coopers-hill, Woods and Forests, Militia, &c.' Watkins was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, and his entry in Peile's 'Biographical Register' of the college (1913) states that he was 'son of Thomas: born in London. Educated at Bonn University.

[ William J. S. Lockyer, astronomer. ] Offprint, with presentation signature, of '"The Solar Activity 1833-1900." By William J. S. Lockyer, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.A.S., Assistant Director, Solar Physics Observatory, Kensington.'

Author: 
William J. S. Lockyer [ William James Stewart Lockyer ] (1868-1936), astronomer, son of Sir Norman Lockyer (1836-1920)
Publication details: 
'From the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. 68.' [ London, 1901 ] [ Harrison & Sons, Printers in Ordinary to Her late Majesty, St. Martin's Lane. ]
£120.00

[16]pp., 8vo, paginated 285-300. Stitched into grey printed wraps. On aged and chipped high-acidity paper. Inscribed at head of front wrap: 'With the Compliments of | William J. S. Lockyer | 28.VI.01'. See Lockyer's obituary in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol.97 (1937), pp.275-277. The only copies on OCLC WorldCat at the British Library and Observatoire de Paris.

[ Maria Ellen Reeks, wood carver and director of the School of Art Wood-Carving, South Kensingon. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('M E Reeks') to 'Mr. White', describing the relocation of the school to new premises. With printed ticket announcing the move

Author: 
Maria Ellen Reeks (1858-1929), wood carver, teacher and director of the School of Art Wood-Carving, South Kensington
Publication details: 
Letter from 38 Thurloe Place, on letterhead of the School of Art Wood-Carving, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, S.W. [ London ] 27 December 1908.
£65.00

Letter: 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. After discussing his relocation to Paris, she asks whether he has heard 'the news about our School and how we have just moved?

[ James Laver, museum curator and authority on fashion. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed (the first 'James Laver | Keeper of Prints') concerning purchases from bookseller Barry Duncan. With carbon copies of two of Duncan's letters.

Author: 
James Laver (1899-1975), art historian and authority on fashion, Keeper of Prints, Drawings and Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Publication details: 
Laver's two letters both on Victoria and Albert Museum letterheads, and dating from 30 December 1947 and 19 March 1948.
£120.00

Five items, in fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper, with slight rust staining from staple which held them together. Laver's two letters are both 2pp. long (one 8vo and one 12mo). The two relate to a collection of Dalziel wood-engravings, there being 'too many already in the Museum to justify our purchasing the collection in its entirety'. Laver suggests taking a selection of 100 engravings for £5, and with the second letter returns the residue, the price paid being £7 10s 0d. With Laver paying personally for two engravings damaged while in his care.

[ Richard Redgrave, RA. ] Autograph Note in the third person, and Autograph Letter Signed ('Rich Redgrave'), to Clara Angela Macirone, in the latter complaining of the 'labours' caused by his work on the 1862 International Exhibition in London.

Author: 
Richard Redgrave (1804-1888), RA, artist and art director of the South Kensington Museum [ Clara Angela Macirone (1821-1895), pianist and composer; 1862 International Exhibition, London ]
Publication details: 
Note: Mickleham; 5 June 1847. Letter: Kensington; 6 May 1862.
£45.00

Both items in fair condition, on aged paper. NOTE: 1p, 12mo. He thanks her for an invitation to one of her concerts, 'rendered, as it is, more agreeable by the compliment she so agreeably pays to the sister art which he pursues'. LETTER: 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. He would have replied sooner to her concert invitation, 'but the arrangement of pictures for the Gt Exhibition occupied my time up to the last moment of opening and has done for many weeks'. He has been 'so wearied with my late work that I am proposing to get away from town for a little rest the very concert day.

[Printed pamphlet.] Leighton House. Brief Notice of the Work of the late Lord Leighton, as illustrated by the studies now permanently on view at the Leighton House by A. G. Temple, F.S.A., Director of the Guildhall Art Gallery.

Author: 
A. G. Temple [Sir Alfred George Temple], F.S.A., Director of the Guildhall Art Gallery [Lord Leighton [Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton]; Leighton House, 2 Holland Park Road, Kensington, W.]
Publication details: 
London: George Bell & Sons. [1900.]
£65.00

[36]pp., 12mo. In olive wraps printed in green. Printed on art paper with 17 photographic illustrations (14 of them of the house), and the last four pages carrying advertisements. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Disbound from a collection of pamphlets ('13' in manuscript at head of front cover), and with library stitching at spine. Uncommon: five copies on COPAC and WorldCat, but none at the British Library or in North America.

[Printed booklet in 'Laurie's Kensington Series.'] A Scheme of Moral Instruction For Teachers in Public Elementary Schools.

Author: 
E. R. Bernard [Edward Russell Bernard], M.A., Canon of Salisbury, editor
Publication details: 
[Laurie's Kensington Series.] Second edition revised. John Davis, Successor to Thomas Laurie, 13, Paternoster Row, London. 1908. [Bennett Brothers, Printers, Journal Office, Salisbury.]
£50.00

57 + [1]pp., 12mo. In green quarter-binding, with cloth spine and paper boards, with title printed on front board. In good condition, lightly-aged, with shelfmark, stamps and label of the Board of Education Reference Library, London. The only copy of this second edition on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat at the British Library.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R. H. Sherlock') from Randall Hopley Sherlock, editor of the Liverpool Mail, describing for his friend Mrs Roper the London International Exhibition of Industry and Art of 1862 at South Kensington.

Author: 
Randall Hopley Sherlock (d.1875), editor of the Liverpool Mail [The London International Exhibition of Industry and Art of 1862 (Great London Exposition) at South Kensington]
Publication details: 
15 Holland Street, Kensington, W [London]. 1 August [1862.]
£90.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. He begins: 'My dear Mrs. Roper - | I have been rather long in fulfilling my promise to write - but I must lay all the blame on this most attractive International from which I can hardly tear myself away! My journey was a very pleasant one on Tuesday with agreeable fellow-passengers, there was another Bouquet besides mine in the carriage - but tell dear Annie it would bear no comparison with mine!

Signed engraving by John Cameron, depicting a humorous scene in front of a 'Junk Shop in Chelsea'.

Author: 
John Cameron, artist and engraver [Chelsea, London]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [1950s?].
£180.00

In black and white. Dimensions of paper 15 x 20 cm; dmensions of plate 13.5 x 18.5 cm. In good condition, lightly-aged. Cameron's actual signature ('John Cameron') is in blue ink in the bottom right-hand corner of the card; his facsimile signature is in the bottom left-hand corner of the print, with 'Junk Shop | in Chelsea' in the bottom right-hand corner. A detailed, cartoony image (with Ronald Searle undertones), depicting a stretch of three houses in a terraced street, with a number of customers rooting through junk in front of a corner shop.

Autograph Letter Signed from Mrs Mary Bayly, describing to 'Mrs. Barrow' the ill-health that prevents her from accepting her invitation to take part in 'Temperance Work'.

Author: 
Mrs Mary Bayly, missionary; founder of 'Mothers' Society', 1853, author of 'Ragged Homes and How to mend them' (1859), temperance campaigner with her husband Captain George Bayly of Trinity House
Publication details: 
5 Kempshott Road, Streatham Common. 15 February [no year].
£45.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of glue from mount. It would give her 'very much pleasure' to accept the invitation 'to join you & other dear workers in the Temperance Work you are planning for April, but I am sorry to say at present I am quite liad aside from all work'. She describes how she has been ill since the previous October.

Autograph Note in the third person from Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, to Sir W. J. Newton, regarding a sitting.

Author: 
Prince Augustus Frederick (1773-1843), Duke of Sussex, sixth son of King George III [Sir William John Newton (1785-1869), artist and photographer]
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex
Publication details: 
27 March 1840; Kensington Palace.
£85.00
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex

12mo, 1 p. Six lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Suggests a couple of alternative days on which he 'will be at liberty to give Sir W. J. Newton a sitting'.

The Chelsea Herald. Progressive Conservatism, Local Interests and Social Reforms. Circulating throughout the Borough, in Chelsea, Kensington, Hammersmith and Fulham.

Author: 
The Chelsea Herald, newspaper [Horsley Woods, proprietor; progressive Conservatism]
Publication details: 
No. 1. Vol. 1. 16 February 1884. 'Printed and Published by the Proprietor, Horsley Woods, at his Steam Printing Works, 207, King's-road, and Manresa-road, Chelsea.'
£45.00

Tabloid, 16 pp. Unopened. Text clear and complete. On aged and foxed paper, with chipping to edges. Editorial, headed 'The Work Before Us', lays out the position of the new paper: 'It will be the duty and ambition of the "CHELSEA HERALD," while neglecting no local interest, while carefully protecting local enterprise from ignorant and intolerant dictation, to do all in its power to strengthen the hands of the True Popular Party of England in the National Legislature of the land.' Reports include 'Alleged Starvation of a child' and 'Jobbery in Fulham'.

Autograph Note in the third person to William Henry Kearsley Wright (1844-1915), Plymouth Borough Librarian, naval historian and antiquary.

Author: 
John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, Marquis of Lorne [Marquess of Lorne] and Duke of Argyll (1845-1914), Governor-General of Canada
Publication details: 
21 October 1875. Kensington [i.e. Kensington Palace].
£25.00

12mo: 1 p. Very good on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'The Marquis of Lorne presents his compliments to Mr Wright and thanks him for the copy he has sent him of "The Spanish Armada." Wright's 'The Spanish Armada: a descriptive historical poem' was published in Plymouth by G. P. Friend in 1874.

Autograph Note Signed ('J. Doran') to 'Thomas Faed Esq. R.A'.

Author: 
John Doran (1807-1878), writer and editor of 'Notes and Queries' [Thomas Faed (1826-1900), R.A., Scottish artist]
Publication details: 
30 October 1877; on letterhead of 33 Lansdowne Road, Kensington Park West.
£28.00

16mo (11.5 x 9 cm): 1 p. On aged paper with a diagonal crease towards top right-hand corner. In a shaky hand. Reads 'With much pleasure I accept your hospitable invitation for Nov. 20, at 1/4 to 8; - and am | Very truly Your's | [signed] J. Doran'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Walter Besant') to Mrs [Alice] Westlake.

Author: 
Sir Walter Besant (1836-1901), novelist and historian of London [Alice Westlake (nee Hare); Adam and Charles Black, publishers; The Survey of London; Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; Frognal]
Publication details: 
13 February 1897; on Adam and Charles Black 'Survey of London' letterhead.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. Seventeen lines of text. On lightly aged and creased paper. Attractive arts and crafts letterhead. Sending his 'mosts profound sympathy in the danger which threatens Chelsea'. He will sign 'the paper [...] with the greatest of pleasure', although he anticipates 'very little good as a possible result'. Suggests a time at which the paper can be sent to him.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A W Callcott.') to an unnamed male correpsondent.

Author: 
Sir Augustus Wall Callcott (1770-1844), English painter
Publication details: 
11 January 1833; <?> Kensington Gravel Pits.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly aged and ruckled paper. Laid down on a piece of grey paper removed from an autograph album. Accepting an invitation, and informing the recipient that 'Mrs Callcott has recovered from her last attack - but she is still slightly affected at times, and is very weak.'

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 in the third person to 'Mr Twining'.

Author: 
Richard Westmacott (1799-1872), English sculptor
Publication details: 
31 January 1862; 1 Kensington Gate.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp, 18 lines. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. 'Mr. Westmacott presents his Compts and has to acknowledge Mr Twinings polite letter'. Its delivery has been delayed 'owing to its incorrect address', 'Mr W. having left Wilton <& Co.?>. (and quitted the practice of his profession) for some years'. As for 'Engravings and Photographs' of Westmacott's works, 'very few were made'. Most of these were 'ill done', although he does name one with which he was satisfied. Consequently Westmacott cannot 'assist Mr. Twining in his object'.

The Theory of Chances, or The Modern Development of the Rules of Probability; with some notes regarding 'probabilities' in the game of roulette at Monte Carlo.

Author: 
James McGowan, FIA, formerly Government Actuary to the South African Government [Gambling; Roulette; Monte Carlo; Theory of Probability]
Publication details: 
London: Lamley & Co. 1, 3, and 5 Exhibition Road, South Kensington. [Printed at the Oxford University Press by Frederick Hall.]
£120.00

Small octavo: 31 pages. Unbound and stapled. Very good, in grubby original pink printed wraps. According to one authority McGowan is the 'first fully qualified actuary in South Africa of whom there is record [becoming] Cape Government Actuary of the former Cape Colony in 1890'. COPAC (under mispelt name "MacGowan") only recordds the BL copy.

Autograph Letter Signed to J[ohn]. W[ilson]. Croker (1780-1857; DNB).

Author: 
Charles Thomas Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury
Publication details: 
19 July 1826; Christ Church, Oxford.
£45.00

English divine (1794-1868). 3 pages, 16mo. Heavily damp-damaged. Text entirely legible. 3 pages, 16mo. With attractive pencil drawing of country house, and crude plan, in pencil on blank reverse of second leaf of bifoliate (conceivably drawn by the recipient, Croker). Among his many reasons for regretting 'the haste with which I was compelled to pass thro' London' on his way to Oxford was his 'disappointment at Kensington on Saturday'.

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