KENT

Five issues of a duplicated illustrated manuscript magazine, titled 'The Tubbendens Gazette', compiled by the family circle of Sir Francis Henry Evans and his wife Mary de Grasse Evans, including pieces on Harrow School and Girton College, Cambridge.

Author: 
[Sir Francis Henry Evans (1840-1907) of Tubbendens, Orpington, Kent, banker and politician, his wife Lady Marie de Grasse Evans (d.1907)] [Harrow School; Girton College, Cambridge]
Publication details: 
[Tubbendens, near Orpington, Kent.] The five issues dated February, March, April, May and June 1892.
£180.00

Each issue 6pp., foolscap 8vo, on three leaves. All five issues duplicating, in blue and purple ink, manuscript text, mostly set out in double column, and hand-drawn illustrations. The issues for February and March in the hand of an unnamed male editor; the third issue edited by 'Gwladys Evans'.

Autograph Letter Signed, in the third person, from 'Mrs Harford', guest of Mrs Martin of Camden, Chiselhurst, asking 'Mr Wilson' to procure her a ticket 'to see the preparations in the Abbey' [for the coronation of Queen Victoria?].

Author: 
Mrs Harford (possibly Louisa Harford, née Louisa Hart Davis, wife of John Scandrett Harford) [Mrs Frances Martin (d.1863) of Camden, Chislehurst, wife of John Martin (d.1832), MP for Tewkesbury]
Publication details: 
'Chislehurst [Kent]. | June 22 [1838?].'
£45.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Considering the fact that Mrs Harford states that she is staying at the home of Mrs Martin, and that Mr Martin died in 1832, it seems probable that the letter refers to the preparations for the coronation of Queen Victoria, which occurred on 28 June 1838. The letter reads: 'Mrs Harford understanding that people are admitted to see the Preparations in the Abbey & thinking it probable that Mr Gillen may have been employed in the decoration, will be very much obliged to Mr Wilson if he could procure her a Ticket to see them.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Whit: Bulstrode') from Whitelocke Bulstrode in London to his son Richard Bulstrode in Littleton, Middlesex,

Author: 
Whitelocke Bulstrode (1652-1724), alchemist, religious writer, Whig lawyer and administrator, anti-Jacobite author under the pseudonym 'Philalethes' [his son Richard Bulstrode]
Publication details: 
'Hatton Garden Monday Night | 16 Nov 1724'. London; 16 November 1724.
£320.00

1p., 4to. 22 lines of text. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf: 'To Richard Bulstrode Esqr at Littelton near Sunbury in Midd[lese]x'. In good condition, on aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Son' from 'Yr most affectionate Father | Whit: Bulstrode'. Bulstrode writes that, on his 'comeing to Towne', he 'met wth a letter from one Mr James Norris, who writes himself Auditor, &, it is fro ye Chapr at Canterbury', sending for the rent 'Due last month'.

Copy of Autograph Letter Signed ('Frank H. Evans') from the banker and Liberal politician Sir Francis Henry Evans to the proprietor of the White Star Line Thomas Henry Ismay, complaining of the treatment of his sister-in-law on a transatlantic voyage

Author: 
Sir Francis Henry Evans (1840-1907) of Tubbendens, Orpington, Kent, banker and Liberal politician [Thomas Henry Ismay (1837-1899), founder of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company [White Star Line]]
Publication details: 
5 August [189]4.
£60.00

3pp., 12mo. An early sort of carbon copy. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Thomas H Ismay Esq | Liverpool'.

Autograph journal of the banker and Liberal politician Sir Francis Henry Evans of Tubbendens, Orpington, Kent, containing accounts of a run on his bank and fraud by his partners, as well as domestic news. With enclosures including newspaper cuttings.

Author: 
Sir Francis Henry Evans (1840-1907) of Tubbendens, Orpington, Kent, banker and company director, Liberal Member of Parliament for Southampton, 1896-1900; Maidstone, 1901-6 [Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co.]
Publication details: 
The first entry dated '71. Queens Gate London | July 31. 1873.' Last entry dated 25 November 1896. With memoranda from 1897, 1901 and 1903.
£600.00

92pp., 4to. In good condition, in worn blue leather binding, with marbled endpapers. A strip cut out of the first leaf by Evans, with note by him: 'Signatures of Marie & self to other book'. Rather than short entries for each day, the journal contains longer occasional entries detailing significant events. The diary is a mixture of domestic news and detailed accounts of Evans's business affairs, with frequent descriptions of his financial position, on one occasion 'for the information of my darling wife & her Trustees'). .

Long Autograph Letter Signed ('Frank H. Evans') from the banker Sir Francis Henry Evans, writing while a young man in Santos, Brazil, to his parents in England, describing a mishap with a tent at the turning of 'the first sod' of a railway station.

Author: 
Sir Francis Henry Evans (1840-1907) of Tubbendens, Orpington, Kent, banker and company director, Liberal Member of Parliament for Southampton, 1896-1900, and Maidstone, 1901-1906 [Santos, Brazil]
Publication details: 
Santos [São Paulo state, Brazil]. The first part, to his mother, dated 29 and 30 May 1860; the second part, to his father, dated 30 May 1860.
£80.00

14pp., 12mo. The first 11pp. are addressed to his mother and signed, and the last 3pp. to his father and not signed (possibly indicating that a continuation is lacking). In fair condition, on aged paper, with the last leaf worn and creased. He explains his situation at the beginning of the letter: 'First of all you may see from my address above that I am in Santos, & secondly from the more cleanly appearance of the letter that I am not in the woods. - Would that I were back again for ever since I have been here I have been ill [...] On the 11th.

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'.

First leaf of Autograph Letter from the landowner and politician John Sawbridge, supporter of John Wilkes [to David Steuart Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan].

Author: 
John Sawbridge (1732-1795) of Olantigh [Ollantigh], Kent, political supporter of John Wilkes; Member of Parliament for Hythe; Lord Mayor of London in 1775 [David Steuart Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan]
Publication details: 
Ollantigh [sic]. 29 December 1772.
£40.00

2pp., 4to. 31 lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper, but the first leaf of the letter only. He writes that he is pleased to receive a letter from Erskine ('your Lordship') after 'so long an interruption'. 'I forebore till I had heard from you to take the liberty of congratulating you upon your Marriage' (Erskine had married the previous October). The second page ends: 'I have never been able to learn whether your Good Mother Lady Buchan was in England or not.

Autograph Notebook of Private T. M. Rankin, 7394616, 13 FDS [Field Dressing Station], containing lecture notes compiled by him while training as a medical orderly. With six photograph loosely inserted, including three posed army groups.

Author: 
Private T. M. Rankin, 7394616, 13FDS [Field Dressing Station], Second World War British Army medical orderly
Publication details: 
The notebook dated January to February 1944.
£320.00

65pp., in narrow ruled 32 x 13 cm notebook, with maroon embossed boards and cloth spine. Rankin has etched his initials into the front board. All in pencil, with the first page headed 'NO I LECTURES JAN-FEB. 44 | T M RANKIN. 7394616. 13 F.D.S.', and carrying a numbered list of 38 topics, from 'Observation of Patient' and 'Diet of Disease' to 'Fracture of Spine' and 'Burns'. Four pages of medical notes follow. Upside-down at the other end of the volume are 59 paginated pages of further notes, preceded by a list of a further 15 topics (numbered 39-53), from 'Eye Drops' to 'Rheumatic Fever'.

[Printed programme.] An Amateur Concert will take place in Mr. Gibson's Show Room, Eynsford, [...] The Proceeds will be expended in the purchase of Coals, to be distributed previous to Christmas, among the poor of the Village.

Author: 
[Amateur Charity Christmas Concert at Mr. Gibson's Show Room, Eynsford, Kent, 1869; C. Whitely; Miss Borton; T. B. Morrish; Harry Giles; W. & T. Dray; Miss Brice; E. Whomes; Miss Marshall]
Publication details: 
Eynsford, Kent. On Wednesday, December 15th, 1869. [E. Clarke, Printer, St. Mary Cray.]
£40.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium, on yellow paper. In good condition, on aged paper, with traces of mount at head of second leaf. The full title reads: 'An Amateur Concert will take place in Mr. Gibson's Show Room, Eynsford, (Kindly lent for the occasion) On Wednesday, December 15th, 1869. | The Proceeds will be expended in the purchase of Coals, to be distributed previous to Christmas, among the poor of the Village.' Nine committee members are named on the first page, with details of tickets (to be 'obtained of any of the Committee, or Mr. T. M. G. Sharwood, Farmingham').

Holograph poem (signed 'G J W A E') by George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, titled 'Remembrance & Hope | addressed to my dearest Caroline', lamenting the depression of his sister Caroline-Anne Agar-Ellis over their mother's death.

Author: 
George James Welbore Agar-Ellis (1797-1833), 1st Baron Dover, politician and art patron, and his sister Caroline-Anne Agar-Ellis (1794-1814), children of Henry Welbore Agar-Ellis, 2nd Viscount Clifden
Publication details: 
Dated 'April 1814'.
£180.00

2pp., 4to. Fair, on aged paper, with a thin strip from a stub adhering to one edge on the reverse. Previously folded into a packet, and docketed in a contemporary hand 'by Agar Ellis'. 24 lines in heroic couplets. Agar-Ellis's sister Caroline-Anne would die at Roehampton on 12 May 1814, a month after the writing of this poem, which links her demise with that of their mother, Caroline, daughter of the 4th Duke of Marlborough, a few months before (23 November 1813).

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. Powell-Cotton') from Antoinette Powell-Cotton, discussing the 'specimens from Angola' in her father Major P. H. G. Powell-Cotton's collection (the Quex Museum at Birchington) with the anthropologist J. H. Driberg.

Author: 
Antoinette Powell-Cotton (1913-1997), daughter of Major P. H. G. Powell-Cotton (1866-1940), founder of the Quex Museum, Birchington, Kent [Jack Herbert Driberg (1888-1946), social anthropologist]
Publication details: 
25 Craven Road, London, W2. 29 January [1930s].
£65.00

Antoinette (Tony) Powell-Cotton was the daughter of Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton (1866-1940), explorer, naturalist, founder in 1896 of the Quex Museum (the Powell-Cotton collection), at Birchington, Kent. 3pp., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with a couple of minor damp stains to the first leaf of two. She writes that her family have just spoken to Professor Herskovits [the American anthropologist Melville Jean Herskovits (1895-1963)], 'and he gave us a message that you would like to see our specimens from Angola'.

Eighty-eight issues of the fortnightly magazine 'The Messenger of Wisdom and Israel's Guide.', with two volumes of its continuation, 'The Pioneer of Wisdom. A Newspaper Devoted to the Ingathering and Restoration of Israel.'

Author: 
'Edited by Jezreel' [The New and Latter House of Israel, New Brompton, Kent, England; James Jershom Jezreel [James Roland White] (c.1851-1885); Jezreel's Tower, Gillingham, Kent; the Jezreelites]
Publication details: 
Printed and published by The New and Latter House of Israel, New Brompton, Kent. Dating from 1887-1933, and comprising: Vol.1, 7 issues,1887-1889; Vol.2, 78 issues, 1890-1892; Vol.3, 3 issues, all 1893; Vol.18, 1 issue, 1914; Vol.27, 1 issue, 1933.
£1,250.00

An excessively scarce run of issues of the organ of the Jezreelite sect, founded by James Jershom Jezreel (real name James Roland White), under the inspiration of Joanna Southcott and John Wroe, and most famous for the unfinished construction of 'Jezreel's Tower' in Gillingham, Kent. For more information see P. J. Rogers, 'The Sixth Trumpeter' (OUP, 1963). The ninety issues in this incomplete run contain a variety of articles and poems in the same declamatory and horatory style.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John H. Sheppard') from the Boston lawyer and author John Hannibal Sheppard to General Henry Dearborn, proposing George Kent for the post of messenger to Washington.

Author: 
John H. Sheppard [John Hannibal Sheppard] (1789-1873), British-born Harvard-educated Boston lawyer, author and prominent freemason [Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn (1783-1851),]
Publication details: 
Boston; 5 December 1848.
£80.00

1p., 4to. 25 lines.Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Sheppard writes that he called on Dearborn the previous day, but found him confined to his room by indisposition. He proposes his friend 'George Kent Esq of this city, a Counsellor at Law', for the appointment of 'Messenger to carry on the electoral votes to Washington'. He describes Kent as 'a man of talents, a brother of Ex-Gov Kent of Maine', who has 'been very active with his able pen in helping in this section of the country to promote the election of Gen Taylor'. Kent is a prolific writer and 'a decided Whig'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed from the Oxford Professor of Fine Arts, Selwyn Image, to 'My dear Barnard' [Rev. P. M. Barnard?], regarding funghi and moths.

Author: 
Selwyn Image (1849-1930), Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University [Rev. Percy Mordaunt Barnard (1868-1941) of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, antiquarian bookseller]
Publication details: 
Both from 20 Fitzroy Street, W.; 12 and 17 August 1908.
£175.00

Both items good, on aged paper. Written in Image's distinctive calligraphic hand. Letter One (12 August 1908): 1 p, 12mo. The 'Galatheas' arrived the previous evening 'quite safe'. 'Fancy your being at The Warren as well as at Deal! The Warren [Folkestone] is famous for being stocked with good things. You are indeed in the very heart of the richest entomological country in England.' Letter Two (17 August 1908): 2 pp, 12mo. He is delighted with 'these beautiful ochroleuca, which arrived this afternoon quite safely'.

Manuscript Letter, with price list, from the nurserymen Thomas Bunyard & Sons of Maidstone, Kent, to the naturalist Rev. Charles William Shepherd of Trotterscliffe. With list of plants by Shepherd.

Author: 
Thomas Bunyard & Sons, The Nurseries, Maidstone, Kent, Victorian 'Nurserymen, Seedsmen and Florists' [Rev. Charles William Shepherd (1838-1920) of Trotterscliffe, near Maidstone, Kent, naturalist]
Thomas Bunyard & Sons
Publication details: 
18 February 1869; on letterhead of The Nurseries, Maidstone [Kent].
£95.00
Thomas Bunyard & Sons

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. With two pages of lists of plants by Shepherd. Good, on aged paper. In remains of original envelope. The letterhead advertises that the firm also has a branch at Ashford. Begins: 'We can supply you with the shrubs &c you kindly enquire about at the Prices named on other side - your orders for which will have our careful attention'. Three are marked with a cross, being 'very critical trees to move' for which the firm 'can undertake no responsibility as to their success'. Prices given for fifteen types, from 'Spruce Trees - 4 ft.

Victorian parish financial accounts relating to Wingham Highways District, Kent, comprising ten General Annual Statements [1863, 1865 to 1873], a Statement of Receipts and Expenditure [1864], and a Financial Statement, 1879.

Author: 
Wingham Highways District, Kent
Victorian parish financial accounts relating to Wingham
Publication details: 
1863 to 1879; Wingham, Kent.
£350.00
Victorian parish financial accounts relating to Wingham

The twelve items are in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, folded into packets, with all texts clear and complete. The first of the General Annual Statements, that for '1863 & 64', is representative. Its two pages are on one side each of two landscape sheets of grey paper, both 67 x 42 cm. Both are printed forms, with columns in red, headed '25th & 26th of Victoria, Cap. 61 GENERAL STATEMENTS of RECEIPTS and EXPENDITURE on Account of the HIGHWAYS of each Parish, Township &c.

Autograph Letter Signed 'Frederick J. Hanbury", botanist, to [the Rev. C. W ] 'Shepherd', a fellow-botanist, and the inclusion of Shepherd's 'catalogue' ('London Catalogue of British Plants?')

Author: 
Frederick J. Hanbury, botanist [Frederick Janson Hanbury; F.J. Hanbury]
Autograph Letter Signed 'Frederick J. Hanbury", botanist
Publication details: 
[Printed] London, Plough Court, 37 Lombard Street, EC, 16 July 1875.
£225.00
Autograph Letter Signed 'Frederick J. Hanbury", botanist

Four pages, 12mo, Hanbury asks some questions about a 'catalogue' [presumably of plants found in Kent] Shepherd has sent him. "With these few exceptions your capital list is perfectly plain & straightforward". He has questions about Trollius europoeus, Wrotham Waters, Hypericum Montanum ('a mistake here'), Geranium sylvaticum ('Are you quite clear about this? Watson's Topog. Bot. does not give it as Kentish at all'). He corrects him on a geranium he has shown him ('rare or rarer'), believes a mistake has been made placing Lathymus palustris in Ryash Woods ('northern plant').

4 Autograph Letters Signed from John Stuart Bligh, 6th Earl of Darnley, and 8 Autograph Letters Signed, Autograph Card Signed, and 5 invitations from his wife Harriet Mary, Countess of Darnley, all to Rev. Charles William Shepherd of Trotterscliffe.

Author: 
John Stuart Bligh (1827-1896), 6th Earl of Darnley, of Cobham Hall, Kent, and his wife Harriet Mary (1829-1905) [née Pelham], Lady Darnley [Rev. Charles William Shepherd (1838-1920) of Trotterscliffe]
6th Earl of Darnley
Publication details: 
1853, 1855, 1889; from various addresses including the House of Lords and Cobham Hall, Gravesend, Kent.
£325.00
6th Earl of Darnley

The Earl of Darnley's four letters (all signed 'Darnley') total 27 pp in 12mo; Lady Darnley's eight letters (all signed 'H. Darnley') total 26 pp in 12mo. All items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Darnley's first letter, 16 September 1853 (12mo, 12 pp), is unusually blunt for the period, and revealing on the etiquette of the period. It begins: 'I trust that the change in your mode of addressing me was accidental, and I have therefore not imitated it, and have used one word which you omitted [presumably 'Dear'].

Manuscript notebook, titled 'Calendar of British Moths & Their larvae and food Plants' and 'J[on]. Wilsons Lepidoptera Calendar'.

Author: 
Jonathan Wilson, Victorian lepidopterist of Kent, England [British moths]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1870 and 1885]. Front cover with label of 'Letts Son & Co. Limited, London, E.C.'
£450.00

This item can be roughly dated from the fact that the firm of 'Letts Son & Co. Limited' only traded in this style between 1870 and 1885, the public company going into liquidation in the latter year. There is an indication (see below) that Wilson hailed from Kent, and the present volume provides a valuable first-hand record into the state of the moth population in England at the end of the Victorian period. 12mo, 158 pp. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, in worn brown leather quarter binding, marbled endpapers. Letts label on front cover reads 'J.

Printed circular, in facsimile of copperplate handwriting, with actual signature of 'Rd J. Collis', discussing the state of the hop market, with probable quantity, quality, and value of the growth of 1853', following the 'Hop season of 1852'.

Author: 
[English hop market report, 1853; Victorian Kent and Sussex agriculture]
English hop market report, 1853
Publication details: 
27 September 1853; 241 Borough, London.
£56.00
English hop market report, 1853

4to, 1 p. Twenty-six lines. Text clear and complete. On grey paper. Small spike hole. Aged and lightly-creased. Describes the 'forbodings' which have been realised following 'the heavy rains and floods of the previous Autumn'. 'From 2000 to 3000 Pockets have already come to Market, and these are making, in samples of Sussex £8 to £9, the Cut, and in Kents £8. 8/. to £10. 10/. to £12;- mouldy and blighted, much lower. | Nothing choice in East or Mid Kents has, as yet, made its appearance, [...]'.

Printed notice from the General Manager of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway's Managing Committee, headed 'Government Control of Railways. Free conveyance of traffic carried on behalf of the Admiralty or War Office'.

Author: 
Francis H. Dent, General Manager, South Eastern and Chatham Railway's Managing Committee [First World War; British Army; Royal Navy; War Office; Admiralty]
South Eastern and Chatham Railway. Printed Notice
Publication details: 
[London.] Dated in print 10 October 1916.
£95.00
South Eastern and Chatham Railway. Printed Notice

Folio, 1 p. Thirty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and creased paper, with spike-hole at head, with 'ack[nowledge]d 3/10/16' in manuscript. Giving instructions regarding the means by which 'all consignments conveyed by Passenger or Goods Trains over controlled Companies' Lines on behalf of the Admiralty or War Office, [...] be invoiced without charges'. 'The above instructions will also apply to Traffic with Irish Ports when conveyed by Controlled Companies' Steamboats.'

Autograph Letter Signed to John Baker.

Author: 
Philip Kent, Domestic Agent, British and Foreign Bible Society [John Baker; Miss Marshall of Axminster]
Publication details: 
8 April 1845; 2 West Square, St George's Road, London.
£28.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Very good on lightly-aged paper. Giving his 'testimony in contradiction of the Statement made in the document which you read to me in reference to the late Miss Marshall of Axminster being kept by you as her professional adviser with little money at her disposal'. States that 'The general impression in the Town was directly opposed to this statement and that impression was sufficiently sustained by the success attendant upon applications to Miss Marshall for and to benevolent purposes'. Gives examples showing 'she was never in want of money'.

The theatre director's copy of a bound typescript of a provincial production of ' "DRACULA" Adapted from Bram Stoker's world famous novel by REED KENT'. With manuscript emendations and additions, including stage plan.

Author: 
Reed Kent (pseudonym?) [Bram Stoker; Dracula; Michael Macdona, theatre producer]
Publication details: 
Macdona Productions Ltd, 34 Danbury Street, London. [Performed (in the nineteen-seventies?) at Bognor and Clacton.]
£225.00

Dimensions 25 x 20 cm: [ii] + 87 pp, all on rectos. Bound in stained yellow wraps, with black tape spine. Well-thumbed, but in fair condition internally, tight, clear and complete. The names of the eight actors are added in pencil in the list of characters. In the first six cases only the christian names are given ('Dracula' is given as 'Alan'), but 'Professor Abraham van Helsing' is played by Andrew Turner, and 'Lucy Westenra' by Jannina Tredwell (who featured in a 1974 revival of the musical 'Hair').

Sketchbook filled with pencil drawings by Wright of the English countryside, some captioned and two signed 'HBW'. Four pages finished in watercolour.

Author: 
Horace Boardman Wright (1888-1915), English artist from Beckenham, Kent [Royal College of Art; Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers]
Publication details: 
Dated by Wright: 'July 28th. 1904. [signed] H Boardman Wright | Technical Institute School of Art | Beckenham | Kent'. [Sketchbook by D. W. Richard & Co., 29 High Street, Croydon, Artist Colourmen and Picture Frame Makers.]
£325.00

Landscape sketchbook of eighteen leaves. Leaf dimensions roughly 17.5 x 13 cm. One leaf loose. A further leaf has been removed. Drawings on twenty-five pages and the rear pastedown. Bound in rough grey cloth with printed design on front board. Printed stationer's ticket (label) on front pastedown. Grubby, and with the inevitable pencil offsetting, but good and tight on good paper, lightly-aged but unaffected by damp or stain. Contains some charming images, showing the promise that would win Wright a scholarship to the Royal College of Art three years later.

Excerpta Cantiana; Being the Prospectus of a History of Kent, Preparing for Publication by the Rev. Thomas Streatfeild, F.S.A.'; with two other prospectuses of the same; four prospectuses for Toovey's 'History of Kent'; Autograph Letters Signed.

Author: 
Thomas Streatfeild (1777-1848) [William Nicol, Shakspeare Press; James Toovey; F. C. Brooke; T. G. Godfrey Tempest]
Publication details: 
Excerpta Cantiana' (dated 'Chart's Edge, Westerham, 1 January, 1836'): London: William Nicol, Shakspeare Press, Pall Mall. [1836.] 'History of Kent': London, James Toovey, 177, Piccadilly. [1871].
£250.00

The collection in a contemporary green leather quarter-binding, with grey paper boards and title in gilt on spine. Good, in heavily worn binding splitting at rear hinge. The letters are expertly mounted on leaves in the volume. 'Excerpta Cantiana': folio: 23 pp of letterpress, with illustrations and with three full-page engravings by J. S. Agar and one fold-out pedigree. PRESENTATION COPY from Streatfeild to the antiquary and historian Charles James Palmer of Great Yarmouth.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'My dear Smith'.

Author: 
Alexander Innes Shand (1832-1907), Scottish journalist, novelist and military historian
Publication details: 
Oakdale - Eden Bridge - Kent - 2 July' [no year]; on cancelled letterhead of the Windham Club, St James's Square, S.W.
£35.00

12mo bifolium: 3 pp. Good, though lightly creased. Tipped in on the blank verso of the second leaf, to a green paper folder on which an eight-line biographical entry of Shand has been laid down. He has left the packet containing the letters which Mrs Smith 'values' so 'highly' at the Reform Club, not wishing, in case it has changed, to send them to Smith's 'address in the Blue Book'. As he cannot 'make a decent excuse' for the delay in returning them, he throws himself on Smith's mercy.

Autograph Letter Signed to Helen Frances Church [née Bennett].

Author: 
Robert Scott (1811-1887), Dean of Rochester, lexicographer [Liddell & Scott's Greek-English Lexicon; Richard William Church (1815-1890), Dean of St Paul's]
Publication details: 
23 July 1875. Deanery of Rochester.
£30.00

12mo, 2 pp. Fourteen lines of text. He has put her 'memorandum' with 'the others of a like kind', and does not doubt that he will 'be able to vote for your Orphan Boy -'. The Scotts are 'on the point of escaping to Folkestone', and hopes that Mrs Church is 'going to some place which [will] do you all much good'. Sends kind regards to Mrs Church '& the Dean'.

Chronicles of Wingham. (Being a contribution towards the History of the Parish.) Compiled from Various Works by Arthur Hussey, (Member of the Kent Archaeological Society.)

Author: 
Arthur Hussey [Kent Archaeological Society; Wingham]
Publication details: 
Canterbury: Printed & Published by J. A. Jennings, City Printing Works. 1896.
£56.00

8vo: 211 pp. In original brown cloth binding, with title in gilt on front board. A good tight copy, on aged paper with occasional spotting, in worn binding with fraying at head and tail of spine. Four-page list of subscribers at rear. Fifteen chapters, with subjects including Wat Tyler, John Cade, Wingham College; the Oxenden and Palmer families, and the manor house of the Archbishops of Canterbury.

Letter Signed "Sidmouth" to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Viscount Sidmouth, statesman (DNB), here "Home Secretary".
Publication details: 
Whitehall, 8 Dec. 1817.
£120.00

Two pages, 4to, copperplate text by secretary, fold marks, marks of sellotape (half inch square at most) at edge, small chip bottom corner,m text cleqar and complete. Sidmouth, who has received a letter in favour of the condemned John Vartie, forger, informs his correspondent that "the Case of this unfortunate Person had the most full and deliberate consideration, at the time when the Report was made to the Prince Regent in Council.

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