KENT

Autograph Letter Signed ('E Knatchbull') to the Mayor of Canterbury.

Author: 
Sir Edward Knatchbull (1781-1849) of Mersham Hatch, Kent, 9th Baronet, English ultra-Tory politician [the Mayor of Canterbury]
Publication details: 
17 September 1841; Mersham Hatch.
£66.00

4to, 3 pp. Very good, on aged paper. Small punch hole through top left-hand corner of both leaves of the bifolium (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). Knatchbull claims that it has been 'intimated' to him 'that the Removal of the Troops from Canterbury in consequence of the Election for the County, which is to take place on Monday next, will cause much Inconvenience, especially to the Trade of the City'. He does not think that the Secretary of State 'would like to interfere, unless in Concurrence with the desire & opinion of the Authorities of the City of Canterbury'.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'G V Reed') to Benjamin Harrison, Archdeacon of Maidstone.

Author: 
George Varenne Reed (1816-1886), anglican clergyman, tutor to Charles Darwin
Publication details: 
3 November 1875, 16 October 1879 and 30 July 1881; all three from Hayes Rectory, Beckenham.
£100.00

All three items are good, though lightly aged, each with a thin strip from previous mounting adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium. Letter One (12mo, 1 p). Thanking Harrison 'for the copy of your Charge' ['Prospects of peace for the Church in the Prayer Book and its rules']. He would have written the day before 'but we went to the opening of the Memorial Church at Langton yesterday'. Letter Two (12mo, 2 pp): Thanks him for 'so kindly sending me your last Charge ['The memories of departed brethren, and the sacredness of their earthly resting places'].

Autograph Letter Signed to 'R. Steggall' [perhaps the organist Reginald Steggall].

Author: 
James Orton, English Victorian poet
Publication details: 
12 May 1875; 86 Usher Road, Old Ford, London.
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good, with spotting to second leaf of bifolium. Steggall and Orton's 'mutual friend (our very dear friend)' Mrs. Kent has written to tell Orton that Steggall 'will be happy to see my son on Saturday evening at 6'. Orton is grateful to Steggall for thinking 'of my anxiety to retain him with me after our long & to me at least terrible separation'. He is very grateful to Steggall, who is joined to Orton by a 'link of friendship which passes through to my two dear friends Mrs. Kent and Mrs. Atherstone'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Freeman'), with envelope, to Hodgson at 20 Bromley Common, Bromley, Kent.

Author: 
John Freeman [John Frederick Freeman] (1880-1929), English Georgian poet [Sidney Hodgson, book auctioneer of Hodgson's, Chancery Lane, London]
Publication details: 
7 April [no year]; on embossed letterhead of 29 Weighton Road, Anerley, [London,] S.E.
£56.00

8vo: 1 p. 7 lines. Good, but with some foxing, and with a corner of the blank reverse tipped in onto a card mount on which the envelope is laid down. He thanks him 'for the catalogue containing the Moore item'. Would be 'very glad' if Hodgson 'could call here on Thursday next & join us in a meal at 7 o'clock [...] I suggest Thursday because then we shall not be alone, nor dull'. Hodgson was the author, in 1927, of 'Brief notes on the history of the hamlet of Penge with Anerley'.

Autograph Letter Signed to the autograph collector Thomas Thompson of Church Street, Liverpool.

Author: 
John Russell Smith (1810-94), English bookseller [Dawson Turner]
Publication details: 
13 June 1840; 'No. 4. Old Compton Street, Soho, London'.
£200.00

Two pages, quarto. Very good. With traces of blue paper mount adhering to addressed verso of second leaf of bifolium. Dawson Turner having declined to buy a collection on the grounds that it is 'wholly out of his line of collecting', Russell now offers it to Thompson. They are 'not so interesting' as he anticipated when he 'bought them at an auction without looking at them till they were on the table'. Gives details of the purchase and describes the volumes, estimating their cost in binding.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Tho. Roffen.') to Thomas Adams of Alnwick, Northumberland; with the Bishop of Rochester's episcopal seal, in red wax.

Author: 
Thomas Dampier (c.1749-1812), Bishop of Ely and book collector [Bishop of Rochester from 1802 to 1808]
Publication details: 
Harley Street, Septr. 14. 1802.'
£150.00

4to: 1 p. Very good on the first leaf of a bifolium. A third quarto leaf carries the address, in Dampier's hand, with his franking signature 'free | T. Rochester.' Also the oval seal, c.3 cm high, a clear impression in red wax. 24 lines of text. Interesting letter. Dampier begins by thanking Adams for 'your Congratulations to me on my Promotion to the See of Rochester.

Bookplate.

Author: 
Sir Richard Burton of Sacketts Hill House, Isle of Thanet, Kent
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated [c.1820].
£10.00

On piece of paper roughly three and a half inches by three wide. Good, lightly aged with a little creasing to one corner. Pleasant armorial design within floral arrangement. Motto 'VIGILANS' on scroll above 'Sir Richard Burton' in copperplate at foot. Indentation of plate around edge.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Durand') to Smith.

Author: 
A[uguste]. Durand [presumably the printer and bookseller rather than the composer] [Charles Roach Smith (1807-91), British archaeologist]
Publication details: 
Saturday 29 Octr. [no year, but between 1843 and 1873]; no place [Paris?].
£42.00

Two pages, 12mo. Good, on aged and creased paper. Engraving of ancient medallion as letterhead. He takes 'the opportunity of a friend going over' to send Smith 'a parcel which I have just received from Monsr De la Plane, Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of the <?> & the Bulletin of the Society, for the Royal [sic] Society of Antiquaries, the British Archaeological Association [founded 1843], the Numismatic Society, and Smith himself. He is also sending a letter for J[ohn]. Y[onge]. Ackerman (1806-73).

Manuscript debenture, signed 'Macclesfield' and 'Walpole'.

Author: 
George Parker (c.1697-1764), 2nd Earl of Macclesfield, astronomer; Robert Walpole (1701-1751), 2nd Earl of Orford (as Baron Walpole)
Publication details: 
3 November 1741; [Whitehall].
£56.00

Two pages. On piece of paper roughly five inches by nine wide. Aged and with a few nicks, but good overall. Seven lines, beginning 'Debentur Carolo Duci St. Alban Magro Austrag Dni Rs [...]'. 'Letter Money' in margin. Various docketings cross-wise on reverse, including signature of 'Jno: Bidleson' ('John Bidleson Atto. Int. J Dawson') and sums totalling £343 2s 6d.

Proof engraving of 'Harrietta Bowdler' by Scriven, after a drawing by Slater.

Author: 
Harrietta Bowdler (nee Hanbury, died 1829) of Eltham, Kent (wife of John Bowdler the elder, 1746-1823) [Joseph Slater (c.1779-1837), artist; Edward Scriven (1775-1841), engraver]
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [London: Colnaghi & Co., July 1830?] 'J. Slater. delt. 1817. Edwd. Scriven. sculpt.'
£80.00

The word 'Proof' is engraved in the bottom right-hand corner. Dimensions of paper roughly ten inches by seven and a half. Good clean image on lightly aged paper. Head and shoulders portrait, in which a dolorous old biddy in cap stares vacantly at the viewer. Presumably a companion piece to an engraving in the National Portrait Gallery by Isaac W. Slater of a drawing by Scriven of Henrietta Maria Slater, published by Colnaghi in July 1830. This item is not present in the National Portrait Gallery online catalogue.

A sermon. Autograph Manuscript

Author: 
Rev. G.R. Gleig.
Publication details: 
Ash, 21 Nov. 1824.
£350.00

Vicar of Ash, Kent, later chaplain-general of the forces, author (DNB). Manuscript sermon in Gleig's hand, apparently unpublished. C. 20 pages, 8vo to mainly 4to, additions and corrections in his hand, with some cutting and pasting (hence variable page size). "No.1" appears on the bottom of the first page, with place and date (above), presumably indicating a series.

Indenture between the Mayor and Citizens of the City of Rochester in the County of Kent and Thomas Lediard Citizen and Clothworker of London.

Author: 
[LOCAL HISTORY: ROCHESTER, ENGLAND] Thomas Lediard
Publication details: 
22 January 1682/3.
£250.00

An important piece of local history. Neatly engrossed on one side of piece of stained and discoloured parchment, dimensions approximately 24 inches by 22 inches. Signed at foot by Lediard and with his seal (in poor condition). Signatures of five witnesses on reverse. In poor condition but with text mostly legible. Four holes, two of them affecting text, at intersections of folds in document.

Amativeness: or, evils and remedies of excessive and perverted sexuality; including warning and advice to the married and single.

Author: 
O. S. Fowler
Publication details: 
John Heywood, Deansgate and Ridgefield, Manchester; and 11, Paternoster Buildings, 1884.
£36.00

Thirty-two pages. Octavo. In original light-blue illustrated printed wraps. A scarce item, in frail condition, with the wraps worn, spotted and frayed, particularly at the spine. Closed tears to reverse of wraps, which is stamped 'MAY BE HAD OF J.S. CROPLEY, WINDSOR'. Rust staining from staples. Internally sound, tight and generally clean, with bottom outside corner dogeared. Ownership inscription of Tom Rowland Kent.

Printed governmental circular (in form of facsimile of manuscript) addressed to 'The Town Clerk' (with 'Town of Maidstone' in manuscript).

Author: 
Henry Hobhouse [MAIDSTONE, KENT]
Publication details: 
Copy | Whitehall July 1827.'
£56.00

Hobhouse (1776-1854) was a Privy Councillor in 1828, and Keeper of the State Papers, 1826-54. Quarto. One page. Very good, on first leaf of bifoliate. Folded twice. On watermarked Whatman paper of 1827. Facsimile signature 'H. Hobhouse'. Begins 'The King having been pleased to comply with the prayer of an humble Address presented to His Majesty in pursuance of a Resolution of the House of Commons [...] for a Return of all Towns Cities Places of Jurisdiction within England & Wales' and ending 'I am directed by Mr.

Early Kent Maps. (Sixteenth century).

Author: 
Grevile M. Livett, B.A., F.S.A., Honorary Canon of Rochester
Publication details: 
[1937;] 'Reprinted from "Archaeologia Cantiana," Vol. XLIX. Printed by Headley Brothers, Ashford, Kent.
£45.00

Offprint of pp.247-77. Small 8vo. 4 plates, 3 of them folding. Foxed, loose copy with closed tear and crease to first leaf. In original light-brown printed wraps, which have become detached.. Presentation copy, with inscription to 'Mr. Edward Lynam from the writer' on front wrap. Manuscript annotation in pencil, presumably by Lynam.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
James Craigie Robertson
Publication details: 
Bekesbourne, Feb. 24. 1852 -'.
£33.00

Canon of Canterbury (1813-82) and author of a 'History of the Christian Church'. Four pages, 12mo. Good, but on discoloured paper, and with small glue stain (affecting one word of text) and strip of archival tape adhering to verso of second leaf. Docketed 'Cant' in red ink at head of recto of first leaf. An interesting letter, discussing day-to-day diocesan affairs. He doubts whether 'any one - at least, any private clergyman - in this diocese has watched the elections of proctors so closely as to be able to answer [his correspondent's] questions fully.

Autograph Note Signed to illegible correspondent.

Author: 
Rev. G.R. Gleig.
Publication details: 
Place illegible, 7 April [no year].
£50.00

Later chaplain-general of the forces, author (DNB). One page, 8vo, remnants of laying down process on blank conjugate leaf, letter in good condition. "I will be happy to supply your place on Sunday morning [presumably taking a service] - & much regret the cause of your absence. / I too have had my gout, but it is pretty well over."

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