KENTISH

[ Will Owen, illustrator of W. W. Jacobs. ] Two unpublished autograph volumes by Owen, the first and last of a three-volume work described by him as 'a more or less humorous account of a ramble round the Kentish Coast by two men'.

Author: 
Will Owen (1859-1957), English book illustrator associated with W. W. Jacobs, cartoonist, caricaturist and commercial artist making posters for London Underground, creator of the 'Bisto Kids'
Publication details: 
'A Corner of Kent | by Will Owen | Flat 90. Charterhouse Square | E.C.1 [ London ]'. Undated [ late 1940s? ].
£850.00

The two volumes constitute the first and last volumes (the middle volume is missing) of a three-volume work described by its author as 'a more or less humorous account of a ramble round the Kentish Coast by two men'. This unpublished work constitutes a topographical and social narrative, written by the well-known artist and illustrator when in his eighties. Stylistically indebted to Jerome K.

[ Brewing in Kent ] Manuscript volume of early Victorian English [Kentish?] master brewer's dated records & calculations, with brewery unknown but employees named and occasional memoranda.

Author: 
[Log book of a nineteenth-century English [Kentish?] Master Brewer, 1841 to 1844]
Publication details: 
Entries dated from 8 October 1841 to 14 May 1844.
£350.00

8vo, 249 pp. In original black leather blind-tooled binding, marbled endpapers. The text clear and complete, apart from a few leaves at the front and end which have faded through damp damage, and one leaf becoming detached and worn at extremities. The damp has also detached the book from the binding, the glue of which has dissolved. The only clue of the location of the brewery is the reference to 'Ramsgate', below. The volume consists almost exclusively of pages of closely-written dated calculations, with pages giving number of barrels of 'Stocks pumped up' and 'left for next brew[in]g'.

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.
£125.00
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').

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.

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).

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.

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.

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