LAKE

[Evelyn Lake, playwright and children’s author.] Typed Letter Signed to theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope, regarding a play she has written and is offering to ‘Mr Tom Arnold’. With accompanying printed poem by her.

Author: 
Evelyn Lake, playwright and children’s author [W. J. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960), theatre historian]
Publication details: 
24 August 1953; 5 Valley Road, Bude, N. Cornwall.
£65.00

See the recipient’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Signed ‘Evelyn Lake’. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of paperclip. Folded once. She enjoyed his ‘article in yesterday’s Reynolds News’, and thinks it is ‘Lovely to be able to make people laugh spontaneously.

['The tarn is metres above the level my legs would take me': Norman Nicholson, Cumbrian poet.] Typed Letter Signed to ‘Eric’, commenting wistfully on two correspondents pointing out a ‘simple slip’ in Hunter Davies’ ‘Walk Around the Lakes’.

Author: 
Norman Nicholson [Norman Cornthwaite Nicholson] (1914-1987), Cumbrian poet [Millom, Cumbria; Lake District; Hunter Davies]
Nicholson
Publication details: 
25 September 1981; Millom, Cumbria.
£56.00
Nicholson

1p, landscape 8vo. In fair condition; a little creased. Folded twice. Nicholson’s signature is a stylized squiggle, and there are a few minor autograph corrections to the typescript. The letter begins: ‘Dear Eric / I think the correspondent is probably right and that it is Windermere and not Coniston Water which can be seen from near Stickle Tarn.’ Nicholson cannot speak from experience, ‘as the tarn is metres above the level my legs would take me, but the map does seem to confirm what the two correspondents say’.

[Robert Southey, Poet] Holograph Addressed Envelope Only To | The Revd Edwin Sidney | Acle, | near | Norwich.

Author: 
Robert Southey (1774 – 1843), (Lake) Poet.
Southey
Publication details: 
No date.
£80.00
Southey

Piece of paper irregularly cut, c.11 x 6cm, tipped onto very slightly larger piece of paper. Docketed Southey the Poet in another hand. Sl stained, mainly good condition. See image. Sidney was apparently an autograph collector (see Googled entry Edwin Sidney of Acle on iCollector).

[Mary L. Armitt, polymath] MANUSCRIPT: Draft of the Index (ONLY) to her book, The Church of Grasmere: a history, published posthumously..

Author: 
Mary L. Armitt [Mary Louisa Armitt (1851 -1911), polymath, teacher, writer, ornithologist and philanthropist, and founder of the Armitt Library, Ambleside.]
Grasmere
Publication details: 
Book published in Kendal, 1912. See scan of sample page.
£380.00
Grasmere

Sixteen pages (two are half pages), fol., some foxing, but text clear. The text is in a large hand, with additions and occasional corrections for example, the word out is written beside 'Eighteen, the see Sidesmen', itself crossed out.

[Edith K. Roosevelt, sometime First Lady] Autograph Letter Signed Edith Kermit Roosevelt to Caroline (Mrs William Phillips of North Beverly, Mass.) about a book about Coleridge's daughter anf the poems of the Lake Poets.

Author: 
Edith Kermit Roosevelt [(1861-1948), second wife of Theodore Roosevelt, sometime First Lady]
Publication details: 
[Headed] Sagamore Hill, [Dec?] 3rd 1941.
£165.00

Two Pages, 12mo, very good condition. In original envelope, Free [signed] Edith K. Roosevelt and stamped Received Unsealed at Beverly, Mass, then address in letter writer's hand. Text of letter: After looking thro' the book about Coleridge's daughter I found I did not like it as much as I thought, - and I am sure you would not care for it. Those Lake Poets wrote some [underlined] beautiful poetry | but a quantity has come to us which is just dull [...] Brentanos sends you a short life of [?De] Quincey, which is all that it should be , & I hope you will feel as I do.

[Frederic Yates, English artist active in America.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Fredc Yates') to Mrs Oldham, describing in moving terms the funeral of Anne Oldham.

Author: 
Frederic Yates [born Frederic Keeping] (1854-1919), English artist active in America before returning to England and settling in the Lake District [Anne Oldham]
Publication details: 
17 May 1895, on letterhead of 3a Portman Mansions, W. [London]
£180.00

Yates studied in Paris before setting up a successful practice in San Francisco, also teaching there at the Art Student League. His portraits include the educator John Haden Badley and the only president of Hawaii, Sanford Ballard Dole. He returned to England in 1900, but was invited back to America to attend the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson and to paint his portrait. Wilson presented Yates with the flag that his hand rested on whilst he took his oath of office. The Oldham family moved in artistic circles, and Constance Oldham was John Ruskin's god-daughter and corresponded with him.

[Frederic Yates, English artist active in America.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Fred Yates') to Mrs Oldham, describing his examination of the wreck of HMS Foudroyant, for a painting she has commissioned. With sketches of the ship in ink and pencil.

Author: 
Frederic Yates [born Frederic Keeping] (1854-1919), English artist who found fame in America before settling in the Lake District [Oldham family; HMS Foudroyant; Royal Navy; Plymouth; Devonport]
Publication details: 
Letter: 'Sunday noon' [no date]. On letterhead of the Royal Hotel, Devonport. Pencil sketches without date or place.
£450.00

Yates studied in Paris before setting up a successful practice in San Francisco, also teaching there at the Art Student League. His portraits include the educator John Haden Badley and the only president of Hawaii, Sanford Ballard Dole. He returned to England in 1900, but was invited back to America to attend the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson and to paint his portrait. Wilson presented Yates with the flag that his hand rested on whilst he took his oath of office. The Oldham family moved in artistic circles, and Constance Oldham was John Ruskin's god-daughter and corresponded with him.

[ Mrs Robert Southey] Autograph Letter in the third person, "Mrs Southey is [...]", to a Miss Robson ordering two "girls packs" (clothing).

Author: 
Mrs Robert Southey
Publication details: 
Greta Hall, 2 April [no year given].
£180.00

One page, 12mo, bifolium, good condition.

[Sir Samuel White, explorer, discoverer of Lake Albert.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Sam W Baker') to 'Mr. Warner' (headmaster of Newton College, Devon), on an attack of gout and his decision to 'resign the Presidentship' (of the College governors).

Author: 
Sir Samuel Baker [Sir Samuel White Baker] (1821-1893), explorer, big game hunter, Ottoman Empire Pasha, Governor-General of Equatorial Nile Basin, discoverer of Lake Albert [Newton College, Devon]
Publication details: 
Sandford Orleigh, Newton Abbot [Devon]. 13 July 1891.
£220.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with minor damage at head. Folded once. He begins by requesting with 'much respect' to be excused 'on your great day', and explains: 'I write this from my bed, where I am confined with that delectable complaint the gout, and the moment I can move I must be off somewhere, either to Bath, or Buxton, to go through a regular course -'. He complains: 'This country does not agree with one -; we arrived in England 1 May, and I have already had three attacks of gout. I was seven months absent and was entirely free from it.

[ Rotha Quillinan, daughter of Wordsworth's son-in-law Edward Quillinan, and granddaughter of Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges. ] Offprint of notice of the 'Death of Rotha Quillinan'.

Author: 
Rotha Quillinan (1822-1876), daughter of William Wordsworth's son-in-law Edward Quillinan (1791-1851), poet, and granddaughter of Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges
Publication details: 
From the Westmoreland Gazette, 12 February 1876.
£100.00

Galley proof with 69 lines of text in a single column of small type, on slip of paper laid down on leaf removed from album. At foot: 'Westmoreland Gazette, Feb. 12, 1876.' In good condition, lightly aged. The text begins: 'Another personal link between the present generation and the band of poets and writers whose memory hovers around the Lake district has been severed in the death, last week, of Miss Rotha Quillinan.

[ Robert Southey, Poet Laureate and friend of Wordsworth and Coleridge. ] Autograph Note Signed to the author Andrew Picken agreeing to subscribe 'willingly' to his 'volumes' ('The Black Watch'?).

Author: 
Robert Southey (1774-1843), Romantic poet, friend of Wordsworth and Coleridge, one of the Lake Poets, Poet Laureate [ Andrew Picken (1788-1833), author ]
Southey
Publication details: 
Keswick. 13 March 1833.
£250.00
Southey

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed by Southey on the reverse of the second leaf, which has been overlaid top and bottom with grey paper, 'To | Andrew Picken Esqre | Gothic Cottage | Regents Park East.' The note reads: 'Keswick. 13 March 1833 [year possibly altered in pencil to '1835'] | Sir | I subscribe willingly to your volumes & wish you success with them | I remain Sir | Yr obedt servt | Robert Southey'. Southey is presumably referring to his last work, The Black Watch (1833), which appeared just as he died of a stroke. Suitable for framing.

[ Thomas George Bonney, geologist after whom Lake Bonney in Antarctica is named. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('T. G. Bonney') to an unnamed lady, contesting that domestic service is a 'state of slavery'.

Author: 
T. G. Bonney [ Thomas George Bonney ] (1833-1923), geologist after whom Lake Bonney in Antarctica is named, President of the Geological Society of London
Publication details: 
23 Denning Road, N. W. [ London ]. On letterhead of the Athenaeum club, Pall Mall. 13 October 1904.
£220.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. A tantalizing extract from a correspondence. He begins: 'I doubt whether domestic service, as a rule, is quite the state of slavery you depict, but, as I said before, the question which you ask me is less simple than you appear to think and I can only say that every employer is bound to remember that those he (or she) employs has wants, bodily and spiritual, very similar to his own.' He concludes the letter, and the correspondence, by apologising that he 'cannot continue to write on the subject'.

[ Henry J. Wake of Cockermouth, Victorian bookseller. ] Lithographed 'Catalogue of Books, MSS., Coins, Antiquities, &c,'

Author: 
Henry J. Wake of Cockermouth (Lake District), Victorian bookseller and auctioneer
Publication details: 
'On Sale by H. J. Wake, 18, Station Street, Cockermouth. Imo. 1877.' [ At foot: 'Henry J. Wake, Bookseller &c. Cockermouth. 10/1/77 [ i.e. 10 October 1877 ]'. ]
£120.00

1p., folio. An unusual production, containing 78 numbered items in two columns, with illustrations, lithographed to look like a manuscript in tight, neat handwriting. In fair overall condition, on aged paper, with a triangular hole with 5 cm edges and minor damage sympathetically repaired with archival tape. The books range from 'No. 1. Eugene Aram's Trial, Life, Letters, Poems, &c. 12mo. Facsimile Letter. 1/2 cloth, scarce s4/ Richmond, 1832' to '78. The Stowe Catalogue Priced & Annotated by H. R, Forster. Sm. 4to cloth leather back.

[ University College, University of London. ] Printed ticket of admission to lectures for BA student Edward M. Lake, signed by his professors Sir William Ramsay, A. W. Porter, M. J. M. Hill, N. T. M. Wilsmore, F. T. Trouton and W. G. Hartog.

Author: 
University College, University of London; Sir William Ramsay (1852-1916), Nobel-prize-winning chemist; M. J. M. Hill; Alfred William Porter; N. T. M. Wilsmore; Frederick Thomas Trouton; W. G. Hartog
Publication details: 
University of London, University College. Session of 1909-1910.
£120.00

On both sides of a 11.5 x 15 cm piece of card. Printed in black ink, and completed in manuscript. An interesting piece of University of London ephemera. Aged and worn. The front is headed 'UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. | UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.' and records that Lake has paid his fee of thirty-six guineas. At bottom left: 'This Ticket must be presented for signature to the Professors of the Classes for which it is issued.' On the reverse is a grid, with the signatures of: 'M. J. M. Hill' [ Micaiah John Muller Hill (1856-1929) ] for 'Pure Mathematics'; 'Alfred W.

[Rolleston family, Rydal, Westmoreland. ] Typed transcription of 'Notes made by Anne Rolleston on a visit to her brother Robert Rolleston, Curate at Rydal', with seven 'Photographs, taken 80 years later. By Ellinor, daughter of Robert Rolleston'.

Author: 
Anne Rolleston, sister of Robert Robertson, curate at Rydal, Westmoreland [ Ellinor, daughter of Robert Rolleston; William Wordsworth; Edward Quillinan; the Lake District ]
Publication details: 
Transcription undated [but circa 1930 ]. Entries dating from between 10 October and 4 November 1850
£200.00

Typed transcript of 21pp., landscape 8vo, followed by six 9.5 x 12 cm. black and white photographs, captioned in pencil and detachable, with the seventh photograph on the front cover. In card landscape 8vo album with green cloth spine. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, except for the cover photograph which is heavily worn. In pencil at front: '1850 | Notes made by Anne Rolleston on a visit to her brother Robert Rolleston, Curate at Rydal.' The location of the original diary is unclear, and there is no record of its having been published. The first entry sets the tone: 'Thursday, Oct.

Autograph Letter Signed to (Charles Edward) Fagan.

Author: 
Arthur Donaldson Smith
Publication details: 
25 January 1895; Barre.
£250.00

American physician and explorer of Africa (1866-1939). The recipient was Assistant Secretary at the Natural History Museum, London. One page, 12mo. Good, on slightly discoloured paper, and with remains of stub still neatly attached to one edge. A significant letter, sent on the eve of Donaldson Smith's most notable expedition. 'Just a line in haste to tell you I & Dodson [a taxidermist engaged for the expedition] are ready to start for Rudolph Gillitt [another taxidermist] having left for England after hearing of his father's death.

Autograph Letter Signed to (Charles Edward) Fagan.

Author: 
Arthur Donaldson Smith
Publication details: 
25 January 1895; Barre.
£250.00

American physician and explorer of Africa (1866-1939). The recipient was Assistant Secretary at the Natural History Museum, London. One page, 12mo. Good, on slightly discoloured paper, and with remains of stub still neatly attached to one edge. A significant letter, sent on the eve of Donaldson Smith's most notable expedition. 'Just a line in haste to tell you I & Dodson [a taxidermist engaged for the expedition] are ready to start for Rudolph Gillitt [another taxidermist] having left for England after hearing of his father's death.

[Royalty Cinema, Windermere.] Typed and manuscript 'Bill of Quantities for Excavating, Drainage, Walling, Slating etc', in building 'New Public Hall - Kinema etc - in Lake Road - Windermere for the Directors'. By architects Walker, Carter, & Walker.

Author: 
Walker, Carter, & Walker, Architects, Windermere [Royalty Cinema, Lake Road, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria]
Publication details: 
Walker, Carter, & Walker, Architects, Windermere. December 1925.
£100.00

[1] + 10pp., crown 8vo. Held together with a metal stud, and placed in a brown card folder, with typed title on front cover. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Professionally presented, with the text typed out in columns and the sums and running totals written out in manuscript. An estimate, with costings for a large number of itemised elements, ranging from 'temporary lavatory accommodation for the workmen for all trades' to 'the removal of trees or shrubs as required, and grub up the roots - The timber will belong to the Contractor - and he must here allow for same'.

[Major Douglas Thomson, Commissioner of Port Sudan.] Five Autograph Letters Signed (two each 'Douglas Thomson' and 'Douglas') one to Gladys and four to his sister, including three written from the Sudan and one from Abyssinia.

Author: 
Major Douglas Thomson, Commissioner of Port Sudan, 1926-1932; appointed as Settlement Officer for Assyrians by the Iraqi government, 1933
Publication details: 
One: Minton, Essex. 18 July 1909. Two: Blue Nile, Lake Tana, Abyssinia. 4 March 1916. Three: Roseires [Sudan]. 31 May 1917. Four: on letterhead of Roseires, Sennar Province, Sudan. 19 November 1917. Five: Simkat [Sudan]. 28 September 1920.
£220.00

The five items are in good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. ONE: To Gladys. 2pp., 16mo. Bifolium. Giving personal news. TWO: 2pp., 8vo. He describes matters at Lake Tana: 'At present we are stuck here while the Engineers do their part of the work. I had rather thought as had Pearson that he & I would have to do some travelling round to see various people & give them their presents but the A[byssinian]'s are very suspicious towards us like anything, & they dont want us to separate at all.

Autograph Note Signed "William T. Palmer", The Fell & Rock Climbing Club, to a "Mr Smith", about the 'Journal'.

Author: 
William T. Palmer, Editor of the Journal of The Fell & Rock Climbing Club of the English Lake District
Publication details: 
[Printed heading, "The Fell & Rock Climbing Club ", etc., Beechwood, Kendal, 22 Dec. 1916.
£56.00

One pager, fold marks, minor defects not affecting text. "Dear Mr. Smith, | The 'Journal' is in preparation, but will be greatly delayed this year. I will notify you later. | Yours faithfully, | William T. Palmer | Editor".

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