LEWIS

[Lewis Carroll illustrated by Elizabeth Bury.] Two Christmas keepsake private printings: 'The Hunting of the Snark' and 'The Old Man's Comforts by Robert Southey | You Are Old, Father William & The Evidence […] by Lewis Carroll'.

Author: 
Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], author of 'Alice in Wonderland'; Elizabeth Bury, illustrator, wife of and collaborator with theatre designer John Bury (1925-2000); Robert Southey
Publication details: 
Neither with place or date. 'Snark' with presentation inscription from Bury to Christopher Fry dated Christmas 2003. Other volume with similar inscription dated Christmas 1999.
£450.00

Elizabeth Bury, illustrator and theatre designer, wife of and collaborator with John Bury (1925-2000), British theatre designer noted for his innovative work with Peter Hall, the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre (see his obituary in the Guardian, 15 November 2000). Two ring-bound 8vo Christmas keepsake private printings, both filled with full-page illustrations by Bury. Both inscribed by her to the playwright Christopher Fry. Both in good condition, with light signs of age. Uniform in layout, both with coloured covers of striking design.

[Sir Anthony Carey Lewis, Principal of the Royal Academy of Music.] Typed Letter Signed to the cellist Ambrose Gauntlett, thanking him for participating in the RAM 150th Anniversary Concert. With copy of the programme.

Author: 
Sir Anthony Carey Lewis (1915-1983), Principal of the Royal Academy of Music and founder of Musica Britannica [Ambrose Gauntlett (1889-1978), cellist, Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music]
Publication details: 
LETTER: 1 June 1972; on letterhead of the Royal Academy of Music. Programme of Royal Academy of Music concert to be held 30 May 1972 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall [London].
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. For Gauntlett see the excellent article on the ‘Semibrevity’ blog: ‘Ambrose Gauntlett, forgotten gamba player and continuo cellist’, beginning: ‘Although Ambrose Gauntlett (1889–1978) spent most of his career as a full-time orchestral principal, he was the most sought-after continuo cellist and gamba player in the UK for many years. In his obituary, published in The Times, Sir Anthony Lewis mentions “his beautiful playing of the important 18th-century viola da gamba obbligato roles”.’ Both items in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Letter, 1 June 1972.

[Family of Peter Mark Roget, compiler of the ?Thesaurus?.] Offprint paper by William de la Rive titled ?Pens?es Genevoises. [...] Fragments etraits des Papiers de Fran?ois Roget, Professeur a l?Academie de Gen?ve.? With signature of J. L. Roget.

Author: 
William de la Rive [Fran?ois Roget, Professeur a l?Academie de Gen?ve; John Lewis Roget, son of Peter Mark Roget, compiler of the ?Thesaurus?]
Publication details: 
[Geneva, Switzerland.] Tir? de la Biblioth?que Universelle. Decembre 1860. Avec autorisation de la Direction.?
£180.00

Information regarding the family of P. M. Roget are to be found in his entry in the Oxford DNB, and in Joshua Kendall?s 2008 biography of Roget, ?The Man Who Made Lists?. The present item is from the Roget family archive (other items from which are also offered for sale.) The full title is ?Pens?es Genevoises. Aper?us sur l?Ame, la Vie et la Soci?t?. Fragments etraits des Papiers de Fran?ois Roget, Professeur a l?Academie de Gen?ve.? 30pp, 8vo. Stitched. In plain blue paper wraps, carrying ownership inscription of ?John L. Roget. / Octr. 1885.? In fair condition, lightly worn and a little dogeared.

[Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Liberal Minister of War who kept Britain out of the American Civil War.] Autograph Letter Signed to Peter Jackson of the Caxton Press, about a petition opposing ‘the opening of the General Post Office on the Lord’s Day'.

Author: 
Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Liberal politician who as Minister of War in 1861 kept Britain out of the American Civil War [Peter Jackson of the Caxton Press]
Publication details: 
13 October 1849; Whitehall.
£80.00

Lewis’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes how, as Minister of War in 1861, successfully led the British cabinet to reject Lord John Russell and Gladstone’s calls for Britain to intervene on behalf of the Confederacy in the American Civil War. 1p, foolscap 8vo. Folded twice. In fair condition, on lightly aged laid paper, with slight chipping at the head. With J. Green & Son 1848 Britannica watermark. Signed ‘G. Cornewall Lewis’, and addressed to ‘Mr. Peter Jackson / The Caxton Press / Angel Street / St. Martin’s-le-Grand’.

[Charles Williams, with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien one of the ‘Inklings’.] Typescript of Ruth Spalding’s BBC radio programme ‘Portrait of Charles Williams’, produced by Terence Tiller and featuring T. S. Eliot, Christopher Fry and others.

Author: 
Charles Williams [Charles Walter Stansby Williams] (1886-1945), poet and author, member with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien of Oxford group ‘The Inklings’ [Ruth Spalding (1913-2009), author on BBC]
Publication details: 
Later (1980s) transcription of BBC radio feature on 'Third Programme 13.9.61 [13 September 1961]'.
£180.00

Williams, who has an entry in the Oxford DNB, became a close friend of Spalding and her sister Anne after lodging with their parents during the Second World War. The present item is a transcription, made and printed out around the 1980s, of the 1961 radio programme, on one side each of 34 numbered pieces of A4 paper, loosely gathered by a black plastic spine.

[Irving Wardle, theatre critic.] Autograph Letter Signed to Gerald Wynne-Rushton, giving advice on offering a play, with reference to a letter he has received from Emyr Humphreys, producer of BBC TV production of Saunders Lewis’s ‘Siwan’.

Author: 
Irving Wardle [John Irving Wardle] (born 1929), theatre critic and champion of Harold Pinter [Gerald Wynne-Rushton (1894-), Catholic writer]
Publication details: 
16 March [no year, but between 1960 and 1963]; on letterhead of the Observer, London.
£45.00

Wardle worked as Kenneth Tynan’s deputy on the Observer between 1959 and 1963. Wynne-Rushton had published a play titled ‘The Gull’s Way’ in 1930, and a book on the papacy for Catholic publishers Burns, Oates and Washburne two years later. 2pp, 4to. In fair condition, folded three times, with wear and loss along one fold line of the second leaf, resulting in loss of a few words of text. Signed ‘Irving Wardle’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Rushton’, identified as G. W. Wynne-Rushton by associated correspondence.

[Charles Williams inscribes a book to his wife Michal.] Divorce. [With copy of Autograph Letter from Neil Tyler to playwright Christopher Fry, regarding the circumstances of his acquisition of the book.]

Author: 
Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century English verse drama; Sambhu Nath Roy
Publication details: 
Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, London, 1920. [Letter from Sycamore Farm, Alphamstone, Bures, Suffolk, 1982.]
£150.00

120pp, 12mo. No dustwrapper. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, tight in lightly-worn green cloth with dulled gilt. Inscribed by Williams in pencil on front free endpaper: 'For Michal'. A collection of around fifty poems, including five addressed to the author's wife: 'To Michal: After a Vigil'. 'To Michal: On Forgiveness', 'To Michal: On Brushing her Hair', 'To Michal meditating a new Costume', 'To Michal: On Disputing outside Church'. Accompanying the volume is an Autograph Letter Signed from 'Neil' to 'Dear Christopher and Dear Phyl', i.e. Christopher Fry and his wife Phyllis.

['Lewis Carroll' [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], Sir Leicester Harmsworth's collection of his books and manuscripts.] Auction Catalogue: 'Catalogue of the Collection of the Writings of the Revd. C. L. Dodgson ("Lewis Carroll")'.

Author: 
'Lewis Carroll' [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], books and manuscripts; Sir R. Leicester Harmsworth; Sotheby & Co., London; Winifred Myers, manuscripts dealer
Publication details: 
['Harmsworth Trust Library | The Tenth Portion'.] London: Sotheby & Co. Day of Sale: 26 March 1947.
£320.00

The full title reads: 'Harmsworth Trust Library | The Tenth Portion | Catalogue of the Collection of the Writings of the Revd. C. L. Dodgson ("Lewis Carroll") Forming part of the renowned Library of the late Sir R. Leicester Harmsworth, Bt., LL.D. (and now Sold by Order of the Trustees)'. 21pp, 8vo. With frontispiece, and plate with illustrations on both sides, as well as several facsimiles in text. (Front cover states: 'Illustrated Catalogue (2 Plates and 6 Line Reproductions)'. In yellow printed and stapled wraps, with last page of text printed on inside back cover.

[Sir John Mills, Oscar-winning actor.] Typed Letter Signed ('John Mills') to Mrs Richard Eyre, daughter of Charles Royds, First Lieutenant to Scott of the Antarctic, regarding research on the film, in which Mills starred as Scott.

Author: 
Sir John Mills [born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills] (1908-2005), Oscar-winning English film actor [Richard Eyre; Scott of the Antarctic]
Publication details: 
24 November 1947; Fernacres, Fulmer, Bucks.
£120.00

2pp, 12mo. On grey paper with letterhead of his name. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight staining tape staining to two corners from mount. Addressed to 'Mrs Richard Eyre, | Bullsmead, | Maiden Newton, | Dorset.' The subject of the letter is the preparation for the 1948 British film 'Scott of the Antarctic', in which Mills starred in the title role. The recipient is the mother of the noted English director Sir Richard Eyre (b. 1943), whose father Charles Royds was Scott’s First Lieutenant.

[Edward Dalziel of the Brothers Dalziel, London wood-engravers.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Edward Dalziel') to 'B Forster [sic] Esqr', i.e. illustrator Birket Foster, advising him to lay prints in the sun, and giving the address of printers.

Author: 
Edward Dalziel (1817-1905) of the Brothers Dalziel, wood-engravers associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and Lewis Carroll [Myles Birket Foster (1825-1899), illustrator]
Publication details: 
48 Albert Street, Mornington Crescent [London]. No date, but endorsed 27 September 1849.
£250.00

A very nice association between two central figures in Victorian book illustration. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium addressed on reverse of second leaf, with Penny Red stamp and three postmarks, to 'B Forster [sic] Esqr | Cavendish Villa | Carlton Hill | St Johns Wood'. Endorsed with date. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mount to one edge.

[Arthur James Lewis, artist and illustrator.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Arthur J Lewis') to publisher Ernest Gambart, regarding the disposal of the disposal of the remaining copies of 'Hood's Poems'.

Author: 
Arthur James Lewis (1824-1901), artist and illustrator, promoter of the Junior Etching Club [Ernest Gambart (1814-1902), London art publisher; James Abbott McNeill Whistler]
Publication details: 
43 [?] Street. 10 November 1860.
£35.00

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Addressed to 'E Gambart Esq' and endorsed by the recipient. Two years earlier Gambart had published 'Passages from the Poems of Thomas Hood', illustrated with 34 plates by the Junior Etching Club (of which Whistler was a member between 1857 and 1862). The book had been well-received, but the letter makes clear that it had not covered its costs.

[Wilfred Batten Lewis Trotter, surgeon and social psychologist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Wilfred Trotter'), regarding 'the Office of Sergeant Surgeon'.

Author: 
Wilfred Trotter [Wilfred Batten Lewis Trotter] (1872-1939), surgeon and social psychologist [Serjeant Surgeon]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 80 Rivermead Court, Hurlingham S.W.6 [London]; 15 October 1934.
£300.00

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to edge on reverse. He begins by stating that he is not 'antiquarian enough' to answer the question in the unnamed recipient's letter 'with any precision'. He refers him to 'a number of “The Lancet” for one of the earlier weeks of September of this year', which contains 'an “annotation” dealing with the Office of Sergeant Surgeon'.

[Professor William Bevan Lewis, psychiatrist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Bevan-Lewis') to Bedford Pierce of the Retreat asylum in York, discussing a course of lectures they are to give together.

Author: 
William Bevan-Lewis (1847-1929), Professor of Mental Diseases, Leeds; and Medical Superintendent, West Riding Asylum, Wakefield [Bedford Pierce (1861-1932), Consulting Physician, The Retreat, York]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of W. R. Asylum [West Riding Asylum], Wakefield [Yorkshire]; 22 March 1908.
£450.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded once. Forty-three lines of text. He begins by expressing pleasure at the prospect of being associated with Pierce 'in the Course of Lectures on Mental Diseases', and at the news that Pierce has 'decided to take up the Systematic Part'. He leaves the choice of day to Pierce, and offers to put him up for the night.

[Professor William Bevan-Lewis, physician and physiologist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Bevan-Lewis') thanking psychiatrist Bedford Pierce for his 'eulogistic & cordial tribute', and discussing the Allied victory in the Great War.

Author: 
William Bevan-Lewis (1847-1929), physician and physiologist, Professor of Mental Diseases and Examiner at the University of Leeds, and Medical Director, West Riding Asylum [Bedford Pierce (1861-1932)]
Publication details: 
'Elsinore', Dyke Road Avenue, Brighton. 12 November 1918.
£500.00

3pp, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded twice. Fifty-two lines of text. He thanks Pierce for his 'most kind expressions of regard for myself, & your eulogistic & cordial tribute to my poor efforts in the cause of Psychological Medicine'. which he has read in 'the account of the proceedings at the Edinburgh Meeting in July last', in the Journal of Mental Science.

[General Edmund Boyle, 8th Earl of Cork and Orrery.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Cork') to 'Mr: Vuillamy' [i.e. Benjamin Lewis Vuillamy, Clockmaker to the Crown], regarding a broken watch. Also franked by him, as 'Boyle'.

Author: 
[General Edmund Boyle, 8th Earl of Cork and Orrery (1767-1856), Irish peer and soldier, styled Viscount Dungarvan, 1768-1798 [Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (1780-1854), Clockmaker to the Crown]
Publication details: 
Marston. 25 November 1814.
£200.00

1p, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Franked on reverse of second leaf, with seal in red wax broken into two pieces, and franking postmark: 'Frome – November twenty fifth 1814 | Messrs: Wulliamys | Watch Maker's | Pall Mall | London | Boyle'.

[Charles Williams, C. S. Lewis.] Proof Copy: 'Arthurian Torso Containing the Posthumous Fragment of The Figure of Arthur by Charles William and a Commentary on the Arthurian Poems of Charles Williams by C. S. Lewis Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford'

Author: 
Charles Williams, C. S. Lewis [The Inklings, Oxford University; J. R. R. Tolkien]
Publication details: 
London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press. 1948.
£1,500.00

[8] + 200pp, 8vo. In light-brown wraps with title repeated on front cover. Worn, on aged paper, with the upper back few leaves dogeared, and spotting at foot of first few leaves. The present proof must in some regard differ from the published version, whose various listings on COPAC give it 200pp, rather than the 199pp here. Lewis's two-page 'Introductory' concludes with a vivid picture of the Inklings: 'The first two chapters had been read aloud by the author to Professor Tolkien and myself.

[Lady Margaret Sackville, poet and children's author, mistress of Ramsay MacDonald.] Typescript of juvenile novel 'Sylvia Thistledown', with autograph emendations, regarding the advetures in Fairy-land of Amelia Egerton and the fairy of the title.

Author: 
Lady Margaret Sackville (1881-1963), English poet and children’s author, who had an affair with Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, daughter of Earl De La Warr, cousin of Vita Sackville-West
Publication details: 
On front cover: 'Margaret Sackville | 22. Lansdowne Terrace | Cheltenham'. Undated, but date stamped 30 November 1945.
£950.00

According to the Daily Telegraph, 2 November 2006 (see the end of this description), Lady Margaret Sackville was 'a poet who mixed with writers such as W B Yeats and Wilfred Scawen Blunt, was a friend of Lady Ottoline Morrell, a leading member of the Bloomsbury Set'. 167pp., 4to. Each page on the recto of a separate leaf, the whole bound with green thread through punch holes in margins. The first page worn and with label (of literary agent?) removed from head, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged and worn.

[ Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Whig Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. ] Autograph Signature ('G. Cornewall Lewis') to document authorising admittance to the House of Commons.

Author: 
Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Whig politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary, who successfully argued against British intervention in the American Civil War
Publication details: 
Place illegible. 1 February 1850.
£30.00

A good firm signature, appended to a document in another hand, simply reading: 'Admit the Bearer to the House of Commons'. The illegible address and date are in the same hand. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount on blank reverse.

[ Lord John Manners on the 'Cornwall Lewis - Ferrand affair'. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('John Manners.') [ to the editor Henry Reeve ] discussing the proposed publication in the Greville Memoirs of a reference to 'the forgotten scandal'.

Author: 
Lord John Manners [ from 1888 John James Robert Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland ] (1818-1906), Conservative politician and poet [ Henry Reeve (1813-1895), editor of the Greville Memoirs ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Belvoir Castle, Grantham. 17 January 1886.
£50.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Docketed in pencil at top right of first page: '17 Janry. 1886. Ld J. Manners re Ferrand corres'. He gives the volume and page number of 'the sole reference to the Cornwall Lewis – Ferrand affair in the Greville Memoirs'. He does not consider that this 'necessitates the publication of the correspondence relating to the settlement which Mr. Heyward & I afterward accomplished'.

[ 'Lewis Melville' [ Lewis Saul Benjamin ], Anglo-Jewish author. ] Autograph Note Signed ('Lewis Melville')

Author: 
'Lewis Melville', pen name of Lewis Saul Benjamin (1874-1932), English author, born into a Jewish family
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The Playgoers Club, Strand, W.C. [ London ]. 'Please reply | 28 Clifton Gardens | Madia Vale. W' 28 September 1900.
£25.00

1p., 12mo. On grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Dear Sir, | Will you please give me an appointment on Thursday next when I am in town? | Faithfully yours, | Lewis Melville'.

[ John Latchford and Thomas Meates, King's Messengers in the foreign service. ] Material relating to them and their families, mainly transcriptions by C. E. Meates, but with some originals. With other material including a memorandum by Lewis Hertslet

Author: 
John Latchford (1778-1833) and Thomas Meates (1768-1836), King's Messengers; Lewis Hertslet (1787-1870) of the Foreign Office [ The King's Messenger Service; C. E. Meates of the Pioneer Corps ]
Publication details: 
[ The King's Messenger Service, London. ] Original documents from the 1820s and 1830s from Paris, Brussels and the Hague;, and C. E. Meates's writing from the 1930s to 1960s.
£950.00

For an overview of the post of King's Messenger, see 'The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy', ed. Ward and Gooch, vol.3 (1923), which states that during the two men's time in the post (i.e. in 1822) 'the number of the corps was raised to thirty-eight. Eighteen of these were placed under the immediate orders of the Foreign Office for foreign service only. They were required to be British subjects, not over thirty-five years of age, good linguists and good horsemen; and the choosing of them rested in turn with each of the three Secretaries of State'.

[ Admiral Sir Lewis Jones, Governor of Greenwich Hospital. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Lewis T Jones') to 'Mr Wills', paying his subscription to 'the South Hants Archery Society'.

Author: 
Admiral Sir Lewis Jones [ [ Admiral Sir Lewis Tobias Jones ] (1797-1895), Governor of Greenwich Hospital and Commander-in-Chief, Queenstown
Publication details: 
'Down End Fareham | May 14th 1875'.
£45.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, with small stain from mount at head of leaf. He is sending a postal order for eleven guineas, 'being the Subscription of Miss Jones & myself to the South Hants Archery Society fm 1875'. He ends in the hope that Wills and his wife have enjoyed their 'trip on the Continent'.

[ John James Whitley of Warrington, brewer, and 'Lewis Carroll'. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('John J. Whitley.') to J. Cuming Walters, regarding Whitley's father the Vicar of Daresbury and the family of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.

Author: 
John James Whitley (1868-1942) of Warrington, managing director of brewers Greenall, Whitley & Co. [ Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 'Lewis Carroll'; J. Cuming Walters (1863-1933) ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Hatton Cottage, Warrington. 7 December 1930.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. In envelope, with stamp and postmark, addressed to Walters at his London publishers Hodder & Stoughton. In good condition, lightly aged. On reading Walters' 'Romantic Cheshire' he notes that he refers to '"Lewis Carroll" as "whilom Vicar of Daresbury"'. He points out that this is not the case, and that '"Lewis Carroll" was the son of the once Vicar of Daresbury. | My father was Vicar of Daresbury from 1884 to 1896 and I remember the old Vicarage where Mr. Dodgson resided very well. It was demolished about the time my father was appointed Vicar.' The family firm of J. J.

[ William Johnstone, General Merchant of Launceston, Van Diemen's Land [ Tasmania ].] Manuscript accounts of six Australian firms with him: William Bayles; Henry Burge; Westgarth, Ross & Co.; Lewis Cohen; Du Croz, Nichols & Co.; Moses Moss.

Author: 
William Johnstone (c.1819-1874), General Merchant, Launceston, Van Diemen's Land [ Tasmania ]; William Bayles; Henry Burge; Westgarth, Ross & Co.; Lewis Cohen; Du Croz, Nichols & Co.; Moses Moss
Publication details: 
[ Launceston, Van Diemen's Land [ Tasmania ]; and Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. ] Between 1853 and 1866.
£450.00

See William Johnstone's obituary in the Illustrated Tasmanian News, May 1874. He was born in England and left Somerset for Van Diemen's Land in 1841. He set up in business the following year in Launceston, which had been founded in 1806, and is said to be the third oldest colonial settlement in Australia, after Sydney and Hobart..As the years proceeded he prospered spectacularly, and by the time of his death he was so highly esteemed, that 'many places of business had the front windows partially closed while the shipping in port and the Town Hall had the Union Jack hoisted at half mast'.

[ 'Lewis Melville' [ pen name of Lewis Saul Benjamin ], author and actor. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Lewis Melville'), enquiring whether his book 'In the World of Mimes' has been accepted for publication.

Author: 
'Lewis Melville' [ pen name of Lewis Saul Benjamin (1874-1932) ], literary biographer, novelist and actor
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The Playgoer's Club, Strand, W.C. [ London ]. 28 July 1900.
£35.00

1p., 12mo. On grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged. He writes to enquire whether the recipient 'can undertake the publication of the novel I submitted to you – In the World of Mimes – as I am leaving town at the end of the week', and he hopes to 'settle the matter one way or the other (preferably one way & not the other)' before he leaves. 'In the World of Mimes' was published in London by Greening & Co. in 1902.

[ Sophia Neate. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Sophia Neate') [ to the actor Charles Charrington ], regarding a lecture in Woking on 'A People's Theatre'.

Author: 
Sophia Neate (1832-1908) of Heatherside, Woking [ Charles Charrington (1854-1924), actor-manager, and his wife the actress Jane Achurch (1863-1916); Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ('Lewis Carroll') ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Heatherside, Woking. 12 June 1897.
£45.00

Sophia Neate took on the care of Sally Sinclair and her siblings – 'child-friends' of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – when their parents died. Neate received financial support from Dodgson and the actor Lionel Brough. On first meeting Mrs. Neate (26 June 1879) Dodgson wrote in his diary that he ‘found her so interesting that I stayed 4 hours!' He occasionally visited her and noted the progress of the Sinclair children as they grew. 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Aged and worn, with light staining at foot of gutter.

[ Henry Carvill Lewis, geologist and mineralogist. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('H. Carvill Lewis') to 'Prof. A. Ramsay' [ Alexander Ramsay, editor of the 'Scientific Roll' ]

Author: 
Henry Carvill Lewis (1853-1888), American geologist and mineralogist, debunker of paranormal claims
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 7 November 1884.
£180.00

2pp., 8vo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He is sending 'the first two volumes of the Proceedings of the Mineralogical Section of the Acad - as also some papers of my own'. He has heard of Ramsay's 'Scientific Roll', and desires to 'heartily endorse it', in the 'hope that it may be continued – It will be of very great service to scientific men'. He will be glad to receive it, and in return to send 'from time to time both the Proceedings of the Section and other original material'.

[ Robert Scott, Master of Balliol, co-compiler of the 'Liddell and Scott' Greek-English lexicon. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Robert Scott | Master of Balliol') to Major R. G. MacGregor, on the gift of his 'Translations from the Greek Anthology'.

Author: 
Robert Scott (1811-1887), Master of Balliol College, Oxford, and co-compiler of the 'Liddell and Scott' Greek-English lexicon [ Major Robert Guthrie Macgregor (1805-1869) ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Balliol College, Oxford. 24 October 1864.
£65.00

1p.,12mo. In good condition. Scott writes that he has 'just received, through Messrs. Parker, the volume of your Translations from the Greek Anthology which you have kindly requested me to place in the Library of Balliol College'. He thanks him on behalf of the College, and assures him that the book will be so placed, 'according to your desire'. MacGregor's tranlsation was published in London without a date by Nissen and Parker. Scott's co-compiler Henry Liddell was the father of 'Alice in Wonderland'.

[ Joseph Lewis, senior conductor of the BBC. ] Autograph Letter Signed, a warm letter of condolence to the widow of composer Herman Finck.

Author: 
Joseph Lewis (1878-1954), senior conductor of the BBC and composer [ Herman Finck [ born Hermann Van Der Vinck ] (1872-1939), composer ]
Publication details: 
On his letterhead ('Conductor. | Adjudicator.'), 1 Central Parade, Horley, Surrey. 22 April 1939.
£35.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Although '[w]ords at these times seem rather empty things', he feels he must write to express his sympathy on her loss: 'To know dear Herman as I knew him, was to love him - & I am ,mindful of many happy times we had together & many kindnesses he has shown me'. He asks her to be consoled by the fact that Finck 'leaves behind him a fine reputation & a grand record of service'. According to a contemporary account: 'Joseph Lewis, senior conductor of the BBC, was born in Brierly Hill Staffs, in 1878.

[ Thomas Vere Bayne, friend of Lewis Carroll. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('T. Vere Bayne') to Sir Richard Harington, regarding an anecdote by Augustus Hare concerning Samuel Smith, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.

Author: 
Thomas Vere Bayne (1829-1908), Student of Christ Church, Oxford, and friend of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ('Lewis Carroll') [ Sir Richard Harington (1835-1911) of Ridlington, 11th Baronet ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Royal Victoria Hotel, St. Leonards-on-Sea. 10 Janary 1897.
£75.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. A charming letter, the subject of which is an anecdote told by Augustus Hare in his autobiography relating to Samuel Smith, Dean of Christ Church, which was considered 'defamatory' by Smith's relation Harington, and gave offence to his family.

Syndicate content