LITERATURE

Autograph Note, Third Person, to W. Bentley, identified in a note, with riposte by Bentley.

Author: 
Richard Phillips, author and publisher of the Monthly Magazine (and Paine's Age of Reason
Richard Phillips, author and publisher , Autograph Letter Signed
Publication details: 
Bank [London], Tuesday Morning, c.1792.
£85.00
Richard Phillips, author and publisher , Autograph Letter Signed

One page, 4to, dingy paper, fold marks, text clear and complete. Mr Phillips sent a few days since an enrgaving [sic] to Mr Bentley relative to 'Man as he is Vol 4 [Robert Bage, Man As He Is (1792)- he now wants Mr Bentley's reply, as he wishes to [?] out what is become of the Volume. Bentley adds WB never Saw Man as he is, nor Woman as She Should be.---. The note added in a different hand, Note from Richard Phillips afterwards Sir Richard to Mr. W. Bentley & Mr. Bentley's reply written by himself.

Part of Autograph Letter Signed ('Tho Hughes') to Twining.

Author: 
Thomas Hughes [Thomas Smart Hughes] (1786–1847), historian [Richard Twining (1772-1857), tea and coffee merchant]
Thomas Hughes, historian, Letter
Publication details: 
15 September 1823.
£36.00
Thomas Hughes, historian, Letter

Strip of paper cut from letter, roughly 19 x 9 cm. Poor, on lightly-stained paper, with small section lacking from the breaking open of the seal, resulting in loss of one word. Postmark and fragment of address on reverse: '<...>d Twining Esqr | <...> Strand | London'. Reads 'Yrs very truly | [signed] Tho Hughes | 15 Sepr 1823 | I was glad to hear so tolerable an account of your father: while life continues <...> him, I hope it will please God to render it tolerable'. From the Twining archives.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jane Lane.') to 'Mr. Howarth'.

Author: 
'Jane Lane' [pen name of Elaine Kidner Dakers] (1905-1978), English historical novelist
Jane Lane, historical novelist, letter
Publication details: 
29 January 1956; on her Hampstead letterhead.
£28.00
Jane Lane, historical novelist, letter

4to, 1 p. Ten lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with some creasing at head. The delay in replying is due to 'a rather severe attack of influenza'. She has no photograph to send ('I have been meaning to have some new ones taken, but never seem to get time'), but is 'so glad that my books give you pleasure, & I hope that I shall be able to continue to entertain you with them'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Caroline Lucy Scott') to a solicitor, regarding her will.

Author: 
Caroline Lucy Scott [née Douglas], Lady Scott (1784-1857), Scottish novelist
Caroline Lucy Scott, Scottish novelist
Publication details: 
24 January 1840; Petersham, Surrey.
£125.00
Caroline Lucy Scott, Scottish novelist

4to, 2 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and stained paper. Docketed by the recipient on the reverse of the second leaf. The recipient drew up her will in 1819, but 'the many changes from Deaths &c which have since taken place' mean that it 'no longer expresses my wishes in several particulars'. Asks a number of questions. States that she is 'aware that as a married woman I have no right to make a Will but as in the former distribution of my property Sir George Scott authorized my doing so (as you many remember) so he will now any alteration'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L M. Hawkins') to Richard Twining (tea merchant and East India Company) at Isleworth.

Author: 
Laetitia Matilda Hawkins [Laetitia-Matilda Hawkins] (1759-1835), English novelist from Twickenham; daughter of Sir John Hawkins, biographer of Dr Johnson [Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea merchant]
Publication details: 
11 December 1811; 'Riverside Twickenham | Friday morn'.
£150.00

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Good, on aged paper. Thirty-nine lines of text. Good impression of red wax seal depicting Alexander Pope. In breaking open letter a 7 cm closed tear made to second leaf, and a small part of leaf torn away, and now under seal, with loss to three words of valediction. Slight glue staining from mount at head of verso of second leaf, which carries address and Twining's docketing.

The Carrionflower Writ [complete run of ten issues, from 1 to 9/10 and including 2a].

Author: 
Javant Biarujia, editor [Nosukumo, Melbourne; Ian Birks; Jurate Sasnaitis, Philip Siss; Kris Hemensley; Chris Mann; Raimondo Cortese; Adrian Rawlins; Australian literature]
Publication details: 
Melbourne ('at Labassa'): Nosukumo. 1985 to 1990.
£350.00

Each issue a single broadsheet, folded twice to make eight pages. On different light shades of paper. In good condition. An energetic collection of Australian 'poetry on the margins', with unconvential typography and striking illustration. Described, on cover of issue 3, as 'An art and literary broadsheet issued on an irregular basis'. Poets include Ian Birks, Jurate Sasnaitis, Philip Sipp, Kris Hemensley, Chris Mann, Raimondo Cortese, and Adrian Rawlins. Excessively scarce: no copies of any issues in the British Library, or recorded on COPAC, let alone a complete run.

The Entermores. A Play by John Cowper Powys.

Author: 
John Cowper Powys [Paul Roberts]
Publication details: 
Written by Powys circa 1905. Roberts' transcript 'for a public reading of the play at the Powys Society's Annual Conference', 28 August 1994.
£150.00

8vo, [iii] + 66 pp. Computer printout in plastic binder. Text clear and complete. Creasing to first four leaves, otherwise in very good condition. On title-page: 'ACTING COPY ONLY'. Note by 'C. W.' on next page: 'This version of the script is taken from Paul Roberts' unedited first draft transcription for a public reading of the play at the Powys Society's Annual Conference, at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, at 7.30pm on Sunday, 28th August, 1994. | Where words have still not been deciphered in the transcript, temporary ones have been inserted.

Autograph Signature ('Edward Bradley') on portion of letter to Lady Huntly.

Author: 
Edward Bradley [pseudonym 'Cuthbert Bede' ('Cuthbert M. Bede, B.A.')] (1827-1889), English novelist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£28.00

Text on both sides of a piece of paper 6 x 11 cm. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with a couple of glue marks from previous mounting on reverse. The bottom part of the letter, cut away for the signature. Side with signature reads '<...> yet heard from the Bp. of Petebro on that point. I have to write hastily for our 3.45 post. | Believe me dear Lady Huntly yours very sincerely obliged | [signed] Edward Bradley'. Reverse reads '<...> of the Dining room and Study - & some of the bedrooms - and also paint the whole of the outside of the house.

Seacht mbuaidh an eirghe-amach

Author: 
Padraic O Conaire
Publication details: 
Dublin, 1918.
£150.00

Short stories. First Edition, original brown cloth, minimal damage and staining, mainly good. Scarce.

Autograph Note Signed ('C M Yonge') to unnamed woman.

Author: 
Charlotte Yonge [Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823-1901)], English novelist
Publication details: 
19 December [no year]; Elderfield.
£45.00

On one side of a piece of paper, 9.5 x 7.5 cm. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Minor traces of stub in thin strip along one edge. Reads 'Elderfield | Decr 19 | Dear Madam | The Story you mean is in the Christmas number of the Monthly Packet for 1877 | Yours truly | [signed] C M Yonge'. Docketed on reverse in a contemporary hand 'Miss Charlotte M. Yonge Authoress of The Daisy Chain etc. etc. etc'.

Dorothy Sweete. A Novel.

Author: 
W. I.' [W. Ingram]
Publication details: 
Edinburgh: J. Gardner Hitt, 37 George Street. 1901.
£95.00

12mo, iv + 203 pp. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Rebound in worn green paper wraps, with 'W. I. INGRAM' in manuscript along spine. Unobtrusive 'Sale Duplicate' stamp of the 'BIBLIOTHECA | <?> | EDINENSIS'. The dedication provides a clue to the author: 'To the memory of Jeannie E. D. S. Ingram, once a student in the University of Aberdeen.' Scarce: COPAC only lists copies at the British Library, National Library of Scotland, and Aberdeen.

Autograph Note Signed ('S. Rogers.') to unnamed man.

Author: 
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), English banker and poet
Publication details: 
06/07/48
£45.00

16mo (13.5 x 9 cm), 1 p. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. Good, on aged paper. Traces of brown paper mount adhering to reverse of second leaf. Reads 'You & the young Ladies will be welcome whenever it suits you best. After 2 oClock you will be least liable to Interruption.'

Poems and Ballads of Young Ireland 1888. [Inscribed by the contributor Rose Kavanagh.]

Author: 
Rose Kavanagh (1860-1891), John Todhunter, Katherine Tynan, W. B. Yeats, Patrick Henry, T. W. Rolleston, Charles Gregory Fagan, Ellen O'Leary, Frederick J. Gregg, George Noble Plunkett, contributors
Publication details: 
Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, O'Connell Street. 1888.
£600.00

Wade A289. 12mo: viii + 80 pp and errata slip. In original cream buckram binding, with title and harp decoration in gilt on front board. Black endpapers. Internally tight, on aged and spotted paper. Binding grubby, stained and worn, with slight damage at head and foot of spine. Some ink marking to the fourth stanza of the dedicatory poem to John O'Leary (p.1). Housed in a green solander box. Inscribed at head of title: 'Elizabeth Monteagle from Rose Kavanagh | June 21. 88'.

Visits With Henry Miller: A Woman's Point of View. ['50 - copy Limited/Signed Edition']

Author: 
Mamie Gertz [Henry Miller]
Publication details: 
Ann Arbor, Michigan: Roger Jackson, Publisher, 1995.
£180.00

12mo, 36 pp. In wraps, with art paper flyleaves. Very good. Number 26 in the signed edition of fifty copies, which, according to a note by the publisher, 'contains a second photograph of Mamie and Elmer Gertz, rather than the single photograph which is contained in the Trade Edition [of two hundred copies]'.

Glum-Glum. A Fairy Romance.

Author: 
[Charles Marshall, author?] [Richard Bentley (1794-1871), printer and publisher] [Victorian children's literature]
Publication details: 
London: Richard Bentley, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty, 8 New Burlington Street. 1867. [London: Robson and Son, Great Northern Printing Works, Pancras Road, N.W.]
£200.00

4to (leaf dimensions 20.5 x 16.5 cm): 63 pp. In original grey-green printed wraps. Tight and generally good, but with damp-staining to a few leaves, some wear to corners and creasing and grubbiness to the last three leaves. Wraps worn and grubby. Embossed bookseller's stamp to rear wrap: 'W. H. Smith & Son. 186 Strand, London.' Scarce: COPAC only lists copies at the Bodleian, the National Library of Scotland and the British Library (the last being attributed to 'MARSHALL, Charles, Traveller'). The beginning is reminiscent of Tolkien's 'Hobbit': 'POOR Glum-glum!

Seven Sonnets and A Psalm of Montreal.

Author: 
Samuel Butler [R. A. Streatfeild, ed.]
Publication details: 
Cambridge: Printed for Private Circulation. 1904.
£95.00

12mo, 15 pp. In original green printed wraps. Disbound. Vertical fold. On aged paper with fading to wraps and slight damage to spine from disbinding. As Streatfeild explains in his two-page introductory 'Note', five of the seven poems appear here for the first time. Uncommon. COPAC lists copies at Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oxford and the British Library.

Olive, Cypress and Palm. An Anthology of Love and Death. Compiled by Mina Curtiss.

Author: 
Mina Curtiss, ed. [Ellery Sedgwick, editor of the Atlantic Monthly]
Publication details: 
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company. 1930.
£56.00

8vo: xvii + 296 pp. In original black cloth, with design in silver stamped on front board. No dustwrapper. Faded spine and lightly-marked cloth. Inscribed by Curtiss on front free endpaper: 'To Ellery Sedgwick - | Most gratefully - | Mina Curtiss | Christmas, 1932.'

Two Autograph Letters Signed to Osbert Burdett, both on the subject of his study of the novels of the Dutch writer 'Maarten Maartens'.

Author: 
Norreys Jephson O'Conor (1890-1964), Irish-American poet [Osbert Burdett; 'Maarten Maartens']
Publication details: 
18 and 21 November 1930; both on letterheads of 31 Edwardes Square, Kensington, W8.
£95.00

Both letters 4to, 2 pp. Both texts clear and complete, and both in fair condition, with dog-eared corners. In the first letter O'Conor writes that he has 'heard from Miss Maartens', and that he is sending 'Dr van Maanen's' study of the author. 'Miss Maartens suggests that you and I might meet, which appeals greatly to me, for I enjoyed your review of the Maarten Maartens letters and have also heard about you from my friend John Gould Fletcher.' Gives a time when 'Miss Maartens is coming to the London Library to read some Dutch' for him, and he suggests that Burdett join them.

The Plight of the Creative Artist in the United States of America.

Author: 
Henry Miller [Bern Porter]
Publication details: 
[Houlton, Maine: Bern Porter, 1944.]
£75.00

8vo: paginated 3-38. Four full-page reproductions of Miller's paintings. In original yellow printed wraps. On brittle, aged paper, with the body of the book detached from the wraps, which are worn and with one corner at front creased. Title taken from front wrap. One of 950 numbered copies, signed by the publisher on the final page (beneath 'Publisher's Addendum') 'Bern Porter | 25 South St | Houlton Maine | Copy # 296'. Shifreen &Jackson A37a. Uncommon. Apart from the British Library, COPAC only lists copies at Cambridge, Manchester, Oxford and Bristol.

Elizabeth: or, The Exiles of Siberia. Translated from the French of Madame Cottin.

Author: 
Madame Cottin [Whittingham Press, Chiswick]
Publication details: 
Chiswick: From the Press of C. Whittingham, College House. Sold by R. Jennings, Poultry; T. Tegg, Cheapside; A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall Street; London: J. Sutherland, Edinburgh; and Richard Griffin and Co. Glasgow. 1822.
£180.00

12mo: 123 + [iv] pp. Engraved title (dated 'Octr. 1823') featuring engraving Heath from design by Corbould. Four pages of publisher's advertisements at rear. In contemporary green leather binding with decorative gilt spine and pattern to edges of boards, marbled endpapers and marbling to edges. Contemporary ownership inscription of 'Miss L. Smith'. A tight, sound copy, on lightly-aged paper, with light staining to engraved title, and wear to binding. COPAC only lists copies of this edition at Durham, St Andrews, Oxford and the British Library.

Typed Letter Signed ('Gilbert Murray') to K. W. Luckhurst, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Gilbert Murray [George Gilbert Aimé Murray] (1866-1957), English classical scholar and intellectual, the 'Adolphus Cusins' of Shaw's 'Major Barbara'
Publication details: 
13 February 1941; on embossed letterhead of Vatscombe, Boars Hill, Oxford.
£28.00

Landscape 12mo (12.5 x 20.5 cm), 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper, with pinhole to one top corner. Concerning a meeting at the Society, Murray is 'so glad to hear that His Excellency, the Greek Minister has consented to take the Chair'. 'My lecture on Hellenism will be practically the same as that which I gave on January 21st to the Royal Institution, [...] I hardly think you will wish to print it again, [...] I did not know when accepting your invitation that you proposed to publish the lecture afterwards.

Two copies of the typescript of a humorous poem titled 'Lines Written in Contemplation of the King's Bodyguard for Scotland 1937.'

Author: 
T. B. S.' [T. B. Simpson; Thomas Blantyre Simpson (1892-1954), author and Sheriff of Perth and Angus] [The King's Bodyguard for Scotland]
Publication details: 
1937. [One copy headed in manuscript: 'From T. B. SIMPSON | 11/6/49.']
£75.00

Each of the two typescripts is on one side of a piece of A4 paper. One is signed in type at end 'T. B.S.' and the other (which appears to be mimeographed) carries what is presumably Simpson's signature at head in the manuscript note: 'From T. B. SIMPSON | 11/6/49.' Text of each clear and complete, on creased and aged paper. Apart from the typed signature to the one copy, and the fact that one copy has square brackets and the other curved, the two texts are identical.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Alec Waugh') to 'Dear Burdett'.

Author: 
Alec Waugh [Alexander Raban Waugh (1898-1981), English author, elder brother of Evelyn Waugh
Publication details: 
28 January 1921; on letterhead of Chapman & Hall Ltd, 11 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London WC2.
£56.00

12mo: 2 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. If the recipient visited on the Saturday he would have found that the Waughs were away: 'My wife was developing mumps in London & I was kicking a football. Would tha tit had been any other day.' He thanks him for 'the review of Strachey', which he read with much interest, if partial agreement': 'I think mystic experience lies beyond my compass, & therefore I can hardly judge'. Quotes 'our friend Moore' (the philosopher G. E. Moore?) on the subject.

Visiting card, bearing autograph note to 'Mr Palgrave [Francis Turner Palgrave, 1824-1897?], [and] The Misses Palgrave'.

Author: 
Anna Swanwick (1813-1899), English author, feminist, and translator of Goethe, born in Liverpool
Publication details: 
Undated. Printed address '23, Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park. [London]'
£56.00

Dimensions of card 6 x 9 cm. Good. Printed on the card are the name 'Miss Anna Swanwick,' and the address. Written around the name in MS is 'Mr Palgrave, The Misses Palgrave from [Miss Anna Swanwick] With kindest regards and all the good wishes of the season.'

Pamphlet advertising ''Mr. Joseph Hatton's Dramatic Reading, founded upon his Great Society Novel of English Life and Manners, entitled "The Queen of Bohemia." '

Author: 
Joseph Hatton (1841-1907), English novelist and journalist [Victorian monologues; nineteenth-century dramatic readings; The Palace Hotel, Buxton]
Publication details: 
The Drawing-Room, Palace Hotel, Buxton. Thursday Evening, August 19th, 1880.'
£56.00

4to, 8 pp. Stitched pamphlet on grey paper. Text clear and complete. Good, though somewhat creased, and a little stained. In small type. Divided into two sections: 'Selections from the opinions of the London press' and 'Selections from the opinions of the provincial press'. In a long quotation on the front page: 'Charles Dickens made the practice famous, and Mr. Joseph Hatton has begun his platform career in the same modest, careful, and unpretentious way [...]'. (p.1, 'From General Press Notices').

To Mr. Law. ['One of thirty copies reprinted from the original edition in the Library of Worcester College, Oxford.']

Author: 
Allan Ramsay. [Worcester College, Oxford; Oxford University Press; John Law; South Sea Bubble]
Publication details: 
[1924.] [With facsimile of title of the original anonymous Edinburgh edition of 1720.]
£125.00

Folio pamphlet: 8 pp. In brown wraps with 'TO MR. LAW. BY ALLAN RAMSAY.' on the front wrap and the publication details on its reverse. On aged and lightly-creased paper, in worn, creased wraps. Nicely printed, with the long s, at the University Press. Originally published anonymously in 1720. Facsimile of title ('EDINBURGH: Printed for the AUTHOR at the Mercury, opposite to Niddrey's-Wynd, MDCCXX.'). A scarce (unattributed) Oxford University Press item: of the thirty copies COPAC lists four: at the British Library, Oxford, Cambridge and the National Library of Scotland.

The Lintie o' Moray, being a Collection of Poems, chiefly composed for and sung at the Anniversary of the Edinburgh Morayshire Society. From 1829 to 1841.

Author: 
[George Cumming, ed.; William Hay] [Edinburgh Morayshire Society]
Publication details: 
Forres: Printed at the Gazette Office. 1851.
£180.00

8vo: iv + 82 pp. Erratum slip. In original embossed green cloth, gilt. Rebacked and with new endpapers. Tight copy on aged paper with minor wear to extremities. Inscribed on flyleaf 'To Mrs Wane with The Editor's best regards. April 1858.' Minor manuscript changes (by editor?) to p.2 ('our little volume shall' altered to 'our "Little Warbler" shall'). Anonymously edited, with seven-page 'Preface and Dedication' dated 'London, 1850', by George Cumming. The majority of the songs are by 'W. H.' (i.e. William Hay).

Autograph Signature ('W Gordon-Stables | MD - RN').

Author: 
William Gordon Stables (1840-1910), Scottish Royal Navy physician and writer of adventure stories
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£20.00

On a piece of paper roughly 7 x 10 cm. Laid down on a piece of card. Fair, rucked and grubby, with traces of previous mount adhering to the reverse. Presmuably in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'I wish thee well | [signed] W Gordon-Stables | MD - RN'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to 'Dear France'.

Author: 
Edgar Jepson [Edgar Alfred Jepson] (1863-1938), English writer of detective fiction, sometimes under the name 'R. Edison Page'
Publication details: 
Letter One: 17 May 1907; Hillfarance, Elm Road, Wembley. Letter Two: 29 June 1907; 23 Bath Road, Bedford Park. London W.
£95.00

Both items in fair condition, on lightly-aged and foxed paper. Letter One: 12mo (15 x 10 cm), 1 p. He thanks him 'for the Tickets': 'we are looking forward to seeing you act. I shall be very pleased to come to smoke a cigarette after the first act off the Duel.' ('The Duel' was produced at the Garrick Theatre, London, in 1907.) Letter Two: 12mo, 2 pp. He thanks him 'for the excellent evening you gave me at The Coronet the other night. | The Incubus is an admirable play, and admirably acted.' He hopes France 'had a good week of it': 'I told innumerable people not to miss it.'

Autograph Signature ('Steph: Waller') on detached flyleaf of a book, with shelfmark in autograph.

Author: 
Stephen Waller (1654-1706), son and executor of the poet Edmund Waller (1606-1687)
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£75.00

On a piece of laid paper, roughly 14 x 9 cm. Good, on lightly aged and spotted paper. Reads 'Steph: Waller | (Eng. 21)'. Docketed in ink on lower part of same page: 'Flyleaf of Book from Library o Stephen Waller - 2nd. Son of Edmund Waller, the poet, and one of t Commisisoners appointed by Quee Anne on the Union between Scotland and England -'.

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