NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

[James Wyatt, geologist and editor of the Bedford Times.] Autograph Letter Signed ('James Wyatt') [to the geologist/antiquary Samuel Sharpe], regarding geology, James Hervey, the qualities of a schoolmaster moved from Bedford to Northamptonshire.

Author: 
James Wyatt (1816-1878), geologist and editor and proprietor of the Bedford Times [Samuel Sharp (1814-1882), geologist and antiquary]
Publication details: 
3 April 1872. Bedford.
£56.00

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from tipping-in affecting the lower part and underlining of Wyatt's expansive signature. Folded twice. 71 lines of text. Note in pencil at head of first page states that the letter was 'sent to Saml. Sharpe of Northampton author of The Moabite Stone', but the writer of the note has confused the Egyptologist Samuel Sharpe (1799-1881) with the real recipient, the geologist and antiquary Samuel Sharp (1814-1882), for both of whom see the Oxford DNB.

[ Thomas Burnham, Northampton bookseller of the Georgian period. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos. Burnham'), regarding an 'ingenious Catalogue', 'Stewarts Athens' and 'Mr. Hayes's Account'.

Author: 
Thomas Burnham (fl. 1790-1819), Northampton bookseller [ Burnham & Birdsall ]
Publication details: 
Northampton. 18 January 1809.
£120.00

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged paper with small spike hole at head. He thanks the unnamed recipient for his 'obliging letter' and 'ingenious Catalogue', and 'would have acknowledged the receipt sooner' had he not been waiting for 'an opportunity of conveying the same free of expence'. The recipient is 'welcome' to the copy of 'Stewarts Athens' at his 'own price' of two guineas. Burnham has 'adjusted Mr. Hayes's Account with the balance of onepound [sic] ffifteenshillings [sic]', and begs 'to thank that Gentleman for the same'.

[ The Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834 ] Printed 'Order for the keeping, examining, and auditing of the Accounts of the above Union, and of the several Parishes of which it is composed.

Author: 
J. G. S. Lefevre and Geo. Nicholls, Poor Law Commissioners [ Brixworth Union, Northamptonshire, Old or Wold Parish; Rev. Richard Harington; Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834 ]
Publication details: 
Poor Law Commission, London. [14] November 1835. [ London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons, 14, Charing Cross. ]
£400.00

A significant document, being the first government instruction manual for the completing of accounts folllowing the great changes ushered in by the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. 30pp., 8vo. Stitched and unbound. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with vertical closed tear to foot of first leaf. Embossed seal on red paper of the Poor Law Commission of England and Wales on front page, together with red 'Office Copy' stamp. The word 'Brixworth' has been added in manuscript on the first page, with 'Old or Wold' above it.

[ Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834. ] 30 documents (20 printed and 10 in manuscript) relating to the Old or Wold Parish, Brixworth Union, Northants, including forms, notrices, returns, correspondence.

Author: 
Brixworth Union, Northamptonshire, Old or Wold Parish; Rev. Richard Harington; Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834; J. G. S. Lefevre, T. F. Lewis and G. Nicholls; Richard Earle ]
Publication details: 
The Poor Law Commission for England and Wales, London. Old or Wold Parish, Brixworth Union, Northamptonshire. Dating from between 1835 and 1840.
£1,500.00

30 documents, 20 printed and 10 in manuscript. In good overall condition, on aged paper, with slight wear to some items. A significant and interesting collection, from the papers of Rev. Richard Harington (1800-1853, later Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford), Guardian of the Poor in the Parish of Old or Wold, Brixworth Union, Northamptonshire.

[Proof engraving of 'The Welcome Coffee House' (Moreton Pinkney, Northamptonshire?) ] Manuscript Letter, signed 'Pro S. W. Partridge & Co | F. N', to W. H. Dunlop, enclosing a proof engraving from the 'Coffee Public News'.

Author: 
[ S. W. Partridge & Co., 9 Paternoster Row, London publishers ] [Samuel William Partridge (1810-1903); W. H. Dunlop (proprietor?), The Welcome Coffee House (Moreton Pinkney, Northamptonshire?) ]
Publication details: 
S. & W. Partridge & Co., 9 Paternoster Row, London. 25 October 1880.
£120.00

Both the engraving and the letter are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ENGRAVING: Dimensions of image: 5.5 x 9 cm. Dimensions of paper: 12 x 18 cm. In black ink. The coffee house, with signage, is shown behind an old stone wall, in front of a country house. It is built like a barn with a taller structure beside it (possibly a reading room). LETTER: 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium.

[Rev. Henry Erskine Gedge.] Autograph diary of 'Our Life, Social and Domestic', covering 40 years including 16 years as chaplain at the Chapelle Victoria de Grasse, on the French Riviera. With copy of anonymous printed booklet 'A Family Gathering'

Author: 
Henry Erskine Gedge (1832-1913), Vicar of Brixworth, Northamptonshire, Chaplain at the Chapelle Victoria de Grasse, son of Rev. Sydney Gedge (1802-1883; ODNB) [Alice de Rothschild]
Publication details: 
The diary covering the years between 1873 and 1913. The booklet, without publication details, privately printed in 1877.
£450.00

Gedge's short obituary in The Times, 24 March 1913, contains the following brief account of his career: 'Mr. Gedge was a scholar of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he was Carus and Scholefield prizeman, and obtained a first class in the examination for theological honours in 1857. He was ordained in the diocese of Lichfield, and was for seven years vicar of Brixworth, Northamptonshire.

Eighteenth-century transcription of inscription relating to the Eleanor Cross, Geddington, Northamptonshire, filled with errors and describing its restoration in 1712. From the papers of John Blackburne of Orford Hall, Warrington.

Author: 
[Queen Eleanor of Castile, wife of King Edward I of England; Eleanor Cross, Geddington, Northamptonshire; John Blackburne (1694-1786) of Orford Hall, Warrington, naturalist and horticulturalist]
Publication details: 
Without place or date[1750s?].
£120.00

1p., landscape 12mo. On aged and lightly-creased laid paper ('PRO PATRIA' watermark), with chipping to extremities. On reverse, in another hand: 'At Northampton a Monument at the Inn'.

Manuscript document relating to the Whittlewood Disafforesting Act of 1855, with 'Extract from Plan of the Forest of Whittlewood in the Counties of Northampton and Buckingham (In Three Parts) Part 2. Wakefield Walk and Hanger Walk'.

Author: 
T. R. Fearnside, Keeper of the Land Revenue Records; William Fry Channell; George Wingrove Cooke; Nathan Wetherell [The Whittlewood Disafforesting Act of 1855; Whittlewood Forest, Northamptonshire]
Publication details: 
Copy certified as correct by T. R. Fearnside, Keeper of the Records, 13 February 1860. Plan originally dated 'this 8th. day of July 1856'.
£120.00

Consisting of a manuscript transcription of a document allotting portions of the forest 'for the exclusive pasturage of the Commonable Cattle', and an accompanying coloured map or plan on cloth. The whole folded into a 34 x 12 cm. packet, within a covering leaf docketed: 'Dated 8th. July 1856 | Extract from Award of Commissioners under the Whittlewood Disafforesting Act of 1855 -'. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, but with the covering leaf heavily aged and discoloured. The transcription consists of 3pp., 4to, neatly written out on three stamped 41.5 x 34 cm.

Autograph note signed to the Revd Mr. Lye (perhaps Edward Lye - see DNB)

Author: 
Peter Whalley
Publication details: 
29 Sept. 1766
£100.00

Author and editor (1722-1791). Two pages, 4to. comprising a note and a list of questions, a tear but not affecting text. Whalley requests Lye's help in getting answers to these questions concerning the history of Easton (Northants), a history drawn "from Mr Bs [Bridges'] Collections". Whalley eventually published "History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire" compiled from Bridges' manuscript collections in 1791.

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