OFFICE

Autograph Letter Signed from John Streatfeild, Clerk in the Home Department, Whitehall, to William Hamilton, British Consul at the Port of Boulogne, concerning the Letters Patent granting Hamilton 'the Dignity of a Knight Bachelor'.

Author: 
John Streatfeild (1811-1883) of Sea Beach House, Eastbourne, Clerk at the Home Department, Whitehall [Sir William Hamilton (1788-1877), British Consul at the Port of Boulogne]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. 8 February 1873.
£80.00

2pp., 4to. On bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Wm. Hamilton Esq'. Streatfeild has received directions from 'Mr. Secretary Bruce' granting Hamilton 'the Dignity of a Knight Bachelor of the United Kingdom'. Hamilton is to place £96 14s 6d in Streatfeild's account at Drummond's Bank in Charing Cross, 'being the Account & the Expenses attending the passing of the Patent under the Great Seal'. Streatfeild will 'proceed with the Patent as soon as you inform me whether the enclosed is your proper description'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the dramatist and editor of 'Punch' Tom Taylor to J. Watkins [the photographer John Watkins?], regarding the construction of a case for a portrait of him.

Author: 
Tom Taylor (1817-1880), playwright and comic writer, author of 'The Ticket of Leave Man' (1863) and editor of 'Punch' [John & Charles Watkins, London photographers]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Local Government Act Office, 8 Richmond Terrace, Whitehall; 30 January [1864?].
£60.00

3pp., 8vo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with remains of stub along one edge. Second leaf inserted into a paper windowpane mount. Written in a hurried and difficult hand. Taylor writes that he wishes to have a portrait put into a case 'by the workman you employ for such work'. He gives instructions, concluding 'The portrait I think the most satisfactory that has yet been taken of me.' The National Portrait Gallery possesses an albumen carte-de-visite of Taylor ('1864 or before') by John & Charles Watkins.

Manuscript reminder from the Lord Chamberlain [Marquess of Breadalbane] to the Manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden [Frederick Gye the younger], that 15 November 1849 is a Public Day of Thanksgiving, to be 'reverently and devoutly observed'.

Author: 
John Campbell (1796-1862), 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane, Lord Chamberlain from 1848 to 1852) [Frederick Gye (1810-1878), manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden [now the Royal Opera House]
Publication details: 
Lord Chambelain's Office [London]; 10 November 1849.
£180.00

1p., folio. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight staining to blank reverse. Fairly written out on a piece of Britannia laid paper. 'Lord Chamberlain's Office | 10th. November 1849. | The Lord Chamberlain thinks it right to draw the attention of the Manager of the Theatre Royal Covent Garden to The Queen's Proclamation of the 6th. Instant, in which Her Majesty, for the Reasons therein stated, earnestly exhorts that the Public Day of Thanksgiving, the 15th. Instant be reverently and devoutly observed'.

Autograph Letter Signed "Vassall Holland", Whig politician, to Francis Palgrave, historian, father of the anthologist, concerning his project to publish National Records.

Author: 
Henry Richard Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland (1773-1840), Whig Politician.
Publication details: 
No place, 29 Jan. 1822
£250.00

Four pages, cr. 8vo, good conditon. "I have to thank you for your letter & enclosure.

Autograph Letter Signed from Sir Gilbert Mackereth ('Gilbert Mackereth'), British Consul at Damascus, to Ernest Gye of the Foreign Office, on his posting to Tangier, and including a discussion of British artists there.

Author: 
Sir Gilbert Mackereth (1892-1962), British army officer and diplomat [Ernest Frederick Gye (1879-1955), diplomat; Damascus, Syria; Henry Bishop (1868-1939), RA, British artist]
Publication details: 
On letterheads of the British Consulate, Damascus; 21 January 1933.
£75.00

8 pp, 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Dear Ernest'. He begins by congratulating Gye on his promotion and 'on going to Tangier - a delightful spot'. It is however 'very sad' that Gye's 'guiding hand over our destinies will no longer be there in the Office'. He thanks Gye for his 'kindness' and 'sympathy': 'My path has lain along uneventful ways and it has been an untold solace to feel you did not despise those who had mearly [sic] to 'stand & wait''.

[Printed pamphlet.] Observations on the Use and Abuse of Red Tape for the Juniors in the Eastern, Western, and American Departments. [Inscribed by the author Sir Thomas Henry Sanderson, and with two marginal notes by Sir V. Wellesley.]

Author: 
'T. H. S.' [Sir Thomas Henry Sanderson (1841-1923) of the Foreign Office] [Sir Victor Wellesley (1876-1954), diplomat]
Observations on the Use and Abuse of Red Tape for the Juniors
Publication details: 
Dated 'October 1891.'
£120.00
Observations on the Use and Abuse of Red Tape for the Juniors

8vo, 14 pp (followed by blank leaf). Unbound and stitched. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Drophead title. With 'PRIVATE' in print in the top left-hand corner of the first page, and '[285]' in the bottom left-hand corner. Dated in type at end 'T. H. S. | October 1891.' Sanderson's inscription, at the head of the first page, reads 'From the Author | [signed] S | Sept. 1918'. From the collection of Sir Victor Wellesley, and with two marginal notes by him.

Collection of material relating to the designers and typographers Banks and Miles [Colin Banks; John Miles], assembled by Montague Shaw for his monograph on the firm.

Author: 
Banks and Miles, designers and typographers [Colin Banks (1932-2002); John Miles; Monty Shaw [Montague Shaw; the Post Office; British Telecom; London Underground]
Publication details: 
Dating from between 1988 to 1991.
£450.00

Monty Shaw's 'Banks and Miles: Thirty Years of Design Evolution' was supposedly published by Lund Humphries (London) in February 1993 but no copy can be found on the internet (one listed on WorldCat appears to be a ghost).. This collection, in a buff card folder, contains material relating to Shaw's monograph, grouped as follows: ONE.

Circulars 900 to 938 from the Marine Superintendent's Office, Cunard White Star Limited, to 'The Captain, Chief Officer All Ships'. With tables acknowledging receipt by each ship's chief officer.

Author: 
[Marine Superintendent's Office, Cunard White Star Limited]
Cunard White Star Line
Publication details: 
7 July 1937 to 14 September 1938 to Circulars addressed from 'Marine Superintendent's Office, Cunard White Star Limited, Cunard Building, Liverpool 3'.
£220.00
Cunard White Star Line

Laid down on 62 folio pages (paginated 106 to 167), disbound from a log book. All texts clear and complete. Fair, on worn, aged paper, with light staining (not affecting text) to first leaf. The circulars are mimeographed and typed, with facsimile signatures. Beneath each circular is a box table giving the date the circular was sent to each ship, with name of ship and chief officer, and the date the circular was acknowledged.

Typewritten draft ('Provisional Specification') by George William Dennistoun Scott of his patent application for 'Improvements in or relative to variable speed reducing gears', with manuscript descriptions of the invention, initialed by him.

Author: 
George William Dennistoun Scott, engineer and inventor [Patents Office; inventions;motor car bicycles; bicycling]
George William Dennistoun Scott, engineer and inventor
Publication details: 
Draft dated 26 May 1905. [London.]
£165.00
George William Dennistoun Scott, engineer and inventor

A native of Derby, Scott is a notable figure in the history of the development of the bicycle. In 1878, together with George Henry Phillott, he seems to have received the first practicable patent (No. 860 of 1878) for an epicyclic change-speed gear for cycles. All items clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The typewritten draft, in blue ink, with a few manuscript corrections, covers two folio pages.

Typed Letter Signed from Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas, on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain, to W. P. Meldrum 'on the subject of the appointment of District Surgeon in the Federated Malay States'.

Author: 
Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas (1853-1931), KCB, KCMG, Welsh civil servant, head of the Dominion Department, and Principal of the Working Men's College [Joseph Chamberlain; Federated Malay States]
Typed Letter Signed from Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas
Publication details: 
15 October 1901; from Downing Street, on letterhead of the Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office, London.
£56.00
Typed Letter Signed from Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas

Folio, 2 pp. Thirty-three lines in eight numbered paragraphs. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and worn paper, with pinholes at head of both leaves. The first page with mourning border for Queen Victoria. Responding to a letter to Chamberlain written four days previously, and giving details of the appointment (pension, furniture, horse allowance).

[Printed British parliamentary report.] Australasia. Correspondence relating to the Naval Defence of Australia and New Zealand. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty, October, 1908.

Author: 
[British Parliamentary report into the naval defence of Australia and New Zealand, 1908] [HMSO]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for His Majesty's Stationery Office, by Darling & Son, Ltd, London. 1908.
£75.00

Folio, iv + 56 pp. Stitched. In original blue printed wraps. Text clear and complete. Internally good, on lightly-aged high-acidity paper. Wraps worn and a little chipped, with a few closed tears. Wraps carrying Hull University withdrawal stamps.

Nine prints of group photographs of inmates at the first Borstal Prison [at Borstal, near Rochester, Kent] and six of inmates at the second Borstal Prison, at Feltham in Hounslow. With two of a portrait of a prison officer. With the six negatives.

Author: 
Maurice Lyndham Waller (1875-1932), Chairman of the Prison Commission 1921-1928; Prison Commissioner, 1910-1921; Feltham Young Offenders Institution; Captain W. V. Eccles, Governor of Borstal Prison]
Nine prints of group photographs of inmates at the first Borstal Prison
Publication details: 
[Pre-First World War.]
£250.00
Nine prints of group photographs of inmates at the first Borstal Prison

All photographic prints and negatives roughly 8.5 x 14.5 cm. Prints all black and white. The collection aged, but in good condition overall. The pictures of inmates all landscape, and the two of the officer portrait. The boys are arranged in three or four rows, with as many as forty present in one image. The images are all taken outdoors and in front of prison buildings, the windows in the Feltham images being barred, and the windows in the Borstal images plain glass.

Manuscript 'Memorandum' of 1883 by 'H. B.', headed 'Confidential', dealing with 'the reasons why the Officers of the Garrison Artillery should be separated from the Field Artillery, and why they should be more highly paid'. With 'Supplementary Memo:'

Author: 
[British Army; Royal Artillery; Garrison Artillery; Victorian military history; the War Office]
British Army; Royal Artillery; Garrison Artillery; Victorian military history; t
Publication details: 
Both items dated 19 August 1883, and both on official British government letterheads.
£180.00
British Army; Royal Artillery; Garrison Artillery; Victorian military history; t

Texts of both items clear and complete. Both on grey paper, each leaf headed with an embossed governmental crest. The 'Memorandum' proper is of ten numbered folio pages, on ten leaves held together with a brass stud. The first page headed 'Confidential' and the last dated 'H. B. | 19th. August 1883' Begins: 'The separation of the N. C.

[Printed British 1944 'Notice for posting' by the Baking Trade Board (England and Wales), on 'Proposal to vary minimum rates of wages for workers employed in the south western district'. [Including table of 'Proposed General Mimium Time Rates'.]

Author: 
G. H. Tregear, Secretary, Baking Trade Board (England and Wales) [Office of Trade Boards; Second World War]
Printed British 1944 'Notice for posting' by the Baking Trade Board
Publication details: 
'3/44' [i.e. March 1944]. 'Issued by order of the Trade Board' [i.e. the Baking Trade Board (England and Wales)].
£56.00
Printed British 1944 'Notice for posting' by the Baking Trade Board

Printed on one side of a long sheet, equivalent to two leaves of landscape 4to on top of one another. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The opening paragraph lays out the purpose of the notice: 'The Baking Trade Board (England and Wales) hereby give notice that they propose to vary for certain classes of workers in certain areas the minimum rates at present operative in the trade and set out in the Trade Board's Notices BK. (SW.) and BK. (19).

Autograph Note, Third Person, Charles D'Eyncourt , Tennyson's uncle, to the G.P.O., giving forwarding address.

Author: 
Charles (Tennyson) D'Eyncourt. Tennyson's uncle [Postal History]
Charles (Tennyson) D'Eyncourt. Tennyson's uncle [Postal History]
Publication details: 
6 June 1844.
£65.00
Charles (Tennyson) D'Eyncourt. Tennyson's uncle [Postal History]

Two pages, 12mo, bifoliate, section (presumed postal history or blank) from second leaf. Addressed to General Post Office, countersigned D'Eyncourt. Text of note: Mr. d'Eyncourt will be obliged to the officers of the G.P.O. to send his Letters to | No.1 John Street St James's Sqre | 6 June 1844. From 48 Dover Street in different hand at top of page. Verso of note is stamped No. [8527] Regd. June 7 1844 with notes by various employees of the GPO who were putting the request into effect.

Draft manuscript, docketed 'Answers to Queries', giving detailed information (by a secretary for a British minister?), regarding the nature and set-up of the newly-restored Bourbon government in post-Napoleonic France.

Author: 
[The Bourbon government in post-Napoleonic France; 1816; Duke of Wellington; British Foreign Office]
The Bourbon government in post-Napoleonic France
Publication details: 
On paper with Britannia watermark and 'W M | 1816'.
£350.00
The Bourbon government in post-Napoleonic France

Folio, 4 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. On aged and creased paper, with some wear and chipping to extremities. Previously folded into a packet docketed in a contemporary hand 'Answers to Queries'. The first page begins with 'Ansr. 1.', a list of ten ministers, from '1. The Duke of Richelieu President of the Council of Ministers & of the Privy Council & Min: Sec: of State having the Dept. of Foreign Affairs.' and ending with '10. Director general Count Pradel'. P. 1 also features 'Question 2 | Answer A', beginning 'The Members of the Govt.

Public Record Office manuscript copy of the Census Schedules for the whole of England (excluding London) in 1841.

Author: 
[1841 Census; Public Record Office]
Publication details: 
[Early twentieth-century?]
£225.00

Folio, 65 pp. In a number of hands. Clear and complete. Heavily aged, in worn binding with front board and flyleaf detached. Many of the leaves are blindstamped at the head with the royal crest. With stamps of the Public Record Office Library, and withdrawal stamp from 'TNA Library' (The National Archives Library) dated 28 July 2007. At head of flyleaf: 'This volume is a manuscript copy of C 1 3 on the search room shelves'. A finding aid, numerating the census returns for the districts of the various counties from Bedford to Yorkshire, Wales, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man.

Small archive of 22 Typed Letters Signed ('Frank Baines') and one Autograph Letter Signed, to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, with documents including a draft speech by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, with Baldwin's emendations.

Author: 
Sir Frank Baines (1877-1933), British architect, Director of Works, Her Majesty's Office of Works [Stanley Baldwin]
Publication details: 
1927 to 1928; on letterheads of the Director of Works, H.M. Office of Works, and 34, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C.2. [London].
£450.00

The collection is in very good condition, on slightly aged and dusty paper. Several items bear the Society's stamp. An interesting and significant correspondence. The letters, in a variety of formats from 12mo to foolscap, are often long, and are written in an informal tone. Indicating Baines's deep involvement in the Society's affairs, they most significantly concern an appeal, organised by Baines on behalf of the Society, 'for the preservation of the cottage architecture of Great Britain', with the backing and involvement of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Julian Pauncefote') to his subordinate at the Washington Legation, 'Barry'.

Author: 
Julian Pauncefote (1828-1902), 1st Baron Pauncefote, British diplomat
Publication details: 
19 September 1891; on letterhead of the British Legation, Washington (with that city replaced in manuscript by 'Newport R.S.')
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. In bifolium. 42 lines. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. He thanks him for the news of the 'progress of repairs &c at the Legation', and approves 'of your having ordered extra help to scrub the floors after all the mess which no doubt the workmen left behind them "more americano".' The former state of the 'kitchen flue [...] may account for the apparent inefficiency of the old Range'. He will return on the 'arrival of the next F.O. Bag on Monday'. Gives his travel plans.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. C Lyall') to Lane-Poole.

Author: 
Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall (1835-1911), Indian civil servant, poet and historian [Stanley Lane-Poole (1854-1931), British orientalist and archaeologist,]
Publication details: 
Undated; Flitwick, Swift Hill (on cancelled letterhead of 16 Queen's Gate, London S.W.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. Nine lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with a neat cut (not affecting text) neatly repaired on reverse. The Registrar at the India Office has informed Lyall that Lane-Poole's name is 'on the list of those to whom the India Archaeological Reports are sent'.

Handbill headed 'UNIONIST SONGS. FOR POLITICAL MEETINGS. To be sung to Popular Airs. WORDS BY "VAN." '

Author: 
Van' [Ulster Unionism; Unionist; Conservative Party]
Publication details: 
March 1892; Published by the Conservative Publication Department, St. Stephen's Chambers, Westminster, S.". [Printed by the "Birmingham Daily Gazette" Co., Limited.]
£100.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 22 x 14.5 cm), 4 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. On lightly-worn and aged paper. Excessively scarce: no copy in the British Library, on COPAC, or on WorldCat. Five songs: 'The Union Jack. Air "Nancy Lee." ', 'The Shamrock, Thistle, & Rose. Air "The British Grenadiers." ', 'The Unionists' song. Air "The Mermaid." ', 'Here's To Our Cause. Air "Drink, Puppy, Drink." ' and 'Loud Roars The Gladstone Thunder. Air "Bay Of Biscay." '

Draft Autograph Letter, probably incomplete (lacking signature page), to "St John". WITH related material.

Author: 
George Wyndham
Publication details: 
"Private / Draft / 25 Oct. 1904".
£500.00

(Wyndham) Statesman and man of letters, at the time of this letter Chief Secretary fo Ireland (see DNB). Three pages, 4to, good condition, draft with much working over. He appreciates being given detailed grounds for a proposal that Sir Anthony Macdonnell [MacDonnell, Antony Patrick, Baron MacDonnell, statesman, of Irish origin] , currently working with Wyndham in Ireland might be made available in the Indian Council, a matter of urgency. He explains at length his high opinion of Macdonnell (energy, ability, distinction, etc.) and his reluctance to part with him.

Printed pamphlet issued by the General Post Office, London, titled 'AIR MAIL', with table giving details of postal rates and services to various countries.

Author: 
General Post Office, London; Air Mail ,1927 [airmail; British postal history]
Publication details: 
P.635. Issued, June, 1927.' ['B. & F., Ltd.']
£125.00

Large 8vo (33 x 21 cm), 6 pp. Four-leaf pamphlet, with the final leaf blank. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper, with minor rust marks from removed staples. On the first page are twelve sections under the headings 'Letter Air Mails' and 'Parcel Air Mails'. The following four pages carry the table of 'Letter Air Mails', in columns with headings including Route, Air Fee, and Observations. The final page contains a table of 'Parcel Air Mails' and further observations.

Autograph Letter Signed to Bobbie [?].

Author: 
George Cunningham [regarding rumours of Russian troop movements at the beginning of the 1st World War and other subjects]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Privy Council Office, Whitehall, S.W.; 3 September 1914.
£50.00

4 pages, 8vo. Creased and grubby but in good condition overall. Interesting letter in difficult hand. Opens by sending his deepest sympathy: 'I can sympathise having as you know been personally damaged by a falling branch last Xmas.' 'Officially we have given up contradicting the <?> prevalent rumours of Russian Troops moving through Great Britain. The Germans may hear of the rumours - may believe them: [^ that may do good;] but there is no truth in them at all. Barring a few Russian reservists who were in this country no Russian troops have been sent to France.

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 Letter Signed ('Harold Butler') to 'Harlech'.

Author: 
Harold Beresford Butler (1883-1951), Deputy Director (1920-1932) and Director (1932-8), International Labour Office; British Minister to USA (1942-6) [William Ormsby-Gore (1885-1964), Baron Harlech]
Publication details: 
11 June 1938; on letterhead (in English and French) of the International Labour Office, League of Nations.
£38.00

8vo, 2 pp. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is 'sorry' that Harlech has 'left the Colonial Office, upon which you have produced such a profound and salutary effect'. From the point of view of the I.L.O.

Northern Territory Land Orders. Ballot for Order of Choice, held at Adelaide, on the 10th & 11th May, 1870. Reprinted and forwarded by the Agent-General for the information of Land Order Holders in England.

Author: 
Australian Northern Territory Land Orders, 1870 ballot
Publication details: 
[London: Agent General's Office? 1870.]
£150.00

3 pp, in a bifolium. Leaf dimensions 33.5 x 21 cm. Clear and complete. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Each page divided into four columns of small type, each column headed 'LONDON REGISTER' and containing numbers under three heads: the first being 'No. of Land Order', and the other two, jointly under 'Order of Choice', being 'Town Lots' and 'Country Sections'. Beneath heading: 'NOTE.

Regulations and Instructions relating to the Royal Marine Forces, when on shore.[Copy, from the 'Barrack Office' at Chatham, printed ] [Containing section on 'Infirmaries', and appendix on 'Vaccine Inoculation'.] With manuscript additions.

Author: 
Admiralty Regulations, Royal Marines, 1819 [Barrack Office, Chatham Division; Royal Navy; naval and military; vaccination; inoculation]
Publication details: 
[Undated.] In manuscript on front board: 'Admiralty Regulations 1819. Barrack Office Chatham Division'.
£450.00

4to: 120 + [19] pp. The last 19 unpaginated pages comprise the appendix, divided into 18 parts. Text clear and complete. On aged and foxed paper. Original boards rebacked in leather, with title on spine and new free endpapers. Title-leaf carries no date or printing details. In manuscript scored through on reverse: 'Adjutants Office by order | [signed?] T. G. Gascoigne | Adjutant', with crude drawings. The first section (pp.3-39) is headed 'BY the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, &c.

Archive of thirty-four Autograph Letters Signed and fifty-two Typed Letters Signed, to Baker, with two Autograph Letters Signed from Campion's wife, and drafts of three of Baker letters (two autograph and one typed), exhibition catalogue, etc.

Author: 
Sidney Ronald Campion (1891-1978), O.B.E., F.R.S.A., English sculptor, painter and author [Edward Cecil Baker (1902-), M.B.E., Post Office Librarian [Archivist?]]
Publication details: 
1953 to 1978. 22 Erridge Road, Merton Park, Wimbledon (until 1971); 13 Argyle Court, Argyle Road, Southport (from 1972).
£250.00

The archive is in very good condition, with very slight creasing and aging, and with all items entirely legible. Most items quarto, and most of two pages or more (one running to seven pages). One letter has the head and first paragraph cut away. All but the first two items, which date from 1953 and are signed 'Sidney R Campion', are signed 'Sidney'. The bulk of the correspondence dates from the 1970s. An important archive consisting almost exclusively of long, interesting and discursive letters addressed to a close and trusted friend.

Letter 'by the hand of an amanuensis' to the poet and biblical scholar the Rev. Henry Alford (1810-1871).

Author: 
Charles Mackay (1814-1889), Scottish poet and journalist
Publication details: 
7 March 1853; 21 Brecknock Crescent, Camden Road Villas, [London].
£45.00

Three pages, 12mo. Very good: lightly aged and with the merest glue spot to blank verso of second leaf of bifolium. Mackay's 'signature' appears to be in the same hand as the rest of the letter. He has had a 'severe attack of inflammation of the eye', and this has prevented him from reading or writing during the previous week. For the same reason he is replying to Alford's letter of 1 March through an amanuensis. Three weeks previously Mackay 'received a packet from Mr.

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