PARTY

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. At top of page: 'From: Lord Strabolgi.' Headed beneath the letterhead: 'TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.' Reads: 'This is to certify that Mr. T. Avery Radford worked for me as my Private Secretary when I was Member for Hull, from 1919 to 1921. He performed his duties most efficiently, was entirely reliable and trustworthy, an a great help to me in my political work.

1p., 4to. The salutation 'My dear Rowe,' and the valediction 'Yours sincerely | Hugh Gaitskell' are in Gaitskell's autograph, written in red ink; the rest of the letter is typed. Aged and worn, with discoloration and a small insect crushed onto a blank part. Reads: 'Many thanks for your kind Christmas note and good wishes.

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed 'Cyril Joad'. Written in the same month as Britain and France had declared war, the letter begins: 'I don't know whether you are still running the Sunday Dispatch, but if you are, how about an article on the philosophy which underlies the Nazi rule in Germany?

1p., 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Dear Sir | There is no need to notice the enclosed, beyond sending the writer a copy of the Report, as soon as it is out.'

From the papers of the family of the second wife of the geologist Alexander Henry Green (1832-1896), previously Miss Wilhelmina Maria Armstrong of Clifton. 1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Addressed at bottom left to 'Mrs Wilhelmina Armstrong'. The letter opens: 'Dear Madam | I heartily wish I could see my way – but the clouds of work are growing so thick I cannot see each of them - & my elasticity is failing.' He does not dare undertake anything at the present time, but feels 'grateful & flattered by the invitation'.

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.

At the time of the second letter Mansel was serving his only stint in Parliament, a brief period as Liberal MP for Penryn and Falmouth. ONE (ALS, 13 February 1921): 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He expresses great disappointment regarding the misunderstanding which meant that he and his wife missed coming to lunch with the Mansels.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. He is sending a copy of a note his secretary has 'just sent about an opera box for the next season. | The box we were able to get this year contrasted so poorly with my old "loge entre les colonnes" in Paris that I am afraid my personal tastes would be about as well satisfied without one!' He feels sure that 'with this long notice and with a friendly word' from Higgins, 'something better can be done'. One of the grandest residences in London, Dorchester House was rented by Reid as the American Embassy from 1905.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He declares his belief that he will 'act well in accordance with what I stated on the nomination day in 1857, by pursuing the course followed by me since I have been in parliament, & abstaining from voting either way on the ballot'. The subject is one concerning which he feels 'great difficulty': 'I fully appreciate the evils of intimidation & bribery which the ballot is intended to cure, although I hope that they are gradually diminishing & will be still further diminished when we have fewer small constituencies'.

1p., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Obtrusive stamp at head giving the date of receipt as 28 November 1979, with this date queried in ink. Benn's signature underlined by the recipient in thin red ink. Reads: 'Dear Mrs Kingham: | Forgive the delay. | My life-style is that of a very hard-working M.P. with a wife who teaches & writes & 4 children educated at comprehensive schools. | You shouldn't believe the rubbish you read in the press.'

1p., 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of stub adhering to reverse. Addressed on reverse, with broken seal in red wax and postmarks, to 'Miss Beavan | Brynry Hydd [ i.e. Bryn yr Hydd] | Glasbury | Hay | South Wales'. An expansively-written note, above a similar signature, reading: 'May I request you to read the accompanying Circular, and to give it your favourable consideration?'

Both items in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, and stapled together. Between 1960 and 1963 Morley was producer of ITV current affairs series 'This Week'. ONE: ALS from 'Jeremy' to 'My dear Peter'. 3 June 1960. 1p., 12mo. Enclosing the 'preliminary Memorandum', and giving his contact details at the Liberal Club. 'In Kenya I have very good contacts who cd lay on a private plane (gratis!) to investigate the re-emergence of mau mau. | In the Protectorate I think I cd arrange Transport.' He ends by opining that 'this scheme has possibilities'.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, with the Society's oval date stamp. He thanks him for the 'kindly renewed invitation to lecture at the R.S.A. As you surmise, I am too much engaged at present to put together anything worthy of so august a body.' He is 'collecting material & perhaps at that indefinite date - "after the war" - I may be able to put it into shape'. He concludes: 'We miss you at the Chadwick'.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium on grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. He writes that Marzials is 'some days too late' with his 'kind offer', as both Birrell and his wife have read 'with great pleasure' Marzials's book on Victor Hugo. 'It was a difficult task. (I mean the Life, not the reading of it) I am no judge on such a subject – being a very stay at home sort of fellow, but anyhow you succeeded in pleasing me. What a sensible, <?>, shrewd sort of fellow he was in what way may be called ordinary things.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Hamilton can 'confidently recommend' Peeke 'as a reliable honest & capable footman. He is very steady, a trifle slow at taking in <?> but remembers all he is told. He is a good valet. Lord George is sorry to lose him.'

The two parts, apparently from different letters, are both on bifoliums: the first, numbered '2', is 4pp., 12mo; the second, numbered '5', is 4pp., 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged. The second bifolium signed at end: 'Best Wishes to Mrs C. | Yrs | J B. Askew'. Written in a neat if somewhat eccentric hand. The first bifolium begins: '[…] is very sore. Nothing will be done at the Congress except Bebel [August Bebel (1840-1913), German socialist] will speak and move a resolution to the effect that the Party stands by its present program and tactics.

7pp., 12mo. On two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged. She feels she has 'two reasons for approaching' Bondfield, at the time Minister of Labour: 'I believe you are a Somerset woman, & know that you are interested in the question of housing.' She hopes that 'in any plans for bettering housing conditions that this government may make, the state of rural workers' homes may not be overlooked. You are probably as familiar as I am with the horrors of the “Country Slum”.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He asks her to say, 'in answer to the enquiries of Mr. Wiles that Lord Chandos comes forward as a Member of the Conservative party & a supporter of Lord Derby in opposition to the heterogenous combination found under Lord Palmerston'.

1p., 12mo. On grey paper with black border. In fair condition, aged, and laid down on paper with watered silk backing (the endpaper of an album?). In reply to Cubitt's letter he writes that his 'list is extremely full but that I have sent for young Mr. Edmonds on the chance that I shall be able to make room for him.' Edmonds has 'not yet come or answered the summons'.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition. He thanks her for 'the very pleasant glimpse of yourself and your family which I got last Saturday to Monday'. He hopes she will excuse the delay in acknowledging her 'kind and graceful hospitality'.

In Wyatt-Paine's obituary The Times (13 April 1935) described him as 'probably one of the most learned lawyers who ever held the office of stipendiary magistrate'. Both items in good condition, lightly aged, and both bearing the Society's date stamp. ONE: 12 August 1913. 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. The letter concerns the Swiney Prize, regarding which Wyatt-Paine has 'perused a notice [...] which states that the prospective award in January 1914 will be made for a treatise on "General Jurisprudence"'.

The three items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: Long to Harington, 2 September 1897. 2pp., 12mo. He thanks him for his 'courteous letter' and is sending 'another memo. dealing with points raised by you'. He continues: 'We, of course, do not imagine that our orders and procedure are beyond criticism or are faultless - but we are supported by the Committee, & by the large majority of experts.

Page of album, 16 x 12.5cm, green, signs of removal along one sl. jagged edge, good condition.

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly-aged, with traces of grey paper mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Thirty-seven lines of text. The letter is written to the anonymous author of 'Decimal coinage. The plan of the mathematicians rejected by commercial and practical men' (London: Ridgway, 1858), who has sent his work to Monteagle.

Paper wraps, 156pp., folio, stapled, edges slightly ragged, minor damage and marking to last page, text complete. No copy on COPAC, a few copies on WorldCat (description either complicated or confusing or inaccurate).

15pp., 8vo. Stapled. With stamp on cover of the 'Secretary – National Party, | 23 Kilvert's Buildings, | Withy Grove, | Manchester.' In good condition, lightly aged and worn. List at front of 27 'Members of both Houses of Parliament and other public men' who issued the 'original Manifesto', from 'Colonel Lord Ampthill, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E.' to 'Lt.-Col. Lord Stafford, D.S.O.' Headings include 'Failure of the old Party System' and 'Aims of the National Party'.

A significant collection of documents relating to the secret effort, at the end of the Second World War, to prepare officers of the British and allied armed forces for the coming occupation of Germany. Excessively scarce: the only other holdings appear to be in the British National Archives, and the Maurice M. Goodner papers (OAC), the latter relating to a later Parisian branch of the school.

A useful background guide is Geoffrey Russell Searle's 'Country before Party: Coalition and the Idea of "National Government' in Modern Britain, 1885-1987' (London, 1995). As the manuscripts in this collection indicate, Cuming Walters cherished the idea of a national party from the 1890s, and he was able to re-use material from that period on the formation of the National Party in 1920 (not to be confused with the party of the same name, a pamphlet relating to which is present, dating from 1917).

1p., 4to. On aged and worn paper. The letterhead features a photographic portrait of Dutt. Written the day after the General Election, in which Dutt came third in the Sparkbrook constituency, with fewer than two thousand votes. As Shields is leaving in the morning, he feels compelled to write to him 'to express what we all feel about the wonderful way you have handled the press job. It has been masterly, and every other constituency might well be jealous of us.' He ends with 'Millions of thanks, cheers and congratulations'. From the Jimmy Shields papers.

5pp., 8vo. On five foolscap leaves, with duplicate copy of p.4 present. In good condition, lightly aged.