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[ The Brentford Mechanics' Institution. ] Printed library ticket.

Author: 
[ Brentford Mechanics' Institution, established 1835 ] [ Brentford, town in Middlesex, now in the London Borough of Hounslow; Victorian circulating libraries ]
Publication details: 
Brentford Mechanics' Institution. October 1854.
£25.00

Ticket printed on one side of an 8 x 7 cm piece of paper. In fair condition, with closed tear at head and slight damage to bottom right-hand corner. Printed within a decorative border and reading (with manuscript additions in square brackets): 'No [93 - 4] | This Book is the Property of the Brentford Mechanics' Institution. | It must not be kept longer than [14] days. If kept longer than the time specified the Fine of One Penny will be charged for the first fortnight, and an additional Penny for every succeeding week.

[ Val Gurney, English actor and playwright. ] Manuscript of 'Twice nightly version' of unpublished play 'A Sinner in Paradise by Val Gurney'.

Author: 
Val Gurney, English actor and playwright
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated. [ Circa 1918. ]
£180.00

96pp., 8vo. In exercise book, in blue ink with red underlining. With two additional passages on slips of paper pinned onto leaves. Aged and worn, in red card wraps with repaired spine. Nicoll notes an earlier title 'All for Him'. Set in the house of London stockbroker David Carne. Considering the play's popularity in the provinces, its fall into oblivion is surprising. Productions are noted at Southampton (1918-1919, 1930-1931), Oxford (1919), Swansea (1920), Sunderland (1924, the poster announcing: 'J. R. C.

[ Frank Kidson, Leeds antiquary and musicologist. ] Autograph Letter Signed to Fuller Maitland on the subject of Henry Purcell.

Author: 
Frank Kidson (1855-1926), antiquary and musicologist [ John Alexander Fuller Maitland (1856-1936), British music critic and music historian, an authority on Henry Purcell ]
Publication details: 
5 Hamilton Avenue, Chapeltown, Leeds [ Yorkshire ]. 'Wednesday' [no date].
£80.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In acceptable condition, aged and somewhat grubby. He thanks him for sending his article in the 'Musical Gazette', and comments that it is 'certainly curious about the Purcell Catch & the coincidence of the four notes, but it is difficult to say whether it was done purposely or by accident'.

[ By Frederick Lankester, printer of Bury St. Edmunds. ] Watts' Divine Songs, attempted in Easy Language for the use of Children.

Author: 
Isaac Watts [ Frederick Lankester of Bury St. Edmunds, publisher; Henry Mozley and Sons, Printers, Derby. ]
Publication details: 
Published by F. Lankester, Abbey Gate Street, Bury St. Edmunds. No date. [ 'Henry Mozley and Sons Printers, Derby.' ]
£120.00

31pp., 64mo., i.e. 10 x 6.5 cm. Stitched, in green printed wraps. Heavily aged and worn. Penny pamphlet with three illustrations. Contemporary inscription on p.30: 'Thomas Richard Woollard his Book | Given him by Ann Wright 1840'. The signature of Sarah Wollard is also present. BBTI has Frederick Lankester active in Bury St. Edmunds between 1821 and 1864, but this may reflect a confusion between Frederick and Francis Lankester. COPAC holds items by published by Frederick Lankester between 1824 and 1837. No other copy of this particular edition traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC.

['Marie Corelli' [Mary Mackay], English popular novelist.] Autograph Signature ('Marie Corelli') removed from letter.

Author: 
'Marie Corelli' [pseudonym of Mary Mackay (1855-1924)], Victorian popular novelist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

On 3 x 12.5 slip of paper cut from foot of letter. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. The reverse reads '[...] think of me! I fear [...] I was threatened your [...]'.

['Marie Corelli' [Mary Mackay], English popular novelist.] Autograph Signature ('Marie Corelli') removed from letter.

Author: 
'Marie Corelli' [pseudonym of Mary Mackay (1855-1924)], Victorian popular novelist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

On 5 x 11 cm slip of paper cut from foot of letter. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. The reverse reads '[...] in these dark days [...] interest! It is so [...] of you to sent it, [...]'.

[Eighteenth-century ballad.] Manuscript of untitled poem beginning 'Ere ye. read ys. ye. may suppose. | That some new listed Lover. | By means of Poetry has chose. | His Passion to discover.'

Author: 
[Eighteenth-century English manuscript ballad; Georgian popular poetry]
Publication details: 
Early eightheenth century. [Another (later?) version published in the Gentleman's Magazine, London, May 1744.]
£180.00

2pp., on both sides of a strip of 35.5 x 11.5 cm laid paper with fleur-de-lys watermark. In a secretary hand employing the thorn and long s. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. An untitled forty-line poem, divided into five numbered eight-line stanzas. The narrator is an older married woman, advising a younger woman not to marry, with observations on the frailties of the male sex. The first stanza reads: 'Ere ye. read ys. ye. may suppose. | That some new listed Lover. | By means of Poetry has chose. | His Passion to discover.

[Printed pamphlet in the series of 'Haughton's Popular Illustrated Biographies'.] The Life of Thomas Carlyle. [With steel engraved portrait.]

Author: 
[Haughton & Co., 10, Paternoster Row; 'Haughton's Popular Illustrated Biographies'; Thomas Carlyle]
Publication details: 
['Haughton's Popular Illustrated Biographies.'] London: Haughton & Co., 10, Paternoster Row. [1881.]
£38.00

16pp., 8vo. Disbound. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Steel engraved portrait of Carlyle on title-page. Clearly produced immediately following Carlyle's death, as the commencement indicates: 'On a cold wintry Monday morning in February the Times announced that Thomas Carlyle was seriously ill.

[Charles G. Mortimer, lyricist and Catholic writer.] Collection of 54 autograph song lyrics and poems by him, mostly holographs (signed 'CGM'), noting the sale of each (to music publishers and magazines). With Autograph Letter Signed to his typist.

Author: 
Charles G. Mortimer [Charles Gordon Mortimer, lyricist, Catholic journalist and author [Dulwich College; Brasenose College, Oxford; Stonyhurst College, Lancashire; Rudyard Kipling]
Publication details: 
One from Caterham House, Caterham, Oxfordshire, and another on letterhead of Stonyhurst College, near Blackburn, Lancashire Undated [1920s and 1930s], except for one dated 9 March 1921. The letter to his typist dated 2 April 1934.
£600.00

After leaving Dulwich College Mortimer was a classical scholar at Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1933 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church, after which he became a schoolmaster in Catholic schools, most notably Stonyhurst. According to his profile in the Catholic Herald, 5 August 1938, Mortimer was 'well-known as a composer and lyric writer, and his work has been broadcast from the early days of broadcasting. | Recently he has contributed " uncle-duty " to the [BBC] Children's Hour.

[Printed advertisement.] Prospectus of Bohn's Standard Library: A Series of the best English and foreign Authors, Printed in a new and elegant Form, Equally adapted to the Library and the Fireside, At the extremely low Price of 3s. 6d. per Volume.

Author: 
[Bohn's Standard Library; H. G. Bohn; Henry George Bohn (1796-1884), London bookseller and publisher]
Publication details: 
York Street, Covent Garden. [1848.]
£160.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. An interesting piece of ephemera relating to a ground-breaking series in the nineteenth-century extension of the market for serious literature. An initial 27-line prospectus in small print is followed by a list of the details of the 35 'Volumes already Published' and of 20 works 'in progress'. The final page carries details of items 'Uniform with his STANDARD LIBRARY, price 3s. 6d.', under the headings 'Bohn's Extra Volume', 'Bohn's Scientific Library, Vol. 1', 'Bohn's Antiquarian Library' and 'Bohn's Classical Library'.

[Printed nineteenth-century handbill.] Copy of a curious Love Letter | From a young Gentleman in this Neighbourhood, to his Sweetheart, Miss W - , of this Town, which was found near this place yesterday morning.

Author: 
'T. B - l.' [nineteenth century handbill]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [1830s?]
£56.00

1p., 12mo. Text enclosed within a decorative border. In fair condition, on heavily aged and worn wove paper, with a couple of small holes. Printed on cheap paper, with rough untrimmed edges. Beneath the title is a poem in two columns, itself titled 'Directions for Reading it.': 'Hast thou no pity on my woes? | Dost thou at me turn up thy nose? | I'll make my declaration first, | So read straight forward and be curst. | But if thy heart to me incline, | O!

Autograph Signature of the novelist Gilbert Frankau, cut from letter.

Author: 
Gilbert Frankau (1884-1952), popular British novelist
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£23.00

On 12 x 21 cm rectangle, cut from the base of a 4to leaf. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with part of the card mount adhering to the reverse. A firm flowing signature which reads: 'Yours sincerely | Gilbert Frankau'.

Autograph Letter Signed from 'Fanny Goode' [Frances Goode], sister of the composer Sir Henry Bishop, regarding her brother's final days and death.

Author: 
Fanny Goode [Frances Goode], sister of Sir Henry Bishop (1786-1855), English composer, best known for writing the tune to 'Home Sweet Home']
Fanny Goode [Frances Goode], sister of Sir Henry Bishop
Publication details: 
Undated. 13 Cambridge Street, Hyde Park.
£75.00
Fanny Goode [Frances Goode], sister of Sir Henry Bishop

4 pp, 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The unnamed recipient appears to have been named as executor in a prvevious will of Sir Henry Bishop. Opens in dramatic style: 'I was very greatly surprised to receive a letter from you this morning, dated from Brighton, as my poor Brother, Sir Henry Bishop, had not the slightest idea that you were still an inhabitant of this world, having heard of your death some time since, in consequence of which, he made another will similar to the one in your possession, but changing the executors'.

Autograph Signature ('Albert Chevalier') with quotation from his song 'Our Bazaar'.

Author: 
Albert Chevalier [Albert Onésime Britannicus Gwathveoyd Louis Chevalier] (1861-1923), comedian and actor
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£35.00

On a piece of paper 6 x 14 cm. Laid down on part of leaf from autograph album. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Evidently in response to a request for an autograph. Good firm signature, with looped underlining. Reads: ' "We take the compositions as they are" | "Our Bazaar" | [signed] Albert Chevalier'. Chevalier's song 'Our Bazaar' was hugely popular. The published version (1894) gives the authors as Chevalier and Brian Daley, but the British Library ascribes it to John Charles Bond Andrews.

Autograph Signature ('J Arthur Thomson').

Author: 
J. Arthur Thomson [Sir John Arthur Thomson] (1861-1933), Scottish naturalist and author whose writings sought to reconcile science and religion
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£18.00

On slip of paper, roughly 2.5 x 10 cm, cut from a letter for an autograph hunter. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Reads 'Yours sincerely | J Arthur Thomson'.

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'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Helen Mathers. | (Helen Reeves)') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Helen Mathers' [pen name of Ellen Buckingham Mathews (1853-1920); Helen Reeves; Mrs. Reeves], English popular novelist
Publication details: 
1 December 1879; on letterhead of 6 Grosvenor Street, [London] W.
£125.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Spike hole through both leaves, not affecting text. Fair, on aged paper. She states that 'The story would be ready to commence the 2nd. week in March.' She then gives a list of her five 'other works besides Comin' thro the Rye'. The first two in the list are said to have passed through '3 editions', and of the second in the list 'a further is in preparation'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R. Brimley Johnson') [to Swan Sonnenschein], proposing a work for publication, and outlining his literary achievements.

Author: 
R. Brimley Johnson [Reginald Brimley Johnson] (1867-1932), English author and editor [Swan Sonnenschein, London publishers]
Publication details: 
19 February 1893; on embossed letterhead of Llandaff House, Cambridge.
£65.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He was introduced to the recipient 'by Mr. Philip Malleson of Croydon, when I wanted to send an Essay to The Albemarle'. Asks if he 'might be disposed to let me write a volume on Jane Austen or Leigh Hunt for your Dilettante Library', Austen being 'specially before the public just now'. He has edited Austen's novels and two 'well received' volumes of selections from Hunt for 'Mr. Dent's Temple Library'. 'If you do not care to arrange for either of these authors I would suggest Miss Burney[,] Hazlitt or T. L. Peacock.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Lewis Melville') to Messrs George Routledge & Sons, Ltd.

Author: 
Lewis Melville' [Lewis S. Benjamin (1874-1932)], English author and actor
Publication details: 
5 August 1903; 1 Doughty Street, Mecklenburgh Square, W.C., on cancelled letterhead of the Weekly Dispatch.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. 7 lines of closely-written text. Clear and complete. On aged and slightly-grubby paper. He has received their letter regarding his 'Life of Thackeray', and appreciates 'the reason for your delay in deciding whether or no to issue a cheap edition. Undoubtedly the inclusion of my book in a series would benefit us both, & I hope Mr Lee may be able to make me an offer.'

A Letter to the Protestant Dissenters of England & Wales. [Education: and recent educational publications.]

Author: 
Rev. Robert Ainslie (c.1802-1876), Secretary of the Congregational Board of Education
Publication details: 
London: John Snow, 35, Paternoster-row. [Dated, p.53: 'Mornington Road, Regent's Park, February 1st, 1847.' Printed by J. Unwin, Bucklersbury.]
£180.00

8vo: 55 pp. Disbound. Tight, on aged, grubby paper, with wear to the title-leaf, which has a 7cm closed tear along the spine. Inscribed at head of title-page: 'Rev. S. Martin wh ye Authors Affec regards'. An informed discussion, with footnotes, tables and statistics, of the desirability of the education of the poor, by a correspondent of Charles Darwin. Excessively scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at King's College, London.

Typed Note Signed ('Phillips Oppenheim') to Lawrence Mack, editor of Everybody's Weekly.

Author: 
E. Phillips Oppenheim (1866-1946) [Lawrence Mack; Everybody's Weekly]
Publication details: 
26 April 1928; on letterhead of Villa Deveron, Cagnes, Alpes-Maritmes, France.
£56.00

8vo: 1 p. Good, on lightly-creased paper, with a faint 4cm pink stain in the right-hand margin. Reads 'Many thanks for the copy of your interesting paper, and the kindly reference to my novel.'

Five illustrated handbills: 'Adam & Eve in Paradise'; 'The Sun of Righteousness', 'A Supposed Conference between a King and a Christian', 'The Rose of Sharon' and 'The Last Day! "Prepare to meet thy God.' Christ coming to Judge the World.'

Author: 
James Catnach, broadsheet printer, 2 Monmouth Court, Seven Dials, London [ephemera; handbills; broadsides; Victorian printing]
Publication details: 
All undated and printed by James Catnach, 2 Monmouth-Court, Seven Dials.
£500.00

Each of the five items printed on one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 50 x 37 mm. All five good, on aged and lightly-spotted paper, with text and illustrations clear and entire, and with some wear, chipping and short closed tears to the edges. Each item with a central vertical fold. All five items with ornately decorated titles, and all of a devotional nature. Item One: 'Adam & Eve in Paradise.' ('Printed by J.

Illustrated handbill poem, a street ballad entitled 'A New Song, entitled, Dear Peggy.'

Author: 
[Victorian London street ballad; broadsheet; handbill; death]
Publication details: 
Date and publisher not stated. [London; circa 1840?]
£38.00

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 230 x 90 mm. On pitted, aged paper. Text complete. Approximate 30 x 50 mm piece torn away from top right-hand corner, causing loss to small illustration at head, which appears to be a crude woodcut of a woman lying in a coffin. The poem consists of thirty-six lines arranged in five stanzas. The first stanza reads 'Dear Peggy, read this letter, | its the last one I'll send, | Our long correspondence, | is now at an end.

Illustrated poem, a street ballad entitled 'The Wheel of Fortune'.

Author: 
[Victorian street ballad; broadsheet; handbill; death; nineteenth-century folk song]
Publication details: 
Date [circa 1840?] and publisher not stated.
£56.00

On one side of a piece of thin wove paper, roughly 260 x 95 mm. Aged and creased, with internal 25 mm closed tear affecting four words of text (all of which can be completed from the context) repaired on blank reverse with archival tape. Otherwise text and illustration clear and entire. Small (30 x 40 mm) woodcut at head, showing two early nineteenth-century country coves outside a cottage. The poem consists of ten four-line stanzas.

Illustrated Victorian handbill poem, a street ballad entitled 'The Golden Glove.'

Author: 
[Victorian street ballad; handbill poem; street ballad; broadsheet; nineteenth-century folk song]
Publication details: 
Publisher and date not stated. [Circa 1840?]
£56.00

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 280 x 95 mm. Aged, creased and spotted, with chipping to extremities, but with text and illustration clear and entire. Curious small (roughly 40 x 65 mm) crude illustration at head, showing dove with olive branch and acorn. Forty-line poem arranged in five stanzas. Interestingly-garbled nineteenth-century folk song with ancient antecedents.

Black and white original publicity photograph: signed, dated, and inscribed to 'Peggy'.

Author: 
Max Wall [Maxwell George Lorimer] (1908-1990), English music-hall comedian and actor
Publication details: 
1932
£120.00

Dimensions of paper 23 x 17 cm. White border of 0.25 cm. A little grubby and with slight silvering at base, but overall a very good impression. A striking head and shoulders shot, with a clean shaven young Wall, neatly dressed in evening wear with black bow tie, and wearing a white sailor's hat at an angle, staring straight at the camera, with glossy lips, eyebrows raised and deadpan expression. The words 'Max Wall' printed in bottom left-hand corner. The inscription reads 'To Peggy | Sincere good wishes | [signed] Max Wall | 1932'.

Autograph Signature ('J. Aislabie') on fragment of letter.

Author: 
John Aislabie (1670-1742), English Chancellor of the Exchequer, best-known for his involvement in the South Sea Bubble
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£28.00

On piece of paper roughly 3.5 x 5.5 cm. Good firm signature, on lightly discoloured paper. Reads '<...> date hereof. | [signed] J. Aislabie'. Lightly docketed in pencil 'of South Sea notoriety'.

[Auction catalogue by Woodhams and Son of Havelock Road, Hastings, and Stonehouse Farm, Hollington, headed 'BEXHILL, | DE LA WARR | CYCLING BOULEVARD. | CLOSE OF SEASON SALE. | CATALOGUE OF | 63 | High Grade New and Secondhand | BICYCLES'.]

Author: 
[VINTAGE BICYCLES]
Publication details: 
3 November 1897; 'TICEHURST BROS., PRINTERS, HASTINGS.'
£75.00

8vo. 4 pages, in original pink printed wraps, discoloured to light blue on the outside. In very good condition, one vertical crease from catalogue being folded on itself, and with negligible rust staining from staple. The sale comprised 'Lady's and Gentleman's Single, Tandem, Roadster and Road Racer Safeties, Including Osmonds, Humbers, Simpsons, Acatenes, Royal Psychos, Popular Starleys, Premiers, Cameos, Raglans, Olympic, &c., &c.', sold on behalf of 'Mr. PERCY L. YOUNG'. Front wrap headed 'Priced Catalogue' in manuscript 'CONDITIONS OF SALE' on verso of front wrap.

Autograph Card Signed to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Victor Silvester
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£15.00

English ballroom dancing champion and bandleader (1900-78). Dimensions: 2½ inches by 4 inches. In good condition, with traces of mount adhering to otherwise-blank reverse. Reads 'With best wishes | from | Victor Silvester'.

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