RUSSIA

[Prince George Sergeievitch Romanovsky, Imperial Russian Consul General at San Francisco, 1917-1923.] Autograph Letter Signed, in French, written on eve of Russian Revolution, recalling times in Tehran, Persia [at the Russian Legation?].

Author: 
Prince George Sergeievitch Romanovsky, Imperial Russian Consul General at San Francisco, 1917-1923 [Russian Legations in Tehran, Persia?]
Publication details: 
18 May 1917; on letterhead of the Russian Consulate, San Francisco, California [United States].
£250.00

2pp, 4to. 41 lines, including postscript, in green ink. On aged and brittle air mail paper, with chipping and discoloration at the head, resulting in some loss to printed letterhead, but with text clear and entire. Addressed to ‘Mon cher ami’ and with valediction from ‘Ton très dévoué ami’. The recipient is unidentified, but would appear to have been a former colleague at the Russian legation in Tehran, Persia. Signed ‘Geo. S. Romanovsky’. He begins by thanking him for his congratulations. The recipient is right: ‘les choses ont changé’.

[Lord St Helens [Alleyne Fitzherbert, Baron St Helens], diplomat, Ambassador to Russia and Chief Secretary for Ireland.] Autograph Letter Signed from St Petersburgh to General Bentham, introducing 'Mr. Vaxel', who is coming to study in England..

Author: 
Lord St Helens [Alleyne Fitzherbert, Baron St Helens (1753-1839], diplomat, Ambassador to Russia, Chief Secretary for Ireland, for whom Mount St Helens is named [General Bentham]
Publication details: 
'St. Petersburgh 26th. Jany. 1802.'
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. For the context see Irina and Dmitri Gouzevitch, ‘Travelling interchanges between the Russian Empire and Western Europe / The Travels of Engineers during the First Half of the Nineteenth Century’, in Simões, Carneiro and Diogo eds, ‘Travels of Learning / A Geography of Science in Europe’ (Boston, 2003). 1p, 8vo. Nineteen lines of closely-written text. On aged and worn paper. The item has been torn away from a mount, resulting in damage to the two outer corners, with the area immediately to the right of the signature ‘St Helens’ lacking.

[Lord St Helens [Alleyne Fitzherbert, Baron St Helens], diplomat, Ambassador to Russia and Chief Secretary for Ireland.] Autograph Letter Signed to Charles R. Broughton, authorizing a charge on refunded Land Tax as retired Foreign Ministers.agent.

Author: 
Lord St Helens [Alleyne Fitzherbert, Baron St Helens (1753-1839], diplomat, Ambassador to Russia, Chief Secretary for Ireland, for whom Mount St Helens is named [Charles R. Broughton]
Publication details: 
‘Grafton Street [London] / 2 May 1810’.
Upon request

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. Sixteen lines of closely-written text. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with short closed tears along the five creases from the folding of the item into a packet. Docketed on the reverse of the leaf: ‘May 2d 1810 / Lord St Helens / Authy to charge Agency at the rate of 1 P Ct on Monies recovered on accot of Land Tax refunded to Foreign Ministers &cr.’ Signed St Helens.

[Lord Canning [Charles John Canning, Earl Canning], Governor-General and first Viceroy of India.] Autograph Letter Signed to Lord Fitzgerald, as Under-Secretary to Lord Aberdeen at the Foreign Office, concerning Baron Brunow.

Author: 
Lord Canning [Charles John Canning, Earl Canning (1812-1862)], Governor-General and first Viceroy of India [Lord Fitzgerald [William Vesey Fitzgerald (1783-1843)], Anglo-Irish politician]
Publication details: 
'F. O. [Foreign Office, Whitehall] Nov 11. 41 [1841]'.
£120.00

Showing signs of the early stirrings of the Great Game. See Canning's entry, and that of Fitzgerald, in the Oxford DNB. At the time of the letter Canning was serving in his first governmental appointment, as Under-Secretary to Lord Aberdeen in the Foreign Office, in Peel’s administration, while Fitzgerald was President of the Board of Control. The ‘Baron Brunow’ referred to in the letter is Russian Ambassador in London, Philipp Graf von Brunnow (1797-1895). 2pp, 12mo. On first leaf of a bifolium. Docketed on second leaf, ‘Lord Canning / respecting Baron Brunow Novr 11/41’.

[Nicolai Malko, Russian (Ukrainian?) composer who settled in America, mentor of Shostakovich.] Autograph Card Signed in Russian and English, to M. Calvocoressi (see Wikipedia).

Author: 
Nicolai Malko [Nicolai Andreyevich Malko] (1883-1961), Russian composer who settled in America, mentor of Shostakovich
Malko
Publication details: 
‘Mills College, California. July 30th 1939 / Permanent Addresse: Bernstoffsvej, 242. / Charlottenlund, Denmark’. With postage stamp and postmark of Oakland, California, 31 July 1939.
£50.00
Malko

On a postcard with a bromide print of a modernist architectural image of a flight of outdoor steps and its stone surroundings. Creased and worn. Addressed to ‘M. Calvocoressi, Esq. / 5 Bramerton Str / London S. W. 3 / England / Europe’. Reads: ‘Dear Mr Calvocoressi, [19 words in Cyrillic script] Helas the score is lost. I am so sorry I could not send it to you. / [3 words in Cyrilic script]! / With kindest regards, / Yours sincerely / Nicolai Malko’

[Sir Robert Ker Porter [‘Reynhold Steinkirk’], historical painter to Tsar of Russia, British consul in Venezuela; botany] Two Autograph Letters Signed to the Hon. Mrs Villiers, regarding the procurement in Venezuela of the ‘rarest seeds’.

Author: 
Sir Robert Ker Porter [pseudonym ‘Reynhold Steinkirk’] (1777-1842), Anglo-Irish artist, diplomat and author, historical painter to Tsar Alexander I of Russia, British consul in Venezuela [Villiers]
Publication details: 
ONE: 1 April 1830; Esher [England]. TWO: 18 October 1830; Caracas [Venezuela].
£380.00

Artist, author, diplomat and horseman, present at Sir John Moore’s death in Corunna, knighted by the king of Sweden, historical painter to Tsar Alexander, British consul in Venezuela: see the entry on this renaissance man in the Oxford DNB. Both in good condition, with folds for postage. Both signed ‘R Ker Porter’. The recipient (known to her family as the ‘Queen Bee’) was the widow of the Hon. George Villiers, who resided with her family at Kent House, Knightsbridge, home of her brother the Earl of Morley.

[Lady Clementine Churchill and the Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund.] Facsimile of a signed autograph letter by the wife of Sir Winston Churchill, a circular to thank contributors to the fund.

Author: 
Lady Clementine Churchill (1885-1977), wife of Sir Winston Churchill; Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund
Publication details: 
Facsimile of letter dated November 1941 and on 10 Downing Street letterhead.
£50.00

According to her entry in the Oxford DNB: ' Also in 1941 she embarked upon what became the most substantial public work she ever undertook when she became chairman of the Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund. Of the £9,000,000 collected in Britain to help the USSR, ‘Mrs Churchill's Fund’, as it was popularly known, raised £6,700,000. In March–May 1945, at the invitation of the Russian Red Cross, she visited Russia to inspect many of the institutions equipped or otherwise helped by her fund.

[ Sir Waldemar Mordechai Wolff Haffkine, Russian bacteriologist described by Lister as a saviour of humanity. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed and an Autograph Card Signed (all 'W. M. Haffkine') [ to editor ], regarding his entry in Men of the Times.

Author: 
Sir Waldemar Mordechai Wolff Haffkine [ born Vladimir Aaronovich Chavkin ] (1860-1930), Russian bacteriologist described by Joseph Lister as a saviour of humanity
Publication details: 
All on letterheads of the Buckingham Palace Hotel [ London ]. All dating from July 1899.
£450.00

A Ukrainian Jew, Haffkine found his early career obstructed by his refusal to convert to the Russian Orthodox Church. He emigrated and worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, where he developed an anti-cholera vaccine that he tried out successfully in India. He is recognized as the first microbiologist to develop and use vaccines against cholera and bubonic plague. He tested the vaccines on himself. The three items in good conditon, lightly aged. ONE: ALS. 2pp., 12mo. He has been 'away from town', but now hopes to send 'a note on my work' within the week. 'It wd.

[Ernst Philipp Graf von Brunnow, longtime Russian Ambassador to the Court of St James [Great Britain].] Autograph Signature and valediction of letter in English.

Author: 
Ernst Philipp Graf von Brunnow (1797-1875), Baltic German diplomat who served in the Russian Empire, for thirty years (1840-1854, 1858-1874) Russian Ambassador to the Court of St James [Great Britain]
Brunnow
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£56.00
Brunnow

A close, controlled hand, on a slip of paper 10 x 1 cm. See Image. In good condition, lightly aged with a little light red spotting. Reads: ?Believe me / faithfully yours / Brunnow?.

[Sir Charles Stewart Scott, diplomat, British Ambassador to Russia.] 'Private & most Confidential' Autograph journal of ‘Charles: S: Scott’, largely written while an attaché in Paris (Franco-Austrian War, 1859), also in Dresden and Copenhage.

Author: 
Sir Charles Stewart Scott (1838-1924), diplomat, British Ambassador to Russia, 1898-1904 [Franco-Austrian War (Second Italian War of Independence), 1859; American Civil War; Princess Alexandra]
Publication details: 
The first three-quarters from Paris, 18 June to 16 November 1859. The last quarter from Dresden and Copenhagen, 1860 to 1863.
£1,200.00

The papers of Sir Charles Stewart Scott (an Ulsterman: see his entry in the Ulster Dictionary of Biography) are held by the British Library. The present journal, described by its writer as ‘Private & most Confidential’, covers the very start of his career, from Paris in 1859 to Copenhagen in 1863.

[John Julius Angerstein, connoisseur of the arts whose collection formed the basis of the National Gallery, London, and the rumoured son of Empress Anne of Russia.] Autograph Signature to valediction of a letter.

Author: 
John Julius Angerstein (1732-1823), rumoured son of Empress Anne of Russia, connoisseur of the arts whose collection formed the basis of the National Gallery, London
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£38.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 13 x 8 cm piece of paper, cut from the end of a letter. The valediction, firmly written in Angerstein’s hand, reading: ‘I am / D. Sir / Your Mt Obt Sert / J J. Angerstein’. First initial of the signature lightly inked. In good condition, lightly aged.

[John Randolph of Roanoke (1773-1833), Virginia congressman, Thomas Jefferson's spokesman, Andrew Jackson’s Minister to Russia, leader of the ‘Old Republicans’ or ‘Tertium Quids’.] Signed Autograph cheque to Jacqueline P. Taylor of Richmond City.

Author: 
John Randolph of Roanoke (1773-1833), Virginia congressman, Thomas Jefferson's spokesman, Andrew Jackson’s Minister to Russia, leader of the ‘Old Republicans’ or ‘Tertium Quids’ [Jacqueline P. Taylor]
Roanoke
Publication details: 
22 February 1829. [Roanoke.] Drawn on the Bank of Virginia.
£250.00
Roanoke

1p, landscape 12mo. Aged, worn and lightly discoloured. Laid down on larger leaf removed from an album. The text, all in Randolph’s hand, reads: ‘Pay to Jaqueline [sic] P. Taylor or bearer Fifty four Dollars 84 Cents / John Randolph of Roanoke / Decr. 22d. 1829. / To the Cashier of the Bank of Virginia’. Despite the name Jacqueline P. Taylor of Richmond City, Virginia, was male. See image.

[Vendôme Column; entry into Paris of Prussians and Russians, 1814.] Hand-coloured engraving: ‘Wie die verbündeten Heere, an ihrer Spitze der Kaiser von Russland, und der König von Preussen, unter dem Iubel des Volks’.

Author: 
[Vendôme Column; entry of Prussians and Russians into Paris, 1814] Friedrich Campe (1777-1846), Nuremberg print and book publisher [Napoleon Bonaparte]
Publication details: 
Circa 1815. [‘Nurnberg bei Friedrich Campe’.]
£65.00

An uncommon illustration: no other coloured copy traced. Rovinsky 1889, No. 773 (p.151); and Morozov 1912, No. 782 (p.125). Approximately 21.5 x 17 cm, with dimensions of plate 21.25 x 15.5 cm. Tightly cropped, and without the publisher’s details at the foot, and the number 552 at top right. Tastefully coloured in blue, yellow, brown and red. Discoloured and spotted, with closed tear at head over blank area of design, and other damage to blank areas repaired on reverse with archival tape.

[Oda Slobodskaya, Russian soprano and Professor at the Royal College of Music.] Signed Autograph Inscription.

Author: 
Oda Slobodskaya (1888-1970), Russian soprano who became a British citizen, Professor of Singing at the Royal College of Music and Guildhall
Oda
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£25.00
Oda

On 17.5 x 11.5 cm leaf of pink paper, with rounded edges, removed from autograph album. In good condition, lightly aged. Written in a large, expansive hand, diagonally and upwards. Reads: ‘With all / good wishes / Oda Slobodskaya’. See image.

[‘Odali Careno’ (stage name of Oda Slobodskaya, Russian soprano).] Autograph Note Signed (‘Odali Careno’), providing a ‘small Autograph’.

Author: 
‘Odali Careno’, occasional stage name of Oda Slobodskaya (1888-1970), Russian soprano associated with Chaliapin, Diaghilev and Stravinsky, who settled in England
Odali
Publication details: 
[24 June 1930.] On letterhead of the Clarendon Hotel, Oxford.
£50.00
Odali

For Diaghilev Slobodskaya starred in the 1922 Paris premiere of Stravinsky's opera Mavra, and she toured Europe as principal soprano with Chaliapin’s company. For her serious operatic work she retained her real name, but she used the stage name ‘Odali Careno’ when performing in vaudeville and light entertainment. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Dated in another hand at foot: ‘24-6-30’ (the period of her appearance in a London Palladium production).

[Olga Novikoff, White Russian writer and journalist in Britain.] Autograph Signature and valediction from letter.

Author: 
Olga Novikoff [Olga Alekseevna Novikoff] (c.1842-1925), White Russian writer and journalist in Britain, author of ‘The M.P. for Russia’
Novikoff
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£30.00
Novikoff

On 11 x 6 cm piece of paper cut from letter. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ‘Yours faithfully / Olga Novikoff.’

Autograph Manuscripts of two translations by John Curling: Count Rostopchine's 'The Truth upon The Great Conflagration of Moscow 1813' and 'Observation on the Campaign in the Netherlands', with printed version of latter.

Author: 
John Curling ['J*** C******'] (1784-1863), JP, of Offley Holes and Gosmore, Herts [Count Fedor Wassiljavitch Rostopchine, Governor of Moscow; Napoleon Bonaparte; Retreat from Moscow, 1812]
Publication details: 
Manuscript translation from Rostopchine dated 'Hitchin 1856', second manuscript translation undated. First pamphlet printed in Hitchin by C. Paternoster, Sun Street; 1858. Second pamphlet (by 'J*** C******') by C. & T. L. Paternoster; undated.
£850.00

The two translations, in the same original red leather notebook, totalling 226pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding. The first translation in the volume is a fair copy, without corrections, of a work published in French in 1823 as 'La V?rit? sur l'Incendie de Moscou; par le Comte Rostopchine' (Paris: Ponthieu). Neither Curling's nor any other English translation appears to have been published. The second translation (the printed version of which is the first of the two pamphlets) is heavily corrected, with seven pages of additions loosely inserted.

[ Percy Burton; theatre history; Russia and Japan ] Typescript of the chapter on the Theatre in Russia and Japan originally intended for the Book Adventures among Immortals but omitted.

Author: 
Percy Burton, Impresario, author of Adventures among Immortals as told to Lowell Thomas (London, 1938).
Publication details: 
Various (before the First World War, & 1929 mentioned).
£450.00

Typescript entitled Chapter XIV The Theatre in Russia and Japan, paginated (227)-(247) (as for a chapter in the Book), AND pp. [1]-8 and ((The Theatre in Japan) [1]-12, missing one page, p.(246)/11., total number of pages 19, fair condition. Percy Burton had written at the head of page(227)/[1] ? for inclusion or part of it in ADVENTURES AMONG IMMORTALS. Another hand has added in pencil No room for this, presumably editorial cold water.

[Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart, diplomat, author, secret agent.] Autograph Letter Signed ('R. H. Bruce Lockhart.') to Lloyd Humberstone, describing his book 'Your England' as a tribute to the 'broad-minded, tolerant, and humane' English.

Author: 
R. H. Bruce Lockhart [Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart] (1887-1970), diplomat, author and secret agent [Thomas Lloyd Humberstone, Secretary, University of London]
Publication details: 
16 August 1935. On letterhead of 30 Douglas Crescent, Edinburgh, 12.
£45.00

1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He thanks him for his letter containing 'kind words about my book, Your England'. He did not expect anyone to agree with all he wrote in it. His aim in writing was 'to pay a tribute to the English who are the most broad-minded, tolerant, and humane of all the numerous peoples among whom I have lived.'

[Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart, diplomat, author, secret agent.] Autograph Letter Signed ('R. H. Bruce Lockhart.') to Lloyd Humberstone, describing his book 'Your England' as a tribute to the 'broad-minded, tolerant, and humane' English.

Author: 
R. H. Bruce Lockhart [Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart] (1887-1970), diplomat, author and secret agent [Thomas Lloyd Humberstone, Secretary, University of London]
Publication details: 
16 August 1935. On letterhead of 30 Douglas Crescent, Edinburgh, 12.
£45.00

1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He thanks him for his letter containing 'kind words about my book, Your England'. He did not expect anyone to agree with all he wrote in it. His aim in writing was 'to pay a tribute to the English who are the most broad-minded, tolerant, and humane of all the numerous peoples among whom I have lived.'

[British Embassy Medical Officer in Cold War Moscow and Bucharest.] Unpublished typed account by T. V. Humphreys of his journeys around Romania and Russia during five years of service, also describing medical aspects and 'Soviet methods of medicine'.

Author: 
Col. Thomas Victor Humphreys (b.1922), O.B.E., M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O, Royal Army Medical Corps, British Embassy Medical Officer at Moscow and Bucharest [USSR; Soviet Union; Iron Curtain; Russia; Romania]
Publication details: 
December 1952 to January 1953. Romania and the USSR (Russia). Russian locations: Moscow, Leningrad, Peterhof, Tsarskoe-Selo, Gatchina, Pavlovsk, Kharkov, Kiev.
£1,250.00

Biographical details regarding Humphreys are hard to come by. He features in two Times reports of the indisposition of the pianist Cyril Smith in Moscow in 1956 (8 May and 9 June). On his award of the OBE in the 1958 New Years Honours List he was described as 'lately First Secretary and Medical Officer at Her Majesty's Embassy in Moscow'. On his retirement in 1987 he was described as 'Col. T. V. Humphreys, O.B.E., M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O.

[Sir Edward Thornton, diplomat, as British Ambassador to Russia.] Autograph Signature ('Edwd. Thornton') to secretarial document, to T. W. Smyth of the West Hartlepool Shipowners Society, regarding 'excessive quarantine' at Russian Black Sea ports.

Author: 
Sir Edward Thornton (1817-1906), British Ambassador to the United States, Russia, and Ottoman Empire, Count of Cacilhas in the Portuguese nobility [ T. W. Smyth; West Hartlepool Shipowners Society]
Publication details: 
St Petersburg [Russia]. 17 September 1884.
£50.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight traces of glue from mount along inner edge of reverse of second leaf, which is endorsed and carries pencil notes. Folded once. Signed by Thornton, with the rest of the document in the hand of a secretary. The recipient is named as T. W Smyth Esq | West Hartlepool Shipowners Society'.

[Rudolf Nureyev: personal reminiscences of John Phillips.] Privately printed collection of 'Nureyev Notes August 1966', regarding 'Sleeping Beauty' at La Scala, Milan. Inscribed by Phillips to Barbara Reed.

Author: 
John Phillips (1926-2017), flâneur and literary executor of Violet Trefusis (1894-1972; née Keppel), English socialite and author, lover of Vita Sackville-West [Rudolf Nureyev, Russian ballet dancer]
Publication details: 
Privately printed. [Phuket, Thailand; 2009.] Inscription of February 2011.
£250.00

After a twelve-year 'amitié amoureuse' with Phillips, Violet Trefusis died in 1972, appointing him her literary executor and leaving him her last home, La Tour de Saint Loup. The present item – only one other copy of which has been traced – is from a collection of Phillips's papers amassed by his friend Barbara Reed, containing pamphlets privately printed by him between 2009 and 2014.

[Sir Alexander Crichton, personal physician to Tsar Alexander I of Russia.] Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Alr. Crichton') to his London publisher John Churchill, regarding publishing arrangements and review copies of his 'Commentaries'.

Author: 
Sir Alexander Crichton (1763-1856), Scottish physician and author, personal physician to Tsar Alexander I of Russia [John Churchill (1801-1875), London medical publisher]
Publication details: 
All from The Grove, near Sevenoaks [Kent]. 23 July 1842; 20 August 1842; 13 June 1850.
£1,000.00

The subject is all three letters is Crichton's 'Commentaries on Some Doctrines of a Dangerous Tendency in Medicine', published by Churchill in 1842, and the three cast light on publishing practices for medical publications in the booktrade in early Victorian London. All three with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to one edge. ONE: 23 July 1842. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight damp stain to one corner. Chrichton begins by asking to be sent 'the two bound Copies of my work to the Bolt and Tun Fleet St. before three oCl on the day you receive this viz. Monday'.

[Poland; Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki, Commander-in-Chief of the November Uprising.] Conclusion of Autograph Letter Signed ('Skygnecki.'), in French, to 'Le General Lt. de Tahlen', regarding the needs 'de la nation Polonoise' for religion and liberty.

Author: 
Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki (1787-1860), Polish general, Commander-in-Chief of the November Uprising against Russia, 1830-1831
Publication details: 
'Varsovie 12 Mars 1831.' [Warsaw, Poland; 12 March 1831.]
£600.00

Lower half of a 4to leaf. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering. Written in old-fashioned, and not entirely grammatical, French, the text reads: '[…] de la nation Polonoise a la quelle S. M. donneroit le garanties necessaires, sous le respect de la stabilité des droits qu'elle réclame et qui sont fondés sur deux besoins absolus: la religion e le [sic] liberté. | A greez M. le M. l'assurance de plus [?] consideration avec la quelle je suis &c Varsovie 12 Mars 1831. | Skygnecki | Monsieur le Comte | Le Genenral Lt.

[Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki, Commander-in-Chief of the November Uprising.] Conclusion of Autograph Letter Signed ('Skygnecki.'), in French, to 'Le General Lt. de Tahlen', regarding the needs 'de la nation Polonoise' for religion and liberty.

Author: 
Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki (1787-1860), Polish general, Commander-in-Chief of the November Uprising against Russia, 1830-1831
Publication details: 
'Varsovie 12 Mars 1831.' [Warsaw, Poland; 12 March 1831.]
£750.00

Lower half of a 4to leaf. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering. Written in old-fashioned, and not entirely grammatical, French, the text reads: '[…] de la nation Polonoise a la quelle S. M. donneroit le garanties necessaires, sous le respect de la stabilité des droits qu'elle réclame et qui sont fondés sur deux besoins absolus: la religion e le [sic] liberté. | A greez M. le M. l'assurance de plus [?] consideration avec la quelle je suis &c Varsovie 12 Mars 1831. | Skygnecki | Monsieur le Comte | Le Genenral Lt.

[William Ewart Gladstone, as Prime Minister, to the Duchess of Edinburgh (Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia).] Autograph Letter Signed ('W E Gladstone'), sending her 'specimens of labour performed in a field which is now not much frequented'

Author: 
William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal Prime Minister [Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (1874-1900), daughter of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and Duchess of Edinburgh as wife of Prince Alfred]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Hawarden Castle, Chester. 13 December 1883.
£120.00

2pp, 12mko. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight discoloration along central horizontal fold. Addressed to 'Her Imperial & Royal Highness | The Duchess of Edinburgh'. Reads: 'Madam | At Windsor Your Imperial & Royal Highness was good enough to say I might send these specimens of labour performed in a field which is now not much frequented | Under cover of the permission thus accorded, I take the liberty allowed, and add my request that it may not entail the trouble of any acknowledgment | I have the honour to be | Your I. R. Highness's | most faithful humble servant | W E Gladstone'.

[Ivan Maisky, Soviet Union Ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Second World War.] Autograph Signature ('I. Maisky').

Author: 
Ivan Maisky [Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky] (1884-1975), Soviet Union Ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Second World War
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£100.00

On 6 x 7.5 cm slip of paper, laid down on a piece of card. In good condition, lightly aged. A good firm and large signature, reading 'I. Maisky'.

[Katie Malecka, Polish musician and nationalist, imprisoned by the Russians.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Katie Malecka'), in English, to 'Mrs Green', regarding a lecture in Bristol and her desire to 'leave off being "the prisoner of Warsaw"'.

Author: 
Katie Malecka, Polish musician, journalist, and nationalist imprisoned in Warsaw by the Russians
Publication details: 
44 Marylands Road, Maida Hill, W. [London] 25 March [circa 1913].
£280.00

Malecka was born in England, the daughter of a Polish father and English mother. In 1912 she was imprisoned in Warsaw by the Russians, 'on a charge of conspiring against the Russian Government'. The matter was raised in the British parliament, and reported widely, for example in the Spectator and Russian Review. On her release she published 'Saved from Siberia: The True Story of my Treatment at the Hands of the Russian Police' (London, 1913). 2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. She would 'indeed very much like to pay [her] another weekend visit' on her return to England.

[ Baron Henry de Bode, inventor. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('de Bode'), accepting a dinner invitation, for himself and his nephew 'C. Cazalet'.

Author: 
Baron Henry de Bode [ William Henry Charles Othon Baron de Bode ] (1778-1855), Major General in the Russian service, inventor in England
Publication details: 
39 Berners Street, Oxford Street [ London ]. 2 February 1848.
£120.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'My dear Sir, | I shall feel much pleasure in joining Your party tomorrow evening, with my nephew C. Cazalet, who conveyed to me the wish you had expressed to see us at your lodgings, before your not came. | I am Your's sincerely | de Bode'. See John H. Harland, 'Baron de Bode and his Capstan', in The Mariner's Mirror, vol.99, 2013.

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