SIR

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, and that of the recipient, who is not named, but is Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, husband of the author Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865; ODNB), with whom he lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. 3pp, 12mo. Signed ‘F. Palgrave’. Written in a difficult hand. Begins: ‘My dear Sir / I should never think of [?] upon Lady Theresa the labour of searching through our dusty records’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, with that of the recipient Lady [Maria] Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), who lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge with her second husband Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Bart, Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, her first husband having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. ‘Sir Henry Ellis presents his Compliments to Lady Theresa Lewis he has at last found the Letter, from the incumbent of Foxford, which gives the date of the Burial there of Lady Catherine Gray.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo, on first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘Henry Ellis’ and addressed to ‘G. Cornewall Lewis Esq’. Begins: ‘My dear Sir / Mr Henry Christian will have a Card for our Reading Room sent to him this morning, and I will speak to Sir Frederic Madden to afford Mr. Christian the accommodation which he wishes to have in the MS.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘W F Williams’ and docketed by the recipient ‘Sir Fenwick Williams of Kars’. Written while Lewis was Chancellor of the Exchequer in Palmerston's government. Begins: ‘Dear Sir Cornewall, / I take the liberty of asking you for your influence for Dr. Nolan as Secretary & Librarian of the London Library’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, with that of the recipient Lady [Maria] Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), who lived in Kent House in Knightsbridge with her second husband Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), Bart, Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, her first husband having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842). The three items are in good condition, lightly aged. Written in a difficult hand. ONE (13 June 1850, ‘Rolls House’): AL in the third person. 1p, 12mo. ‘Sir F.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is not named, but the item is from the papers of the author Lady Theresa Lewis (1803-1865), successively wife of the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842) and the Liberal politician Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), all with entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Reads: ‘Many, many thanks for thinking of me! When I came to myself in the morning, I remembered something of a kind proposition you had made to me & resolved to call & learn more about it. / Monday the 9th.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Fifty-six lines of neatly- and closely-written text. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and folded once for postage. Signed ‘A. H. Layard’ and addressed to ‘My dear Lister.’ He is sorry that Lister will be in Venice when he is absent, as he is not returning until May. ‘The Hotel de la Grande Bretagne is, I think, now the best in Venice - and very well situated.’ If Lister mentions his name he is sure the landlord ‘will do his best for you. The Grand Hotel is also good. I should not recommend Danieli’s.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. 2pp, 12mo. Signed ‘H H Milman’ and addressed to ‘G. C. Lewis Esq’. Written in a crabbed hand. Begins: ‘My dear Lewis / I think that I mentioned to you my great wish to build a Church for the [?] of St Margarets.

See his entry, and hers, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. Addressed to ‘The Lady Theresa Lewis’. Reads: ‘Mr Delane regrets sincerely that a previous engagement will prevent him from having the honour of waiting upon Sir G. Cornewall and Lady Theresa Lewis on Thursday the 13th. In 1844 Lady Theresa married her second husband, the future Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863), her first having been the novelist Thomas Henry Lister. (1800-1842)

See Cary's entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage. The recipient is not named, but the item is from the papers of Lady Maria Theresa Lewis, and the letter is written to her first husband, the novelist Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842), whose father Thomas Lister of Armitage Park was a childhood friend of Cary's (see his 1847 biography by his son).

Jerningham’s entry in the Oxford DNB, states that he died unmarried, ‘despite habitual flirtations with young actresses’; the present letter indicates that the members of the other sex were not exempted from his attentions. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, on a leaf of laid watermarked paper, folded for postage. Twenty-six lines of text. Dated ‘1798’ at top right, with ‘From Edward Jerningham the Poet’ above it. Unsigned, but in Jerningham's distinctive hand.

See Michael Kennedy's assessment of Boult, in his entry in the Oxford DNB: 'In the music he admired most, Boult was often a great conductor; in the rest, an extremely conscientious one.' Good bold signature ('Adrian C. Boult') is centred on one side of an 11.5 x 9 cm piece of card. The signature and the space around it are clear, but the discoloured card has a smudge on it, and carries traces of previous mount on reverse. At foot of signed side, in pencil:Sir Adrian Boult - Conductor of the B.B.C.Orchestra London / Famous English Conductor'. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Beecham’s signature (‘Thomas Beecham’) on an otherwise-blank 12.5 x 5.5 cm piece of paper. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to the reverse. The signature, which has no flourish, is tighter than usual, and rising slightly. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘Randoph S. Churchill. The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler. After apologising for the delayed response he administers an effective put-down: ‘I do not pretend to be an expert in these mattes, but I have never heard the word EQUALITARIAN used in ordinary talk. EGALITARIAN, on the other hand, I have heard used by a wide variety of people who speak good English, including Sir Winston Churchill.

See his entry, and that of Ross, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. On blue paper. Folded twice for postage. Ross is not named, the letter being addressed to him as ‘The Provost, / Oriel College, / Oxford.’ Bold signature: ‘Nuffield’.

Cecil, who was the best man at Churchill’s wedding, was regarded as the finest orator of his generation. See his entry, and that of Ross, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr Provost’ and signed ‘Hugh Cecil’. He apologises for the late reply, but has ‘been ill and until yesterday was strictly confined to my room here’. He has received too many letters to be able to reply to each. ‘I therefore venture to enclose to you a brief Memorandum which I have drawn up dealing with the recent crisis in Foreign Affairs’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On both sides of 10.5 x 8 cm piece of paper, cut from a letter for an autograph hunter. On one side, in a larger than usual hand: ‘Your Obed Servt / J Russell’. Beneath the signature, in a tiny contemporary hand: 'Prime Minister'. At the foot is the name of the recipient: ‘Rr. Admiral / Sir Henry Dillon Kt.’ A fragment of the letter is on the reverse: ‘[...] Albert have any [wish?] on the subject of your being in the Queen’s Household, I shall no doubt hear from His Royal Highnesss. But untill [sic] I do so, I [...]'. See Image.

See Sir William Beveridge’s entry in the Oxford DNB: 'An overbearing and temperamental Scotswoman, Mrs Mair had come to the school [the LSE] with Beveridge in 1919 (having been his secretary and aide during the war) and was highly unpopular with many of the school's professors. Throughout the 1930s there were complaints about the ‘Beveridge–Mair dictatorship’ and a general sense of relief when Beveridge decided to leave the school to accept the mastership of University College, Oxford, in 1937.' 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with one dog-eared corner. Folded twice for postage.

Dodd’s entry in the Oxford DNB by Michael Billington concludes with the assessment that he was ‘the greatest theatrical comic of his age and the last link with the hallowed days of music hall’. The two items are in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: TLS, 9 October 1957. 1p, 4to. Good large signature ‘Ken Dodd’. The male recipient is not named. He apologises for the late reply to the recipient’s letter. ‘May I also thank you for the compliments paid to my performance on Television. / I am a Liverpudlian, residing in Knotty Ash Liverpool.

See the entries for Bevin and Ross in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘Sir David Ross, K.B.E., LL.D.’ and signed ‘Ernest Bevin’. Begins: ‘Dear Sir David, / In connection with my general plans I wish as soon as possible to make definite proposals concerning the Fair Wages Clause.’ He understands that ‘discussions between the T.U.C.

‘Scouting for Boys’ did not begin its serialized publication until January 1908, but Baden-Powell’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that it was Haldane, as Secretary for War, who ‘persuaded him that character training should be at the centre of any scheme of boy instruction’, following a ‘major inspection’ of the Boys’ Brigade by him as Vice-President at Glasgow in April 1904. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight creasing and a short closed tear to one edge. Reads: ‘Dictated. / 23rd. May 1906. / Dear General Baden-Powell, / Thank you for your letter.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 10.5 x 5 cm strip of paper, with thin mourning border, cut from the end of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with thin strip of glue from mount to one edge, and thin strip of paper laid down on reverse, with manuscript note 'Sir Thomas Wyse, Minister to Greece'. Strong stylish signature to valediction reading: 'I beg you to believe me / My Dear Lord / Sincerely Yrs. / Thos. Wyse'. Fragment of letter on reverse: '[...] truly at his discretion to go on [...]'.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 9.5 x 3 cm slip of paper, cut from letter. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Your affectionate / friend / W. J. Hooker'. Fragment of text on reverse: '[...] there is any foundat[...] / for the above repor[...] / or not. If there [...]'.

See Berlin's entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse (often addressed, as in this letter, as ‘Dossé’) was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. Both items 1p, landscape 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged.

See the description of Caine’s political views in his entry in the Oxford DNB. He began as a communist, but became a Christian Socialist, and a supporter of the Liberal Party on the mainland of Britain (he was a member of the Isle of Man House of Keys from 1901 to 1908) and a follower of the Church of England. The present item would appear to relate to the ‘impassioned propaganda’ that Caine published in the Daily Telegraph from September 1914 (ODNB). It is 1p, 4to.

See the entries for Dicksee and Lady Orchardson’s husband Sir William Quiller Orchardson (1832-1910), RA, in the Oxford DNB. Lady Orchardson (1853-1917) was the daughter of the London publisher Charles Moxon. The Orchardsons married in 1873. Among their four children was the painter Charles Moxon Quiller Orchardson (1873-1917), who studied in the Royal Academy Schools and was killed in action during World War One. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘Frank Dicksee’.

The two men were both from Norfolk: see their entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo, on the recto of the first leaf a bifolium, the verso of the second leaf being addressed by Cooper to ‘Dawson Turner Esq / Yarmouth / Norfolk’, with postmark and ‘More to Pay 1d’ and ‘Post Paid’, and small seal with impression in red wax. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage, and minor traces of stub adhering to one edge. Reads: ‘Dear Sir, / You will greatly oblige me y voting for my Nephew Mr. Astley Cooper for the Athenaeum - / Yours very truly / Astley Cooper’. See Image.

Giving an insight into the nuts and bolts of Georgian medical practice. See Cooper's entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient was the son-in-law of the apothecary William Complin (1729-1808), and lived in Mansell Street from the latter’s death until his own, and was possibly succeeded at the address by his son George, also a surgeon. The material is in good condition, lightly worn, on aged paper. All items 1p, 12mo, and four on bifoliums addressed on second leaf. All six signed ‘Astley Cooper’. ONE: ALS. ‘Tuesday’.

The Tichborne Case was very possibly the greatest scandal of Victorian England. See the entry for ‘Tichborne claimant’, with subheading for ‘Arthur Orton’ in the Oxford DNB. Trained as a civil engineer, Major-General Arthur Phelps (1837-1920), civil engineer, was a prominent homeopath, anti-vaccinationist, and anti-vivisectionist, who promoted his views as proprietor and editor of the Citizen newspaper. Each inscription is on one side of a single 11.5 x 18.5 cm piece of gilt-edged wove paper, presumably extracted from an autograph album.

On 9.5 x 8.5 piece of vertically ruled paper, laid down on slightly larger leaf from an autograph album. A good strong signature, taking up most of the paper. No other writing, apart from a small ‘ROD STEWART’ in another hand at bottom right. In good condition, but with squares of discolouration at the corners showing through from the adhesive mounts on the reverse. See Image.