SOCIETY

[The Cambridge Apostles, 1871.] Autograph Letter Signed from Frederic Ferrar, proprietor of the Star and Garter, Richmond, to Tom Taylor regarding arrangements for a dinner of the ‘Cambridge Conversazione Soc[iet]y’ [Apostles].

Author: 
The Cambridge Apostles, 1871; the Cambridge Conversazione Society; Frederic Ferrar, proprietor of the Star and Garter, Richmond; Tom Taylor (1817-1880), playwright and comic writer
Publication details: 
11 June 1871. On letterhead of the Star and Garter, Richmond Hill.
£200.00

A nice item relating to a famously secretive and influential society. See Taylor’s entry in the Oxford DNB (Ferrar is not to be confused with the Dean of Canterbury Frederic Farrar, who was an Apostle). 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Sixteen lines, very neatly written. On aged and creased paper, with part of the leaf torn away at top left (not affecting text). Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Tom Taylor Esqre. / 8 Richmond Terrace / Whitehall / S.W.’ and signed ‘Fredc: Ferrar. / Genl.

[Lord Bryce (James Bryce), Liberal politician, jurist and British Ambassador to United States.] Autograph Letter Signed to William Sheowring declining to address tye South Place Ethical Society.

Author: 
Lord Bryce [James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce] (1838-1922), Ulster-born Liberal politician, jurist, British Ambassador to United States [The South Place Ethical Society, London; Conway Hall]
Publication details: 
9 August 1898. On embossed letterhead of the House of Commons.
£40.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘James Bryce’. Addressed to ‘W. S[?]ing Esq.’, presumably the secretary of the South Place Ethical Society. His ‘time is already so fully occupied with public & private work & engagements of many kinds’ that he ‘cannot hope to comply’ with the recipient’s request that he ‘should give an address for the South Place Ethical Society’.

[Lord Lister [Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister], distinguished medical pioneer.] Autograph Note Signed to ‘Reynolds’, accepting an invitation.

Author: 
Lord Lister [Joseph Lister (1827-1912), 1st Baron Lister], distinguished British doctor, medical scientist, pioneer of antiseptic surgery, President of the Royal Society
Lister
Publication details: 
30 June 1883. On letterhead of 12 Park Crescent, Portland Place [London].
£150.00
Lister

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 16mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of mount on reverse. Folded once for postage. Good bold signature. Reads ‘My dear Reynolds, / I accept with much pleasure your kind invitation for Friday, July 6th., at 8 o’clock. / Yours very truly, / Joseph Lister’. On reverse, in a contemporary hand: ‘Distinguished surgeon from Edinburgh [sic]’. See Image.

[‘Hesba Stretton’ (Sarah Smith), evangelical novelist and writer of children’s books.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the Secretary of the Religious Truth Society] regarding a manuscript she has titled ‘From Bethlehem to Olivet’.

Author: 
‘Hesba Stretton’, pseudonym of Sarah Smith (1832-1911), evangelical novelist and writer of children’s books [Religious Truth Society, London]
Publication details: 
‘70 Lansdowne Road. W. [London] / Jan 30. 1884’.
£45.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB, and Elaine Lomax’s 2016 book, ‘The Writings of Hesba Stretton: Reclaiming the Outcast’. 1p, 16mo. Cut down to 11.5 x 12 cm. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once for postage. The recipient is not named, but is clearly the secretary of the Religious Truth Society (who appear to have published the MS referred to in the letter as ‘The Sweet Story of Old’ (see Lomax). Signed ‘Hesba Stretton’. ‘Dear Sir, / I forward by this post my promised M.

[Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, son of George III.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Augustus Frederick') [to Earl St Vincent], attacking the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool while discussing his election as President of the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843), sixth son of George III, bibliophile [John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent (1735-1823), naval hero; Ellis Cornelia Knight (1757-1837); Lord Liverpool]
Publication details: 
Kensington Palace; 3 February 1816.
£350.00

An interesting letter, attacking the serving Tory Prime Minister Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (1770-1828), who had stood against the Duke of Sussex (noted for his liberal sympathies) in the election for President of the Royal Society of Arts. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded three times. The recipient is not named, but is identified in an endorsement on the reverse of the second leaf as 'Earl St Vincent'. Written in a hurried, untidy hand.

[Wife of George Cruikshank] Autograph Letter Signed from 'E. Cruikshank' to Wright with autograph initials of George.

Author: 
Eliza Cruikshank (wife of the English caricaturist George Cruikshank, 1792-1878); William Henry Kearley Wright (1844-1915), Plymouth antiquary and librarian and editor of the Ex Libris Society journal
Publication details: 
26 July 1877; 263 Hampstead Road.
£40.00

One page, on paper roughly four and a half inches by seven wide. Very good on lightly aged paper. She is enclosing her husband's signature. '[H]e desires me to thank you for your clever and truthful verses of An appeal to the Protestants of England [Plymouth, 1873]; which he has seen before; and which we both most highly approve of.' The Cruikshanks are glad to hear that the Wrights have 'arrived Home safely'. George Cruikshank has written G.C. | born | Sep 27th 79. See Image

['By consent of the Police? NO.': E. V. Knox, editor of 'Punch'.] Typed Card Signed from Cyril Clemens of the Internation Mark Twain Society, asking for Knox's 'definition of democracy', with carbon copy of Knox's reply.

Author: 
Cyril Coniston Clemens (1902-1999), founder of the International Mark Twain Society, the writer’s third cousin twice removed; E. V. Knox [Edmund George Valpy Knox, ‘Evoe’] (1881-1971), 'Punch' editor
Publication details: 
Clemens' TCS: 10 January 1969, with his stamp as president of the Internation Mark Twain Society, Webster Groves, Missouri. Carpon of Knox's reply, 1 March 1949.
£90.00

See Knox’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The two items are in fair condition, lightly aged and creased, each with a couple of lightly-rusted pin holes. Clemens’s plain card, with stamps and postmarks, is addressed to ‘E. V. Knox Esq / c/o Punch / London, England.’, and is signed ‘faithfully / C C Clemens’. The message reads: ‘Dear E.V. Knox / We hope the life of President Truman reached you safely? / The Society is arranging a symposium on democracy You may care to send your definition of democracy and a few comments.

[Mary Whitehouse, campaigner against the ‘permissive society’, founder and president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association.] Two Autograph Notes Signed on compliments slips, and her ‘New Address’ in Autograph.

Author: 
Mary Whitehouse [née Constance Mary Hutcheson] (1910-2001), campaigner against the ‘permissive society’, founder and president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association
Publication details: 
None of the items dated, but from the 1960s or 1970s.
£100.00

A controversial figure much-ridiculed by the media, but nevertheless wielding considerable influence. See her entry in the Oxford DNB. All three items in good condition. Items 1 and 2 are 11.5 x 9 cm compliments slips for ‘The Secretary’ of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, with the address in the bottom left-hand corner: ‘MRS. MARY WHITEHOUSE | Triangle Farm House | Far Forest | Nr. KIDDERMINSTER | Worcs.’ and her phone number at bottom right. ONE: ‘The Secretary’ crossed out by Whitehouse and replaced with her signature ‘Mary Whitehouse’. Autograph message: ‘In haste.

[John Marshall, President of the Royal College of Surgeons and Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy.] Autograph Letter Signed to Bernard Piffard, regarding evolution, respiratory problems, an award in Dublin and Mrs Pickard’s health.

Author: 
John Marshall (1818-1891), President of the College of Surgeons and Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy [Bernard Piffard (1833-1916), microscopist and entomologist]
Publication details: 
28 April 1886; on letterhead of 10 Savile Row, W. [London].
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the Piffard papers. Marshall’s handwriting is hurried and in places difficult to decipher. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Piffard’ and signed ‘John Marshall’. Piffard’s gift of ‘the Box of flowers, with [?]’ leads him to opine: ‘The Daffodils are lovely. - Why is Nature so beautiful? Can it be merely to please the Eye of Man?

[A young Englishman in 1960s Japan.] Typescript of an untitled novel by an unnamed individual, regarding the cultural and personal adventures in Japan of character Christopher Peter Butterworth, with numerous emendations, additions and corrections.

Author: 
[Japan in the 1960s; Japanese culture; English expatriate; unpublished typescript of novel]
Publication details: 
No place or date. But clearly written by an English writer, and containing references dating it to the late 1960s.
£450.00

The present item - presumably autobiographical and definitely unpublished - is in a disordered state, and certainly not in the best of condition, with some parts apparently missing; but it is certainly worthy of attention, as a well-written production over which the author has taken some pains, with numerous manuscript additions and emendations in green and black felt-tip pen, describing from the point of view of a young Englishman 1960s Anglo-Japanese culture shock. 239pp, all but two of which are 4to, the two being foolscap.

[‘The most fashionable place in London’: The Clarendon Hotel, Bond Street; Foreign 'Great and Good@] Around 180 entries in the hotel guestbook, on extracted leaves, the greater part of them signatures of ‘Nobility and Gentry, and Foreigners of rank’.

Author: 
‘The most fashionable place in London’: The Clarendon Hotel, Bond Street [Georgian England]
Publication details: 
The Clarendon Hotel, Bond Street, London. The entries all said to date from 1831.
£1,200.00

The Clarendon Hotel was once - as ‘Routledge’s Popular Guide to London’ stated in 1862 - ‘the most fashionable place in London’, and the present collection of autograph signatures from its guestbook, all of them said to date from 1831, bear witness to the fact that - as ‘Gilbert’s Visitor’s Guide to London’ (1851) states - it was ‘frequented by the Nobility and Gentry, and Foreigners of rank’. Its reputation had been made during the Regency period, and in 1820 ‘Leigh’s New Picture of London’ stated that it ‘and Jaquiers are now one hotel’.

[Sir David Chadwick, Indian Trade Commissioner.] Thirteen Signed Letters, eight Typed and five in Autograph, to Sir H. T. Wood and G. K. Menzies, Secretaries of the Royal Society of Arts, mostly regarding membership business.

Author: 
Sir David Chadwick [Sir David Thomas Chadwick] (1876-1954), British colonial civil servant, Secretary of the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux [Royal Society of Arts, London; Sir H. T. Wood; G. K. Menzies
Publication details: 
Between 22 December 1916 and 11 June 1930. Eight on London letterheads of: Indian Trade Commissioner, Department of Commerce and Industry, Government of India (5); and Imperial Agricultural Bureaux (3). Two from Beckenham, Kent.
£90.00

See his entry in Who Was Who. The thirteen items in good condition, lightly aged, most with RSA date stamp and annotations. A total of 12pp, 8vo, in autograph; and 5pp, 4to, typed. The first ten signed ‘D T Chadwick’ and the last three ‘David Chadwick’. The earliest letter, to RSA Secretary Sir Henry Trueman Wood on 22 December 1916, deals with the publication of Chadwick’s remarks ‘at the discussion on Prof. Todds paper before the Indian Section of the Society of Arts’.

[Pocahontas; Lyndon B. Johnson [Lyndon Baines Johnson; 'LBJ'], 36th President] Typed Letter Signed, as a senator, regarding a visit to America by 'the rector of St. George's Church at Gravesend' (in England, where Pocahontas is buried).

Author: 
Lyndon B. Johnson [Lyndon Baines Johnson, known as ‘LBJ’] (1908-1973), 36th President of the United States of America; a Democrat who succeeded John F. Kennedy, to whom he had served as Vice-President
Johnson
Publication details: 
24 September 1951. On letterhead of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services [Washington, D.C.].
£450.00
Johnson

The present item is a genuine signature. It has been compared with a number of examples from the 1950s, including one from the same year of 1951, all of which differ, and Johnson is not known to have used an autopen until he became president (in 1968 it was dubbed ‘The Robot That Sits In For The President’ by the National Enquirer). 1p, 4to. On a leaf of wove paper, with US government American eagle watermark. In fair condition, lightly aged, and folded twice for postage. There is some light wear to the left of the signature, having a negligible effect on its final uptick.

[Solomon J. Solomon, RA, English artist.] Signed Autograph Inscription for an autograph hunter.

Author: 
Solomon J. Solomon [Solomon Joseph Solomon] (1860-1927), English painter of Jewish extraction, Fellow of the Royal Society, President of the Royal Society of British Artists
Solomon
Publication details: 
14 October 1894; on letterhead of 60 Finchley Road, N.W. [London]
£45.00
Solomon

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 9.5 x 10 cm piece of paper, laid down on 11 cm square piece of card. In good condition, lightly browned and aged. The letterhead is printed in red. The inscription reads ?Faithfully yours / Solomon J Solomon?.

[H. Brereton Baker, distinguished English chemist.] Autograph Letter Signed [to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary of the Royal Society of Arts, London], agreeing to give three Cantor lectures.

Author: 
H. Brereton Baker [Herbert Brereton Baker] (1862-1935), distinguished English inorganic chemist [Sir Henry Trueman Wood (1845-1929), Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, London]
Publication details: 
30 July 1913; on letterhead of Latchmoor House, Gerrard?s Cross, Bucks.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightl aged. Folded once for postage. The recipient is not named, but the letter has at its head the date stamp of the Royal Society of Arts, London, and is docketed by Wood. Signed ?H. Brereton Baker?. He agrees to give ?the three Cantor lectures as you suggest, provided they can begin after the 3rd. week in February?. He gives the subject as ?Catalysis in its scientific and industrial aspects?. A pencil note at the foot gives dates for the lectures as ?Mch 16, 23, 30?.

[‘He walked across Africa’: Verney Lovett Cameron, the first European to cross equatorial Africa from coast to coast.] Autograph Signature to conclusion of a letter: ‘V. Lovett Cameron / Commander R. N.’

Author: 
Verney Lovett Cameron (1844-1894), explorer who ‘walked across Africa’, the first European to cross equatorial Africa from Indian Ocean to Atlantic
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£76.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A good large bold signature, with the autograph valediction of a letter. On one side of a 20 x 9 cm piece of wove paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ‘Your’s [sic] very truly / V. Lovett Cameron / Commander R. N.’ See Image.

[Walter Rosenhain, distinguished metallurgist of German-Jewish extraction, grew up in Australia, lived in England.] Six Typed Letters Signed, Two Autograph Letters Signed, and one Typed Note Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Walter Rosenhain (1875-1934), distinguished metallurgist born in Germany of Jewish extraction, who grew up in Australia and moved to England in 1897 [Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
1915, 1924 (3), 1925 (3) and 1926 (2). The nine items on letterheads of the metallurgy department of the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex.
£250.00

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and Australian Dictionary of Biography. The recipient George Kenneth Menzies (1869-1954) was Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts between 1917 and 1935. The nine items are in good condition, lightly aged, and are folded for postage. Each bears the stamp of the RSA, some with manuscript docketting. Letters of 4 April and 18 September 1925 are in autograph, the rest typed; all nine are signed ‘Walter Rosesnhain’.

[W. E. S. Turner, chemist and pioneer of scientific glass technology.] Eight Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed to George Menzies, Secretary, Royal Academy of Arts.

Author: 
W. E. S. Turner [William Ernest Stephen Turner] (1881-1963), chemist and pioneer of scientific glass technology, founder of the Turner Museum of Glass, Sheffield University [Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
1919, 1920, 1922 (2), 1923 (4) and 1924. Seven on letterheads of the Department of Glass Technology, The University, Darnall Road, Sheffield; the first two (1919 and 1920) on letterheads of the Society of Glass Technology, The University, Sheffield.
£220.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The fibre-glass dress in which his second wife Helen married him is exhibited in his museum at the University of Sheffield, and was included in the 2010 BBC radio series A History of the Word in 100 Objects. The recipient George Kenneth Menzies (1869-1954) was Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts between 1917 and 1935. The nine items are in good condition, on lightly aged paper, and are folded for postage. All nine are signed 'W. E. S. Turner'. Each bears the stamp of the RSA, some with manuscript docketting.

[Natural Indigo.] Lengthy correspondence of ten letters from Sir Lewis J. E Hay, ‘Retired Behar Indigo planter’ to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Lewis J. E. Hay [Sir Lewis John Erroll Hay] (1866-1923) of Park, indigo planter in Behar, India [G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
One letter from 1914, the other nine from 1915. Each on his letterhead, 42 Frederick Street, Victoria Chambers, Edinburgh.
£320.00

In one of the present letters Hay signs himself as ‘Retired Behar Indigo planter’, and the material provides an knowledgeable commentry on the colonial textiles industry at the beginning of the First World War. Some of the material was printed in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. The recipient George Kenneth Menzies (1869-1954) was Secretary to the Royal Society of Arts between 1917 and 1935. A total of 21pp, 4to. Each bears the stamp of the RSA, some with manuscript docketting.

[Lieut-Col. Sir Richard Temple, colonial administrator, oriental scholar and anthropologist.] Autograph Note Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, regarding copies of his lecture ‘Round About the Andamans and Nicobars’.

Author: 
Lieut-Col. Sir Richard Temple [Sir Richard Carnac Temple] (1850-1931), British army officer, colonial administrator, oriental scholar, anthropologist [G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
19 October 1923. From the India Office, Whitehall. On his letterhead.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. (In his Who’s Who entry he stated that he was ‘author of a great number of papers and articles in the Journals of Scientific Societies’.) 1p, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. With stamp and manuscript docketting of the RSA. He writes: ‘In 1900 (I think) I gave a lecture on Round About the Andamans & Nicobars published in vol XLVIII. If you have a separate copy left I shall be glad if you can send me one on payment / from Yrs trly / R. C. Temple’.

[Henry Beveridge, Scottish historian and translator.] Autograph Letter Signed to Joseph L. Williams, responding to suggested corrections, and mentioning Dr Walter Graham Blackie of his publishers Blackie & Son, Glasgow.

Author: 
Henry Beveridge (1799-1863), Scottish historian, author of ‘A Comprehensive History of India’ (1858-1863) and translator with the Calvin Translation Society, Edinburgh [Blackie and Son, Glasgow]
Publication details: 
‘8 Roxburgh Terrace Haverstock Hill [London] / 29 June 1858’.
£80.00

The recipient is clearly not the American politician Joseph Lanier Williams (1810-1865), but rather an editor of Beveridge’s history of India at Blackie’s. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, but with diagonal crease at bottom right going through Beveridge’s signature. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Joseph L. Williams Esqr’ and signed ‘Henry Beveridge’. He begins by undertaking to ‘attend to the matters’ mentioned in Williams’s note.

[Albert Reginald Powys, architect and Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Burdett’ regarding ‘corporate action’ taken by the Art Workers Guild.

Author: 
Albert Reginald Powys (1881-1936), architect and Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, sibling of John Cowper Powys, Llewelyn Powys, Theodore Francis Powys, Philippa Powys
Publication details: 
11 November 1922. 5 Clarendon Road, Harrow on the Hill, on letterhead of The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, 20 Buckingham Street, Adelphi, London WC2.
£60.00

In good condition, lightly aged and creased. With fold for postage. Begins: ‘S.P.A.B. decided it could not take corporate action but I think A W G is doing so. We have therefore passed our papers to Mr Basil Oliver of 148 High St Kensington, who is the Hon Secty. Please write further information to him. / A R Powys.’ Note: Siblings included John Cowper Powys, Llewelyn Powys, Theodore Francis Powys and Philippa Powys.

[Lady Knightley [Louisa Mary Knightley], Anglican churchwoman and Conservative suffragist.] Autograph Letter Signed to ?Phoebe?, asking her to design a bookplate for volumes presented to her by the Girls? Friendly Society, Peterborough Diocese.

Author: 
Lady Knightley [Louisa Mary Knightley, n?e Bowater] (1842-1913), prominent Anglican churchwoman and Conservative suffragist [Girls? Friendly Society, Peterborough Diocese]
Publication details: 
9 June 1904; on letterhead of Fawsley Park, Daventry.
£50.00

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo, with the first page also bearing the conclusion of the letter and signature ?L M Knightley?, cross-written. On bifolium of grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. She begins by asking for a favour, explaining that she has had ?a most lovely present from my G. F. S.

[Herbert Thurston, SJ, Roman Catholic liturgical scholar and member of the Society for Psychical Research.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding Samuel Butler and the ‘Oxford theory’ of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Author: 
Herbert Thurston [Herbert Henry Charles Thurston] (1856–1939), Jesuit priest, Roman Catholic liturgical scholar, andt member of the Society for Psychical Research [Samuel Butler; William Shakespeare]
Publication details: 
3 December 1930; on letterhead of 114 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, London, W.
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The recipient is not identified. Addressed to ‘My dear Sir’ and signed ‘Herbert Thurston’. He begins by thanking him for ‘the nice things you say’, and continues: ‘I fear I have no defence as regards Samuel Butler. I knew that he had written on the Sonnets and that some people thought highly of his book but I have never seen it. The fact was that I was provoked into talking up the question by some friends who have recently become obsessed by the Oxford theory.

[Ben Purse [Benjamin Ormond Purse], trade unionist and campaigner for the rights of blind people.] Typed Letter with cyclostyled signature, to Carmichael Thomas, describing his ‘interests’ while asking for help in joining the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Ben Purse [Benjamin Ormond Purse] (1874-1950), British trade unionist, social worker and campaigner with the National Institute for the Blind [Carmichael Thomas; Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
21 April 1921; on letterhead of the National Institute for the Blind, London.
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and with two creases from folding for postage. Addressed to ‘Carmichael Thomas, Esq., / Mount Cottage, / Borough Green, / Kent.’ Cyclostyled signature of ‘Ben Purser.’ Begins: ‘For some time I have been desirous of becoming a member of the Royal Society of Arts. Mentioning this matter to your daughter a few days ago, Miss Thomas thought that if I wrote you in this connection you might possibly be able to arrange this matter for me.

[A. F. Shand [Alexander Faulkner Shand], pioneering psychologist.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to ‘Burdett'

Author: 
A. F. Shand [Alexander Faulkner Shand] (1858-1936), pioneer psychologist, author and barrister, founding member of the British Psychological Society
Publication details: 
Both items signed ‘A. F. Shand’. 18 November 1907 and 16 February 1908. Both on letterhead of 1 Edwardes Place, Kensington, W. [London.]
£120.00

Shand is great-grandfather of Queen Camilla. His best-known work is 'The Foundations of Character' (1914). ONE: 18 November 1907. 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Thirty-five lines. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Shand - who is weakened by ‘fever & cough’, and ‘too tired to think consecutively’ - thanks Burdett for his ‘very kind letter which was a real consolation to me in my bed’. His ‘argument about avarice was most interesting, & I think I quite agree with it.

[John Huntley, film historian with the British Film Institute.] Typed Letter Signed to Harold Chipp of the Cheltenham Gramophone Society, making arrangements for a lecture with his records.

Author: 
John Huntley [John Frederick Huntley] (1921-2003), film historian with the British Film Institute and television presentert [Huntley Film Archives; BFI; Harold Chipp; Cheltenham Gramophone Society]
Publication details: 
17 March 1955; on British Film Institute letterhead (typed addition: ‘Please reply to: / 4, Great Russell Street, / London, W.C.1. MUS: 0581.’).
£45.00

1p, 4to. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper, with two small punch holes to one margin. Pencil notes at foot of page, with more notes in ink and pencil on the reverse. He begins: ‘I too a looking forward to my visit to Cheltenham on April 4th. I shall, as you say, be bringing my records with me which include both 78 r.p.m. and 33 1/3 r.p.m. As you say it will be necessary for me to have overnight accommodation and I should be grateful if you could make the booking.’ He gives details of the train he will be travelling on from Paddington, and asks where to go.

[Arthur H. Bell, publisher; British Society of Dowsers] Two Typed Letters Signed A.H. Bell, one with a very substantial discussion, to G.K. Menzies of the Royal Society of Arts, concerning the British Society of Dowsers (just established).

Author: 
Arthur H. Bell, publisher [British Society of Dowsers]
Publication details: 
G. Bell & Sons, Ltd, Publishers, York House, Portugal Street, London, WC2, 8th and 16th February 1934
£250.00

[8 Feb.1924] Three pages, 4to, good condition, with Royal Society of Arts stamp. He acknowledges a kind reply to his request to hire your lecture theatre for the [first] Congress of the British Society of Dowsers. A 'friend' Colonel Crosthwaite, suggested that I should tell you something about the nature of the Society, the existence of which is unknown to many people. And ignored by most people of scientific reputation.

[Royal General Annuity Society, London, S. J. Aldrich, Secretary.] Printed ‘Lady’s Ticket’ to the ‘Anniversary Festival’ with impressions of ten wax seals of eminent Victorians, with names and dates in contemporary manuscript, laid down on reverse.

Author: 
Royal General Annuity Society, London, S. J. Aldrich, Secretary; Sir Denis Le Marchant; Sir Edward Crofton; Sir Stratford Canning; Sir John Cunningham; Sir Edward Kerrision; Sir James Graham
Seals
Seals2
Publication details: 
Ticket to ‘Anniversary Festival’ of the Royal General Annuity Society, at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate Street (‘George Hudson, Esq., M.P. in the Chair’) dated 16 February 1848. Seals variously dated to 1847, 1848 and 1850.
£120.00
Seals
Seals2

Not only an interesting item of sigillography, but also a nice item relating to Victorian philanthropy. Eight red wax seals and two black, of varying sizes. Laid down in three rows on reverse of 15 x 11 cm card, tastefully printed in blue, red and gold, with facsimile of the signature of the Secretary, S. J. Aldrich. Originally ten seals were present, those that remain in good condition, most with good impressions of crests.

[Salt-Hill Society, Burnham and Stoke, Buckinghamshire.] Large poster giving the 15 ‘Rules and Articles’, and listing those who agree with ‘the before-mentioned Articles’.

Author: 
Salt-Hill Society, (Instituted 1783) for the protection of Persons and Property from Felons & Thieves, Within the Hundreds of Burnham and Stoke, Buckingham; Edmund J. Craske, Treasurer [Eton College]
Publication details: 
Following ‘General Meeting, held at the Public Hall, Slough’, 3 March 1914. Printed by Spottiswoode and Co., Ltd., Eton College. [Buckinghamshire]
£56.00

A scarce item relating to provincial history and printing. A similar poster, from 1897, is offered separately, and is the only other item relating to the Salt-Hill Society present on ViaLibri. Large poster, printed on one side of 45 x 76 cm sheet of discoloured and brittle wove paper. The item is complete, but there are numerous long tears along the four fold lines (which might be easily repaired with archival tape).

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