THOMAS

For an overview of the post of King's Messenger, see 'The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy', ed. Ward and Gooch, vol.3 (1923), which states that during the two men's time in the post (i.e. in 1822) 'the number of the corps was raised to thirty-eight. Eighteen of these were placed under the immediate orders of the Foreign Office for foreign service only. They were required to be British subjects, not over thirty-five years of age, good linguists and good horsemen; and the choosing of them rested in turn with each of the three Secretaries of State'.

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

2pp., 12mo. Bifiolium. Mimeographed document in purple ink. The date, Ramsay's name and Bonney's signature are added in Bonney's autograph. The Association's council, 'acting under the powers conferred upon them by the General Committee in accordance with their Report, have appointed a Committee [...] to carry into effect the recommendations of the portion of the Council Report accepted by the General committee'. A 'List of the Committee' is on the second page, the eleven members headed by 'Mr. H. G. Fordham (Secretary)' and featuring 'Mr. Francis Galton' and 'Mr. A. Ramsay'.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. Docketed on reverse of second leaf 'Mr Coke of Holkham'. 33 lines of text. Coke's handwriting is atrocious. Phrases which can be made out are: '[...] to comply with my tenants wishes [...] to supply them with good [...] I should recommend [....] this is the best advice I can give you. | From the Member for Oxfordshire, [...] but he has it in such abundance [...]'.

The only writing on an 8vo leaf, clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight evidence of mount on reverse. In a large firm hand, reading: 'Yours faithfully | Carrie Tubb Oliveira'. Tubb was principally known for work in oratorio, but sang in opera (Elektra, Hänsel und Gretel etc.) under Sir Thomas Beecham at Covent Garden from 1910. She taught at the Guildhall for more than thirty years from 1930.

1p., landscape 12mo. Aged and worn. Traces of red wax from the seal on the reverse, which is docketed. Reads: 'Sir/ as you do not import the Teneriffe Wine yourself; I had rather not have any. - I will thank you to inform Mr Southern when the Post leaves Town - Send it by Barton's Shrewsbury Waggon. | I remain, | yr. Obdt. Sert. | Berwick'. Contemporary biographical annotation in light pencil at head.

1p., 4to. Bifolium. On aged and worn paper. Hunter's letter, on the recto of the first leaf, reads: 'I write you this letter to inform you, that I agree to the proposal you made to me yesterday, that the growing Interest on the Mortgage shall be four and a half Per Cent, to Comence [sic] from the dates the last payments were due upon.' On the reverse of the first leaf are two memoranda in the court case 'Creuzer agst. Bp, London'. The first, signed by 'W. Graves', states that 'This paper Writing was produced & shewn to Mr. Richd. Burn at the time of swearing his Afft. in this Cause the 10th.

1p., 12mo. With mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Sharp's gift is 'kind and acceptable', and Goulburn hopes 'soon to call upon Mrs Sharp and yourself and acknowledge your kindness in person'. However he does not consider himself 'a sufficiently dignified personage to be honoured by a Statuette. - Possibly some few members of my congregation might like to have this memorial of me; and if this be so, pray let them have it'. Accompanied by a long manuscript bioigraphical note, on two parts of an envelope, written while Goulburn was still alive.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium on grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. He begins by calling in 'the small Acct', explaining that he has 'lately been subjected to rather an expensive personal, [sic] having taken the old established Marble Works late in the occupation of Mr. Tilney, directly opposite the Gt Northern Railway Station'. He is obliged to use all his endeavours 'to get together all my small outstanding Accounts, or exclusive of any other, I would not of some time yet caused [sic] yourself the slightest trouble concerning its remittance'.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, laid down on part of a page from an album. Reads: 'Dear Teg. | Miss Elizabeth Philp has sent a batch of Songs of her own Company to the Queen. Will you kindly interest yourself to get them a notice?'

The recipient of the letter, the 5th Earl of Chesterfield, was Postmaster General between 1790 and 1798. The 'Mr. Palmer' mentioned in the text is John Palmer (1742-1818), MP for Bath, who was Comptroller General of the Post Office between 1786 and 1792. Harraden appears to have been regarded by his superiors as a whistle-blower and trouble-maker.

Alan Bell, in his entry on Wise in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, characterizes him as 'both a careless and a dishonest bibliographer' (see also Simon Nowell-Smith, 'T. J. Wise as Bibliographer' in the Library, 1969). One of Wise's aims was clearly to legitimize his forgeries, and as John Collins states in 'The Two Forgers' (1992), his bibliographies are all 'more or less tarred with Wise's own publications'.

The five letters total 8pp. The first three letters are in autograph and the last two typed. The first has two punch holes to the first leaf, the collection is otherwise in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The correspondence relates to the arranging of a meeting between Milburn and the Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane (1856-1928, later 1st Viscount Haldane), apparently with regard to a complaint by Milburn which has lead to him considering resigning from the position of Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the 2nd East Riding Yorks Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers)'.

Written in ink on both sides of an irregular slip of paper (roughly 9 x 19cm), with a few words inserted in pencil. Aged and worn. In Guthrie's hand, and with 'Dr Guthrie's' in pencil at head of first page. The text comprises the upper part of the first leaf of the draft of a speech of thanks by Guthrie, for delivery at a meeting in his honour. Heavily revised, with a few interpolations in the margins on both sides. There are no indications that the text has been published, and Guthrie's sons' memoir, included in his 'Autobiography' (1874), throws up no clues.

The two documents are printed forms, completed in manuscript. Both are tipped-in onto a leaf removed from an album. Both in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. ONE: 'C No 1429'. Dated 12 October 1798 and signed by 'J L Towers', 'Register.' Recording the birth of Sarah Cooper, daughter of Thomas Cooper and Jane Cooper (daughter of the Rev. Israel Lewis', born in Homerton, in the Parish of Saint John Hackney, on 17 June 1783. Witnessed by 'E. S. Cooper' and 'Sarah Mackaness'. TWO: 'E No 3478'. Dated 30 January 1816.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. The letter is addressed to 'My dear Sir' and the recipient is not identified. He begins by thanking him for his 'kind attention': 'I had got the information about Gattie, though I dont think I shall want it.' He is surprised the recipient 'never heard Mr Elliston mention The King of the Sheffield Gallery'. He continues: 'I am sorry my Anecdotes do not appear to please you, there is one thing however which must please you, which is, that finding them so incorrect &c you had nothing to do with them'.

On one side of a 6 x 11.5 cm slip of grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged, with small strip of glue staining along right-hand edge. Reads: 'A mile of daughters - | Family of Furlongs having 8 girls | 8 furlongs = 1 mile. - | T. Hood.' A joke on the surname of the person who requested Hood's autograph, as explained in Walter Jerrold's 'Thomas Hood, his Life and Times' (1907), which states that in 1838 Hood wrote to his friend Wright: '[…] only think of a mile of daughters! There is a family of Furlongs coming to live here, whereof eight are daughters – 8 furlongs = 1 mile.'

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Docketed on reverse of second leaf: '15 Augt. 1815. | Sir P. C. Durham'. According to the DNB, Durham, having 'cleared the West Indies of American cruisers', 'in June and August 1815 co-operated in the reduction of Martinique and Guadeloupe, at which place the last French flag was struck to Durham, as the first had been'.

37pp., 8vo. Stitched and unbound. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper with spotting to front cover. In manuscript (Ward's hand?) at head of title-page: 'Thomas Gladstone Esq | MP | 6/A/Albany'.

2pp., 4to. In poor condition, on brittle, aged paper, with closed tears and chipping to extremities causing slight loss to some words of text; repaired long since with archival tape. 2pp., 4to. Addressed to his 'Dear Brother', i.e. Sir William Wentworth of Bretton.

For information on Nathaniel Pigott (so spelt), see his entry in the Oxford DNB. Pigott was a friend and adviser of Alexander Pope, who composed the inscription on his memorial tablet. 3pp., folio. Bifolium, on watermarked laid paper, folded into the customary packet, with 'Mr. Hunsdon's Case' written lengthwise on the blank reverse of the second leaf. Sixty-lines of neatly and closely written text. The first page is headed 'The Case of Mr.

The two letters in good condition, on lightly aged paper. ONE: 2pp., 12mo. He begins by stating that he 'knew Leonard pretty well in the 2nd Life G[uar]ds., he was a good fellow, but rough and wild - he came from Mullingar, my local capital, a good man with a horn but too heavy for a groom'. He could not give Leonard 'a better character than the regiment has done', and if 'his knee is too bad for him to soldier it probably would prevent him being a groom anywhere [...] he occasionally came before me for punishment - and as a fellow countryman I took an interest in him'.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, somewhat aged and worn. The letter reads: 'My dear friend | On examining your plates of symbols I find no perceptible [corrected from 'practicable'] difference between Nos 154 & 155; although the former is described as a dog and the latter as a hairy shaggy dog. Is the fact so? Excuse the freedom of yours | very sincerely | Thos. Fisher'. Fisher's letter may be connected with Robert Morrison's 'Dictionary of the Chinese Language' (1815-1823), which has a symbol for 'A hairy, shaggy dog.'

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. A tantalizing extract from a correspondence. He begins: 'I doubt whether domestic service, as a rule, is quite the state of slavery you depict, but, as I said before, the question which you ask me is less simple than you appear to think and I can only say that every employer is bound to remember that those he (or she) employs has wants, bodily and spiritual, very similar to his own.' He concludes the letter, and the correspondence, by apologising that he 'cannot continue to write on the subject'.

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged paper with small spike hole at head. He thanks the unnamed recipient for his 'obliging letter' and 'ingenious Catalogue', and 'would have acknowledged the receipt sooner' had he not been waiting for 'an opportunity of conveying the same free of expence'. The recipient is 'welcome' to the copy of 'Stewarts Athens' at his 'own price' of two guineas. Burnham has 'adjusted Mr. Hayes's Account with the balance of onepound [sic] ffifteenshillings [sic]', and begs 'to thank that Gentleman for the same'.

A scarce piece of Oxford ephemera. The Society for promoting the Study of Gothic Architecture was founded in 1839; renamed the Oxford Architectural Society in 1848; renamed the Oxford Architectural and Historical Society in 1860; merged with The Oxfordshire Archaeological Society in 1972 to become The Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society. In good condition, printed in black ink on a 15 x 11 cm piece of white India paper, laid down on a 22 x 18.5 cm grey card mount. At the foot of the design, in tiny letters, is engraved 'O. JEWITT. | DEL.

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

Walley has converted one volume of a printed diary ('The Business Year Book' for 1923, by the R. C. Maxwell Co., Trenton, New Jersey) into a continuous table listing all the articles contributed between 27 November 1925 and 17 January 1934. Entries are compiled with the meticulous attention to detail one would expect from an engineer, giving a range of information including the times of receipt of material to the minute, and even the typeface in which an article was printed.

The item derives from the papers of Sir Richard Harington, 12th Baronet of Ridlington (1861-1931), who volunteered for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on the outbreak of the First World War, and was promoted to the rank of Chief Petty Officer in the Anti-Aircraft Corps, serving in that capacity until 1916. 2pp., foolscap folio. On both sides of a leaf of paper with embossed Government crest. In fair condition, lightly-aged and worn, with a few short closed tears to edges. Mimeographed duplication of a manuscript poem parodying Thomas Moore's poem 'The Minstrel Boy'.

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, laid down on leaf removed from album. Clarke writes that a King's student, also named Clarke, whom Stuart took 'for vacation work', has returned 'full of enthusiasm & gratitude for all you & your people have taught him'. He only hopes that the student 'made as good an impression on you as you have done on him'. He concludes: 'Why don't you come and give the students a talk one day?' According to an official account: 'The University of London ran courses in journalism from around 1923.