WAR

[USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear submarine.] Typed Letter Signed written from the vessel by its commander Captain W. R. Anderson, to J. G. Gillman, following its transit of the North Pole.

Author: 
Captain William Robert Anderson (1921-2007), United States Navy, commander of the world’s first nuclear submarine USS Nautilus, which he took under the arctic icecap, and a Democratic congressman
Nautilus
Publication details: 
20 August 1958. On letterhead of ‘U.S.S. NAUTILUS (SSN-571) / Fleet Post Office / New York, New York’.
£120.00
Nautilus

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Mr. J. G. Gillman / 50 High Street / Chislehurst, Kent / England’. Good firm signature, ‘W R Anderson’, with ‘Commander, U.S. Navy / Written following the Nautilus’s arctic transit, 3 August 1958: ‘Thank you for your letter and kind appreciation. The people of England have given us a truly wonderful welcome and we are all deeply appreciative.’ He asks him to accept the signature that he is attaching, for his autograph collection. See Image.

[Sir Sidney Gerald Burrard (1860-1943), Surveyor General of India.] Large printed coloured map of ?Tibet and Adjacent Countries?, during the First World War.

Author: 
?Tibet and Adjacent Countries?: Sir Sidney Gerald Burrard (1860-1943), Surveyor General of India; Survey of India
Publication details: 
?Compiled under the direction of Colonel Sir S. G. Burrard, K.C.S.I., R.E., F.R.S., Surveyor General of India, 1917?, ?Helizincographed at the Survey of India Offices, Dehra Dun.?
£560.00

The original item. On one side of a piece of a piece of paper roughly 70 x 100 cm, folded into a 10.5 x 15.5 cm packet of fifty panels. An attractive item, but in need of some attention: on brittle and discoloured paper, with several closed tears. The map was the work of Col. H. B. Hudson. A significant map, still cited in the Sino-Indian border dispute. For the background see 'Two Important Maps from the Survey of India', Geographical Journa, October 1915. First published in 1914, but the only copy of this 1917 version located in the National Library of Australia.

[Wilhelm, last Crown Prince of the German Empire.] Three black and white photographic prints: two portraits, one of them signed by him, both taken in his final year, and view of Hechingen Castle, with Typed Note Signed from another party on reverse.

Author: 
Wilhelm, last Crown Prince of the German Empire [Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst, Crown Prince of Prussia] (1882-1951), son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, great-grandson of Queen Victoria
Wilhelm
Publication details: 
One from 1950 and two from 1951, one of the latter from Hechingen.
£280.00
Wilhelm

All three in black and white. The first and third item lightly aged and creased; the first stained on reverse; the second item lightly aged. ONE: Half-length portrait. 8 x 12.5 cm. Stamped on reverse ‘4 JAN 1950’. A Seated Wilhelm, grey-haired and tight-lipped, with hands joined in front of him, wearing suit and tie and light-grey tweed jacket. TWO: Half-length portrait, apparently from the same shoot as One, with autograph signature. 8 x 11 cm. Written on reverse: ‘HECKINGEN. / SEP. 7. 1951’. Same outfit as One, but with cigarette in right hand.

[Wilhelm, the last Crown Prince of the German Empire.] Two black and white prints of photographs: one a portrait of him, the other a view of Hechingen Castle; each with Typed Note Signed by him on the reverse.

Author: 
Wilhelm, the last Crown Prince of the German Empire [Crown Prince of Prussia; Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst] (1882-1951), son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, great-grandson of Queen Victoria
Wilhelm
Publication details: 
The portrait dated from 'Hechingen, Zezember [sic] 1949'. The other photograph without date or
£250.00
Wilhelm

Both in black and white, and in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: Half-length portrait. 10 x 14 cm. A Seated Wilhelm, grey-haired and tight-lipped, with hands joined in front of him, wearing suit and tie and light-grey tweed jacket. On reverse, a typed note addressed to 'Mr. James Dandy / England.', and dated from 'Hechingen, Zezember 1949': 'Herzlichen Dank für Ihr liebes Paket, es hat mich sehr gefreut. / Beste Wünsche u. Grüse'. TWO: View of Hechingen Castle. 8.5 x 13 cm. Typed message on reverse, also signed by him: ‘Herzlichen Dank für das freundliche Gedenken zu Weihnachten.

[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.

[Eleanor Roosevelt: the wife of the President's wartime visit to Britain.] Post Office Telegram from Mrs Roosevelt, thanking Vice-Chancellor Sir David Ross for hospitality of Oxford University.

Author: 
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), wife of 32nd President of United States of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt [Sir David Ross (1877-1971), Provost of Oriel, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University]
Roosevelt
Publication details: 
Post Office Telegram sent from Manchester. With Oxford office stamp, 9 November 1942.
£120.00
Roosevelt

Towards the end of 1942, with America having been at war with the Axis powers for a year to Britain’s three, Eleanor Roosevelt accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth to travel to Britain in order to ‘study the British home front effort and visit US troops stationed there. [...] she spent almost a month inspecting factories, shipyards, hospitals, schools, bomb shelters, distribution centers, Red Cross clubs, evacuee centers and military installations in England, Scotland and Ireland’ (Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, Columbian College).

[The Fall of Fort Bowyer to the British, following the Battle of New Orleans, 1815.] Contemporary Manuscript Copy of Autograph Despatch from Major John Lambert to Earl Bathurst, describing the action.

Author: 
Sir John Lambert (1772-1847), British Army general in the Napoleonic Wars [Henry Bathurst (1762-1834), 3rd Earl Bathurst; Battle of New Orleans and Fall of Fort Bowyer, 1815]
Publication details: 
'Head Quarters Isle Dauphine | February 14th. 1815.' [On paper with Golding & Snelgrove watermark dated 1811.]
£450.00

3pp, foolscap 8vo. On laid paper with watermark: 'GOLDING | & | SNELGROVE | 1811'. Aged and worn, with closed tears along folds, but with text complete and clear. The document includes two passages written in red ink which has faded but is still legible. The background to the present letter is given in Lambert's entry in the Oxford DNB: 'On 4 June 1813 Lambert was promoted major-general, and was appointed to a brigade of the 6th division. [?] Having been sent to America, he joined the army under Sir Edward Pakenham below New Orleans on 6 January 1815, with the 7th and 43rd foot regiments.

[Burma Frontier Service;Evelyn Waugh's batman] 105 items: confidential correspondence, memoranda, reports, printed docs, telegrams, cuttings) relating to R.E.S. Tanner's BFS application and training, including a Civil Affairs Staff Centre course.

Author: 
Burma Frontier Service; Civil Affairs Staff Centre, Wimbledon; Ralph Esmond Selby Tanner (1921-2017), Social Anthropologist, East African colonial administrator, Evelyn Waugh's batman
Publication details: 
Burma and London (including Whitehall and the Civil Affairs Staff Centre, Southlands House, Wimbledon Common). Between 1946 and 1948.
£850.00

For biographical details of Dr R. E. S. Tanner, see the end of this description. Brown card folder (by The Parker File Co. Ltd, Rangoon), housing 105 items (confidential correspondence, memoranda, applications, advisory and information documents, reports, telegrams, newspaper cuttings) relating to Tanner's application and training for a Civil Affairs post in Burma, including material from the training course he undertook at the Civil Affairs Staff Centre, Wimbledon. The folder and its contents are in fair condition, lightly-aged and worn.

[Sir Fenwick Williams [General Fenwick Williams], British Army officer - led the defence of Kars (Crimean War]; London Library] Autograph Letter Signed to Sir George Cornewall Lewis, asking him to support the election of E.H. Nolan as below.

Author: 
Sir Fenwick Williams [General Sir William Fenwick Williams] (1800-1883), British Army officer who led the defence of Kars during the Crimean War, born in Nova Scotia [Sir George Cornewall Lewis]
Publication details: 
‘Woolwich April 7th. 1857.’
£120.00

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’.

[‘the lover of words (as I am)’: Lord Birkett, judge, British representative at the Nuremberg Trials.] Two Typed Letters Signed, one with long Autograph Postscript, and Typed Note Signed, all to V. H. Collins, defending his use of language.

Author: 
Lord Birkett [William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett] (1883-1962), judge, a British representative at the Nuremberg Trials, Lord Justice of Appeal, Liberal Member of Parliament [Vere Henry Collins]
Publication details: 
LETTERS: 9 July 1953 and 11 May 1954. NOTE: 14 July 1953. All three items on letterheads of the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2.
£180.00

The third letter gives an excellent indication of Birkett’s pride in his use of language. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Vere Henry Collins (1872-1966), was an author and grammatical stickler. All three signed ‘Norman Birkett’. In fair condition, lightly aged and little grubby. The first letter with a small hole to one corner, and the two leaves of the last letter held together with a pin. ONE: ALS, 9 July 1953. 1pp, 4to. He is adding Collins’s book to his ‘select library on “words”’.

[Lord Buxton, Governor-General of South Africa [Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton), Liberal politician].] Autograph Letter Signed, thanking Bernard Piffard for copies of the ‘West Herts Radical’, which he hopes will prove effective.

Author: 
Lord Buxton, Governor-General of South Africa during the Great War [Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton (1853-1934), Liberal politician] [Bernard Piffard (1833-1916), microscopist and entomologist]
Publication details: 
1 April 1890; on embossed letterhead of 14 Eaton Place, S.W. [London]
£65.00

Buxton was a popular Governor-General who formed an effective partnership with Botha. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed to ‘B Piffard Esq’ and signed ‘Sydney Buxton’. He is obliged for the ‘copies of the “West Herts Radical”’, and is glad to hear that Piffard is ‘able to circulate such a large number in your Division’. He hopes it will have ‘a satisfactory effect on the next Election’.

[Janet Beverdige, wife of Sir William Beveridge, ‘Architect of the Welfare State’.] Typed Letter Signed to V. H. Collins, regarding her sister’s death, her book on the Beveridge Plan, Sir William’s punctiliousness and ‘the kilt’.

Author: 
Janet Beveridge [born Janet Thomson Philip, later Janet Mair] (1876-1959), second cousin and wife of Sir William Beveridge (1879-1963), ‘Architect of the Welfare State’ [Vere Henry Collins, author]
Publication details: 
20 September 1954; on letterhead of Staverton House, 104 Woodstock Road, Oxford.
£120.00

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.

[Ernest Bevin, Labour Party politician, Minister of Labour in Churchill’s wartime coalition.] Typed Letter Signed to Sir David Ross

Author: 
Ernest Bevin (1881-1961), Labour Party politician, Minister of Labour in Churchill’s wartime coalition [Sir David Ross [W. D. Ross] (1877-1971), Scottish philosopher, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford]
Publication details: 
17 May 1940. On embossed letterhead of the Ministry of Labour and National Service, Montagu House, Whitehall S.W.1 [London]
£56.00

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.

[‘Lord Wellington is in full pursuit of the French’: Col. Thomas Abernethie of the Royal Marines, 1811.] Autograph Letter Signed from Major Thomas Abernethie, Royal Marines, to Cox and Son, regarding a cask of madeira and news of the Peninsular War.

Author: 
Col. Thomas Abernethie (c.1759-1840) of the Royal Marines [Duke of Wellington; Peninsular War; Madeira Wine, Portugal]
Publication details: 
‘Lisbon 16 March 1811’.
£150.00

He receives the briefest of obituaries in the Gentleman's Magazine, July 1840: 'May 10. At Exeter, aged 81, Col. Thomas Abernethie, K.H. on the retired list of the Royal Marines.' 3pp, 4to. Bifolium. On aged and discoloured paper, with the usual damage to the second leaf from the breaking of the seal. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with postmark, to ‘Messrs Cox & Son / 20 Bartletts Buildings / Holborn / London’. Signed ‘Thos. Abernethie’ and docketed ‘Maj: Abernethie / 16 March 1811’. Begins: ‘Gentlemen / I have requested a Cap.

[The Birth of the Scout Movement?: R. B. Haldane and Baden-Powell’s ‘scheme’.] Typed Note with cyclostyled sigature from the future Lord Chancellor Richard Burdon Haldane to ‘General Baden-Powell’, regarding a meeting with Sir Edward Ward.

Author: 
[The Birth of the Scout Movement? R. B. Haldane [Richard Burdon Haldane (1856-1928), 1st Viscount Haldane, Lord Chancellor] [Lord Baden-Powell [Sir Robert Baden-Powell (1857-1941)]; the Boy Scouts]
Publication details: 
23 May 1906. On embossed War Office letterhead.
£280.00

‘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.

[Lady Florence Dixie, Scottish author, traveller, suffragist and war correspondent.] Autograph Signature and conclusion of a letter.

Author: 
Lady Florence Dixie [Lady Florence Caroline Dixie, nee Douglas] (1855-1905), Scottish author, traveller, suffragist and war correspondent
Lady Florence Dixie
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£45.00
Lady Florence Dixie

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. On a 9.5 x 3.5 cm slip of paper, cut from a letter and laid down on a slightly larger slip of card. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads '[...] that we should never think from proclaiming. / Yrs. v. truly / Florence Dixie / (Lady)'. See Image.

[Author of the first million-seller: Hall Caine, the most popular novelist of his day.] Autograph List of Corrections ‘With Sir Hall Caine’s Compts’, to [Daily Telegraph propaganda?] articles entitled ‘Downfall of a Nation’ (revolutionary Russia).

Author: 
Hall Caine [Sir Hall Caine; Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine] (1853-1931), the most popular novelist of his day, author of ‘The Eternal City’, the first million-seller, with strong Isle of Man connections
Hall Caine
Publication details: 
No date or place. (Circa 1917)
£320.00
Hall Caine

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.

[Bruce Bairnsfather [Captain Charles Bruce Bairnsfather], cartoonist who created the First World War Fragments from France characters Old Bill, Bert and Alf.] Autograph Signature, with that of the baritone Kennerley Rumford (Clara Butt's husband).

Author: 
Bruce Bairnsfather [Captain Charles Bruce Bairnsfather] (1887-1959), cartoonist who created the First World War Fragments from France characters Old Bill, Bert and Alf, published in 'The Bystander'
Bruce Bairnsfather
Publication details: 
Without date or place [circa 1920].
£45.00
Bruce Bairnsfather

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. A bold, untidy and yet stylish signature, in exactly the state one would hope to find Bairnfather moniker. It gives the impression of having been sent post-haste from the trenches, scrawled in pencil on a piece of vertically-ruled paper torn out of a notebook, ruckled and grubby, and laid down on an unruckled and clean 15.5 x 9.5 cm leaf with rounded edges, torn from an autograph album. The signature ‘Bruce / Bairnsfather’ is across the head of the landscape page, with a jagged line (intended for the flourish?) by Bairnsfather across the foot.

[Sir Robert Howard, playwright and politician.] Two Autograph Signatures (both ‘Ro: Howard’) among extensive manuscript endorsements of Exchequer document regarding ‘Sr Thomas Player in repaymt. of Loane.’

Author: 
Sir Robert Howard (1626-1698) of the Receipt Office, royalist politician, playwright, poet and friend of John Dryden [Sir Thomas Player (d.1686) of Hackney]
Sir Robert Howard
Publication details: 
[Exchequer Office, Whitehall.] 20 May 1679.
£120.00
Sir Robert Howard

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament. Howard was Auditor of Receipt from 1673 to his death. The document is damaged, with the lower part torn away, leaving an area 23cm high and the same wide, but with part of one lower corner torn away. The paper is aged, and there are chipping and closed tears to edges. Howard’s two signatures (both ‘Ro: Howard’) are both undamaged, and the item is of some interest. On the front is the printed form, completed in manuscript, with ‘Sr. Thomas Player in repaymt. of Loane./’ in manuscript in right-hand margin.

[Oriel College, Oxford.] Four printed items of ephemera from the papers of college fellow Sir William David Ross: three reports for the academic years ending 1918, 1921 and 1922, and a prospectus for the sexcentenary volume of Richards and Shadwell.

Author: 
Oriel College, University of Oxford [Sir W. D. Ross [Sir William David Ross] (1877-1971), Vice-Chancellor and philosopher]
Publication details: 
The three reports: [Oriel College, Oxford] 1918 [with stamp of 'The Treasury'], 1921 and 1922. The prospectus by Basil Blackwell, Oxford, [1921].
£280.00

Four scarce pieces of ephemera: no other copies of them traced on either JISC or WorldCat. See Ross’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The three reports give lists of college persons, with general and particular news. Items Two to Four in good condition, lightly aged and creased; Item One as described below. ONE: ‘ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD / 1917-1918’. Signed in type by ‘L. L. P.’ [i.e. Langford Lovell Price, retiring treasurer] and dated 31 July 1918. 7pp, 12mo. On two bifoliums of thin war-economy paper, glued together.

[Rt Hon. Robert Gambier Middleton, Scottish Royal Navy officer who served under Nelson as Captain of HMS Flora.] Three Letters Signed, giving instructions to his midshipman on the Flora John Hawkins, one from Gibraltar.

Author: 
Rt Hon. Robert Gambier Middleton (1774-1837), Scottish Royal Navy officer who served under Nelson as Captain of HMS Flora, nephew of Admiral Lord Barham
Publication details: 
All three written from HMS Flora. ONE: ‘at Sea the 26 of June 1798’. TWO: ‘in Gibraltar Bay the 18th. July 1798’. THREE: ‘as Sea, the 28th. March 1800’.
£320.00

Providing a good view of the day-to-day practicalities of Nelson's navy. Middleton was the nephew of Admiral Lord Barham. In 1795 he removed from the Lowestoffe to the Flora, serving under the Nelson off Genoa in support of the Austrian Army, and during July 1796 at the occupation of Porto Ferrajo. All three 1p, foolscap, and somewhat discoloured and worn, the first and last with chipping at head, but all with text entire.

[Armando Diaz, 1st Duke della Vittoria, Marshal of Italy, First World War Italian general who triumphed in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto.] Autograph Signature: 'Generale A. Diaz'.

Author: 
Armando Diaz (1861-1928), 1st Duke della Vittoria, First World War Italian general, victor over the Austrians in Battle of Vittorio Veneto (1918); putative author of the Bolletino della Vittoria
ARMANDO DIAZ
Publication details: 
No place or date. (Before his ennoblement in 1921.)`
£75.00
ARMANDO DIAZ

A nice item, suitable for framing, relating to one of the best generals of the First World War. (He commanded one and a half million troops in the 1918 Battle of Vittorio Veneto, defeating the Austrians - a third of a million of whom surrendered - and closing the Italian Front.) Clearly given in response to a request for an autograph. The good bold signature ‘Generale A. Diaz’ sits slightly over the centre of an otherwise-plain 15 x 10 cm piece of wove paper, laid down on paper backing. In good condition, lightly aged, with two unobtrusive vertical fold lines. See Image.

[Lord Milner [Alfred, Viscount Milner], Liberal politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Ross' [the future Sir W. D. Ross], regarding the future of the philanthropic 'settlement' Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel.

Author: 
Lord Milner [Alfred Milner (1854-1925), 1st Viscount Milner], Liberal politician, Governor of the Cape Colony and first Governor of the Transvaal [Sir W. D. Ross (1877-1971), Oxford Vice-Chancellor]
Publication details: 
14 October 1913. 47 Duke Street, S.W. [London]
£56.00

See the entries for Milner and Ross in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed to 'Dear Mr Ross' and with good bold signature 'Milner'. The subject of the letter is the philanthropic ‘settlement’ Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel, founded in 1884 by Canon Barnett and Henrietta (DBE), his wife.

[King George VI [as Prince Albert].] Printed post card of portrait photograph by Olive Edis (Mrs Galsworthy), with [facsimile?] signature ‘Albert’.

Author: 
King George VI [as Prince Albert]; Olive Edis (Mrs Galsworthy) (1876-1955), photographer
King George VI [as Prince Albert)
Publication details: 
[Part of a photoshoot by Olive Edis, England, 1920.]
£90.00
King George VI [as Prince Albert)

A very nice print in grey tones. Landscape: 7.5 x 13 cm. With the words ‘POST CARD’ printed on the reverse. Image in very good condition; traces of black paper mount adhering to the reverse. A head and shoulders shot of the future king, taken from the left, with right shoulder slightly forwards, face turned to the right and eyes staring vacantly ahead over the viewer’s right shoulder. Clean-shaven with parting on left; arms folded across chest, smartly attired in double-breasted check lounge suit with white shirt and ‘oriental-knot’ tie.

[Napoleonic Wars: Eleven-ship British North Sea Convoy, from Hull to Tønning, Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark (now Tönning, Germany), 1805.] Detailed and lengthy manuscript ‘Statement & Division of 11 Ships Freight to Tonning 1st Round 1805’.

Author: 
Napoleonic Wars: British North Sea Convoys [Hull to Tønning, Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark (now Tönning, Germany), 1805; Royal Navy]
Convoy
Publication details: 
No place or date, but an English document relating to a convoy from Hull, England, to Tonning [Tønning], Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark [now Tönning in Germany], in 1805.
£350.00
Convoy

An interesting indicator of the economic impact of the continental blockade in the year of the Battle of Trafalgar. Roger Knight provides an excellent overview of the background to the present document in his ‘Convoys: The British Struggle against Napoleonic Europe and America’ (2022), and in particular the fifth chapter, which deals with North Sea Convoys between 1804 and 1812.

[Lord Grenfell [Francis Wallace Grenfell], British Army soldier, Governor of Malta, Commander-in-Chief, Ireland.] Autograph Signature (‘Francis Grenfell / Maj Genl’) cut from a letter for an autograph hunter.

Author: 
Lord Grenfell [Field Marshal Francis Wallace Grenfell, 1st Baron Grenfell (1841-1925)], British Army soldier, victor at Suakin and Toski in Mahdist War; Governor of Malta; Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
Lord Grenfell
Publication details: 
16 April 1892. No place.
£45.00
Lord Grenfell

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 13 x 6.5 cm piece of thin paper, apparently cut from the end of a letter for an autograph hunter. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, folded twice. Reads: ‘Francis Grenfell / Maj Genl / April 16 / 1892.’ See image.

[World War One: ‘The Guns of August’, 1914.] Silver gelatin negative photostatic print of typed British Government ‘Aide Mémoire’ on the German Army and Belgian neutrality, including copy of note by German Foreign Minister Gottlieb von Jagow.

Author: 
[World War One: 'The Guns of August', 1914] Sir Edward Goschen (1847-1924), British Ambassador in Berlin [Gottlieb von Jagow (1863-1935), German Foreign Minister]
Aide Mémoire
Publication details: 
A photographic copy (made in the 1920s or contemporary?) of: ONE: Goschen's 'Aide Mémoire' dated 'BERLIN, August 4, 1914.' TWO: Von Jagow's manuscript note, 'Berlin, den 5. 8 1914.' [5 August 1914]
£450.00
Aide Mémoire

Silver gelatin negative photostatic print of two documents: 3pp, 4to (i.e. each of the three pages on 19.5 x 24 cm. leaf). The first page of Goschen’s two-page ‘Aide Mémoire’ on a separate leaf, and the second page and von Jagow’s note on different leaves of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. N.B. The entire item is a photostatic copy. Reproduced at the head and down the left margin of the first page of Goschen’s text are manuscript notes in German (including at top left: A15930 pr. 4. August 1914 pm. / Von Sir E.

[Churchill was ‘monstrously-unjust’: Lord Elibank and Sir Dudley North exchange complaints.] Seven Signed Letters (six Typed, one in Autograph) from North, telling 'the whole story' of his wartime dismissal, and a signed copy of a reply by Elibank.

Author: 
Admiral Sir Dudley North [Dudley Burton Napier North] (1881-1961); Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Cecil Murray (1879-1962), 3rd Viscount Elibank [Sir Winston Churchill]
Publication details: 
Elibank’s letters between 1954 and 1957. Six on letterheads: Netherbury House, Netherbury, Nr. Bridport, Dorset (four); H. M. Yacht Victoria & Albert (one); The Lodge, Parnham, Beaminster, Dorset (one). Copy of Elibank's letter: 8 September 1955.
£950.00

A highly-interesting correspondence of some historical significance, in which North tells ‘the whole story’ as he sees it of his controversial wartime dismissal, to one of his leading supporters in the attempt to clear his name. A marked antipathy to Churchill is shown on both sides, with added attacks by Elibank on Earl Mountbatten and Montgomery of Alamein.

[The Royal Marines in the Napoleonic Wars.] Autograph Letter Signed from Charles Homfray, 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Marines, regarding ?some mistake? in the statement of his half pay.

Author: 
The Royal Marines in the Napoleonic Wars; Charles Homfray of Broadwaters, Worcestershire
Publication details: 
?Broadwaters [Worcestershire] March 23rd. 1803?.
£75.00

For the family see the entry on ?HOMFRAY, of Wollaston Hall, and The Hill, near Stourbridge; Broadwaters, Kidderminster; and The Hyde, Kinver, Staffordshire?, in H. S. Grazebrook, ?The Heraldry of Worcestershire? (1873). 1p, 8vo. Text clear and complete, on aged paper worn and chipped at edges, with one short closed tear. Previously folded into a packet. Endorsed. Reads: ?Sir / I have just rec?d yours enclosin [sic] a statement of the Half Pay which you say is 33? - 8s - [?]d & that there is only 12? . 15s due to me for 6 months.

[William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury during the Second World War.] Typed Letter Signed to the ?Vice-Chancellor? [of Oxford University, Sir David Ross], regarding a visit and the possibility of ?dining in Hall?.

Author: 
William Temple (1881-1944), Anglican cleric, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1942-1944 (previously Bishop of Manchester and Archbishop of York) [W. D. Ross] (1877-1971), Scottish philosopher]
Publication details: 
2 June 1942; on letterhead of Lambeth Palace, S.E.1. [London]
£45.00

2pp, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight spotting and single punch hole centred above letterhead. Folded twice. The letter is addressed to 'My dear Vice-Chancellor' without further elaboration, but the item comes from the Ross papers. Temple explains that it has been ?difficult to foresee how this summer could be arranged: the planning of domestic life in two houses under present conditions of staffing is very complicated!? His wife will not be joining him in the visit, as she ?feels obliged to spend that week-end at Canterbury?.

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