WILLIAM

[Norman Kerr, Scottish physician and social reformer.] Autograph Card Signed, thanking the headmaster and philanthropist Dawson William Turner for an ‘interesting & useful pamphlet’.

Author: 
Norman Kerr [Norman Shanks Kerr] (1834-1899), Scottish physician, social reformer and leading light of the British temperance movement [Dawson William Turner (1815-1885), teacher and philanthropist]
Publication details: 
9 January 1885. 42 Grove Street, Regent’s Park, NW [London].
£56.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is not to be confused with his father the botanist Dawson Turner (1775-1858), whose entry contains the following regarding the son: ‘During his final decade he lived in central London, and his untidy figure became familiar to the needy in hospitals and on the streets, whom he assisted with dedicated benevolence. He died in Charing Cross Hospital, London, on 29 January 1885, and was buried at Brompton cemetery.’ The present item was hence written within weeks of the recpient’s death. Post Card printed with red halfpenny stamp.

[Rochester, New York State.] Manuscript ‘Arbitration Bond’, with ‘the very rare signature of Everard Peck, pioneer printer Father of Wm. F. Peck’ and that of Walter S. Griffith.

Author: 
Everard Peck (1791-1854), Rochester printer, newspaper editor, father of the historian William Farley Peck (1840-1908); Walter S. Griffith (c.1810-1872) [Lewis Selze; Monroe County, New York State]
Publication details: 
No date [1860s or 1870s?]. [Rochester, Monroe County, New York State.]
£320.00

Accompanying this item is a piece of paper with the following note in a mid-twentieth-century hand: ‘Interesting because of the very rare signature of Everard Peck, pioneer printer Father of Wm. F. Peck’. He was a bookbinder from Connecticut who moved to Rochester around 1816 and opened a bookstore. He moved into printing and publishing, founded the successful weekly Telegraph newspaper and later became a banker. He was a generous benefactor of the early city, co-founding the University of Rochester and the Rochester Orphan Asylum and becoming a leader in the Female Charitable Society.

[Arts and Crafts architecture in the Potteries, 1908.] Blueprint of plans and elevations by the architect William Ford Slater for ‘3 HOUSES HIGH LANE BURSLEM / FOR MR: HARRY H. ROSE / 1/8th Scale’, for construction by John Henry Broadhurst and Son.

Author: 
[Arts and Crafts achitecture in the Potteries.] William Ford Slater (1866-1951), architect and surveyor; J. H. Broadhurst and Son [John Henry Broadhurst], builder of Burslem, Staffordshire.
Burslem
Publication details: 
J. H. Broadhurst & Son, Burlem, Staffordshire. 27 [June?] 1908. ‘John Henry Broadhurst / [June?] 27/08 / p pro J H Broadhurst & Son’.
£280.00
Burslem

In 1907 the ‘Builder’ describes ‘Mr. W. F. Slater, Overhouse-chambers, Burslem’ as a ‘Surveyor’, and in 1909 the ‘Electrical Review’ refers to him as an ‘architect’ at the same address. Five years later ‘Building News’ reports that Slater is ‘architect to the education committee’. In 1921 (‘The Surveyor’) he is the ‘surveyor, Urban Council Offices, Wolstanton, Staffs’, and in 1926 (‘Public Works Weekly Surveyor’) he is ‘architect to the corporation’.

[Marsden Squares: William Marsden, orientalist and numismatist, First Secretary to the Admiralty who broke the news of Trafalgar.] Autograph Signature to printed Admiralty 'Circular' directing ships' captains to send information on 'Coasts and Ports'

Author: 
William Marsden (1754-1836), Anglo-Irish orientalist, numismatist, and linguist, and Royal Navy official, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, 1795-1804, First Secretary, 1804-7 [Marsden Square mapping]
Publication details: 
London. ’ 'Printed by G. Roberts, Admiralty Office.' Undated, but issued during Marsden's tenure as First Secretary, 1804-7.
£320.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. The present document is an interesting artefact in the history of data collection: Marsden’s important innovation, the system of information-gathering known as ‘Marsden Squares’ or ‘Marsden Square mapping’. 1p, folio. Discoloration and wear along inner edge, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. All printed, except for Marsden’s firm signature.

[William Marsden, orientalist and numismatist, First Secretary to the Admiralty who broke the news of the victory at Trafalgar.] Autograph Signature ‘Wm Marsden’ to printed Admiralty circular, sent to HMS Kemphaan.

Author: 
William Marsden (1754-1836), Anglo-Irish orientalist, numismatist, and linguist, and Royal Navy official, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, 1795-1804, First Secretary, 1804-7; HMS Kemphaan; Trafalgar
Publication details: 
London. ‘Admiralty Office, 7 July, 1800.’ 'Printed by G. Roberts, Admiralty Office.'
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. 1p, folio. Discoloration and wear along gutter, otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. On recto of first leaf of bifolium, the second leaf being blank, apart from one word of docketing in manuscript ‘Kemphaan’.

[Marsden Squares: William Marsden, orientalist and numismatist, First Secretary to the Admiralty who broke the news of Trafalgar.] Autograph Signature to printed Admiralty 'Circular' directing ships' captains to send information on 'Coasts and Ports'

Author: 
William Marsden (1754-1836), Anglo-Irish orientalist, numismatist, and linguist, and Royal Navy official, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, 1795-1804, First Secretary, 1804-7 [Marsden Square mapping]
Publication details: 
London. ’ 'Printed by G. Roberts, Admiralty Office.' Undated, but issued during Marsden's tenure as First Secretary, 1804-7.
£320.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. The present document is an interesting artefact in the history of data collection: Marsden’s important innovation, the system of information-gathering known as ‘Marsden Squares’ or ‘Marsden Square mapping’. 1p, folio, on recto of first leaf of bifolium, the second leaf being blank. Discoloration and wear along outer edge, and patches of light staining to leaves at head and foot.

[William Marsden, orientalist and numismatist, First Secretary to the Admiralty who broke the news of the victory at Trafalgar.] Autograph Signature ‘Wm Marsden’ to printed Admiralty circular, sent to HMS Staunch.

Author: 
William Marsden (1754-1836), Anglo-Irish orientalist, numismatist, and linguist, and Royal Navy official, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, 1795-1804, First Secretary, 1804-7 [HMS Staunch; Trafalgar]
Publication details: 
London. ‘Admiralty Office, 7 July, 1800.’ 'Printed by G. Roberts, Admiralty Office.'
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. 1p, folio. Discoloration and wear along gutter, with two leaves half detached from head; otherwise in good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. On recto of first leaf of bifolium, the second leaf being blank, apart from one word of docketing in manuscript ‘Staunch’.

[William Marsden, orientalist and numismatist, First Secretary to the Admiralty who broke the news of the victory at Trafalgar.] Autograph Signature ‘Wm Marsden’ to printed Admiralty circular, sent to HMS Steady.

Author: 
William Marsden (1754-1836), Anglo-Irish orientalist, numismatist, and linguist, and Royal Navy official, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, 1795-1804, First Secretary, 1804-7 [HMS Steady; Trafalgar]
Publication details: 
London. ‘Admiralty Office, 7 July, 1800.’ 'Printed by G. Roberts, Admiralty Office.'
£120.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that ‘it fell to him in October 1805 to wake Lord Barham, as first lord of the Admiralty, with the news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson’. 1p, folio. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice into a packet. On recto of first leaf of bifolium, the second leaf being blank, apart from one word of docketing in manuscript ‘Steady’.

[Old South Sea House and the Harvey family of Chigwell.] 113 manuscript items from the papers of William Peacock, John Read and James Swaine, attorneys tto William and Mary Harvey family, landlords, including 100 receipts, some itemized.

Author: 
Old South Sea House (Company of Merchants Trading to the South Seas), Threadneedle Street, London; Sir Eliab Harvey; William Harvey of Chigwell, Essex [The South Sea Bubble, 1720; Charles Lamb]
Publication details: 
Three receipts from 1735 and ninety-six from between 1742 and 1757. The Old South Sea House, Threadneedle Street and Bishopsgate Street, London. [Chigwell, Essex.]
£800.00

This collection of 113 items, dating from the middle of the eighteenth century, relates to a notable London landmark. Until the end of the nineteenth century the Old South Sea House, headquarters of the South Sea Company (Company of Merchants Trading to the South Seas and other Parts of America), stood on the corner of Threadneedle Street and Bishopsgate Street. A young Charles Lamb worked here for nearly six months in 1792, and wrote the first of the ‘Essays of Elia’ about the place.

[William Bright, Regius Professor of Ecclesiatical History at Oxford and Canon of Christ Church.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to Philip Jacob, Archdeacon of Winchester., one with long discussion of Christmas. With signed conclusion of third letter.

Author: 
William Bright (1824-1901), D.D., Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Oxford, Canon of Christ Church
Publication details: 
One dated 'Univ[ersity] Coll[ege, Oxford] / Innocents Day [28 December] 1866'. Another, on letterhead of Christ Church, Oxford, 'Whitsun Monday'. The last without date or place.
£85.00

Excellent affectionate and eloquent content, including a moving expression of the conventional Victorian view of Christmas. See Bright's entry in the Oxford DNB. A total of eight pages, six of which are closely written. Items One and Two addressed to ‘My dear Jacob’. Item Three is incomplete. ONE: ‘Univ Coll / Innocents Day 1866.’ 5pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Bright’s signature ‘W. Bright’ and the conclusion of the letter (i.e. the fifth page) are written crosswise at the head of the first page.

[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.

[B. H. Draper, Baptist hymn writer.] Autograph Letter Signed proposing to the nonconformist bookseller Josiah Conder an edition of Philip Henry’s sermons, from manuscripts, with reference to Sir John Bickerton Williams and John William Cunningham.

Author: 
B. H. Draper [Bourne Hall Draper] (1775-1843), hymn writer and Baptist minister [Josiah Conder (1789-1855), nonconformist bookseller; John Bickerton Williams; John William Cunningham; Philip Henry]
Publication details: 
‘Coseley, nr Bilstone, Staffordshire. / Dec. 20. 1815.’
£70.00

See his entry in the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, and Conder’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. On the first leaf of a bifolium, the second addressed on the reverse, with postmark, to ‘Mr. Josh. Conder, / Bookseller, / Bucklersbury, / London.’ In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, spiked, folded for postage, and with damage and slight loss to the second leaf from the breaking of the wafer. Begins: ‘Learning lately from my friend Mr. Williams of Shrewsbury, [the future Sir John Bickerton Williams (1792-1855)] that you had engaged with him for his MS.

[‘W. G. Hooper [William George Hooper], Ph. D. / World Traveller, Lecturer and Author’.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Dear Fellow Pilgrim’, describing his plan of a course of lessons on the relations of soul and body.

Author: 
‘W. G. Hooper [William George Hooper], Ph. D. / World Traveller, Lecturer and Author’, Hampshire author of works on spiritualism, the universe, ether and angels
Publication details: 
On his letterhead (‘‘W. G. Hooper, Ph. D. / World Traveller, Lecturer and Author’), Cranemoor, Highcliffe-on-sea, Hants, England.
£120.00

Hooper’s various titles, published between 1903 and 1941, are remarkably well represented on JISC, with holdings from the Warburg Institute to the University of Strathclyde. A precious artefact from a spiritual leader. 1p, 4to. On brittle and lightly-creased paper, aged and discoloured, with closed tears and slight loss at one corner and repair with archival tape. The handwriting is hurried and hard to decipher.

[Harkness Fellowships.] Five Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed from Lansing V. Hammond of the Commonwealth Fund to Mark Bonham Carter, discussing the organization, cultural matters and death of his father William Churchill Hammond.

Author: 
[Harkness Fellowships] Lansing V. Hammond of the Commonwealth Fund of New York City [his father William Churchill Hammond (1860-1949), organist and choir master; Mark Bonham Carter (1922-1994)]
Publication details: 
ONE (ALS): 10 January 1948; on letterhead of the Hotel Durant, Berkeley. TWO to SIX (TLsS): 29 December 1948; 18 February, 9 June and 8 July 1949; 3 May 1950; all on letterhead of The Commonwealth Fund, 41 East Fifty-seventh Street, New York 22, N.Y.
£280.00

Lansing Van der Heyden Hammond (b.1906), son of the distinguished organist and choirmaster of Mount Holyoake College William Churchill Hammond, was for many years Director of the Commonwealth Fund Division of International Fellowships. For Bonham Carter, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present group of six items shed light on the 1940s administration of the Commonwealth Fund. They are in good condition, lightly aged and creased. The autograph letter is 1p, 12mo; the five single-spaced typed letters total 6pp, 4to. All six are signed ‘Lance’. ONE: ALS, 10 January 1948. 1p, 12mo.

[Commander William Guy Carr, Royal Canadian Navy submarine officer and Illuminati conspiracy theorist.] Signature, with address and date, apparently intended for an autograph hunter.

Author: 
Commander William Guy Carr (1895-1959), Royal Canadian Navy submarine officer and Illuminati conspiracy theorist, leader of the anticommunist National Federation of Christian Laymen of Toronto
Publication details: 
13 June 1939; Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.
£50.00

On 11 x 5.5 cm piece of grey paper. Good firm signature, with emphatic underlining, apparently in response to request for an autograph. Reads: 'Richmond Hill / Ontario / Canada. / William Guy Carr / June 13th. 1939.'

[Commander William Guy Carr, Royal Canadian Navy submarine officer and Illuminati conspiracy theorist.] Typed Letter Signed to Eileen Cond, discussing his writing of a second book dealig with ‘the famous “Harwich Strking Force”’ during the Great War.

Author: 
Commander William Guy Carr (1895-1959), Royal Canadian Navy submarine officer and Illuminati conspiracy theorist, leader of the anticommunist National Federation of Christian Laymen of Toronto
Publication details: 
13 June 1939; Maplecroft, Yonge Street, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.
£50.00

The recipient Eileen Margaret Cond (1911-1984) was an enthusiastic collector of autographs, with the ability to draw a more than perfunctory response from her targets. 1p, 8vo. Good firm signature, 'William Guy Carr', above typed 'Wm. Guy Carr.' On lightly browned paper with nicks and short closed tears to extremities. His London publishers Hutchinsons have sent on her letter, and he is pleased to learn that she enjoyed her book, and is sending his autograph for her correction.

[William Bodham Donne, Librarian, London Library, Examiner of Plays, Lord Chamberlain’s Office.] Printed offprint of synopsis of Royal Institution talk: ‘On the Works of Chaucer, considered as Historical Illustrations of England in the 14th Century.’

Author: 
W. B. Donne [William Bodham Donne] (1807-1882), journalist, Librarian of the London Library, Examiner of Plays in the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, friend of Edward FitzGerald [Royal Institution]
Publication details: 
'Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, April 25, 1856.' [London.]
£45.00

The present item differs from the version published on pp.248-254 of the ‘Notices of the Proceedings’, vol.2 (1854-1858), and no other copy has been traced. Drophead title: ‘Royal Institution of Great Britain. / Weekly Evening Meeting, / Friday, April 25, 1856. / Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Bart. D.C.L. F.R.S. Vice-President, in the Chair. / W. B. Donne, Esq. / On the Works of Chaucer, considered as Historical Illustrations of England in the 14th Century.’ 10pp, 16mo, paginated [1]-10. In very good condition, lightly aged. Stabbed as issued, with no wraps, and unopened. Begins: ‘MR.

[West Indian Slave Trade; rum; sugar.] Eighteen manuscript documents (most from Lewis Simond & Co, New York Merchants) regarding slave trader and Jamaican plantation owner William Atherton and his Green Park Estate in Trelawny Parish.

Author: 
West Indian Slave Trade: William Atherton (Wikipedia) (1742-1803), slave trader & owner of Jamaican sugar plantations, including the Green Park Estate in Trelawny Parish [Lewis Simond, NY merchants]
Publication details: 
One item from 1777, from Bounty Hall Estate, Jamaica; three items from London, 1800 and 1801; fourteen items from New York [Lewis Simond & Co.], 1803 and 1804.
£1,500.00

All 18 items are in very good condition, with slight signs of age and wear. Items One and Eighteen are letters (Eighteen being a ‘triplicate’), the other sixteen items are accounts, with items Five to Eighteen relating to the firm of the New York merchant Lewis Simond. Items Seven, Nine and Twelve are copies (i.e. written out afresh but containing the same text) of Items Six, Eight and Eleven. ONE: Henry Hough (overseer of the Bounty Hall estate, Jamaica) to ‘William Fairclough / Green Park’: Autograph Letter Signed.

[Blanchard Jerrold, journalist and author.] Signature and autograph paraphrase of passage from his ‘Life of Napoleon III - Vol 2.’, written out for an album.

Author: 
Blanchard Jerrold [William Blanchard Jerrold] (1826-1884), journalist and author
Publication details: 
No place or date, but after the book’s publication in 1874.
£56.00

Part of leaf from autograph album, cut into an irregular shape. In fair condition, on lightly aged and discoloured paper, with film of dried glue from mount on blank reverse. The passage, which curiously enough does not correspondend with the printed text, reads (with three mistakes scored through): ‘Life of Napoleon III - Vol 2. / The Government, it is true, endeavoured to prevail upon Queen Hortense to request him to give his word that he would remain in America for ten years; but she replied that Prince Louis was master of his own actions & she would not endeavour to influence them.

[Gladstone and photography: ‘It is a process he particularly dislikes’.] Autograph Letter Signed from his private secretary Spencer Lyttelton [to A.G.L. Rogers, Secry, Liberal Publications Dept], conveying Gladstone's refusal to sit for a portrait.

Author: 
Spencer Lyttelton [George William Spencer Lyttelton] (1847-1913), private secretary to Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone, outstanding cricketer for Cambridge University [A. G. L. Rogers]
Publication details: 
14 October 1893; on letterhead of 10 Downing Street, Whitehall.
£65.00

Lyttelton was Gladstone’s private secretary during three of his terms as prime minister. The recipient Arthur George Liddon Rogers (1864-1944, son of the editor of the economist Thorold Rogers) is not named, but the item is from his papers, and was written while he was Secretary of the Liberal Publication Department, a position to which he was appointed in November 1891. 2pp, 12mo. Signed ‘Spencer Lyttleton.’ In good condition, lightly aged and folded for postage.

[‘Nothing good can come out of Printing House Square’: Sir Colin Coote, editor of the Daily Telegraph.] Autograph Manuscript, signed ‘Colin R. Coote’, of review of ‘The Reigning Error’ by William Rees-Mogg, editor of The Times.

Author: 
Sir Colin Coote [Sir Colin Reith Coote] (1893-1979), editor of the Daily Telegraph and Liberal politician [Philip Dosse (1925-80), publisher, ‘Books and Bookmen’; William Rees-Mogg, editor, The Times]
Publication details: 
Not dated, but published in the London magazine ‘Books and Bookmen’ in 1974.
£180.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the papers of Philip Dosse, who 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. Rees-Mogg’s book was published in 1974, and the present item appeared in ‘Books and Bookmen’ in the same year. A late draft, neatly written out on 5pp, small 4to, with each page on separate leaf. Signed at end ‘Colin R. Coote’.

[A Lancashire slaver and his coach.] Two itemised manuscript receipts for work on a coach from the London coachmaker Thomas Thorpe to the Lancashire slave trader William Atherton of Prescot Hall, one signed by Thorpe.

Author: 
Thomas Thorpe, London coachmaker [William Atherton (1742-1803) of Prescot Hall, St Helens, Lancashire, slave trader and owner of plantations in Jamaica]
Publication details: 
1799 and 1801. [Thorpe & Co., Coachmakers, 210 Holborn, London.]
£280.00

An indication of how slavers spent the fruits of their slaves’ labours. With the advent of slavery studies William Atherton has been the subject of a deal of interest, reflected on his Wikipedia page. Thorpe and Lee are listed as coachmakers at 210 Holborn in 1791; in 1803 the firm is named as Thorpe and Co at the same address. The two items are written out in a secretarial hand, each on a long strip made by cutting a folio leaf in half vertically. Both in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Each with slight damage from the breaking open of the wafer.

[Lord Craig on the Earl of Chesterfield.] Autograph Manuscript of revised draft of early part of essay by Scottish judge William Craig, Lord Craig, on the celebrated Earl of Chesterfield, author of ‘Letters to his Son’.

Author: 
Lord Craig [William Craig, Lord Craig] (1745-1813), Scottish judge and essayist, involved with Henry Mackenzie in periodicals ‘The Mirror’ and ‘The Lounger’ [Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield]
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [Late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Edinburgh?]
£180.00

See Craig’s entry, and that of Chesterfield, in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. The second leaf had been neatly inserted into a windowpane mount. On brittle and aged paper; complete, but coming away at foot from torn remains of mount, with slight chipping at foot of first leaf, the central horizontal fold of which has closed tears along its crease. The item is unsigned, but ‘Lord Craig’ is identified as the author in pencil in nineteenth century hand twice on the mount. Ninety-two closely-written lines, with extensive revision and amendation.

[John Counsell: the man who drafted the Second World War instrument of German surrender.] Typed Note Signed to Christopher Fry, with Typed Letter Signed to him from ‘Edward’ (Sir Edward Ford?), conveying a message to Fry from Queen Elizabeth II.

Author: 
John Counsell [John William Counsell] (1905-1987), actor, theatre manager and director, who drafted the Second World War instrument of German Surrender [Christopher Fry, playwright; Sir Edward Ford]
Publication details: 
Counsell's TNS: 11 November 1965; on Windsor Theatre Company letterhead. TLS by 'Edward': 11 November 1965; on Buckingham Palace letterhead.
£65.00

Counsell, Ford and Fry all have entries in the Oxford DNB, that of Counsell noting that he was ‘assistant to Neville Grazebrook and composed the instrument of German surrender, signed at Rheims by General Jodl, which officially ended the war’. The two items are in good condition, lightly aged and creased from folding. Counsell’s TNS is stapled to the TLS from ‘Edward’, which is laid down on a leaf of ruled paper, at the head of which Fry has written: ‘Letter from John Counsell / re possible visit of H.M. The Queen to “Lady’s Not for Burning”’. ONE: Counsell’s TNS.

[William Yarrell, zoologist.] Autograph Signature (‘Wm. Yarrell.’) as ‘Treasurer’ (of the Entomological or Linnean Society).

Author: 
William Yarrell (1784-1856), eminent English zoologist, author of standard reference works on British fishes (1836) and birds (1843), treasurer of the Entomological Society and the Linnean Society
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 11 x 7.5 cm piece of paper, cut from a printed document. The signature is large, bold and undamaged, on heavily-worn paper with several instances of damage, laid down on a piece of card. The printed text reads: ‘[...] / I [have] the honour to be, / Sir, / Your most obedient / and very humble Servant, / [Autograph Signature ‘Wm. Yarrell’] / Treasurer.’

[Thomas Wright, antiquary and historian.] Autograph Letter Signed to Jerdan [William Jerdan, editor of the Literary Gazette] on topics including Charles Roach Smith’s excavations at Hartlip.

Author: 
Thomas Wright (1810-1877), antiquary, historian and editor of medieval texts [William Jerdan (1782-1869), editor of the Literary Gazette; Charles Roach Smith (1807-1890), antiquary and archaeologist]
Publication details: 
16 September [no year]. 18 Gilbert Street, Grosvenor Square [London].
£100.00

See his long and appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Worn and aged, with part of paper mount adhering over half of the reverse. Written in a tight close hand. Begins: ‘My dear Jerdan / The inclosed is for you to do what you like with. / I am off to Lord Albert’s tomorrow morning - the weather is improving.’ He suggests that ‘Smith [i.e.

[William Roger Paton, Scottish classical scholar, translator of the Greek Anthology.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘W. R. Paton’) [to the editor of the Academy], regarding the reviewing of a book by Salomon Reinach.

Author: 
W. R. Paton [William Roger Paton] (1857-1921), Scottish classical scholar, translator of the Greek Anthology [James Sutherland Cotton (1847-1918), editor of the Academy, London; Salomon Reinach]
Publication details: 
25 August 1891; Grandholme, Aberdeen.
£60.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with spike hole to one corner. Folded once. From the context the recipient is clearly James S. Cotton, editor of the Academy. He explains that ‘Mr S. Reinach’ (the French archaeologist Salomon Reinach, 1858-1932) recently wrote to him to say that he would send him ‘a copy of his book Chroniques d’Orient if I would review it. I said I would with pleasure review it somewhere. Yesterday the book reached me addressed to me (probably owing to some mistake of the publishers) as “redacteur de l’Academy”’.

[Lord George Bentinck, racehorse owner and protectionist opponent of Sir Robert Peel’s Corn Law policy.] Autograph Signature franking letter to Lieut.-General Lord FitzRoy Somerset at Horse Guards.

Author: 
Lord George Bentinck [William George Frederick Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck] (1802-1848), Conservative politician and racehorse owner, protectionist opponent of Sir Robert Peel's Corn Law policy
Bentinck
Publication details: 
No date or place, and no postmarks.
£45.00
Bentinck

See the entries of Bentinck and FitzRoy Somerset in the Oxford DNB. On approximate 11 x 6 cm rectangle cut from cover of letter. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of grey paper mount adhering to blank reverse. Addressed by Bentinck in the customary staggered way: ‘Lieut: Genl. / Lord FitzRoy Somerset G.C.B. / Horse Guards’. Bentinck’s signature ‘G. Bentinck’ is at bottom left, underlined but without the line above the signature. The merest slither of the bottom of the loop of the initial ‘G’ has been cropped. See image.

[ Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel interviewed at Nuremberg. ] Original carbon of Typed Affidavit, in English, by 'Field Marshal Keitel', giving his detailed answers to five questions by 'Maj K W Hechler'.

Author: 
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel (1882-1946), highest-ranking German army officer executed at Nuremberg; K. W. Hechler [Kenneth William Hechler; Ken Hechler ] (b.1914), American politician [ Nazi Party ]
Publication details: 
Place not stated [ United States Army, Nuremberg, Germany ]. 24 July 1945.
£350.00

2pp., 8vo. Single-spaced. In fair condition, on two leaves of lightly-aged air mail paper, with punch holes to left-hand margins and at head. Made out to be signed by 'Keitel | Generalfeldmarschall | (Field Marshal)'. The five questions are: 'What was your estimate in 1939 of the speed and capabilities of the U.S. to build up a war machine? Did the U.S. exceed your expectations in producing war material and training an army?' (26 line response), 'On what basis did you estimate that Germany could complete its campaign in Europe before the U.S.

[Henry Hawkins, English artist.] Autograph Letter Signed to William Loney of Macclesfield, regarding a ‘successful’ portrait he is painting of ‘Mr Roe’, and upsetting a bottle of varnish over a letter.

Author: 
Henry Hawkins (c.1796-c.1881), English landscape artist and portraitist [James Holmes (1777-1860), miniature and genre painter; William Loney, Macclesfield surgeon]
Publication details: 
No date [franked 3 July 1838]. 11 Bulstrode Street, Manchester Square [London].
£75.00

An uncommon signature of a neglected artist. Hawkins was a founding member of the Society of British Artists, exhibiting there prolifically from 1824 to 1881. He also showed at the Royal Academy eight times between 1822 and 1849. (See Holmes's entry in the Oxford DNB.) On 14 cm square piece of watermarked wove paper, cut from a frank. The letter is written on the reverse of the cover, which is laid out in the customary way: ‘London third July 1838 / Wm. Loney Esq / Macclesfield.’ With red dated postmark, and signed in the customary way at bottom left: ‘John [Baron?]’.

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