History

Arms and the Irishman.

Author: 
J.B. Arbuthnot,under pseud. "Sassenach"
Publication details: 
London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1952.
£100.00

128pp., 8vo. Foxing, covers marked, pictorial dj damaged (protected with plastic, sound. INSCRIBED by the author who published the book pseudonymously as "Sassenach": "With best wishes from the Author / JB Arbuthnot / Dec 8th 1932".

Three Typed Letters Signed (all 'J T. Walker'), and one Autograph Note, to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts. Together with 19 newspaper cuttings relating to unions and strikes in Australia.

Author: 
James Thomas Walker (1841-1923), Australian banker, born in Scotland [unions and strikes in Australia; William Morris Hughes (1862-1952), Prime Minister of Australia; Wharf Labourers Union]
Publication details: 
Two letters of 16 March 1916 and one of 24 March 1916; all three on letterhead of Yaralla Chambers, 109 Pitt Street, Sydney; autograph note of 21 March 1916, from Sydney, New South Wales.
£180.00

The letters and note are good, on lightly aged paper; the third letter with closed tear at foot of both leaves, affecting Walker's signature. Two of the three letters are docketed and bear the Society's stamp. The cuttings good on aged high-acidity paper. Letter One (4to, 1 p): He cannot afford the Society's subscription, due to 'the immensely increased taxation by the Federal Government, and by the State Governments in N.S. Wales and Queensland (not to mention donations to various War Funds)'.

Autograph Letter Signed by Talbot ('C <?> Talbot') to Hawtrey on Gladstone's behalf.

Author: 
C. Talbot, senior clerk [William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), Liberal Prime Minister; Edward Craven Hawtrey (1789-1862), Provost of Eton College]
Publication details: 
30 May 1854; Great George Street [Westminster].
£38.00

12mo, 2 pp, 20 lines. Bifolium with mourning border. Text clear and entire, on lightly aged paper with a few stains. He is enclosing 'Mr. Gladstone's answer on the subject of the inscriptions [not present]' which he asks to be returned to him. 'I had no opportunity of submitting it to him till Sunday last, and as you see I lose no time in passing on his answer to you [...] I drew his attention specially to the question of the two languages as you desired me to do'. Asks to be remembered to 'Miss Hawtrey'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Ch Giraud de l'institut'), in French, to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Charles Giraud [Charles-Joseph-Barthélémy Giraud] (1802-1881), French jurist and historian
Publication details: 
29 February [no year]; no place.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p, 12 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper. Drawing the recipient's attention to 'une demande qui a été adressée a M. le Prefet de la Seine, par M. Burnet [an inhabitant of Neuilly], homme infiniment estimable qui sollicite un emploi dans l'administration des pompes funèbres'. Giraud knows Burnet very well, 'et je lui porte un interet particulier'.

Autograph Letter Signed to [John] Lanyon.

Author: 
William Ewart
Publication details: 
23 January 1888; on letterhead '9, Bedford Street, | Belfast.'
£20.00

Mayor of Belfast, 1859-60, and founder of what was at one time the world's largest privately owned linen manufacturer (William Ewart & Son Ltd). Lanyon (1839-1900) was a surveyor, architect and engineer, partner in Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon. One page, 12mo. In good condition, with small closed tear at head not affecting text, and remains of mount adhering to blank verso. Reads 'Dear Mr Lanyon | It will give me pleasure to support the boy Arthur Knox in whom you are interested at the first Election for the St Anne's Society | But about the Form that I must sign.

Autograph Letter Signed to <Brodie?>.

Author: 
Hugh Law
Publication details: 
Monday 15 Feb.' (no year); on embossed letterhead of the Union Club, Trafalgar Square.
£25.00

Lord Chancellor of Ireland (1818-83). Two pages, 12mo. Creased and grubby, and with two small holes in embossment. He cannot avail himself of his correspondent's kind invitation for dinner the following day as he has 'an engagement I may not postpone or disregard'. He should have been happy to meet Mr and Mrs <?>, 'as well as to spend a pleasant evening with you'. Signed 'H. Law'.

Historic Certainties respecting the Early History of America, developed in a Critical Examination of the Book of the Chronicles of the Land of Ecnarf.

Author: 
Rev. Aristarchus Newlight', pseud. [Richard Whately, Archbishop of Dublin re. COPAC; Beinecke says William Fitzgerald]
Publication details: 
London: John W. Parker, West Strand. 1851. [Savill and Edwards, Printers, Chandos Street, Covent Garden.]
£125.00

8vo: [viii] + 62 + [ii] pp. Good, though a little dogeared and discoloured, with slight wear at foot of final leaf. Half-title (with quotation from Strauss's 'Leben Jesu' on reverse) and (discoloured) final leaf of publisher's advertisements. Disbound. The author is described on the title-page as ''Rev. Aristarchus Newlight, Phil. Dr. of the University of Giessen; Corresponding Member of the Theophilanthropic and Pantisocratical Societies of Leipsig; Late Professor of All Religions in several distinguished Academies at home and abroad, etc. etc.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
John Bruce Richard O'Neill (1780-1855), 3rd Viscount O'Neill, Irish General and politician, Constable of Dublin Castle
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£32.00

On piece of paper roughly one and a half inches by three wide. Small tear in top left-hand corner not affecting signature. Reads 'Your Obed Hue Servt | [signature] O'Neill | Lieut General'. On reverse '<...> he had his discharge to <...> | <...> allowed something he had <...>'.

DRAFT Autograph letter, third person ("The Att[orney]. Gen[eral]. for Ireland")

Author: 
[ Hugh Law ]
Publication details: 
[House of Commons stamp], [June 1881?]
£105.00

See DNB. Two pages, 8vo, sl. stained and with remains of glue for laying down, text clear and complete as follows: "The Att. Gen. of Ireland desires to correct a passage in his answer to Mr J. McCarthys question No. 8[.] Omit 'some time after the Eviction Lord Annaly directed the dwelling h[ou]s[e] to be pulled down & the roof was after[war]ds burned off'- and insert instead - 'Lord Annalys agent states t[ha]t he hasno knowledge of Mrs [M Dermots?] home being [?] burned - and does not believe it was'- Note: The date "June 1881" has been aded in another hand and in pencil.

Typed Letter Signed ('O Locker Lampson') to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Commander Oliver Locker-Lampson (1880-1954), Conservative MP for North Huntingdonshire (1910-22) and Handsworth (1922-45) [Hands Off Britain "Clear out the Reds" Campaign; communism; anti-communist]
Publication details: 
Undated; on letterhead of the 'Hands Off Britain "Clear out the Reds" Campaign', St. Stephen's House, Westminster.
£56.00

4to, 1 p, 9 lines. On behalf of his 'Committee' acknowledging his correspondent's 'kind letter with its generous contribution to the funds of our Campaign', adding 'a message of individual thanks from myself to you for your mostt encouraging support'. 'Our Campaign is prospering, and we hope soon to complete our success by the early expulsion of the Reds.' His correspondent's 'welcome help' is of 'great value'.

Printed communication, signed 'd'Hozier', to Monsieur Boucher.

Author: 
Ambroise-Louis-Marie d'Hozier (1764-1841), genealogist, 'Vérificateur des Armoiries de France'.
Publication details: 
10 June 1823; Paris.
£35.00

4to, 1 p, 12 lines. Text clear and entire, on creased paper. Printed in copperplate. Requesting subscription money due for his 'Indicateur Nobiliaire'. Good firm signature.

Letter, in a secretarial hand, in French, with what is said to be the illegible signature of Lacretelle [to Lenormand?].

Author: 
Charles Lacretelle le jeune [Jean Charles Dominique de Lacretelle] (1766-1855), historian [Léonce Lenormand, editor of the 'Journal de Saône-et-Loire']
Publication details: 
1 September 1853; place not stated.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp, 32 lines. Good. Docketed in a nineteenth-century hand in pencil in top left-hand corner 'Lacretelle (Charles) à Lenormand, réd. du J. de Saone & Loire à Mâcon' and in another hand 'Acad. Fr'. Asks to be verbally informed of the news of 'Mr. Ochier, à supposer qu'il vous eut enfin révélé le motif de son long silence au milieu des prodiges qui s'opérent aujourd'hui pour les moyens de communication entre les deux hémisphères, je n'aurais jamais pensé que celle de Mâcon et de Cluny, présentassent de telles difficultés'.

[Railway Reading.] Workmen's Earnings, Strikes, and Savings. By Samuel Smiles, author of 'Life of George Stephenson,' 'Self Help,' etc. Reprinted from the 'Quarterly Review.'

Author: 
Samuel Smiles [Victorian trades unions; strikes; industrial action]
Publication details: 
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1861. Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street, and Charing Cross.
£120.00

12mo, 168 pp. In original red printed wraps, yellow endpapers. Attractive bookseller's ticket of 'Hunt Books 1919 Southborough Kent England' on front pastedown. Internally sound, with a little light staining and some unobtrusive marking in margins. Wraps chipped and worn at corners and spine, with small ink stain on back. Front wrap headed 'RAILWAY READING.' Small neat ownership stamp of J. D. Bowen at head of title.

Document, in French, in a secretarial hand, signed by Méline ('J. Méline'), as Minister of Agriculture, to 'Monsieur Bailly, A.N. Président de la Société des Artistes Français | au Palais des Champs Elysées (porte 4).'

Author: 
Félix Jules Méline [Felix Jules Meline] (1838-1925), French Prime Minister, 1896-1898 [Antoine-Nicolas Louis Bailly (1810-1892), French architect]
Publication details: 
26 April 1884; Paris, on letterhead of the Ministry of Agriculture.
£75.00

8vo, 1 p. On aged paper, with wear and closed tears to extremities. Good, clear signature. Thanking Bailly for the 'cartes' and the 'lettres d'invitation' to the 'Salon de 1884'.

One Autograph Letter and one Autograph Note both Signed "P. Hoare.Signed

Author: 
Prince Hoare, artist and playwright.
Publication details: 
Buckingham Street, 11 Oct. 1812 and Beckenham, 26 Aug. 1810.
£120.00

Total 3pp., 4to, creasesedges dulled, odd spot, mainly good condition. (1810) He humorously asks for an enclosed letter (not present) be forwarded to a Mrs Nooth (named on address panel). (1812) He gives a gracious and witty apology, outlining the circumstances. According to an information sheetprfepared by the firm of H.P. Kraus these items are from the Library of Sir Thomas Phillipps. Two items,

Letter in a secretarial hand, Signed by Méline ('J. Méline') as 'Président du Conseil' and 'Ministre de l'Agriculture', to 'Monsieur le Général Tournier | Secrétaire Général de la Présidence de la République'.

Author: 
Félix Jules Méline [Felix Jules Meline] (1838-1925), French Prime Minister, 1896-1898 [Tournier]
Publication details: 
13 February 1897; Paris, on letterhead of 'République Française | Présidence du Conseil | Cabinet du Président'.
£120.00

8vo, 1 p, 13 lines. Very good on lightly aged and creased paper. Docketed in red pencil in another hand. Lists the names of three couples, 'appartenant au cercle de mes relations', who would dearly like to receive 'invitations pour les fétes données au Palais de l'Elysee'. Méline would be 'vivement heureux' if Tournier could give 'satisfaction' to this desire. A good firm signature on a document written during Méline's term as French President.

Four lines in autograph on his calling card as 'Depute, Sous-Secretaire d'Etat à la Justice'.

Author: 
Félix Jules Méline [Felix Jules Meline] (1838-1925), French Prime Minister, 1896-1898
Publication details: 
Undated.
£56.00

Card dimensions 6 x 10.5 cm. Good: lightly aged and with crease to top left-hand corner. Printed text reads 'Jules Méline, Deputé, Sous-Secrétaire d'Etat a la Justice. 84, Boulevard St. Garmain'. The autograph note, in French, is addressed to 'Mon cher ami', whom he addresses as 'tu'. He apologises for having neglected his correspondent's letter among his correspondence. 'Viens me voir à la chancellerie un matin; tu es sûre de me trouver mardi.' Thanks him for his 'bonnes félicitations'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed ('M Asquith' and 'Margot Asquith'), both to the Editor of the London Daily Graphic Harold Edward Lawton.

Author: 
Margot Asquith [Emma Alice Margaret Asquith] (1864-1945), Countess of Oxford and Asquith
Publication details: 
3 and 8 December 1920; the first on letterhead of 44 Bedford Square, London W.C.1, and the second on letterhead of The Wharf, Sutton Courtney, Berkshire.
£100.00

Both items written in pencil and good, on lightly aged paper, with their stamped and postmarked envelopes addressed by Asquith. Both envelopes with traces of brown paper mount adhering to reverse, and both docketed by the Graphic's editor 'To me Harold Lawton'. Letter One (12mo, 4 pp, headed 'Private'): Amusingly outraged letter regarding a visit by 'two gentlemen' of whom Asquith 'had no sort of knowledge'. Graphic journalists, they assured Asquith 'that nothing wd. be written about me without my seeing it first [last five words underlined in red]'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. de Freycinet') to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet (1828-1923), 43rd Prime Minister of France, 1879-1880
Publication details: 
7 July 1860; Bordeaux.
£85.00

12mo, 1 p, 20 lines. On grey paper, good, with a line of light offsetting from another document on the blank reverse. He wanted to read the work he has been sent before writing to acknowledge its receipt. 'Je suis trop peu de chose pour qu'un compliment de moi vous soit sensible'. He awaits the reprint with impatience, and regrets not having received a copy sooner. As for the introduction, he does not see how it could be changed. 'Ce que vous y dites sera toujours vrai et est aussi nouveau qu'il y a 19 ans'. The form is what one would expect 'd'un littérateur'.

Autograph Note in the third person to 'the Lord Mayor elect and the Sheriffs' of the City of London.

Author: 
George Tierney (1761-1830), Anglo-Irish Whig politician [Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832) of Kyllachy]
Publication details: 
Monday 9th. Inst. [no date]'.
£56.00

On piece of paper roughly 5.5 x 12 cm. Neatly laid down on a quarto leaf removed from an autograph album. Autograph and mount both damp-stained. Reads 'Mr Tierney presents his Compts to the Lord Mayor elect and the Sheriffs. will have the honor of waiting upon them Monday 9th Inst.' The leaf on which the autograph is mounted carries thirteen lines of biographical information in a nineteenth-century hand. Laid down on the reverse of the mount is an oval engraved portrait (not stated, but by William Ridley, published by Vernor & Hood, after John Opie), c.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George Stephen') to 'My dear Valentine'.

Author: 
Sir George Stephen (1794-1879), English abolitionist, lawyer and author
Publication details: 
22 August 1844; 17 Kings Arms Yard [London].
£85.00

Landscape 8vo (roughly 12 x 20 cm), 1 p, 8 lines. On creased and lightly aged paper. Text clear and entire. Stephen is afraid that Valentine's 'poor protegée will not [...] get much out of her claim!' Stephen cannot help her 'because litigation in a colony can only be conducted by a solicitor resident within it, and bad as we are reputed to be at home, they are far worse in the Colonies!' However he has 'written a strong professional letter for her that may perchance obtain an answer'.

Autograph Letter Signed to "Monsignor Patterson".

Author: 
Sidney Herbert, statesman, sponsor of Florence Nightingale (DNB).
Publication details: 
Carlton Club, 3 July [1885]
£56.00

Two pages, 8vo, remains of glue from tipping in, text clear and complete. He has been talking to the Duke of Argyll on a matter with which he might help. "Mr Hayes Fisher who is standing in the Conservative Interest at Fulham has told me that he is meeting with considerable opposition there from the Catholic Priests. Could you exercise any influence there? As you know we are fighting the battle of 'fair play in the matter of Education Grants to all Religious Denominations' and we look with confience to the support of Catholics in consequence. . .

Autograph Letter Signed "Vassall Holland".

Author: 
Henry Richard Vassall Fox, 3rd Baron Holland, statesman.
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£85.00

Three pages, 8vo, bifolium, small closed tear, remnants of tipping in,mainly good condition. He has received a letter and petition from his correspondent. He explains his confinement to home through gout, and also the procedure by which the petition would be presented ("as the petition of yourself & the trustees") to the House of Lords (technicality).

Autograph Letter Signed "B Corney" to an unnamed publisher.

Author: 
Bolton Corney, critic and antiquary
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£85.00

Two pages, 12mo, good condition, blank bifolium sl. damaged. "I have got out to day for the first time, and hope soon to be more fit for work. I see no objection to the advertisment - but it might be as well to leave the subsequent editions - without all - as you cannot wish to appear to make my allusion to [Pitts?] Ed | Though I send you only scraps, I read Spencer Anecdotes by Singer in a day - not choosing to trust to the Index, though Allan Cunningham had assistance from his son, and writes well as to style he has made many random [assertions?].

Autograph Note Signed ('Charles Oman') to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman (1860-1946), British military historian and Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
1 April 1930; on embossed letterhead of the House of Commons Library.
£25.00

One page, 12mo. Good but with paperclip spotting at head (not affecting text). Three-line quotation clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. 'Broadmindedness, so called, is generally no more than the silly fear of being thought narrow-minded - | [signed] Charles Oman'.

Autograph Note Signed ('C. P. Scott') to unnamed male correspondent [Rev. E. J. F. Davies].

Author: 
Charles Prestwich Scott (1846-1932) Liberal politician and editor of the Manchester Guardian, 1872-1929
Publication details: 
3 April 1931; on embossed letterhead The Firs, Fallowfield, Manchester.
£30.00

One page, 12mo. Very good: lightly aged and creased. 'You are welcome to my autograph for what it is worth.' From the collection of the Rev. E. J. F. Davies.

"The History of America in Documents".

Author: 
The Rosenbach Company.
Publication details: 
Philadelphia and NY, 1949.
£75.00

135pp., printed wraps, soiled and chipped, contents good. It commences with "The Famous Manuscript Account of the Voyages of Columbus Written by Andres Bernaldez . . ."

At Private Sale, November, 1859. Catalogue of the Entire Private Collection of Autograph Letters, &c. gathered during several years, with much care and expense, by Mr. T. H. Morrell. [..] nearly every Prominent Character in the Revolutionary War [..]

Author: 
T. H. Morrell [Bangs, Merwin & Co, auctioneers; autograph collecting; auction catalogues; Declaration of Independence; American Presidents]
Publication details: 
New York: Bangs, Merwin & Co., At the Trade Sale Rooms, 13 Park Row. 1 November 1859.
£150.00

Octavo: 28 pp. Stabbed. In original blue printed wraps. Advertisements on back. On browning high-acidity paper, in chipped and worn wraps with damp staining to edges at rear. 298 items. Items 95-141: 'Signers of the Declaration of Independence and Presidents of the United States.' Scarce: no copy on COPAC, which does record one copy of a catalogue of a sale of Morrell's books by the same firm in 1866, and two copies of a catalogue of a further sale in 1869.

Ten Autograph Letters Signed (all 'E Walford') to a number of different correspondents (including A., F. and H. Barker, Mrs Ratcliffe and a newspaper editor named 'Taylor').

Author: 
Edward Walford (1823-97), topographer, genealogist, antiquary and editor of 'Once a Week' and 'The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer'
Publication details: 
Five undated, the others 1860 to 1890; all but one (from Bracknell in Berkshire) from a number of London addresses.
£400.00

All items good, though on dusty and aged paper. Five items are addressed to sellers of manuscripts (probably the same individual). ONE (to H. Barker, 23 April 1885, on letterhead of 'The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer', one page, octavo): Asks to be offered Wellesley autographs purchased at a recent Sotheby sale, of which he sent an account to 'The Times', which was 'crowded out'. TWO (to F. Barker, 25 April [1885], 'at T.

Autograph Card Signed ('Agnes Castle' and 'Egerton Castle').

Author: 
Egerton Castle (1858-1920) and his wife Agnes Castle, nee Sweetman (1860-1922), British historical novelists
Publication details: 
6 December 1901; place not stated [Brighton].
£30.00

Printed Post Card, dimensions three and a half inches by five and a half. Good, on aged paper, but with the reverse (showing the remains of a photograph of Brighton) damaged by its removal from an autograph album. Unobtrusive vertical crease. Reads (apparently in Egerton Castle's hand) 'Dear Miss Gray | Your letter has been forwarded to us here. We have much pleasure in sending you the autographs you desire'.

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