History

Autograph Letter Signed ('Palmerston') to Major General Patrick Campbell (1779-1857), British Consul General in Egypt.

Author: 
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784-1865), British Prime Minister (as Foreign Secretary)
Publication details: 
13 December 1837; Foreign Office.
£85.00

4to: 1 p. Good. Folded three times. A neatly-written letter of introduction for 'Major William Henry Grote [1795-1844], of the 33d. Regiment, now at Malta, Brother of Mr. Grote MP. for London, who is about to visit Egypt': 'I beg leave to introduce him to your acquaintance, and to recommend him to your Protection and good Offices.'

Ought France to Worship the Bonapartes?

Author: 
Ahriman I., pseud. [Napoleon Bonaparte]
Publication details: 
London: Robert Hardwicke, 192, Piccadilly. 1863. [W.H. Collingridge, City Press, 117 to 119, Aldersgate Street, E.C.]
£100.00

8vo: [iv] + 90 + [ii] pp. In original grey printed wraps. The answer to the question in the title is an emphatic 'No!', with the author's argument summed up in the conclusion: 'The publication of these remarks has been elicited by a feeling of indignation and surprise, on learning, that, in any part of the world, and especially of France, the man, whom a former generation cursed, should now be deemed worthy of being canonised.' The author puts his case forcefully and well, marshalling a number of quotations from classical and modern sources.

Fragment of Letter to Colburn in the Third Person.

Author: 
Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquis of Londonderry (1778-1854) [Henry Colburn, publisher]
Publication details: 
No date [docketed at head 'Nov 9 1829'].
£28.00

12mo: 1 p. Lacking strip (two inches by four) at foot, bearing text. Otherwise good. A formal letter in the third person. Asks Colburn to 'send him an answer to his last [underlined] Communication'. He has 'completed the Manuscript of the Work [presumably 'Narrative of the war in Germany and France, in 1813 and 1814', 1830], except the winding up in a few Pages <...>'.

Printed Receipt Signed, with Manuscript Additions in another hand, for money lent to Queen Anne.

Author: 
Sir David Colyear, 1st Earl of Portmore
Publication details: 
[London]; 19 May 1707.
£150.00

General (c.1656-1730) and Governor of Gibraltar, married to Catherine Sedley, mistress of James II (see item# ). One leaf, dimensions roughly seven inches by ten and a half. Printed text with manuscript additions on recto; docketed on verso. Good, but grubby, and with slight repair to head. Receipt 'of the Honourable [Lord ffitzharding]' (corrected from 'James Vernon Esq'); One of the Four Tellers of the Receipt of Her Majesty's Exchequer', of eighty pounds for twenty-four months interest on £500 lent by Portmore and 'My Ld Kent' on 14 August 1704. Signed 'Portmore'.

Printed Receipt Signed, with Autograph Signature and manuscript additions in another hand, for three months' governent annuities.

Author: 
Spencer Cowper [Sir William Cowper]
Publication details: 
7 November 1720; [London].
£180.00

Judge (1669-1728), and Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales on the accession of George I. Grandfather of the poet William Cowper, and brother of William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper (1665-1723), Lord Chancellor of England. One of the defendants, in 1699, in the celebrated trial for the murder of Sarah Stout. Dimensions of paper roughly six and a half inches by six inches. On discoloured, spotted paper, with slight wear and loss to one corner (not affecting text). Right edge slightly trimmed, with partial loss to one word'.

Document signed by these four parties, part printed, part manuscript.

Author: 
Earl Marchmont, Thomas [ Secker ] Archbishop of Canterbury, Beversham Filmer, J. Stephens.
Publication details: 
15/11/58
£250.00

One page, 4to, one small tear, staining, pinholes, text clear and complete. The four parties acknowledge receipt of £62.10 in their office aas "executors of Sarah late Duchess of Marlborough assignee of John Rudghe as per margin. In the margin, in manuscript is a list of years 1828-1838 with a list of yearly sums which add up to the £62.50 they are acknowledging. The list has the name John Rudge next to it. They received the money from James Earl Waldegrave (written in ms.

[VICTORIAN CLUBS AND SOCIETIES] List of the members of the club of "Nobody's Friends".

Author: 
[VICTORIAN CLUBS AND SOCIETIES] The club of 'Nobody's Friends'
Nobody
Publication details: 
[s. l. et a.] 'As existing on 1st January, 1878.'
£120.00
Nobody

See 'The club of 'Nobody's Friends' 1800-2000: a memoir on its two-hundredth anniversary' by Geoffrey Rowell (2000). Four-page bifolium. Good, on grubby, discoloured paper, with some creasing and wear at foot. Gives details of the election between 1820 and 1877 of fifty-nine Actual Members, and of eighteen Honorary Members. Includes the Rev. Charles Burney, the artist George Richmond and the publisher John Murray.

Handbill headed 'Souvenir. Street Library Book Fund.', consisting of a monologue entitled 'Lord Beaconsfield speaks before the curtain'.

Author: 
Laurence Housman [The Street Library, The Crispin Hall; Somerset; English libraries]
Publication details: 
Crispin Hall, July 8th, 1931.'
£56.00

One one side of a piece of laid paper, 26.5 x 21 cms. Aged and creased, with chipping to extremities and staining on reverse from repair to one of two closed tears. Thirty-six lines, with facsimile of Housman's signature at foot. An appeal for 'money for the Library - your Library'. Somewhat poignant, considering the present neglected state of the British library service. '[...] The question is - do you want to give money to your Library? [...] But, for my own part, I ask - why, why Libraries? What are they for? What there do you read?

Part of an Autograph Letter, missing signature page, to "Wellesley", prob. a Richard Wellesley.

Author: 
Stratford Canning. The Treaty of Vienna.
Publication details: 
Vienna, 21 February 1815.
£850.00

Four pages, 4to, incomplete, fold marks, some tears on folds, complete and legible, as follows: "It is perfectly true. I am indeed, my dear Wellesley, the most faithless of correspondents. And towards you too! You, who deserved so different a treatment at my hands. . . . My time has passed away for the last four months in such an odd sort of bustling, hurrying, half occupied, half dissipated way . . . Will you believe that till yesterday I had not written a syllable to Gally Knight [see DNB] for the last four months?

The Constitutional Convention. The Constitution of New Hampshire as amended by the Constitutional Convention held at Concord on the first Wednesday of December, A. D. 1876: with the Several Questions involving the amendments proposed [...].

Author: 
T. J. Smith, Secretary to the Convention, et al. [New Hampshire]
Publication details: 
Concord: Edward A. Jenks, State Printer. 1877.
£50.00

Octavo: 31 pp. Stitched and unbound, with front of the original printed wraps, which bears the title-page, still present. Text clear and entire, on aged paper with some dogearing and chipping to top outer corner. Front wrap creased and lightly stained, with a little chipping, but with text clear and entire. Pencil ownership inscription in contemporary hand at head of title. Reproduces the proposed amended constitution and various resolutions regarding a referendum on the subject.

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed clergyman, on the back of a printed handbill.

Author: 
Sir Oswald Mosley (1848-1915), 4th Baronet [Victorian Temperance Movement; John Garrett, D.D.; Robert Whitworth]
Publication details: 
Letter: Rolleston Hall; 15 December 1866. Handbill: '43, Market Street, Manchester, December 12th, 1866.'
£45.00

On a leaf roughly 17 x 12 cms. A small strip is missing from the foot, but this does not appear to affect the texts. Aged and ruckled, with a little staining from previous mount at head and foot of printed side. In the Letter Moseley opines that 'the closing of Public Houses during the whole of Sundays would be attended with great inconvenience to the public, and I cannot therefore agree to the object of Promoters of that scheme'. Docketed in the top left-hand corner 'Mark name on list as unfavourable'. The handbill, signed in type by John Garrett, D.D.

[Printed] Prospectus for "Skelton's Antiquities of Oxfordshire" with related ms. material.

Author: 
[OXON.] [Joseph Skelton]
Publication details: 
Magdalen Bridge, Oxford, Jan. 1824.
£450.00

Two pages, 4to, stabbed, minor foxing, mainly good condition. It announces that Skelton is preparing a !series of Engraved Illustrations of the Antiquities of the County of Oxford", anticipating 50 plates "from Original Drawings made purposely by Mr. F. Mackenzie" with letterpress by a Member of the University. There will be 12 quarterly parts in Elephant or Atlas 4to. He adds a long list of subscribers from HRH the Duke of Ambridge to "Wykeham, Miss, Thame Park, Oxon." and including the Duke of Marlborough and booksellers (Arch, Major, Munday & Slatter, Simcoe).

[Prospectus] The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham . . . by G. Lipscomb.

Author: 
[Sir Thomas Phillipps, antiquary and bibliophile].
Publication details: 
[London, 1847]
£120.00

Two pages, 4to, slightly foxed and soiled, small tear at fold. INSCRIBED in the hand of John Bowyer Nichols, the book's printer, "Respectfully submitted to Sir Thomas Phillipps Bart."

Printed Circular ('To Her Majestys Consul') Signed 'Aberdeen'.

Author: 
George Hamilton Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (1784-1860), Scottish Tory politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1852-55
Publication details: 
Foreign Office, [London]; 30 April 1846.
£60.00

One page, large octavo. Aged and with light staining. Docketed on second leaf of bifolium: 'Requesting Consuls not to receive Copies of books as presents to Her Majesty'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J L Motley') to the English historian James Anthony Froude (1818-94).

Author: 
John Lothrop Motley (1814-77), American historian, author of 'The Rise of the Dutch Republic' (1856).
Publication details: 
Paris; 28 March [no year, but between 1856 and 1870]. 'My address is always Baring, brothers & Co.'
£85.00

Three pages, octavo. Very good on lightly aged paper. Interesting communication from one of the nineteenth-century's leading historians to another, with an evaluation of Froude's work by Motley. He is disappointed that Froude's visit to London precedes his own. He has been in Brussels since January, 'occupied with an important <?> correspondence', and is on his way to join his family in Nice. Gives plans for the summer (Switzerland, Germany and London). Thanks the Warrens for their kind remembrance.

A Letter to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone upon a Land Scheme for Ireland.

Author: 
Charles Baron Clarke (1832-1906), British botanist [William Ewart Gladstone]
Publication details: 
London: Macmillan and Co. 1881.
£56.00

Octavo: twenty pages. Unbound and stitched. Good, but with outer leaves a little grubby and creased. The word 'rack-rent' on page six has been underlined and three exclamation marks placed beside it in ink. As well as important botanical works, Clarke numbered political economy and education among his interests.

[Wedgwood] Three different bookplates.

Author: 
Josiah Clement Wedgwood (1872-1943), 1st Baron Wedgwood, British Liberal and Labour politician
Wedgwood
Publication details: 
[1890s to 1930s.]
£80.00
Wedgwood

Arranging the three in what appears to be chronological order, the first (good, roughly four inches by two and three-quarters wide) has 'Josiah C. Wedgwood' in copperplate beneath a straightforward Victorian armorial design, with shield, coronet and motto 'OBSTANTIA DISCINDO'. The second (three and a half inches by three wide) dates from after Wedgwood's election as a Member of Parliament in 1906, having 'EX-LIBRIS JOSIAH C. WEDGWOOD, M.P.' on a scroll beneath a more modern armorial design, with helmet and leaves. It has slight damage to the bottom right-hand corner.

Autograph Fragment of essay, initialed 'W. R.'

Author: 
William Roscoe (1753-1831), English historian of the Renaissance
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£56.00

Dimensions roughly four and a quarter inches by eight wide. Good on lightly aged paper, and with traces of previous grey-paper mount adhering to reverse, which is docketed, in a nineteenth-century hand, 'Handwriting of the Author of Lorenzo de Medici'. Also docketed in left-hand margin of recto. Begins 'One of the most fatal enemies to the tranquility & happiness of human life is that jealous & timid apprehension which foresees evils at too great a distance, & often imagines them when they do not exist'. Initialled in top left-hand corner.

Typed Letter Signed to Sir Francis Peek.

Author: 
Ralph David Blumenfeld
Publication details: 
8 July 1932; on letterhead of The Company of Newspaper Makers.
£36.00

American-born British journalist (1864-1948), editor of the Daily Express, 1904-32. One page, quarto. Good, but on slightly discoloured paper, with slight staining to the four corners from previous mounting. Reads 'As one printer to another I want to tell you what I think of your magazine "Change". It does you all great credit. It is exceedingly well produced, presented with remarkably good taste, and I am astonished at the knowledge and technique.

Autograph Note, third person, to "Monsieur le President de l'Assemblee Nationale"

Author: 
E.A.J. Anisson Duperon (Anisson-Duperon).
Publication details: 
Paris, 27 August 1790.
£280.00

Director of the Imprimerie Royale, Paris, and later met his end on an "echafaud revolutionnaire" (1794). One page, 8vo, good condiiton "M. Anisson Duperon, Directeur de l'Imprimerie Royale, a l'honneur de presenter son respect a Monsieur le President de l'Assemblee Nationale"; il a celui de les prevenir qu'en vertu du Decret de l'Assemblee il a fait remettre au M. Baudouin son [to the Assemblee] Imprimeur Douze cents Soixante Exemplaires de cinq nouvelles Lois, dont il [joint..?] Deux Exempls de chacune pour la disposition particulaiere de Monsieur le President."

Autograph Letter Signed "Le Duc de Basano" to William Smith, English Member of Parliament

Author: 
Hugues-Bernard Maret, duc de Bassano, French statesman and journalist.
Publication details: 
Paris, 17 October 1814.
£125.00

In French. Three pages, 4to, poor condition but little of text lost or obscured. There is a note, probably in Smith's hand, on the address panel "acknowledgment of the letter by Genl Macaulay". He wants to revisit England and is grateful for the hospitality expended to his wife. by the Smith family. A "M. Guillon negociant de bourgogne et l'ami de mes amis" is to visit England and de Bassano asks for his good offices on his behalf.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Rhys Roberts') to Sir Frederick George Kenyon (1863-1952), Director of the British Museum.

Author: 
William Rhys Roberts (1858-1929), Professor of Classics at Leeds University, and associate of J. R. R. Tolkien
Publication details: 
28 January 1918; on letterhead of the University, Leeds.
£35.00

Three pages, octavo. Very good on lightly aged paper. Kenyon's paper was 'much enjoyed' when read on Saturday, and there was 'a good attendance'. '[T]he pleasantries were not missed': '1. the confusion of the inexhaustible emender; 2. the thrift of the canny Odysseus in his role of wooer; 3. Burne Jones's Law.' 'At the end some interesting questiosn were asked', for example, 'why second-rate Greek annalists shd. seemingly have been preferred to Herodotus & Thucydides'.

A Mother's Historical Chart, or an Outline of the History of the World . . .

Author: 
ANON.
Publication details: 
[London, no date [watermark 1832]] Published by A. Douglas (Portman Square) and printed by J. Wilson (Piccadilly)
£125.00

[Title continued] . . . Divided into Centuries and Millennial Periods, from the Creation to the Present Time., Broadsheet, 32 x 41cms, some marking, nicks tears at folds, text complete and clear comprising approximate dates and events during six millennia, during three "Dispensations" - the "Patriarchal", Mosaic", and Christian. An aid the a child's learning of history. BBTI records Wilson and Douglas but expresses doubt whther he was a publisher and restricts his activity ot 1827 (now by this item, [1832]. No copy found on COPAC or BLC.

Document Signed "[?] Decazes" to "M. Gaillard Senainville, agent de la Societe d'encouragt".

Author: 
Elie, Duc Decazes, French Statesman.
Publication details: 
Ministere de l'Interieur, Paris, 14 April 1819.
£350.00

In French. Two pages, fol., secretarial hand, signed by Decazes. He is appoijmting Inspectors ("travail" and "surveillance" to ensure the proper operation of the Exposition "des produits de l'industrie francaise, qui doit avoir lieu au Louvre le 25 Avril prochain". He recalls that his correspondent was responsible, at the Exposition of 1806, for "toutes les operations concernant la classification des produits, et leur distribution . . .".

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Sir Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice (1780-1863), 3rd Marquis of Lansdowne, Whig politician and abolitionist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£15.00

Dimensions of paper roughly one and three-quarter inches by five and a quarter wide. Aged, ruckled, and with traces of glue from previous mounting on reverse. Reads 'Your very faithful | servt | Lansdowne', and on reverse, '<...> as if I did so I shou<...> | be referred to the answer <...>'.

Coloured lithographic portrait engraving of 'THE RIGHT HONBLE. WILLIAM PIT. | From an original drawing by the late Mr. Sayers in the possession of Francis Turner Esqr. | Drawn on Stone by R. J. L. [i.e. Richard James Lane]'.

Author: 
William Pitt the younger [James Sayers (1748-1823), artist; Richard James Lane (1800-72), line engraver and lithographer; Graf & Soret]
Pitt
Publication details: 
(not Published) | Printed by Graf & Soret.'
£150.00
Pitt

EXCESSIVELY RARE. Apparently not present in the National Portrait Gallery collection. The portrait is on a piece of India paper roughly four and a half inches by three and a half wide, mounted on a piece of thick wove paper roughly eleven inches by eight and a half wide. The mount bears the text. Good, though somewhat grubby, and with the mount lightly creased and foxed. While Sayers is best-known as a Pittite caricaturist this image is certainly not a caricature.

Autograph letter signed to the Lord Mayor

Author: 
George Grenville, Lord Nugent
Publication details: 
Wardour Castle nr. Salisbury, 2 Nov. 1825
£45.00

Statesman and writer (1788-1850). 3pp., 8vo. He has heard that his name has been used in the prospectus for the Gwennap mining company. H explains that he was approached but decioded not to allow his name to be used or to buy any shares in it. He hopes the Lord Mayor will take any opportunity of saying this.

The Fettes Endowment.

Author: 
Various.
Publication details: 
1883-1886.
£450.00

A Collection of approximately 40 items, both printed and manuscript from the papers of J. Calder Macphail, Minister and activist, in good conditon, all with fold marks. The printed material includes: "Statement by the Educational Endowments Committee of the Free Presbytery of Edinburgh of their objections to the Draft Scheme for the Administration of the Fettes Endowment . .

Autograph letter signed to [?] Young,

Author: 
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey of Bulkeley,
Publication details: 
13 September 1905, with letterhead "SUNBEAM RYS".
£45.00

Politician and maritime administrator (1836-1918). 3pp,12mo. "If you could postpone the date for a week, it would afford me the greatest pleasure to present the testimonial to Canon Simpson. Kindly send me list of a few leading subscriptions as a guide, addressed to Chapel Wood / Nutley / Uckfield. / I am at Milan International Maritime Conferrence last week Septr / Yours faithfully / Brassey"..

Facts relative to William Oldys, Esq., Norroy King at Arms.

Author: 
[Bolton Corney]
Publication details: 
London: F. Shoberl, [1837}.
£56.00

[Title continued] "Comprising an attempt to vindicate him from the vindication published by I. D'Israeli". Pamphlet, 15pp., 8vo, soiled and chipped, not sewn or stapled. According to the BLC "Being art,23 of Corney's 'Curiosities of Literature by I. D'Israeli . . . Illustrated.'" Scarce.

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