AUTOGRAPH

Christmas illustration by Quentin Blake, for his own personal use, with an autograph inscription signed by him ('Q').

Author: 
Quentin Blake (born 1932), English children's book illustrator [Montague Shaw, Faber and Penguin]
Publication details: 
Undated [1970s?]; sent from his address 23 Gledhow Gardens, London SW5.
£250.00

Reproduction of black and white drawing in Blake's inimitable style. 4to (34 x 29.5 cm). Good, with a little light creasing. Reproduction of black and white drawing in Blake's inimitable style. Depicts anthropomorphic bear, pig, chicken, squirrel and hedgehog in a line from largest to smallest, all with party hats, smiles on their faces and forepaws and other front limbs aloft. Blake's address, as part of printed piece, written upwards along left-hand margin. Genuine autograph inscription by Blake, in blue ink, at right of drawing, reading 'With best wishes for Christmas & love from Q'.

Autograph Signature ('W E Gladstone') of the Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone, as frank on front of envelope addressed by him to the Rt Hon J. Moncrieff, M.P.

Author: 
William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), British Liberal prime minister
Publication details: 
Docketed by Moncrieff 'Gladstone May 16th [no year]'.
£25.00

Complete envelope, 12.5 x 8 cm. With mourning border. Addressed on front: 'Immediate | Rt Hon. J. Moncrieff | MP - | [signed in bottom left-hand corner] W E Gladstone'. Docketed in close hand, lengthwise and downwards from top right-hand corner. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. Cockburn') from the Scottish judge and author Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn, to Benjamin Bell, Advocate, 20 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh.

Author: 
Henry Thomas Cockburn (1779-1854), Lord Cockburn, Scottish lawyer, judge and author, Solicitor General for Scotland, 1830-1834 [Edinburgh Review]
Scottish judge and author Henry Cockburn
Publication details: 
14 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh; 8 November 1833.
£56.00
Scottish judge and author Henry Cockburn

12mo, 1 p. On recto of first leaf of bifolium. Addressed, with broken red wax seal, on verso of second leaf. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Knowing of Bell's 'attachment to the Civil Law', he invites him to a breakfast, where he will 'meet with Justinian, & a few select jurists'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J Crowe') by John Crowe, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Norwich Union Fire & Life Insurance Societies, to Major-General John Hall, regarding 'the misconduct of the Secretary Mr Thos Bignold Senr.'

Author: 
John Crowe, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Norwich Union Fire & Life Insurance Societies [Major-General John Hall (1770-1823) of Park Hall, Mansfield Woodhouse; Thomas Bignold (1761-1835)]
Publication details: 
16 November 1818; Union Office, Norwich.
£80.00

Folio, 2 pp. On the rectos of the two leaves of a bifolium. On laid paper watermarked 'Gilling & Allford 1816'. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The first page contains a letter addressed to 'General Hall' from 'Union Office | Norwich 16th Novr. 1818', forty lines long and signed 'J Crowe'. The second page is headed 'Norwich Union Life Insurance Society | Statement of the particulars of the misconduct of the Secretary Mr Thos Bignold Senr.' It contains a six-point indictment of Bignold, totalling thirty-seven lines.

Manuscript notebook, titled 'Calendar of British Moths & Their larvae and food Plants' and 'J[on]. Wilsons Lepidoptera Calendar'.

Author: 
Jonathan Wilson, Victorian lepidopterist of Kent, England [British moths]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1870 and 1885]. Front cover with label of 'Letts Son & Co. Limited, London, E.C.'
£450.00

This item can be roughly dated from the fact that the firm of 'Letts Son & Co. Limited' only traded in this style between 1870 and 1885, the public company going into liquidation in the latter year. There is an indication (see below) that Wilson hailed from Kent, and the present volume provides a valuable first-hand record into the state of the moth population in England at the end of the Victorian period. 12mo, 158 pp. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, in worn brown leather quarter binding, marbled endpapers. Letts label on front cover reads 'J.

Autograph Letter Signed S. Stepniak to unnamed correspondent about travelling from Manchester to address a meeting.

Author: 
S. Stepniak
Autograph Letter Signed S. Stepniak
Publication details: 
31 Blandford Road, Bedford Park, W [London], 6 Oct. 1892.
£180.00
Autograph Letter Signed S. Stepniak

Sergius Mikhailovich Kravchinsky, Russian Revolutionist and miscellaneous writer (1852-1895). 3pp., 12mo, small hole (loss of part of letters), small closed tear not affecting text. Perhaps writing to someone organising a lecture by him, he says, Excuse me generously for not having replied to you earlier, which was caused only by my unability [sic] to definitely accept your kind invitation.- The fact is that I want to leave Manchester with the quarter past six train. There are no earlier trains on Sundays and I will be obliged to come on Saturday.

Nine Typed Letters Signed, one Typed Note Signed and one Autograph Card Signed (all eleven 'Nicolette') from the author and artist Nicolette Devas to the military historian Antony Brett-James.

Author: 
Nicolette Devas [née Macnamara; other married name Shephard] (1911-1987), author and artist [Antony Brett-James (1920-1984), military historian and Sandhurst lecturer]
Nicolette Devas
Publication details: 
[1960-74?] All from West London. Card postmarked 11 October 1960, on cancelled letterhead of Anthony Devas, 12 Carlisle Square. Three items (none with year) on letterhead 18 Wetherby Gardens; seven (two from 1974) on letterhead 68 Limerston Street.
£550.00
Nicolette Devas

Apart from the card (12mo, 1 p), totalling 4to, 10 pp; 12mo, 2 pp. All items in good condition, with text clear and complete, on lightly-aged paper. All post-1960. Two of the eleven (20 January and 13 June 1974) are fully dated by Devas; another four have day and month. The card from 1960 is the earliest item; the three from Wetherby Gardens date from between this point and Devas's second marriage to Rupert Shephard in 1965, and the seven from Limerston Street from after the marriage. A good-natured correspondence, written in a chatty style.

Part of Autograph Letter Signed Theodore Dreiser, American Novelist [correspondent unknown].

Author: 
Theodore Dreiser, American Novelist
Part of Autograph Letter Signed Theodore Dreiser,
Publication details: 
No surviving place of date.
£56.00
Part of Autograph Letter Signed Theodore Dreiser,

Final 4 lines of a letter signed by Dreiser, on paper cut from original, 15 x 9cm, good condition: [proofs?]. And I shall be only too glad to acknowledge in one of the [first?] copies your courtesies.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Rennell Rodd') from Lord Rennell [to the Baconian Alicia Amy Leith], regarding his book on Sir Walter Raleigh.

Author: 
Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell [Sir Rennell Rodd] (1858-1941), diplomat, poet and politician
Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell
Publication details: 
28 June 1925; on his letterhead of Ardath, Shamley Green, Surrey.
£35.00
Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell

12mo, 1 p. Twelve lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, and with remains of tissue mount adhering to one margin. He cannot provide her with the reference she requests on Catherine Cubby. 'The volume on Sir Walter Raleigh was written more than twenty years ago and though all the best authorities were consulted I could not without looking them up again remember what the authority was'. From the papers of Alicia Amy Leith.

Autograph Letter Signed by Victorian artist Alfred Purchase, to 'H W R A [the Royal Academician Henry Weekes?]', containing a description of Tredegar in Wales and its young girls, and a pencil 'sketch of our valley looking towards Newport'.

Author: 
Alfred Purchase [Henry Weekes (1807-1877), Royal Academy; Tredegar and Newport, Gwent, Wales]
Autograph Letter Signed by Victorian artist Alfred Purchase
Publication details: 
'Tredegar Sunday' [1850s?].
£95.00
Autograph Letter Signed by Victorian artist Alfred Purchase

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. 57 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Weekes is by far the most likely of the four Royal Academicians whose initials correspond to those of the recipient of this letter, the others being Henry Tamworth Wells (1828-1903); Henry Woods (1846-1921); Hubert Worthington (1886-1963). Well-written and entertaining letter, addressed to 'Dearest old Boy'. Begins with a discussions of the merits of 'Scilly as a sketching ground'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. H. Freemantle') from the Very Reverend William Henry Freemantle, Dean of Ripon, to Colonel Spencer Childers, regarding his biography of his father, the Liberal Chancellor Hugh Childers.

Author: 
Very Reverend William Henry Freemantle (1831-1916), Dean of Ripon [Colonel Edmund Spencer Eardley Childers (1854-1919); Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827-96)]
Very Reverend William Henry Freemantle
Publication details: 
27 March 1901; on letterhead of the Deanery, Ripon.
£28.00
Very Reverend William Henry Freemantle

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. 36 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. He is sending a 'leaf of the Leeds Mercury containing a review of your Life of your father, which is good & appreciative', along with a copy of one of his sermons (neither enclosure present). Not having yet seen the book, he asks if he 'put in the extraordinary prophecy which your father made in March or April 1892 of the numbers of members who were to be elected in the July of that year?' He has 'the letter he wrote to Fanny with the exact number', and wishes he had reminded him of that fact before.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (two 'W Fowler' and one 'Wm Fowler') from William Fowler, Liberal MP for Cambridge, to Colonel Spencer Childers, regarding his father the Liberal Chancellor Hugh Childers, Gladstone, Irish Home Rule, and other matters.

Author: 
William Fowler (1828-1905), Liberal Member of Parliament for Cambridge, 1868-74 and 1880-85 [Colonel Edmund Spencer Eardley Childers (1854-1919), son of Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827-96)]
William Fowler (1828-1905), Liberal Member of Parliament for Cambridge
Publication details: 
1, 4 and 8 July 1901; all on letterheads of Broadwater Cross, Tunbridge Wells.
£150.00
William Fowler (1828-1905), Liberal Member of Parliament for Cambridge

All three items good, on lightly-aged paper. All bifoliums. Letter One (1 July 1901): 12mo, 4 pp. 42 lines. He is pleased to have received Childers' life of his father (published that year). 'I knew your Father well, [...] I was in the House in the Parliaments of 68 & 80 when he had his most serious work'. Praises his 'amazing pluck in going out as he did to Australia [Childers was first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne] & in his conduct there in the early days & during the gold discoveries time, the story of which in his letters is very curious'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Murray') from the London publisher John Murray IV to Colonel Spencer Childers, regarding his biography of his father the Liberal Chancellor Hugh Culling Eardley Childers.

Author: 
Sir John Murray IV (1851-1928), London publisher [Colonel Edmund Spencer Eardley Childers (1854-1919), son of Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827-96)]
Sir John Murray IV (1851-1928), London publisher
Publication details: 
April 1901; on letterhead of 50 Albemarle Street.
£56.00
Sir John Murray IV (1851-1928), London publisher

12mo, 4 pp. 40 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Spencer'. He is sorry to have missed Childers: 'I came back early on Sat: morning fairly driven home by the weather.' Reports that 'Better reviews of the book are now appearing Athenaeum - evidently by Dilke: Tablet: Pall Mall &c.' Thinks 'Clarke will use his influence with the Times', the idea that 'King' has done so being 'entirely out of the question'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Fred Norgate') from the London publisher Frederick Norgate (of the firm Williams & Norgate) to [John] Lawler, concerning the printer William Caxton and bookseller Bernard Quaritch.

Author: 
Frederick Norgate (1817-1908), British publisher, of the firm Williams & Norgate [Bernard Quaritrch; William Caxton; John Lawler]
Frederick Norgate (1817-1908), British publisher,
Publication details: 
29 July 1902; 7 Edith Road, London.
£56.00
Frederick Norgate (1817-1908), British publisher,

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. 47 lines. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, wear and fraying to extremities. The cutting which Lawler leant him 'has helped me to trace one stage further in the wanderings of more than one vagabond Caxton'. Refers to John Winter Jones's discovery of a copy in the British Museum of the 'Quatre Derrenieres Choses', 'now more than 50 years ago [...] it has remained absolutely unique until our old friend at 15 Piccadilly [Bernard Quaritch] came upon a 2nd copy'.

An original blotting-paper impression ('George R I' in mirror image) of the signature of King George V of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Author: 
George V (1865-1936), King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Emperor of India
'George R I' in mirror image
Publication details: 
Caption gives date as 14 December 1910.
£56.00
'George R I' in mirror image

On piece of blotting-paper, 13.5 cm square; folded horizontally to make a two rectangles, with the signature centred on the front leaf, and with the back leaf laid down neatly on a piece of cream card, 15 x 18 cm, with caption in ink at foot: 'ORIGINAL BLOTTING-PAPER IMPRESSION OF SIGNATURE OF GEORGE V DATED 14 . 12. 1910.' Being the result of blotting, the impression is a mirror image of the original, with the firm signature 4.5 cm long, with 6.5 cm underlining. On aged paper, with neat vertical fold line in centre, crossing the underlining half a centimetre from the right.

Extensive manuscript catalogue of 'Leicestershire Biography & Bibliography', compiled in 1935 by R. B. Halliday of Great Glen [i.e. the Leicester bookseller Bernard Halliday].

Author: 
R. B. Halliday [the Leicester bookseller Bernard Halliday] of Great Glen, Leicestershire [William Barton (c.1598-1678), Vicar of St Martins; Leicestershire stationers and printers]
Publication details: 
Dated 'R B Halliday | Great Glenn [i.e. Great Glen, Leicestershire] | 1935'.
£420.00

4to, [ii] + 71 pp, with numerous leaves of additional manuscript and typescript material loosely inserted, as well as laid down. A few cuttings and extracts from printed works, as well as a Typed Letter Signed (17 March 1937) to Halliday from Ralph M. Williams of Yale, describing himself as 'interested in securing books, manuscripts, or other documents by or about the eighteenth century poet John Dyer'. Neatly written out in pencil and pen, on watermarked wove paper, in sturdy buckram binding. Internally in excellent condition, tight and clean, in worn binding with staining to front board.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George Henry Glasse') from the classical scholar Rev. George Henry Glasse [to the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine John Nichols], offering his services 'as corrector of your press for any quantity of Greek'.

Author: 
Rev. George Henry Glasse (1761-1809), classical scholar, son of Dr Samuel Glasse (1734-1812) [John Nichols (1745-1826), editor of the Gentleman's Magazine; John Milton; James More]
Autograph Letter Signed ('George Henry Glasse')
Publication details: 
7 June 1791; Hanwell Rectory, Middlesex.
£95.00
Autograph Letter Signed ('George Henry Glasse')

4to, 1 p. 18 lines of text. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged and lightly-stained paper. Neatly laid down on a leaf removed from an album. Lightly marked-up in red pencil by the recipient. After professing respect for Nichols's 'literary character' and his 'valuable miscellany', Glasse offers his services 'as corrector of your press for any quantity of Greek you may incidentally have occasion to publish'.

Manuscript document in French, a copy, ('Collationné Certiffié [sic] sincère et véritable') from the Duc de Luxembourg for the Grand Orient de France, to 'tous Les Maçons reguliers', certified by the 'Secretaire de la loge des vrais amis' (Daumas?).

Author: 
[Le Grand Orient de France, French Masonic organization, founded in 1733; la Loge des Vrais Amis; Anne de Montmorency-Luxembourg, Duc de Luxembourg (1737-1803); Freemasons; Freemasonry]
Le Grand Orient de France, French Masonic organization
Publication details: 
Année de la Vraie Lumière 5781 [i.e. 1781]
£400.00
Le Grand Orient de France, French Masonic organization

Folio, 3 pp. Bifolium. On watermarked laid paper. Headed 'A La Gloire du Grand architecte de L'univers sous Les auspices et au Nom du Serenissime G M | Le Grand orient de france a tous les Maçons reguliers, | union force salut'. Apparently regarding relations 'Entre Nous & Les directoires

Autograph Letter Signed ('Charles Stirling') from Captain (later Vice-Admiral) Charles Stirling to the First Lord of the Admiralty, George John Spencer, Earl Spencer, docketed by Spencer with his response.

Author: 
Vice-Admiral Charles Stirling (1760-1833) [George John Spencer (1758-1834), Earl Spencer, First Lord of the Admiralty]
Publication details: 
13 November 1800; [on board H.M.S.] Pompée [at] Causand [i.e. Cawsand, near Plymouth].
£145.00

4to, 2 pp. Seventeen lines. On worn aged paper, with the cropping of one margin resulting in minor loss to a few words of text. Requesting inclusion in 'any arrangement which may be made' regarding 'a move from Halifax [Nova Scotia]' as a result of a 'late vacancy at the Navy Board'. He is writing despite having 'neither claim or pretension' to Spencer's 'goodness', but 'having received an answer not sufficient to banish hope, in an application about 3 years ago', he is induced to try again.

An original blotting-paper impression ('Edward R' in mirror image) of the signature of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Author: 
Edward VII (1841-1910), King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Emperor of India
Edward VII (1841-1910)
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£56.00
Edward VII (1841-1910)

On piece of blotting-paper, 14 x 13 cm; folded horizontally to make two rectangular leaves, each 7 x 13 cm, with the signature presented in the centre of the first leaf, and with the back leaf laid down neatly on a piece of cream card, 14.5 x 17 cm, with caption at foot of card: 'ORIGINAL BLOTTING-PAPER IMPRESSION OF SIGNATURE OF EDWARD VII.' Being the result of blotting, the impression is a mirror image of the original, with the firm signature 6 cm long, with a 7.5 cm underlining.

Signed black and white photograph by the Scottish silent movie star John Stuart, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's first film (and another by the director), and in several Gainsborough Studios features.

Author: 
John Stuart [John Alfred Louden Croall] (1898-1979), Scottish silent movie actor [Alfred Hitchcock; Gainsborough Studios]
Publication details: 
'Photo by L. Protheroe.' Undated [1930s?].
£35.00

Black and white studio photograph, postcard format (14 x 9 cm). Laid down on leaf removed from autograph album. Good, on shiny photographic paper, with margin making dimensions of image 12.5 x 8 cm, captioned at foot 'JOHN STUART' and, in smaller type, 'PHOTO BY | L. PROTHEROE'. Stuart's inscription, in bottom right-hand corner, reads 'Best wishes | Sincerely yours | John Stuart'. Stuart's two Hitchcock films were the director's debut 'The Pleasure Gardens' (1925), and 'Number Seventeen' (1932).

Signed Autograph Inscription by the English cinema actor Peter Haddon.

Author: 
Peter Haddon (1898-1962), English actor, whose career began in 1924 and ended in 1952
Publication details: 
Dated by Haddon 1928.
£12.00

On leaf removed from autograph album, with one set of rounded corners. In good condition. Reads ' Good Morning - Bill! | With every good wish | Yours Sincerely | Peter Haddon | 1928 -'. Together with a loose newspaper cutting carrying a photographic portrait.

Autograph Signature of the British bass Robert Easton, who took part in the first BBC television broadcast.

Author: 
Robert Easton (1898-1987), British bass
Publication details: 
Undated.
£10.00

On piece of light-blue paper, removed from an autograph album. Firm signature. In good condition. Reads 'Robert Easton.'

Autograph Signature of the Russian classical pianist Shura Cherkassky.

Author: 
Shura Cherkassky [Alexander Isaakovich Cherkassky] (1909-1995), Russian classical pianist
Publication details: 
Dated by Cherkassky 1929.
£18.00

On rectangle removed from autograph album. In good condition. Reads 'Shura Cherkassky | 1929'.

Autograph Signature of the Austrian classical violinist Wolfgang Schneiderhan, written when touring England at the age of fifteen, and signed 'Wolfi Schneiderhan'.

Author: 
Wolfgang Schneiderhan [Wolfgang Eduard Schneiderhan; Wolfi Schneiderhan] (1915-2002), Austrian classical violinist
Publication details: 
Dated by Schneiderhan 1930.
£35.00

On rectangle of pink paper, removed from autograph album. In good condition. Reads 'Wolfi Schneiderhan | 1930.'

Autograph Signature of the English classical conductor and composer Albert Coates.

Author: 
Albert Coates (1882-1953), English classical conductor and composer, born in St Petersburg
Publication details: 
Dated by Coates 1929.
£12.00

On rectangle removed from autograph album. In good condition. Reads 'Albert Coates | 1929'.

Signed photograph of the musical hall artiste Charles Coborn, best-known for the songs 'Two Lovely Black Eyes' and 'The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo'.

Author: 
Charles Coborn [Charles Whitton McCallum] (1852-1945), Anglo-Scottish musical hall star
Publication details: 
Dated by Coborn 28 May 1929. Photo by Laird of Aberdeen.
£25.00

Black and white studio photograph, postcard format (13 x 8.5 cm). On leaf removed from autograph album. Good, on shiny photographic paper, with margin making dimensions of image 12 x 8 cm, captioned in bottom right-hand corner 'PHOTO | LAIRD | ABERDEEN'. Showing a kindly-looking Coborn seated in country tweeds, with spectacles in hand and paper on his knees. In addition to a facsimile in the bottom-left, the picture has Coborn's genuine dated signature across his chest: 'Charles Coborn | 28/5/29'.

Autograph Signature of the English actress Anna Neagle.

Author: 
Dame Anna Neagle (1904-1986), English singer and stage and screen actress
Publication details: 
Undated.
£15.00

On rectangle of paper, laid down on leaf removed from autograph album. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Reads 'Good wishes | Anna Neagle.' With two newspaper cuttings carrying photographic portraits, one loose and one laid down to the left of the signature.

Autograph Letter Signed "Percy Fitzgerald", author and critic, to [prob. A. Williams, "Liverpool Mercury"].

Author: 
Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald, (1834 - 1925), British author and critic, painter and sculptor.
Publication details: 
No place or date [1890s?].
£35.00

Two pages, 12mo, good condition, saying, "I was much obliged by your kind thought of sending me the critique - as well as taking the trouble - always a task - of copying it outIt seems to me to convey the intention of the [author?] exactly."

Autograph Note Signed William Stubbs, historian, to [A. Williams of the Liverpool Mercury].

Author: 
William Stubbs, (1825–1901), English historian and Bishop of Oxford.
Publication details: 
[Embossed] Kettel Hall, Oxford, 2 Nov. 1880.
£35.00

One page, 12mo, good condition. From a batch of letters most of which are addressed to A. Williams of the Liverpool Mercury. I am afraid that I cannot tell you of any book on English history during the period you mention which can be recommended without reserve. / The best I know is Mr. Lappenberg's History of England, transaletd by B.Thorpe.

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