[William John Courthope, Professor of Poetry at Oxford.] Autograph Letter providing an autobiographical account for a reference work.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 32 lines, neatly written, including interpolations. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Folded for postage. No signature and with recipient not named. Begins: ‘Sir / On my return from the Continent I find your letter which I should have of course acknowledged at once if I had been at home. / If the following particulars about myself are of any use for the purpose of your book they are quite at your service’. A thumbnail autobiographical account follows, beginning: ‘I am the eldest son of the late Revd. William Courthope, and was born at South Malling near Lewes Sussex on the 17th. of July 1842.’ He refers to his two poems as ‘ “Ludibria Lunae” a burlesque poem in ottava rima modelled on Italian examples, and the second an extravaganza called “The Paradise of Birds”, suggested by “The Birds’ of Aristophanes’.