OF

She her entry, and that of her husband, in the Oxford DNB. Throughout her life she inspired a range of responses. The ‘Labour Leader’ described her as a ‘second Annie Besant’, while Manny Shinwell dismissed her as ‘the would-be Sarah Bernhardt of the party’; to Lord Reith, during her time as a BBC governor, she was ‘the Scarlet Woman’. The present eight items are in good condition, lightly aged, and all folded for postage. A total of eleven typed pages (4to, 12mo and 16mo) and one page in 4to autograph. All signed ‘Ethel Snowden’.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly-aged, with small triangle cut away from letter in opening red wax seal, of which minor traces remain. Folded and addressed in the customary manner. Franked to ‘Right Honble / Robert S: Dundas &c &c &c / Downing Street / Montrose’, sent from ‘Grosvr: Sq: 5th Jan 1809’ and signed ‘Montrose’. Begins, without salutation: ‘I wish you would look to this act, as it appears to require attention.

The present item gives the text of the poem described by Byron as 'the most perfect ode in the English language' before its first publication in the Newry Telegraph in April 1817. See Wolfe’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The source of the present item is unclear. It is a photographic facsimile, many decades old, on both sides of a 4to leaf. In fair condition, slightly creased on browned paper, with negligible loss to margin at head. With five creases from folding. Addressed to ‘John Taylor Esqe / at the Revd Mr. Armstrong’s / Clonoully / Cashel’.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border (for President Garfield). 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, a little worn and creased. Folded once. Signed ‘Albert D Shaw / U.S. Consul’, and addressed to ‘J. Rawlinson Esq. / Hon. Sec. / Old Trafford.’ He is in receipt of ‘the Resolution passed by the Board of Congregational Ministers of Manchester and neighbourhood, expressing their heartfelt sympathy, and that of the Churches they represent with the American people in the Calamity which has befallen them in he death of President Garfield’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. An interesting letter, whose circumstances are intriguing. 3pp, 12mo. On two leaves of letterheaded paper. In pencil. From the Asquith papers, and possibly a draft letter to her son Anthony (‘Puffin’). In good condition, lightly creased. Folded once. The signature is a short squiggle. The handwriting is challenging, and the following interpretation is tentative. She begins: ‘My Darling, I felt rather guilty after leaving you about abusing yr. love of blue in yr. pictures. - I can see that nothing I say can alter yr. love of this colour, & I hate hurting yr.

The present autographs were taken within a few years of the quartet’s formation in 1931. Accompanying the item is an 11 x 9 cm newspaper cutting of a photograph of the youthful members of ‘THE FAMOUS GRILLER QUARTET - often heard over the wireless - which created a very favourable impression last night at the first concert for the season of the Aberdeen Chamber Music Club.’ The autographs are on one side of a 16 x 11 cm leaf with rounded edges, extracted from an autograph album. The signatures are one above the other, with Sidney Griller’s large and bold.

On 9 x 13.5 cm newspaper cutting of photographic portrait of Jarred. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ‘Mary Jarred / 1935.’ The photograph shows Jarred posing in a black dress and pearls, with left hand arranging her white fur coat to tastefully emphasize her bust. See image.

On 17.5 x 11.5 cm leaf of pink paper, with rounded edges, removed from autograph album. In good condition, lightly aged. Written in a large, expansive hand, diagonally and upwards. Reads: ‘With all / good wishes / Oda Slobodskaya’. See image.

See the entries for Warner and Macqueen-Pope in the Oxford DNB. Such was the popularity of Warner’s portrayal of George Dixon, that the Queen told him it had become part of ‘the British way of life’, and he was carried to his grave by six real officers from Paddington Green Police Station. LETTER: 1p, 4to. Folded twice. In good condition, lightly aged. Signature ‘Jack.’ and salutation to ‘My dear Popie’ in Warner’s hand; the rest typed. Letterhead with his name. He is sending ‘the long promised photos’, delayed because he ‘had to get some new prints of the “pipe” one.

On one side of 19 x 9 cm slip of paper with Osterley Park letterhead with her crested monogram in gold and black. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Somewhat shaky and curiously-antiquated signature. Typed note in capitals. One word and a few minor corrections to text in autograph. Reads: ‘May 24 Wednesday / My dear Jim / I am here at the receipt of custom - will you come & when? Come to dine & sleep - or stay.

The recipient is not named (the salutation is to ‘Mylord’), but William ends with compliments to ‘Lady Auckland’, and the letter also contains a reference to Eden Park. 1p, landscape 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper, laid down on part of leaf cut from album. Signed ‘G. F. Pr Hed.d’Orange’. The mount is captioned, in a contemporary hand, ‘George [sic] Prince of Orange (Holland) date 1798’.

On 22 x 14 cm piece of laid paper, cut from the foot of a document. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with tiny closed tear to one edge. Folded three times. At head, in the kings hand: ‘[...] terrattelse lander. Stockholms Slott den 6 Maj 1847. / Oscar’. Directly beneath the firm, clear signature, is the embossed circular seal, under paper, 6 cm in diameter, with motto ‘OSCAR SVER NOR GOTH OCH W KONUNG / RATT OCH SANNING’.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, long 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Headed ‘TORRINGTON SQUARE. / To the EDITOR of The TIMES’. Whether the letter was published or not, and if so whether it appeared in its entirety, is unclear. Clearly a carbon, but with her characteristic signature at end in black ink ‘Margot Oxford’. The forty-seven-line text has four autograph emendations.

Butler had been Taft’s running mate in the 1912 United States presidential election. Such was his standing in the US that The New York Times printed his Christmas greeting to the nation every year. He shared the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize with Jane Addams. The present item is not untainted by the pompous circumloctions what one critic described as Butler’s ‘interminable miasmas of guff’. 2pp, 4to. On aged and creased paper, with slight damage to extremities but with text completely intact. Signed ‘Nicholas Murray Butler’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, with slight discoloration along central fold. Large bold signature ‘Napier’. Addressed to ‘The Honble. George Elliott’, with salutation to ‘My dear Elliott’. As he does not know where Elliott’s sister Lady Dunfermline is ‘residing at this moment’, he is placing in Elliott’s hands ‘for transmission’ a letter from the wife of the Turkish ambassador at the Hague. He expresses to Elliott’s family his sympathy at the loss of their father.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On brittle, discoloured paper, cropped at foot. Signed (‘J. Oxenford’). The recipient is not named, but is clearly the editor of the Athenaeum. Reads: ‘Sir/- / In the name of Mr. C. A. Feiling and myself, I beg leave to thank you for the very handsome and prominent notice of our “German Tales” which appeared in the Athenaeum of the 30th. ult. - You will confer a further obligation by letting the gentleman who wrote the article [know] how much we feel indebted to his kindness.’

See their entries in the Oxford DNB. Two Autograph Signatures, on an 11 x 5 cm slip cut from a leaf of an album. In good condition, lightly aged. On one side: ‘Novar / G. G. Australia 1914 - 20. / Stirling 14. 10. 22.’ (The date ‘1914’ is slightly smudged. On the other side ‘Katharine Atholl - Jan. [...]’; and above it, in another hand ‘Duchess of Atholl - Under Secretary for Edu’. See image.

See Fry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Dickinson was an influential proponent of the League of Nations. The present item concerns the London Declaration concerning the Laws of Naval War, an international code of maritime law, following on from the second Hague Conference. Great Britain, as the world’s chief naval power, had felt that such a court should be governed by defined principles, and had convened an international concerence in London in 1908. The Declaration that was issued three years later comprised 71 articles. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Lord Dickinson [Sir Willoughby Dickinson] (1859-1943), was a Liberal and then Labour politician and early advocate of the League of Nations.1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with short nick to one edge. Folded twice. He thanks him for the morning’s note, and is ‘adopting your suggestion to put down a Motion in the Lords’. He hopes that Dickinson will ‘add the weight of your name and influence in a letter to the Times’. He would like ‘the League of Nations Union would take the matter up’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient, the educationist Thomas Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957), was a prominent member of the Convocation of the University of London. Both items in fair condition, on lightly aged paper, the second with slight loss along one edge due to removal from mount. Both signed ‘Simon’. ONE: 17 January 1948. 1p, 12mo. Folded once. ‘I do not for a moment believe that the adverse vote carried at a depleted meeting of the General Committee represents the broad view of the Club [clearly the National Liberal Club] as a whole, but I have to take things as I find them.

1p, 4to. Salutation and valediction in the princess’s autograph. Stylized signature with Roman lettering. Addressed to ‘The Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley’ at her estate in Maidstone, Kent. They are all ‘delighted’ with the ‘Comfrey roots’ which she sent as promised, and ‘look forward to seeing the results on the horses’. ‘My niece, Her Royal Highness Princess Alia was also pleased to receive her share for the Royal Stables’. The letter ends with the usual courtesies. See image.

Harper was the first Anglican Bishop of Christchurch and the first Primate of New Zealand, and he oversaw the building of the ill-fated cathedral at Christchurch. See his entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. The signature appears to read ‘Hë [for ‘Henricus’?] Christchurch’, and the letter is addressed to ‘Rev. T. Scudamore Cunningham / Lymm Cheshire’. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. Fifty-seven lines of closely and neatly written text.

In fair condition, on lightly aged paper. Folded once. Signed ‘G Card d’Hohenhohe’, and with his embossed monogram. He is enclosing ‘il libro per la Signora Costanza’, together with the three letters of recommendation, which she may read before sealing. He ends with good wishes for the voyage. See image.

Plain 11.5 x 7.5 cm card, with letterhead in red. The card reads: ‘Dear Herman Hart / I can barely write even today with rheumaticky right hand. I have written to Thring to say that I propose you & have known you for years. It gives me great pleasure to do so / Yrs sincerely / Douglas Sladen’. On reverse, in contemporary hand, ‘Author of Japanese Marriage.’

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with unobtrusive grease stain stain to one blank corner. Folded twice. Good bold hand with large signature. ‘My dear Miss Atkins - / How very kind of you to return me my old book. It was very valuable to me, & I was wondering where it was - so I am very glad to have it back again. / Hoping we shall meet before long / With kindest regards & many thanks / Yours very sincerely / Ethel Henry Bird.’

At the time of writing Manning was rector of Lavington, Sussex. See his entry in the Oxford DNB, and also Edmund Sheridan Purcell, ‘Manning as an Anglican’ (1895). 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with a couple of creases. Folded twice. Signed ‘H. E. Manning.’ The recipient is not named. Begins: ‘My dear Sir / I am going to ask of you a favour by which you would greatly oblige me if you have no objection.

The significance of the present item with regard to the Colenso Case - a turning point in the history of Victorian theology and ideas - is explained by the Baroness’s entry in the Oxford DNB: ‘Angela Burdett-Coutts's deep religious beliefs informed her early interest in colonial expansion. In 1847 she endowed the bishoprics of Cape Town, South Africa, and Adelaide, South Australia, both of which were strictly modelled on the English diocesan system. [...] She intended that her colonial bishoprics should remain dependent on the Anglican church in England.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition; with slight traces of mount on blank reverse of second leaf. Folded twice. He begins by explaining that he was ‘not able to call before leaving Edinburgh’, as he was ‘much harried at last’.

From the first Smith has been considered as the model of the ‘Sir Joseph Porter’ of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘HMS Pinafore’, and Disraeli himself is said to have referred to him as ‘Pinafore Smith’. See Smith’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is signed ‘W. H. Smith’, addressed to ‘Mr Townsend Warner’, and headed ‘Private’. The recipient is the historian and Harrow housemaster George Townsend Warner (1865-1916), father of the novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight creasing to one corner. Folded once. In addition to the signature ‘Stanley Rous’, the salutation ‘Dear Max’ is written in Rous’s autograph. (Robertson’s full Wandsworth address is typed out at the head.) The note reads: ‘The enclosed translation of an article which appeared in a Continental newspaper has just been handed to me. I sent it on at once, in case it is of help to you.’ See image