ARMS

[Oxford University and Captain Henry Worsley Hill, Lieutenant Governor of the Gold Coast.] Copy by Hill of College of Arms pedigree showing his family’s consanguinity with William of Wickham and Nicholas Wadham. With ALS to the warden of New College.

Author: 
Captain Henry Worsley Hill (1799-1868), Royal Navy, first 'proper' Lieutenant Governor of the Gold Coast [William of Wickham; Nicholas Wadham; New College, Oxford; College of Arms, London]
Publication details: 
Hill’s letter dated 22 July 1850, from 3 Carlton Crescent, Southampton. The pedigree copied by Hill from the original made by the College of Arms, London, and dated 24 November 1845.
£320.00

Captain Hill was the son of Vice-Admiral Henry Hill (1775–1849). In 1845 Captain Hill married Amelia Jane Boyce (1821–1895), granddaughter of the Duke of Marlborough, with whom he had ten children. Hill’s letter is written on the back of the pedigree, and addressed to ‘The Revd / The Warden / New College / Oxford’. It reads: ‘Mr. Warden, / I have the honour of transmitting herewith for your information the Copy of a Pedigree which I have received from the Heralds Office shewing the consanguinity of my Family to William of Wickham the Founder of New College Oxford and of the College of St.

[Napoleonic Wars: the arming of six British merchant ships, c.1807.] Manuscript ‘Account of Sundry Stores received from the Pilot Boates [sic]’, ‘Respecting Arming Pilot Boates / Account of Stores’.

Author: 
Napoleonic Wars: the arming of six British merchant ships, c.1807 [Brittania, Stephen Brown; Sloop Neptune, John Hurry; Syren, William Jackson; Fox, Thomas Lundie; Rover, Robert Jackson]
Publication details: 
Entries dated between May 1805 and June 1809. On paper watermarked ‘J WHATMAN / 1807’.
£280.00

None of the boats and captains named in the present item are present in contemporary Navy Lists, so they would appear to be merchant ships. 2pp, foolscap 8vo. Aged and worn, with slight loss along edges and faded to a small portion of text. Folded four times into a packet, named (on the reverse): ‘Respecting Arming Pilot Boates / Account of Stores’. The whole of the recto is filled with text, divided into six rectangles in two columns of three rectangles each, under the heading ‘Account of Sundry Stores received from the Pilot Boates’.

[W. H. K. Wright: Victorian armorial bookplates.] Two Original Illustrations of Designs for Armorial Bookplates, one ‘Presented to Mr Edward Morrall Quay House Bridgenorth’.

Author: 
W. H. K. Wright [William Henry Kearley Wright], (1844-1915), poet, editor of the Western Antiquary [Victorian armorial bookplates; Edward Morrall of Quay House, Bridgnorth; M. J. Morrall]
Wright
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but late Victorian.
£120.00
Wright

Each of the two items attributed to Wright in pencil note on reverse. Both in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: On 11 x 17.5 cm piece of paper. At head: ‘Book Plate of Morrall A[?] vox stellarum vox Dei’. At foot: ‘M. J. Morrall’. (Unlikely to be the Brooklyn architect of this name active at this time.) Up left-hand margin: ‘Mr. Edward Morrall / Mayor 1885-6’. Down right-hand margin: ‘Presented to Mr Edward Morrall Quay House Bridgnorth’. Full achievement, from crest to motto, with colours indicated. TWO: On back of 9 x 11 cm printed ‘at Home’ card.

[Sir Frederick Pollock, distinguished jurist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('F. Pollock') to Dr Maurice Ernest, discussing the question of arms control, preferring the term 'Limitation of armaments' to 'disarmament'.

Author: 
Sir Frederick Pollock (1845-1937), distinguished jurist and Cambridge Apostle, author of 'The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I' [Maurice Ernest, biologist; arms control; disarmament]
Publication details: 
27 April 1907. On letterhead of the Athenaeum, Pall Mall [London].
£120.00

2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded several times. Small slip of paper with printed biographical entry on Pollock laid down at top left of first page. With several corrections giving the appearance of a draft, but from the papers of the recipient, the Austrian-born biologist Maurice Ernest (1872-1955). An interesting discussion of the question of arms control by a leading jurist in the years preceding the First World War. He begins by stating: 'Limitation of armaments is, as you rightly suggest, the only practical term.

[Sir Frederick Pollock, distinguished jurist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('F. Pollock') to Dr Maurice Ernest, discussing the question of arms control, preferring the term 'Limitation of armaments' to 'disarmament'.

Author: 
Sir Frederick Pollock (1845-1937), distinguished jurist and Cambridge Apostle, author of 'The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I' [Maurice Ernest, biologist; arms control; disarmament]
Publication details: 
27 April 1907. On letterhead of the Athenaeum, Pall Mall [London].
£120.00

2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded several times. Small slip of paper with printed biographical entry on Pollock laid down at top left of first page. With several corrections giving the appearance of a draft, but from the papers of the recipient, the Austrian-born biologist Maurice Ernest (1872-1955). An interesting discussion of the question of arms control by a leading jurist in the years preceding the First World War. He begins by stating: 'Limitation of armaments is, as you rightly suggest, the only practical term.

[Lord Gambier, Admiral of the Fleet.] Manuscript designs of heraldic achievements (coats of arms), made by a signwriter for display at his funeral.

Author: 
[Admiral Lord Gambier [James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier (1756-1833), Admiral of the Fleet, Royal Navy officer in American Revolutionary War and French Revolutionary Wars and Glorious First of June]
Publication details: 
'April 22nd.' [1832].
£400.00

An interesting and unusual survival, casting light on funerary practice in Georgian London. In black ink on 37 x 15 cm piece of watermarked laid paper, clearly cut from the working ledger of the signwriter responsible for the display at Gambier's funeral. Two excellent drawings, marked up with notes for colours, as a guide for the painting process.

[Standish]The Antient Usage In Bearing of such Ensigns of Honour ... commonly call'd Arms. With A Catalogue of the present Nobility and Baronets of England. ['Catalogue of Books Printed ... Theatre in Oxford [...] sold in London, by Moses Pitt' at end.]

Author: 
[ Myles Standish; Miles Standish ] Sir William Dugdale, Garter Principal King of Arms [Catalogue of Books Printed at the Theater in Oxford; Moses Pitt, bookseller of St Paul's]
Publication details: 
The Second Edition Corrected, 1682. Oxford: Printed at the Theater for Moses Pitt, and sold by Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard, London.
£650.00

12mo, [viii] + 210 pp, together with four unpaginated pages before p. 79 and two unpaginated pages before p. 165. With fold-out list of Knights of the Garter. Includes a "Catalogue of the Nobility of Ireland". On aged paper, in worn eighteenth-century binding, modern rebacking. Ownership inscription, at head of p.1, 'Mary Standish of Standish - Her Book' (suggesting a relationship with Myles Standish, pioneer American); and a couple of ownership initials on title-page.

[ Sir John Bernard Burke, the pre-eminent genealogist of the Victorian age. ] Collection of material, from his papers, including around 350 proofs of coats of arms for his 'Dormant and Extinct Peerages', drawings, a tracing.

Author: 
Sir John Bernard Burke (1814-1892), the pre-eminent genealogist of the Victorian age, and Ulster King of Arms
Publication details: 
[ London. ] 1865 and thereabouts.
£600.00

The work for which these proofs were prepared, Burke's 'Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire', was published in London by Harrison in 1866, and was a revision of his father John Burke's 'General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages [...] extinct, dormant, and in abeyance', first published in 1831, with a third edition in 1846. The present collection is largely in fair condition, on aged and worn paper, but with some of the items damaged.

[ Fencing in the French army during the July Monarchy; escrime francaise ] Manuscript 'Brévet de Maitre d'Armes' presented to Marius Chaix of 2e Regiment, 16e. Division Militaire at Arras, signed by eighteen 'Maîtres d'Armes'.

Author: 
Marius Chaix, 2e Régiment, 16e Division Militaire (Arras) [ Fencing in the French army during the July Monarchy ]
Publication details: 
Arras. 6 December 1840.
£450.00

Headed, with the first line in gold: 'Corps Royal du Genie. | 2e. Regiment. | Academie d'Escrime. | Brévet de Maitre d'Armes.' The commission reads: 'Nous soussigné Maîtres d'Armes, Composant la garrison d'Arras, après avoir reconnu les capacités du Sieur Chaix, (Marius) Maître Ouvrier à la Ce. Compagnie du 2e. Bataillon, du dit Regiment. On one side of a 28 x 36 cm piece of cream paper. In fair condition, aged, creased and worn, with central vertical fold.

[ From the stock of Henry Grey of Acton?] Collection of 114 genealogical and heraldic items, relating to British families, including manuscript and printed pedigrees, engraved coats of arms (including proofs) and armorial bookplates.

Author: 
[ Henry Grey of Acton, genealogical bookseller; genealogy; heraldry; heraldic; bookplates ]
Publication details: 
[ Henry Grey, 1 Churchfield Road East, Acton, London? ] Ranging in date from the eighteenth century to the early twentieth century.
£450.00

114 items, ranging in size and format. Many are extracted from eighteenth and nineteenth century English and French volumes. In fair condition, with signs of age and wear. Containing a few duplicates. Perhaps indicating provence is the presence, with two other items in a folder titled 'Hunt Family of Ireland', of a TLS to Grey from W. H. Hunt of Selkirk, 25 February 1923, asking him to supply genealogical 'extracts'. Of the present collection, the pedigrees, variously in manuscript, printed and engraved, are 24 in number.

[ Col. Sir William Owen Lanyon, KCMG, CB. ] Manuscript Letter signed by Sir Albert William Woods, informing him of his appointment to the Order of the Bath, with manuscript duplicate of letter, signed by Sir Charles Cox, regarding another appointment

Author: 
Sir Albert William Woods (1816-1904), Garter King of Arms; Sir Charles Cox (c.1810-1892), Chancellor of the Order of St Michael and St George [ Col. Sir William Owen Lanyon (1842-1887), KCMG, CB ]
Publication details: 
Letter signed by Woods: from the College of Arms, 23 February 1880. Letter signed by Cox, from the Chancery of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (and on embossed letterhead), 8 April 1880.
£56.00

Both items 2pp., folio. Each on a separate leaf, the two leaves attached to one another by small gummed labels. Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: Signed by Woods. Announcing the appointment, and enclosing a warrant ('ordinary Member of the Military division of the Third Class, or Companions'. TWO: Signed by Cox. The word 'duplicate' in red ink at head of first page, but with Cox's genuine signature. Announcing the appointment, 'on the recommendation of Secretary Sir Michael Hicks Beach'.

[The Royal Fusiliers in the Peninsular War.] Autograph Letter Signed from Sergeant-Major Dove of the Royal Fusiliers ('of six Years service [...] in the Peninsula') to 'Mr. Smith' of Manchester, regarding his journal history of the Regiment.

Author: 
Sergeant-Major Dove, Royal Fusiliers (7th Regiment of Foot) [Smith, Mechanics Arms, Henry Street, Manchester]
Publication details: 
Chester Castle. 10 July 1827.
£95.00

2pp., small 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Mr. Smith | Mechanic Arms | Henry Street | oppe Ancott Street | Manchester'. With contemporary note, in another hand, on separate piece of paper: '312. | Journal of Sergt. Major Dove, of six Years Service of the 7th Royal Fusiliers, in the Peninsula'.

[Printed 'RESTRICTED' British Civil Defence pamphlet with enamel 'I.C.D.S.' (Instructor Civil Defence School) badge.] Civil Defence. Notes for Volunteers. [With sections on 'Atomic Warfare', 'Chemical Warfare' and 'Biological Warfare'.]

Author: 
[I.C.D.S.; British Civil Defence, 1955; Civil Defence School; Atomic Warfare; Biological Warfare; Chemical weapons; nuclear war]
Publication details: 
At foot of final page: '(1204) WT. 39620. [number of copies:] 22,500 [date of publication, i.e. July 1955:] 7/55 [printer:] D & G Ltd.'
£80.00

39pp., small 4to. Stud-bound in brown card printed wraps. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with crease to front cover, to which the enamel badge is also attached, beside the ownership signature of 'E J Sayer' (Downing Street secretary Elizabeth Sayer, later Cooper.). First page dated in pencil '8th Sept', and pencil note in text of the 'permitted dose' of radiation.

[Book published for Pinnock and Maunder, Mentorian Press, London.] Pinnock's Catechisms. A Catechism of Heraldry; Explaining the Nature and Use of Arms and Armoury, Rules of Blazoning and Marshalling Coats of Armour; Heraldic Terms, &c. &c.

Author: 
[Pinnock and Maunder, Mentorian Press, London; William Pinnock (1782-1843)]
Publication details: 
Fourth Edition. Undated (1820s). London: Printed by Davidson, Old Boswell Court; for Pinnock and Maunder, Mentorian Press, 267, (St. Clement's Church Yard,) Strand.
£90.00

67 + [4] pp., 16mo. In original printed wraps, with four page catalogue of the publishers' 'Explanatory and Interrogative School-Books' at rear. In fair condition, on aged paper worn at edges, in worn and chipped wraps, with small ownership signature on front cover. The title announces that the volume is 'Illustrated with numerous Engravings in Wood', and these are in the body of the text. Uncommon: no copy of any edition at the British Library.

[The Court of the Lord Lyon.] Itemised manuscript 'Note of Fees of Armorial Bearings for Miss William Boyd Robertson of Lawers.' With manuscript receipt for payment of this bill, signed by James Horne, Lyon Clerk.

Author: 
[James Horne, Lyon Clerk; Court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms, Edinburgh, Scotland; Scottish College of Heralds]
Publication details: 
The 'Note of Fees' dated November 1814. Horne's receipt from Edinburgh, 18 November 1814.
£120.00

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The 'Note of Fees' is 1p., 4to, and comprises 11 charges totalling

Five Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Note Signed ('Gerald', 'Gérard', 'G. H.') from the arms dealer and fraudster Gerald Hamilton (model for Christopher Isherwood's 'Mr Norris') to Yvon Davis [pseudonym of Tom Driberg?] of Bradwell Lodge.

Author: 
Gerald Hamilton (c.1888-1970), arms dealer, traitor and fraudster, the original of Christopher Isherwood's 'Mr. Norris' [Yvon Davis; Tom Driberg; Bradwell Lodge]
Publication details: 
The first two letters on letterheads of 91 Kinnerton Street, Belgrave Square, SW1; the fourth from London, and the others without place. The first letter dated 22 December 1939 and the last 21 January 1940; the note undated.
£280.00

All in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letters are dated 22, 24 and 25 December 1939 and 20 and 21 January 1940; the note is undated. The letters total 6pp., 4to, with an additional 1p., 4to, carrying a translation from Spanish; the note is on the back of a scrap of Asbach Uralt packaging. The first two letters are in English, the other letters and the note in French. One envelope is present, addressed to: 'M. Yvon Davis, Bradwell Lodge, Bradwell-on-Sea, nr.

Autograph Letter Signed from the herald painter for the College of Arms Gerald Cobb to the architectural historian Peter Reid, regarding a staircase in Bishopswood and his new book.

Author: 
Gerald Cobb (1899-1986), Queen Elizabeth II's herald painter for the College of Arms at the time of her coronation, and authority on ecclesiastical architecture [Peter Reid, architectural historian]
Publication details: 
College of Arms, London EC4. 7 June 1979.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. Seventeen lines of neatly-written text. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He apologises for the delay in replying to Reid's letter, and knows 'nothing about the staircase you mention as coming from a house in Holborn, & now in a house in Bishopswood.' He 'looked it up in R[oyal]. C[ommision]. H[istorical]. M[onumments]., (Vol. II) Hertfordshire (par. of Walford-on-Wye) but Bishopswood is only mentioned re some romann remains.' He hopes Reid is 'enjoying the Herefordshire countryside', and is himself finding life 'rather hectic'.

[Mimeographed] Report on visit to Czechoslovakia 16th November to 9th December, 1945

Author: 
Col. R.V. Shepherd, Armament Design Department
Publication details: 
[1945]
£450.00

Mimeographed or similar, 74pp., 4to, simple card binding, title label faded, Copy no. [10]. marked SECRET on title. DUP pencilled on title also. [Forewrd] This report is a record of information on German armament activity in Czechoslovakia. The Czech Ministry of Defence has helped in the preparation. Appendix 6 is an alphabetical record of the principal personnel mentioned in the report... Full of infomation about people (inc. Germans) involved durting the War, with a report on Skoda (appendix I, pp.14-22, and an experimental station, pp.29-32, etc.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Isaac Heard Garter') regarding Lord Rawdon bearing 'the Surname and Arms of Hastings'; with a manuscript copy of 'The humble Petition [to the King] of Francis Lord Rawdon Baron Rawdon in the County of York' on the subject.

Author: 
Francis Rawdon-Hastings (1754-1826), 1st Marquess of Hastings; Sir Isaac Heard (1730-1822), Garter Principal King of Arms
Publication details: 
Heard's letter: February 1790; College of Arms. Copy of petition without date or place.
£85.00

Letter: Foolscap (32 x 20 cm), 1 p. Text clear and complete. 4 lines. In poor condition: on aged paper with chipping and closed tears. Male recipient not named. Heard finds 'no Objection to the Prayer of the annexed Petition of the Right Honble Lord Rawdon that he and his Issue may take and bear the Surname and Arms of Hastings.' Petition: Foolscap (32 x 20 cm), 1 p. Text clear and complete, the body of the petition consisting of twenty lines. On aged, brittle paper, with closed tears along fold lines, and chipping to extremities.

Manuscript volume titled 'Notes on the familary of VICARS of South Yorkshire. Collected by Alfred Scott Gatty.' With illustrations, family trees, insertions.

Author: 
Alfred Scott-Gatty (1847-1918), Garter Principal King of Arms at the College of Arms [genealogy of the Vicars and Vickers families of South Yorkshire]
Publication details: 
Ecclesfield Vicarage, Sheffield. 1876.'
£250.00

4to volume (leaf dimensions 23 x 18.5 cm). Written out in Gatty's neat close hand over 96 full pages of a brown cloth notebook with decorative enadpapers. With 30 extra 4to pages of notes, and three loose family 8vo leaves of family trees. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding with split hinges. With title page and names underlined in red throughout.

Facsimile of Autograph Letter Signed, sent as circular to town clerks of Scottish Burghs.

Author: 
John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquis of Bute
Publication details: 
Mount Stuart | Rothesay.' [no year, but 1897 or after]
£25.00

Scottish nobleman (1847-1900) and author. Two pages, folio. Folded twice. First leaf of a bifoliate. On very good paper watermarked 'J WHATMAN | 1897'. Very good, but second (blank) leaf of bifoliate somewhat grubby. Facsimile signature 'Bute'. Long letter announcing the completion of his 'Arms of the Royal and Parliamentary Burghs of Scotland' (Blackwood, 1897) and appealing for information for his forthcoming 'Arms of the Baronial and Police Burghs of Scotland' (Blackwood & Sons, 1903).

Typed Note Signed ('A. C. Fox-Davies') to H. S. Vade Walpole.

Author: 
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (1871-1928), English writer on heraldry, and Gold Staff Officer at the Coronation of King George V
Publication details: 
8 June 1899; on letterhead of Hastings House, Norfolk Street, Strand, London.
£35.00

4to: 1 p. Good, on lightly aged and spotted paper. Regarding 'certain verses concerning this street', Walpole will 'find an explanation of the whole circumstance in this week's Notes & Queries'.

Promotional booklet in English, with photographic illustrations: 'From Industrial Sweden. Aktiebolaget Bofors. Bofors, Sweden.

Author: 
Bofors Steel Works, Gothenburg, Sweden [Bofors anti-aircraft gun; armaments; warfare; military]
Publication details: 
Gothenburg: 1923. ['Wald. Zachrissons Boktr. A.-B., Göteborg 1923'.]
£100.00

4to (28.5 x 21.5 cm): 8 pp. In original buff printed wraps. Printed on shiny art paper. Text complete and clear. Lightly spotted, with central vertical fold, grubby wraps, rusted staples. Twelve photographs, ranging in size from half- to quarter-page: 'General View of the Bofors Works', 'Erecting shop', 'Fitting shop', '15 cm. Guns', 'Hardening tower', '15 cm. (6 inch.) double gun-carriage M/12', 'Rolling Mill housing, weight 33 tons', 'Runner for water turbine', 'Ore Crusher', 'Exterior of the Bofors Steel Works', 'Screw Automatics' and 'Details'.

Coloured advertisement for 'Burke's Colonial Gentry'.

Author: 
Sir Bernard Burke, C.B., LL.D., Ulster King of Arms [Burke's Peerage; English genealogy]
Publication details: 
1890 [1891]. [London.]
£45.00

8vo: 1 p. A bifolium (leaf dimensions roughly 270 x 185 mm), on thin wove paper, with the printed page on the recto of the first leaf, the rest being blank. Very good, on lightly aged paper. Attractive item printed in red, blue, black and gold. Text reads 'Vol I in the Press. Burke's Colonial Gentry. A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Principal Families residing in the British Colonies by Sir Bernard Burke, C.B., LL.D., Ulster King of Arms.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. R. Planché') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
James Robinson Planché [J. R. Planché] (1796-1880), English playwright and herald
Publication details: 
Saturday [no date]; Michael's Grove Lodge [Brompton].
£40.00

12mo, 1 p, 11 lines. Very good. He begins by giving R. J. Smith's Brompton address. He was 'delighted to hear of Lord Powis' and hopes 'there is no mistake about it'. 'Remember in printing his Title he is a Knight of the Garter. - On the back of our 2nd. No. I see Lord Southampton printed as "the Earl of Southampton"!' Asks the recipient's view of the previous day's 'Times': 'And look at the Morning Post to day.'

Facsimile of Autograph Letter Signed, sent as circular to town clerks of Scottish Burghs.

Author: 
John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquis of Bute
Publication details: 
Mount Stuart House | Rothsay' [no date, but post 1893 and pre 1897].
£25.00

Scottish nobleman (1847-1900) and author. Long letter appealing for information for use in the forthcoming 'Arms of the Royal and Parliamentary Burghs of Scotland' (Blackwood, 1897). Two pages, folio. Folded twice. First leaf of a bifoliate. On very good paper watermarked 'J WHATMAN | 1893'. Very good, but second (blank) leaf of bifoliate somewhat grubby. Facsimile signature 'Bute'. Postscript asks for reply to be sent to Bute's collaborator on the book, 'J[ames]. R[obert]. N[icholson]. Macphail Esqr. 53, Castle Street, Edinburgh'.

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