ASIAN

[Sir John Bowring, fourth Governor of Hong Kong.] Playful Autograph Letter Signed to Lady Theresa Villiers, explaining how on receipt of her dinner invitation he wrote to her brother by mistake.

Author: 
Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), fourth Governor of Hong Kong, traveller, writer and economist [Lady Theresa Villiers (1775-1856), wife of George Villiers (1759–1827), son of Earl of Clarendon]
Publication details: 
‘1 Queen Square West [London] / 4 April 1836’.
£150.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 5pp, 16mo, on two bifoliums of gilt-edged laid paper. In very good condition, lightly aged and folded once for postage. Signed ‘John Bowring’. Written in playful, mock-heroic style. Begins: ‘Many, many days ago my dear Mrs Villiers, did I put sackcloth on my shoulders & pile ashes on my head anent a very wicked sin of omission, in which I was peccant towards you - you who I humbly trust in your great goodness will fling over me the mantle of your forgiving charity’.

[Sir Claude MacDonald, soldier and diplomat in the far east; Japan] Two Autograph Letters in the third person to the Lord Mayor of London [Sir John Charles Bell], accepting luncheon invitations, one to meet ‘Prince Fushimi of Japan’.

Author: 
Sir Claude Macdonald [Colonel Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald (1852-1915), soldier and diplomat, British Minister to China and Korea, Consul-General to Japan [Prince Fushimi Sadanaru (1858-1923)]
Publication details: 
One on 8 March 1907; from 43 Augusta Gardens, Folkestone [Kent]. The other without date, but from May 1907; on letterhead of the United Service Club [London].
£90.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both items 1p, 12mo, and both in good condition, lightly aged, with slight evidence of previous mounting on the blank reverses. Both folded once for postage. Both letters during the tenure as Lord Mayor of London of Sir John Charles Bell (1843-1924). ONE (8 March 1907): ‘Sir Claude Macdonald has the honour to accept the kind invitation of the Lord Mayor to Luncheon on March 13th.

[Sir Edwin Arnold.] Holograph Poem, signed 'Edwin Arnold', titled 'The Heavenly Secret', exhibiting a few differences from the printed version, presented to Mrs A. G. Henriques.

Author: 
Sir Edwin Arnold (1892-1904), poet and journalist, best-known for his 'Light of Asia' (1879) [Mrs A. G. Henriques]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. 6 March 1887.
£75.00

1p., 8vo. Laid down on a piece of card. Aged and discoloured, with chipping to extremities and some loss of text. The poem is sixteen lines long, arranged in two eight-line stanzas. The first stanza reads: '"Sometimes" - Althaea sighed - "in hours of sadness, | A sudden pleasure shines upon the soul; | The heart beats quick to half-heard notes of gladness, | And from the dark mind all its clouds unroll: | How comes this, Poet! You, who know things hidden, | Whence sounds that undersong of soft Content? | What brings such peace, unlooked-for & unbidden! | Answer me!

[Robert Byron, traveller.] Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs Strutt, discussing areas in Ceylon and South India that she should visit.

Author: 
Robert Byron (1905-1941), traveller and authority on Byzantine civilization, author of 'The Road to Oxiana'
Publication details: 
'as from 91 Bishopsgate | EC2 [London]'. 2 February 1938.
£1,200.00

2pp., 4to. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. In original envelope addressed to Mrs Strutt at the Galle Face Hotel, Columbo, Ceylon. He lists four locations in Ceylon, and six in South India, with brief comments including:'15 sq. miles of ruins - the oldest tree in the world'; 'lovely temple, Adams Houses, Flaxman monuments'. The regarding the last location he writes: 'Madras itself has charming classical buildings, & in the Old Durbar Hall is to be

Mimeographed typed stock report from Malayan Traders & Co., Stock & Share Brokers, '6For Private Circulation Only',

Author: 
Malayan Traders & Co., Stock & Share Brokers, Kuala Lumpur, Federation of Malaya [Malaysia].
Publication details: 
Malayan Traders & Co., Third Floor, Lee Yan Lian Building, Mountbatten Rd., Kuala Lumpur. 'CIRCULAR LETTER No.10/60. 3rd, November, 1960.'
£80.00

4pp., foolscap 8vo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Sections on Tins, Rubbers, Industrials, Yields; with graph and table. Begins: 'Once more the Malayan shares were overshadowed by the gloom in the rubber market. The rubber price which stood at $1.01 1/2 on October 3, continued to slide until at the end of the month it had reached 88 3/4 cents per pound with the bottom still not in sight.' From the private papers of C. A. A. Nicol (1921-2012), OBE, CPM, AMN, Special Branch, Malayan Union Police Force.

Mimeographed typed Malayan stock market report, 'For Private Circulation Only', from Charles Bradbury & Co. (1930) Ltd, Stock & Share Brokers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya.

Author: 
[Charles Bradbury & Co. (1930) Ltd., Stock & Share Brokers, Kuala Lumpur, Federation of Malaya [Malaysia]]
Publication details: 
Charles Bradbury & Co. (1930) Ltd. (Members of the Malayan Stock Exchange). Stock & Share Brokers, 28 & 30 Old Market Square, Kuala Lumpur, Federation of Malaya [Malaysia]. 'CIRCULAR LETTER No.7/60 | 30th September, 1960.'
£100.00

10pp., foolscap 8vo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Sections on Industrials, Tin, Rubber, Company Reports; with full-page table of 'Market Price of Rubber and Nett Profit per Pound'. Begins: 'September was a strange sort of month - quiet by recent standards with hte market suspended between shade and shien as bearish and bullish-looking clouds scudded across the scene in jumbled sequence leaving investors and speculators confused and cautious.' From the private papers of C. A. A. Nicol (1921-2012), OBE, CPM, AMN, Special Branch, Malayan Union Police Force.

Typed Letter Signed from John Papworth to Mrs Ena Driberg, wife of the Labour MP Tom Driberg

Author: 
John Papworth (b.1921), English economist and activist, personal adviser to the President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda [Ena Mary Binfield, née Lyttelton, wife of Tom Driberg of Bradwell Lodge, Essex]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the British Asian and Overseas Socialist Fellowship (London Branch). 15 November 1957.
£36.00

1p., 4to. Fair, on aged paper, with one small burn-hole to margin. Addressed to 'Mrs. T. Driberg, | Bradwell Lodge, | Bradwell juxta Mare, | nr. Southminster, | Essex.' He thanks her for receiving 'an African boy from Northern Rhodesia and some members of my family', and 'showing us the details of your charming house so unhesitatingly'. He discusses the 'astonishing contrast the house is to the landscape around it.

[Printed pamphlet.] A Sociological Experiment among Factory Girls. A Report of the Matsuyama Factory Girls' Home.

Author: 
Sidney L. Gulick [Sidney Lewis Gulick (1860-1945); Matsuyama Factory Girls' Home, Japan]
Publication details: 
Dated 1 August 1907.
£180.00

12pp., 4to, plus three leaves of plates on art paper. Stapled, in original buff printed wraps. A fragile item. Fair, on aged high-acidity paper, in chipped and worn wraps. Images captioned 'The First Photograph of the Sympathy Society', 'At School', 'At Play' and 'The Home'. Sections on the conversion of Shinjiro Omoto, and the 'Sympathy Home' ('Dojokwan'). Final 'Financial Statement' and 'Plans for Enlargement'. No copy on COPAC.

Manuscript letter from 'Mummie' to 'Babsie', consisting of a long description in English of Burma from a visiting mother to her daughter.

Author: 
[Mandalay; Burma; Myanmar]
Publication details: 
March 17 [no year] [around 1927]. Mandalay, Burma.
£65.00

12mo, 15 pp. On watermarked laid paper. Very good, with slight wear to crease on first leaf damaging two words (both still legible). Otherwise text clear and complete. The item can be dated from a reference to 'a Dempsey-Tunney fight'. Although neatly written, the handwriting is so stylised that deciphering the text presents difficulties. Begins 'What a whirl since I wrote you on the boat before we landed in Rangoon [...] HOT. Yes! Right now it is 90 degrees in our room which has windows on three sides & there are two big fans going.

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