BARON

Lower part of letter with ruled border, laid down on part of leaf from autograph album. Dimensions: 7.5 x 18.5 cm. Lightly aged and ruckled. Reads: '<...> your support at the approaching Election for the County of Durham - having for so long possessed the confidence of this County, it is his utmost ambition to have it continued and should he be honoured with yours, it will be considered the highest obligation | I am Sir | Your faithful Servant | [signed] Ju: Milbank | Seaham | Octr: 27. 1806.' Contemporary ink note reads: '[Lady Milbanke afterwards Lady Noel Milbanke, mother of Lady Byron.]'

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium on mourning paper. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He writes to thank Gardiner for sending him 'a copy of your printed but unpublished Report to His Majesty's Government on the danger of governing Gibraltar as a Colony'. Gardiner's report 'forms an appropriate termination' to his 'administration of the affairs of the "Rock," & I shall read it with the interest and attention due to your long Experience in that Fortress'. He ends by sending his compliments to Lady Gardiner.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. With monogrammed 'CWP' letterhead in red. He was sorry not to have found her at home, 'but we always go out at the same time'. He invites her to dine with them on the Sunday: 'as Mrs. is with you to take care of Col. Hamilton', whom he is sorry to hear is 'so great an invalid'. Powlett died at the age of 19 in 1864; on his father's death two years later the barony became extinct.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium.Good, on lightly-aged paper. In stamped envelope, with London and Blackburn postmarks, addressed by Smith to 'J. T. Baron, Esq. / 18, Griffin Street, / Witton, / Blackburn.' He is only able to reply to Baron's not now, having been 'ill & confined to bed'. He thanks him 'for the kind expressions you use respecting my Life of Gladstone, which I am glad you like so much. I suppose you are aware that I have recently published (through Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton) a companion work, the Life of Mr.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Having received the unnamed recipient's letter of the previous day, Northwick will be 'most happy to give effect to your wishes by granting free access to my Pictures to you, & your Daughter, whenever it may be convenient to you to call at Connaught Place'. If the recipient calls before noon Northwick will probably 'have the pleasure of shewing them to you', if he comes after noon, or Northwich 'shd. happen to be from home, my Servants shall receive directions to admit you to see the Paintings'.

Items Two to Four are in good condition, on aged paper; with Item One worn and creased, repaired with strips of white paper. Items Three and Four are attached to one another by a stub, and all four items show evidence of having been removed from a letterbook. Items One and Four are statements describing Lady Nairne's financial affairs, with Items Two and Three letters to Spring Rice and the Civil List committee on the matter, the first anonymous and the second by Lady Nairne's solicitor John Mackenzie Lindsay, Writer to the Signet.

1p., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. In envelope addressed by De Tabley to 'Mrs. Kate. A. Wright. | Monona House | Small Heath | Birmingham.' In reply to her letter of 18 June, he states that he will have pleasure in permitting her to 'insert the five pieces' which she enumerates in her 'forthcoming Collection of Poems and Ballads of the Nineteenth Century'. Kate A. Wright's 'Dainty Poems of the Nineteenth Century' was published in Birmingham in 1895. The titles of the five poems are given in another contemporary hand [Mrs Wright's?] on the reverse of the second leaf.

3 pp, 4to. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of stub adhering to the blank reverse of second leaf. The year 1832 has been added in pencil in a contemporary hand. The letter is on paper watermarked 1831. Docketed at head 'Braybrooke Ld.' He begins by informing Henslow that Lord Grenville has lent him 'the Book in which his Notes upon the growth of Trees, during many years, had been made. He assures me that nothing worth your notice will be found among the MS remarks, but I am not of that opinion.

3pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged and worn paper. Wilde explains that he had previously written regarding the case, but 'by some accident the Letter has been mislaid (I believe) among my mass of papers, and I therefore fear it may not have reached you as I cannot learn who among the Servants dispatched it'.

16mo, 4 pp. 64 lines. Text clear and complete. Hutton was a friend of both de Vere and his correspondent, and 'this will always remain a link between us; for no one who ever knew him can forget him; & no one who remembers him can ever cease to honour him'.

First Dublin edition. 12mo, xiv + 346 pp. Good tight copy on lightly-aged paper. In original worn tree calf binding, with remains of red label gilt on spine and no free endpapers. Subtitled 'Now first published from his Lordship's original manuscripts. By Henry Penruddocke Wyndham.' Wyndham had inherited Dodington's papers from a relative, whose will requested him 'not to print or publish any of them, but those that are proper to be made publick, and such only, as may, in some degree, do honour to his memory'.

12mo, 2 pp. Nine lines. Text clear and complete. Addressed by Churchill on reverse of the second leaf, with red wax seal, and his frank: 'Witney Dec. thirty one 1826. | Mr. Faden | Map Seller | Charing Cross | London. | [signed] Churchill'. On aged and lightly-creased paper, with a spike hole. Asking Faden to 'send him a small Case map of Gloucestershire, as soon as possible', directed to him by 'Pratt's Gloucester Coach, to be left at Witney'.

4to, 1 p. Nine lines. Text clear and complete. On aged, creased and worn paper. He asks Wilde to send, by a Leicester coach, 'the four Sheet Map of Spain published by the late Mr. Faden, fitted into a travelling Case, to Lord John Scott, Aylestone', billing Montagu 'at Dilton Park near Windsor'.

12mo, 1 p. Ten lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. He does not have 'sufficient information' to give an opinion on the question his unnamed correspondent refers to, 'namely whether a 5 days a week system would be preferable to Miners to an uniform 8 hours a day work'. The question is 'quite new' to him, and he 'must reserve an opinion till I know more about the subject'. Later in 1892 Shaw-Lefevre would be appointed First Commissioner of Works in Gladstone's government.

Folio, 1 p. On bifolium. Docketed on reverse of second leaf. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Martin having written to him on 16 September, 'renewing [his] application to be permitted to retire with the Rank and Half pay of Captain', Somerset is 'directed by the General Commanding in Chief [Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill]' to acquaint Martin 'that His Lordship can only repeat the Substance of the communication which I was desired to address to Mr. Daly on the 4th. Instant on the same subject, viz - that it is wholly out of Lord Hill's power to comply with your request'.

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Forty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on aged paper. Begins 'One must needs be a churl indeed to be a laggard in his response to a letter containing words of so sweet breath composed as yours!' He thanks Baron for his 'kind & encouraging letter', and considers that an author 'has no keener or more lawful pleasure than to find that the errors of his song or tale has [sic] lodged (as Longfellow says) in the heart of some far-off and unknown friend'.

12mo, 2 pp. Twenty lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and lightly-creased paper, with short closed tear at head. Begins: 'My Father & Grand Father & Family represented the City of Waterford for nearly 100 years before the Union. My Father represented the County off Wexford in the Imperial Parliament in 1806.'

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.

Folio, 2 pp. 31 lines. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, chipped at extremities. The elaborate letterhead features a circular engraving by Heuer of two classical female figures in front of a press.

All three items in good condition, with texts clear and complete, on lightly-aged paper. Letter One: 9 January 1913. Typed. 8vo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines. Sending florid congratulations on Ormsby-Gore's forthcoming marriage, and describing him as 'one who is bearing burdens bravely & buoyantly in the public service, & striving honestly to do his duty to God & man'. His bride-to-be, Beatrice Edith Mildred Gascoyne-Cecil, is described as 'a maiden like-minded'. Letter Two: 28 April 1913. Typed. 4to, 1 p. Fifteen lines typed and a short autograph postscript.

On slip, 5 x 9.5 cm, cut from the head of a letter. Fair, on lightly-discoloured grey paper. The reverse reads '14 Hyde Park Terrace | 4 Aug 1868 | Sir | I regret that my engagements at the end of September & the beginning <...>', and the reverse reads 'the promotion of Social Service | I am your obedient | [signed] Romilly'.

12mo, 1 p. Aged, grubby and creased, with slight loss to bottom left-hand corner, and closed tear to one margin. Requesting 'one or two choicest leather trout-fly books with plenty of pages, but not those with printed descriptions of flies'.

12mo, 1 p. Bifolium. On aged and foxed grey paper. Reads 'June 20th | Dear Barnes | Selection Committee will be pleased if you will play for England v The Rest at Lords 29th. | Yours faithfull | [signed] Hawke'. Hawke was an England selector between 1899 and 1909, and Barnes, one of the finest bowlers in English history, made his international debut in 1901. I'm sure someone will tell me if this was Barnes's first game for England.

12mo, 2 pp. Twenty-one lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with punch-hole to the top left-hand corner. As a colleague of Horder's father (senior surgeon and the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital) Noon has offered a 'collection of aphorisms', which Horder feels will be 'of the greatest value, indeed it is exactly what I want'. He asks for Noon's memories of 'personal dealings': 'These are especially useful in the early days, when of course my own memory does not serve.' Concludes: 'We all thought he'd have another 10 years ahead, so it has been a sad shock.'

12mo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper with some creasing and a short closed tear at foot. He sent his report (on 'Wurlich's patent ') to Dr Playfair on 15 December of the previous year. 'With him therefore is all the delay.' Docketed by de Mattos on reverse, including 'Read at Board on 27th Jany 1853'.

12mo, 1 p. Bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of minor traces of stub adhering to one edge. Franked, with remains of red wax seal, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Messrs. Ridgeway | Piccadilly. | [signed] Js Stuart Wortley'. Giving instructions for the sending of newspapers to Wighill Park, Tadcaster, and to Wortley.

4to, 1 p. Fair, on aged paper, with the remains of a stub adhering to the blank reverse. Concerning the insertion of an advertisement in a number of newspapers.

Foolscap (leaf dimensions 42 x 26.5 cm), 1 p. Clear and complete. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. Both leaves with the small neat ownership stamp of the 'Collections Louis Leguay, à Paris [series A, number 382]'. Good, on lightly-aged watermarked laid paper. Written in French. Addressed 'A Monsieur le Secretaire general des hopitaux et hospices de Paris'.

4to: 1 p. 10 lines of text. Good, on lightly aged paper. Text clear and entire. Docketed on the reverse of the otherwise-blank second leaf of the bifolium. See preceding letter on same subject (#8136). He hoped to have met his correspondent "ar WestWycombe" to discuss the cottage occupied by a "poor man" which may be on a neighbour's land. A "trifling affair". "I did nequire about it last summer, and was told that it was built on the waste by some poor man and I suppose some small fine might have been set on it by the Jury at my Court as a trespass on the waste.

Text of both letters clear and complete, on aged, grubby paper. The 'Diehards' were a group of right-wing Conservative peers who attempted unsuccessfully to thwart Liberal legislation to limit the right of veto of the House of Lords over Commons legislation. (See G. D. Phillips, 'The Diehards: Aristocratic Society and Politics in Edwardian England', Cambridge, Mass., 1979.) TYPED LETTER: 17 December 1913. 4to, 1 p. He is going to try to write the history of the affair '[b]efore things fade altogether from my memory', and asks if OG has 'any papers, or letters, or diaries'.