BECKFORD

[Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish politician, dandy and connoisseur.] Autograph Letter Signed ('C: H: & B.') [to Sir John Robison?], regarding a box 'for smoaking segars', and recipient's 'partiality for the banks of the Clyde'.

Author: 
Alexander Hamilton (1767-1852), 10th Duke of Hamilton, 7th Duke of Brandon, Scottish politician, manuscript collector, dandy and connoisseur, son-in-law of William Beckford [Sir John Robison
Publication details: 
'Thomas's Hotel [i.e. Thomas's Hotel, Berkeley Square, London] | March ye 21st.' [1822]
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Thirty lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Part of the second leaf of the bifolium, detached, is endorsed 'Duke of Hamilton 21 March 1822'. The recipient's identity is presumed from the reference in the letter to 'Mrs Robison'. He thanks him for his 'obliging note' and 'the drawing of the [Kullicum?] for smoaking segars', which is a 'very kind attention on your part'. As he is '[f]earfull lest some accident should happen', he has 'desired that the box may not be forwarded to London'.

[Henry George Bohn, bookseller and publisher.] Autograph Note in the third person, from 'Mr & Mrs. Bohn', accepting an invitation from [Joseph Hubback], the Lord Mayor of Liverpool.

Author: 
Henry George Bohn (1796-1884), bookseller, publisher and translator [Joseph Hubback, Lord Mayor of Liverpool]
Publication details: 
25 August 1870. On letterhead of North End House, Twickenham.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of yellow paper mount adhering to the blank reverse. Reads: 'Mr & Mrs. Bohn present their compliments to the Mayor of Liverpool and Mrs. Hubback, and have much pleasure in accepting their polite invitation for the 15th. proxo.'

[ Susan Euphemia, Duchess of Hamilton, daughter of William Beckford of Fonthill. ] Long Autograph Letter Signed ('S E H & B') to 'dearest dear Lolotte' (Charlotte Stuart), regarding the misfortunes of Madame Regnaudin of the Royal Academy of Music.

Author: 
Susan Euphemia Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton (1786-1859), wife of Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, and daughter of William Beckford of Fonthill [ Royal Academy of Music ]
Publication details: 
'Hamilton Palace [ Lanarkshire, Scotland ] | July 9th: [ between 1822 and 1825 ]'.
£350.00

Susan Euphemia Beckford, daughter of William Beckford of Fonthill, had married the 10th Duke of Hamilton in 1810. The recipient Charlotte Stuart (d.1867) was the daughter of Margaret, Lady Pulteney, by her first husband Andrew Stuart of Torrance. In 1830 she married Robert Harington, son of Sir John Edward Harington of Ridlington, 8th Baronet. The present item is two closely written pages, 4to. On bifolium of wove paper with watermark 'C WILMOT | 1822'. In good condition, lightly aged. Closely and neatly written over 63 lines.

[William Beckford.] Manuscript copy by Fownes & White of 'Points stipulated for & agreed to with Messrs. Thompson Hankey & Co. on their taking the Consignments of the West India Estates of Wm. Beckford Esq: in succession to Messrs. Plummer & Wilson.

Author: 
[William Beckford (1760-1844), author and 'England's wealthiest son'; his London solicitors James Fownes and Richard Samuel White; Messrs Thompson Hankey & Co. and Messrs. Plummer & Wilson, bankers]
Publication details: 
[Messrs. Thompson Hankey & Co., 'at a meeting held at their Counting House in Fenchurch St. on the 24th Decr. 1830.' 27 January 1831.
£600.00

The connection between the two firms of London bankers Thompson Hankey & Co., and Plummer & Wilson & Co. is unclear, but after the bankruptcy of John Plummer and William Wilson of Fenchurch Street 1831, a new firm named Hankey, Plummer & Wilson was formed, Plummer & Wilson bringing to it a number of clients including Beckford. The source of Beckford's vast wealth was of course the family's sugar plantations in the West Indies, and this document dates from before the abolition of slavery. 3pp., foolscap 8vo. Bifolium. Very good, on laid paper with Britannia watermark of 'E SMITH | 1828'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Balcarres') to 'Everard'.

Author: 
David Lindsay (1871-1940), politician and future 27th Earl of Crawford [Lindsay Library; Bibliotheca Lindesiana]
Publication details: 
16 October 1895; Haigh [Lancashire].
£65.00

12mo: 3 pp. Bifoilum. Thirty-six lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with several pin holes, light spotting, and a 1 cm closed tear along a fold. A lighthearted epistle, beginning 'Dear Everard, Dear Everard | The Cistercians make an awful mistake in giving free meals. My Charity-organisation Society temperament rises in wrath: if they wd only apply the labour test for an hour or less - but free meals! I have watched the moral ravages of free meals and feel more strongly abt that kind of thing than about Home rule or Mediaeval Brases.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L. P. Hobart-Hampden') to 'Miss <Caste?>'.

Author: 
Lucy Pauline Wright, afterwards the Hon. Mrs Charles Hobart-Hampden [Lucy Hobart-Hampden] (d. 1913), author of 'The Changed Cross'
Publication details: 
21 May 1889; Fonthill Cottage.
£20.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good. A bifolium, attached by a strip along the inner margin to a leaf removed from an autograph album, docketed 'Mrs. Hobart Hampden, Authoress of "The Changed Cross" '. Postscript written vertically across the upper part of the first page. Concerns a photograph of the recipient's mother: a 'sweet souvenir of such a rare & precious jewel as your dear & beautiful Mother; whom we feel it such a privelidge [sic] to see and to know'.

Autograph letter, third person, to Clarke (William with Hamilton/Beckford connection).

Author: 
Marchioness of Douglas.
Publication details: 
Hamilton Palace, 4 Dec. (no year - after 1810-marriage) and before 1819 -he becomes Duke of Hamilton)
£350.00

Susan Euphemia Beckford ("one of the handsomest women of her time" (quoted in DNB), 7 m. Marquis of Douglas in 1810. Two pages, somewhat grubby but text clear and complete. "The 5 Vols: of Grimms[sic] Correspondence which Mr. Clarke sent to Gros[veno]r Place for the Marchioness of Douglas are just arrived at Hamilton Palace in a Case wh.

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