bookselling

Autograph Letter Signed from C. E. E. Childers, British vice-consul in Pittsburgh, to his brother Col. E. S. E Childers, regarding the latter's biography of their father the Liberal politician Hugh Culling Eardley Childers.

Author: 
Charles Edward Eardley Childers (1851-1931), British vice-consul in Pittsburgh; Liberal politician Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827-96); Col. Edmund Spencer Eardley Childers (1854-1919)]
Publication details: 
On his letterhead, 708 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 21 April 1901.
£125.00

2pp., 4to. 58 lines. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. E. S. E. Childers' biography of his father had appeared earlier in the year, and his brother writes to tell him that the American booksellers 'have not yet received the copies (3) of the "Life" which I ordered on first hearing it was published'. He is ordering a further six, and will send copies 'to some of the leading papers for review, including 1 each to Dean Hodges and Mr Robt Woods of Boston for review in the "Churchman" and Boston "Transcript"'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the bookseller and publisher Herbert van Thal to the gossip columnist 'William Hickey' [Tom Driberg], regretting his sacking from the Daily Express

Author: 
Herbert van Thal [Bertie Maurice van Thal] (1904-1983), bookseller and publisher [Tom Driberg [Thomas Edward Neil Driberg] (1905-1976), Baron Bradwell, the 'William Hickey' of the Daily Express]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the White House, Regents Park, NW1. 5 July 1943.
£56.00

1p., 8vo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Van Thal was 'most distressed to read in the Daily Express this morning that you were no longer connected with that paper.' He thanks him 'for the pleasure that you have given me over a number of years of reading a first class column'. He hopes it will be 'discoverable as to where you are going to continue to write - or have politics put an end to a chapter?' In a postscript he states that he is at least 'able to console myself with Hansard!'

Four small children's stories published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, bound together in wraps with their original title pages: 'Tommy and Mary', 'The Rector's Brook', 'Dobbin; or, The Discontented Donkey', 'The Little Missionary'.

Author: 
[The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London; James Truscott and Son, printers, Suffolk Lane, City; children's books]
Publication details: 
All four published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, and printed by Printed by James Truscott and Son, Suffolk Lane, City. All four undated [1870s].
£250.00

All four stories 16mo, and each with a frontispiece included in the pagination. ONE. 'Tommy and Mary. A Book for the Very Little Ones.' 17pp. TWO. 'The Rector's Brook: A Story for Little People.' 32pp. THREE. 'Dobbin; or, The Discontented Donkey.' 30 + [1]pp. FOUR. 'The Little Missionary. A Tract for Children.' 11pp. Stitched into printed wraps, with the front cover coloured blue and the rear pink. Aged and worn, but complete and tight. Handwritten in a contemporary hand on the reverse of two frontispieces: 'Kilndown Lending Library'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Trollope') from Rev. William Trollope, classics master at Christ's Hospital, offering the London publishers Cadell & Davies his 'Analecta Theologica'. Together with the a statement of account by Cadell & Davies.

Author: 
Rev. William Trollope (1798-1863), MA, Pembroke College, Cambridge, one of the masters of Christ's Hospital [Cadell & Davies, London publishers; Thomas Cadell (1773-1836); William Davies]
Publication details: 
Trollope's letter: Christs Hospital. 12 September 1827. The statement of account at 28 December 1829 (volume 1) and August 1835 (volume 2).
£166.00

Trollope's letter: 3pp., 12mo. 48 lines. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper. Addressed, with postmarks, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Messrs. Cadell & Co. | Booksellers | Strand.' Trollope begins by announcing that he has 'a work nearly ready for the Press, wh. may probably be worth your attention [...] It is designed as companion to Mr Horne's work on the Scriptures, of wh. as you are the publishers, you may perhaps have no objection to engage in another, wh.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Baptist Minister and essayist John Foster, to his unnamed London bookseller (J. Cox or James Nisbet, both of Berners Street?), discussing arrangements on the bookseller's retirement.

Author: 
John Foster (1770-1843), Yorkshire-born Baptist minister and essayist
Publication details: 
Stapleton, Gloucestershire. 26 January 1823.
£120.00

2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. 43 closely-written lines. An interesting letter, in which Foster closes 'a long and amicable communication' with the bookseller, the reason being given in the following passage: 'I am sorry for what you intimated, that your more recent undertakings have not been so advantageous as you had expected. From your hint of the possibility of a continued residence at Hastings I may conclude that you withdraw from business (that of books at least) altogether.

Manuscript receipt, signed ('Arch Forbes') by the war correspondent Archibald Forbes, for £50 from the London publishers Henry S. King & Co., for the right to publish an edition of 1000 copies of his 'Soldiering and Scribbling'.

Author: 
Archibald Forbes (1838-1900), British war correspondent, born in Scotland [Henry S. King & Co., 65 Cornhill, London publishers]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. 27 June 1872.
£56.00

1p., landscape 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper. Signed by Forbes over a purple one penny Inland Revenue stamp. Reads: '£50 : 0 : 0 | 27th. June 1872. | Received of Messrs: Henry S. King & Co. of 65 Cornhill London, the sum of Fifty Pounds in payment for the right to publish an edition of 1000 copies of "Soldiering and Scribbling" | [signed] Arch Forbes'. The book was published by the firm in the same year as the receipt.

Manuscript Memorandum of Agreement between J. Hain Friswell and the London publisher Henry S. King, setting out the terms of publication of Friswell's 'The Better Self'. Signed 'J. Hain Friswell'.

Author: 
James Hain Friswell (1825-1878), English essayist and novelist [Henry S. King & Co., publishers, 65 Cornhill, London]
Publication details: 
22 October 1874.
£56.00

1p., foolscap 8vo. On laid paper, with red embossed tax stamp in top left-hand corner. In fair condition, lightly-aged. The memorandum is seventeen lines long, and begins: 'Memorandum of an Agreement made this twenty second day of October One thousand eight hundred and seventy four. Between Mr J. Hain Friswell of Fair House, Bexley Heath, Kent, of the one part and Messrs. Henry S. King & Co. of 65 Cornhill London publishers of the other part. | The said Mr J. Hain Friswell has written a Work entitled "The better self" which he herby assigns to Messrs. Henry S.

Printed 'Prospectus' for 'a Poetical illustration of the Career of Field Marshall the Duke of Wellington, and his Illustrious Companions', with the autograph signature of 'George Webb De Renzy, Major and Barrack-Master'

Author: 
Major George Webb De Renzy, of the 82nd Regiment, and Barrack-Master, Dundee [The Duke of Wellington]
Publication details: 
Castletown, Isle of Man. 1 January 1847.
£135.00

1p., 4to. Thirteen lines of text, daintily printed in small type. On lightly-aged and creased paper, with a number of short closed tears. Dated in print at the foot 'Castletown, Isle of Man, | 1847.' Beneath this De Renzy has written, in manuscript, '1st January, | [signed] George Webb De Renzy, Major | and Barrack-Master'.

Nine Autograph Letters Signed from the poet Herbert Palmer to Rev. Harry Escott of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, editing a book of Escott's poetry, discussing Christian verse, and attacking T. S. Eliot, the Faber poets and modernism.

Author: 
Herbert Palmer [Herbert Edward Palmer] (1880-1961), English poet and critic [Rev. Harry Escott (1905-1987), MA, Congregational Minister at Rhynie, Aberdeenshire]
Publication details: 
All from 22 Batchwood View, St Albans, Hertfordshire. One from 1938, two from 1942, one from 1943, and the rest undated.
£280.00

Totalling 36pp., 4to. In fair condition, bound by Escott with brown paper into paper wraps, with the front wrap signed by Escott and bearing the typed label 'LETTERS from HERBERT PALMER on "Minstrels of Christ" and my second book of verse "Soar for Victory", amended in February 1948 to "Back to the Fountain."' An interesting correspondence, casting light on the workings of the mid-twentieth century publishing industry, from the point of view of a successful traditional poet strongly opposed to modernism.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Spottiswoode') from the scientist and Queen's Printer William Spottiswoode to Captain Washington [John Washington, Hydrographer to the Navy], regarding the difficulty of 'finding a Japanese scholar' and Washington's son.

Author: 
William Spottiswoode (1825-1883), mathematician, physicist, President of the Royal Society, and the Queen's Printer [Rear-Admiral John Washington (1800-1863), Hydrographer to the Navy]
Publication details: 
H. M. Printing Office. 21 March 1860.
£125.00

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. Fair, on aged paper. The letter begins: 'Maitland, Secretary of the Civil Service Commission, tells me that Mr Robertson was examined only in European subjects; or, to use his own expression, "as to his capacity for learning Japanese".' Maitland cannot help them 'in finding a Japanese scholar'. As Spottiswoode is 'always so glad to find any one interested in oriental subjects', he asks for 'an opportunity of becoming acquainted' with Washington's son.

Autograph Letter Signed ('M Berry') from the diarist Mary Berry, sister of Agnes Berry and friend of Horace Walpole, [to her publishers Longman & Co] regarding proofs [of her book 'A Comparative View of the Social Life of England and France'].

Author: 
Mary Berry (1763-1852), author and diarist, sister and companion of Agnes Berry (1764-1852), and friend of Horace Walpole [Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, publishers, of Paternoster Row, London]
Publication details: 
'Petersham Wedy. Mony' [1828].
£180.00

1p., 12mo. 12 lines. Good on lightly-aged paper. She is requesting 'an alteration to be made in the Contents of Chapr 9. to the necessity of which I had not adverted till I saw that Chapr. in Print'. After correcting the chapter she 'desired a Revise', but 'foolishly forgot to Revise the Contents of the Chapr.' 'It cannot however be too late & must be done, as the Chapr: ends with Mr Fox'. The work referred to is clearly Miss Berry's 'Comparative View', published by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green in 1828, the ninth and last chapter of which does indeed end with Charles James Fox.

Autograph Letter Signed from the journalist and literary biographer George Barnett Smith to J. T. Baron of Blackburn

Author: 
George Barnett Smith (1841-1909), English author, journalist and literary biographer
Publication details: 
Cuba Villa, Bickerton Road, Highgate, N. 6 March 1882.
£56.00

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.

[Printed pamphlet.] An Address to Bachelors. By a Bird at Bromsgrove.

Author: 
'A Bird at Bromsgrove' [pseudonym of John Crane of Bromsgrove] [Grafton & Reddell, printers, Birmingham]
 An Address to Bachelors. By a Bird at Bromsgrove.
Publication details: 
The Seventh Edition, with Additions. Birmingham: Printed by Grafton & Reddell; for the Author. 1801.
£120.00
 An Address to Bachelors. By a Bird at Bromsgrove.

36pp., 18mo. With frontispiece (preceding half-title) of 'I. CRANE / BROMSGROVE', showing a crane and a carriage lamp, within a circular border reading 'To make the Watch go faster turn the Regulator to the right & Slower the Contrary'. Side stitched in original pink printed wraps. In fair condition, in worn and lightly-stained wraps. Nicely printed on wove paper with 'LLOYD 1795' watermark. Poem titled 'Introduction' on p.5, followed by the title poem on pp.7-36. No copy of this attractive edtion on either COPAC or WorldCat, nor of any other printed by Grafton & Reddell.

Autograph Letter Signed from Emma Roberts, author of 'Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan', to William Jerdan, editor of the 'Literary Gazette'

Author: 
Emma Roberts (1791-1840), author and traveller in India [William Jerdan (1782-1869), editor of the 'Literary Gazette'; Rudolph Ackermann (1764-1834), London publisher]
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but between 1826 and 1829.
£280.00

1p., 8vo. 22 lines. Fair, on aged and worn paper. Addressed on reverse to 'William Jerdan Esqr | Grove House'. On wove paper watermarked 'G & R TURNER | 1826'. The letter can thus be dated from between 1826 and 1829, the year 'Ackermann's Repository of the Arts' ceased publication. Written in a difficult, hurried hand. She has received a letter from 'Mr Ackermann', saying that the package which Jerdan was 'kind enough to promise should go in your bag yesterday I having given it to you too late for the boy on Monday, has not reached him'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the New Hampshire almanac maker Dudley Leavitt ('Old Master Leavitt') to the bookseller Charles Norris of Exeter, New Hampshire, publisher of his 'Scholar's Review', discussing it and giving the text of an advertisement.

Author: 
Dudley Leavitt (1772-1851), New Hampshire almanac maker for over half a century, known locally as 'Old Master Leavitt' [Charles Norris (1782?-1847), bookseller and publisher, Exeter, New Hampshire]
Publication details: 
Meredith [New Hampshire]. 3 September 1811.
£160.00

2pp., folio. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Signed twice. In the body of the letter, consisting of twenty-two lines, Leavitt writes that he is forwarding to Norris 'the Register with such additions and corrections as appeared necessary'. He will insert any further information in a few weeks. Regarding 'the sitting of the Courts' he states: 'If the Legislature of this State altered none of the sitting last June, they are correct in your Register for 1811. I think there is no alteration.' As his 'local situation is such' that he cannot soon ascertain particulars, he suggests George Sullivan.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Cs. Redding') by Cyrus Redding, expressing regret at not being able to assist William Shoberl, son of the journalist Frederic Shoberl, and bewailing the state of English publishing, and of his own affairs.

Author: 
Cyrus Redding (1785-1870), journalist and author, editor, Galignani's Messenger, and working editor, New Monthly Magazine [William Shoberl, son of Frederic Shoberl [Schoberl] (1775-1853), journalist]
Publication details: 
"Hill Road, | Thursday'. [No date, but on paper watermarked 1855.]
£220.00

3pp., 12mo. 55 lines, neatly and closely written. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Mr W. Shoberl.' An excellent letter, giving an experienced and knowledgable view of the state of the mid-Victorian British booktrade. Redding begins by stating that he is 'indeed concerned to hear the statement' Shoberl has communicated to him. He wishes it was in his power to forward Shoberl's wishes.

Mimeographed typescript history of a club for New York antiquarian booksellers, titled 'The Old Book Table | A Social Organisation | An Informal Record 1931-1970 | Lists of Officers & Members and of Guests of The Old Book Table | &c., &c.'

Author: 
The Old Book Table, club for New York antiquarian booksellers, founded 1931 [Ernest R. Gee; E. Byrne Hackett, Brick Row Bookshop; Frank R. Thoms (Thoms and Eron); Edgar H. Wells; Geoffrey J. L. Gomme]
Publication details: 
Undated [1971]. New York: The OBT [i.e. The Old Book Table].
£600.00

[iv] + 39 + 7 pp, with a further 17 pp loosely inserted at back (making a total of 67 pp), 4to. Good, in maroon plastic folder. Preface followed by list of 'Past Officers, Roster of Members, etc.', 'Chronology of The Old Book Table [1931-1970]' and 'Alphabetical List of Guests 1933-1970'. The loose leaves mainly consist of 'Extracts from the Minutes: 1931-1954'. The preface begins: 'Five members of the antiquarian booktrade in New York City met for a friendly dinner on the night of 9 January 1931. They were: Ernest R. Gee, a leading specialist in sporting and color plate books; E.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Murray') from the London publisher John Murray IV to Colonel Spencer Childers, regarding his biography of his father the Liberal Chancellor Hugh Culling Eardley Childers.

Author: 
Sir John Murray IV (1851-1928), London publisher [Colonel Edmund Spencer Eardley Childers (1854-1919), son of Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827-96)]
Sir John Murray IV (1851-1928), London publisher
Publication details: 
April 1901; on letterhead of 50 Albemarle Street.
£56.00
Sir John Murray IV (1851-1928), London publisher

12mo, 4 pp. 40 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Spencer'. He is sorry to have missed Childers: 'I came back early on Sat: morning fairly driven home by the weather.' Reports that 'Better reviews of the book are now appearing Athenaeum - evidently by Dilke: Tablet: Pall Mall &c.' Thinks 'Clarke will use his influence with the Times', the idea that 'King' has done so being 'entirely out of the question'.

Extensive manuscript catalogue of 'Leicestershire Biography & Bibliography', compiled in 1935 by R. B. Halliday of Great Glen [i.e. the Leicester bookseller Bernard Halliday].

Author: 
R. B. Halliday [the Leicester bookseller Bernard Halliday] of Great Glen, Leicestershire [William Barton (c.1598-1678), Vicar of St Martins; Leicestershire stationers and printers]
Publication details: 
Dated 'R B Halliday | Great Glenn [i.e. Great Glen, Leicestershire] | 1935'.
£420.00

4to, [ii] + 71 pp, with numerous leaves of additional manuscript and typescript material loosely inserted, as well as laid down. A few cuttings and extracts from printed works, as well as a Typed Letter Signed (17 March 1937) to Halliday from Ralph M. Williams of Yale, describing himself as 'interested in securing books, manuscripts, or other documents by or about the eighteenth century poet John Dyer'. Neatly written out in pencil and pen, on watermarked wove paper, in sturdy buckram binding. Internally in excellent condition, tight and clean, in worn binding with staining to front board.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Fred Norgate') from the London publisher Frederick Norgate (of the firm Williams & Norgate) to [John] Lawler, concerning the printer William Caxton and bookseller Bernard Quaritch.

Author: 
Frederick Norgate (1817-1908), British publisher, of the firm Williams & Norgate [Bernard Quaritrch; William Caxton; John Lawler]
Frederick Norgate (1817-1908), British publisher,
Publication details: 
29 July 1902; 7 Edith Road, London.
£56.00
Frederick Norgate (1817-1908), British publisher,

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. 47 lines. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, wear and fraying to extremities. The cutting which Lawler leant him 'has helped me to trace one stage further in the wanderings of more than one vagabond Caxton'. Refers to John Winter Jones's discovery of a copy in the British Museum of the 'Quatre Derrenieres Choses', 'now more than 50 years ago [...] it has remained absolutely unique until our old friend at 15 Piccadilly [Bernard Quaritch] came upon a 2nd copy'.

Prospectus for Oxberry's 'New English Drama', to be published [1812] by Simpkin and Marshall, as well as for 'The British Drama' and 'Dramatic Works published by C. Chapple, Pall Mall, and W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, Stationers Court'.

Author: 
William Oxberry (1784-1824), of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane [Simplin and Marshall, Stationers Court; C. Chapple, Pall Mall; Philip Massinger]
Prospectus for Oxberry's 'New English Drama'
Publication details: 
'On December 1 [1812], will be Published, by W. Simplin and R. Marshall, Stationers-court [London]'. [From the Press of W. Oxberry & Co, 8, White-hart-yard, Drury-lane.]
£56.00
Prospectus for Oxberry's 'New English Drama'

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Stabbed as issued. On good wove paper. The 'New English Drama' is stated to be 'intended to comprise the most popular Theatrical Pieces of every description, in Monthly Parts of superior accuracy and unrivalled embellishment'. The first play, 'embellished with an elegantly engraved portrait of Mr. Kean', is Massinger's 'New Way to pay Old Debts'. The second leaf of the bifolium carries details of a further four works.

Original sepia lithograph engraving, titled 'Newland Street, Witham', and showing the offices of the printing office and bookshop of the print's publisher R. S. Cheek.

Author: 
Richard Sutton Cheek, printer and bookseller, Witham, Essex
Original sepia lithograph engraving, titled 'Newland Street, Witham'
Publication details: 
[1850s.] 'Published by R. S. Cheek.' [Witham, Essex.]
£125.00
Original sepia lithograph engraving, titled 'Newland Street, Witham'

On piece of paper roughly 29.5 x 44 cm. The image itself is 30 cm wide, with an arched top 18 cm high at sides and 22 cm at the highest point. The image is clear and complete, on dusty spotted paper with fraying and loss to top edge especially. A charming image, showing Victorian middle-class townsfolk comporting in the town centre, with a wide main street with two carriages, and shop names including 'ELLIS' and 'WILSHER BUILDER'. Towards the centre is 'CHEEKS PRINTING OFFICE', 'BOOKSELLER STATIONER'.

[Prospectus or Commemorative Catalogue of] Bentley's Standard Novels & Romances |Bentley's Favourite Novels

Author: 
[Richard Bentley & Son, publishers].
Bentley's Standard Novels & Romances
Publication details: 
[New Burlington Street, London], Printed January 1882.
£125.00
Bentley's Standard Novels & Romances

One Hundred Copies only. [16]pp., cr.8vo, sewn as issued, unopened, tastefully printed in brown with decoration on hand-made paper, good condition. Sadleir, in XIX Century Fiction, describes this as A Prospectus of the Standard and Favourite Novels issued in January 1882. Given it's date, I would suggest it's a Commemorative Catalogue of a series which has great significance in publishing history. It gives the information present in Sadleir (II.100-4), but it calls the phantom Second Series (Sadleir) Bentley's Standard Novels. The Re-Issue. 1854-1859?.

Two Autograph Letters Signed from Rev. Louis Henry Mordacque ('L H. Mordacque'); the second addressed to the bookseller John Russell Smith.

Author: 
Rev. Louis Henry Mordacque (1824-1870), Somerset scholar at Brasenose College Oxford and Hulmian Exhibitioner [John Russell Smith (1810-1894), bookseller and bibliographer]
Two Autograph Letters Signed from Rev. Louis Henry Mordacque
Publication details: 
13 July 1864 and 10 May 1865; both from Haslington Parsonage.
£75.00
Two Autograph Letters Signed from Rev. Louis Henry Mordacque

Both 12mo, 1 p; and both bifoliums. Both aged and creased. Letter One (recipient not named): Asking to be sent any works 'that would give information on the subject of Chaplaincies abroad in connection with the Government or otherwise', as well as 'a copy of the publisher's circular regularly'. Letter Two (to Smith): Asking if there 'have been any sales of Salverte since the Athenaeum Advertisement', and what Smith would give 'for the whole lot on hand (say per 100 copies) if willing to take them off my hands'.

[Printed Prospectus] The Satirist; or, Monthly Meteor.

Author: 
[Periodical; magazine]
The Satirist; or, Monthly Meteor.
Publication details: 
[Samuel Tipper, publisher, Leadenhall Street] T. Gillet, Printer, Wild-court
£125.00
The Satirist; or, Monthly Meteor.

Four pages, 8vo, sl. chipped and sunned but mainly good, stab-holes. It autlines plans and describes The Proprietors of the Satirist as a society of private gentlemen, whose literary connections are peculiarly extensive. They will follow the same spirited plan which fomerly distinguished the Antijacobin newspaper. Subjects to be Poetry, Literature, Theatre, Politics, etc. NoteThe Satirist survived 7 years re. CBEL (1807-1814)..

Redfield; or, A Visit to the Country. A Story for Children. With Four Illustrations by John Absolon. With letter from publisher with good content.

Author: 
Anon. [Mrs Parker Smith?]
Publication details: 
London: Bell & Daldy, 186, Fleet Street, 1858.
£480.00

90[6]pp., 8vo (six-page catalogue of Bell & Daldy's "New and Standard Publications" at end), in slipcase, green cloth in good condition, pattern in relief, gold motif of laurels surrounding the title, hinge strain at title/frontispiece, some speckling throughout, some pencilled underlining, and childish daubing of colour onto three of the illustrations. INSCRIBED as follows: "This book was written by my mother [letters crossd out] the stories read to me & Walter for our amusement in 1857-8 | J Parker Smith".

Autograph Letter Signed from the publisher J. W. Arrowsmith ['J W Arrowsmith'] to Clement Shorter, attempting to gain a review for a book of poems by John Gregory, published by Arrowsmith.

Author: 
J. W. Arrowsmith [James William Arrowsmith] (1839-1913), Bristol printer and publisher [Clement Shorter (1857-1926); Sir Richard Gregory (1864-1952)]
Autograph Letter Signed from the publisher J. W. Arrowsmith
Publication details: 
15 February [1907.] On his letterhead ('J W Arrowsmith | Publisher | Bristol').
£45.00
Autograph Letter Signed from the publisher J. W. Arrowsmith

12mo, 1 p. Ten lines. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Letterhead in red. Headed 'My Garden' (in 1907 Arrowsmith published 'My Garden and other Poems by John Gregory. With an appreciation by E. J. Watson'). He wonders whether the book is 'worth notice'. 'There is no mistake about Gregory being a working man [he was a cobbler]. His son is Prof. of astronomy and Assistant Editor of Nature'.

Autograph Note Signed from the General Baptist minister Jabez Burns ('J Burns') to the Paternoster Row publishers Houlston & Wright.

Author: 
Jabez Burns (1805-1876), General Baptist minister
Jabez Burns (1805-1876), General Baptist minister
Publication details: 
23 March 1855.
£56.00
Jabez Burns (1805-1876), General Baptist minister

Landscape 12mo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Good, on aged paper, with light traces of mount adhering to the blank reverse. Asking for a copy of his 'Sermons for Families & Villages' ['Sermons chiefly designed for family reading and village worship', 1842] to be given to an individual, and 'put to my Account'.

Signed, sealed and witnessed vellum indenture for the apprenticeship of 'Robert Shaw Son of Robert Shaw of the City of Lichfield Book Seller'.

Author: 
Robert Shaw , eighteenth-century Lichfield bookseller
Robert Shaw , eighteenth-century Lichfield bookseller
Publication details: 
10 September 1736.
£450.00
Robert Shaw , eighteenth-century Lichfield bookseller

Landscape 8vo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Fair on aged vellum. Engraving of royal crest in top left-hand corner. Printed in small type and completed in manuscript. Three witnesses, including 'Rich. Robinson' and 'Walt: Robins'. Red wax seal of head, and government stamp on blue. Brief modern notes accompanying the item state that the elder Shaw was born in 1685, the son of the headmaster of Lichfield Grammar School (Johnson's old school), who died in 1704. There is no record of anything published by the Shaws, who do not feature in BBTI.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J H Markland), to the printers 'Messrs Nichols & Son | 25 Parliament Sq.'' by the antiquary and book collector James Heywood Markland

Author: 
James Heywood Markland (1788-1864), antiquary and book collector [John Bowyer Nichols]
James Heywood Markland (1788-1864), antiquary and book collector
Publication details: 
Whitehall Place; 10 July 1834.
£56.00
James Heywood Markland (1788-1864), antiquary and book collector

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf. Fair, on aged paper. He does not think he received 'Part II of Collectanea Topog. & Geneal.' 'As I believe that receipts are taken on delivery of that Work be so good as to send me any memorandum of the fact - if you do not possess it perhaps the Part may not have been left at my House'. Docketed, with details of the receipt, at head of first page.

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