BRITISH

The Oxford DNB entry on Sir Walter Besant states that, 'Concerned to cultivate better understanding with North America, Besant worked in the last two years of his life for the Atlantic Union.' In fact it was Besant who founded the club in 1900, with Conan Doyle and others, with the object, according to The Times, 22 February 1900, 'of drawing together the various English-speaking peoples and strengthening the bonds of union by the formation of ties of personal friendship among individual members'.

Both items in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Letter One: 4pp., 12mo. Harvey begins: 'Of course I well remember the too short time when I had the pleasure of being your colleague at the British Museum.' He would like to see Aldrich's 'old Dutch masters' but may not be able to visit him at Bowes Park before 'returning to reconstruction work in France in which I am interested'. He suggests a meeting in the new year, before enquiring whether Aldrich has 'got Sir Sidney Colvin's opinion of your Old masters. He is very interested in these things.' Letter Two: 2pp., 4to.

1p., 4to. On bifolium. Very good on lightly-aged paper. Green date stamp of the Commander in Chief's Office. Docketed on reverse of second leaf with barely legible note by Somerset (he had had to learn to write with his left hand after losing his right arm at Waterloo), beginning 'Inform Messrs Cox of the intention'. Vandeleur considers that it 'would be a very great Indulgence to Mr. Gladstone to allow him the indulgence he asks provided it can be done without inconvenience to the Service'.

3pp., 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Docketed at head of first page. She begins by explaining that at her 'interview with Mr. Bell on the 8th. he suggested an alteration in an important sentence, giving me the alternative of taking the MS. home with me or of correcting the sentence in the proofs. At the time I thought the latter course would be the best, but it occurs to me that it would save expence if the correction was made now.' She asks Cazenove to 'ask Mr. O'Connor if he would kindly alter the words in accordance with the enclosed [not present]'.

4pp., 16mo. On bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper. He begins: 'No - I am not going to write the sequel to The City [his 1909 book 'The City of Beautiful Nonsense'] - but I am now hard at work on a book that is going to give me more pleasure to do than anything I have done yet. It is all laid in Ireland - which I have not written of for some years - & I believe will be as interesting to read as it is engrossing to me to write.' He asks him to 'go & see my play "Driven" when Johnson does it - some time this month in New York - & let me know - in

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Charles R. Broughton Esqre | Foreign Office | London', and docketed by recipient on the same page 'Naples 22 June 1815 | Wm. Court | 12 July | A'. à Court has written 'Duplicate' in the top left-hand corner of the first page (he would have sent several copies of the letter in case one miscarried, but the fact that this is the one that was received by Broughton is evidenced by the docketing). In fair condition, on aged paper, with usual broken wafer.

One page, 12mo, bifolium, good condition. "Edinburgh University Free Trade Union | I am much obliged to you and your Committee for your kind invitation to the platform on the occasion of Lord Hugh Cecil's address. I greatly regret that I am unable to be present, as I have promised to address one of the Edinburgh University Societies on the evening of October 21st. | With best wishes for the success of the meeting [...]"

The notable London firm of P. S. King & Son, 'Publishers, Parliamentary and General Booksellers, Bookbinders and Printers', was in existence for more than a hundred years, having been established, according to its own account, in Parliament Street in 1819, and still active until 1941, when it became P. S. King and Staples, under which name it traded for around six years. (An advertisement for the Staples Press Limited in The Times, 14 February 1946, lists, among incorporated companies: 'P. S.

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Tasteful letterhead including the firm's device within an oval, printed in sepia. In good condition: on aged and lightly-worn paper. King was the leading London parliamentary bookseller, and it is interesting to see him apparently offering a work of his own to other publishers. The letter reads: 'Dear Sir | We beg to acknowledge with thanks your offer of a translation of Herculano's "O Monge de Cister," which we much regret our inability to accept - our hands being very full just now, & all our arrangements for some time to come made.

Drop-head title: 'At the Court at Windsor, the 26th day of September 1846. | PRESENT, | The QUEEN's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.' 12pp., foolscap 8vo. Paginated 1-12 and in two columns. No printer's slug. Signed in type at end 'Wm. L. Bathurst.' In fair condition, on aged paper with chips and short closed tears to central vertical fold. Spine repaired with archival tape. The first page headed in black ink manuscript 'Natal', and in red ink '144'. No other copy traced.

21pp., 12mo. Printed with blue ink on cream paper. Saddle-stitched with blue ribbon, in light blue printed wraps. In fair condition, aged, worn and lightly creased. An interesting document, providing local information and casting light on the protocol of a Royal Visit. The document begins: '6th April. | I. 9.05 a.m. H.E. the Governor leaves Government House, accompanied by Staff, and drives to Government Wharf. | 9.10 a.m. The Governor, Mr. Basevi and Lieutenant Harrison embark on the Governor's Barge from the Eastern Jetty. By permission of Commander Geary Hill a launch from H.M.S.

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of glue from mount on blank reverse. He informs Walford that he is returning 'the notes of my career having made some slight alterations'. He suggests that it would be 'well for me to compare the proof with the drafts'.

1p., 4to. In good condition, on a lightly aged and worn leaf removed from an album. The poem is twenty lines long, arranged in five four-line stanzas. The first stanza reads 'Dear Sister, Christian Heroine! | Stranger to me thy form & voice - | I venerate that zeal of thine, | And while I blush, for thee rejoice'. The second stanza is somewhat heretical: 'Nor Male nor Female is in Him | Who Born of Woman, both hath sav'd: | She conquers every terror grim, - | She thousand deaths for Him has brav'd!' The third stanza begins: '"A woman slew him:" Gideon'ss son'.

146pp., 12mo, in autograph, almost entirely consisting of poetic compositions, with numerous emendations; with a further 35 cuttings of poems laid down (33 of them by Edwards) and another two cuttings of another two poems loosely inserted. Also loosely inserted are two poems (totalling 7pp., 4to): 'To Ill Health', dated September 1835; and 'The last hope', 28 December 1869. In contemporary dark-green crushed morocco binding, gilt, recently rebacked by Ipsley Bindery with new enpapers. All edges gilt.

2pp., 4to. Bifolium. In good condition on aged paper, with 2 cm closed tear. Addressed to 'Mrs Crofton Vandeleur' and dated 'Antigua April 20th 1807.' Headed 'Duplicate', and in a neat secretarial hand, but with the genuine signatures of 'Edward Byam | President of the Council' and 'Jno. Taylor | Speaker of the Assembly'.

Shrubsole was a frequent contributor to the Manchester Guardian, and its obituary of 21 May 1927 was headed 'DEATH OF GREAT SHEERNESS GEOLOGIST WHO WON FAME THROUGHOUT THE WORLD' ('Experts in every continent sought his wonderful advice, and it was during his researches at Sheppey that he made many valuable discoveries. Below we are able to give a detailed account of his brilliant career. He was a frequent contributor to the columns of the "Guardian" up to the time of his death.'). 3pp., foolscap 8vo, in a bifolium. Printed in three columns of small print.

2pp., small 4to. On two leaves of watermarked paper. Hurriedly-penned abbreviated memoranda. Although related, it is not clear whether the two leaves are sequential. The first is headed 'The Comanche tribe'. After a couple of lines Evans describes 'Crossing Arkansas R[iver] on the way we got to their Wigwam & smoked We were 3/4 <?> arguing re buying of skins I had rep. rifle hairy. The door of wigwam lifted by a string. I lifted door saw the ground cov[ered] with horses feet.

The poster, in the mixture of typeface and font size characteristic of the period, is 31 x 25 cm, and headed: 'TO THE | Gentlemen, | CLERGY, | AND | FREEHOLDERS | OF THE | County Palatine of Lancaster.' Signed and dated in type at foot: 'JOHN BLACKBURNE. | HALE, | November 12th, 1829. Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, and with one central horizontal fold.

2pp., 4to. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. The first page consists of a typescript in two columns, with names scored through and a few added in pencil. The second page has a few typewritten names, together with dozens added in pencil, clearly at different times. From 1919 the London Mercury's original editor J. C. Squire promoted the traditional verse of the Georgian Poets and their prose counterparts; on taking over in October 1934 Scott-James embraced the more fashionable modernist writing, and that change is reflected in the present list.

[1] + 14pp., 8vo, with the text paginated 349-359. Disbound. Good, on aged paper. At the head of the title, in a contemporary hand: 'Relief of poor prisoners'. The title carries the royal crest, and reads in full: 'Anno Regni Gulielmi II. Regis Angliae, Scotiae, Franciae & Hiberniae, Septimo & Octavo. | At the Parliament begun at Westminster the Two and twentieth Day of November, Anno Dom. 1695.

1p., landscape 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and dusty paper. The receipt, for £19 5s 4d, is printed, and completed in manuscript in another hand. Archer has signed over a red tax stamp: 'William Archer | 7/12/06'. Stamped, and numbered '2801' in blue pencil. In top right-hand corner, in the same hand as the receipt: 'C. B. 215'.

16pp., 12mo. Stitched. In fair condition, aged, worn and a little dusty. Elegantly printed. A descriptive list, preceded by a two-page introduction beginning: 'The Catalogue here submitted to the Public, of Record Works published under the authority of the Record Commissioners and of the Secretary of State, has been in some measure compiled from a Work printed for private circulation under the title "Notes of Materials for the History of Public Departments," by Mr.

1p., 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. Addressing Bower as 'My dear Sir Graham', Bewes begins: 'Considering the terrible times that we are passing through and which I see are so badly affecting you, I think you are too generous in sending a contribution fitting for halcyon days.' After a reference to Bower's bronchitis, he discusses the conference at Oxford, concluding: 'The German members who have already accepted are few for conditions there are frightful. Simons [the German jurist Walter Simons] is taking a kur [sic] and writes that he is not sure to come.

2pp., 12mo. 29 lines of neatly-written text. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressing his letter to 'J: S: Buckingham Esqre.', Pollock writes that Buckingham's letter, 'enclosing the Rules &c. of the British and Foreign Institute', has been forwarded to him in Monmouth, where he is 'engaged on a long Circuit professionally, which comprehends all South Wales, and the West and South of England'. He is 'on the move continually', without 'time or opportunity to give sufficient consideration to the subject'.

[1] + 14 pp., foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with last leaf loose. '16 DEC 1965' stamped on title and first page. Discussing such issues as 'colour service', 'improvements in performance of receivers' and 'Recording of television signals'. From the archive of Pat Hawker, and marked up by him. No other copy traced

1p., 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. Addressing Bower as 'My dear Sir Graham', Bewes begins: 'Considering the terrible times that we are passing through and which I see are so badly affecting you, I think you are too generous in sending a contribution fitting for halcyon days.' After a reference to Bower's bronchitis, he discusses the conference at Oxford, concluding: 'The German members who have already accepted are few for conditions there are frightful. Simons [the German jurist Walter Simons] is taking a kur [sic] and writes that he is not sure to come. PRIVATE.

2pp., 4to. On the rectos of the two leaves of a bifolium. Signed in type at end 'GRAHAM BOWER.' On laid paper with 'SOUTHERN CROSS | FINE QUALITY' watermark, suggesting, with the typographic style, that it was written during the period of that he served as Imperial Secretary. Very good, on lightly aged and creased paper.

16pp., 4to, with additional yellow cover leaf carrying title, with 'Introduction' on reverse. In good condition, on aged and worn paper, with slight damage to the fore-edge of the cover leaf. Neat ownership inscription of John H. Shaw. According to the introduction 'Bert Bensen's account of his attempts to stay in Britain - and of the determination of two successive Home Secretaries that he shall not - reads like something out of Kafka. The Sense of unreality that permeates the Bensen affair should not be allowed to hide the serious questions it raises. Why was Mr.

In black ink on 5 x 8 cm card, with rounded edges. In very good condition, lightly aged, with evidence of previous mounting on the marbled reverse. Reads 'Alicia Markova | 1933.'

79pp., 8vo. In stout, thumb-indexed diary for 1930. In fair condition, on aged paper, in heavily worn binding, lacking spine and bowed by the excess material it contains. Ownership inscription by Richardson on flyleaf: 'A E Richardson ARA | Avenue House, | Ampthill Beds. | St. Catherine's College Cambridge, | 1939-1940 | University College, London.' Richardson published a number of works on architectural matters, but nothing on the history of art.