BRITISH

Catalogue of the Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson Hogg (1792-1862), Consisting principally of Letters from Percy and Mary Shelley. Sold by Order of his Great-Nephew Major R. J. Jefferson Hogg, M.C. of Norton-on-Tees, Co. Durham.

Author: 
Thomas Jefferson Hogg [Sotheby & Co.; Percy Bysshe Shelley; autograph letters; auction catalogue]
Publication details: 
London: Messrs. Sotheby & Co., 34 and 35 New Bond Street, W.1.; 30 June 1948. [Printed by Kitchen & Barratt, Ltd., Park Royal Road, N.W.10.]
£80.00

Octavo: 21 pp. Leaf of prices and buyers' names loosely inserted. Stapled. In original yellow printed wraps. Somewhat creased and chipped, on aged, spotted paper. Two-page foreword. Maggs were the main buyers, but the three highest sellers among the 105 lots, all Shelley letters, went to other dealers: lot 13, 'quoting 36 lines of original verse', for £155 to Pickering; lot 55, 'describing the origins and method of his elopement with Mary Godwin', £175 to Quaritch; lot 65, 'dealing with many topics', £360 to W. H. Robinson.

[Catalogue 555] A Selection of Books, Manuscripts, Bindings and Autograph Letters remarkable for their Interest & Rarity, being the five hundred and fiftyfifth catalogue issued by Maggs Bros [...].

Author: 
Maggs Brothers [booksellers' catalogues]
Publication details: 
London: Maggs Bros, 34 & 35 Conduit Street, W. 1931.
£100.00

Folio: iv + 237 pp. In original grey and red printed wraps. Numerous plates and illustrations in text. Grubby and spotted, in heavily-worn wraps. One plate slit along fold and repaired with tape. Presentation copy, inscribed 'With Compliments from E U Maggs'. Covetable items, accurately described, from a complete set of Addison and Steele's 'Spectator' (£105) to the first edition of both volumes of Wordsworth's 'Lyrical Ballads' (£185). Contains 'twenty-four autograph letters signed [by Charles Dickens] on "The Village Coquettes" to John P. Hullah, the musical composer' (£650).

Autograph Card Signed [to Rev. E. J. F. Davies].

Author: 
Edward Hutton (1875-1969), British writer on travel and Italy
Publication details: 
21 April 1934; Rome.
£10.00

One page, on back of printed postcard. Very good. Photograph of the Via Appia on reverse. Reads 'Dear Sir | In reply to your request I have pleasure in sending you this'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Geo: Macdonald') to unnamed male correspondent [the autograph collector Rev. E. J. A. Davies?]

Author: 
Sir George Macdonald (1862-1940), numismatist, classical scholar, archaeologist and civil servant
Publication details: 
13 March 1931; on embossed letterhead '17 LEARMOUTH GARDENS | EDINBURGH'.
£20.00

One page, 12mo. Very good, with a little light spotting at foot. 'Dear Sir, | I suppose it will suffice if I sign myself | Yours faithfully | Geo: Macdonald'. Docketed in pencil at foot.

Autograph Signature on letterhead.

Author: 
Gilbert Murray (1866-1957), British (Australian-born) classical scholar and advocate of the League of Nations
Publication details: 
6 August 1930; on letterhead 'YATSCOMBE, BOAR'S HILL, OXFORD.'
£10.00

Paper dimensions: five inches by eight inches wide. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Good clear signature reads 'Yours sincerely | Gilbert Murray. | August 6. 1930.'

Catalogue of an Interesting Collection of Autograph Letters, selected from the Portfolios of Several Distinguished Amateurs [...] Family of George the Third [...] Some curious Shaksperian Papers [...] Oxford, Cambridge, Eton, and Winchester Scholars.

Author: 
Puttick and Simpson, London auctioneers [autographs; sale catalogues; Shakespeare; George Washington]
Publication details: 
Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, Auctioneers of Literary Property and Works of Art, At their House, No. 47, Leicester Square, W.C.; 23 March 1864.
£80.00

Octavo: ii + 51 + [1] pp. Stitched and unbound. Grubby, and with loss to final leaf, affecting a couple of lots and an advertisement, from removal of label. 521 lots. Postmarked penny red postage stamp. Letters of Burns, Byron, Coleridge, Frederick the Great, Haydn, Rousseau, Voltaire. The high point of the sale undoubtedly three letters from George Washington to Sir Edward Newenham.

Autograph Note Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Edmund Yates (1831-94), British novelist, dramatist and editor of the 'World' magazine
Publication details: 
28 August 1886; on letterhead 1 York Street, Covent Garden, London.
£40.00

One page, 12mo. Very good on lightly-aged grey paper. Reads 'Dear Sir. | Here is the autograph you require. | Faithfully your's | [signed] Edmund Yates'. The words 'Here' and 'to' are slightly smudged.

Autograph Note Signed ('F. C. Burnand') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (1836-1917), English writer, editor of the magazine 'Punch' from 1880 to 1906
Publication details: 
10 December 1901; place not stated.
£30.00

One page. Dimensions of paper roughly four inches by seven. On piece of aged, stained paper, mounted on piece of card. Remains of biographical cutting in bottom right-hand corner. Reads 'Here you are Sir | Autographs cheap today | F. C. Burnand | F. C. B. | 10 Dec 1901'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Clara Gigliucci nata Novello'), 'To - Wright Esqre.' With Times obituary and another.

Author: 
Countess Clara Gigliucci [nee Clara Novello] (1818-1908), English soprano, daughter of Ivor Novello
Publication details: 
Fermo. Marche | August 24th. 1863.'
£80.00

One page, octavo. Very good, on lightly aged paper, with embossed blue ink monogram at head. 'Dear Sir | My Sister Isabella, just arrived, tells me you desire my autograph, I have great pleasure in complying with your flattering request. [...]' The blank second leaf of the bifolium is carefully attached to a larger piece of neatly-docketed paper, and has the two newspaper cuttings partially laid down on it. The short Times obituary, dated 17 March 1908, states that 'She must surely have been the last person alive to whom Charles Lamb addressed a poem'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Theodore Martin') [to an autograph dealer?].

Author: 
Sir Theodore Martin (1816-1909), Scottish poet, biographer and translator.
Publication details: 
27 February 1888; on letterhead '31, Onslow Square, S. W.' [London].
£50.00

One page, 12mo. Good, though a little grubby at the right-hand margin, and with the name of the recipient neatly torn away at foot. 'Dear Sir | Neither Lady Martin nor myself feel any interest in any letters of ours, which may have come into your hands.'

Autograph Note Signed ('Ernest Myers') to autograph collector 'Mr. Soulsby'.

Author: 
Ernest James Myers (1844-1921), English classicist, translator and poet
Publication details: 
10 January 1884; place not stated.
£40.00

One page, 12mo. Very good. 'I have much pleasure in sending you my signature, as I am told you wd. care to have it.

Ten Autograph Letters Signed (all 'E Walford') to a number of different correspondents (including A., F. and H. Barker, Mrs Ratcliffe and a newspaper editor named 'Taylor').

Author: 
Edward Walford (1823-97), topographer, genealogist, antiquary and editor of 'Once a Week' and 'The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer'
Publication details: 
Five undated, the others 1860 to 1890; all but one (from Bracknell in Berkshire) from a number of London addresses.
£400.00

All items good, though on dusty and aged paper. Five items are addressed to sellers of manuscripts (probably the same individual). ONE (to H. Barker, 23 April 1885, on letterhead of 'The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer', one page, octavo): Asks to be offered Wellesley autographs purchased at a recent Sotheby sale, of which he sent an account to 'The Times', which was 'crowded out'. TWO (to F. Barker, 25 April [1885], 'at T.

Autograph Note Signed ('Henry Newbolt') to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Henry John Newbolt (1862-1938), English poet and novelist
Publication details: 
16 July 1907; on letterhead 'ST. GILES'S MOUNT, WINCHESTER.'
£30.00

One page, 12mo. Neatly mounted on card. Nine-line biographical newspaper cutting neatly laid down at foot. Ten lines from another newspaper cutting, relating to Madame Patti, at head. Reads 'Dear madam | I thank you for your flattering letter and subscribe myself, as you wish, | Yours truly | Henry Newbolt'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('G. S. Layard') to Lieutenant-Colonel J. B. Gaskell.

Author: 
George Somes Layard (1857-1925), English biographical author; Shirley Brooks (1816-74), editor of 'Punch'
Publication details: 
9 August 1906; on letterhead 'BULLS CLIFF, FELIXSTOWE.'
£100.00

Four pages, 12mo. Very good on lightly aged paper. Docketed by Gaskell at head of first page 'This letter is written to myself in reply to my offer of the loan of 91 Shirley Brooks' letters. | J. B. Gaskell'. Acknowledges the receipt of the letters which Gaskell has 'so generously' placed at his disposal, and assures him that they will be 'treated with the greatest care' and returned as soon as possible, together with the photograph of 'Epicurus Rotundus' (Brooks's pen name), 'which is new to me'. Asks for 'any reminiscences, hearsay or otherwise of S. B.

Autograph Note Signed (' "Allen Raine" ') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Allen Raine' (Ann Adaliza Puddicombe, nee Evans, 1836-1908), British novelist, known as 'the Welsh Catherine Cookson'
Publication details: 
Traethsaith | Cardiganshire | Aug 30th/06'.
£30.00

One page, 12mo, on mourning paper. Aged and cropped at foot. Dusty, and with minor paperclip stains to edges, and traces of previous mount on reverse. Reads 'Dear Sir, | I have much pleasure in sending you my Autograph. | Yours truly | "Allen Raine" '. Four-line cutting giving printed biography neatly laid down in bottom right-hand corner.

Autograph Note Signed ('Wemyss Reid') [to Rev. E. J. F. Davies].

Author: 
Sir Thomas Wemyss Reid (1842-1905), British novelist and biographer
Publication details: 
8 July 1902; Falcon Hotel, Bude, Cornwall.
£30.00

One page, 12mo. On blue paper discoloured from glue by previous mounting. Seven-line printed biographical cutting in top right-hand corner. 'I am very happy to comply with your request [for an autograph].'

Autograph Note Signed to unnamed male correspondent [Rev. E. J. F. Davies].

Author: 
Spencer Leigh Hughes (1858-1920), British politician and journalist, 'Sub Rosa' of the 'Daily News' and 'Morning Leader'
Publication details: 
6 December 1907; on letterhead of the 'Morning Leader', Stonecutter Street, London, E.C.
£20.00

One page, octavo. Mounted on piece of card. Ruckled and lightly aged, with some rust spotting from paperclip, and a little glue in left-hand margin. 'I send you my signature below with pleasure. My father was Welsh & my mother was English.' From the collection of Rev. E. J. F. Davies.

Autograph Letter Signed to J. Dixon Spain.

Author: 
Charles Chabot (1815-82), author and handwriting expert
Publication details: 
27. Red Lion Square | London. 3. Novr. 1881.'
£100.00

One page, octavo. Very good. Neatly written, as one might expect. 'My usual charge for comparing writings is 2 Gnas and for deciphering MSS. according to the time occupied therein'. He will be 'in Town week after next but as I have to attend at the Courts at Westminster it is uncertain at what hour you would find me here unless you made an appointment beforehand.' Chabot was the author of 'The handwriting of Junius professionally investigated by Charles Chabot, expert | With preface and collateral evidence by the Hon. Edward Twisleton' (1871).

Autograph Letter Signed to Rosa Tuckwell [nee Strong, b.1829/30], wife of William Tuckwell (1829-1919).

Author: 
Mary Campbell [AUTOGRAPHS; Sir Joshua Reynolds; Rev. William Tuckwell]
Publication details: 
No date [but between 1858 and 1878]; Wheatleigh.
£100.00

Four pages, 12mo. Very good on lightly aged paper. She apologises for only sending 'two words of Sir Joshua Reynolds' writing', and hopes she may some day 'succeed in getting a more valuable autograph'. It was given to her 'by a great niece' of the artist, 'and was cut out of a manuscript of some work on Engravings, which he had prepared for the press'. They are glad to hear of Tuckwell's 1878 'appointment to the living of Stockton': 'I trust many years of rest and happiness are in store for you in that quiet retreat'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F. Oxon.) to Mrs. Light, autograph collector

Author: 
Francis Paget (1851-1911), Bishop of Oxford
Publication details: 
19 March 1904; on letterhead of the 'Diocesan Registry, Oxford.'
£60.00

One page, octavo. Good, though a little smoked at head and foot. 'Here, after a delay I am ashamed of, are the autographs: I shall indeed be glad if they give any pleasure to the recipient. | I trust that you and the Vicar were not overtired on the day of the Confirmation: and that you know what a happiness both the Service and the welcome were to me.' Sends 'Mr. Green's kindest remembrances'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Seymour Lucas') to 'Mr Wright' [W.H.K. Wright, editor of the Journal of the Ex-Libris Society?].

Author: 
John Seymour Lucas (1849-1923), R.A., English artist and costume designer
Publication details: 
17 April 1906; on letterhead of Priory Place, Blythburgh, Suffolk.
£30.00

Two pages, 12mo. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. 'In the rush of finishing [his] Academy work' he finds Wright's letter 'among numerous others unanswered'. He will be returning to London in a fortnight 'and shall have great pleasure in sending you the bookplate together with an early one. Also my autograph &c.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Horace') and fragment of Autograph Letter Signed ('Horace Annesley Vachell.').

Author: 
Horace Annesley Vachell (1861-1955), English novelist and playwright
Publication details: 
The letter: 24 September 1899, on letterhead 'PEVERELL, HURSLEY, WINCHESTER.' The fragment: undated and with place not stated.
£30.00

The letter: one page, 12mo. Good, but with removal from mount having thinned the paper in places, and with traces of brown paper mount still adhering. He is sending the autographs of 'Henry Seton Merriman (Hugh Scott); Gertrude Atherton; Miss Fowler; and Douglas Sladen. Also a photo from Ted (not a good one, but the only one I have left).' He enjoyed himself 'so much' at Langford. 'It was a week of real enjoyment to me.' The fragment: one page, four inches by four and a half wide.

Autograph Letter Signed to A. H. Terry.

Author: 
J. Pettit Griffith [autograph dealer?]
Publication details: 
18 July 1910; 42 Glenelg Road, Acre Lane, Brixton, SW. [London]
£80.00

One page, octavo. Good, on lightly creased and aged paper, with a little wear at foot. Purple ink. He thanks him 'for Cheque safely to hand for the Autograph Album. There is no question abot the Collection being a genuine one.' Details the provenance from the artist H. W. Pickersgill, to Charles Kingsley, to Kingsley's brother. 'I bought the Vol at the latters sale -'. He will send the two letters 'and the Kingslake in the morning'. He has been 'laid up ill for some days'.

Two Typed Letters Signed ('H. Gordon Griffin' and 'H. G. Griffin') to 'The Secretary' and K. W. Luckhurst, Royal Society of Arts; with carbon of Luckhurst's reply; and draft of 'C.P.R.E. Publication on the Design and Layout of Small Houses.'

Author: 
Sir Herbert Gordon Griffin (died 1969), General Secretary, The Council for the Preservation of Rural England [Royal Society of Arts, London]
Publication details: 
Letters of 12 January 1927 and 10 December 1956, both on Council letterhead; carbon reply, 11 December 1956; draft, November 1956.
£100.00

All items very good. A couple with slight staining at head from paperclip. Letter One (to 'The Secretary', 4to, 1 p, 5 lines): Apologising for delay in acknowledging the 'letter and enclosures of 31st ultimo': 'my office was only opened on Wednesday last and I have had much correspondence with which to deal'. Letter Two (to Luckhurst, 4to, 1 p, 18 lines): Concerning 'a booklet on the layout and design of small houses' which the C.P.R.E. 'is hoping to publish this spring'.

Autograph Note Signed ('H W Gwatkin') to 'Miss Thomas'.

Author: 
Henry Melvill Gwatkin (1844-1916), English theologian and church historian
Publication details: 
8 Scrope [sic] Terrace, Cambridge; 12 May 1908.
£25.00

One page, 12mo. Very good, on lightly aged and spotted paper. 'Dear Miss Thomas | The autograph-hunter has the advantage. It is not civil to ignore her, and she cannot be refused without getting what she wants'.

Autograph Card Signed ('Agnes Castle' and 'Egerton Castle').

Author: 
Egerton Castle (1858-1920) and his wife Agnes Castle, nee Sweetman (1860-1922), British historical novelists
Publication details: 
6 December 1901; place not stated [Brighton].
£30.00

Printed Post Card, dimensions three and a half inches by five and a half. Good, on aged paper, but with the reverse (showing the remains of a photograph of Brighton) damaged by its removal from an autograph album. Unobtrusive vertical crease. Reads (apparently in Egerton Castle's hand) 'Dear Miss Gray | Your letter has been forwarded to us here. We have much pleasure in sending you the autographs you desire'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Sarath Kumar Ghosh') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sarath Kumar Ghosh (born 1883), Indian writer
Publication details: 
26 March 1906; on letterhead '28 Elgin Avenue, [London] W.'
£60.00

One page, 12mo. Grubby, and with traces of previous mount adhering to reverse. Small circle containing '170' in red in top left-hand corner. He is sending his autograph, 'which I could not do while at . I am glad you have read some of my stories; I presume those now in book form as "1001 Indian Nights." '

Autograph Letter Signed ('Spencer Todd') to autograph collector S[eymour]. C. J. Freeman-Matthews of Cape Town.

Author: 
John Spencer Brydges Todd (1840-1921), Executive Commissioner, Paris, for the Universal Exhibition of 1878, and colonial officer
Publication details: 
18 August 1900; on crested letterhead '112, VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, S.W.'
£30.00

One page, 12mo. Very good. 'Although I am surprised at your wishing to include mine in your collection of autographs, here it is. | I agree with Sir Alfred Milner that Work, Brains & Opportunity are necessary to success; and that the last is most necessary. But I think that Self-control should be added to His Excellency's list.' A printed biographical cutting is appended.

Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs Chapman.

Author: 
William Agnew (1825-1910), English art dealer, director of the magazine 'Punch' from 1872
Publication details: 
8 October 1865; on monogrammed letterhead.
£60.00

Three pages, 12mo. Very good on lightly aged paper with slightest trace of previous mount adhering to blank verso of second leaf of bifolium. He has 'looked out' and is sending 'a few interesting Autographs', and would have sent them before, had he not been 'a great invalid all summer'. 'I will get Miss Chapman a good collection of the autographs of literary men. I am now very closely connected with Punch & other publications and shall have frequent opportunities.' Agnew's family, as partners in Bradbury & Agnew, were for many years the publishers of 'Punch'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jas: Stanley:Little') to S[eymour C.] J. Freeman-Matthews [of Cape Town].

Author: 
James Stanley Little (1856-1940), British novelist
Publication details: 
28 September 1900; on letterhead 18 Drakenfield Road, Tooting Common, S.W.
£30.00

One page, quarto. On aged and lightly creased paper. He is sending the signature with 'one or two others'. 'Possibly the work I have done for South Africa (I have been upholding the Imperial cause for a quarter of a century) is your reason for paying me the compliment.' Thinks he recognises from Freeman-Matthews' crest that he is 'a descendant of the Llandaff Mathews family'.

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