CAPE

[Lord Milner [Alfred, Viscount Milner], Liberal politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Ross' [the future Sir W. D. Ross], regarding the future of the philanthropic 'settlement' Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel.

Author: 
Lord Milner [Alfred Milner (1854-1925), 1st Viscount Milner], Liberal politician, Governor of the Cape Colony and first Governor of the Transvaal [Sir W. D. Ross (1877-1971), Oxford Vice-Chancellor]
Publication details: 
14 October 1913. 47 Duke Street, S.W. [London]
£56.00

See the entries for Milner and Ross in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Addressed to 'Dear Mr Ross' and with good bold signature 'Milner'. The subject of the letter is the philanthropic ‘settlement’ Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel, founded in 1884 by Canon Barnett and Henrietta (DBE), his wife.

[William Plomer, poet and novelist, Benjamin Britten’s librettist.] Autograph Letter Signed to the autograph collector Eileen M. Cond, apologising for his ‘ordinary’ signature.

Author: 
William Plomer [William Charles Franklyn Plomer] (1903-1973), English poet and novelist, born in South Africa, Benjamin Britten’s librettist [Eileen M. Cond, autograph collector]
Plomer
Publication details: 
27 August 1936; c/o Jonathan Cape Ltd, 30 Bedford Square, WC1 [London].
£56.00
Plomer

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Reads: ‘Dear Miss Cond, / I have pleasure in sending you my signature. As you will see, it is quite an ordinary one. / Yours very truly / William Plomer’. The signature is in fact rather stylish in an understated way, and the underlining has two small curls in it. In ink on otherwise-blank reverse, by someone who misread the signature: 'William Ploms'. See Image.

[‘An Admiral with salt in his ears and his tongue’: Admiral of the Fleet Sir Varyl Begg, First Sea Lord.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr Dean’, listing his ‘appointments as Captain & Admiral’.

Author: 
Sir Varyl Begg [Admiral of the Fleet Sir Varyl Cargill Begg] (1908-1995), First Sea Lord 1966-1968; Governor of Gibraltar 1968-1973; served with distinction in Second World War [Royal Navy]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1964 and 1965]. On his letterhead as Commander-in-Chief, Far East, Phoenix Park, Singapore.
£100.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. See David Owen, who was minister for the navy when Begg was appointed Admiral of the Fleet in 1968, commented on his death that Begg was 'an Admiral with salt both in his ears and his tongue', who 'did not suffer fools gladly' (The Independent, 15 July 1995). 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘Dear Mr Dean. / I have signed the photograph as you asked.

[‘The Pentateuch [...] is throughout a mere fiction’. John William Colenso, Bishop of Natal, puts the case that will result in excommunication.] Long and substantial Autograph Letter Signed (‘J. W. Natal.’) to ‘Scudamore’, explaining his position.

Author: 
John William Colenso (1814-1883), controversial Bishop of Natal, subject of ‘The Colenso Case’, excommunicated from the Church of England [Rev. H. C. Scudamore; Robert Gray, Bishop of Cape Town]
Publication details: 
19 August 1862; Fowey, Cornwall.
£380.00

Colenso’s enormous significance in the history of Victorian theology and ideas is reflected by a long entry by Peter Hinchcliff in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

[Sir George Thomas Napier, distinguished soldier.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. Napier') to 'Captn. Hamilton', regarding his request for a position, and quoting from a letter from Secretary at War Fox Maule.

Author: 
Sir George Thomas Napier (1784-1855), distinguished British army officer who served in the Peninsular War and commanded the army of the Cape Colony [Major-General William Craig Emilius Napie]
Publication details: 
Geneva. 11 July [1855].
£56.00

The letter must have been written in 1855, as Fox Maule (later Earl of Dalhousie) was appointed Secretary of State for War on 8 February of that year, and Napier died on 16 September. 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium with black border. Loss to part of second leaf caused by removal from mount, resulting in loss of a few words of text, otherwise in good condition. Begins: 'In consequence of a letter from my Son William of your regt. [i.e. the King's Own Scottish Borderers] stating your wish to be appointed a Paymaster to the Out Pensioners, I wrote to my friend Mr Fox Maule the Secy.

[Sir John Pollock and the 'Play that was Banned': venereal disease, censorship, War Economy publication.] Material relating to play 'Damaged Goods', including revised typescript and correspondence with bishops and Ministries of Health and Information

Author: 
Sir John Pollock; Eugène Brieux; Jonathan Cape; Sir Weldon Dalrymple-Champneys; Lawrence Whitaker Harrison; Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, venereal disease; Ministry of Information
Publication details: 
London and the provinces, 1943.
£950.00

A fascinating and revealing collection of material, touching on questions of censorship and sexual morality in twentieth-century Britain, as well as the problems of publication during the Second World War. From the papers of Sir John Pollock (1872-1963), and relating to the 1943 revival of his 'Damaged Goods', a translation of Eugène Brieux's scandalous play 'Les Avariés'. Written in 1901, Brieux's play concerns the effects of a diagnosis of syphilis on a respectable family, and was met with outrage on its first appearance in Paris in 1902.

[ Earl St Vincent, British naval hero and patron of Horatio Nelson. ] Autograph Signature ('S. Vincent'[) on autograph frank addressed by him to Edward Hawke Locker.

Author: 
[ Earl St Vincent ] Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent (1735-1823), British naval hero and patron of Horatio Nelson
Publication details: 
Dated from Brentwood, 5 May 1811.
£60.00

In good condition, lightly aged. Front panel (9.5 x 13.5 cm) of envelope neatly placed in a thin windowpane mount, bearing frank, with two postmarks, one the red frank and the other in black from 'BRENTWOOD | 18', addressed in the prescribed fashion by St Vincent: 'Brentwood fifth May 1811 | Edward Hawke Locker Esq | 47 Davies Street | Berkeley Square | London'. Signature at bottom left: 'S. Vincent'.

[ A British Prisoner of War Camp in the aftermath of the Boer War. ] Mimeographed document headed 'Camp Orders by Major M. L. Ferrar | Comm[an]d[in]g Depot Batt[alio]n | Green Point Camp | 16fh. August 1902'.

Author: 
Major M. L. Ferrar [ Michael Lloyd Ferrar (1876-1971) ] of the Green Howards [ Green Point Prisoner of War Camp, Cape Town South Africa; Boer War, 1902 ]
Publication details: 
Green Point Camp [ Cape Town, South Africa ]. 16 August 1902.
£100.00

1p., 8vo. A mimeographed document duplicating fifty lines of handwriting (that of Ferrar himself?). Embossed government crest at top left. A scarce survival, on aged and heavily-worn paper, with closed tears and slight loss to extremities, repaired with archival tape.

[ Robert Lynd, Irish journalist and essayist. ] Copy of Typed Letter to the Editor of 'Now and Then' protesting against an article by Jonathan Cape criticising the 'Daily News' literary page, of which he is editor. With copy covering letter to Cape.

Author: 
Robert Lynd [ Robert Wilson Lynd ] (1879-1949), journalist, essayist and Irish Nationalist, literary editor of the 'Daily News' [ Herbert Jonathan Cape (1879-1960), London publisher ]
Publication details: 
Both letters dated 21 November 1924.
£100.00

The two items in fair condition, on aged and spotted paper with slight damage to one corner and minor water staining. ONE: Copy of Typed Letter to 'Jonathan Cape Esq., | 11, Gower Street, | LONDON, W.C.1.' 1p., folio. He begins: 'Dear Cape, | When you told me at the Devonshire Club that you were going to criticise the "Daily News" Literary page, I was charmed, as I always welcome attacks within reason.

[ Lewis Mansergh, Secretary, Public Works Commission, Cape of Good Hope. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Lewis Mansergh') to 'Mr. Anthony', regarding the Irrigation Act.

Author: 
Lewis Mansergh [ Cornewall Lewis Warwickshire Mansergh ], Secretary of the Public Works Commission, and of the Provincial Council, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa [The Irrigation Act, 1906.]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Office of the Commissioner of Public Works, Cape of Good Hope. 24 September 1906.
£56.00

2pp., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He is sending, under separate cover, a copy of 'the Irrigation Act as it finally passed the House', but feels there is 'no use loading you up with particulars of the many intervening phases - and they were many. As you have it now it is the law!' He continues with reference to Gordon and Paterson, the former of whom 'will be finally leaving at the end of the year, and the Govt: has suggested another Indian man', whom Gordon recommends.

Autograph Letter Signed from 'W. Taylor' (the Swahili scholar Rev. William Ernest Taylor (1856-1927)?) to Sir Thomas Lynedoch Graham, regarding Sir Gordon Sprigg and the suspension of the Cape constitution.

Author: 
W. Taylor of Plumstead [Rev. William Ernest Taylor (1856-1927), Swahili scholar?] [Sir Thomas Lynedoch Graham (1860-1940); Cape Colony; South Africa; Lord Milner; Sir Gordon Sprigg]
Publication details: 
Plumstead. 12 June 1902.
£850.00

2pp., foolscap 8vo. 54 lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Addressed to 'The Hon. T. L. Graham, M.L.C., Prime Minister's Office, Cape Town.' Taylor begins by thanking Graham for his 'courteous letter' and is pleased to find that he has not been misunderstood. 'While siding with Dr. Smart it was on purely personal grounds that I wrote you. I cannot say that a number of your constituents differ from you; I do not know.

Corrected Typed Biography of Irish author William Maginn by his nephew Rev. C. A. Maginn, with subscription list of a memorial he is raising to him. With two Autograph Letters Signed by the nephew, discussing a proposed edition of his uncle's works.

Author: 
Rev. Charles Arthur Maginn (b.1860), nephew of Irish author William Maginn (1794-1842) [Fraser's Magazine; Blackwood's Magazine; Messrs E. Whitby & Son, 8 Princes Street, Yeovil, booksellers]
Publication details: 
All three items from Caradoc View, Little Stretton, Church Stretton, Shropshire. The typescript undated, and the letters dated 5 August 1926 and 23 February 1929.
£280.00

The three items in good condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper. ONE: Typescript. 5pp., 4to. Paginated 1 to 5, with the first three pages and last two forming separate sections, the second section headed 'P.S.' C. A. Maginn's signature in type on pp.3 and 5, and his address given on p.3. The second page contains the subscription list to the proposed memorial, with eleven contributions listed in type (headed by three guineas from Messrs BLackwood & Sons, and including a guinea apiece from Professor Saintsbury, A. P.

[Parliamentary paper.] Cape of Good Hope: Botanical Collectors. Extract of a Letter dated 1st September 1814, from Sir Joseph Banks to George Harrison, Esquire, recommending the appointment of two Botanical Collectors at The Cape of Good Hope [...].

Author: 
[Sir Joseph Banks; George Harrison; the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew; the Cape of Good Hope; British Parliamentary paper, 1821; S. R. Lushington; House of Commons]
Publication details: 
'Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 2 April 1821.' [Numbered '374.']
£300.00

3pp., folio, paginated to 3. Bifolium. Disbound. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper; folded twice into the customary packet, with the title printed lengthwise as usual.

[The first two issues, in original wraps.] The Cape Illustrated Magazine. [The second volume iIncluding the first printing of 'In a Far-Off World' by 'Miss Olive Schreiner'.

Author: 
Prof. J. Gill, editor; Miss Olive Schreiner; J. D. Ensor; Lennox Riddoch; Ruth Mitchell; W. Hammond Tooke; C. F. Tobias; C. Wilson-Moore; T. E. Fuller; Grant Allen; Paul Tennant; Dennis Edwards
Publication details: 
Printed and published by Dennis Edwards & Co., 19, Long-street, Cape Town [South Africa]. September 1890 (vol.1, no.1) and October 1890 (vol.1, no.2).
£350.00

Both 4to, in identical green printed wraps. Both issues in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight chipping and wear to wraps. Same illustration of two women looking out from the deck of a ship on front wrap of both issues, and same advertisements on inside covers and back. The first issue has 'SPECIMEN.' stamped in red on the front. First issue: frontispiece and 50pp., preceded by four pages of advertisements and leaf carrying an address to the public from the publishers, and succeeded by leaf whose recto is headed 'Gardening for September' and whose verso is headed 'New Books.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. P. Schreiner') from William Philip Schreiner, Prime Minister of the Cape Colony during the Second Boer War, to 'My dear J. S. C.' [J. S. Cox], suggesting a meeting while in London for the enquiry into the Jameson Raid.

Author: 
William Philip Schreiner (1857-1919), Prime Minister of the Cape Colony [South Africa] during the Second Boer War; J. C. Cox; Jameson Raid]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Morley's Hotel, Trafalgar Square, London, WC. 24 March 1897.
£180.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, with slight spotting to extremities, laid down on leaf removed from autograph album. 'I am sorry that we have missed each other on the occasions you have called. My time is much occupied & it is difficult to fix an hour before 6 P.M.

Eight Autograph Letters Signed from Captain John M. Preston to his brother Hinckley attorney Samuel Preston, describing a voyage from Newcastle to Callao, Peru, on which his ship is in a gale off Yarmouth and left 'a complete wreck' off Cape Horn.

Author: 
Captain John M. Preston, Master of the 'Alice Walton' [Newcastle; Yarmouth; Stanley Harbour, Falkland Islands; Callao, Lima, Peru]
Publication details: 
Nevill Hotel, Newcastle; Yarmouth Roads; Ship Alice Walton; Stanley Harbour, Falkland Islands; Callao, Lima, Peru. Dating from between November 1864 and October 1865.
£400.00

Eight items totalling 3pp., 4to; 19pp., 12mo. All are all addressed to 'Dear Sam'. All in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. 'I never had such weather or suffered so much as I have this voyage from one thing and another' declares the author, and this series of eight letters provides a vivid account by the captain of a Victorian cargo ship of a voyage packed with misfortune. As mishap is heaped upon mishap the author's spelling deteriorates. ONE. Neville Hotel, Newcastle. Undated [late 1864].

Contemporary manuscript copy of a letter from Captain John Bower, 84th Regiment, to his father Alexander Bower of Kincaldrum House, Kinnettles, describing how he saved the life of the future Sir James Carmichael-Smyth while shark fishing off the Cape

Author: 
Captain John Bower (d.1800), 84th Regiment of Foot, eldest son of Alexander Bower of Kincaldrum House, Kinnettles, near Dundee [Sir James Carmichael-Smyth (1779-1838)]
Publication details: 
Letter 'dated Cape Town May 10th 1797', on paper also with watermarked date '1797'.
£120.00

2pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged laid paper. Bower begins by stating that he is sending 'a Copy of a Letter which I have received from Dr Carm Smyth [James Carmichael Smyth (1742-1821) of the Middlesex Hospital]'. Smyth's son (the future Sir James Carmichael-Smyth) is 'a very fine handsome young man Lieut in the Engineers come out a Passanger [sic] in the same ship with us'. Bower and Smyth 'wisely went into the Boat which was lashed to the Stern Gallery to fish sharks which were following the ship - the Boat suddenly canted round in the slings, upon which poor Smyth went plump into the sea'.

Manuscript journal of a South African lady, 1948, returning after many years in England, including an account of her memories 'of the Cape as a girl'.

Author: 
[South African journal of a returning middle-class lady, 1948]
Manuscript journal of a South African lady, 1948
Publication details: 
Dated 'Bellaire Private Hotel | Fish Hoek | Cape Province | Jan. 18th. / 48.' [18 January 1948]
£380.00
Manuscript journal of a South African lady, 1948

4to, 166 pp. In ruled 'University Exercise Book'. Text clear and complete. On lightly aged paper, tight, in shaky binding with worn boards. The identity of the diarist is unclear. Her husband is named 'Berten', and their are references to 'Minie' (daughter?) and 'Kate' (South African sister-in-law?). A loosely air mail letter may provide a clue to the identity of the diary's author. Dated 30 April 1962, it is written by P. J. Duncan of Newlands to Miss Ruth Ince-Jones (diarist's daughter) of Geneva, Switzerland.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'J Rose Innes') from Sir James Rose Innes, and one letter from his wife ('Jessie Rose Innes'), all to Lady Bower.

Author: 
Sir James Rose-Innes (1855-1942) and his wife, born Jessie Dods Pringle (d.1943) [Lady Maud Bower (born Maude Laidley Mitchell), wife of Sir Graham Bower (1848-1933)]
Publication details: 
Sir James's letters: 1935, 1936 and 1939. His wife's letter: 1937. All four on letterheads of Kolara Farm, Gibson Road, Kenilworth [South Africa].
£180.00

All items good, on aged paper, with Lady Rose-Innes' letter in its envelope. Bower and Rose-Innes had worked together when the former was Imperial secretary to the High Commissioners for Southern Africa at the time of the Jameson Raid. Rose-Innes three letters are dated 17 October 1935 (12mo, 4 pp), 9 July 1936 (12mo, 4 pp) and 13 April 1939 (12mo, 4 pp). All are closely and neatly written. In the first letter Rose-Innes describes a journey 'through the S.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Eric A. Walker') to Bower.

Author: 
Eric A. Walker [Eric Anderson Walker] (1886-1976), first holder of the King George V Chair in History at the University of Cape Town, South Africa [Sir Graham John Bower]
Publication details: 
30 June 1927; on University of Cape Town letterhead.
£150.00

4to, 2 pp. Thirty-nine lines of text. Clear and complete. Neatly and closely written. Begins by discussing two books recommended by Bower: Otto Hammann's 'World Policy of Germany' and a work by Sir Francis Younghusband. Hammann's book 'confirms what Sir Sidney Lee writes about the Kaiser's telegram'; he is pleased that Younghusband's, which he has not yet read, contradicts the story that 'Lord Ripon was prepared for such drastic measures'. He has been 'correcting the proofs of the 600-page history of South Africa which I undertook to write for Longmans Green five or six years ago'.

Two Christmas keepsakes: 'Literary Characters', with drawings by Edwin Baker; and 'Imaginary Conversations', with cover design by Hans Tisdall.

Author: 
Jonathan Cape Limited, London publishers [Edwin Baker; Hans Tisdall; Alden Press, Oxford]
Publication details: 
Literary Characters': 1954, 'Printed in the City of Oxford at the Alden Press on paper mould-made supplied by Spalding & Hodge Ltd.' 'Imaginary Conversations', 1956, 'Printed in Great Britain in the City of Oxford at the Alden Press'.
£50.00

Literary Characters'. 12mo (leaf dimensions roughly 18 x 12.5 cm): 32 pp. Stitched with brown thread. Fore-edge and top-edge rough. Unbound as issued. Very good. Cartoon in red ink of man seated at typewriter on front cover, and another, in black ink, of a hatted-figure skulking away with a walking stick held behind his back on back cover. Initial note, with publisher's colophon, on p.2: 'This series of Literary Characters appeared in Now & Then numbers 77-87 and is here reprinted by Jonathan Cape Limited for their friends | Christmas 1954'.

Victorian panoramic sepia photograph of the bay at Simon's Town.

Author: 
Simon's Town [Simonstown; Simonstad], Cape Town, South Africa [photograph; panorama].
Publication details: 
Taken on Saturday July 10th. Simons Town'. [mid-nineteenth century]
£400.00

Made up of four sepia photographs, each roughly 7 cm square, laid down overlapping each other to make a strip of 7 x 27 cm. Somewhat faded (especially to the right of the image) and with one small stain, and a one cm closed tear to the left. The paper on which the panorama is laid down, which is captioned in a contemporary hand, is somewhat grubby and chipped.

Autograph Letter [or draft?] Signed ('Geo. Grey') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir George Grey (1799–1882), politician [South Africa; Captain Stockenstrom]
Publication details: 
15 May 1838; Downing Street.
£56.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good, with traces of previous brown-paper mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium. His 'time is too fully occupied' for him 'to attend the meeting of the Aborigines Protection Society'. Discusses the parliamentary prospects of 'Mr. Baines' motion relative to the emigration of certain inhabitants of the Eastern district of the Cape'. 'In the meantime however I hope Mr is aware that he is fully at liberty to call on Mr. <?> the Librarian of this Dept. who is authorized to submit to him Captain Stockenstrom's despatches on this subject'.

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'.

Autograph Note Signed to S. C. J. Freeman-Matthews, [autograph hunter of] Cape Town, South Africa.

Author: 
John Fiske (1842-1901), American philosopher and historian
Publication details: 
31 May 1900; Cambridge, Massachusetts.
£40.00

One page, 12mo. Very good on lightly aged paper. 'It gives me much pleasure to add my autograph to your collection.' With a 38-line biographical cutting on Fiske.

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.

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