CHARLES

ONE: Hair's six letters to 'My Dear Sir John [Phillipart]', editor of the Naval and Military Gazette. (One of the letters has 'Sir John Phillipart' named as the addressee.) In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The five complete letters total 15pp., 12mo. Only the first part of the incomplete letter is present, and it is 4pp., 4to, on a bifolium.

The image is 8.7 x 6.2 cm, on part of printed London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company mount. In good condition, lightly-aged. The lower part of the mount has been cut away, and laid down over the lower part of the photograph is a 1 x 6.5 cm strip of paper, carrying Cruikshank's autograph signature ('Geoe Cruikshank'). The National Portrait Gallery copy of this image is NPG Ax17862.

Both letters are on bifoliums, and both on aged paper, with damp and rust staining. ONE: 7 October 1887. 2pp., 12mo. Blackwoods the publishers have forwarded to him Langbridge's 'letter asking for permission to quote three passages from George Eliot's works in a book of "Readings" which you are preparing', and he has 'great pleasure in according you the desired permission'. TWO: 12 March 1888. 3pp., 12mo. With mourning border. He is 'very glad' to have Langbridge's 'full and thoroughly satisfactory explanation'.

113pp. in a 12mo notebook. Quarter binding with black leather spine and soft covers in marbled paper, interleaved with pink blotting paper on which occasional notes have been made. Printed on front pastedown: 'Sold by John Thomson, St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh.' In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn binding. There is a section of 53pp. of itemized expenses at the front of the volume, and another of 47pp. of individual accounts at the back, with groups of six and three pages among the otherwise-blank leaves in the centre.

All twenty-four illustrations have been laid down on leaves removed from an album of prints. Both series are numbered to twelve, and each is complete. The plates in the Retzsch series appear to have had their margins cropped. All images clear and complete, on lightly-aged paper, with occasional light spotting and discoloration. Laid down at the head of the first illustration in the first series, and slightly (0.5 cm) encroaching onto it, is a printed label reading 'Illustrations to Shakespeare's | TEMPEST | in 12 plates'.

Green half-leather, worn, one menu per day per page for most days between 22 Sept.1882 and 6 Jan. 1884. A bookplate is the only clue to the family the volume belonged to, the coat of arms and motto ("Loyaulté n a honte") of the Dukes of Newcastle-under-Lyme, specifically at this time (1880s) Henry Pelham-Clinton, 7th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (1864-1928) whose family seat was Clumber House, nr. Worksop, Notts (restored after a fire in 1879; presumably the home of this volume).

Two good tight copies, on lightly aged paper, in worn original bindings with gilt decorations on front covers, with engravings on browning paper because of high acidity content. Both volumes with bookplate of Alan Angele and manuscript library shelf label. ONE: 'The Comic Latin Grammar'. 163 + [3]pp., 8vo. Eight engravings and numerous illustrations in text (the first engraving is positioned as frontispiece rather than at p.23 as specified).

vii + 141 + [1]pp., 8vo. Final leaf with Chiswick Press device of dolphin and anchor and lion. In sturdy nineteenth-century black leather half-binding, with marbled boards and 'Russell's Catalogue 1856' in gilt on spine. Ownership stamp of 'Alfred H Maurais' on fly-leaf. A characteristically-elegant Chiswick Press item, with 408 items listed, the titles in black letter. Three-page anonymous preface, dated 'May, 1856.' Tight copy, but aged and lightly damp-stained, in worn binding.

On one side of a 7 x 9 cm piece of laid paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn; apparently cut down. Reads: 'Adelphi | Admit 2 boxes | Wed. Dec 23 | Ch. Fechter'. Good bold signature.

Printed in blue on one side of a piece of white paper roughly 60 x 40 cm. Good: lightly-aged and creased. The text is enclosed within an ornate decorative border, and is headed 'Charles Ingle Robinson Esqr., | B. Sc. (Lond.), Associate R. S. M., | M. I. C. E., M. I. M. M., | Senior Inspector of Mines, F. M. S.' This is followed by nineteen lines, expressing 'deep regret and genuine sorrow' at his 'departure for Europe on retirement'.

On one side of a 7 x 20 cm slip of grey paper. In good condition, lightly-aged. Reads: 'I certify that Robert Hutchison, Scholar of Exeter College, attended my Course of Lectures of the Lent Term, 1868: | Chs. A. Ogilvie, Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology. | Ch. Ch. | Oxford, | March 23rd, 1868.'

Lord Hennessy has characterised the subject of these items, the Northcote-Trevelyan Report of 1854, as 'the greatest single governing gift of the nineteenth to the twentieth century: a politically disinterested and permanent Civil Service with core values of integrity, propriety, objectivity and appointment on merit, able to transfer its loyalty and expertise from one elected government to the next'.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Reads: 'Dear Mr. Williams, | Pray arrange Guests in the correct order whatever that is. I shall have frequent opportunities I hope of meeting the good Bishop.'

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He begins by explaining that he has been 'too much engaged' since last writing to Ollier 'to come so far westward', or he would not intrude on his time. He asks him to return 'the letter of Mr Cooke, that I enclosed to you, under cover and a line just to say, whether there were two parcels, as he mentions, or only the one, that I took, as he desires great care and a return of them'.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight rust spotting around date at head. He explains that it is 'under a mistake' that he has been 'proposed as an Associate of the Central Committee of the British Archaeological Association', and he declines the 'honor intended' with 'sincere thanks'.

Robinson is the author of Ollier's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, in which he discusses the 'fifty titles' that Ollier and his brother James published between 1817 and 1823, and the others dating from his second stint as publisher between 1846 and 1849. The list is 10pp., 4to. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Subtitle: '(*Indicates that U. of Delaware Library has in original, microform, or photo rpt.)' Robinson has given the date and his details in autograph at the head, and has starred items in 'urgently need' in red ink.

8pp., 12mo. Stabbed and unbound. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The main descriptions are for 'Knight's Shilling Weekly Volume' (covering the first four pages), and 'The New Orbis Pictus' (covering three pages), the latter described as '12,000 Engravings on Wood, 72 on Steel, 40 Illuminations, and 13 Coloured Maps.'

The letter is of 23 lines, written on the front and back of an opened envelope with the cancelled address of 'John Wickham Flower Esq, Park Hill, Croydon'. In good condition, on aged paper. The rear of the envelope carries a good impression of a red wax seal, and the letter begins: 'My dear Sir, I had written this letter having obtained my object through my friend the York Herald and I still send it on account of the Seal which was the counter seal of Richd Neville Earl of Warwick killed at the battle of Barnet'.

Each 1p., 12mo. Both in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Both carry the stamp and manuscript mark of the Royal Society of Arts. Convincing facsimiles of signed autograph letters. The first reads: 'In the third year of war my publishers and myself are determined to carry on "The Year's Art" without a break. | Will you, therefore, be good enough to amend the enclosed extract describing the institution in your charge, with especial reference to changed conditions. | Please notify also names (with dates of death) of any of your members or staff dying at home or abroad.

On one side of a 22 x 33 cm piece of vellum. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with some pin-holes to margin. Stamp in black ink at head of the 'REV. CAS DU ROY [...] GEN. DE PARIS'. Signed at end: 'Collationné aux originaux par moi Ecer. Coner. Secretaire du Roy maison Couronne de france et de Ses finances/. | Sainson'. Each transcript is eight lines long, the first having been signed by 'Orry' and the second by 'Carreler' (both signatures also transcriptions). The recorded payments were made by Dorel in connection with his office as 'Coner.

32pp., 16mo. In grey printed wraps. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in aged and worn wraps. Nicely printed. The only copies on COPAC at the British Library and Oxford.

On 3 x 11 cm slip of paper. In fair condition, lightly aged. Cut from the end of a letter. Good firm signature. Reads: 'Yours faithfully | Charles Barry'.

American physician and explorer of Africa (1866-1939). The recipient was Assistant Secretary at the Natural History Museum, London. One page, 12mo. Good, on slightly discoloured paper, and with remains of stub still neatly attached to one edge. A significant letter, sent on the eve of Donaldson Smith's most notable expedition. 'Just a line in haste to tell you I & Dodson [a taxidermist engaged for the expedition] are ready to start for Rudolph Gillitt [another taxidermist] having left for England after hearing of his father's death.

American physician and explorer of Africa (1866-1939). The recipient was Assistant Secretary at the Natural History Museum, London. One page, 12mo. Good, on slightly discoloured paper, and with remains of stub still neatly attached to one edge. A significant letter, sent on the eve of Donaldson Smith's most notable expedition. 'Just a line in haste to tell you I & Dodson [a taxidermist engaged for the expedition] are ready to start for Rudolph Gillitt [another taxidermist] having left for England after hearing of his father's death.

The Civil Service Life-Boat Fund (now the Lifeboat Fund) was founded by a group of civil servants wishing to donate a single lifeboat to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. In 1866 they issued an appeal for £300 to government offices and raised the sum within a year. Since then the charity has supplied the RNLI with more than fifty lifeboats, which have saved nearly five thousand lives. The present two volumes, for 1892 and 1897, are uniform in heavily-worn halfbindings with black cloth spines and marbled boards.

On 5.5 x 14 cm. strip of paper. Apparently written in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'I am much flattered by the demand | C L. Bonaparte' ('demand' being a mistake for 'request').

2pp., folio. In fair condition, with light signs of age and wear. On first leaf of bifolium, the second leaf docketted in pencil. In fair condition, with light signs of age and wear. Detailed letter, filling two whole folio pages, beginning: 'Sir. | In the absence of the Storekeeper General I have the honour to refer you to his letters of the 12th. Novr. 19th. & 31st. Decr.

27pp., small 4to. In vellum-paper wraps with decorative cover printed in red and brown. With six plates: two collotypes (portraits of Edmund Hodgson and Henry Hill Hodgson) and four black and white photographs: 'Exterior of Premises, 115, Chancery Lane', 'The Auction Room', 'Compiling a Catalogue (First Floor Room)' and 'Unpacking a Library (Basement)'. Title-page in red and black. In fair condition, internally good, on aged and worn paper, lacking free endpapers. A characteristically-tasteful production by the Chiswick Press. Now scarce.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Sir Donald Currie K.C. M.G. | S.S. | Sonakin'. He apologises to Currie for finding him away from home when he called: 'I only wish I had asked you to make an appointment'. He concludes with thanks for his 'kindness about the mail', and in wishes of a pleasant voyage for Currie's party.

2pp., 12mo. He 'unfeignedly' feels his 'unworthiness to be placed among those sons of Eton whose portraits are intended to grace the pannels [sic] of the College Hall'. He will comply with the Provost's wish, 'as soon as opportunity permits, & after I have learnt from you the most suitable mode of carrying your design into execution'.