CRIMINAL

[Sir Samuel Romilly, abolitionist and legal reformer.] Autograph Letter in the third person to ‘Mr. Williams’, explaining that he will be finishing ‘the Bill in this Cause’ while out of town.

Author: 
Sir Samuel Romilly (1757-1818), abolitionist and legal reformer of Huguenot descent
Publication details: 
15 September 1794. Lincoln’s Inn [London].
£50.00

See his long entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, with negligible remnants of windowpane mount adhering at edges of blank reverse. Reads: ‘Mr. Romilly presents his compliments to Mr. Williams and informs him that he is obliged to go out of Town tomorrow & that he has not been able to finish the Bill in this Cause but he will take it with him into the Country & send it to Mr. W. in two or three days’.

[ Leaflet/Handbill; annotated ] Association for the Scientific Treatment of Criminals "The only way to stop us ..."(annotation described below).

Author: 
[ Adler, Freud, Jung, Havelock Ellis and others Vice-Presidents]
Publication details: 
[ London, 1931? ]
£320.00

Printed, 4pp., 8vo, fold mark, small closed tear, good condition, with removeable application for Associate/subscription intact and unused. The word "Criminal" in the title has been crossed out and"Deliquency & Crime" added in MS title. The list of members include Adler, Freud, Jung, Havelock Ellis, Ernest Jones, H.G. Wells and others. The name Dr Otto Rank has been added in MS, and other lesser names typed in (Cyril Burt etc). The leaflet outlines their Aims, with further sections entitled "Existing Anomalies" and "Society's Responsibility".

[Henry Fauntleroy, banker and forger.] Autograph Letter Signed ('H Fauntleroy') to Sir Cuthbert Sharp, written from Cold Bath Fields Prison a few weeks before his hanging at Newgate in front of a crowd of 100,000.

Author: 
Henry Fauntleroy (1784-1824), banker and forger, hanged before Newgate after a trial at the Old Bailey [Sir Cuthbert Sharp (1781-1849), soldier and antiquary]
Publication details: 
'C. B. Fields [i.e. Cold Bath Fields Prison, London] October 14th 1824'.
£500.00

See Fauntleroy's entry in the Oxford DNB. Although accounts of his depravity are exaggerated, Fauntleroy led a dissolute life, and appropriated securities worth around £360,000. During his trial at the Old Bailey he called seventeen merchants and bankers to testify to his integrity, but his defence was unsuccessful, and he was hanged outside Newgate, before a crowd of 100,000. The present item is 1p, 4to. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Sir Cuthbert Sharp | &c &c', with endorsement.

[Sir James Alan Park, Georgian judge.] Two notebooks filled with modern manuscript transcriptions of 'Extracts from his Diary 1805-38'. With typescript of some of the transcriptions.

Author: 
Sir James Alan Park (1763-1838), Scottish judge in the English courts
Publication details: 
The entries from Park's diary dating from between 1805 and 1838. The transcriptions apparently made in the 1970s [in Kent?].
£350.00

Vol.1: [1] + 78pp. Vol.2: 8 [+ 8]pp. A total of 86pp of extracts from Park's twelve volumes of diaries. Unpublished. In two uniform stapled notebooks, small 4to, in orange card covers, with the following printed on the reverse of each: 'Manufactured by Supplies Department, Kent County Council'. Accompanied by eleven pages of typed transcriptions from the notebooks. Altogether in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Each volume titled in manuscript on the front cover, with the following shelfmark or entry number: '(M265)'.

[William Guidott embezzles John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.] Two printed documents: 'The Case of the Appellants' (including Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough) and 'The Respondent's Case', the latter carrying the judgement in a contemporary hand.

Author: 
[William Guidott (1671–1745) of Lincoln's Inn, lawyer to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and MP for Andover, Hampshire, embezzler] C. Talbot; Tho. Reeve; P. Yorke; Tho. Lutwytche
Publication details: 
Both documents with docket title stating that the case is to be heard at the bar of the House of Lords, 4 March 1727. [ESTC tentatively dates the items to 1728.]
£420.00

The background to the two documents is given in Guidott's entry in the History of Parliament, which states that his uncle Anthony was 'for many years a lawyer to the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and described the latter in his will as “my particular good friend”. Guidott benefited from the connexion, succeeding his uncle as lawyer to the Marlboroughs. […] He proved a disappointment to the Duchess of Marlborough, however, as by 1711 he had begun the embezzlement of funds from the Marlborough estates for which he was sued in 1725.

[ Sir Basil Thomson, head of the Metropolitan Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID). ] Typed Note Signed ('Basil Thomson'), as Assistant Commissioner, Special Branch, to 'Mrs. Vickers', giving instructions for her arrival at Folkestone.

Author: 
Sir Basil Thomson [ Sir Basil Home Thomson ] (1861-1939), head of the Metropolitan Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID), intelligence officer (working with MI6), prison governor, colonial ad
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Metropolitan Police, Special Branch ('Letters should be addressed to the Assistant Commissioner.'), Scotland House, Westminster, S.W.1. [ London ] 14 October 1919.
£35.00

For information regarding Thomson's eventful career (he interrogated Mata Hari) see his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p., landscape 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. Typed onto the letterhead is the reference 'A. L. K.' The note reads: 'Dear Mrs. Vickers, | Certainly I will. If you will ask for Sergeant Tansley when you arrive at Folkestone he will see you through. I will warn him of your coming.'

[ The Greenway Bank Fraud and Victorian 'Prison Rules'. ] Copy of Manuscript 'Statement by Mr Campbell on Greenway', headed 'In the matter of G. a prisoner', regarding an incident at Chatham Gaol resulting in the suspension of privileges.

Author: 
The Greenway Bank Fraud and Victorian 'Prison Rules', 1890 [ Sir Richard Harington (1861-1931) of Ridlington, 12th Baronet; Kelynge Greenway ]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. Docketed 'Rec[eive]d 26 Nov 1890'.
£56.00

3pp., 8vo. In good condition, on two leaves of lightly-aged paper, folded into a packet and docketed (by Harington?) on the outside 'Recd 26 Nov 1890 | Copy | Statement by Mr Campbell on Greenway'. Headed 'In the matter of G. a prisoner'. The document begins with an interpretation of the current arrangements: 'In accordance with the Prison Rules a prisoner under sentence of Penal servitude whilst he continues in the 3rd.

[ William Roupell, forger and fraudster. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('W Roupell'), expressing thanks for support in his campaign to be re-elected Member of Parliament for Lambeth.

Author: 
William Roupell (1831-1909), forger and fraudster, Member of Parliament for Lambeth, 1857-1862, ruined in the Roupell Case
Publication details: 
Roupell Park, Brixton. 28 April 1859.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, on aged and worn paper. Possibly produced in court, as docketed at head: 'facsimile | printed 1st & 3rd' (the present item is not a facsimile). The male recipient is not identified. He wishes to reiterate his thanks 'for the hearty support and valuable assistance you have so kindly tendered in securing my Reelection as one of your Representatives for the Borough of Lambeth'.

[ Joseph Ady, fraudster. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Ady') to 'Mrs Jackson', giving details of funds he claims are due to her, and attacking Sir Peter Laurie for 'Malice'; on reverse of one of his lithographed fradulent circulars.

Author: 
Joseph Ady (1775-1852), Quaker fraudster [ Sir Peter Laurie (1778-1861), Lord Mayor of London ]
Publication details: 
Without date or place [ 1846 or later ].
£220.00

For details of Ady and his methods, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is on one side of a 9.5 x 22 cm piece of paper.

[ Sir Harry Bodkin Poland and Sir Richard Harington on the Criminal Evidence Act, 1898. ] Autograph Letter Signed from Poland to Harington and Autograph Draft of Letter from Harington - with two autograph riders by Poland - to the Attorney General..

Author: 
Sir Harry Bodkin Poland (1829-1928), barrister; Sir Richard Harington (1835-1911) [ Sir Richard Webster [ Richard Everard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone ] (1842-1915), Attorney General, 1895-1900 ]
Publication details: 
Poland's letter to Harington on letterhead of 28 Sloane Gardens, S.W. [ London ]; 1 May 1897. Harington's draft letter to the Attorney General from 87 Eaton Terrace, S.W. [ London ]; 2 May 1897.
£220.00

The background to the present correspondence is dealt with exhaustively in C. J. W. Allen's 'The Law of Evidence in Victorian England' (1997) and David Bentley's 'English Criminal Justice in the 19th Century' (1998), chapters 17 ('The Campaign for a Prisoners' Evidence Act') and 18 ('Reform'). ONE: Autograph Letter Signed from Poland ('Harry Bodkin-Poland') to Harington ('His Honour Judge Sir Richard Harington Bart.'). 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged.

[ Richard Webster, Viscount Alverstone, as Attorney General. ] Four Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Richard E Webster') to Sir Richard Harington, regarding changes to a parliamentary bill [Legal Aid?]. With draft letter from Harington to Webster.

Author: 
Richard Webster [ Richard Everard Webster ], 1st Viscount Alverstone (1842-1915), Master of the Rolls and three times Attorney General [ Sir Richard Harington (1835–1911) of Ridlington, 11th Baronet ]
Publication details: 
The first three on letterheads of 2 Pump Court, Temple, E.C. [ London ]; the fourth from the same address, on letterhead of the Royal Courts of Justice. 13, 22, 24 and 28 April 1897. Harington's draft, Whitbourne Court, Worcester; 14 April 1897.
£220.00

Five items, in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Webster's four letters total 6pp., 12mo.

[ John M. Anderson, Governor of Warwick County Prison. ] Long Autograph Letter Signed ('Jno. M. Anderson | Esq.') to Richard Harington, regarding his 'circular as to the treatment of prisoners'.

Author: 
John M. Anderson, Governor, County Prison, Warwick [ Sir Richard Harington (1861-1931) of Ridlington, 12th Baronet ]
Publication details: 
'County Prison Warwick | 15th. Feb 1876.'
£400.00

9pp., 4to. On grey laid paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, on nine leaves held together with a pin. He begins by discussing Harington's 'first motion, viz, "that all persons who are in custody for the purpose of detention merely and not in execution of a penal Sentence for an Offence should be subjected to one uniform discipline"'. Other topics discussed include: 'the proposal "That power be given to the Courts to place any person convicted of felony and not sentenced to Hard labor on rules for 1st.

[ Murder mystery concerning crime writers in 1950s London. ] Two typewritten drafts of the play '"Death in Act IV" by Basil Francis', accompanied by Typed Letter Signed from the author to theatre historian W. Macqueen-Pope.

Author: 
Basil Francis [ W. Macqueen-Pope [ Walter James Macqueen-Pope ] (1888-1960), theatre manager and historian ]
Publication details: 
Letter on Francis's letterhead of 115 Kenilworth Court, S.W.15. 14 November 1950. Both typescript with same address; neither dated.
£320.00

ONE: Letter. 1p., landscape 12mo. Aged and creased. Addressed to 'My dear Popie'. He is sending the revised version of the play, 'which has been tightened up considerably from the earlier draft', asking whether it has 'commercial possibilities', or 'stinks'. He feels that five minutes with Pope gives him 'more practical dope on the theatre than 5 years at the RADA!' TWO: Early typescript of 'Death in Act IV'. The letter ends with a reference to 'Fanny K', Francis's 1950 biography 'Fanny Kelly of Drury Lane'. 68pp., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper.

[ The Camden Town Murder, 1907. ] Printed Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) press card, signed by sheriff Charles Cheers Wakefield, and annotated by representative of the Pall Mall Gazette.

Author: 
Charles Cheers Wakefield (1859-1941), 1st Viscount [ The Camden Town Murder, 1907; Emily Dimmock; Robert Wood; the Central Criminal Court [ Old Bailey ]; Edward Marshall Hall; Walter Sicket ]
Publication details: 
The Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey), London. Stamped first day of trial, 12 December 1907.
£120.00

On one side of a 10 x 12.5 cm piece of card. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Signed 'C C Wakefield' and granting admission to 'the representative of the [ Pall Mall ]', the trial beginning on 12 December 1907. Annotated around Wakefield's signature: 'For the trial of Robert Wood for the murder of Emily Dimmock, of St Paul's Road, Camden Town | Judge - W Justice Grantham | Leading Conuncil - Sir Charles Mathews for the prosecution; Mr Marshall Halll for the defence. | Verdict - Not guilty.'

[The Victoria Police Force, Australia.] Duplicated document titled 'Outline and Organisation of the Victoria Police Force.'

Author: 
[Chief Commissioner's Office, Police Headquarters, Melbourne, Australia; the Victoria Police Force]
Publication details: 
'Revised. September, 1966.'
£120.00

21pp., foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The document presents a mass of information. A 'Brief History' in the form of a chronology (pp.2-4), is followed by a section setting out the conditions of 'Membership of the Victoria Police Force' (pp.5), followed by a table of 'Ranks, Insignia and Retiring Age' (p.6).

[Isabelle Bogelot, nineteenth-century French women's activist.] Autograph Letter Signed [to the London bookseller Philip Stephen King and his wife]

Author: 
Isabelle Bogelot (1838-1923), French activist, whose Oeuvre des Libérées de Saint-Lazare assisted former inmates of the Paris prison [Philip Stephen King (1819-1908), London parliamentary bookseller]
Publication details: 
4 rue Perrault [Paris]. 19 April 1886.
£90.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Not having had 'la facilté de profiter de la bonne recommendation de Miss Louisa Hardy', she writes a letter of recommendation for her son, who will be passing through London for a few days: 'c'est lui qui vous portera nos compliments et vous remercira des articles des journaux que vous m'avez fait parvenir et qu'il m'a traduit'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Fitzhardinge') from William Fitzhardinge Berkeley, 1st Earl FitzHardinge, complaining to the editor of the Bristol Times [Joseph Leech] of misrepresentation in a letter by his brother the MP Grantley Berkeley.

Author: 
William Fitzhardinge Berkeley (1786-1857), 1st Earl FitzHardinge [styled the Lord Seagrave, 1831-1841] [Joseph Leech; Hon. George Charles Grantley Fitzhardinge Berkeley (1800-1881)]
Publication details: 
Cheltenham; 11 February 1850.
£120.00

2pp., 4to. In good condition, on aged paper, with traces of mount at head. The Earl and his brother loathed one another. FitzHardinge was a notorious philanderer, and Berkeley - whose violent behaviour included assaulting the bookseller Fraser and duelling with Maginn - held his position as a Member of Parliament to spite him. The letter begins: 'Sir. | You have published a letter from Mr.

Autograph Letter Signed ('E. Ruggles-Brise') from prison reformer Sir Evelyn John Ruggles-Brise, to Captain Robert Arnold Vansittart , arranging a meeting with him and Captain Conor, Governor of Parkhurst, regarding development of the farm at Borstal

Author: 
Sir Evelyn John Ruggles-Brise (1857-1935), prison administrator and founder of Borstal system [Captain Robert Arnold Vansittart (1851-1938); Captain H. L. Conor, Governor of Parkhurst Gaol]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Prison Commission, Home Office, Whitehall, SW. 13 December 1907.
£65.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. In Prision Commission envelope, with two postmarks (one of them 'HOME OFFICE PRISONS | OFFICIAL'), addressed by Ruggles-Brise to 'Capt. Vansittart | 24 Cadogan Square | SW'. He writes to inform Vansittart that he has 'arranged for Capt Conor, Governor - Parkhust, to be at Borstal on Tuesday next 17th. inst. to confer with yourself & the Govr. as to the best way of developing the Farm.' He asks Vansittart to 'communicate with Major Elliott as to the time when it will be convenient to you to be there'.

Press Pass, signed by Leslie Boyd, Clerk of the Central Criminal Court, to the Old Bailey trial of the Soviet spy John Vassall.

Author: 
Leslie Boyd (1914-1998), Clerk of the Central Criminal Court, London [John Vassall [William John Christopher Vassall] (1924-1996), British Admiralty clerk who spied for the Soviet Union]
Publication details: 
Central Criminal Court, London. Undated [October 1962].
£56.00

Crisply printed on one side of a piece of 9 x 14 cm card, with Boyd's signature in blue ink, and Vassall's name typed. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Headed in gothic letters 'Central Criminal Court', with the rest reading: 'PRESS PASS | The holder is authorised, as a Press Representative, to obtain admission to the Court during the trial of [typed: 'WILLIAM JOHN CHRISTOPHER VASSALL'] | This pass does NOT entitle the holder to a seat.

Autograph Letter Signed from 'the Whitechapel Road murderer' Henry Wainwright, asking an unnmaed individual to preside at a 'testimonial Entertainment' for 'Mr. Talbot' at the Beaumont Institution, Mile End Road.

Author: 
Henry Wainwright (c.1839-1875), 'Whitechapel Road murderer' of his mistress Harriet Lane, found guilty after an Old Bailey trial before Sir Alexander Cockburn, and hanged in Newgate by William Marwood
Publication details: 
84 Whitechapel Road, London. 10 December 1860.
£220.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The word 'Declined' has been written at the head of the letter by the recipient. The first paragraph reads: 'A number of influential gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Mile End and Bow, in recognition of the services of Mr Talbot, have resolved to give him a testimonial Entertainment on the 27th inst. at the Beaumont Institution.' The 'Committee' have requested Wainwright to ask the recipient to 'kindly preside on that occasion'.

Typed copy, with annotations, of depositions in the case Rex v. Mir Anwaruddin, heard at the Central Criminal Court, 1918, following a libel action against Horatio Bottomley. For 'Director of Public Prosecutions [Sir Charles Willie Mathews]'.

Author: 
[Mir Anwaruddin (b. 1888); Sir Charles Willie Mathews (1850-1920), Director of Public Prosecutions; Horatio Bottomley (1860-1933), proprietor and editor of the magazine John Bull, and fraudster]
Publication details: 
Headed 'Central Criminal Court, 25th June, 1918.' [The trial took place on 2 July 1918.]
£450.00

Folio, [i] + 49 pp. Text clear and complete. A mimeographed typescript, with text and manuscript annotations. Clear and complete, on aged and creased paper. Typed in bottom right-hand corner of covering title: 'Director of Public Prosecutions.' Anwarudding was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1913, and between that year and 1918 his marital difficulties caused him to appear before thirteen different High Court Judges in eight different courts.

Two Manuscript Diaries, covering the years 1916 and 1917.

Author: 
Geoffrey Clifford Tyndale [Divorce Law; Legal History; Reading Lists; The Times of London]
Publication details: 
1 January 1916 to 3 January 1918.
£450.00

Two 8vo diaries, by Charles Letts, the first 'improved' and the second 'self-opening'. Both in heavily worn covers, lacking spines, but internally clean, on aged paper, and with the text entirely legible. Both diaries end with a brief set of accounts. The diaries are filled with details of the life of a young English lawyer in London during the Great War, including references to the many legal cases in which he was involved.

Printed poster, headed 'Salt-Hill Society, (Instituted 1783) For the Protection of Persons and Property from Felons & Thieves, Within the Hundreds of Burnham and Stoke, In the County of Buckingham.', giving the 'Rules and Articles of this Society'.

Author: 
Edmund J. Craske, Treasurer, Salt-Hill Society, Burnham and Stoke, Buckingham [R. Ingalton Drake, printer, Eton; provincial printing]
Publication details: 
At a General Meeting, held at the ROYAL HOTEL, Slough, on Tuesday, the 13th day of April, and (by adjournment) on Tuesday, the 20th day of April, 1897'. ['R. INGALTON DRAKE, PRINTER, ETON.']
£120.00

Printed on one side of a piece of paper roughly 680 x 430 mm. Good, on aged paper with a little spotting and one short closed tear. Text complete and entirely legible. Heading printed in a variety of types and point sizes, with the Rules and Articles, dated 'Slough, April 20th, 1897. and 'Signed on behalf of the General Body of Subscribers, EDMUND J. CRASKE.', in double-column beneath. Final list of subscribers, in four columns, beginning with 'ABORN, Edwin, Eton' and ending with 'WOLLASTON, H. U., East Burnham'.

Handbill headed 'STOLEN POSTAL ORDER FORMS | STOLEN POSTAGE STAMPS NEGOTIATED BY MEANS OF STAMP SAVINGS SLIPS'.

Author: 
E. H. Bourne, Director, Investigation Branch, Personnel Department [THE POST OFFICE; ROYAL MAIL; POSTAL HISTORY]
Publication details: 
[London,] 20 January 1939.
£56.00

Two pages. On both sides of a piece of paper roughly twelve and a quarter inches by eight inches wide. Illustrated on both sides. An unusual piece of Post Office ephemera, and something of a period piece, on aged paper, with fraying to extremities. Begins 'The object of these instructions is to secure the apprehension of men and women who are negotiating stolen postal order forms and stolen penny stamps, the proceeds of thefts from Post Office. [...]'.

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