DARWIN

[John Birkbeck Nevins, Consulting Physician to the Stanley Hospital, Liverpool, and anti-Darwinian.] Three autograph chapters presenting the teleological argument, with reference to meteorology, botany and surgery, with emendations and illustrations.

Author: 
John Birkbeck Nevins (1818-1903), surgeon and zoologist, Consulting Physician to the Stanley Hospital, Liverpool [Charles Darwin; Darwinism; theory of evolution]
Publication details: 
No place or date. [Liverpool, post 1854.]
£1,500.00

Nevins was a passionate opponent of Darwinism, and the present item, composed any time after 1854 (the latest date of the various works referred to in the text), reflects the crisis of faith in the period leading up to the publication of the 'Origin of Species'. Nevins would set out his position on 'Natural Selection, Sexual Selection, Evolution' in his 1872 inaugural address as President of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool (Proceedings, No. 26, 1872, pp.1-26), attacking the 'imperfect and one-sided view' put forward by 'the advocates of man's lowly origins'.

[Printed pamphlet.] Charles Darwin and Samuel Butler. A Step towards Reconciliation. By Henry Festing Jones.

Author: 
Henry Festing Jones, friend and posthumous biographer of Samuel Butler [Charles Darwin; Samuel Butler]
Publication details: 
London: A. C. Fifield, 13 Clifford's Inn, E.C. 1911. [William Brendon and Son, Ltd., Printers, Plymouth.]
£120.00

28pp., 12mo. In grey printed card wraps. Wear to spine from disbinding, otherwise in very good condition. Printed compliments slip loosely inserted. Copies at the British Library and seven other locations on COPAC.

[F. G. Kitton, Dickensian.] Autograph Letter Signed and Autograph Card Signed (both 'F. G. Kitton') to Winfield S. Moody, editor of The Book Buyer, discussing the claim that Dickens's works were written by Herbert Spencer', and a query on Thackeray.

Author: 
F. G. Kitton [Frederic George Kitton] (1856-1904), illustrator, writer and authority on Charles Dickens [Winfield S. Moody (1816-1894), editor of The Book Buyer; Dickensiana]
Publication details: 
Both items from Pré Mill House, St Albans, England. 19 and 27 March 1999.
£140.00

LETTER: 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on aged and worn paper. Kitton writes that he has received two copies of the Book Buyer for March, and is 'much interested' in it for two reasons: 'Mrs. Garlands flattering comments upon myself and my work', and 'a very generous notice of my latest Dickens production'. He finds illustrations 'excellently reproduced', and praises 'the careful attention that has obviously been bestowed upon the preparation of both blocks and letterpress'. Turning to another matter, he notes 'a query (no.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Willm. B Carpenter') from the English zoologist William Benjamin Carpenter, explaining to Rev. John Page Hopps why he cannot address a meeting.

Author: 
William Benjamin Carpenter (1813-1885), English physician, zoologist, physiologist, and Registrar of the University of London from 1856 to 1879 [Rev. John Page Hopps (1834-1911), spiritualist]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the University of London, Burlington Gardens, W. 17 February 1875.
£75.00

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper, tipped in onto a card mount. He explains that he is 'obliged to return to London immediately after the delivery of my Lecture in Glasgow', and so will not be able 'to address the audience you bring together'. If he is 'asked to take part in the Glasgow Science Lectures' the following year, he will bear Hopps's wish in mind. Hopps was both an evolutionist and spiritualist, while Carpenter considered the claims of spiritualism 'epidemic delusions'.

[Pamphlet, Inscribed by author] Notice sur Deux Livres Rarissimes qui font partie de ma Bibliothèque [continued in description.

Author: 
[NICOLAS JOLY] M[onsieur] N. Joly (1812-1885), book-collector, scientist (professeur de zoologie à la Faculté des Sciences)
Publication details: 
Toulouse, Imprimerie Douladoure, Rouget Frères et Delahaut, successeurs, Rue Sainy-Rome, 39, 1870.
£180.00

36pp., 8vo, green paper wraps.frontispiece (portrait of La Baumelle), chipped and stained, sl. hinge strain, contents sl. foxed but mainly good condition. Titlepage continued: "[...] Accompagnés de Pensées inédites de la Beaumelle, et d'une lettre autographe de La Condamine, relative a la première incarcération de l'auteur des Pensées a la Bastille." "Extrait des Mémoires de l'Académie impériale des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de Toulouse. 7me sè, To.

[Unique copy; fine binding] A History of Golf in Britain

Author: 
Bernard Darwin, Henry Longhurst, and others
The History of Golf
Publication details: 
Cassell & Co. Ltd, 1952
£460.00
The History of Golf

First edition, 312pp., 4to, illustrated. Fine binding, blue morocco gilt, raised bands, gilt tooling, orange silk pastedowns and recto of free endpapers, all edges gilt. In lighter blue custom-made box with silk lining. Book in fine condition, box a little rubbed and marked. Presentation copy from the members of Romford Golf Club to John J. Murray, President of the Club and Past President of Essex Amateur Golf Union, among other achievments in the sport.

Notes et Notices sur l'Expédition scientifique des Anglais au pic de Ténériffe, en 1856. Sur l'Origine des Espèces [i.e. Darwin's 'Origin of Species']. Sur Toulon, port de mer. Sur l'Ouvrage de Miss Nightingale, intitulé: Notes on Nursing. [...]

Author: 
J.-P.-A. Madden [Jean-Patrice-Auguste Madden (1808-1889)] [Florence Nightingale; Charles Darwin]
Notes et Notices sur l'Expédition scientifique des Anglais au pic de Ténériffe
Publication details: 
Versailles: Imprimérie de E. Aubert, 6, Avenue de Sceaux. 1864.
£285.00
Notes et Notices sur l'Expédition scientifique des Anglais au pic de Ténériffe

12mo, [iv] + 52 + [i], the last page carrying an erratum. Unopened. In original grey printed wraps. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with wear to wraps (particularly spine) and dog-eared front wrap. Bound in at the end is a separate seven-page pamphlet with a title-page which simply reads 'Toulon Port de Guerre par J. P.A. Madden.' The printer of this seven-page item is Imprimérie Cerf at Versailles.

Autograph Letter Signed "F.O. Bower", botanist, to Dr. W.B. Crow [William Bernard Crow, biologist , etc., Author of 'A History of Magic, Witchcraft and Occultism']

Author: 
F.O. Bower [Frederick Orpen Bower FRS] (1855–1948), British botanist
F.O. Bower [Frederick Orpen Bower FRS] (1855–1948), British botanist
Publication details: 
2 The Crescent, Ripon, Yorks, 15 April 1932.
£125.00
F.O. Bower [Frederick Orpen Bower FRS] (1855–1948), British botanist

Two pages, 4to, several closed tears, two small hole, one stain, 1in. dia., on p.2. , text clear and complete. "I am much obliged to you for sending me a copy of your 'Proteus' No.6 - the Goethe Commemoration Number. It was a happy idea to concentrate on this centenary. My interest naturally centres on the 'Metamorphosis of Plants'. Had Goethe lived as a post Darwinian his keen insight would have led him to a rather different statement of his great synthesis. He would have accepted I am pretty sure a theory of segregation rather than a theory of metamorphosis.

{Printed Pamphlet] An Account of the Roman Antiquities, found at Rougham, Near Bury St. Edmunds, on the fifteenth of September, 1843

Author: 
Rev. J.S. Henslow, Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge, influence on Charles Darwin.
Rev. J.S. Henslow, Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge
Publication details: 
Printed by Gedge and Barker, 26, Hatter-Street, Bury [St. Edmunds], Sold for the Benefit of the Suffolk General Hospital, 1843
£125.00
Rev. J.S. Henslow, Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge

12pp., 8vo, fdg frontis, some foxing, left edge slightly wragged, mainly good condition. Scarce. COPAC lists five copies.

Eight Autograph Letters Signed from the Scottish anatomist Sir Arthur Keith to Grace Norbury, wife of Lionel Norbury, Professor of Surgery.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Keith (1866-1955), Scottish anatomist and anthropologist [Lionel Norbury (1882-1967)]
Sir Arthur Keith (1866-1955), Scottish anatomist and anthropologist
Publication details: 
Between 1948 and 1954. Six on his letterhead at Homefield, Downe, Farnborough, Kent; two on letterheads of Buckston Browne Research Farm.
£120.00
Sir Arthur Keith (1866-1955), Scottish anatomist and anthropologist

A total of twelve 12mo pages and two 4to pages. All texts clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The first letter addressed to 'Mrs Norbury', and the others to 'Grace'. After a first letter of 1948, in which he complains that he is 'becoming more & more a home dweller', the correspondence continues in 1951, with Keith thanking Mrs Norbury for a gift of sugar ('Its arrival made my housekeeper Miss Holman quite elated'), and sending Lionel Norbury encouragement on his Hunterian Oration ('My heart goes out to the Orator & to his Better Half').

Autograph Letter Signed "Wm Geo. Skyring" to John Ince of the Royal Navy, of Crooms Hill, Greenwich

Author: 
William George Skyring, Naval Officer and surveyor, Captain of HM Surveying VesselS Aetna
Publication details: 
H.M. Surveying Vessel Aetna, 9 Oct. 1833.
£250.00

One page, folio, some tears on fold marks, other minor defects, text clear and complete. "I beg you to let me know by return of Post [phrase underlined] whther you desire to join the Aetna - I heard from Captn. Beaufort this morning that you do - but you have acted with so much indecision that I scarcely know whether to apply or not until more fully assured - For your Mothers sake alone I am perfctly willing to wait an answer - and if you are prepared to join - send me - / Your name at length / Date of original Entry in the Service / Name of last Ship / Rating on her.

Divorce Problems of To-day.

Author: 
E. S. P. Haynes [Edmund Sidney Pollock Haynes (1877-1949); Oriana Huxley Haynes; T. H. Huxley]
Publication details: 
London: Published by The Divorce Law Reform Union, 20, Copthall Avenue, E.C. 1910.
£45.00

8vo, 75 pp. In original green card printed wraps. Disbound. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, and with wear to wraps and damage to spine from disbinding. Dedicated, with no trace of irony, to Haynes' wife Oriana Huxley Haynes, T. H. Huxley's eldest granddaughter.

Seven Sonnets and A Psalm of Montreal.

Author: 
Samuel Butler [R. A. Streatfeild, ed.]
Publication details: 
Cambridge: Printed for Private Circulation. 1904.
£95.00

12mo, 15 pp. In original green printed wraps. Disbound. Vertical fold. On aged paper with fading to wraps and slight damage to spine from disbinding. As Streatfeild explains in his two-page introductory 'Note', five of the seven poems appear here for the first time. Uncommon. COPAC lists copies at Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oxford and the British Library.

Northern Territory Land Orders. Ballot for Order of Choice, held at Adelaide, on the 10th & 11th May, 1870. Reprinted and forwarded by the Agent-General for the information of Land Order Holders in England.

Author: 
Australian Northern Territory Land Orders, 1870 ballot
Publication details: 
[London: Agent General's Office? 1870.]
£150.00

3 pp, in a bifolium. Leaf dimensions 33.5 x 21 cm. Clear and complete. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Each page divided into four columns of small type, each column headed 'LONDON REGISTER' and containing numbers under three heads: the first being 'No. of Land Order', and the other two, jointly under 'Order of Choice', being 'Town Lots' and 'Country Sections'. Beneath heading: 'NOTE.

Facts about Fevers, Or Practical Rules for Preventing the Spread of Infection, Especially in Relation to Outbreaks of Scarlatina & Typhoid Fever.

Author: 
David Page, M.D., Edin.
Publication details: 
Kendal: Printed by Wm. Fisher, Stricklandgate. ['Netherfield, Kendal. January 1st, 1880.'
£45.00

Octavo: 15pp. Unbound and stitched, with original printed front wrap. Presentation copy, inscribed on front wrap 'With the Author's Compts | No. 4'. Good, with neat vertical fold and small glue stain to front wrap. 'There are few persons who, in the course of a lifetime manage to escape, and there is probably not a household which does escape, one or more of the numerous complaints which are popularly known as Fevers. [...] The object of this pamphlet is [...] to give shortly and to the point [...] that information about well-established Medical facts concerning these matters'.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'G V Reed') to Benjamin Harrison, Archdeacon of Maidstone.

Author: 
George Varenne Reed (1816-1886), anglican clergyman, tutor to Charles Darwin
Publication details: 
3 November 1875, 16 October 1879 and 30 July 1881; all three from Hayes Rectory, Beckenham.
£100.00

All three items are good, though lightly aged, each with a thin strip from previous mounting adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium. Letter One (12mo, 1 p). Thanking Harrison 'for the copy of your Charge' ['Prospects of peace for the Church in the Prayer Book and its rules']. He would have written the day before 'but we went to the opening of the Memorial Church at Langton yesterday'. Letter Two (12mo, 2 pp): Thanks him for 'so kindly sending me your last Charge ['The memories of departed brethren, and the sacredness of their earthly resting places'].

Typed Letter Signed to [Mary] Scharlieb, 149 Harley Street.

Author: 
Leonard Darwin
Publication details: 
24 September 1919; on letterhead of the Professional Classes War Relief Council (Incorporated).
£120.00

Soldier, policitician, economist, eugenicist (1850-1943) and son of Charles Darwin. The recipient Dame Mary Scharlieb (1845-1931) was an early woman doctor. Two pages, quarto. Good, but on slightly discoloured and lightly creased paper, with staple stains to both top left-hand corners. An interesting letter concerning the efforts of Scharlieb's Committee to 'establish a Home where the wives of professional men could be certain to obtain excellent treatment at moderate fees'.

A Darwin Symposium. Darwin, Evolution and Modern Life (The British Society for the History of Science).

Author: 
Charles Darwin (Symposium).
Publication details: 
14/03/59
£50.00

Ephemera relating to this even in the Auditorium of the Wellcome Building, including the Prospectus and application for tickets, one page, 4to; tickets for the Symposium and Buffet Lunch (2); and the Programme (speakers include J.S. Weiner, Asa Briggs, J.M. Thoday, F.E. Zeuner, etc), 4pp., 8vo, brief notes on lectures added by Nehemiah Asherson, Harley Street specialist.

Autograph Letter Signed to Lewis S. Benjamin.

Author: 
Leonard Huxley
Publication details: 
3 May 1920; 16 Bracknell Gardens, Hampstead, N.W.3, on letterhead of The Cornhill Magazine, John Murray, 50A Albemarle Street, London, W.1.
£25.00

English writer and editor (DNB), son of the biologist Thomas Henry Huxley and father of the novelist Aldous Huxley. One page, 8vo, in good condition. Docketed 'not acknowledged'. 'Having secured a clear evening on May 10th I look forward to attending the dinner of the Titmarsh Club, & beg to enclose cheque for my subscription 12/6. I do not propose to bring a guest.'

Syndicate content