EDWARDIAN

An interesting letter, dealings with the practicalities of the artist’s profession in late Victorian/Edwardian England. Hemy was regarded as the leading English marine artist of his generation, with his paintings often selling for in excess of a thousand pounds. With the proceeds he built a grand house which he named Churchfield in Falmouth. 2pp, 16mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice. The recipient - presumably his agent - is not named and there is no salutation. Signed ‘C. Napier Hemy.’ Begins: ‘Thanks for cheque enclosed. for which I send over page formal receipt.

Three pieces of ephemera from a golden period of English children’s book illustration. All three items printed on shiny paper, and all worn and discoloured. ONE: ‘Hodder & Stoughton’s Christmas List’, with advertisement for Edmund Dulac’s edition of A. T. Quiller-Couch’s ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ on cover. 20pp, folio. With rusting staples. Folded once. Undated, but containing items published in 1910, apart from the cover item, which appears to have been published in 1912.

On the yellow-paper pastedown of the detached front cover of an 8vo book. Reads: ‘Basil Lubbock. / 1906.’ with underlining. The cover is blue cloth, with an illustration of a sailing ship in a storm embossed in gilt at the centre. The signature and surrounding area are in good condition. The lower part of the board is damp stained, with wear and discoloration to the blue cover.

Lightly-inked signature 'Basil Lubbock' on recto of 8vo leaf of cream paper, clearly the ownership inscription, beneath signature of 'J Bailey', on a front free endpaper extracted from a volume. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased.

See the entries on Thornycroft and Allingham in the Oxford DNB. The letterhead is also of interest: 'One-Oak' is a notable example of the work of the Arts and Crafts architect A. H. Mackmurdo. 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with traces of mount adhering to blank reverse. Folded twice. Initial ?H? of signature slightly smidged. Reads: ?Dear Mrs Allingham / I have only [?] got your note. / I enclose two cards for RA. Hoping to see you there / Yours very sincerely / Hamo Thornycroft?. See Image.

See the entries for Grenfell and Ross in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium of light-grey paper. In fair condition, aged and spotted. Folded once for postage. The identity of the recipient is unclear, but the item derives from the papers of Sir David Ross [W. D. Ross], Scottish philosopher and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (see the Oxford DNB).

A set of six scarce pieces of unusual Dickensiana. Difficult to date: the nature of the illustrations (printed in negative) gives them a modernist feel, but their purpose would place them before the 1920s. The six items, printed in black on pieces of grey-white card, range in size from 12 x 16.5 cm (‘SAM WELLER.’) to 4.5 x 6 cm (‘JOB TROTTER’). In good condition, lightly aged. Four of the six have soot stains on their blank reverses, presumably caused by the hot lantern.

A scarce piece of regimental ephemera: no copies found on JISC or WorldCat. 32pp, 16mo. Stitched into grey paper wraps, with the regiment’s Minerva and Mars device and the title printed on the cover, and with ‘For Private Circulation only’ at bottom left. Inscribed at top right ‘J W Mackay’. (For James Waite Mackay (fl.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The three TLsS (Items One to Three), each signed ‘Lilian Baylis’, are all 1p, 4to. They are in fair condition, creased and lightly aged, with Item Three having two punch holes for a binder. The portrait postcard is in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: TLS, 15 November 1921. Addressed to ‘Miss Ingham’. ‘I do hope you will have a big success with the enclosed card.

An attractive piece of juvenile ephemera, printed in black on one side of a piece of 23.5 x 36.5 cm wove paper. In good condition, folded twice. The document is excessively scarce, no other copy having been traced, and little has been learnt about the advertiser. In 1919 Punch carried an advertisement for ‘Punch and Judy, Conjuring, Ventriloquism, &c.’ from ‘James Portland, the Conjuror and Children’s Entertainer’. Four years later the ‘Model Engineer’ carried several advertisements from Portland as a supplier of ebonite.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Both letters are in good condition, lightly aged, and both folded once. Both addressed to ‘Mrs Sturgis’, and both signed ‘R B Haldane’. The year in both cases is in the first decade of the twentieth century, but the last digit is hard to decipher. ONE: 27 January [1901?]. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. He fears that he will not reach Leatherhead (where the Sturgis had a country house) before ‘the late train after dinner on Sat. the 21st.’ He plans to ‘send down a servant ahead’, and himself ‘come at bedtime’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 9.5 x 10 cm piece of paper, laid down on 11 cm square piece of card. In good condition, lightly browned and aged. The letterhead is printed in red. The inscription reads ?Faithfully yours / Solomon J Solomon?.

A nice piece of Edwardian trade ephemera. It would appear that W. B. Corsets were running a franchise scheme, providing suppliers with their catalogue and printing the franchisee's name on the back cover: little is to be discovered about either firm. No other copy traced. Hard to date: the corsets have an Edwardian feel, but some features of the illustrations may suggest a slightly later date. A 12mo stapled pamphlet, consisting of 20 pages on ten leaves of shiny paper: unnumbered front and back leaves, and pages on central eight leaves numbered 1-16.

See his entry, and that of his brother, in the Oxford DNB. On one side of a 14 x 9 cm printed postcard. No stamp or address, the side that should carry them being blank. The other side carries an illustration of a British soldier in khaki firging a cannon behind a wall, as another soldier stands to attention beside a nearby flagpole, from which a large Union Jack flies, pited in red and blue. At the head of the saide is a snatch of musical notation, to the words ‘Under the British Flag well fight our way to glory’.

Wyndham’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that the family estate was ‘some 4000 acres in Wiltshire’. Milford (1829-1913) was his rector at East Knoyle, and the letters inform him about arrangements for the funeral of Wyndham’s father Percy Scawen Wyndham (1835-1911). Both items in good condition, lightly aged, and folded for postage. Each addressed to ‘My dear Canon Milford’ and signed ‘George Wyndham.’ ONE: 14 March 1911. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Begins: ‘I have found a written permission from my Father to have the Funeral - committal to the erth - where I think best.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged paper with slight nicks to one edge. Folded four times. A good, firm signature, as ‘Librarian of the Academy’, to a printed form completed in another hand, headed with a reproduction of the Academy’s seal. Reads (manuscript text in square brackets): ‘DUBLIN, [November 10] 19[09] / SIR [Madam] / I AM DIRECTED BY THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY TO THANK HYOU FOR THE UNDERMENTIONED DONATION, AND TO ASSURE YOU THAT THE ACADEMY APPRECIATES THIS MARK OF CONSIDERATION.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightl aged. Folded once for postage. The recipient is not named, but the letter has at its head the date stamp of the Royal Society of Arts, London, and is docketed by Wood. Signed ?H. Brereton Baker?. He agrees to give ?the three Cantor lectures as you suggest, provided they can begin after the 3rd. week in February?. He gives the subject as ?Catalysis in its scientific and industrial aspects?. A pencil note at the foot gives dates for the lectures as ?Mch 16, 23, 30?.

3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Strip of paper from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded once for postage. He thanks him ?for kind lines with the information? (regarding his biography of Emma, Lady Hamilton). The mistake his recipient points out, regarding ?the Douglas case?, will be ?put right in any subsequent edn.? Regarding ?the Duchess & Lady H?s marriage?, he has ?now put it more hypothetically?, but he considers ?the inference justified by Lady H?s letter (Morison M.S.

See the entries of members of her extraordinary family in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage, and accompanied by envelope with stamps and 1950 Edinburgh postmark, addressed by her to ‘Adam Dickson Esq. Junior / 28 Comely Bank Grove | Edinburgh’. Signed ‘Winifred Peck’. Responding to an autograph hunter, she writes: ‘Dear Sir, / How kind of you to like to [sic] my books & to say so.

See her entry and his in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Signed ‘Ruby’. Begins: ‘Popie, darling, / What are we coming to? / You - as a pierrot with the “Fol-de-Rols”! / BBC/TV must be mad not to let you do a talk on the St. James’s. / But after the Gaiety fiasco I can believe anything of them.

See her entry and his in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and slightly creased at extremities. Addressed to ‘My Dear Mr. MacQueen Pope’ and signed (in block capitals) ‘BERTA RUCK’.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded for postage. Reads: ‘Dear Mr Keary, / Enclosed is for 1000th Number of Pearson’s Weekly. It is not what I wanted to do for you, but illness and other interruptions have spoiled my work for the last two months. So please reject if necessary. / Faithfully yours / J. J. Bell’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. At his death in 1917, H. T. Beresford-Hope was Third Secretary at the British Legation at Athens; and he left the enormous sum of £67,167. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘My dear Beresford-Hope’ and signed ‘H. Fisher’. Twenty-eight lines of text. He begins a gently teasing letter by stating that he is delighted to hear of Beresford-Hope’s ‘triumph in the Diplomatic Service examination’, his wife joining him in sending congratulations.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Signed 'Sidney Colvin'. The recipient is not named, but is addressed as ‘Dear Madam’. The letter begins: ‘I am afraid I made a mistake yesterday, in addressing you as E. M. Sharpe Esqr. - but it was the address of the Natural History Museum which misled me.’ In order to make sure this time, he is addressing the present letter ‘to the care of Mr.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with strip of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr Fagan’ and signed ‘Sidney Colvin’. He begins by informing him that of the ‘various volumes and packets of prints’ he has been good enough to send, ‘the best is that containing portraits engraved by Ficquet, Savard, & [Marchay de Glury?]. But even of these, we have almost all in the collections here already: so that it will not be worth while to break up the albums by extracting any for the museum’.

The Bengal Nagpur Railway Company was formed in 1887 and continued until 1952, when it merged with the East Indian Railway Company to form the Eastern Railway. The present item is 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. Printed in small type, in double column. In good condition, lightly aged, with one central vertical fold. Excessively scarce: no other copy traced, either on WorldCat, JISC, or ViaLibri.. The business of the meeting includes ‘receiving the Directors’ Report and Audited Statements of Accounts and Balance Sheet to 30th June, 1906, and the Auditors’ Report thereon’.

Five galley-proofs of articles written during the high-point of the Raj by leading Victorian journalist in India W. Martin Wood (editor of the Times of India, founder and editor of the Bombay Review). Ephemeral items, creased and worn, but with text clear and entire. ONE: Headed ‘ALLEN’S INDIAN MAIL / THE LATE MR. EDWARD BROOME, C.E. / Mr. M. Martin Wood writes to us as follows: -’. Sixty-two lines in small print follow, beginning: ‘Some little time back your “Domestic Occurrences” contained the name of Mr.

Two galley-proofs of articles by leading Victorian journalist in India W. Martin Wood (editor of the Times of India, founder and editor of the Bombay Review). Ephemeral items, creased and worn, but with text clear and entire. ONE: Headed ‘ALLEN’S INDIAN MAIL / THE LATE MR. EDWARD BROOME, C.E. / Mr. M. Martin Wood writes to us as follows: -’. Sixty-two lines in small print follow, beginning: ‘Some little time back your “Domestic Occurrences” contained the name of Mr. Edward Broome, Civil Engineer, as having died at Southport, something under 60 years of age.

Two pieces of uncommon Edwardian bibliographical ephemera. Both items worn and aged, and the catalogue somewhat dogeared. Both with some pencil marking. ONE (1909 catalogue): 32pp, 12mo. Drophead title on first page: ‘Macmillan’s Three-and-Sixpenny Library of Books by Popular Authors / Crown 8vo.’ The first two pages carry a description of the series, which ‘comprises over four hundred volumes in various departments of Literature. Prominent among them is a new and attractive edition of The Works of Thackeray, issued under the editorship of Mr. Lewis Melville.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, the blank second leaf of which has been glued to the first. There are also a number of vertical creases. Folded once for postage. Reads: ‘Mrs Hodgson Burnett has much pleasure in accepting Mrs Macheles kind invitation for Tuesday July 12th / 23 Weymouth Street / Portland Place’. See Image.