FRIENDS

An interesting collection of material relating to a significant school, including thirteen items of correspondence from a notable headmaster, and four printed items, two of them scarce. Founded by Benjamin Franklin’s friend Dr John Fothergill in 1779 (see his entry in the Oxford DNB), Ackworth is the second-oldest of the seven English Quaker schools. (See Fothergill’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Franklin could ‘hardly conceive that a better man ever existed’.) Originally a co-educational boarding school, it is now a Girls’ boarding and day school.

Apart from one contribution dating from 1800, three from the 1850s and two from the 1860s, all manuscript contributions date from between 1820 and 1847. 237pp., 4to, with eight items loosely inserted (including four coloured botanical drawings on card) and three-page partial index of contributors. In contemporary black leather binding, with embossed pattern and gilt border on front board, marbled endpapers, and all edges gilt. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, in rebacked binding, worn at spine, with new label.

[8] + 53pp., 8vo, with frontispiece, and 25 plates at rear. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Stamp of the Book Centre, Friends House, Euston Road, London, on title-page. Bound, complete with printed wraps, in grey cloth binding with worn leather label, gilt, on spine. This actual book (other than print on demand) now uncommon.

The full title is: 'An Address to the Quarterly, Monthly and Preparative Meetings, and the Members thereof, composing the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in Philadelphia, By the Committee appointed at the late Yearly Meeting to have charge of the Subject of Slavery.' 12pp, 12mo. Pamphlet in (original?) plain brown wraps. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Begins with two pages of extracts from the minutes, 17 May 1839, regarding the setting up of the committee on 'the deeply interesting subject of Slavery', with reference to 'Benjamin Price, Jr. Clerk' and 'Deborah F.

See Rees's entry in the Welsh Dictionary of Biography. Printed in red and black on one side of a 12mo leaf. Aged and creased, with loss at head and a couple of short closed tears at edges. Gives price and format, with nine appreciative quotations from newspaper reviews, the first from 'Western Mail' and last from 'A Friend'. At foot of the page, crossed out in pencil: 'Printed and Published by | W. SPURRELL & SON, CARMARTHEN.' To the right of the author's name, in ink, and presumably in his hand: 'Sent to the author', and to the left, 'Few copies left.'

Despite the four years (1840-1844) Howitt spent in the colony with his brother the entomologist Godfrey Howitt (1800-1873), the present letter has nothing to do with Australia. The letter is addressed to the editors of 'The Aurora Borealis: A Literary Annual edited by Members of the Society of Friends'. This periodical was the work of a group of Quakers in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with George Atley Brumell (1800-1877) one of the founding editors. Another of those involved was Joseph Watson (1807-1874), named in the letter's address.

Unpaginated stapled pamphlet of 24pp, small 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight damage at head of spine. On the second page: 'The arrangement of this Programme has been the work of the Rev. Hugh Ross Williamson.' Programme for the day on front cover, including a talk by 'Mr Robert Speight: “Touring in Canada with Murder in the Cathedral”'. The final event, at 7pm in the Chapter House, is a performance entitled 'The Drama of our Festival years', and the text of this piece makes up 21pp of the pamphlet.

The present letter concerns the editorship of the Annual Monitor, a Quaker magazine subtitled 'Obituary of the members of the Society of Friends in Great Britain and Ireland', published between 1812 and 1919. The founding editor was William Alexander (1768-1841), and following Alexander's death 'the Editors' referred to in the letter included Sarah Backhouse and the letter's author Samuel Tuke. The recipient would appear to be the magazine's printer. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper adhering to blank second leaf of bifolium. Folded twice.

1p., foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, on aged and worn laid paper, 1.5" closed tear. A printed form which has not been completed in manuscript. At top right: 'No. 40.', and the royal coat of arms at head. A rare and interesting piece of pacifist and Quaker ephemera, and a testament to nonviolent resistance.

1p., 12mo. In good conditionl, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of stub along one edge. Reads: 'Lord Dudley Stuart presents his Compliments to the Editor of the Globe, and would feel greatly obliged by the insertion of the accompaning article in his Columns tomorrow (Saturday)'. The Association was founded in 1832 by the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell and the German lawyer Adolphus Bach.

32pp., 8vo. With two photographic plates: 'The Pageant Ground' and 'The Friends' School, Ackworth'. Stapled booklet in grey wraps with '1910 | THE ACKWORTH PAGEANT.' on cover, with illustration of two turrets. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn wraps, with rusting staples. 'Finale' ('The whole School will sing') by Dr Ernest B. Ludlam, followed by page of details of 'Incidental Music' ('specially composed by Miss Helen Bullock, I.R.A.M., A.R.C.M.'), 'Orchestra' ('Mr. R. B. Walker has kindly consented to conduct') and 'Committees'.

xiii + 297pp., with frontispiece and four plates, and six-page publishers' catalogue at end. Blocks of text have been cut out by Lucas, between pp.205 and 232, and the three leaves carrying pp.199-204 have been removed. Otherwise in good condition, in worn burgundy cloth binding, gilt. Lucas has written 'With corrections for Second Edition' at the head of the title page. (There was no second edition.) Emendations throughout in pencil and pen.

Guarantee: 1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged paper. Reads: 'Bristol 8mo 24. 1853 | I hereby guarantee to the Great Western Railway Company payment for all the tickets which may be sold for the Cheap Trip to London, on the 29th. Inst., undertaken by the promoters of the New Bedminster Temperance Hall | Robert Charleton | Orwell Villa | Cotham New Road'. Written across the page in red ink: 'Cancelled | M J Cairns'. Addressed by Charleton on reverse to 'The Manager | Great Western Railway Company'. The engraving is on a 12 x 17.5 cm piece of paper.

The six items, totalling 9pp., are in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, George H. Emmott's letter having slight wear at head. The recipient was Charles J. Holdsworth of Sunnyside, Wilmslow, Cheshire.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. A long letter, closely and neatly written, with a number of emendations suggesting that it is a draft. After a short reference to the Count's kindness to him and his friend Joseph Neave, he devotes the rest of the letter to 'the heavy trial thou has had to pass through', discussing the nature of loss with 'knowledge from my own experience, that the loss of a child is a grief into whose full depths no stranger can enter, and that words, even well-meant, when uttered at an unfit moment, pain instead of helping'.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with a 2.5 cm closed tear and slight loss at one edge causing damage to one word of text. The text is neatly written out in another hand over 14 lines. Allen's signature and other details in his hand are at the end: 'Wm. Allen | Stoke Newington near London | the 11th. of the 4th month (April) 1843'. Headed 'To my dear Friends on the Continent of Europe to whom these lines may come'.

4pp., folio. Paginated 1-4. Unbound bifolium. On aged and worn paper, with chipping to extremities and closed tears along folds. Docket title: 'The Yearly-Epistle, 1761.' Marginal subtitles include: 'Theh Salutation', 'State of the Meeting', 'Account of Sufferings', 'Account of fthe Prosperity of Truth' and 'The Conclusion'. Ends: 'Signed in and on Behalf of the Yearly-Meeting, | By William Fry, | Clerk to the Meeting this Year.' No copy in the British Library, and now scarce.

Apart from one contribution dating from 1800, three from the 1850s and two from the 1860s, all contributions date from between 1820 and 1847. 237pp., 4to, with eight items loosely inserted (including four coloured botanical drawings on card) and three-page partial index of contributors. In contemporary black leather binding, with embossed pattern and gilt border on front board, marbled endpapers, and all edges gilt. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, in rebacked binding, worn at spine, with new label.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He thanks him for his letter, and is pleased to be remembered. 'I have the pleasantest recollections of your kindness and courtesy to an obscure junior, and I look back with very pleasant feelings too to the five happy years I spent as a member of the British Museum staff.' He is sorry at the thought of the 'many honored figures' who are no longer there, but hopes 'still to find one or two who remember me'.

66pp., 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, each of the letters kept together with rusty staples. All the letters are signed 'David' and addressed to 'My Dear All'. Accompanying them is an envelope addressed in another hand to S. W. J. Tennant, Beechcote, Brands Hill Avenue, High Wycombe, and this may provide a clue to the identity of the recipients, to whom 'David' makes it clear on a couple of occasions that he is not related, signing off one letter 'from your muddle-headed friend'.

2pp., 4to. On both sides of the first leaf of a bifolium, with the reverse of the second leaf cut down by a third, and carrying a red wax seal and three postmarks, with the address by Gurney to Waddington in Rouen. After explaining that he has been away in Yorkshire, he expresses regret that 'our efforts respecting Edwd Cherry have so terminated - it is however clear that the maintenance of fhis wife and family is an overwhelming duty to him'. He has himself made payments in London, and understood that 'our Friends in Rouen were to pay for the room &c'.

12mo, 3 pp. Text clear and complete. Worn and aged, with pinholes and unobtrusive repair to closed tears. The 'kindness' Wyld has 'always shewn to the Poles' makes Stuart sure that he will attend to his recommendation of 'Captain Thadeus Grubski, one of the Polish Refugees who bears a very high character'. By employing him Wyld would 'render an essential servie to a deserving man much in need of it, and confer a favor as well on this association in general', and on Stuart in particular.

Each copy is identically printed, on a piece of paper roughly 22.5 x 19.5 cm. Title and 56 lines of text (ending 'S. F.'), within a decorative border. Three of the four have a lightly-embossed stationery crown mark in a top corner. All four with text clear and complete, and in good condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Begins 'HAVING heard thou art shortly to enter a garden enclosed, and knowing thou art at present a stranger to this garden, permit an old friend to give thee an account of it.

On a piece of green paper roughly 22.5 x 19.5 cm. Title and 56 lines of text (ending 'S. F.'), within a decorative border. Lightly-embossed stationery crown mark in top left-hand corner. Text clear and complete. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper with creasing to bottom righ-hand margin. Begins 'HAVING heard thou art shortly to enter a garden enclosed, and knowing thou art at present a stranger to this garden, permit an old friend to give thee an account of it. I have travelled every path and part thereof, and know the productions of every kind, it can possibly yield.

Dimensions roughly nineteen inches by thirteen inches. Aged and a tad grubby, but in very good condition overall. Small piece, roughly one inch square, cut away from bottom left hand corner. Government five shilling stamp in top left-hand corner.

Scottish essayist (1810-82). Two pages, 12mo. With mourning border. Good, but on discoloured paper, and with some glue staining to blank second leaf of bifoliate. Concerns the work for which Brown is remembered, 'Rab and his friends' (1859). If he is ever at Crewe he will 'certainly avail myself of Mrs. Blunt's & your very gratifying invitation. His wife is 'more delighted, I think, with your letter about "Rab" than by any other - & she has kept it - being like all good wives greedy of her husband's praise.' Signed 'J. Brown'.

12mo (leaf dimensions 13 x 9 cm): 62 pp. Folded 'Proposal' tipped in on perforated stub. Sewn into cream wraps, printed in red. Text clear and complete. Internally tight on lightly-aged paper. In worn and grubby wraps with a few ink notes on front. Index on p.ii (reverse of front wrap) gives sections (each with subsections) devoted to Sickness Department, Accident Department, Employers' Liability and Accidents to Workmen, Indemnity and Third Party Insurance, Fidelity Guarantees, and Life Department. Also lists Directors, Office-Bearers, Head Office and Branches.

See 'The club of 'Nobody's Friends' 1800-2000: a memoir on its two-hundredth anniversary' by Geoffrey Rowell (2000). Four-page bifolium. Good, on grubby, discoloured paper, with some creasing and wear at foot. Gives details of the election between 1820 and 1877 of fifty-nine Actual Members, and of eighteen Honorary Members. Includes the Rev. Charles Burney, the artist George Richmond and the publisher John Murray.

All items very good, on lightly aged paper. Four closely written and interesting communications on his writings and philosophy. LETTER ONE (16 June 1930, 2 pages, 12mo): On the question of 'that misunderstanding regarding our last visit', the rest of the month is 'booked up', but 'perhaps the postponement - I hope it is no more than that! - of our coming may not be a bad thing'. Since their last meeting he has been 'passing through a phase of extensive internal adjustment, the physical aspect of which has taken the form of very bad health'.

Quaker confectioner, social reformer and philanthropist (1839-1922). 1 page, 8vo. A little grubby and creased but in good condition overall, with the blank reverse attached to remains of another piece of paper. He thanks his correspondent for his letter and states that 'The Friends' Meeting House at Stirchley has been used for very many years by the Friendly Societies instead of the liquor shop. I believe that one society of 700 members [manuscript addition: 'the largest branch in the Midlands'] and another of 400 members have payments made in one of the rooms connected with it.