historian

An idiosyncratic letter, revealing something of his working practices, and the relations between client and bookseller in the early nineteenth century. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. From the collection of a painstaking Victorian autograph collector, who has unobtrusively repaired slight damage to a central fold. On lightly discoloured paper, with a thin neat strip from the windowpane mount adheres to the edges. The letter is signed ‘Sh.n Turner’ and the recipients are not named.

A poignant letter. See Delane’s entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, with neat thin strip from Victorian windowpane mount adhering to edges of second leaf. Folded for postage. 32 lines, closely written. Presumably with reference to his ‘Life and Death of John of Barneveld’, Motley begins: ‘My dear Delane / Just before leaving England ten days ago in search of health (a fugitive very hard to catch) I begged Murray to send you a copy of a work which was to come out almost immediately.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Good firm signature: ‘Henry Wace.’ He thanks him for his letter of 23 September, ‘drawing my attention to the passage in the paper which you kindly enclosed’. He regrets that he was ‘in Ireland at the time of the meeting of the Representative Church Committee’, but he will be ‘glad to bear in mind what you say in reference to future meetings’. From the papers of Wilfred Seymour De Winton of Haverfordwest.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium In fair condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering to the inner margin of the recto, and obscuring a few words of text. The male recipient is not named: the letter is signed ‘Agnes Strickland / Historian of the Queens of England and Queens of Scotland’. By the advice of the publisher, Daldy, she is enquiring after ‘quiet comfortable lodgings at Warwick next Monday 25th till Tuesday August 2nd during the Archaeological Meeting in your antient historical town at which I have promised to be sent’.

See his long but strangely-cagey entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. On a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Signed ‘Frederic Harrison.’ The recipient is not named. The letter begins: ‘Madam, I am obliged to you for your interesting letter[.] I do not enter an argument because it is founded on a few sentences which give a very imperfect idea of what I said on Sunday last.’ He does not dispute many of her assertions and, as for ‘the usefulness of larger landlords’, he has ‘repeatedly urged it in my addresses’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 25 March [no year]; 12 St James’s Place [London]. 3pp, 12mo. On a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip cut from top of first leaf (not affecting text). Signed ‘A W Kinglake’. The recipient is not named. Presumably writing during his period as Member of Parliament for Bridgewater, between 1857 and 1869, he begins ‘My dear Sir / I shall make a pint of being present at the discussion of the Bill which threatens to make Charities liable to local assessment’.

An interesting letter, in which a knowledgeable contemporary gives an extremely critical opinion of Victorian restoration as it pertains to churches in Wales. Freeman’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes how in his youth he had contemplated a career as an architect, and as a historian he showed ‘an interest in field archaeology and architecture, with the ability to sketch buildings and their features’. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Signed ‘Edward A Freeman’.

The material collected here is perhaps unique: it is not clear whether any material relating to Macqueen-Pope’s BBC broadcasts has survived elsewhere. It is hard to overestimate the significance of ‘Popie’ to the history of the London stage. Other items from among his papers offered seperately attest to the regard in which he was held by both actors and those behind the scenes, as the foremost chronicler of a cherished era that was quickly passing into oblivion.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item was probably written around the time of his 1904 edition of the diary of Sir John Moore. 3pp, 12mo Thirty-three lines of text on bifolium of grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. Annotated in red ink at head of first page: ‘Sir Frederick Maurice on Sir John Moore (HLO had sent him a copy of a letter of Sir J. Moore, fr. among the family Autographs.)' Addressed to ‘Oldham’ and signed ‘F. Maurice’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. Nine lines. In good condition, on lightly aged grey paper. Folded once. Addressed to ‘Dear Sir’, and signed ‘J R Seeley’. He states that ‘it will be quite impossible for me to undertake the article Colonies for the Encyclopaedia of Messrs Chambers, as the time you allow for the preparation of it is altogether too short’.

On one side of 19 x 9 cm slip of paper with Osterley Park letterhead with her crested monogram in gold and black. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Somewhat shaky and curiously-antiquated signature. Typed note in capitals. One word and a few minor corrections to text in autograph. Reads: ‘May 24 Wednesday / My dear Jim / I am here at the receipt of custom - will you come & when? Come to dine & sleep - or stay.

A prescient note regarding his projected history of the Glorious Revolution, in which Mackintosh expresses the desire to ‘leave the ground somewhat more clear to a successor of greater talents’. And this is indeed what he did: his history was not published during his lifetime, but his voluminous notes proved invaluable to Thomas Babington Macaulay in writing his great history. See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 2pp., 12mo. Twenty-four lines of text. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper, with short closed tear to one edge. Signed ‘James Mackintosh’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Begins: ‘Dear Curzon, / I have sent, with great pleasure, a fiver to the Literary Fund in honour of your chairmanship; but not [last word underlined] as a successful man of letters.’ He explains that had he been dependant on his books for a livelihood, he would ‘long ago have starved, and, by the Grace of the present Government, I may yet be a burden to the Royal Literary Fund.’ Curzon has minuted the letter at the head of the first page: ‘Hon J Fortescue £5’.

In addition to the entry for Prothero in the Oxford DNB, see those of H. W. C. Davis (1874-1928) and H. W. V. Temperley (1879-1939), which reveal the interest all three had in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Both items in good condition, lightly aged. Each folded once. Both addressed to 'Davis'. ONE: 7 November [1921]. 4pp, 12mo. Dictated, and entirely (including signature) in the hand of an amanuensis.

See Oman’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Each letter 1p, 12mo. Each folded once. All three in good condition, lightly aged. The correspondence concerns Harlow’s proposal, according to the letter of 2 June 1937, ‘that All Souls College should present to the Rhodes House Library the comparatively few yearly numbers of the Cape Parliamentary proceedings 1875-1910 which are not already in either the Bodleian or the Rhodes House shelves - keeping for the College the residuence, a broken set of about 200 volumes’.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper, with patches of lighter and darker discolouration from varying exposure to sunlight. Good firm signature, enclosed in circular flourish: ‘Dr Arnost Kraus’. See image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The valediction of a typed letter, on slip of paper, 8.5 x 3.5 cm. Somewhat creased, and with two thin printed slips ‘DIRECTOR | R. H. TAWNEY, B.A.’ and ‘London School of Economics’) laid down near the signature (‘R H Tawney’), above which is typed ‘Yours very sincerely,’.

2pp, 4to. 34 lines of closely-written text. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Addressed to ‘Mr. Poole’. After expressing a hope that they will be meeting Poole now that they are both on the council of the Royal Historical Society, he explains that he is writing in relation to his redrafting of ‘the early part of Percy for the Complete Peerage’, noting that ‘the present draft is certainly alarming’. He is taking it ‘down to 1245’ and finds it ‘full of snags’. He has ‘just finished a draft of Jocelin, Agnes de Percy’s husband’, and L. C.

The recipient is Lady Ann Cullum (1807-1875), widow of Sir Thomas Gery Cullum (1777-1855) of Hardwick House, Bury St Edmunds. 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The salutation of the letter ('My dear Lady Cullum') is in English, the rest in French. Written at a turbulent period in Guizot's life, following the Revolution in 1848, with the overthrow of the monarchy and its ministry of which he himself was head.

Two pages, 8vo, very good condition, with a few holograph corrections. He thanks Lord Elibank for the loan of pamphlets, naming the one on Bismarck that he is returning. He agrees with most of what Elibank says about the Armada, finding the key question whether there was 'a strike of not'. He continues, With regard to Lucy Walter. I have indeed read the late Lord George Scott's book and discovered the facts to which you refer. It seemed to me a delicate subject on which to write and this is the reason why I answered the question in such a general manner.

Both letters annotated in pencil in contemporary hand 'To Townsend Warner Historian'. (Warner was a history master and head of the ‘modern side’ at Harrow School, and co-editor of one of the most popular British history textbooks of the period. His only child was the novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner.) Both letters in good condition, each with pin hole from former attachment.

2pp, 12mo. On paper with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Replying to a letter of condolence from Mrs Clifford, she writes that she has been 'a good deal stunned with the shock & am still overwhelmed with a mass of unanswered letters. The blow fell, as you know, with absolute suddenness - no illness & no warning. After a day spent as usual in work, & a walk with me in the afternoon, my husband went to bed that last night apparently perfectly well, & I awoke next morning to find him gone.

On 18 x 9 cm piece of paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Laid down on part of leaf from album. In response to a request for an autograph he has written at the head of the page: 'Con molti saluti | Pasquale Villari'. No other writing.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The recipient is not named, but the conclusion of the letter makes it clear it is Poole. Written in a shaky hand a little over a year before Pattison's death. The context of the letter makes clear that as a married man, Poole is attempting to take advantage of the previous year's revision of the Oxford college statutes enjoining celibacy. It begins: 'Dear Sir | You seem to be under a misapprehension as to the historical lectureship for which you wish to become a candidate.

4pp, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with small seal in red wax and postmark, to 'Revd. Charles Merivale | St John's College | Cambridge'. A long letter, with the four pages of text followed by a long postscript at the head of the first page, continuing to the last.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. From the celebrated manuscript collection of Richard Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton). The recipient is not named. Reads: 'My dear Sir/ | I have no doubt but that any statement which you may make to the Speaker will be in strict accordance with the facts; and I shall be always ready to bear testimony to your services during your connection with me - but for that very reason, I should not wish to impute [last word underlined three times] any document which you may have to present to him. Yrs ever faithfully | Francis Palgrave'.

On one side of a 12 x 13 cm piece of paper with the corners cut away to make a irregular octagon shape. In fair condition, lightly aged. Laid down on part of leaf from album. Reads: 'Madame | Voici un billet pour la Séance Royale de demain. Je suis charmé d'avoir pu me le procurer puisque vous le desiriez. | Agréez, je vous prie, Madame, l'hommage de mon respect | Guizot | Dime. Juin 16.' At bottom left, in a contemporary hand: '184'.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering to reverse of blank second leaf of bifolium. The subject is an item acquired by Milnes for his celebrated collection of manuscripts, which Milnes considered the present letter worthy of joining. The letter begins: 'My dear Milnes | Of the paper you have sent me, the first paragraph about Queen Caroline & the last about Sir Robert Walpole have already appeared, & you will find them in my Edition.

For information on the campaign to save the Rokeby Venus for the nation, see Charles Saumarez Smith, 'The Battle for Venus', Spectator, 10 November 2003. 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. With one fold.

1p, 12mo. Leaf of lightly-browned and creased aged paper, with closed tears to one edge. The two men are clearly writing in response to requests for autographs. Marchetti has written out four bars – slightly affected at end by closed tear – from what he states is 'Ruy Blas Preludio'. Beneath this he signs, in a firm attractive hand, 'F Marchetti'. At the head he dates: 'Roma 14 9bre 92'.