JOHN

All three items in good condition, with both letters lightly-creased at the foot. ONE: TLS. Signed 'John Mortimer'. 11 November 1995. 1p, 8vo. He was delighted to receive Fry's letter and would 'like to visit a writing group with which you're connected. If I'm free on May 10th I'll come. I'm just waiting to hear about a trip to Florida – so do let the committee write to me. I'll know by then more clearly what I'm doing.' TWO: TLS. Signed 'John', with Mortimer deleting the typed word 'sincerely'. 1 March 1997. 1p, 8vo. He found it 'a delight' to hear Fry's 'lecture at the RSL'.

An interesting document relative to London social history, and a nice piece of Dickensiana. George Johnson is said to have established his celebrated restaurant Johnson's Alamode Beef House at 21 Clare Court, Drury Lane, in the 1780s, although the present letter states that it was licensed around 1805 . In 1824 a twelve-year-old Charles Dickens – employed in a nearby blacking warehouse as a result of his father's imprisionment for debt – himself experienced an incident which he later made use of in 'David Copperfield'.

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.

1p, 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded once. 'I was hoping you would make a suggestion about price. I had at first thought of asking £5 for each copy, but if you would throw in that copy of my father's book (my own is in pieces) I suggest £12 for the three. Of course I want you to make your profit.' He ends by asking if Hancox would like the books signed.

Pepys's house at Brampton is the subject of an article by Chris Partridge in the Observer, 30 May 2004, which states that 'The first earl, Edward Montagu, was Pepys's cousin and patron, giving him the political clout to further his career in the Navy Office. In 1927 the then earl gave the Pepys House Trust a 100-year lease at a peppercorn rent, and it has been open to the public ever since. All three items in good condition, lightly aged. Drinkwater's second letter and Chappell's draft reply pinned to one another. ONE: Drinkwater to Chappell, 31 May 1933. TLS. 2pp, 4to.

For information on the recipient the physician William Frederick Cleveland (1823-1898), see his obituary, BMJ, 3 December 1898. ONE: 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. He begins by stating that he 'constantly' sees 'patients in London for the ordinary Consultation Fee of 2 Gs.' Because of the 'lamented death of a relative at a distance', Conolly is 'unable to name an earlier time for having the pleasure to meet you than Monday next, the 21st., at 3 o'Clock'. TWO: 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium on grey paper, with mourning border.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to reverse of second leaf. The recipient is not identified. Begins: 'My Dear Sir, | I would have had much pleasure in accepting your invitation, & meeting Professor Liebig [Justus von Liebig (1803-1873), German chemist], but while you are enjoying yourselves, I expect to be a hundred miles at least on my way to Scotland in the Royal yacht.' He hopes to be able to make Liebig's acquaintance on his return.

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to the blank reverse. Folded twice.Unsigned. Eighteen line typescript with a number of autograph emendations.He begins by thanking 'Dr Osler' for the letter he has sent containing a request made not only in his own name, but also in those of the American neurologists Silas Weir Mitchell (1829-1914) and James Jacksom Putnam (1846-1918), and which Jackson has 'carefully considered'. He continues: 'Many of my papers, all the old ones, are very old fashioned and are not worthy of reprint.

2pp, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper adhering to the reverse of the second leaf, which is addressed, with postmarks, 'To | Doctor Roget M.D. | Bernard Street | London -'. See the entries on Sutton, Roget and Marcet in the Oxford DNB. The letter concerns a misunderstanding between Sutton and Marcet. (Two of Sutton's letters to Marcet with a copy of a reply by Marcet are offered together separately elsewhere.) The present letter is 2pp, 4to. Bifolium.

See the entries on Harrison and Marcet in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and worn, and folded twice, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to the reverse. Marcet is not identified as the recipient, but the item comes from his papers. It relates to an election to a post at Guy's Hospital, with reference to Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869), author of 'Roget's Thesaurus', whose father came from Geneva. The letter is written in a difficult hand, and the following transcriptions are tentative.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to one edge. Begins: 'Samuel Tuke having been disappointed of an opportunity of sending by a private hand a parcel to his friend Dr Max. Jacobi will be much obliged to J. Churchill to send to him four copies of the translation of his work'.

See the entries on Harrison and Marcet in the Oxford DNB. Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn, and each folded twice. Harrison's letter with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to the reverse. Marcet is only identified in pencil annotations to the letters, but the details given by the writer of his education accord with Marcet's.

The recipient of the present letter is not named, but it is the scientific bookseller and publisher John Nourse (1705-1780), who the following year would published the 'Lectures' referred to in the letter: 'An Introduction to Physiology, being A Course of Lectures upon The most important Parts of the Animal Oeconomy', 'Printed for J. Nourse at the Lamb opposite Katherine-Street in the Strand.

For Davis see Munk's Roll, the Gentleman's Magazine for January 1825, and I. S. L. Loudon's paper 'John Bunnell Davis and the Universal Dispensary for Children' (BMJ, 5 May 1979). The Universal Dispensary for Children, founded by Davis in 1816 and open to the under-twelves, was as Loudon points out 'the first major institution in England devoted solely to the care of sick children, 35 years before the first children's hospital in Liverpool, and 36 before Great Ormond Street'.

After a twelve-year 'amitié amoureuse' with Phillips, Violet Trefusis died in 1972, appointing him her literary executor and leaving him her last home, La Tour de Saint Loup. The present item – only one other copy of which has been traced – is from a collection of Phillips's papers amassed by his friend Barbara Reed, containing pamphlets privately printed by him between 2009 and 2014.

After a twelve-year 'amitié amoureuse' with Phillips, Violet Trefusis died in 1972, appointing him her literary executor and leaving him her last home, La Tour de Saint Loup. The present item – no other copy of which has been traced – is from a collection of Phillips's papers amassed by his friend Barbara Reed, containing pamphlets privately printed by him between 2009 and 2014.

After a twelve-year 'amitié amoureuse' with Phillips, Violet Trefusis died in 1972, appointing him her literary executor and leaving him her last home, La Tour de Saint Loup. The present item – only one other copy of which has been traced – is from a collection of Phillips's papers amassed by his friend Barbara Reed, containing pamphlets privately printed by him between 2009 and 2014.

After a twelve-year 'amitié amoureuse' with Phillips, Violet Trefusis (a relation of Camilla Parker-Bowles, both being members of the Keppel family) died in 1972, appointing him her literary executor and leaving him her last home, La Tour de Saint Loup. The present item – no other copy of which has been traced – is from a collection of Phillips's papers amassed by his friend Barbara Reed, containing pamphlets privately printed by him between 2009 and 2014.

For information on the recipient William Frederick Cleveland (1823-1898), see his obituary, BMJ, 3 December 1898. 2pp, 1p, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to reverse of second leaf. The note reads: 'My dear Cleveland | I will be at your house tomorrow Friday at about ½ past 4 – I am | Yours faithfully | John Hilton'. From the distinguished autograph collection of the psychiatrist Richard Alfred Hunter (1923-1981), whose collection of 7000 works relating to psychiatry is now in Cambridge University Library.

See Manning's entry in Munk's Roll. The recipient was father of 'Broke of the Shannon', the naval hero Admiral Sir Philip Bowes Vere Broke (1776-1841). 1p, foolscap 8vo. On aged and worn paper, with tide staining at one edge, which is repaired with archival tape, and thin strip of paper from mount on the blank reverse. Addressed at foot to 'Ph: B: Broke Esqr: | Broke's Hall | Near Ipswich'.

For information on the recipient William Frederick Cleveland (1823-1898), see his obituary, BMJ, 3 December 1898. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. He thanks him for his 'kind note' concerning 'Mr. Kempshalls death', and continues: 'I trust that we may now hope to escape Cholera as an Epidemic, although it has been shew[ing] a marked tendency to advance in some districts hitherto exempt – during the last few days'.

For information on the recipient William Frederick Cleveland, see his obituary, BMJ, 3 December 1898. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium on grey paper. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. He explains that he is enclosing a letter to which he replied late as he was out of town, giving a time that day which 'would suit me, if it would be convenient to you'. He 'begged' the writers of the letter to let Cleveland know.

Frost's eventful career (patronised by royalty and blackballed by the Royal Society) is described in his entry in the Oxford DNB, in which he is described as a 'medical entrepreneur'. The letter is written from the premises in which Frost lived from 1824 to 1830, as Secretary to the Royal Humane Society. The recipient Thomas Gibbs (1771-1849), seedsman and nurseryman, of Ampthill and Brompton Lodge, Old Brompton, was the father of the agriculturalist and horticulturalist Sir Benjamin Thomas Brandreth-Gibbs (1821-1885). See his obituary in the Farmer's Magazine, March 1849. 3pp, 4to. Bifolium.

Lettsom's entry in the Oxford DNB erroneously states that his son John Miers Lettsom, M.D., 'a physician of promise', died in 1799. For the true details, see Gentleman's Magazine, January 1800. 1p, 8vo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn, with thin strip of paper adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf, which is addressed, with fragment of seal in black wax, to 'Mr Charles Taylor | 134 | Cheapside'. The recipient may well be Charles Taylor (d.1816), physician, originally a Manchester calico printer and dyer, who later became Secretary of the Society of Arts, London.

The recipient is Charles Taylor (d.1816), physician, originally a Manchester calico printer and dyer, who later became Secretary of the Society of Arts, London. 1p, 8vo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to reverse of second leaf, which is addressed, with postmarks to 'Dr. Taylor | Principal Secretary | to the Society of Arts &c | Adelphi'. Folded four times. Reads: 'Dear Doctor | I have this day proposed your name to the Medical Society of London.

For Millingen, his brother the archaeologist James Millingen (1774-1845), James's son Julius Michael Millingen (1800-1878), the antiquary and diplomat William Richard Hamilton (1777-1859), and the recipient the editor of the Literary Gazette William Jerdan (1782-1869), see the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount attached to the reverse of the second leaf, which is endorsed by Jerdan ('1847 | Dr Millingen | death of his brother in No 1501 –'), and has attached to it a printed slip with a biographical note.

For the background to this letter see the section on 'Lazarettos and the Plague' in C. C. Booth's 'John Haygarth, FRS (1740-1827): A Physician of the Enlightenment' (2005). The penal reformer John Howard published his 'Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe' in 1789, and the letter to Howard referred to by Haygarth in the present item was one in which Haygarth set forth his view on the subject, dated 30 May 1789.

1p, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and worn, with thin strip from mount adhering to the reverse of the second leaf, which is addressed, with two postmarks (one 'STOKE NEWINGTON') to 'Mr Spottiswoode | New Street | Shoe Lane'. Aikin's 'Universal Biography' had begun appearing in 1799, and the letter concerns the ninth volume, which was published in 1814.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Messs. Cadell & Davies'. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to one edge. An interesting document, providing an insight into the world of Georgian publishing. Without preamble or salutation, reads: 'This work, in point of style, composition, & sentiment – everything, in short, in which the writer's merit is concerned, is much below mediocrity. But whether its subject, & the side it takes in party, might not at the present moment gain it some public favour, is what I cannot answer.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper adhering to blank reverse. Reads: 'Dear Mr Rivington | I am sorry they dont give me any tickets for the Surgical Aid Socy. I am only ornamental | Yours truly | R. G. Godlee'. From the distinguished autograph collection of the psychiatrist Richard Alfred Hunter (1923-1981), whose collection of 7000 works relating to psychiatry is now in Cambridge University Library.