NINETEENTH

On slip of grey paper, roughly 4 x 13.5 cm. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of paper from mount adhering to the blank reverse. With two unobtrusive vertical fold lines. Reads: 'Kindest regards | Yours sincerely | Edward Lear.'

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and grubby, with three folds. The letter reads: 'Dear Streatfield | it is no use sending me the Score of the Symphony here at present, as I am too busy to look at it properly, besides which, all my Programmes are definitely fixed till the end of the season, but if you will ask Mr. Hinton to send it to me to Hamilton Terrace (54, not 73) after Feby., when I shall be back in town, I shall be pleased to look through it.'

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of mount adhering to one edge, folded several times. 'Mrs. Macready' in a contemporary hand at the head of the page. Written in a neat hand the letter reads: 'Mrs. Macready presents her compliments to Mr. Kenneth, - any Letters directed to Mr. Macready Theatre Royal Birmingham will find Mr. Macready until Saturday Morng. 24th Inst.'

Four pages, 4to, bifolium, some foxing but mainly good condition.The work was hugely popular, going through numerous editions between 1894 and 1907. The title is (deliberately) misleading. The work is an exploration of theological rather than biological questions, with the author stating that 'The How, Why, and Wherefore have not received the full amount of profound and reverent study that the ineffably intrinsic importance of the subject to ourselves warrants.' Lewis Carroll had a copy in his library.

3pp, foolscap 8vo. On laid paper with watermark: 'GOLDING | & | SNELGROVE | 1811'. Aged and worn, with closed tears along folds, but with text complete and clear. The document includes two passages written in red ink which has faded but is still legible. The background to the present letter is given in Lambert's entry in the Oxford DNB: 'On 4 June 1813 Lambert was promoted major-general, and was appointed to a brigade of the 6th division. […] Having been sent to America, he joined the army under Sir Edward Pakenham below New Orleans on 6 January 1815, with the 7th and 43rd foot regiments.

Lower half of a 4to leaf. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering. Written in old-fashioned, and not entirely grammatical, French, the text reads: '[…] de la nation Polonoise a la quelle S. M. donneroit le garanties necessaires, sous le respect de la stabilité des droits qu'elle réclame et qui sont fondés sur deux besoins absolus: la religion e le [sic] liberté. | A greez M. le M. l'assurance de plus [?] consideration avec la quelle je suis &c Varsovie 12 Mars 1831. | Skygnecki | Monsieur le Comte | Le Genenral Lt.

A highly interesting letter from a leading Victorian dramatic critic (Thomas describes himself in the letter as 'For five & twenty years [...] theatrical critic of the Daily news & the Graphic', who has 'served under at least thirteen editors') to a leading actor-manager (Hare was knighted in 1907), on the subject of alleged editorial pressure on Fleet Street's theatre critics. 4pp, 8vo. On four leaves. Aged and worn, but with text complete and clear.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. Addressed to 'J. H. Lorrimer [sic] Esq'. He begins emphatically: 'Dear Lorrimer [sic] | I wish to state clearly, that I do not Exhibit in the Paris Exn. next year and that you are not to try to get any Picture of mine to send there.!!! | I think it necessary to write this, after yesterday's over-much talk on my part I think.

Eleven volumes, 1890-1900, each of around 50pp, 16mo. Uniform (but for a few decorative features) in grey printed wraps. The sixth annual report (November 1891) has an attractive frontispiece illustration of 'Proposed New Buildings, when completed'; the seventh (December 1892) has two plates showing the interior of the mission building 'when used as church' and 'when used as hall'. The other volumes each have frontispiece maps of the environs of the 'Mission Hall' and 'Missioners' House'.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with small trace of glue from mount at foot. Folded twice. Reads: 'Dear Madam | I have much pleasure in complying with your request & beg to remain | Yours faithfully | Charlotte H Sainton Dolby'. See her entry in the Oxford DNB.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, the blank reverse of the second leaf laid down on a leaf removed from an album. Written in a hurried hand, with the meaning unclear in parts. The letter would appear to discuss the republican and Carlist insurrections against Amadeo I, the only King of Spain from the House of Savoy, who replaced the deposed Isabella II in 1870, and reigned until 1873. Froude begins by explaining that his silence has been due to the fact that he has been 'out of town for the Summer'.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He sends her belated thanks for her 'kind compliance with Mrs. Caird's request'. His wife has been very ill since he received her letter, but he believes that 'the critical stage of the disease is fairly over; & besides her illness, the death of an old servant, has left me little time to attend to other engagements'. Mrs Caird is 'much gratified' that Marshall is 'to share in management of her stall'.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Folded twice. After thanking him for sending 'the card with Shelley's philosophic verse', he continues: 'I am sorry that you have so sad a memory connected with 1883 - the year gets with me sadder for the loss of friends and with hopes dashed too'. Nevertheless he looks forward, and hopes 'for pleasure in useful work for both of us'.

Lower half of a 4to leaf. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering. Written in old-fashioned, and not entirely grammatical, French, the text reads: '[…] de la nation Polonoise a la quelle S. M. donneroit le garanties necessaires, sous le respect de la stabilité des droits qu'elle réclame et qui sont fondés sur deux besoins absolus: la religion e le [sic] liberté. | A greez M. le M. l'assurance de plus [?] consideration avec la quelle je suis &c Varsovie 12 Mars 1831. | Skygnecki | Monsieur le Comte | Le Genenral Lt.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. Folded once.

1p., foolscap 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. On bifolium, folded twice into the customary packet, which is endorsed on the reverse of the second leaf: 'Dated 14th. June 1869. | The Right Honorable Lord Penrhyn | to | David Glynne Griffith Gentn | Commission as Lieutenant in the Royal Carnarvon Militia'. Added in another hand at foot: 'Gazetted 18th. June 1869.' . The twenty-three line commission of 'David Glynne Grifffith Gentleman (late Lieutenant 3rd. Regiment' is in a secretarial hand, signed at the foot by Penrhyn as 'Her Majesty's Lieutenant of the County of Carnarvon'.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged, and folded twice. Small blot affecting two words on second page. Unpublished. According to Pinney, Coates had started work as Kipling's secretary in June 1909. Written in a hurried hand, in parts difficult to decipher. The letter begins 'Dear Miss Coates | I enclose herewith a note for Moore [the Kipling's chaffeur] which will you please forward to his address.' Kipling suggests that if Moore should 'care to come down & vote at Burwash' he will 'pay his travelling expenses'.

On one side of 7 x 11 cm slip of paper, possibly cut down. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering. Reads: 'Have you any engagement on Tuesday 9th. (7/30) and will you come to a masculine dinner with | Yours always | W M Thackeray'. Addressed at bottom left to 'One Two Three Park Street Esqr.' The celebrated travel writer Richard Ford, best-known for his 'Handbook for Travellers in Spain' (1845), lived at 123 Park Street, Grosvenor Square, from 1849 to his death in 1858.

1p., 16mo. With mourning border. Aged and worn, with tear to one corner and glue stains on reverse. Signed 'Caroline Norton'. The recipient is not identified. The letter begins: 'Dear Sir | The Prince Schomberg having told me of some curious experiments in animal magnetism which you would make this evg. I called to ask permission to witness them -'. She will 'retract' her 'petition' if he has 'no other ladies present – or if the persons on whom the experiments are made, only speak German', as she 'will not be able to understand enough of what passes'.

1p, 12mo. Folded twice. In good condition. Presumably in response to a request for an autograph, the central third of the page carries Patmore's signature ('Coventry Patmore.') beneath a four-line quotation from Patmore's best-remembered poem, 'The Angel in the House': 'Spirit of Knowledge, grant me this: | A simple heart and subtle wit | To praise the thing whose praise it is | That all which can be praised is it!'

An apparently-unique Manuscript – signed by Lord Stanley as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, and dated from 'Downing Street, | 30: July 1842' – of what W. P. Morrell describes in his 'British Colonial Policy in the Age of Peel and Russell' (1966) as a 'Circular Dispatch to Governors of West Indian Colonies', regarding the 'Act to amend the laws for the regulation of the Trade of the British Possessions abroad' (5 & 6 Vic. c. 49). The document discusses the act with regard to 'the West Indian Colonists' and 'the British Possessions in South America and the West Indies'.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with central vertical fold. The letter reads: 'Dear Miss Alice, | I am flattered to learn that you desire to have a Specimen of my Writing, - inartistic & illegible as it is, and I am truly glad to learn that you do not contemplate going from your native country next winter.'

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, aged and spotted. Reads: 'Dear Mrs. Epps, | I shall be very glad to see you and your party this afternoon; or, if I am not able to be with you, an assistant shall meet you in the hall at 3.'

On both sides of a 17.5 x 20.5 cm piece of wove paper cut from the first leaf of a letter, with 14 lines of text on the recto, and 20 lines of text on the verso. In fair condition, lightly aged, with two small labels used as mounts still adhering. Annotated at the head of the first page, in a small light hand, dating the letter by reference to Arnold's 'Memoirs', and explaining that the letter is written 'To Mrs. Arnold who gave me this | [?] from Her dear hand | Autumn 1860'. For the context of the letter see the Memoirs, 'Appendix C. | VIII. Tour in the South of France'.

3pp., foolscap 8vo. On a bifolium of laid paper. In fair condition, aged and worn. The first poem, 'Balooning [sic]', covers both sides of the first leaf. No evidence has been discovered that this poem was ever published, but it is inspired by the exploits of 'Mr. Green' in a humorous essay titled 'Ballooning', which appeared in Charles Dickens's 'Household Words' on 25 October 1851. The choice of two phrases ('pipes & backy' and 'Mounted Meershaums') is given in the present manuscript, these variants perhaps suggesting that this item is authorial rather than a transcription.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. With Cruikshank's splendid sprawling signature. Addressed to 'C. Le Motte Esq' and beginning: 'Sir, | Professor Wheatstone did not lay the wire across the Thames as he proposed to do, on account of the “Trawling” in that River and also finding some trouble in obtaining permission from the Lord Mayor – as “Conservator of the Thames” - In 1840 he had all the plans and apparatus ready – and in 1844 he in company with the Member for Swansea [i.e.

In very good condition, on 12mo leaf, with light horizontal folds above and below the signature. Clearly written in response to a request for an autograph. Excellent underlined signature, firm and bold, centred on the page, and reading: 'Matthew Arnold. | February 1st, 1868.' Arnold is one of the great Victorian poets, author of 'Dover Beach' and 'The Scholar Gypsy'.

4pp., 4to. Bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged, with short closed tears at edges of some folds. An excellent letter, indignantly countering what must be the most serious accusation one historian can level against another, that of making 'false quotations'. The recipient is not named, but from the context is undoubtedly the Headmaster of Rugby School, Thomas Arnold, who since the previous year had held the Regius Professorship of History at Oxford, and would die four months later, on 12 June 1842.

1p., foolscap 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged. On bifolium, docketed on reverse of second leaf: 'Dated the 9th. August 1870. | The Right Honorable Edward Gordon Lord Penrhyn | to | Lieutenant D: G: Griffith | Commission promoting him to be Captain of and in the Royal Carnarvon Rifle Militia.' Added in another hand at foot: 'Gazetted 16th. Augt 1870.' . The twenty-four line commission (appointing Griffith 'vice Kneeshaw resigned) is in a secretarial hand, signed at the foot by Penrhyn.

60pp., 8vo. In green printed wraps, the front cover carrying a dense illustration of scenes from various songs ('Kitty of Coleraine', 'Angel's Whisper', 'The Irish Wedding', 'Donnybrooke Fair', 'Low-Back'd Car' and 'The Wake'), with Tom Moore at the head, printed by Richard Born from a drawing by W. E. Earl. Title on cover differs slightly: '100 Songs of Ireland | Music & Words | The Popular Edition'. Eight-page publishers' catalogue bound in at rear. In fair condition, on aged paper, in aged and worn wraps.