POET

Printed Victorian handbill poem in Yorkshire dialect, titled 'On the Wing. By John Lawton.', speculating in a humorous style on the effects of successful transport by air.

Author: 
John Lawton, Victorian Yorkshire dialect poet [aircraft; air transport; aeroplanes; fixed-wing flying; manned flight; ballooning]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [Yorkshire, 1850s?]
£160.00

1p., 12mo. Fair, on aged paper, with slight wear and loss at head. The leaf has been trimmed down to 21 x 16 cm., with rounded corners, around the poem's decorative border. The poem consists of 96 lines, in twelve eight-line stanzas; it is arranged in two columns beneath the title: 'ON THE WING. | BY JOHN LAWTON.' First stanza reads: 'I wor thinkin one neet wol sit i mi cheer, | Wot thowts enter sum people's pates; | Wot useful invenshuns they'n plan'd everywheer | To benefit people un states.

Autograph Note in the third person from Alfred, Lord Tennyson, to the Lord Chamberlain the Earl of Kenmare, declining an invitation.

Author: 
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), English Poet Laureate, 1850-1892 [Valentine Augustus Browne (1825-1905), 4th Earl of Kenmare, Lord Chamberlain]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Aldworth, Haslemere, Surrey. May 1885.
£300.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. On the first leaf of a bifolium, with the second blank leaf carrying traces of glue from mount. The note reads: 'May /85 | Lord Tennyson begs to thank the Lord Chamberlain for the honour of the invitation on June 6th. He regrets that he is unable to avail himself of it.'

Autograph Letter Signed from the poet Stephen Phillips to 'Mr Greenwood' [the journalist James Greenwood?]

Author: 
Stephen Phillips (1864-1915), English poet, playwright and actor [James Greenwood (c.1835-1927)]
Publication details: 
Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middlesex. Undated.
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged grey paper, with slight chipping at one corner. The letter accompanies a copy of an unnamed play, which Phillips hopes will interest Greenwood. 'I will stand or fall by it. I have learnt so much from your criticism (more indeed than from any one) that I should hope that you might continue possibly that line of such sane and helpful criticism which I have learned to look for from "the onlooker".' He concludes by declaring that there is no one to whom he is sending the book 'with greater pleasure'.

Printed copy of letter from the Poet Laureate Robert Bridges, headed 'To the Donors of the Clavichord', in facsimile of his handwriting, with collotype print of photographic portrait of Bridges, seated at the instrument, by Lady Ottoline Morrell.

Author: 
Robert Bridges [Robert Seymour Bridges] (1844-1930), British Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930 [Lady Ottoline Morrell; Emery Walker; Arnold Dolmetsch]
Publication details: 
Letter dated 'Chilswell Dec 1924.' The photograph engraved by Emery Walker.
£150.00

Nicely printed on laid paper, on sheet folded to make a bifolium, with the facsimile of the letter on the reverse of the first leaf, and the photograph of Bridges facing it on the recto of the second. As he is unable 'to write personal thanks to each of the many friends who contributed to honour my 80th birthday by their lovely gift', he asks them to accept the photograph 'as a memento'. 'Apart fr.

Autograph Note Signed "Dorothy Una Ratcliffe", no addressee, but about the cremation of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Scottish singer, composer, arranger (particularly Hebridean songs)

Author: 
Dorothy Una Ratcliffe, Yorkshire Poet
Publication details: 
{Printed Heading] Yacht Sea Swallow, continuing in ms. From the Stockholm Skerries [&?] the Aland Islands, 15 July 1932.
£45.00

One page, 12mo, good condition. "With many thanks for the excellent account of the cremation of Marjory Kennedy Fraser in 'The Oban Times' June 25th 1932 | Dorothy Una Ratcliffe | Laverton Grange | Kirby Malgeard | Ripon, Yorkshire."

Autograph Letter Signed to a "Mr [Stanquer?], heavy handedly declining an invitation (perhaps it was 1843 and Southey had jy=ust died??).

Author: 
Caroline Southey (1786–1854), poet, second wife of Robert Southey
Publication details: 
Greta Hall, Friday Evng, no date.
£120.00

Two pages, 12mo, remnants from being tipped on to album page, , staining, text clear and complete. "I feel myself compelled, circumstanced as I ma - to decline all invitation. Were it otherwise I should with great pleasure avail myself of yours - | My friends are answering for themselves - & I am very sorry it will be in the negative - but as they have declined similar invitations from the persons who have paid them the same kind attention, they cannot with propriety make exceptions..."

Autograph Card Signed ('R Bridges') from the Poet Laureate Robert Bridges to the Rev. P. O'Toole.

Author: 
Robert Bridges [Robert Seymour Bridges] (1844-1930), Poet Laureate
Publication details: 
18 Merton Street, Oxford. Postmarked 18 April 1917.
£56.00

On blue card, with stamp and postmark. Bridges's message is complete, but the postcard has been trimmed to 14 x 5 cm, with the lower part of the card, carrying O'Toole's address, missing. Otherwise good, on lightly-aged paper. The message reads: '14. Merton St. | Dear Sir. I am writing to apologise for never having answered your letter of Feb. 29th. I have been too much engaged to be able to attend to my correspondents. I beg that you will excuse me. Yours truly | [signed] R Bridges.'

Four documents concerning an application by Carolina Nairne [née Carolina Oliphant], Lady Nairne, to Chancellor of the Exchequer Thomas Spring Rice for an extension to her civil list pension, including accounts and statements of her financial affairs

Author: 
Carolina Nairne [née Carolina Oliphant], Lady Nairne (1766-1845), Scottish songwriter and song collector [John Mackenzie Lindsay, WS; Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle(1790-1866)]
Publication details: 
Two items dating from December 1837, one from 1838, and one undated [November 1837?].
£280.00

Items Two to Four are in good condition, on aged paper; with Item One worn and creased, repaired with strips of white paper. Items Three and Four are attached to one another by a stub, and all four items show evidence of having been removed from a letterbook. Items One and Four are statements describing Lady Nairne's financial affairs, with Items Two and Three letters to Spring Rice and the Civil List committee on the matter, the first anonymous and the second by Lady Nairne's solicitor John Mackenzie Lindsay, Writer to the Signet.

[Printed] Handbill with verses "To Dr. Carmichael Smyth", medical practioner & scientist (see DNB, and quotation below)

Author: 
George Keate, artist, poet, correspondent of Voltaire (DNB)
Publication details: 
No publisher or date, , [late C19th?]
£220.00

Handbill, four pages, 8vo, bifolium, minor staining, mainly good condition. The item has introductory remarks on the verses, presumably manuscript, being sent by Keate with a gift, reminding readers of Keate's work on the Pellew Islands and patronage of Lee Bow (another Marcellus). These are followed by 34 lines of verse, offereing support and help, with complimentary phrases. It commences, "'Tis not, I readily confess, | My virgin hue or silv'ry dress" , concluding, "My last drop will flow for you.

[Printed} Broadside containing verses To Dr. Carmichael-Smyth, medical practitioner & scientist (see DNB, and quotation below)

Author: 
George Keate, artist, poet, correspondent of Voltaire (DNB)
Publication details: 
No publisher or date, [late C19th?]
£220.00

Broadsheet, one page, 44 x 21.5cm, fold marks, two small closed tears, staining at top not affecting text, mainly good condition. The item has introductory remarks on the verses, presumably manuscript, being sent by Keate with a gift, reminding readers of Keate's work on the Pellew Islands and patronage of Lee Bow (another Marcellus). These are followed by 34 lines of verse, offering support and help, with complimentary phrases. It commences, 'Tis not, I readily confess, | My virgin hue or silv'ry dress , concluding, My last drop will flow for you.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R. H. Horne') from the poet Richard Hengist Horne asking the playwright James Robinson Planché to pass on his play 'Gregory VII' to Charles Kemble, and stating that he has sent another play to George Bartley.

Author: 
Richard Hengist Horne [Richard Henry Horne] (1802-1884) [James Robinson Planché, (1796-1880), playwright and herald; Charles Kemble (1775-1854), actor; George Bartley (1782?-1858), comedian]
Publication details: 
36 New Broad Street; 3 May 1842.
£120.00

3pp., 16mo. Bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of previous mounting to the reverse of the last leaf. Horne writes that he is enclosing a copy of his play 'Gregory VII' for 'Mr Chas Kemble'. 'I have not written his name in it, because as you were so kind as to interest yourself in the matter, I thought I would leave it in your hands so you may give it him; or say you asked me for a copy for the purpose, or say nothing - or anything. Isn't this a fine mode of expressing my confidence in your judgment?

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. Campbell') from Thomas Campbell, editor of the New Monthly Magazine, to fellow Scottish poet Allan Cunningham, introducing his 'Cousin and friend Mr Gray of Glasgow'.

Author: 
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), Scottish poet and editor of the New Monthly Magazine [Allan Cunningham (1784-1842), Scottish poet and author]
Publication details: 
10 Seymour Street West, London; 3 September [no year].
£65.00

1p., 12mo. Fair, on aged paper, wtih two small unobtrusive closed holes to the paper. Placed in narrow paper windowpane border. The letter reads 'My dear Cunningham | This will be delivered to you by my Cousin & friend Mr Gray of Glasgow - He is ambitious of paying his respects to you - I need say no more - I am sure that you will soon be good acquaintances - With the greatest regard | Believe me | Yours truly | [signed] T. Campbell'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. Campbell') from the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell, Lord Rector of Glasgow University, to an unnamed recipient, describing a mistake regarding 'my Letter to the Students'

Author: 
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), Scottish poet, Lord Rector of Glasgow University, 1826-1829, and editor of the New Monthly Magazine
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [Written while Rector, between 1826 and 1829.]
£65.00

1p., 12mo. On aged and creased paper, with short vertical closed tear at head (not affecting text). The letter reads: 'Dear Sir | By a sad mistake the Copies of my Letter to the Students were not sent off on Saturday | But 250 have been struck off which will sufficiently answer for the present demand - | Yours in haste | [signed] T. Campbell

Autograph Manuscript Signed, an untitled holograph poem by the Scottish writer and artist James Ballantine, beginning 'Confide ye aye in Providence, for Providence is Kind'.

Author: 
James Ballantine (c.1807-1877), Scottish writer and artist in stained glass
Publication details: 
Edinburgh; 16 August 1856.
£500.00

1p., landscape 8vo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Well presented, with the second blank leaf neatly inserted into a windowpane border. The poem is sixteen lines long, arranged in four stanzas, neatly written out on a piece of wove paper. The first stanza reads 'Confide ye aye in Providence, for Providence is Kind | And bear ye a' lifes changes, wi a calm an' tranquil mind | Though pressed an' hemmed on every side, hae faith, an' ye'll win through | For ilka blade o grass keeps its ain drap o dew'.

Corrected Autograph Manuscript of part of the poem 'A Day at Tivoli', by the Victorian writer John Kenyon.

Author: 
John Kenyon (1784-1856), poet and patron, who encouraged his cousin Elizabeth Barrett's marriage to Robert Browning
Publication details: 
Without date or place [the poem published in 1849].
£450.00

2pp., 4to. 35 lines of verse. On a leaf of laid paper with watermark 'J WHATMAN | TURKEY MILL'. Paginated 13-14. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. The first page begins with the line 'The shrouding soil, and give it back to air,' and the second page ends with the line 'Won it's [sic] dark truth, and Gaspar fed on such.' The verses in this manuscript are published on pp.19-21 of 'A Day at Tivoli: with other Verses' (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, Paternoster-row, 1849).

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. Melmoth') from the writer William Melmoth the Younger to the attorney Joseph Sharpe

Author: 
William Melmoth the Younger (c.1710-1799), translator of Pliny and Cicero, and author of 'Fitzosborne's Letters' (1748, 1749)
Publication details: 
Bath; 15 January 1767.
£180.00

1 p, 4to. Nine lines, in a neat and close hand. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, and still tipped-in onto a leaf from an autograph album. Addressed, with two postmarks, on reverse of second leaf of bifolium, to 'Mr. Jos. Sharpe, | at his chambers in | Lincolns Inn | London'. He wrote to Sharpe five weeks previously, sending a lease for his perusal, 'and likewise to authorise you to deliver up my sister's plate upon Mr. Argile paying you ye. <?> I agreed to take.' If the latter matter is still unsettled, he instructs Sharpe to apply to Argile's attorney 'to settle it forthwith'.

Autograph Letter Signed from Jane Hood, wife of the poet Thomas Hood, to 'Mrs Elliot', wife of the family doctor, Robert Elliot of Camberwell, containing news of the poet and his work, money troubles and family affairs, at the end of their lives.

Author: 
Jane Hood [née Jane Reynolds], (1791-1846), wife of the poet and humorist Thomas Hood (1799-1845)
Publication details: 
'Wednesday' [1844 or 1845); 'Devonshire Lodge | New Finchley Road | St Johns Wood'.
£280.00

4 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 73 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Hood returned to England from Ostend in 1840, moving into Devonshire Lodge after trying other lodgings. A fine letter, informative, energetic and moving. Jane begins by thanking Mrs Elliot for the 'kind present to my Tom [the couple's son Thomas Hood the younger (1835-1874)]': 'I only wish you could have seen the happy boy - how proud he was - and indeed is, of his new appearance - he sends his love & best thanks. I am sorry to say he does not yet write a readable letter'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Josh: Green, Junr:') from the Boston poet Joseph Green, giving instructions regarding an 'Adventure' to his agents in Bermuda 'Mr: John Stevens & Mr: John Phillips Junr.'

Author: 
Joseph Green (1706-1780), Harvard-educated Boston merchant, poet and British Tory loyalist, friend of Mather Byles, and owner of one of the largest libraries in the city
Publication details: 
10 February 1759; Boston.
£280.00

2 pp, folio. Bifolium. A frail survival, on brittle, aged paper: a horizontal closed tear across the head and other damage has been obtrusively repaired with archival tape.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Irish poet Aubrey de Vere, containing an appreciation of the theologian Richard Holt Hutton, with references to the new edition of his poems, the publishers Macmillan & Co, Baron von Hugel, and the Tennyson family.

Author: 
Aubrey de Vere [Aubrey Thomas de Vere] (1814-1902), Irish poet [Richard Holt Hutton (1826-1897), writer and theologian]
Autograph Letter Signed from the Irish poet Aubrey de Vere
Publication details: 
August 1895; on letterhead of the Athenaeum, Pall Mall, London.
£130.00
Autograph Letter Signed from the Irish poet Aubrey de Vere

16mo, 4 pp. 64 lines. Text clear and complete. Hutton was a friend of both de Vere and his correspondent, and 'this will always remain a link between us; for no one who ever knew him can forget him; & no one who remembers him can ever cease to honour him'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Edmund C. Stedman') from the American man of letters Edmund Clarence Stedman to the Blackburn poet John Thomas Baron ('Jack O'Anns')

Author: 
Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833-1908), American poet, critic and essayist [John Thomas Baron (1856-1922), Blackburn dialect poet, writing under the pseudonym 'Jack O'Anns']
Publication details: 
31 January 1883; on letterhead of 71 West 54th Street, New York.
£350.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Forty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on aged paper. Begins 'One must needs be a churl indeed to be a laggard in his response to a letter containing words of so sweet breath composed as yours!' He thanks Baron for his 'kind & encouraging letter', and considers that an author 'has no keener or more lawful pleasure than to find that the errors of his song or tale has [sic] lodged (as Longfellow says) in the heart of some far-off and unknown friend'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Tho: Campbell'), in Italian, from the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell, to unnamed 'Carissimi Amici' [Dear Friends].

Author: 
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), Scottish poet [Rudolph Ackermann; Woodburn]
Autograph Letter Signed ('Tho: Campbell')
Publication details: 
Monico [Monaco?]; September 1828.
£150.00
Autograph Letter Signed ('Tho: Campbell')

4to, 1 p. Twenty-lines. Text clear and complete. He has found 'il Barone' and is going to see 'Der Freishutz'. Monico is 'una gran bella citta', where he has seen 'molte belle cose'. He finds the Madonna of Rafael 'Divina'. A postscript concerns the print-seller Ackermann, as well as the art dealer Woodburn, and 'Cockerill'. The reverse carries a closely-written 30-line manuscript, in another hand, apparently in German, and followed by an indecipherable signature. It contains at least two references to 'Campball' [sic].

Autograph Note Signed to Riverita Signora od Amica.

Author: 
Terenzio Mamiani, Italian Poet.
Terenzio Mamiani, Italian Poet.
Publication details: 
Coat of arms of the Ministero delli Istruzione, Rome 1883 in different hand.
£36.00
Terenzio Mamiani, Italian Poet.

One page, 12mo, good condition. See scan for contents.

Autograph Signature of Samuel Rogers ['Saml Rogers'], 'the Banker Poet', on cheque drawn on his own bank, Messrs Rogers, Olding, Sharpe & Co.

Author: 
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), 'the Banker Poet', friend of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron
Autograph Signature of Samuel Rogers ['Saml Rogers'], 'the Banker Poet'
Publication details: 
30 July 1849. Messrs Rogers, Olding, Sharpe & Co, 29 Clements Lane, Lombard Street.
£125.00
Autograph Signature of Samuel Rogers ['Saml Rogers'], 'the Banker Poet'

Around the size of a modern cheque. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. A nice item, considering Rogers' background. A printed cheque for £40 cash, written out to himself (as 'S R'). With a lattice of five lines over Rogers' signature ('Saml Rogers') indicating payment. Denominations to be paid indicated on back.

[book] The Task. By William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq. [printed by Whittingham and with illustrations from Westall]

Author: 
William Cowper; Charles Whittingham; the Chiswick Press; Richard Davey, book binder of Bristol
William Cowper
Publication details: 
London: Printed for John Sharpe, Duke Street, Piccadilly; by C. and C. Whittingham, Chiswick. 1825.
£45.00
William Cowper

12mo, 220 pp. Engraved title and six other plates, each carrying an engraving from Westall. In green calf binding, gilt, with spine in compartments. Marbled edges and endpapers. Internally tight, on lightly-aged paper, with the plates a little foxed. Rebacked and in worn and lightly-stained binding. Tasteful small bookplate, with the single word 'Simpson' in copperplate, an initial 'M.' added in manuscript. Pink ticket on front pastedown: 'GEORGE DAVEY, | Bookseller, Binder, | & STATIONER, | NO. 1 BROAD STREET, | BRISTOL.' An uncommon Chiswick Press item.

Autograph Letter Signed "Henry Newbolt", poet and historian, to unnamed correspondent (editor?)

Author: 
[Sir] Henry Newbolt, poet and historian
Autograph Letter Signed "Henry Newbolt", poet and historia
Publication details: 
[Printed heading] 29 Campden Hill Road, W8, 20 Nov. 1919.
£85.00
Autograph Letter Signed "Henry Newbolt", poet and historia

One page, 12mo, good condition. "I return the proof, mutilated as desired. I have struck out 7 lines: and more can be saved by omitting the signature at end (my name appears at the top) & by sacrificing Law's Christian name. | I should like to receive a copy of the issue in which it is pub[lishe]d if you would be so kind as to send me one: - I am constantly away from home & may miss it."." Note:

Autograph Note Signed

Author: 
Berthold Auerbach, German Jewish novelist and poet
Publication details: 
No place [docketed April 1876]
£100.00

One page, 8vo, 10 lines including bold signature. Not translated. Scan on request.

Autograph Note Signed ('S. R') to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), 'the banker poet', best-known for his 'Pleasures of Memory'
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£35.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 18.5 x 11 cm): 1 p. On laid Whatman paper. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with slight trace of glue from mount on reverse. Reads 'Your remarks are excellent - May I venture to tax your patience once more - but pray don't think of a frank - It was Sir Ronald, the General | Every yours | [signed] S. R'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Edmondstoun de Aytoun') to James Simpson.

Author: 
William Edmonstoune Aytoun [William Edmondstoun de Aytoun] (1813-1865), Scottish poet
Publication details: 
26 January 1865; 16 Great Stuart Street, Edinburgh.
£280.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with evidence of previous mount on reverse of second leaf. Certainly genuine, and of interest as bearing a variant spelling of Aytoun's name in a signature written from his home a few months before his death. (The spelling 'Edmondstoun de Aytoun' is not noted in Aytoun's entry in the Oxford DNB.) In the latter part of the letter Aytoun comments on his poetic practice. He is 'much flattered' by Simpson's 'selection of my poem for a public reading', and is 'glad to hear that it was appreciated'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Beattie') to R. Hepburn.

Author: 
William Beattie (1793-1875), M.D., poet and biographer
Publication details: 
Friday mg.' [date not stated]; Upper Berkeley Street.
£35.00

One page, 12mo. Black bordered. Very good and with the verso of the blank second leaf of the bifolium laid down on a leaf detached from an autograph album. Nine lines. He thanks him for 'a brace of splendid grouse - which are now so rare as not to be had for money. It was therefore doubly generous [...] Endulging [sic] the pleasing hope of "Revenge" - & with kind regards to your House circle'.

The Art of Poetry, Written in French by The Sieur de Boileau. In Four Canto's. Made English By Sir William Soames, Since Revis'd by John Dryden, Esq;

Author: 
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux; Sir William Soames; John Dryden; Henry Hills junior, London printer
Publication details: 
London: Printed and Sold by H. Hills, in Black-fryars near the Water-side. 1710.
£400.00

12mo: 40 pp. Disbound. Good, on lightly aged paper. Contemporary ownership inscription of 'William Francklyn" on title-page. This edition is scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at Liverpool.

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