RIFLES

[The Artists’ Rifles, British Army regiment.] Privately printed booklet: ‘Artists’ Rifles. Songs for Marching & Camp.’ With ownership signature of ‘J W Mackay’ [James Waite Mackay].

Author: 
The Artists’ Rifles, regiment of the British Army, raised in London by Edward Sterling in 1859, now the 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve) [James Waite Mackay]
artists
Publication details: 
Undated, but around 1916. [The Artists’ Rifles, London.] ‘For Private Circulation only.’
£220.00
artists

A scarce piece of regimental ephemera: no copies found on JISC or WorldCat. 32pp, 16mo. Stitched into grey paper wraps, with the regiment’s Minerva and Mars device and the title printed on the cover, and with ‘For Private Circulation only’ at bottom left. Inscribed at top right ‘J W Mackay’. (For James Waite Mackay (fl.

[ Connaught Rangers and King's Royal Rifles. ] Autograph Letter Signed to Captain E. A. Grubbe of the Connaught Rangers from Lieut J. G. Surman, praising the regiment and enclosing two photographs, a carte de visite and a view of cavalry training.

Author: 
John Gilbert Surman, 9th King's Royal Rifle Corps [ Captain Edmund Alexander Grubbe (1857-c.1923), Connaught Rangers; G. V. Yates, Sheffield photographer ]
Publication details: 
Letter on letterhead of the King's Royal Rifles, addressed by Surman from The Camp, Kilworth, County Cork [ Ireland ], 14 June 1896. Undated carte de visite by G. V. Yates of Sheffield.
£120.00

Surman had a brief and undistinguished military career. Having trained with the Connaught Rangers, on 30 October 1895 he received a commission in the 9th Royal Rifle Corps, which he resigned a year later, on 20 October 1896. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed from 'J. Gilbert Surman' to Grubbe, in fragment of envelope addressed by him to 'Captain E. A. Grubbe | The Depôt of the Connaught Rangers | Galway'. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He writes having 'now left the Connaught Rangers to join my own Regiment at the above place.

[Malcolm Osborne, painter.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to Westley Manning, in the first describing his wartime enlistment in the Artists Rifles, and training under the artist William Lee-Hankey.

Author: 
Malcolm Osborne (1880-1963), English landscape painter [William Westley Manning (1868-1954), artist; The Artists Rifles, British Territorial Army; William Lee-Hankey (1869-1952), artist]
Publication details: 
The first from 11 Edith Grove, Chelsea. 24 July 1915. The second from 15 Redcliffe Square, South Kensington. 25 July 1921.
£160.00

Both letters in very good condition, neatly written out on lightly-aged paper. ONE: 2pp., 4to.

Autograph Signature of Captain Rambahadur Limbu, 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the face of the enemy in 1965, during the Indonesian–Malaysian Confrontation. With newspaper article on Limbu.

Author: 
Captain Rambahadur Limbu (b.1939),10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles, Nepalese recipient of the British Army's Victoria Cross [Indonesian–Malaysian Confrontation]
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£56.00

On one side of an 11 x 17.5 piece of light-blue paper. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with two fold lines (not affecting signature). The signature is written in pencil, and reads 'Rambahadur Limbu V.C.' Beneath the signature, in blue ink, is the signature of 'Ranjit Rai', and beneath this, in a different blue ink, an indecipherable signature. With newspaper cutting, dated 28 September 1966, of article titled 'After the glory - it's back to the jungle'. The article carries two photographs of Limbu.

Copy of printed War Office model 'RULES OF THE ---- VOLUNTEER CORPS.' [i.e. Volunteer Force] With details of the committee members under Viscount Ranelagh responsible for 'drafting model Rules and Regulations for the government of Volunteer Corps'.

Author: 
[The Rifle Volunteer Corps; The Volunteer Force, 1859-1908; The War Office, Whitehall; Sidney Herbert (1810-1861), 1st Baron Herbert of Lea, Secretary of State for War, 1859-1861; Viscount Ranelagh]
Publication details: 
'WAR OFFICE, 10th August, 1859.' ['V General No. 469'.]
£120.00

5pp., folio. In very good condition on lightly-aged paper. Copies of this document were sent by the War Office to the officers commanding the various corps, the Secretary of State considering that it would 'assist [them] in preparing Regulations for the government of the Corps under [their] Command'. For a full account of the subject see Hugh Cunningham's 'The Volunteer Force: A Social and Political History, 1859-1908' (1975). The cover page has in its top left-hand corner: 'V | General No. | 469', and carries a table of contents.

Four printed War Office documents relating to the formation of the Volunteer Force [called 'Rifle Volunteer Corps' and 'Volunteer Corps'], comprising a draft of the 'Rules', two printed circulars from Sidney Herbert and one from his secretary.

Author: 
[The Rifle Volunteer Corps; The Volunteer Force, 1859-1908; The War Office, Whitehall; Sidney Herbert (1810-1861), 1st Baron Herbert of Lea, Secretary of State for War, 1859-1861; Viscount Ranelagh]
Publication details: 
All four documents from the War Office [Whitehall, London]. The three circulars dated 8 September, 14 October and 20 December 1859; the 'Rules' dated 10 August 1859.
£280.00

The four items in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. For a full account of the subject see Hugh Cunningham's 'The Volunteer Force: A Social and Political History, 1859-1908' (1975). Item One: 'RULES OF THE ---- VOLUNTEER CORPS.' 5pp., folio (paginated to 6). The cover page has in its top left-hand corner: 'V | General No. | 469', and carries a table of contents.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
[BIG GAME HUNTING] Sir Edmund Lechmere, 4th Baronet
Publication details: 
No date (but docketed 'Letter of Mch 30' [1928]); on blindstamped letterhead 'Flat 2, | 45, Braham Gardens, | S. W. 5.'
£30.00

2 pages, 16mo. Somewhat grubby and creased, and obtrusively docketed in ink, with the phrase 'Sent off | 10th 28' written across the text on the recto. Reads 'Dear Sir, | You hoped to return my book (album) last week but no doubt the holidays interfered. I am just sending a line to say I am leaving Town for the Country for the summer early on Monday next so hope it may be returned this week | Yours sincy | E Lechmere'.

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