SWISS

Autograph Letter Signed ('F. R. Hassler') from the surveyor Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, head of the United States Coast Survey, to Hon. John C. Spencer, Secretary of the US Treasury, regarding 'the plan of Operation for the Coast Survey'.

Author: 
Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler (1770-1843), Swiss-born American surveyor, head of the United States Coast Survey and the Bureau of Weights and Measures [John Canfield Spencer (1788-1855), politician]
Publication details: 
Washington City; 28 May 1843.
£145.00

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Hassler begins: 'The peculiar position in which I am, will plead my excuse for addressing you the enclosed papers, and the cold which I have, for not coming personally in the present bad weather, as I intended, and shall do soon as admissible.' He asks Spencer to visit 'this Office before Your ultimate decision upon the plan of Operation for the Coast Survey'.

Album of 95 original detailed illustrations (drawings) of antique wrought iron door knockers (70 from Switzerland and 25 from Italy and France) by the English artist Arthur Elliot, titled by him 'A Book of Knockers'. With short essay by Elliot.

Author: 
Arthur Elliot, English illustrator [Swiss door knockers; Switzerland; architectural hardware]
antique wrought iron door knockers
Publication details: 
The majority of the illustrations dated, and all those to 1907. Mainly taken at Berne and other Swiss cities.
£650.00
antique wrought iron door knockers

Elliot's illustrations, attractively executed in great detail, recall the style of those in the volumes produced by the publisher B. T. Batsford during the same period. All in excellent condition, the majority with tissue guards; album in good good condition. Fifty-eight of the illustrations, all of Swiss knockers, on paper ranging in size from 21 x 5 cm to 23.5 x 16 cm (the latter the majority), are laid down on the rectos of the first 45 leaves of a 47-leaf landscape folio album (leaf dimensions 36 x 16 cm). All have tissue guards.

Autograph Manuscript laying out requisites for voyage (to Iceland?). Manuscript, in another hand, for Alpine voyage. Long itemised receipt in German by A. Petersen.

Author: 
Rev. Charles William Shepherd of Trotterscliffe, of Trinity College, Cambridge ornithologist and traveller; A. Petersen [Iceland; Switzerland; Alpine]
Publication details: 
[1860s?]
£220.00

Item One: 12mo, 4 pp. On aged and foxed paper with slight wear causing loss to a couple of words of text. On two folded 4to leaves, with two pages written by Shepherd in German on the reverse. The list is undated, and the intended location is not named, but the voyage is a major one. Divided into sections including 'Saddles &c', 'Guns & Rods', 'Books' (beginning with 'Shakespeare - Ingoldby - Golden Treasure'), 'Food &c. Fortnum & Mason' (including two gallons of brandy and two quarts of whiskey).

Secretarial Letter, Signed by Murray ('A. H. Hallam Murray'), to C. J. Holdsworth, responding to a criticism of an entry in one of 'Murray's Guides'.

Author: 
Alexander Henry Hallam Murray (1854-1934), son of the London publisher John Murray the third (1808-1892) [50 Albemarle Street; Murray's Guides]
Publication details: 
28 January 1898; on letterhead of 50 Albemarle Street.
£28.00

12mo, 2 pp. 12 lines of text. Very good on lightly-aged paper. He has received Holdsworth's letter, and is 'sorry to hear that you found our description of the Royal Hotel not justified'. Note will be taken of Holdsworth's 'experiences' and 'whatever alterations are necessary' will be made, 'when next we reprint the Index & Directory of the Handbook'. 'Notes such as [Holdsworth's] are most acceptable.'

Offprint entitled 'Notice sur Mr. F.-G. Maurice, l'un des Rédacteurs de la Bibliothèque Britannique et Universelle.'

Author: 
[Fréderic-Guillaume Maurice (1750-1826), French-Swiss savant, one of the founders in 1796 of the Bibliothèque Britannique [Bibliothèque Universelle]
Publication details: 
Tiree de la Division Litterature de la Bibl. Univ. [Bibliothèque Universelle] Nov. 1826'.
£75.00

8vo, 13 pp. Paginated I-XV. Eight-leaf unbound bifolium. Unbound and unstitched, the whole held together by a pin in the gutter. Good, on wove paper, but with title-page somewhat discoloured with damp. Separate printed title, 'NOTICE SUR Mr. F. G. MAURICE.' Inscribed [to?] at head of title-page, 'Msr Marshall Newton-Kyme, Tadcaster, Yorkshire'.

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed secretary of state.

Author: 
Colonel James Francis Erskine, of the Regiment of Swiss Chasseurs
Publication details: 
7 March 1783; 'Kensington gravell Pitts'.
£125.00

Erskine, who died in 1806, was the grandson of the 27th Earl of Mar. 3 pages, 8vo. In very good condition. The letter, addressed to 'your Excellency', concerns 'The Honble. Captain Cunningham who had resigned a Troop of Dragoons on the Irish Establishment to go upon Service with the same rank in my unfortunate Regiment of Swiss Chasseurs'.

One Typed Letter Signed and two Typed Notes Signed (all 'Hanns Vischer'), to W. Perry, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Hanns Vischer (1876-1945), Anglo-Swiss educationist and linguist, Honorary Secretary General of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures
Publication details: 
1928 (2) and 1930 (1); one on embossed Colonial Office letterhead and two on letterhead of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures.
£85.00

All three items very good, and the first bearing the Society's stamp. Item One (15 June 1928, foolscap, 1 p, 12 lines): He has received a notice of a meeting by 'the Dominions and Colonies Section Committee' and asks Perry to 'please explain the position to me'. 'I am not quite clear why I am being asked as I cannot remember ever having been put on this Committee. True, Sir Humphrey Leggett suggested over a year ago that I should join the Society again as he thought I might be of some use to your Committee.

Autograph Signature on fragment addressed to Frederick Ouvry.

Author: 
Charles Albert Fechter
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

Anglo-French actor best remembered for having presented Charles Dickens with the Swiss chalet he erected in the garden at Gadshill and in which he wrote Great Expectations. The recipient was a lawyer and antiquary. The signature is on a slip approximately two inches by four and a half, presumably part of a letter or envelope, and laid down on a piece of card. Miniscule loss to part of slip, but text unaffected. Inscribed 'Fred. Ouvry Esq. | Ch. Fechter', with the signature underlined and overlined by Fechter.

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