THE

Autograph Letter Signed to [?] Bradfield.

Author: 
Alfred Ainger
Publication details: 
11 June 1879; 2 Upper Terrace, Hampstead.
£28.00

English writer, humorist and divine (1837-1904). Four pages, 12mo. Very good, though a tad grubby, and with traces of previous mounting on verso of second leaf of bifoliate. He is late in replying because he has been bringing his invalid niece back from Derbyshire to Hampstead. Touches on her illness and on the the disposal of furniture. '[...] but I am now "what is more, a householder" (Dogberry), & monarch of all I survey [...] I should have liked to visit you at Roseleigh. Well, well, it must stand over, like many another pleasant scheme. But do come again to London soon.

Typed Letter Signed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood[, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts].

Author: 
Sir Arthur James Richens Trendell [The 1909 Golden West and American Industries Exhibition. Earl's Court Exhibition]
Publication details: 
18 June 1909; on letterhead of 'THE GOLDEN WEST AND AMERICAN INDUSTRIES EXHIBITION. Earl's Court.'
£38.00

British civil servant (1836-1909) and organiser of many international exhibitions. Two pages, quarto. Good, though a touch grubby, and with pin holes in top left-hand corners of both leaves. Ornate letterhead with lettering in front of clouds with sun rays behind and American eagle and flag to the left.

Draft or copy of apparently unpublished letter, in secretarial hand, to his son the Prince of Wales (later George IV).

Author: 
George III, King of England
Publication details: 
Hampton Court 10th Sept: 1797'.
£600.00

Two pages. Paper dimensions approximately seven and a half inches by twelve. An important and highly dramatic document, relating to the Prince's treatment of his wife Caroline of Brunswick in the period following the birth of their only child Princess Charlotte Augusta, with reference to the tensions caused by the Prince's Whig connections. 'GR' at both head and end of document. Begins 'The Propositions which you have Lately made in your Letters of your Particular Regard to me, are so Contradictory to all your actions, that I cannot suffer my Self to be Imposed on by ym.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir H[enry]. T[rueman]. Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
John Allen Harker
Publication details: 
9 February 1916; The National Physical Laboratory, Teddington (on deleted letterhead of the National Liberal Club).
£28.00

Inventor and engineer (1870-1923), whose papers are held by the Royal Society. During the war Harker was in the Inventions Department of the Ministry of Munitions. One page, 12mo. Good, if slightly grubby. Docketed in pencil and bearing the Society's stamp. Reads 'I send herewith a short contribution to the discussion of Dr Flemings paper at which I was present but in which on account of lack of time I did not feel it desirable to take part verbally.' Signed 'J. A. Harker'.

Typed Letter Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Philip Joseph Hartog [School of Oriental Studies, London Institution]
Publication details: 
18 December 1916; on letterhead of the School of Oriental Studies, London Institute.
£28.00

(1864-1947). Chemist, Director of the International Institute Examinations Enquiry, and first Vice Chancellor of the University of Dhaka. One page, folio. Very good. Marked 'Personal' and bearing the Society's stamp. He is sorry Menzies has been ill and hopes 'the cure is radical and that you will soon be quite all right again.

Autograph Letter Signed to Thomas Archer. [Humphry Davy].

Author: 
William Thomas Brande
Publication details: 
6 January 1843; Royal Mint.
£150.00

English chemist (1788-1866) who succeeded Sir Humphrey Davy as Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution (1813). Two pages, octavo. Very good, though lightly creased and with remains of previous mount adhering to one edge. Begins 'I have no doubt that much fraud is committed by the substitution of spiritious liquors of different strengths, for what is called woodspirit and wood naphtha'.

Typed Letter Signed to the Hon. William Sulzer, 115 Broadway, New York City.

Author: 
Samuel Seabury [NEW YORK CITY; TAMMANY HALL]
Publication details: 
4 January 1934; on letterhead '40 WALL STREET | NEW YORK'.
£36.00

American lawyer (1873-1958), who in 1930 headed the investigation into political corruption in New York City which brought about the decline of Tammany Hall. Sulzer (1863-1941) had been elected Democratic Governor of New York in 1913 with Tammany support, but had been removed from office following an internal dispute. One page, quarto. Very good. His reply to Sulzer's letter has been delayed due to 'pressure of other matters and my absence from the City'. He thanks Sulzer for the 'recent note conveying your good wishes.

Autograph Letter Signed to William Haines.

Author: 
John N. Rhodes
Publication details: 
18 October 1838; '2 Maddox St. Bond S London'.
£46.00

English artist (1809-42). One page, quarto, with the second leaf of the bifoliate bearing the address ('To | William Haines Esqr.. | Sol[icito]r. | Cannon Street | Birmingham'), with the remains of a red wax seal, and two postmarks. Discoloured, and with damp stains causing discoloration and damage to the paper, but not affecting the legibility of the text. Small spike hole through both leaves, not affecting text. Having been 'from home yestereday on a painting expidition' he could not acknowledge Haines' letter sooner.

Autograph Letter Signed to Robert Rising.

Author: 
John Preston Neale
Publication details: 
Bennett Street Blackfriars | Sept. 19th. 1828.'
£200.00

Architectural draughtsman (1780-1847). Three pages, quarto. Good, but heavily folded and with some loss to second leaf of bifoliate from breaking of red wax seal, the remains of which still adhere. Addressed, with postmarks, on verso of second leaf of bifoliate 'Robt. Rising Esq | Horsey. | To the Care of Robert Cory Junr Esq | Yarmouth'. Rising, of Horsey Hall, was a Norfolk landowner, and Cory (1776-1840) an antiquary. A long and interesting letter. He regrets that he has been unable to spend 'a few happy hours with you and of doing justice to the Chief Magistrate of that Gt.

Autograph Letter Signed to Don Wauchope.

Author: 
General Sir George Keith Buller Elphinstone
Publication details: 
10 January 1891; on letterhead '86, CANONBURY ROAD'.
£36.00

Engineer (1865-1941) whose inventions include the speedometer for motor-cars. Two pages, 12mo. Good, though slightly grubby. Docketed on reverse. Small ink smudge beneath letterhead. Reads 'Dear Don Wanchope | Thanks for your letter. My full name is/ | George Keith Buller Elphinstone and by profession I am an Electrical Engineer & Maker of Electrical Instruments | So I hope that will be full enough information for you'. Signed 'G K B Elphinstone'.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Andrew Preston Peabody
Publication details: 
Cambridge, Oct. 23, 1862'.
£56.00

American Unitarian clergyman (1811-93) and editor and proprietor of the North American Review; Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard, 1860-81. One page, octavo. Good but on discoloured paper with slight spotting. 'It is my invariable rule not to send proof to any writer for the North American. You are however at entire liberty, to see the proof of your article by your own arrangement with the printers, who will be very ready to oblige you.' Signed 'A. P. Peabody'.

Autograph Letter Signed, Autograph Note, and newspaper article.

Author: 
GEORGE BOOTH HEMING [Goldsmiths' Company; Daily Graphic]
Publication details: 
The note 10 January 1918 and the letter 14 January 1918; both on letterheads of Heming & Co., 28 Conduit St.
£28.00

Mayor of Westminster (1858-1938), and prominent member of the Goldsmiths' Company, for whom he established an annual competition for craftsmen and schools in London. All items very good. Both manuscript items bearing the Society's stamp and the note also docketed. THE LETTER (one page, 12mo): 'I shall certainly try to be at the meeting on Feby 27th & will speak if opportunity arises - also will call upon you someday either this or next week.' Signed 'G. Booth Heming'. THE NOTE (one page, 12mo): 'With G.

Typed Letter Signed to Sir Hilary Blood of the Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton
Publication details: 
31 December 1964; on his letterhead as 'MINISTER OF DEFENCE FOR THE ROYAL AIR FORCE'.
£36.00

British geographer and Labour politician (1911-94), son of the antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. One page, quarto. Very good. Folded three times. Docketed in red ink. He must decline the invitation to become a Fellow of the Society. 'It is certainly an honour and I would have liked to accept this invitation, but I have lately had to cut down on the membership of various societies since, as you can imagine, the subscriptions do mount up. This is frankly the reason, for I have become very well aware of the importance of the work of the Royal Society of Arts.'

Typed Letter Signed to Sir Philip Magnus [of the Royal Society of Arts], Tangley Hill, Chilworth, Surrey.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Isaac Durrant [Royal Society of Arts]
Publication details: 
27 September 1918; on letterhead of the War Cabinet Committee on Accommodation.
£36.00

English civil servant (1864-1939). The recipient was an educationalist and authority on Edmund Burke. One page, quarto. Very good on slightly discoloured paper. Docketed and bearing the Society's stamp. 'On behalf of Sir Alfred Mond [Committee Chairman], I hasten to assure you and the Committee at the Royal Society of Arts that there is at present no intention on the part of H.M.

Typed Letter Signed to [Mary] Scharlieb, 149 Harley Street.

Author: 
Leonard Darwin
Publication details: 
24 September 1919; on letterhead of the Professional Classes War Relief Council (Incorporated).
£120.00

Soldier, policitician, economist, eugenicist (1850-1943) and son of Charles Darwin. The recipient Dame Mary Scharlieb (1845-1931) was an early woman doctor. Two pages, quarto. Good, but on slightly discoloured and lightly creased paper, with staple stains to both top left-hand corners. An interesting letter concerning the efforts of Scharlieb's Committee to 'establish a Home where the wives of professional men could be certain to obtain excellent treatment at moderate fees'.

Typed Letter Signed ('For the President') to 'A. Francis Stenart [sic], 79, Great King Street, Edinburgh'.

Author: 
The State Office of Statistics, Czechoslovakia
Publication details: 
10 October 1922; Prague. On the Office's letterhead.
£36.00

Two pages, folio. Good, but on discoloured and lightly creased paper, with remains of stub adhering to one edge of verso. In English, with illegible signature. Begins 'The State Office of Statistics appreciating fully the great importance of an exact information of the British publicity of the conditions in the Czechoslovakia has the honour to send you simultaneously her following publications.' Five items listed.

Two Typed Letters Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Ambrose Heal [Heal's Department Store]
Publication details: 
7 October 1918 and 15 May 1919; both on letterhead of Heal & Son Ltd. 195 to 198 Tottenham Court Road, London.
£75.00

Art historian, designer and founder of department store (1872-1959). Both items very good though somewhat dusty. One docketed and both bearing the Society's stamp. ITEM ONE (one page, quarto, 7 October 1918). He encloses (not present) a letter he has received from a woman named Evelyn James. 'I do not know what facilities you have for getting publicity but Miss James has done a good deal of this kind of thing and done it very well. She is a thoroughly capable young woman.' Her help may be sought regarding the meeting on 28 October.

Engraving by H. Bond of 'THE DEATH OF MAJOR PIERSON.'

Author: 
John Singleton Copley [BATTLE OF JERSEY]
Publication details: 
Undated, but mid-nineteenth century. Printed by 'JOHN TALLIS & COMPANY, LONDON & NEW YORK'.
£25.00

Major Francis Pierson died driving the French from the Market Place of Saint Helier in the Island of Jersey, 6 January 1781. Dimensions of paper roughly ten inches by eight. Dimensions of print roughly six inches by four and a half. Surrounded by six tiny vignettes: two of soldiers and four of battle scenes. Very good and clean. Suitable for framing. Mounted on a larger sheet of paper torn from an autograph album. The original painting is in London's Tate Gallery, and the item is accompanied by an early twentieth-century colour postcard of it, with some damage to the reverse.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of petition.

Author: 
Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey, William Frederick Witherington, John Jackson, James Lonsdale, Thomas Christopher Hofland, Robert Balmanno
Publication details: 
Without place or date (but before 1831).
£45.00

Four noted British artists of the earlier part of the nineteenth-century: Witherington (1785-1865), Jackson (1778-1831), Lonsdale (1777-1839), and Hofland (1777-1843), together with the sculptor Chantrey (1781-1841), and the art critic and connoisseur Balmanno (1780-1861), who left England for America in the early 1830s. Paper dimensions roughly three inches by four. Creased, and on paper discoloured with age, with show-through from remains of seal under Chantrey's signature. Reads 'J Chantrey | W. F. Witherington | John Jackson | James Lonsdale. | T. C. Hofland | Robert Balmanno'.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of document.

Author: 
John Charles Denham, Sir Jeffry Wyatville
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£28.00

Denham was an artist (exhibited 1796-1858) and Wyatville (1766-1840) the architect best known for his transformation of Windsor Castle. Paper dimensions roughly four and a quarter inches by two and a half. Good. From a collection of material relating to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund. Reads '- J. C. Denham | 73 Pall Mall | J Wyatville', and on reverse, '<...> is, that I am now much <...> of my apartment, and of whic <...> help, from your <?> <...> most distressing kind - <...> every power, to obtain <...>, which, I am now down <...>'.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of letter.

Author: 
James Ward, John Jackson
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

The engraver and painter Ward (1769-1859) and the artist Jackson (1778-1831). Dimensions of paper roughly five inches by two inches. Good. From a collection of material relating to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund. The reverse reads '<...> <...> | Daughters of the late Robert <...> | Painter Engraver & Publishe <...>'. Clearly a petition on behalf of the two women, and with Georgiana Dodd's cropped signature above those of 'James Ward R.A. | John Jackson R.A.'.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
William Behnes
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

British sculptor (died 1864). Paper dimensions roughly five inches by two inches. Good, but on slightly discoloured paper. Reads 'I have the Honor to be | Gentlemen | Your Obedient Humble Servant | [signed] William Behnes'. From a collection of material relating to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund. Behnes ended his days in considerable distress.

Autograph Signature on fragment of document.

Author: 
Sir Richard Westmacott
Publication details: 
1 December 1837; South Audley Street.
£15.00

English sculptor (1799-1872). Paper dimensions roughly seven and a half inches by one and a quarter. Good. Reads '| <...> | To be | Gentn | Your obt Sert | Richd Westmacott | S. Audley St | 1st. Decr 1837.' Fragment of docketting on reverse. From a collection of material relating to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of document.

Author: 
George Clint, Dominic Paul Colnaghi, Philip Audinet.
Publication details: 
Without date or place [but 1837 or before].
£38.00

The artist Clint (1770-1854), the printseller Colnaghi (1790-1879) and the engraver Audinet (1766-1837). Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by three inches. Good clear signatures, but on paper somewhat grubby and creased. Reads 'D: Colnaghi | Geo Clint ARA | Philip Audinet'. From a collection of material relating to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of document.

Author: 
Sir Richard Westmacott, William Behnes
Publication details: 
27 February 1840; no place.
£23.00

Behnes (died 1864) and Westmacott (1799-1872) were both sculptors. Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by three inches. Folded three times. Good, though a shade grubby. Reads 'I believe the above statement to be quite correct | [signed] Richd Westmacott | William Behnes | Feb. 27/40.' Docketed on reverse. From a collection of material relating to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of a document.

Author: 
Clarkson Stanfield, Michael Meredith
Publication details: 
1825; London.
£26.00

Stanfield was a marine and landscape painter (1793-1867); Meredith was employed by the auctioneers Machin and Debenham of King Street. Paper dimensions roughly five and a half inches by four inches. Folded twice. Grubby and lightly creased, with dog-eared corners. Reads '[signed] Michael Meredith | No 6 Blomfield St | Finsbury Circus | [signed] C Stanfield R A | Mornington Place | Novr. 20th. 1825. From a collection of material relating to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
William Etty
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£16.00

British artist (1787-1849). Dimensions of paper roughly four and a half inches by two. Folded three times. Good, but on slightly discoloured paper. Reads 'I have the honor to be | Gentlemen | Yours faithfully | [signed] Wm.. Etty.' From a collection of material relating to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of petition to W[illiam]. J[ohn]. Roper, Secretary to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund.

Author: 
Alfred Edward Chalon, John James Chalon, Andrew Geddes, Andrew Robertson
Publication details: 
Without place or date, but pre
£46.00

All four are notable British artists of the first half of the nineteenth-century: A. E. Chalon (1780-1860), J. J. Chalon (1778-1854), Geddes (1783-1844), Robertson (1777-1845). Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by five and a half. Grubby and discoloured with age, and with some wear and creasing to edges. Signatures read ' R: Jackson [perhaps John Richardson Jackson, mezzotint engraver, 1819-77] | Alfd. Edwd Chalon | Jno. Jas. Chalon | Andw. Geddes | A. Robertson'.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Charles Hayter
Publication details: 
24 June 1825; 16 Buckingham Street, Portland Road.
£18.00

British miniature-painter (1761-1835). Dimensions of paper roughly seven and a half inches by one and a quarter. Good, on good-quality laid paper, but slightly creased and grubby at sides. Reads '[Signed] Charles Hayter 16 Buckingham Street | Portland Road | June 24. 1825'. Docketed to the right of signature and address. From a collection of material relating to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund.

Autograph Signature on fragment of document.

Author: 
Charles Robert Cockerell [Henry Landseer]
Publication details: 
10 September 1833; 89 Eaton Square.
£28.00

English architect (1788-1863). Paper dimensions roughly seven inches by one and a quarter. Good, though somewhat grubby. From a collection of material relating to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund. Reads '<...> a necessity | C. R. Cockerell. | 10 Sepr. 1833. | 89 Eaton Square.' and on reverse '<...> | and relief, from the Benevolent Society of Artists | I am the Widow of the late Henry Landseer who died [^ on the 25 of July] after an Illness of only a few Hours. leaving myself and Two Infant Children totally destitute. - | <...>'

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