THE

Typed Letter Signed ('Ruth Knowles'), a reference for her 'ship-keeper' William Stilwell. With four photographs of her barquentine 'Friendship' ('Emma Ernest'), moored at Charing Cross, and typed reports, with newspaper cuttings, by Stilwell's son.

Author: 
Ruth Mitchell [Knowles] (c.1888-1969) [Chetniks; Yugoslavia; Brigantine 'Emma Ernest'; Charing Cross Pier; World Explorers Friendship Clubs; The Yellow Rolls Royce (film, 1964); ]
Publication details: 
Letter dated 21 May 1932; on 'World Explorers' letterhead. The two reports from 1988, with one dated 'JS [James Stilwell] Oct 88'.
£220.00

An interesting collection of material relating to an extraordinary woman whose exploits deserve recognition. According to one obituary Mitchell (sister of American General 'Billy' Mitchell) was 'he only foreign woman to serve with the Chetniks', for whom she acted as a dispatch rider. Captured by the Gestapo while swimming at Dubrovnik, 'still in her bathing suit, and with papers on her that would have caused her to be executed without trial, she turned to the agents and asked: "Gentlemen, you will permit me to change my trousers?" They agreed.

Mauritius; Or, The Isle of France: Being an Account of the Island, Its History, Geography, Products, and Inhabitants.

Author: 
Rev. Francis P. Flemyng [Mary Addison]
Publication details: 
[1862.] London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; Sold at the Depositories; 77, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields; 4, Royal Exchange; 48, Piccadilly; and by all booksellers. [London: R. Clay, Son, and Taylor, Printers.]
£220.00

12mo: xiv + 256 + [ii] pp. Detailed fold-out map of the island, in black, blue and pink. Frontispiece and seventeen illustrations. A tight copy on lightly-aged paper, in worn original embossed green cloth binding, gilt. Map creased and with short closed tear. A nice copy of an interesting little book, bearing the bookplate of the botanist Mary Addison, to whom it was presented, according to an inscription on the front free endpaper, by the Reverend J. Hoding on 30 August 1867. A few neat synoptic notes in the margin, presumably by Addison. Four-page SPCK catalogue at rear.

Handbill, with diagram, expounding the aims of the Society, headed 'Meetings along the Line of Docks'.

Author: 
Society for the Taxation of Land Values, Liverpool [nineteenth-century land reform; Victorian radical socialism]
Publication details: 
Undated [circa 1900]. 'Printed by C. Tinling & Co., 53, Victoria Street, and Published by the Society for the Taxation of Land Values, 4, Preeson's Row, Liverpool.'
£85.00

12mo bifolium (leaf dimensions 22 x 14 cm): 4 pp. Text clear and complete, on lightly-aged and grubby paper with wear to extremities. The first pages includes a section beginning 'Land in Liverpool has been sold at £226 the square yard; £1,093,840 an Acre! | PAY YOUR RENTS! and YOUR RATES!! | You must Pay them or be Put Out!!! | But when you pay, think what you are paying for: [...] The Liverpool Stock Exchange had to pay Three Shillings and Sixpence for every square inch of the land facing Exchange Street and corner of Dale Street. There are over 6 1/4 million square inches in an acre!

Four printed leaflets relating to the English League for the Taxation of Land Values.

Author: 
The English League for the Taxation of Land Values [Frederick Verinder (1858-1948), General Secretary]
Publication details: 
All circa 1903. All 'Printed by Page & Pratt, Ltd., 22 St Andrew St., E.C.' [London].
£250.00

All four items clear and complete, on aged paper with wear to the extremities of item one. Item One: 'Leaflet No. 1. English League for the Taxation of Land Values. Statement of Principles.' 12mo, 4 pp, on unbound bifolium. Headings include 'Objects of the League', 'Meaning of Land Values', 'The Taxation of Land Values would be just', 'The Taxation of Land Values would promote general prosperity and remove social evils'. Item Two: '[...] No. 3. The Taxation of Land Values: What it would do. 12mo leaflet, 2 pp.

The History, Or Anecdotes, Of the Revolution in Russia, In the Year 1762. Translated from the French of M. De Rulhiere.

Author: 
Claude Carloman de Rulhiere [Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia; Russian eighteenth-century history; revolution of 1762]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for T. N. Longman, Paternoster-Row. 1797.
£180.00

8vo: [ii] + xxiv + 178 + [ii] pp. With half-title, and final leaf containing two pages of 'New Publications printed for T. N. Longman, No. 39, Paternoster-Row.' Frontispiece, becoming detached, of 'Catherine II. Empress of Russia, Taken from an Original Bust.' Tight copy, on aged and lightly discoloured paper, in worn and stained contemporary half-binding of chipped vellum spine and corners and marbled boards. Minor staining at foot of frontispiece, title and first leaf of prelims.

Engraving ('Benjamin Green sculpt.') in red and black, with explanatory letterpress, titled 'A View Of The Library Founded In 1429 By RICHARD WHITTINGTON.'

Author: 
Benjamin Green ('Pott') [Thoams Pennant; Richard ('Dick') Whittington; London topography; Christ's Hospital; libraries]
Publication details: 
London Pubd. Jany. 1 1793 by N Smith Gt. Mays Buildings St. Martins Lane.'
£56.00

Printed on one side of a piece of thick wove paper, 21 x 17.5 cm. At the head of the page is the engraving, enclosed in an oval 12.5 cm high and 15 cm wide. A clear impression of a scarce print, on grubby, spotted paper. Within the border is engraved in red 'Part of Christs Hospital taken from the Stewards Office 1765.' According to the six lines of copperplate text at the foot of the page 'It was 129 feet long and 31 feet in breadth, [...] It was furnished with Books at the expence of £556 . 10s of which £400 were given by the founder, and the remainder by Dr.

The Sickness Accident and Life Association Limited. Prospectus.

Author: 
The Sickness Accident and Life Association Limited [Friends Provident; life insurance; actuarial science]
Publication details: 
Foreword' dated 'Edinburgh, December, 1897.' [Printed by Morrison and Gibb Limited, Edinburgh.]
£45.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 13 x 9 cm): 62 pp. Folded 'Proposal' tipped in on perforated stub. Sewn into cream wraps, printed in red. Text clear and complete. Internally tight on lightly-aged paper. In worn and grubby wraps with a few ink notes on front. Index on p.ii (reverse of front wrap) gives sections (each with subsections) devoted to Sickness Department, Accident Department, Employers' Liability and Accidents to Workmen, Indemnity and Third Party Insurance, Fidelity Guarantees, and Life Department. Also lists Directors, Office-Bearers, Head Office and Branches.

Farmer Brown's Blunders; and the London Director's Report of Wheal Blue Bottle.

Author: 
J. T. Tregellas [John Tabois Tregellas (1792-1863)] [Cornwall; Cornish dialect poetry; the West Country]
Publication details: 
[1860] Truro: Printed by James R. Netherton, 7, Lemon Street. ['Third Edition. - Price Sixpence.']
£220.00

12mo: 26 pp paginated 101-126. Stitched. In original worn, creased and grubby green printed wraps. Internally clean, except for the first two leaves, both of which are grubby, with loss to the first leaf affecting two lines of text. 'Farmer Brown's Blunders' is a dialect poem, with explanatory footnotes; the other item is a spoof letter by 'Hannibal Hollow'. There are no records of first or second editions of this item, or of any other edition in which the two pieces are printed together. Scarce: the only copy on COPAC, dated to 1860, at the British Library.

Steel engraving captioned 'Birds Eye View of the City and County of New-York with Environs.'

Author: 
Charles Magnus (1826-1900), German-born American engraver and printseller [New York; steel engraving; maps; travel; topography]
Publication details: 
[circa 1855] 'Sold by Charles Magnus, 12 Frankfort Street, New York.'
£80.00

Dimensions of print 11.5 x 19.5 cm. At the head of the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium (leaf dimensions 28 x 22.5 cm). The print itself is clear and undamaged, on aged paper. With traces of cuttings mounted onto the internal pages, and closed tear to the blank second leaf. An impressively detailed engraving, showing the bustling port and layout of the city, with church spires and prominent buildings. A copy of the item survives used as a letter home from a German girl in 1855. The copy in the New York Public Library is ascribed to 'C. Magnus, Lith. 22 N. William St.'

Typed Note Signed ('Phillips Oppenheim') to Lawrence Mack, editor of Everybody's Weekly.

Author: 
E. Phillips Oppenheim (1866-1946) [Lawrence Mack; Everybody's Weekly]
Publication details: 
26 April 1928; on letterhead of Villa Deveron, Cagnes, Alpes-Maritmes, France.
£56.00

8vo: 1 p. Good, on lightly-creased paper, with a faint 4cm pink stain in the right-hand margin. Reads 'Many thanks for the copy of your interesting paper, and the kindly reference to my novel.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo Ellis') to Messrs Gosling & Sharpe, London bankers.

Author: 
George Ellis (d.1895) [playwright of Drury Lane and Surrey Theatres?] [the wreck of the Oneida, 1850; August Edouard]
Publication details: 
4 September 1878; on letterhead of 10 Bolton Road, St John's Wood.
£28.00

12mo bifolium: 3 pp. Good on slightly grubby paper. He wishes to be informed 'which branch of the family the enclosed represent'. 'They are part of a large collection of persons connected with the Stock Exchange & mercantile world. The collection - some hundreds - was saved from the wreck of the "Oneida" in 1850', and is the work of August Edouard, 'who served under the first Napoleon'. He has 'the history of them, and a very interesting one it is'.

Printed programme of the 'Arrangements for the Ceremony of the Presentation of the Freedom of the City of London to The Right Hon. Lord Milner of St. James' and Cape Town, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.'

Author: 
Alfred Milner (1854-1925), 1st Viscount Milner [Lord Milner] [The Corporation of the City of London; freedom of the city; Guildhall]
Publication details: 
Tuesday, 23rd July, 1901.'
£45.00

4tp bifolium: 3 pp. Text clear and complete on aged and lightly-creased paper. The first page is headed by the crest of the City of London. Gives the timetable for the ceremony, and the routes to be followed by the holders of 'three distinct Cards [white, pink and blue] assigning seats in different localities'. 'The Prime Warden and Wardens of the Fishmongers' Company will present Lord Milner with the Freedom.

Four pieces of printed ephemera relating to the Lord Mayor's Banquet at the Guildhall, including two prose descriptions of the design of the ticket.

Author: 
Blades, East & Blades, London printers [the Corporation of the City of London; Guildhall; Lord Mayor's Banquet; Hansard Publishing Union (Limited)]
Publication details: 
Two of the four items (from 1875 and 1877) printed by Blades, East & Blades, 11 Abchurch Lane, City. One of the others printed in 1889 by The Hansard Publishing Union (Limited), London, W.C.
£95.00

Item One: Handbill headed, beneath the City of London shield, 'Description of the Design for the Ticket of Admission to the Banquet at Guildhall, on Tuesday, 9th November, 1875.' Printed in purple on one side of a piece of lilac paper, roughly 20.5 x 13 cm. Text clear and complete, on creased and aged paper, with 1cm closed tear to one corner. At foot of page: 'BLADES, EAST & BLADES, | 11, ABCHURCH LANE, CITY. | Established 1832.' The description runs to thirteen lines.

Large advertising board, bearing a 'SPECIMEN PLATE' ('The Shadow of Death': 'Holman Hunt, Pinx. The Art Journal. Goupilgravure.'), for 'The Life and Work of W. Holman Hunt. By Archdeacon Farrar.'

Author: 
William Holman Hunt; Archdeacon Frederic William Farrar [Dean Farrar; Pre-Raphaelite; The Art Journal; Alice Meynell; J. S. Virtue & Co. Ltd.; Goupilgravure]
Publication details: 
[1893.] 'London: J. S. Virtue & Co. Ltd.' [The Art Journal.]
£85.00

Printed on one side of a piece of cream paper, roughly 33.5 x 25.5 cm. Laid down on card. Clear and complete, with a good impression of the plate (22.5 x 17.5 cm), on lightly-aged, grubby paper, with slight wear to extremities. Presumably produced for display in a shop window. The title ('THE LIFE AND WORK OF | W. HOLMAN HUNT. | BY ARCHDEACON FARRAR.') at head, and 'SPECIMEN PLATE.' at foot, in large orange letters; the rest printed in black. Beneath the plate: 'THE SHADOW OF DEATH. | BY PERMISSION OF MESSRS. T. AGNEW & SONS. | LONDON: J. S. VIRTUE & CO.

Double Crown Club Anecdote No. 1. Peter de Walpergen against the Executors of John Fell 1687-88.

Author: 
[Harry Carter; Double Crown Club; Corpus Christi College; John Fell types]
Publication details: 
[Privately printed.] Oxford: 1964. [Printed in the Fell types at the University Press, Oxford by Vivian Ridler, 'and given to the Double Crown Club at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, by Harry Carter 26 June 1964'.
£85.00

12mo (leaf dimensions): 20 [+ 1] pp. Stitched, and in original grey printed wraps. Internally tight and clean, in creased, worn and spotted wraps with chipping to extremities. Uncommon: the only copies on COPAC at the British Library, National Library of Scotland, Oxford, Cambridge and the V & A.

Keepsake poem entitled 'Lines written for the dinner of the Book Publishers' Representatives' Association. October 4th, 1929.'

Author: 
E. V. Lucas [The Book Publishers' Representatives' Association; Methuen & Co.]
Publication details: 
[1929.]
£35.00

12mo: 8 pp. Dimensions of leaf roughly 13.5 x 11 cm. Lightly-spotted and creased, in creased and worn original purple wraps with title printed on front, and stitched with matching purple thread. An uncommon piece of Lucas and book trade ephemera, nicely printed. Beneath the title: 'President. W. J. Crawley. Principal Guests of the Evening. Sir Godfrey Collins, M.P. Edgar Wallace. E. V. Lucas. H. E.

Autograph Quotation Signed ('A. Maffei').

Author: 
Alessandro Maffei, Italian Minister to Austria, 1859-67, and Ambassador to the United States, 1867-71
Publication details: 
14 April 1866. Place not stated.
£56.00

On one side of a piece of laid paper, 11 x 18 cm. Laid down on a slightly larger piece of paper. Good: lightly aged with three neat vertical folds. Reads 'Oh! land of beauty - sun-lit Italy! How often do I fondly think of thee, | And of the days gone by . . . . . ! | [signature] A. Maffei | April 14th | 1866.'

Typed Note Signed to Stanley Unwin.

Author: 
Arnold Bennett (1867-1931), English novelist [Sir Stanley Unwin (1884-1968), publisher]
Publication details: 
9 December 1930; 97 Chiltern Court, Clarence Gate, NW1.
£65.00

4to, 1 p. Four lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight staining from paperclip in top left-hand corner. He thanks him for his 'very interesting letter': 'The photograph shows an agreeable, and perhaps distinguished building. I return the picture thereof, and wish you every success therein.'

A Brief History of Boys' Journals. With interesting Facts about the Writers of Boys' Stories. With handbill advertisement for 'The "Old Boys' Book Club'.

Author: 
Ralph Rollington, pseud. [Herbert John Allingham, father of Margery Allingham; boys' stories; The Old Boys' Book Club, Seaforth, Liverpool; George Emmett; E. J. Brett]
Publication details: 
Leicester: H. Simpson, Grove Road. [Appendix dated 'Leicester, July, 1913.']
£75.00

8vo: 111 pp. Frontispiece portrait of author, and eight plates (including portraits of George Emmett and E. J. Brett). In original grey printed wraps (title incorrectly given on front as 'The Old Boy's Books'). Tight, on lightly-aged and foxed paper. Grubby frontispiece and worn and lightly-stained wraps. Uncommon. COPAC lists copies at the British Library, the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, Oxford, Aberdeen and the University of London. The British Library entry ascribes the book to Allington. Pasted to the inner back wrap is an advertisement headed 'JOIN! JOIN! JOIN!

Janus, Lake Sonnets, etc. and other Poems.

Author: 
David Holt [William Pickering, London bookseller; the Aldine Press; Charles Whittingham, printer; the Chiswick Press]
Publication details: 
London: William Pickering, Piccadilly. George Bell, Fleet Street. 1853. ['C. Whittingham, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane.']
£56.00

12mo: viii + 207 pp. Advertisement and printer's slug on reverse of last leaf. Additional sepia engraved title ('T. Letherbrow. Del. W. Morton. Sc. Manchr.') with illustration depicting a stern-looking woman (one of the fates?) holding a bobbin of thread. By her side a cherub with a lyre and a large, incongruous metal cog. In original blind-stamped green cloth binding. A tight copy, lightly foxed and aged, in faded binding with slight wear and a small stain to the front board. Ownership stamp of Florence Armaghdale on front free endpaper. Last two leaves opened clumsily. Scarce.

Belfegor [Narrative Poem based on Niccolo Machiavelli's "Novella di Belfegor".]

Author: 
Anon. [T.Charlton Smith]
Publication details: 
"Second Edition", Simpkin, Marshall, London, 1839.
£250.00

134pp., 8vo, in modern blue leather gt, raised bands, marbled endpapers, staining throughout affecting c.25% of each page, pages trimmed, but text clear and complete, with no loss of text except the very top of the letters written in the author's inscription. INSCRIPTION (titlepage): W.J. Mercer | from Lt General T. Charlton Smith | the Author | Nov.: 1874||". Mercer, presumably has added: "T.C.S. wrote this when a Captain in 27th. Regt. He sent copy to T. Moore, who apporioved the squib. The General was a Peninsular & Waterloo man: at Waterloo he was wounded.

Allegorical coloured engraved portrait of 'Bernadotte', with explanation, 'Drawn & Etchd by W Heath'.

Author: 
William Heath ('Paul Pry'); Rudolph Ackermann, publisher, 'The Repository of the Arts', Strand [Napoleon Bonaparte; Battle of Leipzig, 1814; Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte; Charles XIV John, King of Sweden]
Publication details: 
Pub March 4th 1814 R Akermann Strand'.
£250.00

BM 13489. Landscape. On a piece of wove paper, roughly 215 x 305 mm. Good, on heavily-aged paper and with strip of blue paper mount adhering to the blank reverse. The title 'BERNADOTTE' is at the head, and the publication details and caption at the foot. Shows Bernadotte in martial pose and uniform, riding his white horse over a fearsome serpent. He wears a sash on which are written the words 'Leipsic' and 'Victory'.

Autograph Note Signed ('E R Fremantle') to William Henry Kearsley Wright (1844-1915), Plymouth Borough Librarian, naval historian and antiquary.

Author: 
Sir Edmund Robert Fremantle (1836-1929), English naval officer, Commander-in-Chief at Devonport
Publication details: 
9 August 1898. On embossed letterhead of the Commander in Chief's Office, Devonport.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. Very good on lightly-aged paper. Reads 'Dear Mr Wright, | I am sending you a photograph which I hope you will like, | Yours faithfully, | [signed] E R Fremantle'.

Autograph Signature ('Jan Kubelik') in pencil beneath photographic portrait on cover of Percy Pitt and A. Kalisch's programme for 'Kubelik Farewell Recital' at the Queen's Hall, London.

Author: 
Jan Kubelik (1880-1940), Czech violinist and composer
Publication details: 
Printed date on programme: 7 October 1905.
£85.00

The cover is printed on one side of a piece of shiny art paper, roughly 20.5 x 13 cm. Photograph of Kubelik and his violin roughly 10.5 x 8 cm. Paper lightly creased and with slight wear along vertical fold across middle of photograph. Good firm signature.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J A Froude') to Adolphus.

Author: 
James Anthony Froude (1818-1894), English historian [John Leycester Adolphus (c.1794-1862), barrister and writer]
Publication details: 
12 November [no year, but before 1863]. On embossed letterhead of 8 Clifton Place, Hyde Park, London.
£35.00

12mo: 2 pp. Sixteen lines of text. Good. He is 'very anxious to be introduced' at the Literary Society and 'to take advantage of [Adolphus's] kindness in proposing' him. Gives reasons for not having attending any of the Society's dinners.

Offprint of letter to the editor of The Times, headed 'MR. DICKENS AND MR. BENTLEY. | To the Editor of "The Times." '

Author: 
George Bentley (1828-1895), London bookseller; son of Richard Bentley (1794-1871) [Charles Dickens]
Publication details: 
GEORGE BENTLEY. | NEW BURLINGTON STREET, | Dec. 7, 1871.'
£100.00

8vo (21.5 x 14 cm), 4 pp. Unbound bifolium. Good, on lightly aged and foxed paper. The item is well-printed, paginated with two footnotes. The subject is laid out at the start: 'In the first volume of Mr. Dickens' Life, just published, I read an account of Mr. DICKENS' literary connexion with my father, which it is impossible for me to leave without remark. The biographer therein presents my father in a character which all who knew him would repudiate as belonging to him.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F Carruthers Gould') to 'Mrs Whyte'.

Author: 
Francis Carruthers Gould (1844-1925), English caricaturist, politician, and assistant editor of 'The Westminster Gazette'; temperance; the Liberal Publication Department]
Publication details: 
23 April 1908. On letterhead of The Westminster Gazette.
£45.00

12mo: 2 pp. On the rectos of the two leaves of a bifolium. Good, on lightly aged and spotted paper. Her letter has been handed to him by 'Mr Spender'. He would be 'very pleased to have the temperance cartoons circulated as post cards', and has asked 'the manager here' for a costing. 'Some of the cartoons I believe are being produced as posters by the Liberal Publication Department and by Temperance organisations.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('S. Bannister'), in French, to 'Monsieur de Monglave, l'Institut Historique'.

Author: 
Saxe Bannister (1790-1877), English writer and lawyer, the first Attorney-General of New South Wales [Eugène Garay de Monglave (1796-1873)]
Publication details: 
Au Mai, Jouy, Près Versailles, 23 Juin 1834'.
£85.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly aged paper. Addressed to 'Monsieur et Confrère'. He replied to de Monglave's last letters a couple of days previously, and he has addded 'deux ou trois propositions que je vous de traduire en bon François, et de lire à notre comité, au Conseil'. He wants to get to know 'quelques uns de mes voisins dans ce village où j'ai l'intention de passer six mois', and asks for letters of introduction. Lists four families he wishes to get to know and names some individuals with whom he is a little acquainted.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Justin Mc.Carthy') to 'F. H. Hill Esq'.

Author: 
Justin McCarthy (1830-1912), Irish politician and writer [Frank Harrison Hill (1830-1910)], editor of the Daily News]
Publication details: 
6 February 1872, on letterhead of 48 Gower Street, Bedford Square, W.C. [London.]
£56.00

12mo: 1 p. Fourteen lines of text, neatly and closely written. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. 1 cm closed tear to a margin (not affecting text). He accepts Hill's proposal 'with regard to the Parliamentary leaders of the Daily News'. He hopes the 'condition [...] as to notice of termination [...] will prove as much of a formality without consequence as certain claims for "consequential damages" '.

Printed authority completed in manuscript, 'To the Aldermen, Deputy, and Common-Council of the Ward of Queenhithe', signed by the City of London Commission of Lieutenancy, authorising the collection of a tax to pay the expenses of the City militia.

Author: 
Stuart Knill, Lord Mayor of London [The Ward of Queenhithe in the City of London; livery companies; tax; economic history]
Publication details: 
25/05/91
£150.00

On the recto of the first leaf of a folio bifolium (leaf dimensions 42.5 x 27.5 cm). On grey watermarked laid paper. Good, with slight offsetting from the ten red wafers placed beside the signatures. Headed 'LONDON. To the ALDERMEN, DEPUTY, and COMMON-COUNCIL of the Ward of [Queenhithe]'. Fifty-two lines of text, with manuscript additions, including the name of the ward ('Queenhithe') and the sum assessed (£89 15s 6d). At the foot of the page are large, bold signatures of the ten members of the Commission of Lieutenancy, including that of the Lord Mayor, Stuart Knill.

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