THOMAS

[Thomas Tooke, Victorian economist, throws over Charles Babbage for a 'superior attraction'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos. Tooke') to 'Mrs. Hawes', regarding a dinner invitation, sending three trout caught by his son in the Itchen.

Author: 
Thomas Tooke (1774-1858), Victorian economist, for whom the Tooke Chair of Economics at King's College London (LSE) was endowed, and after whom Tooke Town, Millwall, was named [Charles Babbage]
Publication details: 
12 June [no year]; Spring Gardens [London].
£180.00

In 1821, along with Ricardo, Malthus, James Mill, and others, Tooke founded the Political Economy Club. Although Carlyle is unlikely to have had him specifically in mind, Tooke is the archetypal 'Professor of the Dismal Science'. 2pp, 18mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Twenty-eight lines of text, neatly and closely written. He has 'deferred acknowledging' his answer to her 'kind invitation' to dinner on the coming Saturday until seeing his son, who has been 'out of town on a fishing excursion'.

[Thomas Tooke, Victorian economist, throws over Charles Babbage for a 'superior attraction'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos. Tooke') to 'Mrs. Hawes', regarding a dinner invitation, sending three trout caught by his son in the Itchen.

Author: 
Thomas Tooke (1774-1858), Victorian economist, for whom the Tooke Chair of Economics at King's College London (LSE) was endowed, and after whom Tooke Town, Millwall, was named [Charles Babbage]
Publication details: 
12 June [no year]; Spring Gardens [London].
£180.00

In 1821, along with Ricardo, Malthus, James Mill, and others, Tooke founded the Political Economy Club. Although Carlyle is unlikely to have had him specifically in mind, Tooke is the archetypal 'Professor of the Dismal Science'. 2pp, 18mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Twenty-eight lines of text, neatly and closely written. He has 'deferred acknowledging' his answer to her 'kind invitation' to dinner on the coming Saturday until seeing his son, who has been 'out of town on a fishing excursion'.

[William Thomas Manning, Episcopalian Bishop of New York.] Autograph Letter Signed, on his appointment, to Samuel Bickersteth, Canon of Canterbury Cathedral, which he considers 'the centre of our whole Communion and of our Mother Church of England'.

Author: 
William T. Manning [William Thomas Manning] (1866-1949), Episcopalian Bishop of New York, 1921-1946 [Samuel Bickersteth, Canon of Canterbury Cathedral]
Publication details: 
20 April 1921. On letterhead of Four Washington Square.
£120.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and rather creased. Folded twice. Signed 'William T. Manning.' Addressed to 'The Revd. Samuel Bickersteth D.D. | Canon of Canterbury'. Writing after his appointment as Bishop of New York, Manning begins by stating that Bickersteth must be aware of 'the pressure' that he has been under 'during the past weeks', and this is the reason why his 'kind letter' has not been answered sooner. The appointment 'is a tremendous responsibility but with God's help I shall do my best.

[Julian Huxley, biologist, first director of UNESCO, as Secretary of Zoological Society of London.] Typed Note with cyclostyled signature, informing Dr Maurice Ernest that he does not consider the 'main thesis' of his book 'biologically justified'.

Author: 
Julian Huxley [Sir Julian Sorell Huxley] (1887-1975), evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, first director of UNESCO, brother of Aldous Huxley, grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley [Dr Maurice Ernest]
Publication details: 
15 March 1941. On letterhead of the Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, N.W.8.
£50.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Cyclostyled signature: 'Julian S. Huxley'. Addressed to 'Dr. Maurice Ernest, | New Court, | Esher, | Surrey.' He apologises for having been unable to read his book, adding: 'I am afraid I cannot feel that your main thesis is biologically justified'. It is obvious why Huxley did not look beyond the title, as the book he is clearly referring to is Ernest's 'Lives of 300 years and continual rejuvenation' (1942).

[Thomas Adolphus Trollope, prolific author, older brother of Anthony Trollope.] Autograph Signature ('T. Adolphus Trollope') on part of letter.

Author: 
Thomas Adolphus Trollope (1810-1892), prolific author with a renowned villa in Florence, elder brother of the novelist Anthony Trollope, husband of Theodosia Trollope and Frances Eleanor Trollope
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

On one side of 5 x 13 cm slip of paper cut from the end of a letter. In good condition, lightly aged, with central vertical fold. Laid down on piece of paper removed from album. Reads: '[...] I shall be delighted to come to you. | Yrs always faithfully | T. Adolphus Trollope'.

[Mayne Reid, Irish novelist on American themes.] Autograph Letter Signed to 'J. Froebel' [Julius Fröbel] regarding arrangements for the translation, editing and publication of his book 'Aus Amerika'.

Author: 
Mayne Reid [Thomas Mayne Reid] (1818-1883), Irish novelist who lived for long periods in America and wrote on American themes [Julius Fröbel [Froebel] (1805-1893), German geologist and traveller]
Publication details: 
23 November [1858]; Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.
£250.00

8pp, 12mo. On two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Signed 'Mayne Reid', and written from the sprawling 'Rancho' which he built at Gerrards Cross, in imitation of a Mexican hacienda. The recipient is named by Reid as 'J. Froebel', i.e. Julius Froebel, and the subject is arrangements for the translation translation of his book 'Aus Amerika' (Leipzig, 1857), which would be published in London by Richard Bentley in 1859 under the title 'Seven Years' Travel in Central America, Northern Mexico, and the Far West of the United States'.

[Benjamin Bartrum, auctioneer.] Autograph household 'Inventory & Valuation' of 'the property of Thomas Harward Gardiner Esq' ('Common Brewer'), signed 'Benjn. Bartrum | Bath', containing furniture, plate, books, wearing apparel, jewels, wines.

Author: 
Benjamin Bartrum [Benjamin Thomas Bartrum] (1783-1846), Bath auctioneer [Thomas Harward Gardiner (d. 1841), 'Common Brewer' of Bath; Thomas Gainsborough; Margaret Burr Gainsborough]
Publication details: 
Bath: 'taken and made' on 26 and 27 March 1841.
£320.00

11pp, folio. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice into the conventional packet. Ten-page inventory, followed by full page valuation, neatly written out on six leaves, which are stitched together, with the reverse of the last leaf carrying the title written lengthwise in conventional style for the outside of the packet: 'Inventory & Valuation of the several effects of the late Thos. Harward Gardiner Esq deceased at No. 14 Brock Street Bath | Amount £574. 8. 6', along with the word 'Copy' in red. Also on this page, in pencil in an early twentieth century hand: '?

[Richard Carlile writes from Dorchester Gaol following his conviction for blasphemous libel.] Original number of Carlile's 'The Republican', as issued from press in original blue covers, containing various pieces relating to his imprisonment.

Author: 
Richard Carlile (1790-1843), publisher and writer, leader of the Rotunda Radicals, disciple of Tom Paine, lover of Elizabeth Sharples (1803-1852), suffragist
Publication details: 
[The Republican, London.] 18 January 1822. No. 3. Vol. V. Printed and Published by R. Carlile, 55, Fleet Street.
£280.00

A nice artefact, a number of Carlile's celebrated radical journal 'The Republican' (espousing not only republicanism but also atheism, abolitionism and birth control) as it appeared from the press. For information on Carlile - described by E. P. Thompson as a 'Showman of Free Thought' - and his 'moral wife' the suffragist Eliza Sharples, see their entries in the Oxford DNB. For publishing various 'blasphemous' works by Thomas Paine, Carlile was fined £1500 and sentenced to three years in Dorchester Gaol.

[Richard Carlile, leader of the Rotunda Radicals.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to 'Mr. Teague', i.e. John Teague, Keeper of the Giltspur Street Compter where Carlile was incarcerated, regarding editing proofs and having his head cast by phrenolog

Author: 
Richard Carlile (1790-1843), publisher and writer, leader of the Rotunda Radicals, lover of Elizabeth Sharples (1803-1852), suffragist [John Teague (1779-1841), Keeper of the Giltspur Street Compter
Publication details: 
'Compter Decr. 29. 1834'. [Giltspurt Street Compter, London]
£450.00

For information on Carlile - described by E. P. Thompson as a 'Showman of Free Thought' - and his 'moral wife' the suffragist Eliza Sharples, see their entries in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing Carlile was in prison for refusal to pay the church rates. The proofs Carlile asks to be allowed to receive in the first letter are presumably those of his journal 'The Gauntlet'. The phrenologist 'Mr. Hohn' referred to in the second of the letters - the 'Mr. Holme' of the accompanying slip - is the German-born physician and phrenologist John Diederick Holm (d.1856).

[J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, Shakespearian scholar and antiquarian.] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. O. Halliwell') to Messrs Dickinson & Co., settling a bill and praising the paper supplied by them for his 'folio edition of Shakespear now completed'.

Author: 
J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps [James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, born James Orchard Halliwell] (1820-1889), Shakespearean scholar, antiquarian, and folklorist [John Dickinson & Co, papermakers]
Publication details: 
5 May 1866; on letterhead of No. 6, St Mary's Place, West Brompton, London, S.W.
£150.00

For the context see Halliwell-Phillipps's entry in the Oxford DNB, which states that in 1852 he 'offered by subscription the most elaborate Works [of Shakespeare] ever attempted: published between 1853 and 1865 in sixteen thick folio volumes, lavishly illustrated by F. W. Fairholt and limited to 150 copies, it was initially priced 2 guineas a volume.

[Gilbert White, naturalist.] Original Manuscript, said to have been dictated by White himself, of 'Gilbert White's statement' on the venomous properties of the toad, with eleven authorial emendations. Together with a series of thermometer readings.

Author: 
Gilbert White (1720-1793), naturalist and ornithologist, author of the celebrated 'Natural History of Selborne' (1789) [Thomas Bell (1792-1880), zoologist]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£350.00

A very nice artefact of one of the best-loved books in the England language, Gilbert White's 'Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne', which at one point was claimed to be the fourth most-printed book after the Bible, Shakespeare, and Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress'. White's entry in the Oxford DNB concludes by describing the book as 'an expression of universal thanksgiving, treasured by all'.

[Charles B. Wilder, Boston abolitionist.] Printed pamphlet: 'An Inquiry into the Causes of Frequent Changes in the Ministry, and the Diminished Power of the Churches to hold the People in the House of God.'

Author: 
C. B. Wilder [Charles B. Wilder, Boston abolitionist and Superintendent of Contrabands] [Beacon Press, Boston; Thomas Todd, Printer; Congregational House]
Publication details: 
Boston: Beacon Press: Thomas Todd, Printer, Congregational House, Room 25, 1881.
£50.00

[2] + 16pp, 8vo. In wraps on the front cover of which is printed the title-page, with a 'Note' by Wilder on the reverse. Sixteen pages of text with drop-head title: 'Churches and Ministers Considered'. In poor condition, aged and worn. Wilder's note explains his motive for writing: 'I am nearly four-score years of age - my life covering almost three generations. My opportunities for observation in city and country, North, South, East, and West, have been abundant.

[Eleanor Farjeon, children's writer.] Typed chatty retelling of the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, under the title 'The Simple Facts', and ending 'don't believe a word I say'. Signed by Farjeon 'From E. F.', with her address.

Author: 
Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965), noted children's writer, several of whose works were illustrated by Edward Ardizzone
Publication details: 
No date. 20 Perrin's Walk, N.W.3. [London]
£180.00

1p, 4to. Typescript with a couple of minor autograph corrections. Unpublished, but perhaps relating to her 1945 book 'Ariadne and the Bull'. At foot, in Farjeon's autograph: 'From E. F. | 20 Perrin's Walk | N.W.3.' In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with nicking and loss at edges. A chatty and entertaining retelling of the story. As an example of the tone, early on Farjeon writes: 'The Minotaur was a monster with the gigantic body of a man topped by a bull's head; his father was a bull and his mother was Pasiphae, Minos's Queen.

[Henry Betty, actor.] Autograph Letter Signed [to Madame Celeste, lessee of the Royal Lyceum Theatre, London], announcing his father's recovery from illness, and requesting 'the favour of an Order' [to a performance of 'A Tale of Two Cities'].

Author: 
Henry Betty [Henry Thomas Betty] (1819-1897), actor and founder of Betty's Fund for Poor Actors and Actresses, son of actor William Betty (1791-1874) [Madame Celeste, lessee, Royal Lyceum Theatre]
Publication details: 
'Thursday Morning. | Feb 16/60. [16 February 1860] | 37. Ampthill Square. | Hampstead Road. | Regents Park.' [London]
£90.00

The Times, 16 February 1860, announces 'the new drama, called A TALE OF TWO CITIES', at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, 'Sole Lessee and Directress, Madame Celeste'. ('Madame Céleste' [Céline Céleste-Elliott] (c.1815-1882) was a French dancer and actress.) 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. The recipient is not named. The letter has a large signature ('Henry Betty.') with florid underlining.

[Father Tom Maguire, Dean of Kilmore, Irish Roman Catholic priest, celebrated orator.] Autograph Letter Signed ('T. Maguire') to Richard Montgomery of Coolehill, regarding his gift of a five-year-old pup, 'coursing in Goulan', and 'a great Auction'.

Author: 
Father Tom Maguire [Thomas Maguire] (1792-1847), Dean of Kilmore, Irish Roman Catholic priest, orator, polemicist, controversialist and nationalist [Richard Montgomery of Coolehill]
Publication details: 
19 April 1844. No place, but with one of the postmarks from Ballinamore [Co. Leitrim, Ireland].
£140.00

Maguire was, his entry in the Oxford DNB states, 'one of the most popular orators of his age, and from 1829 until 1843 he addressed huge crowds and packed congregations in churches and at venues throughout England and Ireland'.

[John Colbatch: anonymous pamphlet on Trinity College, Cambridge.] A Vindication of the Lord Bishop of Ely's Visitatorial Jurisdiction over Trinity-College In General and over the Master thereof in Particular.

Author: 
[John Colbatch (1664-1748)] Trinity College, Cambridge; Thomas Green (1658-1738), Bishop of Ely
Publication details: 
London: Printed for T. Cooper, the Corner of Ivy-Lane, next Pater-Noster-Row. MDCCXXXII. [1732]
£120.00

44pp, 4to. In poor condition, worn and stained, in damaged remains of vellum-paper wraps. Library stamp carelessly cut away from blank part of title, causing closed cut to second leaf. Six copies on JISC LHD (COPAC); now uncommon. The date of publication is mistakenly given in Colbatch's entry in the Oxford DNB as 1729.

[Thomas George Bonney, geologist, Alpine mountaineer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('T G Bonney'), urging a lady to abandon 'matters far too difficult and complicated' for her, to be 'useful to others in a less ambitious but more practical sphere'.

Author: 
T. G. Bonney [Thomas George Bonney] (1833-1923), geologist and Alpine mountaineer, President of the Geological Society of London and the Alpine Club
Publication details: 
8 October 1904. On letterhead of 23 Denning Road, Hampstead, N.W. [London]
£120.00

See Bonney's entry in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The recipient is not named. It is unfortunate that the subject of the letter is not stated. Against the charge of misogyny, it should be noted that Bonney 'had the reputation of being a hard teacher, but also a generous man', and that he could equally well have written in the same way to a man he considered equally ill-equipped for a theological task.

[Thomas Hollis, radical political philosopher, benefactor of Harvard.] Autograph Presentation Inscription ('Ex dono Tho. Hollis') on loose leaf from John Owen's 'Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost'. With title and one other loose leaf

Author: 
Thomas Hollis (1720-1774), English political philosopher, benefactor of Harvard and other American colleges
Publication details: 
Title-leaf of second edition, 1700. 'Printed for William Marshall, and Sold by him at the Bible in Newgate-Street'.
£350.00

The three leaves are worn, aged and stained. Two of the leaves carry the four pages of 'The Epistle to the Reader', by the editor Daniel Burgess, and at the head of the first of these pages is the ownership inscription: 'Ex dono Tho. Hollis'. The third leaf is the title, and the title-page has two ownership signatures at the head, neither of them legible. Sotheby sold the united library of Hollis, Thomas Brand Hollis and John Disney in 1817.

[Thomas Moore, 'the national poet of Ireland'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('T. Moore') regarding the return by his wife of a book he has made use of.

Author: 
Thomas Moore ['Anacreon Moore'] (1779-1852), regarded in the nineteenth-century as the national poet of Ireland, friend and literary executor of Lord Byron
Publication details: 
13 September 18[...]. [Bath?]
£56.00

On one side of a piece of paper cropped to 11 x 8 cm, resulting in loss of text at edges. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Septr 13th 18[...] | [...] dear Sir - | As Mrs. Moore is [...] | [...]ith a parcel for Beafort Build[...] | [...] the opportunity of returning a book whi[...] | [...] to a set, you may be inconvenienced [...] | [...], and I have got all I wanted out of it [...] | You will have the goodness to send the [...] | [...] basket to Mrs. Dyke. | Yours ever | T.

[John Keble, Anglican cleric and poet.] Autograph Letter in the third person, recommending that 'Mr. T. Sneyd Kinnersley' apply to 'Mr. Parker, or Mr. Harrison the Architect' regarding an engraving.

Author: 
John Keble (1792-1866), Anglican cleric and poet, a leader of the Oxford Movement, after whom was named Keble College, Oxford [Thomas Clement Sneyd Kinnersley; James Park Harrison; John Henry Parker]
Publication details: 
Hursley Vicarage [Hampshire]. 21 December 1849.
£80.00

2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. 'Mr. Keble presents his compliments to Mr. T. Sneyd Kinnersley, & is much concerned to have received his note so late, that it was impossible for him to return an answer in time for the 20th. He has no spare copies of the Engraving, or he would gladly forwarded [sic] one. Neither does he know whom to apply to about it, unless it be Mr. Parker, or Mr. Harrison the Architect, [i.e. James Park Harrison (1817-1901)] whose address is | 11 Chancery Lane | London. | Mr.

[Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol College, Oxford.] Autograph Letter Signed ('B. Jowett') to T. W. Jex-Blake, Headmaster of Rugby School, regarding 'the prosperity' of the school, the regaining of its 'prestige', and the accepting of 'certificates

Author: 
Benjamin Jowett (1817-1893), Master of Balliol College, Oxford, influential tutor and administrator at the University [Thomas William Jex-Blake (1832-1915), Headmaster of Rugby School, Dean of Wells]
Publication details: 
27 September [no year]. Oxford.
£120.00

The 1880 'Balliol Masque' indicates Jowett's standing, and the pronunciation of his name: 'First come I. My name is Jowett. | There's no knowledge but I know it. | I am Master of this College, |What I don't know isn't knowledge.' 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with fold lines. Begins: 'My dear Jex Blake | I am very glad to hear of the prosperity of Rugby, in which I shall always take a great interest.

[Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Austen Chamberlain.') to his neighbour 'Mr Kynnersley', declining to part with 'a piece of the meadow', suggesting that his tenant acquire an allotment instead.

Author: 
Austen Chamberlain [Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain] (1863-1937), Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer [Thomas Clement Sneyd Kynnersley (1803-1892) of Moor Green, Moseley, Birmingham]
Publication details: 
6 November 1889. On letterhead of Highbury, Moor Green, Birmingham.
£56.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice. The letter, which deals with domestic matters, but has some interest considering the writer's father's views on land reform, is written a year after Chamberlain's return from his studies in Germany, where he had been alarmed by the rise in Prussian militarism, and with him on the verge of his entry into politics in the footsteps of his father Joseph Chamberlain. (He was also the older half-brother of the future Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.) It begins: 'Dear Mr.

[Rev. T. Mardy Rees, author of 'History of the Quakers in Wales and their Emigration to North America'.] Printed handbill advertisement for the book, with quotations from newspaper reviews. and MS annotation.

Author: 
Rev. T. Mardy Rees, F.R.Hist.S., Neath, S. Wales [Thomas Mardy Rees (1871-1953); Welsh Quakers]
Publication details: 
Dating from after the publication of the book, by W. Spurrell & Son, Carmarthen, in 1925.
£56.00

See Rees's entry in the Welsh Dictionary of Biography. Printed in red and black on one side of a 12mo leaf. Aged and creased, with loss at head and a couple of short closed tears at edges. Gives price and format, with nine appreciative quotations from newspaper reviews, the first from 'Western Mail' and last from 'A Friend'. At foot of the page, crossed out in pencil: 'Printed and Published by | W. SPURRELL & SON, CARMARTHEN.' To the right of the author's name, in ink, and presumably in his hand: 'Sent to the author', and to the left, 'Few copies left.'

[Thomas Scott, Earl of Clonmell and Richard Butler, Earl of Glengall.] Signatures, with fourteen others, on PART of petition to the king for 'Pro[tection?]' from 'the unceasing efforts made by the Enem[ies?]'.

Author: 
Thomas Scott (1783-1838), 2nd Earl of Clonmell and Richard Butler, Earl of Glengall; Clonmell, County Tipperary, Ireland
Clonmel
Publication details: 
[Clonmell, County Tipperary, Ireland.] Without date [but Georgian, and after 1816].
£400.00
Clonmel

The earldom of Glengall was created in 1816 for Lord Cahir who died three years later; the second and last earl held the title from 1819 to his death in 1858. Another of the signatories, Dr Richard Burgess, was active in Clonmell in the Regency period. On one side of 24 x 19 cm piece of watermarked laid paper. Clearly the left hand half (only) of a 24 x 38 cm petition addressed 'To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty'. In fair condition, aged and worn, with closed tears and chipping along one edge, and one signature cut away, leaving only the acronym 'D.

[Ulrike von Pogwisch, sister of Goethe's daughter-in-law, latterly Prioress of St John's Monastery, Schleswig.] Autograph Note Signed ('Ulrike v Pogwisch'), in English, [to Lady Ann Cullum], expressing pleasure at making her acquaintance.

Author: 
Ulrike von Pogwisch (1798-1875), sister of the daughter-in-law of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, from 1864 Prioress of St. John's Monastery, Schleswig [Lady Ann Cullum of Hardwick House]
Publication details: 
[Carlsbad]; nor date ('at 12 oClock').
£150.00

3pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Aged and ruckled, with light damp staining. No salutation, but apparently complete. From the papers of Lady Ann Cullum (1807-1875), wife of Rev. Sir Thomas Gery Cullum of Hardwick House. ]Begins: 'I am very sorry, that I could not keep my promise to day to call upon You, - Believe me that it was impossible, but I cant leave Carlsbad without telling You at least how glad I waws to have made Your acquaintances.

[Lady Elizabeth Craven, Margravine of Anspach.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Elizabeth. M of B. A & B | Ps. Berkeley -') to coachbuilder 'Mr. Thomas', regarding the delivery of 'a well seasond [sic] Carriage' to Brandenburg House, Hammersmith.

Author: 
Lady Elizabeth Craven, Margravine of Anspach [Brandenburg-Anspach-Bayreuth] [née Lady Elizabeth Berkeley; also Princess Berkeley] (1750-1828), travel writer and society hostess [Thomas, coachbuilder]
Publication details: 
4 June 1800; no place [Brandenburg House, Hammersmith].
£120.00

For Lady Craven's colourful life see her entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Folded four times. Begins: 'Mr. Thomas, I will thank you to send my Carriage by a Western Waggon, immediately here - directed to Hr. S. Highness The Margravine of Anspach Brandenburg house, near Hammersmith, and I hope as I have waited so long for it that it will be a well seasond [sic] Carriage - & reasonable in Price, which if it is, and finish'd to my Satisfaction, you may depend ont that it will not be the last by many which you will make'.

[Thomas Hughes, author of 'Tom Brown's School Days'.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Tho. Hughes') to 'Mr. Kynnersley', discussing: meeting Rugby schoolfellow 'Blandford', educating an abandoned boy, his co-operative beliefs, Joseph Chamberlain.

Author: 
Thomas Hughes (1822-1896), politician and judge, author of 'Tom Brown's School Days'
Publication details: 
ONE: 3 March 1884; 52 Promenade, Southport, Lancashire, on letterhead of the County Courts, Circuit No. 9, Chester. TWO: 30 November 1885. On letterhead of Uffington House, Chester.
£250.00

Both items in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: 3 March 1884. 1p, 12mo. Addressed to 'Dear Mr. Kynnersley'. Having received Kynnersley's undated letter he writes: 'I shall meet Blandford as you propose on the 11th. with very great pleasure. He was one of the heroes on whom I used to look with awe as a 3rd. form boy in 1834 in which year I joined & he I think left Rugby.' He is sitting at Congleton on the day of the meeting, and 'there is just a chance that some perverse suitor may be in full blast at my train time in which case (as I never leave a cause part heard) I may be late'.

[King George V of Hanover.] Secretarial Letter Signed ('George R'), in English, to the dancing partner of his youth Lady Ann Cullum, giving news of his family and court. With two letters to Lady Cullum from Count Linsingen, and royal seal in red wax.

Author: 
George V [Georg V] (1819-1878), last king of Hanover, cousin of Queen Victoria; Carl Baron von Linsingen (1822-1872) [Lady Ann Cullum, widow of Sir Thomas Gery Cullum of Hardwick House]
Publication details: 
King George V's letter: 28 November [1865]; Herrenhausen. Count Linsingen's two letters: 12 November and 18 December 1865; both from Hanover.
£750.00

Four items, all in good condition, lightly aged, the three letters with stubs and labels used in mounting in an album. In addition to the pleasant picture they paint of the court gathered around the blind king in the last year of his kingdom's existence (with an interesting reference to the new palace he had built his wife at Marienburg), the three letters indicate a surprisingly cordial state in nineteenth-century Anglo-German relations.

[Arethusa Gibson on Thackeray: 'Is he not a little odd?'] Autograph Letter [from her to her mother Lady Cullum], expressing uncertainty about 'Mr Thackery', mocking MP and diplomat David Urquhart, and praising the 'Turkish Chargé d'Affaires'.

Author: 
Arethusa Gibson [née Susannah Arethusa Cullum] (1814-1885), society hostess, wife of Thomas Milner Gibson (1806-1884), Liberal politician [William Makepeace Thackeray; David Urquhart]
Publication details: 
No place or date, but circa 1846-1848, when Thackeray was publishing under the pseudonym 'Michael Angelo Titmarsh'. On letterhead of 'Arethusa'.
£250.00

See the separate entries on the Gibsons in the Oxford DNB, which notes 'her eclectic salons, attended by diplomats, writers, politicians, and, after 1848, European exiles. Regular guests included Dickens, Thackeray, Hugo, Lady Morgan, the Disraelis, Cobden, and Louis Napoleon'. (Dickens wrote part of his last novel, 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood', at the Gibsons' London house.) The present item is from the papers of Arethusa's mother Lady Ann Cullum (1807-1875), wife of Rev. Sir Thomas Gery Cullum (1777-1855) of Hardwick House. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium.

[British Embassy Medical Officer in Cold War Moscow and Bucharest.] Unpublished typed account by T. V. Humphreys of his journeys around Romania and Russia during five years of service, also describing medical aspects and 'Soviet methods of medicine'.

Author: 
Col. Thomas Victor Humphreys (b.1922), O.B.E., M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O, Royal Army Medical Corps, British Embassy Medical Officer at Moscow and Bucharest [USSR; Soviet Union; Iron Curtain; Russia; Romania]
Publication details: 
December 1952 to January 1953. Romania and the USSR (Russia). Russian locations: Moscow, Leningrad, Peterhof, Tsarskoe-Selo, Gatchina, Pavlovsk, Kharkov, Kiev.
£1,250.00

Biographical details regarding Humphreys are hard to come by. He features in two Times reports of the indisposition of the pianist Cyril Smith in Moscow in 1956 (8 May and 9 June). On his award of the OBE in the 1958 New Years Honours List he was described as 'lately First Secretary and Medical Officer at Her Majesty's Embassy in Moscow'. On his retirement in 1987 he was described as 'Col. T. V. Humphreys, O.B.E., M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O.

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