Latest additions

Author, Title, Summary Price
George Barnett Smith (1841-1909), author, journalist, artist and editor of the Echo [George Bentley (1828-1895), editor of Temple Bar, and son of London publisher Richard Bentley (1794-1871)]

[George Barnett Smith, biographer and journalist.] Autograph Letter Signed [to George Bentley, editor of Temple Bar] regarding the proof of an article, his new position as 'principal Editor' of the Echo. With manuscript note [by George Bentley].

1p., 8vo, on the verso of the second leaf of a bifolium, with the Autograph Note by Bentley on the recto of the first leaf. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Smith's letter headed by him 'Private'. He begins: 'Dear Sir | I have not yet received the proof of my article on Hannay, for Temple Bar, which...

£120.00
Dinah Maria Craik [née Mulock] (1826-1887), novelist, best-known for 'John Halifax, Gentleman' (1856)

[Dinah Maria Craik, Victorian novelist, author of 'John Halifax, Gentleman'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('D M Craik') to 'Mrs Western', regarding the taking-in of 'Isabel' and an outbreak of scarlet fever.

4pp., 16mo. Bifolium. 57 lines of closely-written text. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. She begins by exclaiming 'I have been so very sorry for you!', before urging her correspondent to 'keep quarantine'. 'But about Isabel? [...] I would gladly take her to stay here as I have done...

£90.00
Charles G. Mortimer [Charles Gordon Mortimer, lyricist, Catholic journalist and author [Dulwich College; Brasenose College, Oxford; Stonyhurst College, Lancashire; Rudyard Kipling]

[Charles G. Mortimer, lyricist and Catholic writer.] Collection of 54 autograph song lyrics and poems by him, mostly holographs (signed 'CGM'), noting the sale of each (to music publishers and magazines). With Autograph Letter Signed to his typist.

After leaving Dulwich College Mortimer was a classical scholar at Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1933 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church, after which he became a schoolmaster in Catholic schools, most notably Stonyhurst. According to his profile in the Catholic Herald, 5 August 1938,...

£350.00
Campbell Dodgson (1867-1948), Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum and art historian [David Garrick]

[Campbell Dodgson, Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum.] Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed male recipient, regarding a portrait of David Garrick.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with a small closed tear to one edge. He informs the recipient that his portrait of Garrick is 'the second state of the engraving: the first is before all letters. | The person who engraved the lettering evidently made a mistake.' He notes an...

£80.00
[The Air Ministry, Whitehall, London, government department dealing with the Royal Air Force between 1918 and 1964]

[Duplicated typescript of humorous poem, marked 'SECRET | Official Use only!'] The Air Ministry Who's Who.

2pp., 8vo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with small ink stains to two corners and short closed tears at the ends of a central vertical crease line. On paper with 'Ellams 22' watermark. Beneath the title: 'Note: All names guaranteed genuine, from the "London" section of the October...

£80.00
[Langridge & Freeman, land agents, surveyors & auctioneers, Tunbridge Wells; Trottescliffe Rectory Sale, Kent, 1920; Mrs Shepherd; Rev. Key; Mr Fremlin]

[Langridge & Freeman, auctioneers.] Interleaved Catalogue of the books in the Trottescliffe Rectory Sale, with Typed Letter from the auctioneers to Mrs Shepherd, explaining points relating to the coming sale.

Both letter and catalogue have suffered damp damage, resulting in some loss of text. Letter: Addressed to Mrs Freeman at Trottescliffe Rectory. 1p., 4to. It begins: 'Enclosed as promised we are sending you an interleaved Catalogue of the Books, with the titles of the "Others" written opposite to...

£220.00
[Colonel Thomas William Fletcher (1808-1893), FRS, FSA, of Lawneswood House, near Stourbridge; Edwards, Son & Bigwood, auctioneers]

[Priced auctioneers' copy of catalogue.] By direction of the Executors of Mrs. Eliza Jane Moore. Lawneswood House, near Stourbridge. Catalogue of the Valuable and Extensive Library Formed by the late Colonel Fletcher, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S.

18pp., 8vo. Stapled and unbound. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper, with rusted staples. According to the title-page the library comprises 'Topographical and Genealogical Books, County Histories, including Nash's Worcestershire. Plot's Staffordshire. Dugdale's Warwickshire....

£180.00
'Uncle Dick' [Bertram Lamb (1889-1938), author of the Pip, Squeak & Wilfred comic in the Daily Mirror, and patron of the Wilfredian League of Gugnuncs [Austin Bowen Payne (1876-1956), illustrator]

[Printed item relating to the Wilfredian League of Gugnuncs children's club, an offshoot of the Pip, Squeak and Wilfred comic strip in the Daily Mirror and Sunday Pictorial.] Third Gugnunc Sing-Song. Souvenir Programme 1929.

8pp., 12mo. Stapled. Printed in blue on shiny art paper, in cream card wraps, also printed in blue, and tied with blue and white ribbon. On aged and worn paper. With illustrations in text, including a half-page image of the 'Pip, Squeak & Wilfred Jig-Saw Puzzle'. The first page carries a...

£56.00
W. T. Spencer [Walter Thomas Spencer] (d.1936) of 27 New Oxford Street, bookseller specialising in Dickensiana

[W. T. Spencer, London bookseller and Dickens specialist.] Two Autograph Letters Signed to Miss Winifred Bois, urging her to buy a volume of drawings in a double case. With Autograph Letter Signed on the subject from Bois to London bookseller Sawyer.

Spencer was a sharp operator (see Mandelbrote ed., 'Out of Print and into Profit', pp.285-287) and the present items give an hint of his methods. (The two letters are addressed from the premises at which his staff were said to practice their 'sophistications'.) His two letters (both signed 'W. T...

£120.00
The De Quincey Society, Worcester College, Oxford

[Printed booklet.] De Quincey Society. 1889. [Rules of the De Quincey Society.] [With manuscript menu, on paper with crest of Worcester College, Oxford.]

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Booklet: 8pp., 32mo. Staples rusting. Cover with Worcester College crest printed in red. Pp.3-6 carry the 20 rules, and p.7 contains a list, in three columns, of 46 'Members of the Society since its foundation.', from F. E. C. Drew to W. T....

£95.00
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