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Author, Title, Summary Price
William Gawtress, printer and proprietor of the 'Leeds Intelligencer' [Rev. Thomas Greenwood, of Trinity College, Cambridge, Lecturer at Cripplegate Church]

[William Gawtress, Leeds printer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. Gawtress') to Rev. Thomas Greenwood, requesting contributions [to the Leeds Intelligencer] of 'Sketches' of 'Dawson and Newton', and discussing a book society and Greenwood's poetry.

2pp., 4to. On bifolium, with reverse of second leaf addressed to 'Rev. T. Greenwood, | Leeds.' In good condition, on aged paper, with slight discoloration to second leaf. BBTI lists Gawtree as active in Leeds between 1817 and 1822; he took over the Leeds Intelligencer in 1818. The first...

£280.00
Stephen Spender

[Inscribed copy.] Trial of a Judge. A tragedy in five acts.

115pp., 8vo. In red cloth binding. No dustwrapper. Aged, with back hinge sprung and one bumped corner at the back. Excellent inscription by Spender on the front free endpaper, in which he describes the history of the composition of the play: 'To And | with love from | Stephen. | March 16 1938...

£80.00
Rev. David Henry Urquhart (c.1754-1829), Prebendary of Lincoln [Cadell & Davies, London publishers; Thomas Cadell (1773-1836); William Davies; Andrew Strahan (1750-1831), printer; Spottiswoode]

[Rev. David Henry Urquhart.] Autograph Letter Signed from his wife Eliza Urquhart to his publishers [Cadell & Davies], urging them to send proofs [of his 'Commentaries on Classical Learning'] more quickly, or 'the Season will inevitably be lost'.

1p., 4to. On aged paper, with damage and discoloration to one margin. Eliza Urquhart begins her letter: 'Gentlemen, | Mr Urquhart has desired me to acquaint you that he thinks it would be adviseable immediately to see Mr Spotswood [i.e. Spottiswoode, then an employee of the book's printer Andrew...

£100.00
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla] (1812-1884), English composer for one of whose operas Charles Dickens wrote the libretto

[John Pyke Hullah, composer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('John Hullah'), sending tickets to 'Laura'. With cutting of a few bars of manuscript sheet music by him.

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE (letter): 1p., 12mo. In a neat and elegant hand, it reads: 'Tuesday Night | Dear Laura | I send the tickets; as Goldsmith sent the portion of Lord Clare's haunch of venison to Sir Joshua - | "To paint it or eat it, whichever he pleased" |...

£120.00
John Bell (1764-1836) of Lincoln's Inn, English barrister

[John Bell of Lincoln's Inn.] Part of document giving his legal opinion in a cause, written out by a clerk, and signed and dated by him.

Bell's entry in the Oxford DNB records that 'In conversation with the prince regent (later George IV), Lord Chancellor Eldon was said to have described Bell as the best lawyer then at the equity bar, though he could "neither read, write, walk, nor talk": Bell was lame, spoke with a broad...

£120.00
Adolphe Thiers [Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers] (1797-1877), French statesman and historian [General Henryk Dembinski; Joachim Lelewel; Leon Chodsko; J. B. Ostrowski; Poland; Polish]

[Adolphe Thiers, French statesman.] Autograph Letter Signed ('A. Thiers'), in French, to a general [Dembinski?], regarding the plight of Polish exiles (including Lelewel and Ostrowski) following the November 1830 Uprising against the Russians.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. Accompanying the document is an undated and unsigned twentieth-century English translation, on letterhead of Lincoln House, Beauchamp Road, East Molesey, Surrey, headed 'A very free translation - guessing at illegible words'. At the...

£550.00 Adolphe Thiers
[Thomas Forder Plowman (1844-1919)]

[Inscribed copy.] Acis & Galataea, or The Beau ! the Belle !! and the Blacksmith !!! A Piece of Oxford Extravagance. Written for the Annual Dramatic Performance at the Victoria Theatre, Oxford, December, 1869, in aid of the Radcliffe Infirmary.

[4] + 43pp., 12mo. Stabbed as issued. An attractive and elegantly-printed little book. Internally very good, on lightly-aged paper, loose in worn light-brown calf binding, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, back hinge sprung. Stamped in gilt on the front cover: 'ACIS & GALATAEA | A PIECE OF...

£120.00
Sir Hubert von Herkomer (1849-1914), German-born British painter admired by Van Gogh [Joseph Bennett; Edward Dalziel (1817-1905), wood engraver; Dorothy Dene (1859-1899), actress; Lululaund, Bushey]

[Sir Hubert von Herkomer, painter.] Five illustrated items designed by him for his private Wagnerian theatre: invitation to 'The Sorceress'; prospectus, libretto and invitation card for his 'Pictorial-Music-Play' 'An Idyl'; and Christmas card.

In addition to his pioneering cinematographic work, Herkomer was a theatrical innovator. As Lynda Nead points out in her 'The Haunted Gallery' (Yale, 2007), it was shortly after the opening of his art school that 'he and his students created an auditorium, modelled on Wagner's Festspielhaus in...

£1,150.00
John Evelyn (1620-1706), diarist and author [William John Evelyn (1822-1908) of Sayes Court]

[John Evelyn, diarist and author.] Manuscript transcription [by his descendant W. F. Evelyn?], of the unpublished manuscript 'Testamentum in Procinctu', addressed to his son as he was about to go to Ireland.

85pp., foolscap 8vo, on the rectos of 85 leaves. On laid paper with Stowford Mills watermark dated 1874. In a notebook with contemporary brown calf half-binding, with marbled boards and endpapers. Pencil notes regarding provenance precede the text: 'Evelyn MSS. Unpublished (?) | Copy by W. J....

£950.00
[SatirIcal Georgian handbill, satirising 'The Peoples Frend & Hed-Vo-Cate' [i.e. 'The People's Friend and Advocate']]

Printed satirical handbill, written in apocalyptic style in prose and verse, on an engraving of 'The Peoples Frend & Hed-Vo-Cate' (i.e. The People's Friend and Advocate), one of the 'intended Inhabitants' of Pandaemonium.

1p., 12mo. On 24.5 x 18.5 cm. piece of thin wove paper. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper with damage to extremities. A scarce and intriguing survival, about which nothing has hitherto been discovered. Printed in heavy black type characteristic of the early nineteenth century. The first...

£120.00 Georgian satire
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