History

The collection of thirty-one items is in good condition, with the texts (in a variety of formats) clear and complete. Includes nine Typed Letters Signed, one Autograph Letter Signed, two Autograph Notes Signed, one Autograph Card Signed, one Typed Note Signed by Crowe, with a Typed Letter and a Typed Note signed on his behalf. The first item is an Autograph Card Signed from Crowe accepting his election as the Society's Vice-President.

Folio pamphlet: 8 pp. In brown wraps with 'TO MR. LAW. BY ALLAN RAMSAY.' on the front wrap and the publication details on its reverse. On aged and lightly-creased paper, in worn, creased wraps. Nicely printed, with the long s, at the University Press. Originally published anonymously in 1720. Facsimile of title ('EDINBURGH: Printed for the AUTHOR at the Mercury, opposite to Niddrey's-Wynd, MDCCXX.'). A scarce (unattributed) Oxford University Press item: of the thirty copies COPAC lists four: at the British Library, Oxford, Cambridge and the National Library of Scotland.

Ten quarto pages (paginated 1 to 10) on three loose bifoliums. Stabbed as issued. Text clear and complete. On aged paper with chipping and short closed tears to edges.

Hope had returned to the Foreign Office from Tehran in May 1907, but had moved to the Washington Embassy, as second secretary, that October. The recipient is presumably one of the ten children of the Tory politician A. J. B. Beresford Hope (1820-1887). Letter One: 12mo, 8 pp. Very good on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Beresford Hope'. A teasing, friendly letter, intresting for the information it provides on the situation of a minor attaché in Edwardian Washington.

8vo, 2 pp. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is 'sorry' that Harlech has 'left the Colonial Office, upon which you have produced such a profound and salutary effect'. From the point of view of the I.L.O.

On one side each of five 46 x 14.5 cm slips of paper. Good: slightly aged and with rusting to staple. Begins 'Much comment having appeared in the Press during the last three years on the subject of a breach by the Government of Queensland of the contracts contained in the Pastoral Leases issued by that State, it is thought that a clear [altered from 'careful'] statement of the facts of the case would be useful to Bankers, Brokers and others having financial interests in Queensland. The facts of the case are set out in the following statement: - [...]'.

8vo: 6 pp. Stapled pamphlet. Text clear and complete. On aged and creased paper. For Wilson 'the most important aspect of the question' is 'the conversion of unsound country to sound country [...] It is a recent discovery, and, while ten or fifteen years ago one would have wiped the proposal before the House right off the slate, on the ground that the land is unsuitable for closer settlement, one to-day welcomes it.' Red-ink 1 cm accession stamp of the Webster Collection on reverse of blank final leaf, numbered 4188. No copy in the British Library, on COPAC, or on WorldCat.

12mo: 26 pp. In original printed wraps. Stapled pamphlet. Unopened. The only copies on COPAC at the British Library and Oxford. For more information about Walker (1841-1899) see his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

4to: [iii] + 15 + [ii] pp. Ten-leaf stapled pamphlet. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Slight rusting to staples. In small hand in red ink at head of title: 'M.S. 834 - 21/1/37'. Giving the texts of two proposed constitution alterations, 'Aviation' and 'Marketing', with the cases for and against, the referendums on which are both to be taken on 6 March 1937. 1 cm stamp in red ink of the Webster Collection at foot of final page, numbered 4190.

8vo: 12 pp (unpaginated). Wraps and stapled. Fair: on aged and lightly-creased paper. A few marks in pencil and red pencil (on two occasions 'my "Owner" ' in the text noted as 'Lord R.'). Stamped with limitation number 57. Printed in small type in double column. In his introductory note Warden explains that the text is 'made up of extracts from a diary, which I more or less kept, and letters sent home during a recent voyage of 20,000 miles.

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, 32.5 x 24 cm. Text clear and complete, on aged paper with chipping and closed tears to edges. The only copy of this title on COPAC is at the British Library (folio, 4 pp, published by Zenas T. Purday), where it is ascribed to Blewitt and tentatively dated to around 1850. Six eight-line stanzas with chorus 'Jump high, jump low, jumping we go.' Possibly written with satiric intent.

4to, 8 pp. Stapled. In original brown printed wraps. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Bumped at head of spine. Inscription on inside of front wrap reads 'To - Captain H. T. B. Drew In appreciation of his unfailing interest & support - from the first of this Movement, & in the London Memorial to the Founder of Australia, Admiral Arthur Phillip RN | From, - his grateful friend [signed] D. Hope Johnston. of The Royal Empire Society London & The Pioneers Club. Sydney N.S.W.' Phillip was Johnston's great-grandfather. Drew was a New Zealand author.

Both items in good condition, on aged paper. Complete Letter (12 September 1908): 12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium with mourning border. He thanks Gop [Goss?] for the 'letter of great length extended exclamation marks but otherwise agreeable & genial'. Howard 'can understand that vowing to keep silence the next best thing is to write to someone'. Gop's 'instinct is sound': Howard has 'abandoned Presque Isle which is a 12 hrs journey from here'. Gives a date for his return to Manchester.

Mimeographed and stapled. [i] + iii + 17 pp. Printed on eleven leaves, the first two and last two 26 x 21 cm, and the middle seven leaves 25.5 x 20 cm. Fair, on foxed paper with wear to extremities. It would appear that the leaves of the two articles had been printed previously, and were newly bound up here with the preliminary matter. The first articles is, according to the title 'Taken from "Fourth International", July Aug 1951. (American edition)' and the second 'Taken from "Workers International News", Sept-Oct 1946.

12mo, 2 pp. Twenty-eight lines of text. Good, on lightly-creased paper. Lockhart's signature has been docketed in ink (by Aitken?) 'Sir Robert'. A letter of condolence on the death of Aitken's father. Reminisces about the 'moment I came into his life', a 'luncheon at Charkley' soon after the First World War: 'The only other guest was Augustus John. [...] as you know, I learnt much from him. Indeed, it was he who taught me how to write, and in his house I met numerous people whom, but for him, I should never have known.' He considers that Beaverbrook treated him 'nobly'.

Both items good, on lightly-aged paper. Letter One (15 May, to Lady Ashbourne): 16mo, 2 pp. Nine lines. Accepting an invitation to a garden-party. 'I have two Cricket Matches [...] I have promised to go for an hour to the Unionists Cricket Match, but could come on to you after that, if that day suited you.' Letter Two (11 August, to Lord Ashbourne): 12mo, 2 pp. Fourteen lines. He thanks him for the 'Letters & enclosed Draft'. 'I had to send my Letter off before it arrived, as the takes place to-day, but fortunately it was drawn on almost identical lines as yours, so it is all right.

On a piece of card roughly 9 x 11.5 cm. With embossed government crest of the Board of Education in the top left-hand corner. In fair condition, lightly-aged and with small triangular areas of discoloration to two opposing corners caused by previous mounting. Good bold signature, presumably sent in response to a request for an autograph. Reads '[signed] Walter Runciman. | 6 March | 1911.'

On one side of a piece of wove paper, roughly 5 x 18.5 cm, cut from letter by an autograph collector. Aged, and with staining from the glue used in mounting. Reads '<...> upon it. | I hope you are quite recovered. | Yours trly | James Wilson'.

On a piece of paper, 2 x 8 cm, cut from a letter. Neatly laid down on a piece of paper, 4 x 9 cm. Good, on aged paper. The signature reads 'Maurice OConnell'. In a contemporary hand, on the mount, 'Maurice O'Connell. MP. | (nephew of King Dan)'. According to the Oxford DNB, Daniel O'Connell ('The Liberator') was a cousin of Maurice's father Sir Maurice Charles Philip O'Connell (1768-1848).

8vo bifolium (leaf dimensions 30 x 18 cm): 4 pp. Fair, on aged paper with slight wear to extremities, and minor damage to the area around the breaking of the black wax seal, which adheres, with a clear impression of a crest, to the reverse of the second leaf. Damage to a couple of words: otherwise text clear and complete. Circular 'F' postmark in red ink. Docketed. An impassioned, anguished letter, long and unguarded, and unusual in the valuable light it casts on the state of West Indian colonial affairs.

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with evidence of previous mount on reverse of second leaf. Certainly genuine, and of interest as bearing a variant spelling of Aytoun's name in a signature written from his home a few months before his death. (The spelling 'Edmondstoun de Aytoun' is not noted in Aytoun's entry in the Oxford DNB.) In the latter part of the letter Aytoun comments on his poetic practice. He is 'much flattered' by Simpson's 'selection of my poem for a public reading', and is 'glad to hear that it was appreciated'.

Printed in black, blue, red, green and gold on one side of a piece of tissue paper roughly 37 cm square. Good, on lightly creased paper with a little wear to extremities. The text, with a woodcut portrait of the king (10 x 8.5 cm) in black at its centre, is enclosed in a coloured border of flags and flowers. The text descibes the 'programme of the first week' of the King's visit, with the 'route to be taken by King Manuel on his visit to the Guildhall', and a list of the 'distinguished guests who have been inivited to the reception and luncheon'.

Director of the Topographical Department at the War Office (1836-1905)(see DNB). Two pages, 8vo, fold marks but good condition. "I send you today the remainder of the plans you left with me; and a translation of the letter press on those of the environs of Vienna. The plans of the defences of Vienna during the war of /66 are very interesting and I should be glad to have them for the Topo: if you will present them to the Dept: after you have finished with them.

National Portrait Gallery no: NPG D913 (only acquired in 1966). Dimensions of paper roughly nineteen and a half inches by fourteen wide. Dimensions of print roughly seventeen and a half inches by thirteen and three-quarters wide. Backed by a piece of cream card. Heavily aged and spotted, and with one small worm hole. Slight loss to lower right-hand corner, not affecting print. Closed tears to mount. Apparently printed before the name, and very likely a proof.

Two pages, folio, chipped with small loss of letters (e.g. the end of "Tribune"), mainly clear. He says: "Mon nom a figure ces jours-ci dans le moniteur et par suite dams plusieurs autres journaux de la capitale. Cette publicite m'oblige a parler de moi . . .

Author of "Naufrage du Brick francais la Sophie, et captivite des naufrages dans le desert de Shara . . ." (published Paris 1821). One page, folio. IN FRENCH. He has the honour of sending them a copy of his book (as above) with his respects. He describes himself as "ancien payeur general en Catalogne".

Scottish soldier and diplomat (1755-1843). Four pages, octavo. Good, though grubby on discoloured paper, and a little frayed about the edges. Concerns 'the Subject of Issues which are made by the Barrack Department in North Britain to the Forces stationed in this Part of the United Kingdom, but which are not sanctioned by The King's Warrant'. '[...] | I conceive the Establishment of Regimental Schools to be highly conducive to the good of His Majesty's Service, and peculiarly so in the case of 2d.

12mo bifolium: 3 pp. Good, though lightly creased. Tipped in on the blank verso of the second leaf, to a green paper folder on which an eight-line biographical entry of Shand has been laid down. He has left the packet containing the letters which Mrs Smith 'values' so 'highly' at the Reform Club, not wishing, in case it has changed, to send them to Smith's 'address in the Blue Book'. As he cannot 'make a decent excuse' for the delay in returning them, he throws himself on Smith's mercy.

4to, 1 p, 17 lines. He 'deeply appreciate[s] the spirit undlying the contents' of Cavangh's letter, which he found waiting for him on his return the day before 'after attending our beloved late King's Funeral'. 'As you say, the sword and scabbard must have belonged to my great Grandfather, the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, who was Prime Minister during theh Crimea War by the express command of Queen Victoria. He accepted the Premiership on the condition that he should be allowed to resign at the conclusion of the war.' Suggests a meeting in Aberdeen.

Mackenzie (1816-83) was the founder of the Australian city of Brisbane. One page, 12mo. Good, but with two-inch glue stain, and with traces of mount adhering to verso of blank second leaf of bifolium. Unsigned formal letter in the third person. 'Sir Evan MacKenzie would feel obliged by the Editor of Debrett's restoring the two Highlanders /the supporters to Sir Evan's shield/ which are suppressed in all the editions of Debrett that have hitherto appeared. They appear in "Burke" & the Scutcheon looks bold without them.'