Literature

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.

Two Christmas keepsakes: 'Literary Characters', with drawings by Edwin Baker; and 'Imaginary Conversations', with cover design by Hans Tisdall.

Author: 
Jonathan Cape Limited, London publishers [Edwin Baker; Hans Tisdall; Alden Press, Oxford]
Publication details: 
Literary Characters': 1954, 'Printed in the City of Oxford at the Alden Press on paper mould-made supplied by Spalding & Hodge Ltd.' 'Imaginary Conversations', 1956, 'Printed in Great Britain in the City of Oxford at the Alden Press'.
£50.00

Literary Characters'. 12mo (leaf dimensions roughly 18 x 12.5 cm): 32 pp. Stitched with brown thread. Fore-edge and top-edge rough. Unbound as issued. Very good. Cartoon in red ink of man seated at typewriter on front cover, and another, in black ink, of a hatted-figure skulking away with a walking stick held behind his back on back cover. Initial note, with publisher's colophon, on p.2: 'This series of Literary Characters appeared in Now & Then numbers 77-87 and is here reprinted by Jonathan Cape Limited for their friends | Christmas 1954'.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Osbert') to 'My dear James' [the film producer R. J. Minney].

Author: 
Osbert Sitwell (1892-1969) [R. J. Minney]
Publication details: 
Letter One: 'Friday Renishaw' [c.1942]; on letterhead of 2 Carlyle Square, SW3. Letter Two: 5 April [c.1942?]. On illustrated letterhead of 'Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire [last word deleted]'. Letter Three: 4 January 1944; on Renishaw Hall letterhead.
£165.00

Sitwell and Renishaw collaborated on the play 'Gentle Caesar' (published in 1942), and the last two letters would appear to concern a possible film adaptation. All three items very good on lightly aged paper. Letter One ('Friday Renishaw'): 12mo, 2 pp. 18 lines of text. Apparently written around the time of the play's composition. Sitwell is 'delighted' that Minney is 'already immersed in Pares's book. I have just read the Czar and Empress Marie's Letters.' He has 'marked (in the preface mostly) what I thought helpful for atmosphere, or amusing'.

Engraving ('ACTS XXVII XXXV') by Eric Gill from a drawing by David Jones; with long typewritten transcript from a letter from Jones to Evan Gill.

Author: 
David Jones; Eric Gill; Evan Gill
Publication details: 
The engraving dated by Jones (in the letter) to around 1935. The letter dated 22 November 1957.
£400.00

The engraving illustrates the biblical passage describing an incident during the wreck off Crete of a ship carrying Saint Paul. Acts 27:35: 'And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.' Printed on one side of a piece of paper, 28 x 19 cm, with one rough edge. A striking image, irregularly shaped, with white lines against a black background, showing centurions and others on the deck of a ship on a stormy sea, with land in the distance.

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.

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.'

Typed Letter Signed to "Mrs Chapman".

Author: 
Harold Vinal, poet and editor of "Voices".
Publication details: 
110 Mt. Vernon St., Boston, USA, [no date]
£75.00

One page, 8vo, partly sunned but mainly good, text clear and complete. He's having "a fearful time" with VOICES and wonders if she knows anybody who'll keep from going on the rocks. "For the first time the magazine is ready to go to press and absolutely no money in the special Voices purse. He had thought to suspend production for an uissue but the printer can only give seven days grace. "It costs two hundred dollars to get out an issue" so he's looking for "eight king hearted individuals who will donate . . ." He hopes she knows someone.

Hudibras. In Three Parts. Written in the Time of the Late Wars. Corrected and Amended: with Additions. To which is added, Annotations, With an exact Index to the Whole. Adorn'd with a new Set of Cuts, Design'd and Engrav'd by Mr. Hogarth.

Author: 
Samuel Butler; William Hogarth, illustrator
Publication details: 
1739. London: Printed for D. Midwinter, A. Bettesworth [...] C. Rivington, W. Innys, T. Woodward, [...], J. and P. Knapton, T. Longman, R. Hett, J. Shuckburgh, H. Lintot, [...] R. Chandler, J. and R. Tonson, R. Wellington and C. Bathurst.
£200.00

8vo: xvi + 400 + [xxiv] pp. (Part I ends at p.142 and Part II begins, after a half title, at p.127.) The last twenty-four pages consist of an index and three pages of 'BOOKS Lately Published'. Frontispiece portrait of Butler by J. Van der Gucht. Hogarth's seven illustrations (including three that fold out) face pp. 1, 75 (fold out), 88 (f. o.), 100, 122, 130 (f. o.), 131 and 182 (f. o.). Internally tight on spotted and aged paper. Good impressions of illustrations, with a little light foxing.

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.

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!

Autograph address and short note.

Author: 
John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), Anglo-Welsh writer
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£75.00

On one side of a piece of wove paper, cut into a rectangle approximately 4.5 x 9 cm. Good, on lightly-creased paper with one vertical fold. Cut from an envelope, with traces of the postmark over the autograph, and a section of the gummed strip on the reverse. Reads 'From | John Cowper Powys | Waterloo | Blaenau - F Festiniog | Merionethshire | North Wales | I enjoyed thinking of you in Italy'.

Menu and programme for the 'Stourbridge Shakespearean Celebration. First Annual Dinner.'

Author: 
Stourbridge Shakespearean Celebration [Henry Irving; Herbert Beerbohm Tree; J. Forbes Robertson; Sidney Lee; Frank R. Benson]
Publication details: 
Talbot Hotel, Stourbridge, Wednesday 23rd April, 1902. J. T. Ford, Printer, Stourbridge.
£100.00

12mo: 20 pp. On art paper. Attached with yellow string in decorative printed card wraps. Good: lightly foxed in dusty wraps, with minor staining to blank inside wrap. The wraps, printed in red, blue and gold, feature a photo of Shakespeare's funerary bust within an embossed decorative border. Nicely printed with photos of Shakespeare's birthplace. Features the menu, a 'Toast List', a programme of music, lists of committee and patrons and extracts. Of interest are the three pages of letters, including dated communications from Henry Irving, J.

Prompt copy typescript, with manuscript stage directions, titled 'Excerpt from Act 3. "Man and Superman" by BERNARD SHAW'.

Author: 
George Bernard Shaw [Alec Clunes; Arts Theatre Club, London; May Hemery Ltd]
Publication details: 
[London: May Hemery Ltd for the Arts Theatre Club, 1946.]
£125.00

From the collection of Alec Clunes, who performed as Don Juan in this excerpt from 'Man and Superman' ('Don Juan in Hell') at the Arts Theatre Club in 1946. Carbon copy of typescript by May Hemery Ltd, paginated 1 to 60, on the rectos of sixty leaves, preceded by title leaf ('Excerpt from Act Three | "MAN AND SUPERMAN" | By | BERNARD SHAW'. In original blue paper wraps, with yellow tape spine and label on front wrap. Grubby and worn, and with light staining to wraps, but tight, complete and clear. Numerous manuscript stage directions, mostly on the facing versos.

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.

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.

Easter-Tide. Poems by E. Nesbit and Caris Brooke.

Author: 
E. Nesbit [Edith Nesbit; Edith Bland] and 'Caris Brooke' [Saretta Nesbit]
Publication details: 
Undated [dated to 1888 by the Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature]. 'London Henry J. Drane & Co. Lovells Court Paternoster Row E.C. (Produced in Germany.)'
£150.00

8vo (dimensions roughly 21 x 16.5 cm): 24 pp. In original coloured illustrated card wraps. The whole bound with black thread. All edges silvered. Aged, worn and lightly spotted, but tight and in reasonable condition overall. Two small wormholes in back wrap, affecting the verso of the last leaf. Fifteen poems, seven of them by Nesbit: 'Song', 'Possibilities', 'Vie Manquees', To a Picture by Giovanni Bellini', 'The Better Part', 'Rondeau' and 'Lovers'. Every page of the volume carries illustrations of nature in black and light green. Similar designs in colour on the covers.

The Gaberlunzie's Wallet. With numerous illustrations on steel and wood.

Author: 
Anon. [James Ballantine] [Sir James Ranken Fergusson (1835-1924)]
Publication details: 
Edinburgh: John Menzies, 61 Prince's Street; Tilt & Bogue; and R. Tyas, London. 1843. [Edinburgh: Printed by McPherson & Syme, 31 East Rose Lane.]
£75.00

INSCRIBED to 'James R. Fergusson Esq with the kind regards of James Ballantine | Edin[burg]h 16th May 1870'. With Fergusson's armorial bookplate on front pastedown. 8vo: 311 pp. Plates throughout (not listed) and numerous illustrations in text. In original printed grey boards with grotesque illustration on front and blue cloth spine (New Edition" - only on cover). Stabbed as issued (bound up by the publisher from parts?). Tight, but on aged paper with occasional light staining, and wear to extremities. Boards heavily worn, with 3 cm closed tear at head of rear.

Five illustrated handbills: 'Adam & Eve in Paradise'; 'The Sun of Righteousness', 'A Supposed Conference between a King and a Christian', 'The Rose of Sharon' and 'The Last Day! "Prepare to meet thy God.' Christ coming to Judge the World.'

Author: 
James Catnach, broadsheet printer, 2 Monmouth Court, Seven Dials, London [ephemera; handbills; broadsides; Victorian printing]
Publication details: 
All undated and printed by James Catnach, 2 Monmouth-Court, Seven Dials.
£500.00

Each of the five items printed on one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 50 x 37 mm. All five good, on aged and lightly-spotted paper, with text and illustrations clear and entire, and with some wear, chipping and short closed tears to the edges. Each item with a central vertical fold. All five items with ornately decorated titles, and all of a devotional nature. Item One: 'Adam & Eve in Paradise.' ('Printed by J.

Autograph Card Signed ('Joseph Hatton') to Edward Draper of Vincent Square.

Author: 
Joseph Hatton [Joseph Paul Christopher Hatton] (1841-1907), English novelist and journalist
Publication details: 
On the <Maille?>' [postmarked Nijmegen, 17 August 1895].
£35.00

Fourteen lines on the back of two-tone Dutch postcard, the front being tined light blue. Addressed to 'Edw Draper Esq, 3 Vincent Square, Westminster, London, England'. Aged and grubby, with two creases and slight traces of previous mount on front. Hatton's hand is difficult, but the note, addressed to 'My dear Friend', defending his use in a story of the following version of the celebrated quotation: 'When Greeks joined Greeks". Concludes 'You are right about the tinder box of course.'

Deoraidheacht

Author: 
Padraic O Conaire
Publication details: 
[Dublin], 1910.
£100.00

130pp., 8vo, lacking back wrap rebound in green paper wraps with label on front, contenst good, some wear to front cover/titlepage. Scarce: No copy on AddAll, and COPAC lists only later editions.

Documents: Subject: Statue in London

Author: 
[ Oliver Goldsmith ]
Publication details: 
1912-1914
£150.00

A correspondence with Clement Shorter concerning the placing of a statue of Oliver Goldsmith (a replica of Foley's in Dublin) somewhere in London. Shorter had suggested this in "The Sphere", etc. The collection comprises ten letters and three related newspaper clippings, dating 7 June 1912 to 27 February 1914.

[Franz Molnar] Inscription beneath a copy of a drawing of his head and shoulders ("H.W. 23").

Author: 
Franz [ Ferenc ] Molnar, Hungarian novelist and playwright.
Molnar
Publication details: 
Wien [Vienna] 7 Nov. 1923.
£100.00
Molnar

Inscription, "Franz Molnar / Wien, 7.XI. 1923", copy drawing c.9 x 9cms, on page from an album compiled by Harry Woord Wolling, BBC producer(?), minor defects not affecting drawing or signature. Suitable for framing.

Autograph Letter Signed (with accent: 'Hugh de Sélincourt') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Hugh de Sélincourt [Hugh de Selincourt] (1878-1951), English journalist and author
Publication details: 
3 December [1916]; 12 Hill Road, St. John's Wood, N.W.
£35.00

4to: 1 p. Fourteen lines of text. Aged and worn, with closed tears along the fold lines, but with text clear and complete. He thanks his correspondent for the letter ('It is always a great delight to me to know that people like my work.') and gives details of where the 'little book I published on "Pride of Body" ' can be purchased. Ends with the details of his 'new novel "A Soldier of Life" ': 'I mention it, as you say it is difficult for you to get hold of books and I should like you to read it.'

Typed Note Signed ('Geo R Sims') to F. Leslie Moreton.

Author: 
George R. Sims [George Robert Sims] (1847-1922), English journalist and writer.
Publication details: 
24 March 1900; on letterhead of 12, Clarence Terrace, Regents Park. N.W. [London].
£45.00

4to: 1 p. Text complete and clear, on aged, spotted and lightly-creased paper. He has exchanged letters with 'Mr Morell' 'with reference to "Faust up to Date" ', but does not believe any contract has yet been arranged. He does not have a copy of 'the Score and Band Parts': 'I should say Mr Geo. Edwardes or Mr Meyer Lutz has these.' Sims co-wrote 'Faust up to Date' with Henry Pettitt. The music was by Lutz. It was produced by Edwardes, and first performed at the Gaiety Theatre, London, on 30 October 1888.

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£56.00

On a piece of wove paper, cut into a shape roughly corresponding to a 5 x 8 cm rectangle. Aged, discoloured and worn, with some of the autograph slightly smudged with blotting. The autograph of one of America's greatest poets. In Longfellow's small, tight hand, reads: 'With regards | Henry . W . Longfellow .' Thin slip of paper laid down on the reverse reads 'S. ENGLEFIELD COLLECTION | HENLEY ON THAMES'.

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" '.

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.

Cnuasachd bheag amhrán. Le haghaidh aos óg na Gaedhilge d'foghluim ins na sgoileannaibh. An t'Athair Pádraig Breathnach do chruinnigh. [Cuid a tri.]

Author: 
Pádraig Breathnach [Father Patrick Walsh (c.1885-1927), Irish cleric, republican and folklorist]
Publication details: 
Dublin: Muinntir Bhrúin & Nualláin do chlódh-bhuail. [circa 1920?]
£50.00

16mo (15 x 12 cm), 32 pp. Stapled pamphlet, in original green printed wraps. Text complete and clear, on aged and dogeared paper. Wraps worn and stained. Part three only of an annotated collection of ballads. Six-page English glossary at rear. Scarce: the National Library of Ireland only appears to have Part Five, and the only record on COPAC is of Parts One and Three at Trinity College, Dublin.

Corrected MS. of note "Hackney (3rd. S. 11.335; 3rd S.ii.273)" Signed "George Augustus Sala".

Author: 
George Augustus Sala [G.A. Sala], author and editor.
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£150.00

One page, 8vo, chipped and grubby, text clear and complete. Seventeen lines. The printed version incorporates the minor corrections made to the MS.

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