Military and Naval History

[Patric Dickinson, poet, translator and broadcaster.] Autograph Poem ('Forgiveness') Signed ('P'), with note, addressed to his mistress Sarah Hamilton, on reverse of mockup of dustwrapper design by her for his 1965 autobiography 'The Good Minute'.

Author: 
Patric Dickinson [Patric Thomas Dickinson] (1914-1994), poet, translator, BBC radio broadcaster; Sarah Emmeline Hamilton
Dickinson
Publication details: 
The book was published in London by Gollancz in 1965. Printed on flap: 'Jacket by Sarah Hamilton & Partners / Printed by Direct Art Services'.
£100.00
Dickinson

Patric Dickinson has not received his due. A self-styled ‘poet and impresario of poetry’, Dickinson occupied a central position in the cultural landscape of post-war Britain. As an editor and broadcaster he worked with poets such as Dylan Thomas, Cecil Day Lewis and Roy Campbell, actresses Flora Robson, Peggy Ashcroft and Jill Balcon, and actors Robert Donat, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud. See John Mole’s obituary in the Independent, 31 January 1994. From the papers of Dickinson’s mistress Sarah Emmeline Hamilton.

[USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear submarine.] Typed Letter Signed written from the vessel by its commander Captain W. R. Anderson, to J. G. Gillman, following its transit of the North Pole.

Author: 
Captain William Robert Anderson (1921-2007), United States Navy, commander of the world’s first nuclear submarine USS Nautilus, which he took under the arctic icecap, and a Democratic congressman
Nautilus
Publication details: 
20 August 1958. On letterhead of ‘U.S.S. NAUTILUS (SSN-571) / Fleet Post Office / New York, New York’.
£120.00
Nautilus

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Addressed to ‘Mr. J. G. Gillman / 50 High Street / Chislehurst, Kent / England’. Good firm signature, ‘W R Anderson’, with ‘Commander, U.S. Navy / Written following the Nautilus’s arctic transit, 3 August 1958: ‘Thank you for your letter and kind appreciation. The people of England have given us a truly wonderful welcome and we are all deeply appreciative.’ He asks him to accept the signature that he is attaching, for his autograph collection. See Image.

[Armando Diaz, 1st Duke della Vittoria, Marshal of Italy, First World War Italian general who triumphed in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto.] Autograph Signature: 'Generale A. Diaz'.

Author: 
Armando Diaz (1861-1928), 1st Duke della Vittoria, First World War Italian general, victor over the Austrians in Battle of Vittorio Veneto (1918); putative author of the Bolletino della Vittoria
ARMANDO DIAZ
Publication details: 
No place or date. (Before his ennoblement in 1921.)`
£75.00
ARMANDO DIAZ

A nice item, suitable for framing, relating to one of the best generals of the First World War. (He commanded one and a half million troops in the 1918 Battle of Vittorio Veneto, defeating the Austrians - a third of a million of whom surrendered - and closing the Italian Front.) Clearly given in response to a request for an autograph. The good bold signature ‘Generale A. Diaz’ sits slightly over the centre of an otherwise-plain 15 x 10 cm piece of wove paper, laid down on paper backing. In good condition, lightly aged, with two unobtrusive vertical fold lines. See Image.

[Napoleonic Wars: Eleven-ship British North Sea Convoy, from Hull to Tønning, Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark (now Tönning, Germany), 1805.] Detailed and lengthy manuscript ‘Statement & Division of 11 Ships Freight to Tonning 1st Round 1805’.

Author: 
Napoleonic Wars: British North Sea Convoys [Hull to Tønning, Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark (now Tönning, Germany), 1805; Royal Navy]
Convoy
Publication details: 
No place or date, but an English document relating to a convoy from Hull, England, to Tonning [Tønning], Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark [now Tönning in Germany], in 1805.
£350.00
Convoy

An interesting indicator of the economic impact of the continental blockade in the year of the Battle of Trafalgar. Roger Knight provides an excellent overview of the background to the present document in his ‘Convoys: The British Struggle against Napoleonic Europe and America’ (2022), and in particular the fifth chapter, which deals with North Sea Convoys between 1804 and 1812.

[Royal Navy, 1704.] Printed House of Lords paper comprising Admiralty tables headed ‘A Monthly Account of Cruizers [Home-Convoys], from the First of January, to the First of November.’

Author: 
Royal Navy, 1704 [Admiralty: Monthly Account of Cruizers and Home Convoys; House of Lords; Parliament]
 Monthly Account
Publication details: 
Ordered to be printed 5 February 1705 by the House of Lords (Houses of Parliament, London). Covering period ‘from the First of January, to the First of November [1704]’.
£220.00
 Monthly Account

A scarce piece of naval ephemera. Six copies on COPAC: Chetham’s Library, Lambeth Palace, NLS, Oxford, Society of Antiquaries and BL. According to ESTC, the journals of the House of Lords state that it was ‘presented to the House on 17 January 1705, and ordered to be printed 5 February 1705’. In landscape on one side of a folio sheet of watermarked laid paper, folded into a two-page bifolium.

[Lord Grenfell [Francis Wallace Grenfell], British Army soldier, Governor of Malta, Commander-in-Chief, Ireland.] Autograph Signature (‘Francis Grenfell / Maj Genl’) cut from a letter for an autograph hunter.

Author: 
Lord Grenfell [Field Marshal Francis Wallace Grenfell, 1st Baron Grenfell (1841-1925)], British Army soldier, victor at Suakin and Toski in Mahdist War; Governor of Malta; Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
Lord Grenfell
Publication details: 
16 April 1892. No place.
£45.00
Lord Grenfell

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 13 x 6.5 cm piece of thin paper, apparently cut from the end of a letter for an autograph hunter. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, folded twice. Reads: ‘Francis Grenfell / Maj Genl / April 16 / 1892.’ See image.

[1920s transatlantic ocean liner: RMS Transylvania, cruise ship with the Anchor Line.] Long Typed Letter from ‘Alex’ to his parents, written en route from Glasgow to New York, with account and diagrams of a sea rescue, and postcard of the liner.

Author: 
[1920s transatlantic ocean liner: TSS Transylvania (1925), cruise ship with the Anchor Line, requisi tioned by the Royal Navy in the Second World War, and torpedoed by the Germans in 1940
RMS Transylvania
Publication details: 
Letter from 'S. S. Transylvania' (en route from Glasgow to New York), 24, 26 and 29 November 1928. Postcard undated, but contemporaneous.
£180.00
RMS Transylvania

TSS Transylvania (the prefix stands for ‘Twin Screw Steamship’) was built in Glasgow for the Anchor Line and launched in 1925. She had three funnels, but two were redundant, only serving to render the ship more attractive to prospective passengers. In 1940 she requisitioned by the Royal Navy, and the following year she was torpedoed by the Germans, sinking with the loss of 36 lives. The letter is 13pp, 12mo; with neat single-space typing, on thirteen leaves.

[The Royal Marines in the Napoleonic Wars.] Autograph Letter Signed from Charles Homfray, 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Marines, regarding ?some mistake? in the statement of his half pay.

Author: 
The Royal Marines in the Napoleonic Wars; Charles Homfray of Broadwaters, Worcestershire
Publication details: 
?Broadwaters [Worcestershire] March 23rd. 1803?.
£75.00

For the family see the entry on ?HOMFRAY, of Wollaston Hall, and The Hill, near Stourbridge; Broadwaters, Kidderminster; and The Hyde, Kinver, Staffordshire?, in H. S. Grazebrook, ?The Heraldry of Worcestershire? (1873). 1p, 8vo. Text clear and complete, on aged paper worn and chipped at edges, with one short closed tear. Previously folded into a packet. Endorsed. Reads: ?Sir / I have just rec?d yours enclosin [sic] a statement of the Half Pay which you say is 33? - 8s - [?]d & that there is only 12? . 15s due to me for 6 months.

[The Great War, Royal Army Medical Corps: A Medical Officer In Charge on the Western Front.] Typescript of Diary of Captain William John Henry, describing his service attached to the Royal Garrison Artillery, Wiltshire Regiment and Rifle Brigade.

Author: 
The Great War: Royal Army Medical Corps; Captain William John Henry M.B. Ch.B.; British Army; Royal Garrison Artillery; Wiltshire Regiment; Rifle Brigade; Battle of the Somme; Ludendorff Offensive
First World War
Publication details: 
Vols 1-3 cover the period 27 August 1915 to 12 July 1916; Vols 4-8 the period between 31 January 1918 and 7 June 1919. On the Western Front in France, with leave in Britain
£4,000.00
First World War

It is hard to do justice to this vivid, informative and well-written 250,000-word account of the author's First World War service as Medical Officer In Charge attached to three regiments on the Western Front, present during the Battle of the Somme, Kaiserslacht and Hundred Days Offensive. It is hard to conceive of a better account of the day-to-day activities of a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps on active service during the Great War.

[General Sir James Pulteney [Sir James Murray-Pulteney, 7th Baronet], Scottish soldier.] Autograph Signature, as Secretary at War, to War Office printed circular regarding clothing, made out ‘for the Establishment of the Cambridge Regiment of Militia

Author: 
General Sir James Pulteney [Sir James Murray-Pulteney, 7th Baronet (c.1755-1811), Scottish soldier with the British Army in the American War of Indendence, Member of Parliament and Secretary at War
Ja: Pulteney
Publication details: 
'(CIRCULAR.) / WAR-OFFICE, / 10th JULY, 1807.' [Whitehall, London.]
£120.00
Ja: Pulteney

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Folded twice. A printed circular, completed in manuscript by a secretary for the ‘Earle of Hardwicke Kt’ (as Colonel of the Cambridge Regiment of Militia), and signed by Pulteney ‘Ja: Pulteney’. Note at head of page in a third contemporary hand: ‘Copied for Col. the Rt. Hon. Chas. Yorke - 14/7/7’.

[American War of Independence: Battle of the Delaware Capes, 1782.] Autograph Letter Signed by Mrs Joanna Mitchell, regarding prize money due to her as widow of a Royal Navy officer on HMS Diomede, who took part in the capture of the South Carolina.

Author: 
American War of Independence: Battle of the Delaware Capes, 1782 - the capture of the South Carolina by HMS Diomede, HMS Quebec and HMS Astrea [Joanna Mitchell; Royal Navy prize money]
Mrs Joanna Mitchell
Publication details: 
'Tearles Lane Plymouth August 24th 1803'.
£150.00
Mrs Joanna Mitchell

An interesting item in the social history of the Royal Navy, indicating the financial anxieties many naval widows were under. The Battle of the Delaware Capes (or 3rd Battle of Delaware Bay) took place on 20 and 21 December 1782, between the Royal Navy frigates HMS Diomede, Quebec and Astraea and the South Carolina Navy's 40-gun frigate South Carolina, the brigs Hope and Constance, and the schooner Seagrove. The British won, with the Seagrove the only ship that got away. 2pp, foolscap 8vo.

[The oldest regiment in the British Army: the Honourable Artillery Company.] Printed booklet: ‘List of the Chiefs, Officers, Court of Assistants, &c. &c. &c. of the Hon. Artillery-Company, For the Year 1845.’ With engraved cover and frontispiece.

Author: 
The Honourable Artillery Company, London, the oldest regiment in the British Army, founded in 1537The Honourable Artillery Company, London, the oldest regiment in the British Army, founded in 1537
Artillery
Publication details: 
London: Printed by Norris and Son, Blomfield-street, Finsbury-circus. 1845. [Honourable Artillery Company, London.]
£250.00
Artillery

Scarce: no other copy traced. The only similar material are the volumes for 1851, 1852 and 1853 in the Bishopsgate Institute. Stitched booklet. 16pp, 8vo. With card cover and frontispiece, both ornately engraved. Text and illustrations complete and undamaged, on aged paper worn at edges and with front cover detached. The cover carries the royal arms beneath the engraved words: ‘FIELD MARSHAL / His Royal Highness / The Prince Albert / K.G. K.T. G.C.B. K.P. G.C.M.G. &c. &c. &c. / Captain General and Colonel.’ At foot of page: ‘Honourable Artillery Company.

[Lieut.-Gen. Sir Manley Power, British Army officer in the Peninsular War and then Lieutenant Governor of Malta.] Autograph Signature (‘M. Power / M Genl. Comm[andin]g’).

Author: 
Lieut.-Gen. Sir Manley Power (1773-1826), British Army officer who lead a Portuguese brigade in the Peninsular War, later appointed Lieutenant Governor of Malta
Power
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£50.00
Power

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On piece of 8.5 x 4.5 cm laid paper cut. In fair condition, on aged paper with reverse bearing traces of glue from mount. Reads: ‘M. Power / M Genl. Comm[andin]g’. Endorsed on reverse: ‘M General / Sir Manley Power / K.C.B’. See Image.

[The Artists’ Rifles, British Army regiment.] Privately printed booklet: ‘Artists’ Rifles. Songs for Marching & Camp.’ With ownership signature of ‘J W Mackay’ [James Waite Mackay].

Author: 
The Artists’ Rifles, regiment of the British Army, raised in London by Edward Sterling in 1859, now the 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve) [James Waite Mackay]
artists
Publication details: 
Undated, but around 1916. [The Artists’ Rifles, London.] ‘For Private Circulation only.’
£220.00
artists

A scarce piece of regimental ephemera: no copies found on JISC or WorldCat. 32pp, 16mo. Stitched into grey paper wraps, with the regiment’s Minerva and Mars device and the title printed on the cover, and with ‘For Private Circulation only’ at bottom left. Inscribed at top right ‘J W Mackay’. (For James Waite Mackay (fl.

[Sir John Barrow, Second Secretary to the Admiralty.] ‘Duplicate’ of Secretarial Letter, Signed by Barrow, to ‘The Senior Officer at Rio Janeiro’, on Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour’s discharge with disgrace of ‘Henry Wood, Seaman of the Blonde'.

Author: 
Sir John Barrow (1764-1848), geographer and author, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, 1804-1845 [Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour (1768-1834)
Barrow
Publication details: 
‘Admiralty [Whitehall, London] / 8th September 1834.’
£100.00
Barrow

See the entries for Barrow and Seymour in the Oxford DNB. On laid Whatman paper dated 1833. Having served for four years as Commissioner at Portsmouth, Seymour had sailed out to South America in 1833 as commander-in-chief, dying of ‘low fever’ at Rio de Janeiro two months before the writing of the present letter. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In good condition, folded twice. At top left: ‘Duplicate, / No 50.’ Initialed at bottom left: ‘J. P.’ Good firm and attractive signature ‘John Barrow’. Writing with regard to ‘the late Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour’s letter of the 16th.

[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, British naval hero.] Collection of contemporaneous material relating to him, including a range of related illustrations and magazine accounts, as well as manuscript poems and other matter.

Author: 
Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson; Admiral Lord Nelson], British naval hero whose victories include the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805, in which he died
Nelson
Publication details: 
Earliest item from 1799; several items from 1805. Mostly printed in London.
£850.00
Nelson

A nice collection, which both by its content and arrangement indicates the huge esteem in which Nelson was held. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, most items laid down on leaves of gilt-edged paper extracted from an album. Mostly 12mo. This description is arranged under fifteen numbered entries. The manuscript material is at No. 14. ONE: Engraving. ‘Plan of a MANSION HOUSE, proposed for Lord NELSON.’ ‘Gent[leman’s]. Mag[azine]. Feb. 1799. Pt. I. p.97’. Engraved by Longmate from Arthur Brown.

[Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson], British naval hero.] Collection of contemporaneous material relating to him, including a range of related illustrations and magazine accounts, as well as manuscript poems and other matter.

Author: 
Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson; Admiral Lord Nelson], British naval hero whose victories include the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805, in which he died
Nelson
Publication details: 
Earliest item from 1799; several items from 1805. Mostly printed in London.
£850.00
Nelson

A nice collection, which both by its content and arrangement indicates the huge esteem in which Nelson was held. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, most items laid down on leaves of gilt-edged paper extracted from an album. Mostly 12mo. This description is arranged under fifteen numbered entries. The manuscript material is at No. 14. ONE: Engraving. ‘Plan of a MANSION HOUSE, proposed for Lord NELSON.’ ‘Gent[leman’s]. Mag[azine]. Feb. 1799. Pt. I. p.97’. Engraved by Longmate from Arthur Brown.

[The Duke of Wellington, conqueror of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.] Autograph Valediction to Letter, with signature 'Wellington' .

Author: 
The Duke of Wellington [Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington] (1769-1852), conqueror of the French in the Peninsular Campaign, and of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo; prime minister
Wellington
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£50.00
Wellington

One of the great figures of world history. On one side of 10 x 3.5 cm piece of wove paper, cut from the end of a letter, with blank reverse. In fair condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of glue at right (away from signature) and central horizontal fold (over signature). Evidently cut from the letter in response to a request for an autograph. Reads 'Your obedient servant / Wellington'. See Image.

[General Sir George Don, as Lieutenant Governor of Jersey.] Autograph Signature ('Geo. Don / Genl & Lt Govr') to part of a document regarding 'clemency'; with part of another document, relating to a Gibraltar court martial.

Author: 
Sir George Don (1756-1832), British general and successively Lieutenant Governor of Jersey and Governor of Gibraltar
Don
Publication details: 
First document: no place or date. Second document: Gibraltar, 25 February 1831.
£85.00
Don

See Don's entry in the Oxford DNB. He was Lieutenant Governor of Jersey between 1806 and 1814, and acting Governor of Gibraltar, 1814-1821 and 1825-1831. The two items are on different paper stock, but both relate to Don, and may be related. (While Don was acting Governor of Gibraltar, he is described as 'His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor' in the second item.) ONE: On one side of an 18.5 x 7.5 cm piece of laid paper. In good condition, with three folds and small pin-holes to one corner.

[Sir Digby Dent, Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy.] Autograph certification to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that ‘Mr. George Ross’, who ‘serv’d as Midshipman on Board His Majesty’s Ship Princess Amelia’ is ‘fitly Qualified for Preferment’.

Author: 
Sir Digby Dent (1739-1817), Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy, under whom Nelson served as a midshipman on HMS Seahorse, and whose son acted as the best man at Nelson’s wedding
Dent
Publication details: 
‘on board the said Ship [Princess Amelia] at Spithead this 27th Day of June 1778’.
£220.00
Dent

1p, foolscap 8vo. On an aged and worn piece of watermarked laid paper with some closed tears. Folded twice. Reads: ‘These are to Certify the Right Honble. the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. or whom else it may Concern that Mr. George Ross serv’d as Midshipman on Board His Majesty’s Ship Princess Amelia under my Command from the Twenty Seventh day of May 1778 to the Day of the Date hereof - During which Time he behaved with Diligence & Soberiety [sic] and always obedient to Command.

[John Hollond or Holland, Navy; Manuscript] Breife [sic] Discourse of the Navy [?] Mr Holland

Author: 
John Hollond [ HOLLOND or HOLLAND, JOHN (fl. 1638-1659), naval writer. See fuller biography in Notes].
Hollond
Publication details: 
C17th[?]. See Image.
£750.00
Hollond

Incomplete. Part only of Hollond's First Discourse, [32]pp. [unnumbered], 9 x 23cm, unbound, some stitching, some staining sl. obscuring text, initial text faint, but all legible. Distributed in MS The (incomplete text covers pp.[2]-32 of The Naval Record Society printed text, concluding expected from poor men under. Numerous textual variants eg. [Naval Records text beholding; MS. beholden]. Apparently few copies of the MS version survive (see Naval Record Society text, p.lxxxii). Note: HOLLOND or HOLLAND, JOHN (fl.

[The man who saved William of Orange from capture: Brigadier General Henry Lumley.] Autograph Signature (‘H Lumley’) to Exchequer receipt for £25. With signature of witness John Letton.

Author: 
Brigadier General Henry Lumley (c.1658-1722), army officer and Member of Parliament, brother of Richard Lumley, first earl of Scarborough; John Letton
Lumley
Publication details: 
12 January 1716. [His Majesty's Exchequer, London.]
£120.00
Lumley

See his entries in the Oxford DNB and History of Parliament, the former of which notes his ‘high reputation for courage’ and his presence ‘at Neerwinden and Landen in 1693, covering the retreat on 19 July, and saving William III from capture by the enemy’. 1p, 8vo. On aged and worn paper, with chipping to edges and pitting along a horizontal central line, but with both signatures clear and unblemished. The customary printed document, completed in manuscript. Records in a secretarial hand, the receipt of £25 by ‘Hen: Lumley Esqr. attor to the Rt.

[CSS Alabama, Confederate sloop-of-war raider, Captain Raphael Semmes, sunk in 1864 by USS Kearsarge.] Steel engraving by Henry Bryan Hall of depicting seven of the ship's officers.

Author: 
[CSS Alabama, Confederate sloop-of-war, Captain Raphael Semmes, sunk in 1864 by USS Kearsarge] Henry Bryan Hall (1808-84), Anglo-American engraver; Kelly, Piet & Co., Baltimore publishers
CSS
Publication details: 
[1869.] Kelly, Piet & Co., Baltimore.
£220.00
CSS

A painting by Manet of the celebrated engagement between the Alabama and the Kearsarge was finished and exhibited before the end of 1864. It now hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art. The present item is a steel engraving, dating from five years later, on a small 8vo piece of thickish wove paper. In good condition, on lightly aged paper, with slight discoloration and creasing to the blank edges. At the foot of the engraving is the name of the publishers, ‘Kelly, Piet & Co. Baltimore’ (it appeared in their 1869 book, ‘Memoirs of Service Afloat, during the War between the States.

[Henry Williamson, English author best-remembered for his 'Tarka the Otter'.] 77 pages of typescript from ‘A Fox Under My Cloak’, the fifth novel in the sequence ‘A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight’, with extensive autograph emendations and deletions.

Author: 
Henry Williamson (1895-1977), English novelist best-remembered for his 'Tarka the Otter'
Williamson
Publication details: 
Undated. In envelopes with postmarks of 10 March 1955 (Georgeham) and 15 March 1955 (Barnstaple). The second with his autograph address: 'H. Williamson / Georgeham, N. Devon.'
£950.00
Williamson

Asee image of[339]See Williamson’s entry by his daughter-in-law Anne Williamson in the Oxford DNB, together with her 1995 biography of him. The present tranche of material gives a marvellous insight into the working processes of a fine - perhaps even a great - English writer, in addition to showing the gestation of one of the finest novels of the First World War.

[Admiral Beatty, First Sea Lord.] Autograph Signature (‘David Beatty | Rear-Admiral’) on part of document.

Author: 
Admiral Beatty [Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (1871-1936)], First Sea Lord, 1919-1927, commander of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland in 1916
Beatty
Publication details: 
Dated 21 June 1913. No place.
£50.00
Beatty

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, in which ‘deep professional commitment and mental toughness’ are said to be qualities whose possession he demonstrated ‘heroically’. Beatty’s aggressive tactics at the Battle of Jutland are often contrasted with Jellicoe’s more cautious approach. After the explosion of the Indefatigable and the Queen Mary, with the loss of 1283 officers and men, he came out with the celebrated understatement, ‘There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today’.

16 Autograph Letters Signed and 2 Autograph Cards Signed to William Toynbee, editor of the diaries of his father William Charles Macready.

Author: 
Sir Nevil Macready [Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready] (1862-1946), First World War general and last British military commander in Ireland, son of William Charles Macready [William Toynbee (1849-1942)]
Publication details: 
None with year, although one item with 1911 postmark, and others certainly from between 1913 and 1924. From England and France, including the Garrick Club and Author’s Club in London, and hotels in Manchester and St Cyr-sur-Mer.
£250.00

Macready's entry in the Oxford DNB states that he destroyed his diary and personal papers after the publication of his memoirs in 1924, and that of his father notes that he dealt with William Charles Macready's ‘copious and uninhibited diaries’ in similar fashion in 1914 - two years after the appearance of Toynbee’s edition. The present collection of eighteen items is in good condition, lightly aged, and folded for postage. All signed 'C F N Macready' and addressed to 'My dear Toynbee'. The text of the letters totals 35pp (compising 1p, 8vo; 25pp, 12mo; 9pp, 16mo).

[Field-Marshal Grenfell; Sirdar] Autograph Note Signed (or scrawled) F Grenfell to the Duchess of Cleveland, saying he'd like to make the acquaitance of a Mr Powlett.

Author: 
Field Marshal Francis Wallace Grenfell, 1st Baron Grenfell, (1841-1925), Army officer.
Grenfell
Publication details: 
[Headed] Maison, Ali, Pacha Fehmy, Cairo, 12 Feb. [no year; c.1888]. See image.
£38.00
Grenfell

One page, 12mo, minor foxing, mainly good condition. Pray [? something like tell] Mr Powlett I am most anxious to make his acquaintance truly yrs [...].Note: Field Marshal Francis Wallace Grenfell, 1st Baron Grenfell, 1841-1925 was a British Army officer. After serving as aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief, South Africa, he fought in the 9th Xhosa War, the Anglo-Zulu War and then the Anglo-Egyptian War.

['The most perfect ode in the English language': Charles Wolfe, Irish poet.] Photographic facsimile of Autograph Letter Signed to John Taylor, containing the text of his celebrated poem ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna’.

Author: 
Charles Wolfe (1791-1823), Irish poet, of the family of General James Wolfe and Wolfe Tone, author of the celebrated poem ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna’
Moore
Publication details: 
With facsimile of postmark dated 6 September 1816. No place (but from Ireland).
£120.00
Moore

The present item gives the text of the poem described by Byron as 'the most perfect ode in the English language' before its first publication in the Newry Telegraph in April 1817. See Wolfe’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The source of the present item is unclear. It is a photographic facsimile, many decades old, on both sides of a 4to leaf. In fair condition, slightly creased on browned paper, with negligible loss to margin at head. With five creases from folding. Addressed to ‘John Taylor Esqe / at the Revd Mr. Armstrong’s / Clonoully / Cashel’.

[Major-General Abraham D’Aubant, who played a leading role in the 1794 invasion of Corsica, frustrating Nelson with his caution.] Autograph Note in the third person to ‘Mr Brown’.

Author: 
Major-General Abraham D’Aubant (d.1805), Colonel of His Majesty's Corps of Royal Engineers, who played a leading role the 1794 invasion of Corsica [Horatio Nelson; Lord Nelson]
D'Aubant
Publication details: 
8 July [no year]; Devonshire Place [London].
£180.00
D'Aubant

An uncommon signature. During the 1794 invasion of Corsica, D’Aubant took over as Lord Hood’s second-in-command after Hood forced Major-General David Dundas to resign, but proved even more cautious, to the frustration of Nelson and others. 1p, landscape 8vo. Laid down on part of leaf from autograph album, captioned in Victorian hand, ‘General D’Aubant’. On discoloured paper, with deeper discoloration from glue from mount. Folded twice. Reads: ‘Genl D’Aubant presents his compliments to Mr Brown, and will call upon him at 12. next Thursday 8th July / Devonshe. place.’ See image.

[Rear-Admiral Edward O’Bryen, Royal Navy officer prominent in the Nore Mutiny and Battle of Camperdown.] Four Autograph Signatures cut from the conclusion of four letters, with some surviving text, including part of a prayer.

Author: 
Rear-Admiral Edward O’Bryen (c.1753-1808), Royal Navy officer who played a prominent part in the Nore Mutiny and Battle of Camperdown
Bryen
Publication details: 
None with place or date.
£80.00
Bryen

For information about this brave and gallant man, who offered himself to be hanged in place of his fellow officers during the Nore Mutiny, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The presence of these four items together may indicate a Victorian autograph dealer as the source, or perhaps a family member wishing to distribute keepsakes. Some with tantalizing fragments of surviving text. All four in good condition, some with fold lines. ONE: 14.5 x 6.5 cm. On one side: ‘[...] Ever your truly obliged and / Affectionate Friend / Edward O’Bryen’.

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