Autograph Letters

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Autograph Letter Signed to [Dorothy] Owston-Booth.

Author: 
Ishbel Macdonald (1903-1982), hostess at Downing Street of her father the British Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald
Publication details: 
30 September 1936; on letterhead of Upper Frognal Lodge, Hampstead, NW3.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. On cream paper with letterhead printed in green. Fair, on lightly spotted and creased paper. She cannot make an appointment for an interview 'for various reasons [...] The chief reason being that I do not give interviews'. Owston-Booth was a contributor to the Windsor Magazine.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. O. Coxe') to <Innes?>.

Author: 
Henry Octavious Coxe [H. O. Coxe] (1811-1881), Bodley's Librarian, 1860-1881 [The Bodleian Library, Oxford]
Publication details: 
16 January 1879; Bodleian Library.
£65.00

16mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Thirteen lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged paper with heavy staining to outer pages. Clarifying the position regarding 'new editions with additions'. The Bodleian is entitled to copies of these, 'unless the additions are separate - then we can only claim the new matter'. Explains that the Library's 'agent in London', Eccles of Great Russell Street, 'receives for us, or collects, as it may be the of the Publishers'. Docketed in pencil in a contemporary hand on the blank reverse of the second leaf.

Autograph Letter in the third person to Buchan, regarding 'Mr. Pitt', 'his abilities and fortitude' and 'the dilemma' arising from 'the present situation'.

Author: 
Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford (1737-1793), politician and art collector [David Steuart Erskine, eleventh earl of Buchan (1742-1829), antiquary and reformer]
Publication details: 
8 February 1784; Oxford Street.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. On piece of watermarked laid paper. Thirteen lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on aged paper, with thin strip of stub adhering to blank reverse. Docketed at head, in a contemporary hand, '331 | Lord Camelford for fac simile'. Camelford was not at home when Buchan called, but he 'will take care that his Lordship's Letter shall be transmitted to Mr Pitt [his cousin William Pitt the younger?]'. Pitt 'will doubtless feel himself flatter'd with his Lordship's testimony in favour of his abilities and fortitude'.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Your Excellency' [Murray?].

Author: 
Sir Thomas Kennedy (d.1775) of Culzean, 9th Earl of Cassillis [General James Murray (1721-1794), Governor of the Province of Quebec, Canada]
Publication details: 
18 March 1764; St James Street, London.
£75.00

4to, 3 pp. 55 lines of text. Bifolium. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged, grubby paper. Begins with salutation to 'My Dear Sir'. He has received the two letters, the first sent 'from Clide by a gentleman to whom Mr McKingie (the gentleman you recommended to me) delivered it'. Cassillis is willing to 'use all my interest with the directors of the forfeited estates in order that he might get what he wanted', but not having heard from McKingie he assumes 'that he has got his Business done to his mind'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('M Ross') to Spottiswoode & Robertson, regarding her neighbour Wyndham Lewis being 'In a fidget' about insurance.

Author: 
Lady Mary Ross [Spottiswoode & Robertson, Solicitors; Wyndham Lewis; Park Lane, Grosvenor Gate, London]
Publication details: 
31 March 1830; Park Lane, Grosvenor Gate, London.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. Fifteen lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and stained paper, with 3.5 cm closed tear in gutter, corner torn with no loss of text. Addressed, with postmark and remains of red wax seal, on reverse of second leaf. Docketed 'Lady Mary Ross | Park Lane 31 March 1830 | ans. 17 Apl'. Her neighbour 'Mr Wyndham Lewis' is 'In a fidget, as to Insurance'. She hopes it has been regularly paid, and 'must trust to yr not allowg it to be neglected'. She believes the insurance is 'for the House only & that I did not wish furniture'. According to the 'Survey of London', No.

Autograph Letter Signed (Sir . Dn . Probyn') to Sir Edward Poynter, conveying a message from Queen Alexandra regarding Belt's bust of Lord Kitchener.

Author: 
General Sir Dighton Probyn [Dighton MacNaghton Probyn] (1833-1924), V.C., British military officer [Sir Edward Poynter, President of the Royal Academy; Queen Alexandra; Richard Belt; Lord Kitchener]
Publication details: 
14 May 1917; on letterhead of Marlborough House.
£65.00

4to, 2 pp. 36 lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on aged paper, with slight wear at on the reverse. Written as Comptroller of the Royal Household to Poynter as President of the Royal Academy. He is returning Poynter's letter, which he has shown the Queen, and reassures him that he has 'nothing [...] to fear about the contents of it ever being divulged'. The Queen has told Probyn to tell Poynter 'how very sorry she is to see how the business has worried' him. It concerns a plaster bust of Kitchener which the Royal Academy Council accepted as an exhibit.

Autograph Letter Signed ('T: Gisborne.') to Messrs Cadell & Davies.

Author: 
Thomas Gisborne (1758-1846), Prebendary of Durham, theologian and poet, member of the Clapham Sect [Cadell & Davies, booksellers, Strand, London]
Publication details: 
24 December 1817; Yoxall Lodge.
£150.00

8vo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Thirty-four lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on aged and lightly-stained paper. An informative letter, casting light on the relation between publisher and author in Georgian England. Gisborne's aim is to give 'information respecting some employment which, if it please God, I shall have for one of your Presses'. He has in mind 'a little Volume [...] in large 8vo. like my works in general [...] such a book as Mr. Coopers letters [...] Its Title is, "The testimony of natural Theology to Christianity'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. P. Greswell') to an unnamed bookseller [Thomas Thorpe?].

Author: 
William Parr Greswell (1765-1854), Anglican clergyman and bibliographer [Thomas Thorpe, London bookseller]
Publication details: 
4 October 1821; Denton near Manchester.
£75.00

4to, 2 pp. Thirty lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and grubby paper. One closed tear and minor traces of mount to extremities. An interesting letter, casting light on the relationship between bookseller and knowledgeable client in Georgian England. He gives the conditions under which he would be interested in buying a few items from the booksellers monthly catalogue.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Eric A. Walker') to Bower.

Author: 
Eric A. Walker [Eric Anderson Walker] (1886-1976), first holder of the King George V Chair in History at the University of Cape Town, South Africa [Sir Graham John Bower]
Publication details: 
30 June 1927; on University of Cape Town letterhead.
£150.00

4to, 2 pp. Thirty-nine lines of text. Clear and complete. Neatly and closely written. Begins by discussing two books recommended by Bower: Otto Hammann's 'World Policy of Germany' and a work by Sir Francis Younghusband. Hammann's book 'confirms what Sir Sidney Lee writes about the Kaiser's telegram'; he is pleased that Younghusband's, which he has not yet read, contradicts the story that 'Lord Ripon was prepared for such drastic measures'. He has been 'correcting the proofs of the 600-page history of South Africa which I undertook to write for Longmans Green five or six years ago'.

Autograph Letter Signed (twice, both 'Negri Cristoforo' ), with short poem, to an unnamed woman.

Author: 
Cristoforo Negri (1809-1896), Italian politician and first President (1867-1872) of the Italian Geographical Society [Jeremiah James Colman (1830-1898), Norwich mustard manufacturer]
Publication details: 
27 August 1868; on letterhead of Carrow House, Norwich.
£120.00

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Fair, on aged paper with a little light staining. The recto carries the seventeen-line letter to a 'Gentilissima Dama', in response to a request for an autograph. On the reverse of the second leaf is a four-line poem, signed and dated by Negri, beginning 'Come un Nume che si adora'. In the letter Negri writes that he does not have 'la presunzione di credere che il mio autografo meriti di essere conservato'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Bain') to G. H. Huntly.

Author: 
Alexander Bain (1818-1903), Scottish psychologist, philosopher and educationalist
Publication details: 
27 April 1874; Aberdeen.
£120.00

12mo, 2 pp. Seventeen lines of text. Clear and complete. Bifolium. Fair, on aged and slightly-grubby paper. He has 'no recollection' of 'a work published in Edinburgh in 1843, on Mind viewed as a part of Physiology'. 'Perhaps if I saw it, I might certify it as I [sic] work that I formerly knew. Few works of that nature have escaped my notice within the last thirty years.' The work referred to by Huntly would appear to be John J. Waterston's 'Thoughts on the mental functions. Being an attempt to treat metaphysics as a branch of the physiology of the nervous system' (Edinburgh, 1843).

Autograph Letter Signed to [Richard] Welford [of the Newcastle Chronicle].

Author: 
George Troup (1811-1879), editor, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine [Richard Welford; Newcastle Chronicle]
Publication details: 
2 November 1859; Tait's Magazine Office, 34 Paternoster Row, London, E.C.
£75.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. 58 lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged paper, with the outer pages grubby and stained. The delay in replying to Welford's letter is due to the fact that it 'fell aside in Edinburgh and did not reach my hands until lately'. 'I was engaged in a veryy subordinate capacity on Taits Magazine when the shilling series commenced - and for some years - and again had it as my own property from 1846 to 1850 and have had it again for some years; yet I do not remember having ever seen a notice in the Newcastle Chronicle'.

Autograph Signature ('Charlotte H Dolby') on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby (1821-85), English contralto singer
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£25.00

Dimensions roughly two and a half inches by four and a half wide. Clear, bold signature on aged paper. Reads '<...> believe me Gill's friend as well as your own | [signature] Charlotte H Dolby'. Reverse reads '<...> says, because I get mixed up with such a lot of people, and lose my individuality in the <...>'.

Autograph Letter, third person, to "Mr Andrews" (no further information).

Author: 
[ Andrews, bookseller and bookbinder [?]] Lord M[oun]t Edgcumbe
Publication details: 
Twickenham, 27 Feb. (no year).
£75.00

Four pages, 8vo, vestiges of an album page on final page, text clear and complete. He is sending some MSS. to be bound up, giving detailed instructions. He reminds Andrews of previous work, and insists on secrecy. He asks him to post (and pay for) a "foreign letter", and asks "how the Opera succeeds & if the men singers are liked. In a postscript he asks for the third volume of "Johnson's Life" since he has nearly finished the second.

6 Autograph Letters Signed and 4 Typed Letters Signed (all 'J. A. Hammerton) to Richards, with one Autograph Letter Signed to Richards' assistant Lyons, and a Typed copy of a letter from Richards to Hammerton.

Author: 
J. A. Hammerton [Sir John Alexander Hammerton] (1871-1949), Scottish editor of reference works including 'Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia' [Grant Richards (1872-1948), English publisher]
Publication details: 
3 February 1903 to 15 April 1904 (two letters undated); seven on letterhead of 43 Hornsey Rise Gardens, three on letterheads of S. W. Partridge and Co, two on letterhead of 8 and 9 Paternoster Row.
£350.00

Twelve items. All texts clear and complete. In a variety of formats from 4to to 12mo. The collection is in fair condition, on aged and grubby paper. An interesting series of letters from one leading figure in the publishing circles of Edwardian London to another, revealing Hammerton's energetic no-nonsense approach. Much of the correspondence concerns the publication by Richards of Hammerton's 'Stevensoniana' (including a typed copy of a letter from Richards to Hammerton, 2 February 1903, stating terms). The discussion of the book includes references to 'Mrs R. L.

Scrapbook, assembled and annotated by Pymm, containing newspaper cuttings, letters and other material relating to his wife's involvement in the 'Liberal Unionist Tea Party Scandal' of 1893.

Author: 
Henry Pymm [The Liberal Unionist Tea Party Scandal, Lambeth, 1893; Henry Morton Stanley]
Publication details: 
1893; London.
£225.00

The nature of this somewhat Pooterish 'scandal' is explained in one of the cuttings in the scrapbook: '[...] the Unionists of North Lambeth are making secret but strenuous efforts to insure the return of Mr. H. M. Stanley at the next election.

Two long typewritten letters, the first describing 'the King's Visit' to H.M.S. Revenge, and 'the surrender of the German Fleet' in 1918; the second describing the 1931 Spring and Summer Cruises of Royal Yacht, the Queen Elizabeth.

Author: 
Anonymous 'writer' on H.M.S. Revenge [The surrender of the German Fleet, 1918] [the royal yacht, The Queen Elizabeth]
Publication details: 
Letter One: 21 November 1918; H.M.S. "Revenge", at present off Inchkeith, N[orth]. B[ritain]. Letter Two: 14 December 1931; 'Office of the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Station, Malta.
£325.00

A valuable eyewitness account of an historic event. H.M.S. Revenge was the flagship of Admiral Freemantle, and it was to its quarterdeck that Admiral Ludwig von Reuter would be brought in 1919, after issuing the order to scuttle the entire German fleet at Scapa Flow. The text of both items is clear and complete. Both good, on lightly-aged and spotted paper. Letter One (1918): Foolscap (32 x 20.5 cm), 4 pp. In manuscript at head of first page: 'Use this where you like, Dad! Tho' be careful of showing who wrote it.

Autograph Letter Signed.

Author: 
Letter to Sir James Rennell Rodd from H. Nelson gay
Publication details: 
Palazzo Orsini, Rome, 'Xmas 1916'.
£45.00

The author is obscure, but the letter is addressed to 'Sir Rennell' [Sir James Rennell Rodd (1858-1941), diplomat and author]. 2 pages, 16mo, creased but in good condition. A florid missive beginning 'In this tempest of egotism and hate which has plunged us all into Teutonic darkness, you will not have forgotten, my dear Sir Rennell, the lines of Coleridge: | [...]'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Oliver Locker Lampson') to Dr E. E. Lewis.

Author: 
Oliver Stillingfleet Locker-Lampson (1880-1954), British Conservative Member of Parliament for North Huntingdonshire, Commander of an Armoured Car Unit in the First World War
Publication details: 
23 July 1913; on embossed House of Commons letterhead.
£100.00

One page, folio. Very good on lightly creased paper. Headed 'FIGHTING FUND' and listing the members of the 'PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE' (including Lampson as Honorary Secretary, and the Duke of Westminster and Earl of Malmesbury). Communication of twenty-seven lines, with decided proto-fascistic overtones.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Stanley Buckmaster') to [F.] Meade[, Secretary, Official Press Bureau].

Author: 
Stanley Owen Buckmaster, 1st Viscount Buckmaster (1861-1934), Liberal politician and Lord Chancellor [the Official Press Bureau; Great War; censorship]
Publication details: 
12 April 1915; on embossed government letterhead of the Official Press Bureau, Whitehall.
£35.00

12mo, 3 pp, 26 lines. Good, with tiny pin holes at head and foot of both leaves of the bifolium, and one corner roughened by removal of mount. Buckmaster has learnt that Meade is 'contemplating leaving [his] work in this Office', and would 'greatly regret any such step' as Meade's work is 'of great assistance and is much appreciated by all of us in this room'. While Buckmaster realises that there is little opportunity for advancement, he feels that 'we all do render considerable service to the state'.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs. Robinson'.

Author: 
Henry de Windt
Publication details: 
Friday' (no date); on embossed government letterhead, with oval ink stamp 'Prisoners of War Working Camp | X | Black Park, Iver Heath, Bucks | X'.
£45.00

Explorer (1856-1933), and commander of Prisoner of War Camp during the Great War. Three pages (with the third, including the signature, written crosswise), 12mo. In very good condition. He has been away and apologises for not replying to her 'kind invitation' sooner. He is disappointed not to be able to accept, as he should have liked to have had 'a chat with you & your husband'. Signed 'Henry de Windt'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Bobbie [?].

Author: 
George Cunningham [regarding rumours of Russian troop movements at the beginning of the 1st World War and other subjects]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Privy Council Office, Whitehall, S.W.; 3 September 1914.
£50.00

4 pages, 8vo. Creased and grubby but in good condition overall. Interesting letter in difficult hand. Opens by sending his deepest sympathy: 'I can sympathise having as you know been personally damaged by a falling branch last Xmas.' 'Officially we have given up contradicting the <?> prevalent rumours of Russian Troops moving through Great Britain. The Germans may hear of the rumours - may believe them: [^ that may do good;] but there is no truth in them at all. Barring a few Russian reservists who were in this country no Russian troops have been sent to France.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Henry Knollys') to 'Staff Surgeon Walter Haydon, Royal Navy, H.M.S. Conquest'.

Author: 
Colonel Sir Henry Knollys (1840-1930), wrote on life in Japan and China; commanded the Royal Artillery in South Africa, 1889-1891; later Private Secretary to Queen Maud of Norway [Walter Haydon]
Publication details: 
24 and 27 August 1916; both on letterhead of 2 Morpeth Mansions, Victoria, London.
£80.00

Both letters lightly creased and spotted, but good overall. Letter One (8vo, 8 pp): In stamped, addressed envelope. Begins by asking whether Haydon would consider acting as co-executor to his estate with his wife Flora. Outlines his financial situation and discusses the executor's duties. Turns to 'the naval situation', Haydon's letter on the subject being 'so guarded that it might be nailed up in Trafalgar Square without helping the enemy'.

Typed Letter Signed ('C. Oxon:') to Ormsby Gore, discussing at length the issue of 'the disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales.

Author: 
Charles Gore (1853-1932), Bishop of Oxford [William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore (1885-1964), 4th Baron Harlech] [the Church of England in Wales]
Publication details: 
9 December 1913; on letterhead of Cuddesdon, Wheatley, Oxfordshire.
£85.00

4to, 4 pp. Sixty-six lines of text. Clear and complete. Fair, on grubby and lightly-worn paper. At the time of writing Ormsby-Gore was still a commoner, sitting in the House of Commons as Member for Denbigh. Headed 'Private'. Gore considers that 'both sides in politics have been doing their best to confuse the issue'. He begins by stating his position: 'The broad ground on which I stand is that a Liberal Government cannot, either on grounds of policy or of principle, refuse the demand of the Welsh Representatives for the Disestablishment of the Church in Wales.

Autograph Letters Signed (3) to Clement Shorter, Man of Letters.

Author: 
Max Pemberton.
Publication details: 
Troston Hall, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, 1909-1921.
£50.00

Man of Letters. Total 7pp., 8vo, fold mark, good condition. He promotes the interests of a friend, asks if writing for another periodical (presumably not Shorter's The Sphere) would create a conflict of interest, discus the framework of a play about Goldsmith's Life. etc. Three items,

A collection of six autograph letters signed to Clement Shorter, man of letters, editor of "The Sphere".

Author: 
George Scott Robertson.
Publication details: 
1898-1914.
£150.00

Anglo-Indian Administrator (1852-1916). Total sixteen pages, 8vo, good condition. . Subjects include: anticipation of the publication of his book, "Chitral. The Story of a Minor Siege"; the Johnson Club, political activity (canvassing), Edward Clodd, a request to be the "accredited agent" of "The Sphere" at the Front (Great War). With; (printed) Order of his Memorial Service (1916). 7 items,

Autograph Letter Signed ('F A Greenhill') to 'Mr Connor', on the subject of incised slabs in Somerset. Together with offprint of Greenhill's paper 'Notes on Scottish Incised Slabs (I).'

Author: 
Frank Allen Greenhill (1896-1983), MA, FSA, FSA (Scot), of Dumfries, Scottish archaeologist
Publication details: 
15 January 1946; 'St Monan's', Victoria Rd, Maxwelltown, Dumfries.
£38.00

Letter: 4to, 1 p (32 lines); and 8vo, 2 pp (42 lines) in bifolium. Total of 74 lines. Texts of letter and offprint clear and complete. Both on aged and creased paper, and attached to one another by archival tape. Offprint 4to, 8 pp (paginated 81-88). I n the letter Greenhill writes 'My acquaintance with Somerset brasses is but scanty, all I ever rubbed being at Hutton, Cheddar, Churchill, Wedmore, St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, Crewkerne, and the Strode brass at Shepton Mallet.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to Osbert Burdett, both on the subject of his study of the novels of the Dutch writer 'Maarten Maartens'.

Author: 
Norreys Jephson O'Conor (1890-1964), Irish-American poet [Osbert Burdett; 'Maarten Maartens']
Publication details: 
18 and 21 November 1930; both on letterheads of 31 Edwardes Square, Kensington, W8.
£95.00

Both letters 4to, 2 pp. Both texts clear and complete, and both in fair condition, with dog-eared corners. In the first letter O'Conor writes that he has 'heard from Miss Maartens', and that he is sending 'Dr van Maanen's' study of the author. 'Miss Maartens suggests that you and I might meet, which appeals greatly to me, for I enjoyed your review of the Maarten Maartens letters and have also heard about you from my friend John Gould Fletcher.' Gives a time when 'Miss Maartens is coming to the London Library to read some Dutch' for him, and he suggests that Burdett join them.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wilfrid Lawson') to 'Mr. Hudson', with reference to Sunday observance.

Author: 
Sir Wilfrid Lawson of Brayton (1829-1906), British Liberal politician and temperance campaigner
Publication details: 
14 March 1900; 135 Sloane Street, SW.
£35.00

12mo, 4 pp. Text clear and complete. In fair condition, worn and a little grubby. He thanks him for having 'written so fully'. He will 'wait for a day or two ere looking far', as he is 'rather exercised in my mind on one or two parts'. 'I remember - or try to remember - this injunction - 'do nothing rashly'. He is sending 'some lines' by 'Sir John Kenaway - a sound old evangelical Tory', 'in favor of Sunday closing in Monmouthshire'.

Two Letters in a Secretarial Hand, one of them signed by Amherst ('Amherst'), both to the Rev. Charles William Tonyn (d.1805) of Radnage, Bucks.

Author: 
Jeffrey Amherst, first Baron Amherst (1717-1797), field-marshall, conqueror of Canada
Publication details: 
The signed letter: 18 June 1781, Whitehall. The unsigned letter: 9 March 1782, Whitehall.
£400.00

The signed letter: 4to, 1 p. 11 lines of text. With the address on a separate and similarly-sized leaf. Franked 'War Office | ', and bearing two circular postmarks, one of them in red with the word 'FREE'. Good, on aged and creased paper. Assuring Tonyn that it will give him 'much pleasure' to recommend Tonyn's nephew George Augustus Tonyn for an army commission, 'as soon as I may be able to do it consistently with the very great number of Applications which I have already on my hands'.

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