Autograph Letters

warning: Creating default object from empty value in /home/richardf/public_html/dev/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.pages.inc on line 33.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jas: Stanley:Little') to S[eymour C.] J. Freeman-Matthews [of Cape Town].

Author: 
James Stanley Little (1856-1940), British novelist
Publication details: 
28 September 1900; on letterhead 18 Drakenfield Road, Tooting Common, S.W.
£30.00

One page, quarto. On aged and lightly creased paper. He is sending the signature with 'one or two others'. 'Possibly the work I have done for South Africa (I have been upholding the Imperial cause for a quarter of a century) is your reason for paying me the compliment.' Thinks he recognises from Freeman-Matthews' crest that he is 'a descendant of the Llandaff Mathews family'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F. Oxon.) to Mrs. Light, autograph collector

Author: 
Francis Paget (1851-1911), Bishop of Oxford
Publication details: 
19 March 1904; on letterhead of the 'Diocesan Registry, Oxford.'
£60.00

One page, octavo. Good, though a little smoked at head and foot. 'Here, after a delay I am ashamed of, are the autographs: I shall indeed be glad if they give any pleasure to the recipient. | I trust that you and the Vicar were not overtired on the day of the Confirmation: and that you know what a happiness both the Service and the welcome were to me.' Sends 'Mr. Green's kindest remembrances'.

Typed Letter Signed ('R. E. Slade') to K. W. Luckhurst, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts; with carbon of Luckhursts reply.

Author: 
Roland Edgar Slade (died 1968), physicist and vice-chairman of ICI
Publication details: 
21 January 1952, on letterhead Tednambury, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. Luckhurst's reply dated 23 January 1952.
£38.00

Letter, 4to, 1 p, 12 lines. On lightly aged and spotted paper, with pin holes in top left-hand corner. Docketed in blue ink. Slade is 'very pleased with the re-prints': 'I think these three Essays go very well together.' Suggests that a copy be sent to the Secretary of the National Farmers' Union: 'tell him the terms on which he can have extra copies if he wants them to circulate amongst members of committees'. The carbon of Luckhurst's reply, on green paper, is 8vo, 1 p, 15 lines. 'We have been in touch with the N.F.U. [...] Do you think that I.C.I.

Autograph Note Signed ('Herbert Trench', twice) to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Frederic Herbert Trench (1865-1923), Irish poet
Publication details: 
Undated; on letterhead of the United University Club, Pall Mall East, S.W. [London].
£40.00

Octavo, one page. Good, with stains from paperclip at head. Large bold signature on top half of leaf, and body of note, with signature on bottom half. 'I have pleasure in sending my signature. Yes I am the author of "Deirdre Wedded" & "New Poems" (including Apollo & the Seaman) which Methuen published.'

Seven Autograph Letters Signed, five signed "William Boone" and two signed "Thomas Boone", all to the Duke of Newcastle, with additional lists.

Author: 
William and Thomas Boone, booksellers [Henry Pelham, 5th Duke of Newcastle, statesman and collector]
Publication details: 
29 New Bond Street, [London], 1859 (William) and 1862 (Thomas).
£600.00

Total 18pp., 8vo (letters), 3pp., 4to (lists), and one page 8vo (list). The dealers are giving advice and information to the collector, particularly relating to the Dawson Turner Sale (1859) and the Libri Sale (1859), often illegibly or nearly so. A. William Boone (4 June 1859) advises that a "holograph letter of Napoleon" will attract interest enough to justify two guineas and would sell for more in Paris". He believes a volume "on Scottish affairs" would "realize fully" £420.

Autograph Note Signed ('Henry Newbolt') to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Henry John Newbolt (1862-1938), English poet and novelist
Publication details: 
16 July 1907; on letterhead 'ST. GILES'S MOUNT, WINCHESTER.'
£30.00

One page, 12mo. Neatly mounted on card. Nine-line biographical newspaper cutting neatly laid down at foot. Ten lines from another newspaper cutting, relating to Madame Patti, at head. Reads 'Dear madam | I thank you for your flattering letter and subscribe myself, as you wish, | Yours truly | Henry Newbolt'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. P. Drury') to unnamed female correspondent.

Author: 
Major William Price Drury (1861-1928), Royal Marines, English author
Publication details: 
3 September 1907; East Lavington, Petworth, Sussex.
£25.00

One page, 12mo. Good, on aged paper with a little paperclip spotting. Laid down on piece of card. 'It is with considerable misgiving that I thrust my autograph upon the distinguished company you cite in your letter. Since, however, it is unthinkable to refuse the request of a lady, I have the honour to subscribe myself, | Yours faithfully, | W. P. Drury.'

Autograph Note Signed ('F. C. Burnand') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (1836-1917), English writer, editor of the magazine 'Punch' from 1880 to 1906
Publication details: 
10 December 1901; place not stated.
£30.00

One page. Dimensions of paper roughly four inches by seven. On piece of aged, stained paper, mounted on piece of card. Remains of biographical cutting in bottom right-hand corner. Reads 'Here you are Sir | Autographs cheap today | F. C. Burnand | F. C. B. | 10 Dec 1901'.

Autograph Note Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Edmund Yates (1831-94), British novelist, dramatist and editor of the 'World' magazine
Publication details: 
28 August 1886; on letterhead 1 York Street, Covent Garden, London.
£40.00

One page, 12mo. Very good on lightly-aged grey paper. Reads 'Dear Sir. | Here is the autograph you require. | Faithfully your's | [signed] Edmund Yates'. The words 'Here' and 'to' are slightly smudged.

Autograph Note Signed ('Owen Rhoscomyl') [to the autograph hunter Rev. E. J. F. Davies].

Author: 
Arthur Owen Vaughan (1863-1919, born Robert Scourfield Mills, and writing under the names 'Owen Rhoscomyl' and 'Owen Vaughan'), Welsh author and adventurer
Publication details: 
6 May 1909; on letterhead of the Welsh National Pageant, Pageant House, Cardiff.
£35.00

Quarto, one page. Good, on lightly aged paper spotted by paperclip, with some creasing to extremities. 'If you will let your list down to this level, here you are'. The letterhead carries the names of the Pageant's officers with a Welsh dragon in red in the top left-hand corner. From the collection of Rev. E. J. F. Davies.

Autograph Letter Signed, in French, to unnamed male correspondent. With manuscript English translation.

Author: 
Eugenie Nau, French actress, active in the cinema between 1908 and 1924
Publication details: 
10 March [1919]; on letterhead of the Hotel Thorndike, Boston.
£75.00

Octavo, one page. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with the merest hint of a damp stain. English translation in contemporary hand on separate piece of 12mo paper, with slight loss at head (not affecting text). She has received no acknowledgement from him for 'the autograph which I sent you and a little book of verse sold for the benefit of the soldier who wrote them. The little book ought to be sold for at least 75 cents.

Ten Autograph Letters Signed (all 'E Walford') to a number of different correspondents (including A., F. and H. Barker, Mrs Ratcliffe and a newspaper editor named 'Taylor').

Author: 
Edward Walford (1823-97), topographer, genealogist, antiquary and editor of 'Once a Week' and 'The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer'
Publication details: 
Five undated, the others 1860 to 1890; all but one (from Bracknell in Berkshire) from a number of London addresses.
£400.00

All items good, though on dusty and aged paper. Five items are addressed to sellers of manuscripts (probably the same individual). ONE (to H. Barker, 23 April 1885, on letterhead of 'The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer', one page, octavo): Asks to be offered Wellesley autographs purchased at a recent Sotheby sale, of which he sent an account to 'The Times', which was 'crowded out'. TWO (to F. Barker, 25 April [1885], 'at T.

Autograph Letter Signed to the autograph collector Thomas Thompson of Church Street, Liverpool.

Author: 
John Russell Smith (1810-94), English bookseller [Dawson Turner]
Publication details: 
13 June 1840; 'No. 4. Old Compton Street, Soho, London'.
£200.00

Two pages, quarto. Very good. With traces of blue paper mount adhering to addressed verso of second leaf of bifolium. Dawson Turner having declined to buy a collection on the grounds that it is 'wholly out of his line of collecting', Russell now offers it to Thompson. They are 'not so interesting' as he anticipated when he 'bought them at an auction without looking at them till they were on the table'. Gives details of the purchase and describes the volumes, estimating their cost in binding.

Fragment of Typed Letter Signed to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
C. Maguire [autograph dealer?]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£80.00

On piece of paper roughly seven inches by eight wide. On aged paper with closed tears and fraying to extremities. Top part of document torn away, leaving ten complete lines of text. Lays out the conditions under which an archive of letters is offered for sale.

Autograph Note Signed to S. C. J. Freeman-Matthews, [autograph hunter of] Cape Town, South Africa.

Author: 
John Fiske (1842-1901), American philosopher and historian
Publication details: 
31 May 1900; Cambridge, Massachusetts.
£40.00

One page, 12mo. Very good on lightly aged paper. 'It gives me much pleasure to add my autograph to your collection.' With a 38-line biographical cutting on Fiske.

Autograph Note Signed to an unnamed correspondent, in French.

Author: 
[Unknown Collector] Leon Gautier, literary historian and palaeographer.
Publication details: 
No place [Paris], 19 Nov. 1868.
£60.00

One page, 8vo, fold mark, good condition. "Je m'empresse de vous adresser épreuve de votre [premier] Eclaircissement . | L'ouvrage sera tiré in folio et ce que je vous envoie est ce qu'on appelle 'une composition perdue' d'apres laquelle on imprimera Le texte definitif en plus grand format. | Veuillez me renvoyer 8 rue Vaum . .

Autograph Letter Signed to J. Dixon Spain.

Author: 
Charles Chabot (1815-82), author and handwriting expert
Publication details: 
27. Red Lion Square | London. 3. Novr. 1881.'
£100.00

One page, octavo. Very good. Neatly written, as one might expect. 'My usual charge for comparing writings is 2 Gnas and for deciphering MSS. according to the time occupied therein'. He will be 'in Town week after next but as I have to attend at the Courts at Westminster it is uncertain at what hour you would find me here unless you made an appointment beforehand.' Chabot was the author of 'The handwriting of Junius professionally investigated by Charles Chabot, expert | With preface and collateral evidence by the Hon. Edward Twisleton' (1871).

Autograph Letter Signed ('H S Cotton') to William Upcott (1779-1845), Secretary of the London Institution and autograph collector.

Author: 
Rev. Horace Salusbury Cotton (c.1774-1846), Ordinary of Newgate Prison and autograph collector
Publication details: 
20 August 1830; place not stated.
£150.00

One page, octavo. Very good. Docketed at head 'Ordinary of Newgate', and with small fragment of printed slip laid down in top left-hand corner (not affecting text). Reads 'My dear Sir, | A friend of mine lays claim to the Arrandale Peerage & estates - do you happen to possess any documents of any kind which can throw light upon the subject & assist him in the prosecution of his claims - He claims I believe from Lord John Johnstone who was in Newgate for Treason about the year 1700, but was never convicted - Yrs. very truly | H S Cotton'. Addressed to 'William Upcott Esq.

Autograph Note Signed ('Pearl Mary-Teresa Craigie') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
John Oliver Hobbes' (Pearl Mary-Teresa Craigie, nee Richards, 1867-1906), Anglo-American Catholic novelist
Publication details: 
12 December 1901; Steephill Castle, Ventnor.
£50.00

One page, 12mo. On aged and spotted paper, with traces of previous mount on reverse. Craigie's 'PMTC' monogram in top left-hand corner, and a red '45' in a red circle in top right-hand. Fourteen-line biographical cutting laid down along one edge. Reads 'Dear Sir | I have much pleasure in sending you my autograph. | Yours faithfully | Pearl Mary-Teresa Craigie.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Clunie') to an unnamed male autograph collector.

Author: 
John Clunie (1784-1858), Principal of Leaf Square and Seedley Grove Academies, 1812 to 1837
Publication details: 
20 June 1836; Seedley Grove, near Manchester.
£50.00

One page, on piece of lightly aged paper, roughly six and a half inches by seven. Strip neatly torn away at head (not affecting text, but perhaps bearing recipient's address). Good, with a little damage from breaking of wafer and slight evidence of previous mounting on revese. Thirteen lines. He is sending the selected autographs, and will 'be happy to receive, at your leisure, those of Currie, Daubeny, Mc.Culloch, Flowers, Woodville & Phillips & Jones - or such 5 of them as you can best spare'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Katharine S. Macquoid') to Seymour C. J. Freeman-Matthews.

Author: 
Katharine Sarah Macquoid (nee Gadsden, 1824-1917), voluminous English novelist
Publication details: 
28 April 1900; on letterhead 'The Edge, Tooting Common.'
£60.00

One page, 12mo. Very good. 'I see that to-day is mail day for the Cape, I therefore send you at once the signature for which you ask. I wonder how you discovered my address.' Accompanied by biographical cutting.

Autograph Note Signed ('Anneliese'), to 'liebe Liesel', on reverse of photographic portrait postcard.

Author: 
Anneliese Rothenberger (born 1924), German operatic lyric soprano
Publication details: 
1956
£28.00

Dimensions roughly 14 x 9 cm. Very good. The photograph, captioned 'Anneliese Rothenberger', is a head and shoulders shot of a smiling Rothenberger. The note on the reverse, in green ink, reads 'dir, liebe Liesel, alles ! | diese | [signed] Anneliese | 1956'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George R Rushton'), to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
George Robert Rushton (1868-1948), English artist and Principal of the School of Arts & Crafts, Ipswich
Publication details: 
7 April 1925; on letterhead of the School of Arts & Crafts, Ipswich
£38.00

4to: 1 p. 21 lines. Very good, with a little wear to extremities. Headed 'Re Competition of Industrial Design'. The School have been 'working to' the 'Copy' they were sent 'giving full details of the Book Production competition' and dated 1924. 'Yesterday I discovered that the details, as regards sizes did not correspond to the first circular I received previously, announcing the Competitions, and dated 1925. [...] We have worked to Demy octavo as it was in the Copy. Our printing classes have now finished for the season, therefore no alteration can be made with their designs.

One Autograph Letter Signed, one Typed Letter Signed, one Autograph Note Signed and one Typed Note Signed (all 'E. N. da C. Andrade'), to G. K. Menzies (3) and K. W. Luckhurst (1), Secretaries, Royal Society of Arts, with carbon of one reply.

Author: 
Professor Edward Neville da Costa Andrade (1887-1971), English physicist, poet and historian of science
Publication details: 
1931, 1932, 1933 and 1948; the autograph letter on letterhead of 69 Exeter Road, London N.W.2, and the other three items on University College, University of London letterheads.
£120.00

All items good. Two bearing the Society's stamp. Item One (typed note, 15 October 1931, 4to, 1 p): He is sending 'short summaries of the two lectures, in a form which I prefer to mere headings'. Item Two (autograph letter, 17 January 1932, 8vo, 1 p): He is sending 'summaries of the two lectures'. 'As you seemed in a hurry I have not waited to have them typed. I think that they are legible, but I will look at a proof if you like.' He has left it to Menzies 'to add any preliminaries or conclusions that may be necessary'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. C. Colles') to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Henry Cope Colles (1879-1943), music historian and critic of The Times of London [the British Red Cross; Royal Horse Artillery]
Publication details: 
11 November 1916; on letterhead of the R.A. Cadet School, Ordnance Road, St John's Wood, London N.W.
£38.00

12mo: 4 pp. On grey paper. Very good, with a small strip of discolouration over the Royal Artillery crest. Bearing the Society's stamp. He is glad that his 'article on the Red Cross' interested Wood: 'in other circumstances it would have given me much pleasure to follow up the article with an address to your Society on the subject', but 'the work of the Cadet school, which I entered a couple of months ago, takes up my entire time'.

One Typed Letter Signed and two Typed Notes Signed (all 'Hanns Vischer'), to W. Perry, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Hanns Vischer (1876-1945), Anglo-Swiss educationist and linguist, Honorary Secretary General of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures
Publication details: 
1928 (2) and 1930 (1); one on embossed Colonial Office letterhead and two on letterhead of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures.
£85.00

All three items very good, and the first bearing the Society's stamp. Item One (15 June 1928, foolscap, 1 p, 12 lines): He has received a notice of a meeting by 'the Dominions and Colonies Section Committee' and asks Perry to 'please explain the position to me'. 'I am not quite clear why I am being asked as I cannot remember ever having been put on this Committee. True, Sir Humphrey Leggett suggested over a year ago that I should join the Society again as he thought I might be of some use to your Committee.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Frank Cundall (1858-1937), English author, Secretary and Librarian to the Institute of Jamaica
Publication details: 
20 Feb 1916; on letterhead of the Institute of Jamaica.
£38.00

4to: 2 pp. Sixteen lines. Good, on lightly aged paper. Thanking Wood for his 'kindly notice of "Historic Jamaica"'. He hopes 'the good people of Jamaica will appreciate the book in time - I spoilt my 1914 holiday to produce it'. Wishes Wood could 'come out to Jamaica in these days of motor cars'. Cars 'make seeing the country very easy - the only drawback is that one goes too fast for seeing the country well'. The 'Examiner for the <?> Board' ('this year it is to be Dr Lloyd') is coming to the island the following month. 'I usually go with the Examiner, to keep him happy!

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Paul Vinogradoff') and two Typed Letters Signed ('P. Vinogradoff') to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Paul Gavrilovitch Vinogradoff [Pavel Gavriilovich Vinogradov] (1854-1925), Anglo-Russian historian and jurist
Publication details: 
Typed Letters, 24 September and 2 October 1915, both from Court Place, Iffley, Oxford; Autograph Letters, 13 February and 12 March 1924, both on letterhead of 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford.
£128.00

All items very good. The typed letters are both 4to, 1 p, and the autograph letters both 12mo, 1 p. Three items bear the Society's stamp. Letter One (typed, 24 September 1915, 10 lines): He will have 'great pleasure in addressing the Society of Arts', but there is 'one point which must be settled carefully beforehand'.

Eight Typed Letters, with cyclostyled signatures ('Arthur Pearson'), to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Cyril Arthur Pearson [Sir Arthur Pearson] (1866-1921), founder of 'The Daily Express', President of the National Institute for the Blind and Fresh Air Fund
Publication details: 
October 1916 to June 1917; all on letterhead of the Blinded Soldiers' and Sailors' Hostel, St. Dunstan's, Regent's Park, N.W. [London].
£150.00

All eight items are 4to, 1 p, and good on lightly aged paper. Seven items bearing the Society's stamp and four docketed. The correspondence concerns a talk given by Pearson to the Society, 'on the subject of the training of the soldiers blinded in the War'. On 19 October 1916 Pearson writes: 'I am a little afraid that I cannot properly carry out the suggestion you so kindly make. I am quite blind, and therefore am unable to read a paper.' The 'preparation of a formal paper' would 'demand more time than I am able to spare at present.

Typed Letter Signed ('E. Ashworth Underwood') to 'The Editor, Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi, London, W.C.2.'

Author: 
Edgar Ashworth Underwood (1899-1980), Director, The Wellcome Historical Medical Museum
Publication details: 
8 June 1949; on letterhead of The Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, 28, Portman Square, London, W.1.
£56.00

4to: 1 p. Very good. 18 lines. Concerns a 'lecture by Dr. D. A. Allan' (Douglas Alexander Allan, writer of several works on museums and exhibitions). 'It is very regrettable that Dr. Allan made the statements which he did without confirmation. They were completely erroneous and on the day following he called here and expressed his regrets at the incident. He has now full particulars in skeleton form regarding the activities of this Museum'.

Syndicate content