Autograph Letters

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Typed Letter Signed ('Walter Runciman') to L. P. Jacks.

Author: 
Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford (1870-1949), English Liberal politician [paper making; the book trade; publishing]
Publication details: 
21 February 1916; on letterhead of the Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W.
£56.00

12mo, 3 pp, 35 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, and with a thin strip from mount adhering at head of blank verso of second leaf of bifolium. Discusses 'the restriction on the importation of paper and paper making materials', imposed 'with the object of securing more tonnage space in incoming vessels'.

Typed Note, third person (as above) to Miss Winifred Oldfield.

Author: 
The Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales [Edward].
Publication details: 
St James's Palace, London, S.W., 30 June 1921.
£35.00

One page, 8vo, minor defects. A standard reply with a gap filled by the name of whichever royalist had made a request for an autograph. He expresses "His Royal Highness's regret that, owing to the immense number of requests for his autograph and photograph, it has become impossible for him to comply, save in the case of those with whom he is actually personally acquainted."

Two Typed Letters Signed ('H. Gordon Griffin' and 'H. G. Griffin') to 'The Secretary' and K. W. Luckhurst, Royal Society of Arts; with carbon of Luckhurst's reply; and draft of 'C.P.R.E. Publication on the Design and Layout of Small Houses.'

Author: 
Sir Herbert Gordon Griffin (died 1969), General Secretary, The Council for the Preservation of Rural England [Royal Society of Arts, London]
Publication details: 
Letters of 12 January 1927 and 10 December 1956, both on Council letterhead; carbon reply, 11 December 1956; draft, November 1956.
£100.00

All items very good. A couple with slight staining at head from paperclip. Letter One (to 'The Secretary', 4to, 1 p, 5 lines): Apologising for delay in acknowledging the 'letter and enclosures of 31st ultimo': 'my office was only opened on Wednesday last and I have had much correspondence with which to deal'. Letter Two (to Luckhurst, 4to, 1 p, 18 lines): Concerning 'a booklet on the layout and design of small houses' which the C.P.R.E. 'is hoping to publish this spring'.

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.

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 ('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.

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.

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 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 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 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 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 ('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 ('Horace') and fragment of Autograph Letter Signed ('Horace Annesley Vachell.').

Author: 
Horace Annesley Vachell (1861-1955), English novelist and playwright
Publication details: 
The letter: 24 September 1899, on letterhead 'PEVERELL, HURSLEY, WINCHESTER.' The fragment: undated and with place not stated.
£30.00

The letter: one page, 12mo. Good, but with removal from mount having thinned the paper in places, and with traces of brown paper mount still adhering. He is sending the autographs of 'Henry Seton Merriman (Hugh Scott); Gertrude Atherton; Miss Fowler; and Douglas Sladen. Also a photo from Ted (not a good one, but the only one I have left).' He enjoyed himself 'so much' at Langford. 'It was a week of real enjoyment to me.' The fragment: one page, four inches by four and a half wide.

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.

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 Letter Signed to J. H. Roberts.

Author: 
<H. Narconcakof?>, Brazilian Consul, Southampton, England [Brazil]
Publication details: 
Brasilian Consulate. | Southampton.'; 5 August 1871.
£30.00

One page, 12mo. Very good, laid down on piece of larger, thicker, blue-backed paper. Amusing response to a request for an autograph. 'I do not know why you should bother about collecting consul's autographs. Consuls are generally a useless lot of fellows who do nothing and think a great deal about themselves. Instead of being intermediaries of trade they assume diplomatic attitudes; dress well, smoke well and so on. They should be diplomats. | I am not a Consul General, neither am I in London, but if my autograph is needed to add to your collection I give it here below.'

Autograph Letter Signed to A. H. Terry.

Author: 
J. Pettit Griffith [autograph dealer?]
Publication details: 
18 July 1910; 42 Glenelg Road, Acre Lane, Brixton, SW. [London]
£80.00

One page, octavo. Good, on lightly creased and aged paper, with a little wear at foot. Purple ink. He thanks him 'for Cheque safely to hand for the Autograph Album. There is no question abot the Collection being a genuine one.' Details the provenance from the artist H. W. Pickersgill, to Charles Kingsley, to Kingsley's brother. 'I bought the Vol at the latters sale -'. He will send the two letters 'and the Kingslake in the morning'. He has been 'laid up ill for some days'.

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.

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 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 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!

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.

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'.

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